Alice, Mickey, and Pooh Bear ... Oh my! A First Timer's Trip Report -- Updated 8/19 - Page 11 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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More great pictures from WS! Sorry you're getting tired! There's a lot of walking in Epcot!
It really is!! I couldn't imagine just how big it really was. I think part of it was too that in the other parks, we were okay with skipping parts of it, but at Epcot we really wanted to see every part.
Quote:
Originally Posted by southerngirl1014
Ok you have sucked me in so much I have neglected putting up Christmas decorations in favor of reading your TR. That is ok though I had a good time and will now put up my decorations since you have not updated more (thank goodness! Lol)
hehe I am the same way, I will get started reading someone's TR and get lost in it. Hopefully you enjoy my future updates just as much.
By this time all our hopes and dreams for Epcot were pretty much shot. Kolby had a boo-boo and Kris and I were dead on our feet (and that was putting it nicely). After 3 days of going full force and then trying to do Epcot all in one day, well let's just say that wasn't very smart. So we decided to visit just 2 more countries, Japan (I wanted a pick-a-pearl) and America (Kris wanted to check it out). We would then figure out dinner after that.
So we skipped right over Morrocco and made our way to Japan.
We found the next passport stamp and stopped to check out the shops. Kolby really wanted to buy something, and I wanted to get a Pick-a-Pearl.
I took a look at the pearls, and though it seemed like an awesome concept, the line was very long and they truly didn't have any settings I wanted, so I decided not to do one. Plus, I am really not a jewelry wearing type of gal, so it really didn't make sense for me to spend money on that. So I helped Kolby look for something special and he decided he liked the LaQs. They are a Japanese version for Legos or K'Nexs. Since he loves using both of these, this was a good choice for him, plus it was something unique that we couldn't buy in any store back home. Kris picked up some little snacks that he used to eat when he was stationed in Japan.
Kris liked Japan because it reminded him of his time overseas.
But since we are Revolutionary War reenactors, we were all excited to check out America. We happened to catch a fife and drum band walking by as we approached, which was very cool, though we were all critiquing the "authenticity" of their uniforms (not authentic BTW), but that's what a reenactor does. We also checked out a few shops as Kris wanted a shirt with Mickey dressed in RevWar clothes, but we didn't find anything like that unfortunately. Kolby was able to at least get his passport stamped in the shop.
By this time we were literally drooping. We noticed that the American Adventure show would be starting soon, so we headed in for the sole reason of having a place to sit for a half hour or so. We honestly didn't care if it was good or not at that point.
We caught some singers before the show, and they were quite good. The show itself turned out to be very good as well. Kolby really enjoyed it, and so did we, though I may have enjoyed the sitting even more.
After the show, we nabbed a nice family portrait from a photopass photographer.
This is one of my favorite pictures of all 3 of us. We got a lot of good ones on this trip, but there is just something about this one. The boys also got an opportunity to meet one of their favorite friends.
Kolby got in the habit very quickly of asking the photographers for some "magic" photos, and we were very lucky to have some great photographers that went out of their way to oblige. Technically this one shouldn't have done these photos for us since she had her camera on a tripod, but she took it off just to do the pictures for them. We were so grateful for all those kind of special moments during our trip.
By now we decided it would be a good idea to head on over to our ADR at La Hacienda.
We had planned on watching the fireworks with a 7:15 reservation, and it was only 6:15 at this time, but we knew we simply could not wait one more hour. So we stopped in to see if they could get us in early and luckily they were able to. We had to wait about 10 minutes outside, so the boys went over the the Mexico Passport spot and got that stamped. Kolby also colored one of the paper Duufy bears.
We decided on meals all around, and the boys spent the waiting time doing some of the puzzles provided by the restaurant.
For our meals, I ordered the Arrachera, which is probably the best steak I have ever had.
Kris had the Puerco en Salsa de Mole Negro, which he enjoyed, but it certainly wasn't his favorite meal of the trip.
and Kolby had the chicken tacos.
He also ordered the churros for dessert, which he didn't eat at all. They were much more crunchy than he was expecting, so he really didn't like them.
By the time we were done eating it was just past 7:00, and we made our way towards the exit. I was hoping we could get to the buses as the fireworks were going off so that hopefully the lines would be shorter. As we were walking, Kris was going slower than we were, so we stopped to wait for him. When he caught up with us, he had a surprise for Kolby.
A light up sword!! Kolby loved it, and Kris loved getting it for him. Kris said he always wished he could get one when he was a kid, so it made him just as happy to be able to do that for his son. Kolby kept saying that he had the best dad ever.
We headed to the bathrooms for a quick potty break before leaving. The bathrooms happened to be right next to Test Track, so we decided to give it one more ride. Kris and I took turns with the single rider lines again, and were on and off very quickly.
We then nabbed a few last Photopass Pictures ....
and headed on our way out of the park.
We were on a bus just before the fireworks started, so technically we made it the whole day, but we didn't see everything we wanted to, and we were so incredibly tired. I was disappointed that we didn't see more as I knew the boys wouldn't want to come back to Epcot on our "free" day, which was Friday. But we thought we might take it easy tomorrow and maybe go back into epcot for the fireworks only and then do DHS on Friday. I do have to say that even though we were dog tired, I was very pleased with the Crocs we purchased just for this trip. I have a condition that doesn't allow me to stand for long periods of time, and a lot of walking aggravates the condition. Though my feet were hurting by this time, they were in much better condition than I have ever had with other shoes, so yay for Crocs (and the tipster on here that gave me the idea to get them!!)!
So far in our trip our Mousekeeper has left us amazing window displays, were we greeted with a new, special one tonight? Did our new plans for visiting the parks pan out?
I love the Picture of It is holding all of your stuff, reminds me of something my DH would do. He says that he thinks we only bring him along to be the pack mule
Great finish to your Epcot day! All your PP photos turned out very good!
Thanks, i really liked the ones from Epcot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
Wow! That was a long day at Epcot! I love the PP photo of your son with the sword--the moving colors came out perfect!
Oh my it was so long!! LOL I was impressed with the PP photos and the sword too, very cool.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKnott17
I love the Picture of It is holding all of your stuff, reminds me of something my DH would do. He says that he thinks we only bring him along to be the pack mule
Yeah my hubby did that to be funny, but it was kinda true, he was holding quite a bit this trip, especially at Epcot!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by southerngirl1014
Epcot always tires me out. What a sweet surprise your DH gave your son. I have a feeling my DH will be the same way.
Yes men do tend to turn to big kids with the magic of Disney.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
You had a great afternoon/night at Epcot! Love the pictures!
Wow. I have been gone for a while, but I really, really want to finish this TR. This is the only "scrapbook" I have of our trip so far and I don't want to forget anything. Life has taken my life over (funny how that happens), so I haven't been back here to update in quite some time, but I hope you will bear with me as I try to get all the details written down so our family can remember our magical trip.
A Story of a Toy
So we left off the TR leaving Epcot after a long, exhausting day. Even though we were dog tired, we were excited to see what new display our wonderful mousekeeper left for us. We were treated once again with something very fun! These pictures were taken in the morning to make sure we got the display in all it's glory:
And a closer look:
Ada really made us feel so special on this trip, and I do have to say, even though it's not very nice, I got a little silent thrill out of the fact that our window was the ONLY window with this extensive of a treatment each day. It made us feel so incredibly special.
Tonight we made a few tentative plans for tomorrow. We were so very tired, but we didn't want to sit in our room all day the next day, so we decided we would try Epcot again at night to see the fireworks, and spend the morning/early afternoon poolside. With these plans in mind, we watched a little Disney Channel and fell asleep. We don't have cable at home, so it was a nice little treat to be able to watch a few more recent shows.
The next day we woke up fairly early, around 7:00 AM. Kolby spent a little bit of time playing with his LaQs that we had bought in Japan yesterday, and we ended up leaving the room at about 8:30. We wanted to leave the room open for Ada to clean up, plus we were interested to check out the Toy Story portion of the resort.
On the way to the Toy Story stuff, we stopped in at the Dining Hall. While the boys were filling up the mugs and checking on pins to trade, I stopped by the concierge desk to see if I could rustle up a surprise for my guys tonight. I asked for suggestions for a cool restaurant or something different to try that night. We were considering Coral Reef, but the reservations they had available were for pretty late. After checking a few other places, we finally came up with the idea of doing Mickey's Backyard BBQ. I thought this would be fun, and we were able to use our remaining dinner credits so it didn't cost us a thing!
While at the concierge desk, I also got directions to get to the Yacht Club as Kolby would be having a pirate adventure in the morning there. I also learned that it would be pretty easy for Kris and I to head on over to Hollywood Studios while Kolby was gone. After leaving the concierge, we finally all headed over to the Toy Story part of the resort.
Of course Toy Story is one of our favorite movies, and we had fun playing around over here.
It is pretty impressive how big everything is!
A nearby couple offered to take a picture of the three of us, which of course we took advantage of!
I particularly liked the army men on top of the buildings.
and Andy ...
My son liked Buzz ...
And hubby wrestled with Rex ....
We ha a little more fun with the door ....
And the boys went for a ride ....
I have to say the theming on this section was pretty impressive. They do such a great job nowadays. We headed back to our room at this point, excited to see if Ada was able to get to our room already and see what our new window display might hold for us ....
As we headed back to our room, we talked about what we might find. I warned Kolby that they might not have gotten to our room just yet, but of course he was still very excited. What we saw when we got there, did not disappoint. First off, we got a new towel friend on our bed, an elephant!
Our window was also set up wonderfully again ...
And Ada gave us another present as well. In addition to the balloon she gave us a few days ago, today Ada left us a new Pluto stuffie.
Kolby was so excited to see his new pet. Ada saw us taking pictures of our window and came over to say hi. I absolutely had to get a picture with her, as she had made our trip so incredibly special.
After we were done checking out the new window digs, Kolby and I headed down to the pool while Kris took a nap. I took my laptop with me and did a little TR update. (I wish I had done more while I was there, but as they say, hindsight is 20/20). Kolby of course went in the pool.
We used the Mighty Ducks pool because it was a quieter pool, and it was closer to us as well. We didn't end up doing as much swimming on this trip as we thought we might, but we were all okay with that. The pools at this resort are okay at best, and it seemed a shame to be spending time swimming when there were so many things to see!!
After our lazy morning, it was time for lunch. We opted to have lunch right at our resort, since it was obviously the easiest. Kolby had spaghetti & meatballs with Jello and a chocolate milk.
I had the chicken penne alfredo with a cranberry juice.
And Kris has penne & meatballs with a strawberry shake.
The food here was *pretty* good. More like cafeteria style. If it wasn't so convenient to us, we probably would not have eaten here more than once.
After lunch we all headed back to the room for some more relaxing before we headed off to Mickey's Backyard BBQ. There was Halloween candy trading, some watching of TV, and lots of relaxing. About halfway through this time I really got to thinking about how rough the day before was, and how I was disappointed that we didn't finish seeing Epcot. Since this was my first trip and Kolby's first trip, I really felt like I wanted us to see everything, but that just seemed impossible at this point. Finally, I called Kris outside, away from Kolby, and asked him if we could do the one thing everyone that goes to Disney wishes they could do.
"Let's Stay for One More Week!!"
Of course Kris' first reaction was to ask if we really could do it. I told him we could afford it, but he would have to call his work and see if he could get another week off. It would mean no vacation at Christmas for him, but that would be worth it right? Since he works at a bank, it was honestly hard to know if they would agree. If anyone had that week off, there would be no way they would let him. But I told him that he had to at least ask. I felt like if we had one more week, we could go back to Epcot, we could take our time in the other parks, heck we might even be able to get our son on Pirates of the Caribbean!
So Kris made the call ...... Were we able to spend one more week in Disney?
About This Page: 
Sorry you're getting tired! There's a lot of walking in Epcot! 
Hopefully you enjoy my future updates just as much.
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We also checked out a few shops as Kris wanted a shirt with Mickey dressed in RevWar clothes, but we didn't find anything like that unfortunately. Kolby was able to at least get his passport stamped in the shop.
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