Cam's Golden Birthday Adventure **Updated 8/23** COMPLETE About This Page:

[Nick and Ryans Mom]

How horrible that Splash Mountain took so long. I feel so bad for you, that is the worst feeling!! Kudos to Stephanie for handling it so well!

Pinnochio Village Haus is one of Nick's required stops (ever since they added pizza).

I once had to ride Buzz Lightyear 8 times in a row (with Nick spinning the car in a circle).

[ArielsMomto2]

Great update Cam. Your pics of Liberty Belle are gorgeous. Its one ride we haven't made it on yet. Hoping to rectify that in Aug. SM is so much fun but sorry the wait was so long. Kudos to Stephanie for takin all in stride. Can't wait to hear what's up next.

[CountryTink]

Thanks for the great update. Looking forward to more!

[piratefreak]

Great update Cam, but sorry about the Splash line. We too just "re-discovered" the Liberty Eblle afetr skipping it for many years and it was such a great relaxing ride that we rode it twice more in that same trip. Love the pictures. Can't wait for more.

[Luvsun]

What great pics you got from the Liberty Belle! I just love riding the Belle - it is so calming and such great photo ops are available on the boat!
I can honestly say that I have never eaten at Pinocchio's - I think that is something I need to remedy!
I understand your feeling regarding leaving Stefanie at the gift store for so long. I would have been the same! I am so glad that she was just fine and seemed to have the entire family updated! She is so cute!
A great update! Looking forward to more!
Oh - congrats on getting that scrapbook done!

[B.M.]

Congrats on completing your scrap book! Glad Stephanie enjoyed the gift shop. Sorry about the long line at Splash Mountain- I'm sure if you had know what a great time she was having chatting with family you would have not been worried and enjoyed the ride even more! More Please! (and soon.........)

[Cam22]

Day 3 – Tuesday, June 10 at Epcot


Will we get Soarin’ FastPasses or not?

The phone rang promptly at 6:00, but I failed to act, lingering in bed for another 30 minutes. Probably not a good idea since we all three needed to clean up and then take a bus to Magic Kingdom, followed by the monorail to the Polynesian for our 8:00 ADR at ‘Ohana with Stitch. But I was tired and the 30 minutes of extra sleep was so worth it.

Once we had all showered, we headed out of the Villas to the nearby bus stops and waited only a few minutes for our ride to MK. While waiting we watched a cast member carefully painting a cool shade of green on the stone work on the many posts that support the roof of the bus stop area. It has always amazed me at how thorough and efficient Disney is in upkeeping their properties. Signs were posted everywhere warning of wet paint in huge, colorful letters, but as our bus arrived a young girl ran off ahead of her parents and then leaned up against one of the wet paint posts to wait for them to deboard the bus. Bad idea as in her excitement she didn’t once glance at the signs. I had begun to move to stop her, but it was like my voice was frozen. She didn’t even seem to notice when her hands were instantly wet and placed her whole back side right up against the post. Her parents were not exactly pleased when they finally got off the bus with a younger sibling as they noticed the signs immediately. Mom turned the daughter around to discover hands completely covered and a wide stripe across the back of her shirt and shorts. I had a feeling they had intended to board another bus as quickly as possible to head to a park for the day. Oh well, accidents do happen, pretty much to all of us. Having avoided the wet posts ourselves, we were soon on the MK bus and getting hungrier by the minute.

We were making pretty good time and within about 10 minutes were at MK, walking from the bus stop area to the monorail. One was just leaving, but another arrived within 5 minutes. We boarded, beginning our trek around the lagoon to the Polynesian. And shortly we were there, smelling the lovely scents of an Hawaiian style breakfast. As we entered the resort, a three-generational family was right in front of us, discussing something rather loudly. All I caught was the grandmother saying, “Stop right now and let’s figure this out.” So Stefanie and I stepped around her to head to the check-in desk. Unfortunately, grandma changed her mind and without looking walked right over Stefanie, knocking her to the floor. Luke who was behind us said the lady did stop but was impelled on by her family. She very sincerely apologized to Stef who now had an annoying scrape on her elbow and a very confused look on her face. Stefanie just kept repeating, “Didn’t she see me?” Poor kiddo! I reassured her that the scrape was just a little one and didn’t even bleed. But she managed to stress over that little scrape until one day last week (first week of July) when she finally decided it had healed up. She has been through so many ordeals much worse without a bit of stress, but a scrape or bug bite just annoy her to the max. By the way a day or two later she got a bug bite, too. I bet I checked her wounds a minimum of 20 times a day.

Once Stefanie knew she’d be fine, we headed over to the check-in desk with Luke and Stefanie staking out a comfy sofa. I received two yellow leis, a pager, and some instructions that I didn’t quite catch about the photo due to the noise in the waiting area. I thought they said we’d be called back for a picture when the line went down. But I think maybe we were supposed to watch for ourselves. Anyway I headed to the sofa to sit with Luke and Stefanie. A little later, we were giving a third lei; this one was pink. Since Luke had made sure Stefanie and I had the first two leis, she started to put the pink one on Luke. He told her he’d feel more comfortable in a yellow lei and she was so excited because she really wanted the pink one.


Luke and Stefanie hungrily awaiting breakfast.



Needless to say, I was a bit confused when we were called to our table without getting our pictures taken. I asked the young cast member who was directing us to our table that happened to be the exact table as last year, if we could still have our pictures made after the meal and he assured me that was fine. So with that info I was now ready to satisfy my growling tummy.



I love all the bread in the family basket and so does Luke; Stefanie, not so much. But then she is more interested in interacting with the characters than eating. Our server Marion seemed overwhelmed and harried for the whole experience, but all the food was delicious. Stefanie even managed to eat her Mickey waffle. As we had first sat down, Lilo was just a couple of tables from ours and Stefanie was positive she would be the first to sign her autograph book. But somehow Lilo missed our table altogether. This will create a little dilemma later in the meal.

So instead of Lilo, Stitch was the first to arrive and he truly is Stefanie’s favorite at this breakfast. She warned him not to drink coke or he’d get in trouble. Then she hugged and kissed him before allowing him to sign her autograph book.



Soon after Stitch left, Mickey arrived and Stefanie started the hugging and kissing all over again.



Next up was Pluto who was really having fun with all Stefanie’s attention.


Stefanie was explaining to Pluto how to sign her autograph book. She is the pro here.

We now had a long stretch in which to consume food and simply enjoy the atmosphere of ‘Ohana.



I think Stefanie even managed to eat a biscuit and some bacon at this point, in spite of the fact that she was still eagerly awaiting Lilo. Luke and I could see Lilo at the far end of the room and we kept Stefanie posted while having seconds and thirds, and maybe even fourths of everything. Marion had a little trouble with our ticket, but we weren’t in a hurry as Stefanie didn’t want to leave without Lilo’s autograph. When Marion returned, she had the ticket and refills for our drinks. About 10 minutes later she checked back with us to see if we wanted more food. We assured her we were done and just waiting for Lilo to visit. When she realized what had happened, she moved to the front of the dining area. Soon a cast member came to get us so that Stefanie could finally meet Lilo (it would probably have been 20 minutes before her route would have brought her back to our table). Lilo was so sweet with Stefanie and I truly appreciated Marion taking care of this for her.



With Lilo’s autograph in the book, we headed to the lobby to get our picture made. There was no line now and our picture was snapped quickly and then I moved to the waiting area for the results. Luke and Stefanie walked over to the gift shop to look around during the wait. The wait turned into about 20 minutes, but Stefanie enjoyed her shopping, purchasing the first of two Goofy ink pens for this trip. So after they caught back up with me, our picture packet arrived and we were ready to board the monorail for a day at Epcot.

Our plan was to get FastPasses to Soarin’ as soon as we arrived because last year when we arrived at Epcot to separate mornings after breakfasts we were disappointed that the FastPasses were already gone. These breakfasts had been later, so we felt we had a good chance today. I love taking the monorail to Epcot, especially for the first visit as you get the cool ride around the park before disembarking. Again we passed rather quickly through bag check and the ticket turnstiles. Of course, in spite of our FastPass goal, I wanted a family picture in front of the now wandless Spaceship Earth for our collection. And since it was still early, we should all look good.


The sun was causing Stefanie some difficulties.

She did a little better in this one.

During the photo session, Luke had devised a plan. He would head over to the Land to get Soarin’ FastPasses and Stefanie and I would get in line for Test Track. We split up at the fountain and began our assigned missions. The standby line at Test Track was about 35 minutes when Stefanie and I arrived and took a place just beyond the Stand By sign.



Initially, our line didn’t seem to be moving very quickly, but Luke hadn’t arrived yet, so no big deal. Then suddenly our line surged forward and literally within seconds we were at the door to the inside. I called Luke to find out if he wanted to hunt us down on the inside or if we should move to the back of the line. He replied that he had successfully obtained FastPasses and was almost there. Probably in a minute, he caught up with us as we rounded the first display area. Our total wait time was around 35 minutes as posted, but the air conditioning was nice and we weren’t in any a hurry because we had scored FastPasses. Test Track is a favorite for all three of us, with Stefanie describing to others as the ride where it feels like Daddy’s driving.

Now sporting a wind blown look, we headed to Mission Space for Luke to engineer yet another space flight. Stefanie had mentioned right before we boarded our Test Track car that she was thirsty, so she and I set off for some liquid refreshment. Space Popcorn had a short line and within minutes, we had coke to share while waiting for Dad to return to Earth. As Stefanie sipped her Coke, I snapped some photos.



We planned on meeting Luke at the gift shop to Mission Space, but the single-rider line had moved very quickly and before we had finished our Coke, he called to find out where we were. We still had about an hour before our Soarin’ FastPass time, so the best way to fill that time is with a 45 minute ride on Ellen’s Energy Adventure.


I had never noticed these topiaries before and maybe they were leftovers from the Flower and Garden Festival. But I thought they were cute.

We had a little wait in line, but got to talk to a really sweet cast member and snap the photos and before we knew it , it was our turn. The new carpet in the opening room is a definite plus. Then for the next 45 minutes we traveled in time and learned about energy through Ellen’s amazing dream sequence. As soon as we exited, we knew it was finally time for Soarin’, so we headed off to the Land.

Stefanie gets a little anxious about this ride every single year. But as soon as it’s over she is squealing that it is her absolute favorite Epcot ride. I actually managed to keep my eyes open, so I can finally say I’ve seen the Mickey head on the golf ball. Mine and Stefanie’s favorite part is the fireworks over Disneyland, except that it means the ride is over. And now we’re hungry.

Where can we go for lunch? And then when the skies over Florida open up and pour what do you do?

[KandJluvdisney]

great update cam
glad she was able to get lilo to come to the table
sounds like a fun day at epcot so far
hurry back with more please

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you had a great time at the breakfast and Stefanie got a special greet with Lilo Great pictures!! And a great time in Epcot too!! More please

[disneydani]

Glad Marion could help out with getting Lilo's attention. You really maximized your Epcot morning....glad you could snag FP for Soarin and fit in a few rides, too!

danielle

[ariel14]

Great update Cam!!!!

[mousestruck]

All caught up.... great updates, Cam! Breakfast at Ohana sounds like a lot of fun... we have yet to try that experience. I will also have to look for that Mickey head on the golf ball next time I ride Soarin... I didn't know about it! Glad your family is having so much fun!

[mcc0313]

Wonderful morning Cam....so glad that Stefanie got to see all her characters (even with a long wait for Lilo). You got a lot done so far at Epcot....you are so right that Ellen's Energy ride is a great (cool) way to pass some time....and I really do enjoy the dinosaur part....(then I think I nod off a bit )

Can't wait to hear where you had lunch and what you all did in the afternoon...

[tammyd_rn]

All caught up. Great updates Cam. Thanks for sharing and it was so nice of Marion to get you hooked up with Lilo. I think my son is really going to enjoy Ohana's for breakfast especially after hearing about your morning.
Thanks for sharing with us.

[Dee161]

What a great trip report. We have never taken the riverboat ride but after seeing your pictures I have added it to my list of must sees for September.

Can't wait for more!