Epcot-2014

We ended the month of February with our second Disney trip, this time to Epcot with my parents. And this time we stayed at a condo that night so we didn’t have to drive all the way back to Gainesville at the end of the day. This was our first trip as a family to only Epcot. We weren’t sure how the kids would like it compared to the Magic Kingdom, but it certainly was a hit.

This time, we were there even before the park opened. We were in line when the music played and confetti cannons shot to start the day.

Most of us made a bee-line to Test Track while my mom and Charlotte headed over to get us our Fastpasses for the day. Ben wasn’t the biggest fan of Test Track, but Rosemary liked it enough to ride it again with my dad while Jonathan rode Mission Space. Ben and I met up with my mom and Charlotte in Innoventions.

They enjoyed the emergency preparedness puzzle.

When we met up again, Jonathan rode the Sum of All Thrills and we watched his legs dangle from the simulator.

Rosemary, my dad, and I then rode the mild side of Mission Space before we headed over to the Land to ride Soarin.’

This one, Ben liked. He and Rosemary even got to ride it twice since my mom went on it after we did. We also ate lunch there, rode the Listen to the Land boat ride, and watched the Timon and Pumba movie.

Before heading back to the World Showcase, we rode Figment and Nemo. The kids really enjoyed looking at all the fish afterward…and seeing Bruce.

On our way to the World Showcase, we stopped by and tried some of the international Coke flavors.

The kids’ picked up one of the Phineas and Ferb cell phones. They were excited about the missions.

We headed over to Mexico and spent about an hour on the first mission. It took a couple minutes to get the hang of what we were supposed to do, but once we did, it was super cool.

After Mexico, we headed to Norway, rode Maelstrom, then did that mission as well. Charlotte fell asleep in the stroller so my mom sat with her.

For the last part of the mission in Norway, they had to find a sword. They pointed the phone towards the waterfall, pushed the button and the water stopped, revealing the lost sword.

Rosemary and Ben enjoyed the train set.

I think this little guy could watch trains for hours.

Walking through Italy

 

We watched the American Adventure then grabbed some dinner. It was dark by the time we finished and we still needed to see half of the World Showcase. Mom and Dad went on ahead while we stopped at a few places with the kids.

When Rosemary turned 6, we had stopped in Japan and she remembered the kimonos. (We read A Pair of Red Clogs in kindergarten and she has wanted a kimono ever since). She wanted to look at them again and this time one of the cast members asked her if she would like to try one on. Rosemary picked a beautiful pink kimono and the cast member helped her put it on over her clothes. Rosemary was so excited.

Isn’t it so pretty?

We stopped in the French pavilion. Rosemary tried on a beret.

And we enjoyed some pastries.

From there, we caught a most of the Canadian 360* movie, then made a dash to meet my parents at the front of the park to ride SpaceShip Earth.

We caught a few minutes of the fireworks then headed out to the car as the parked closed. Another long, enjoyable, memory-making Disney day was in the books.

Valentine’s Day Park Playdate

We met up with a few of our co-op families for lunch and playtime at the park on Valentine’s Day. It was one of those picture perfect days where the weather was just perfect. I think we managed to play there for 3 hours.

Ballet Parent Observation

Rosemary’s ballet class. February 2014.

Magic Kingdom 2014

Rather than doing SeaWorld passes this year, we decided to take advantage of the Florida resident 3 day pass this spring.

Magic Kingdom 2014 – Ben-5 years, Rosemary-8 years, Charlotte-3 years

We headed down to my parents’ house on Sunday night and spent the night there. We wanted to be at the Kingdom at rope drop and were walking down the ramp from the monorail just as the opening show was wrapping up. Perfect timing.

We made our way back to the new Fantasyland since it was the first time any of us had gotten to see it.

First stop, Peter Pan’s Flight.

Next, Enchanted Tales with Belle.

Waiting to see Belle and very excited about a day at Disney.

So in this pic you can see I’m holding one of the red tags used to gauge wait time. I’d never gotten to carry one of those before.

Rosemary wanted to see just how she measured against Belle. She was quite taller than Belle was when she was 8.

We met the Wardrobe and Rosemary was cast to play Philippe.

Rehearsing.

Lumiere was amazing. Seriously. How does that work?

Rosemary meeting Belle.

From Enchanted Tales, we tried to ride the new Ariel, but it was closed so we headed over to ride Dumbo.

The wait was so short that we didn’t even get to play on the cool new playground.

Rosemary got to ride in her very own elephant. Charlotte and Jonathan rode together…

And I rode with Ben.

After Dumbo, we walked back by Voyage of the Little Mermaid and it was open. We walked right on. (This is the reason to get to the park early).

Even though it was still a little early for lunch (about 10:30) we went ahead over to get in line to eat at Be Our Guest. A line had already formed.

The sky was a bit ominous, but we missed the rain. I think it may have rained while we were eating.

We found a table in the ballroom. It was so pretty.

Little putti on the ceiling.

We ‘cheered’ with our french fries.

My french dip

The kids had turkey sandwiches

Jonathan’s braised pork

After we finished we walked through the other rooms in the castle

The Beast’s West Wing was super cool.

It’s hard to see in this photo, but the rose is underneath the glass cloche.

The library was lovely as well.

A long shot of the ballroom. From the windows looking out over the terrace we could see that it was snowing.

The mosiac. (Ben was beyond thrilled to have his photo taken)

From there we hit several more of the Fantasyland rides and did Buzz Lightyear and the PeopleMover. The PeopleMover is one of our kids’ favorite.

We had a few minutes to spare before our FastPasses came up, so the kids enjoyed playing in the little treehouse.

Riding together on Pooh.

Rosemary decided she wanted to ride Space Mountain, so while she and Jonathan went to do that, Ben, Charlotte, and I rode the train. We took a full circuit. (The wait for Space Mountain proved to be a bit too long, so instead they rode Big Thunder Mountain). On our way back to meet Jonathan, we were stopped by a parade. It was the day after the Super Bowl so the Super Bowl MVP, Malcolm Smith, was there for his requisite “I’m going to Disney World” parade.

I thought it was interesting that they, in fact, do go to Disney (the man had to be exhausted). But the parade was really small. Pretty much a car, a couple characters, and some cast members carrying balloons. That may help explain the crowds though. For a Monday at the beginning of February, there were a lot more people at the park than I expected.

Once we met up, we made our way to Adventureland.

The Jungle Cruise is so fun.

So you know how I had been given that card at the beginning of the day to gauge wait time, I ended up getting that card on four different rides throughout the day. Here was the last time, on Pirates of the Caribbean. Never before, four times, one day.

We took one of the ferries over to Tom Sawyer’s Island. The kids played. I sat on a bench and rested.

On the bridge in Frontierland, looking back to the castle.

Around this time we made our way to the Tomorrowland Speedway. I rode with Ben while the girls and Rosemary drove behind us.

We grabbed dinner at Cosmic Rays. The older two rode the tea cups with Jonathan. After dinner it was dark, and we rode the carousel.

Ben picked his horse and rode beside him.

Jonathan rode a bit further up with the girls.

Finally we did it’s a small world.

I don’t think Ben was too thrilled with small world. :-)

By this time, it was close to 8. We started to head back to the gate to head home (we still needed to drive back to Gainesville). We went through the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse on the way. Getting to the exit was exciting. It was right as the fireworks were starting so Main Street was packed. But we made it to the monorail before the crush of people.

Once we finally made it to the car, we were all exhausted, but had had so much fun.

It looks like he could fall asleep right there.

Charlotte was one tough 3 year-old that day. We went non-stop.

Rosemary perhaps looked the most chipper of us all.

Mom and Dad were wiped out. I don’t know how Jonathan made it home. I may have been asleep before we were even out of the parking lot. :-)