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[KMB733]

Your dinner at Homecoming looked delicious Sorry that Lexi wasn't feeling well, but glad to hear once she took some meds she was up for going to Epcot. Your meet and greet with Joy and Sadness is so cute!

[lexiemom]

Originally Posted by DMA

Sorry for Lexi's headache. I'm glad it didn't last too long and that you were able to spend some time at Epcot!

Me too! Even though it was rough start to the evening we were able to salvage some of it.

Originally Posted by Tara O'Hara

What a shame that your dinner got dampened by those rude guys! Sorry about Lexi's headache but it sounds like you did all of the right things to remedy it promptly! It sounds like your night definitely ended on a high note and good thinking to get a good nights rest!!

Those guys were something else. Our night did turn around and I think all three of us needed a good night's sleep.

Originally Posted by SuperDave

Your meal at Art Smith's looks very good and I hope to try in time! Too bad for the obnoxious guys at the bar which made your meal experience not the best! Glad Lexi was feeling better and were able to go to Epcot for some EMH fun!

The meal was very good, the experience all together wasn't that great, but I would give it another try for sure.

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Glad Lexi was feeling better by the end of the night! Sorry your experience at Homecoming was disappointing. Great pictures! We have so many of those baby stuffed animals. The kids loved them!

The baby stuffed animals are so cute! Lexi is at that age where she can take or leave getting a stuffed animal, but she made sure she got her baby.

Originally Posted by jackid2

Glad Lexi was feeling better. My boys can't wait to meet Baymax, Is he part of the Character Spot Fastpass?

Thank you! Baymax is in the building directly across from the Character Spot, so he is not a part of the Fastpass. If you go first thing in the morning or wait until later in the evening like we did the lines are a lot shorter. We had maybe three families in front of us in line.

Originally Posted by lindawdw

Sorry that ambiance wasn't what you had hoped for at Art's Homecoming but the food certainly looked delicious. I was glad that Lexi felt better after a break away from all the noise and some medication. Looks like you had fun in Epcot too!

Thank you! The food was very good!

Originally Posted by KMB733

Your dinner at Homecoming looked delicious Sorry that Lexi wasn't feeling well, but glad to hear once she took some meds she was up for going to Epcot. Your meet and greet with Joy and Sadness is so cute!

Thank you! The Joy and Sadness meet and greet wasn't even on my radar, but I am very glad that Lexi suggested it!

[lexiemom]

This morning I got up first and let Justin and Lexi sleep as long as possible. That worked well as I was able to get ready in peace and then I could wake Lexi and help her get ready. We had breakfast reservations for Garden Grill at 9:05. We got to Epcot just before 9:00 and we found the CM that was letting parties in for their breakfast reservations, but at the same time they opened up the park for everyone else as well. We followed the crowd to The Land and the CM that was leading the pack stopped all of us just before the hill up to The Land. She let us keep going though as we had breakfast reservations.





We made it to GG just in time to check in for breakfast. This would be our first time dining here. We were told it would be a few minutes for our table to be ready, so we all had a seat on benches in the waiting area. I decided to take a restroom break and of course when I came out of the restroom everyone was gone as our table was ready.



Christmas tree in the waiting area.


I found them easily as they were seated at a table close to the entrance. Our server was there when I arrived, so I gave her my drink order and she made sure everyone was okay with the family style choices and she put in our order.

Up until today we had bad luck with just missing the characters during our character meals and having to wait until after we were done eating to see them all. Not this morning! We saw all of the characters pretty quickly and we even saw some of them twice.

First up was Pluto and he was a hugger!








Selfie!


Up next was Chip and he was pretty tame just posing for some photos.




Once Chip left, our food arrived and boy was it good! I'm not a big breakfast eater, but I pounded down the Mickey Waffles topped with the chocolate sauce.


As we were eating, Dale showed up and he was a hoot! He got into it with my sister.

First he was all sweet saying hello and giving hugs.








Then he noticed the giant platter of food and asked if he could have a tater tot. My sister told him that they told us we were not allowed to feed the Chipmunks no matter how much they begged. He then motioned that he would turn around and we could sneak him one and no one would know.

See his hand stuck out behind him?


My sister pretended to give him a tater tot and when he turned around and saw nothing he was so sad.




A server came by at that moment and Dale tried to tattle on us and the server played right along and said "Dale, you know you are on a diet!" Well this sent Dale into hysterics and he pretended like he was going to faint.


He finally composed himself enough and moved on to the next table. Apparently his begging worked on that table because not even a minute later he was back at our table with a tater tot in hand and teasing my sister with the hand on the nose finger wave!


It was hilarious! The best character interaction of the trip and my sister had a ball! Soon Dale left for good and we went back to eating. Pluto showed up again and this time he was in rare form.

First he tried to eat Nathan.


Then he gave poor Ashley a new hair style.






Then he had to mess with Lexi's braid.




Finally we were able to see the big cheese himself, Mickey! We told him about Dale begging for food and he just shook his head and gave us a thumbs up for not feeding him.


I am so bummed that this picture of Mickey giving Lexi a kiss turned out blurry.




We had made it all the way around to the house on Living with the Land. It was neat to see how far we had made it around the restaurant, but you can't even tell you are moving.


We settled up our bill with our server and then headed out to use our first FP+ of the day for Soarin'. We also had FP+ for The Seas with Nemo and Friends and Turtle Talk with Crush, but since we rode those a few days ago, we decided to burn them and do some things we hadn't done at Epcot yet.

My sister has never gone into Club Cool, so she requested we head there next. We decided to go to Figment first though since we were right there.


Of course we walked right on and the ride was cute as usual. We stopped and played in the Imagination area for a bit.




Lexi was trying to catch the water from the fountains.


Some pretty big clouds were starting to roll in over Epcot.


We headed over to Club Cool and I am still bummed that my favorite soda from Germany is no longer an option. I tried some different sodas, but didn't find one that I really liked. They were all just okay.




I did grab a couple of bags of Haribo gummy colas and cherries as those are some of our favorite. I used snack credits to pay for them. Once we were done at Club Cool, Nathan asked if we could ride Mission: Space. I can no longer do that ride as it makes me queasy, so Justin, Dan, Ashley and Nathan headed off to ride Mission: Space while Angie, Lexi and I headed in to Mouse Gears to have a look around.

I told Angie that after we rode Soarin' earlier Dan was looking at the pins and wanted to buy a Soarin' one, but decided against it. She found the same pin at Mouse Gears and picked it up for him as a Christmas gift. I told Lexi we would be browsing and not making any purchases today. I should have known better. As we were browsing she found some Princess dress up figurines and if you bought the larger set, you could choose a smaller set for free. That's a pretty good deal to find at Disney, so I went ahead and let her choose two sets. She got The Little Mermaid large set and the Merida small set. I will note that these were a great buy as both Lexi and Nathan played with these throughout the week and they were small enough to throw in my purse to take to the parks.

Lexi and her new toys, the little stinker.


Once we were done shopping we found a bench in a nice shady spot to get off our feet for a bit. Justin had texted me that they were going to do the single rider line for TT and we decided we could use the rest, so we told them to go for it.

Justin and Ashley


Dan and Nathan


Up Next: A nice relaxing afternoon in Epcot.

[DMA]

Great morning in Epcot! The Garden Grill breakfast looks delicious! And you really lucked out with the awesome character interaction!
The Disney figurines are so cute! I bought my granddaughter a set of figurines at Walmart for Easter and they were cute but CHEAP! She is used to the characters with movable arms so was trying to move the arms on Minnie and Daisy and they broke right off! I wish I had saved the packaging because I would have taken them back.

[KMB733]

Sounds and looks like you had a wonderful breakfast at Garden Grill! You had some great character interactions, especially with Dale. That was a great way to start your day at Epcot!

[lexiemom]

Originally Posted by DMA

Great morning in Epcot! The Garden Grill breakfast looks delicious! And you really lucked out with the awesome character interaction!
The Disney figurines are so cute! I bought my granddaughter a set of figurines at Walmart for Easter and they were cute but CHEAP! She is used to the characters with movable arms so was trying to move the arms on Minnie and Daisy and they broke right off! I wish I had saved the packaging because I would have taken them back.

Well that is frustrating about the set from Wal Mart! Lexi also loves the Disney Animator's Collection mini doll sets. I have purchased them when they are on sale at the Disney store or on the website. I think in a few updates you will see the Lilo and Stitch figures she got from one of the sets. They are very good quality and come with a lot of fun accessories.

Originally Posted by KMB733

Sounds and looks like you had a wonderful breakfast at Garden Grill! You had some great character interactions, especially with Dale. That was a great way to start your day at Epcot!

Dale really helped our morning start right! We were all in great moods after breakfast.

[Tara O'Hara]

What a terrific morning at Epcot!! Your breakfast looks wonderful and what a fun character interaction!!!. I love how you changed your plans and things are working out great!!

[SuperDave]

Looks like a good breakfast at GG with so much incredible character interaction which made it so much better!

[Ella678]

I am so glad I stumbled across your TR as my family is heading back for the Christmas season this year. It's been awhile since we've visited during that time. Seeing all your pictures of the Christmas trees and merchandise has me so excited.

What a fun bunch your family is! So creative too with DIY shirts, shoes and ears Add me to someone who loves your "Original top knot" shirt - what a lucky find! I look forward to reading more

[Colexis Mom]

What a great time at the breakfast! Love the pictures! Glad your day at Epcot is going so well!!

[samg0627]

Sorry I am so late here! Trying to catch up! I have been reading your stories, since we too will be staying at CSR this year November 14 through the 22nd! I love all your great tips! I am wondering if you were a reservation for Garden Grill was at 9:05 what time was your FP for Soarin?


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[cattailmarsh]

Trying to catch up as I fell very behind bw church & preschool graduation obligations. That being said your day at MK looked like a great time. As for the clueless CM at WOD - I never understand why some people just don't get trying to save money by utilizing multiple transactions. Some CMs will actually suggest ways to save while others look at you like you are from outer space. Homecoming sounded quite good except for the inappropriate group at the bar. I felt so sorry for Lexi - being a migraine suffer since age 9, I hate to see little ones suffering from a headache. They can be so debilitating. Since you had meds for her - does she get headaches often? Was very happy to see her smiling again at EPCOT later in the evening. Kids are so resilient. I love the night photos of EPCOT and the earlier pumice of Goofy & Daisy were very entertaining. Lexi's Tsum Tsum shirt is very cute. Was that a Disney item or something you got at home. I need to find my toddler one - he is obsessed with the mini plush ones.

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[lexiemom]

Originally Posted by Tara O'Hara

What a terrific morning at Epcot!! Your breakfast looks wonderful and what a fun character interaction!!!. I love how you changed your plans and things are working out great!!

Thank you! We have definitely learned to go with the flow over the years.

Originally Posted by SuperDave

Looks like a good breakfast at GG with so much incredible character interaction which made it so much better!

Thank you Dave!

Originally Posted by Ella678

I am so glad I stumbled across your TR as my family is heading back for the Christmas season this year. It's been awhile since we've visited during that time. Seeing all your pictures of the Christmas trees and merchandise has me so excited.

What a fun bunch your family is! So creative too with DIY shirts, shoes and ears Add me to someone who loves your "Original top knot" shirt - what a lucky find! I look forward to reading more

Thank you for joining in! After this trip I have decided Christmas is my favorite time of year to go to WDW. The decorations just add to the magic!

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

What a great time at the breakfast! Love the pictures! Glad your day at Epcot is going so well!!

Thank you Marnie!

Originally Posted by samg0627

Sorry I am so late here! Trying to catch up! I have been reading your stories, since we too will be staying at CSR this year November 14 through the 22nd! I love all your great tips! I am wondering if you were a reservation for Garden Grill was at 9:05 what time was your FP for Soarin?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you for joining in! CSR was beautiful with all of the Christmas decor and make sure you enjoy the hammocks! Our Soarin FP was from 9:40-10:40. I checked the time stamp on my last photo from breakfast and it was taken at 9:41, so breakfast took just under an hour.

[lexiemom]

Angie, Lexi and I decided we would head over to the WS as Angie was craving a sweet cream cheese pretzel and they sell them at a kiosk in the American Adventure. We decided to take the boat across and just as we reached the boat dock, so did the rest of our crew.

The Christmas tree and Spaceship Earth from across the lagoon (check out those clouds rolling in).


When we reached the American Adventure the pretzel kiosk was closed...wah wah. Our early lunch/late dinner (depending how you look at it) wasn't until 3:10, so Justin and Nathan decided they needed a snack and they both wanted Sushi. Off to Japan we go.


When we got to the sushi kiosk the girls decided they wanted to get a kakigori.


We headed back over to the American Adventure area and had a seat at a couple of tables while everyone finished their snacks. Voices of Liberty would be appearing soon, so we just hung out in the area and enjoyed some people watching.


Once we cleaned up our area we headed in to enjoy the Voices of Liberty.


They had a gingerbread version of the US Capital building, the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial.




Someone made an announcement that VoL would be starting soon and said the best seat in the house is on the floor under the big dome, so that is exactly where we headed. This was my first time taking the time to see VoL and I really enjoyed them. I took some video, but Photobucket won't let me load them. If I get it to work, I will add some in later. For right now pictures will have to do.










Once they were finished singing we headed upstairs to watch the movie...I don't know the name of it...and I will admit that I can't really say that I've seen it because as soon as it started, so did my nap. The theater was a nice cool place to rest and the narrators lulled me right to sleep.

When we came out of the theater more dark clouds had appeared.




Angie, Dan and Nathan would be heading to Italy to dine at Via Napoli. Justin, Lexi, Ashley and I headed to France as we were dining at Les Chefs de France.




Decorated for Christmas.




I checked in at the podium and we were told to have a seat at the benches by the entrance. We waited for a good 15 minutes before our name was called. The host led us to a table in a side room that was perfect. We had a table for four right by the windows. As we were browsing the menu we noticed that people were starting to pull out ponchos and umbrellas, it had started pouring. We couldn't have timed that better.

Our server came over and introduced herself and went over the menu with us. I knew what I wanted when we made the reservations, so I was ready.

Ashley takes French in school, so she was a bit nervous to order as she was going to order in French.

Both Ashley and I ordered the Steak Frites (grilled flat iron steak, french fries and a lemon parsley butter)


Justin ordered the Canard aux cerises, puree de patates douces et courgettes (duck breast and leg confit with cherries, sweet potato puree and zucchini).


Lexi ordered the Pates au jambon et fromage, sauce bechamel (pasta with ham, cheese and bechamel sauce).


This was the best steak I have had at WDW, so if you are looking for a 1 TS credit restaurant to get a good steak, I highly recommend Les Chefs de France.

When our server came over to check on us Ashley answered her in French which impressed our waitress quite a bit. She said oh, so you speak French and Ashley answered her, just a little. She told Ashley that her accent was very good and asked how long Ashley had been taking French. Ashley answered two years and our server was quite impressed that she had only been in French class for two years. They had a whole conversation held in French about where we were from and she told Ashley that she needs to bring us to France to visit her country. Ashley was grinning from ear to ear as the whole reason she wanted to dine with us here was to be able to speak French with our server and she was not disappointed.

Once we finished our entrees we moved on to dessert. There was only one dessert Ashley could have because of her allergies, but she was okay with that choice. She got chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and I believe Justin got the same as her.


I tried the apple tart at the suggestion of our server and it did not disappoint.


Lexi got a chocolate chunk cookie that was about the size of her head.


As we were eating we noticed that the rain had lightened up and by the time we settled our bill it was down to just a drizzle. Both Ashley and I declared this our favorite meal of the trip as we rolled ourselves out of there.

Before we left France we decided to get a photopass picture taken to remind us of our great meal here with Ashley.






I forgot to mention that while we were waiting for our food, I got on the Disney app and found FP for Soarin'. I texted my sister to see if they would want to join us after our meal and she said they would. We still had about 30 minutes before our FP were ripe, so we slowly made our way to England to check out the Christmas decorations.

I thought this peppermint light pole was adorable.


We got a bit side tracked with another Photopass photographer.








We finally made it to England.


I took this next picture for my sister as she collects nutcrackers and the guy in this window was quite elaborate.


Then I noticed that in the corner of the window display there was a holly bush and I have the exact same one at home that I got at Hobby Lobby. Who knew Disney shops at Hobby Lobby.


We headed through the shops, just browsing for a bit.


The girls noticed that on the light pole garland close to the toy shoppe there were some very cute toy ornaments on the garland.








I noticed that Alice had been moved inside the shop for her meet and greet, so we got in line and as soon as we did a CM came up behind us and closed the line. It took about 15 minutes to get through her line.






Next we headed to Canada to have a look around. I loved these Poinsettia trees.




The girls were feeling a bit sassy.


Up Next: Do we make to MK EMH?

[DMA]

Fun times in Epcot! The gingerbread monuments at American Adventure sound very cool! I love VoL! We always try to make time for at least one of their performances. As for the American Adventure show, I fall asleep in there too!

Your meal at Chef de France looked awesome! And how cool that Ashley got to use her French with the server!

I love the PhotoPass shots!