I want to go back to my happy place (with pics)! Celebrating the twins 5th bday TR - UPDATED 1/2 - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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What a great start to your TR!! Great thinking with the binder...my DFi mocks mine but as soon as he asks me something about our trip..."well you should have read the travel binder"
After a good nights sleep in our townhouse we were up pretty early. We had an 8:10 ressie at Akershus for our meeting with the princesses. The Jeffery was up around 6:45am which is pretty normal to him and we had to wake the princess which is pretty normal for us J After getting them dressed and reminding my DH that we were wheels up at 7:30am (plane reference meaning out of the drive way not just gathering bags) we were ready to go. Since this was our first time driving into the parks we followed the directions from Windsor Hills guests who know short cuts. The drive in was only about 15 minutes to the parking lot. We made our way through check-in and off we went to find Norway. Wasn’t really hard since that is where all the other people were going too! After parking the stroller my DH tells me that the stroller had already paid for itself! We were part of a stroller share which allowed us to use a double jogging stroller for the week for only $20. It was the best piece of planning I did all trip – well maybe not the best but pretty darn good. There were lots of families gathered around the podium waiting to be called in for breakfast. I took a quick run next door to pick up an autograph book (had great intentions of making one from scratch but didn’t happen) and we were ready. My son gets a little “coo coo for cocoa puffs” when he’s hungry so I was hoping we wouldn’t have to wait too long. We were finally called and went to stand in the line to take our picture with Belle. My daughter was kind of distracted and not really in the mood and then...She looked ahead and with the brightest eyes, grabbed my hand and said in her most excited and serious voice “Mommy there’s a princess in there!” That was it. I was sold and was completely OK with the ridiculous amount of money our breakfast would cost. My daughter was meeting the princesses and she was over the moon! So, picture with Belle and off to our table. We We meet our server, get the scoop on the buffet, order some juices and we’re ready. I know that getting them food is critical because Jeffery, well, he just wasn’t going to wait much longer. I was impressed with the cold buffet and thought it was just enough choices. After sitting and getting some food down and my excitement under control, we began to see the princesses. We saw Snow White, Aurora (Jocelyn’s favorite), Ariel, and Mulan. Jocelyn wanted to know if Mulan was a princess so we asked her later as she was heading to the back. I was so impressed by her sweet demeanor with Jocelyn. She got down to her eye level, stroked her cheek and explained that she was a warrior and she helped to protect her princess friends. It was just a very special moment. So after many pictures and a trip to the restroom we were done with our very special birthday princess breakfast! I must admit I wondered if I would regret not paying the extra to be at the castle and honestly it was a wonderful experience that I wouldn’t change.
After a few more pictures of Jocelyn in her dress we changed her clothes and went off to find Soarin’ for our first ride at Disney. Because of my planning on here and on another board I knew that I should get fastpasses and then ride. The posted wait time was 20 minutes and we waited about that before boarding. We love it! I wasn’t prepared for the movement of the seats (for some reason I thought we just stayed on the ground) but it was very cool. When we were done my DH said “oh yeah, we’re definitely doing that again!” So glad I got the fastpasses. During our time at Epcot that morning we did Living with the Land, Finding Nemo, Turtle Talk with Crush, played in the shark area, walked around the aquarium, redid Soarin’ (on the front row), did the eco-friendly Lion King movie, went to Innoventions for a quick visit, and did our Disney Visa picture with Minnie and Goofy. We headed to the van at 2pm. My plan, since everyone was up so early, was to grab some lunch and get some rest and head back to Epcot around 5-6 and stay through Illuminations. Did it happen? Or are plans made to be broken?
Great update!
I can just imagine hearing your dd say "there are princesses in there"... I love it!
Sounds like a wonderful breakfast!
Glad everyone loved Soarin', it's my absolute favorite ride!
Hurry back with the next update......
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Sorry for the delay - I have been working on the photopass pics and uploading our pictures. Anyway, here we go!
Epcot Part 2
We made it back! Once back at WH I tried to get the kids to take a nap. Jeffery had slept in the stroller/van so he was up. Instead of fighting it I decided to take a dip in the pool with him. After our swim I was informed by my husband that my MIL and aunt were not going to be joining us as planned in the morning. WHAT!!!??? Well, it seems that all you know what happened after we left. Our niece who lives with MIL passed out and had to be rushed to the hospital, my SIL was rushed to the hospital and admitted, and a nephew in California died suddenly. All in a matter of 30 hours! So, despite their desire to come they felt that they should stay in TX and figure out when they would have to travel to CA. I was very disappointed because I wanted to have my kids have a special vacation time with their Granny. There are 25 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren in town. My in-laws all took a vacation to Atlanta this summer and we didn’t join them. Long story - but that is too many people for too long in too small of a situation. I was also disappointed because I wanted to spend time with her as well. And honestly I made planning decisions like the size of the townhouse and van versus car, based on the additional adults. Well, things happen and we were definitely reminded that “all things work together for good” so it ended up being great. OK, so back to Epcot. We were hungry and needed to find dinner quickly. I thought my DH would enjoy Morocco and I took the kids to America. I should have followed my first thought and got fish and chips from the UK. Anyway, we ate and hung out and just let the kids play and run a bit while figuring out where to go for viewing Illuminations. I sent my DH to go talk to a couple of Cast Members to get their recommendations while the kids played. Well, he came back with pixie dust on him! One of the members made a call and directed us to the Rose and Crown pub to the back patio where we watched the show with no crowds or obstructions. It was great! We really enjoyed ourselves, well not Jeffery who thought it was “too loud!” Jocelyn was also very concerned with all the fire. It does get pretty hot and she just kept asking "why is that thing on fire?" Because...its cool? After the show we slowly made our way out and to the van. I was pooped and my feet were hurting. I was glad we were going to the Holy Land Experience a little later in the morning and we could move a little slower. I was beginning to question my schedule and whether we would make it at this pace. We’ll see!
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Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
We made our way through check-in and off we went to find Norway. Wasn’t really hard since that is where all the other people were going too! 
PassPorter Guide Author
Susan
So, despite their desire to come they felt that they should stay in TX and figure out when they would have to travel to CA. I was very disappointed because I wanted to have my kids have a special vacation time with their Granny. 
There are 25 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren in town. My in-laws all took a vacation to Atlanta this summer and we didn’t join them. Long story - but that is too many people for too long in too small of a situation. I was also disappointed because I wanted to spend time with her as well. And honestly I made planning decisions like the size of the townhouse and van versus car, based on the additional adults. Well, things happen and we were definitely reminded that “all things work together for good” so it ended up being great. OK, so back to Epcot. We were hungry and needed to find dinner quickly. 
I thought my DH would enjoy Morocco and I took the kids to America. I should have followed my first thought and got fish and chips from the UK. Anyway, we ate and hung out and just let the kids play and run a bit while figuring out where to go for viewing Illuminations. I sent my DH to go talk to a couple of Cast Members to get their recommendations while the kids played. 
After the show we slowly made our way out and to the van. I was pooped and my feet were hurting. I was glad we were going to the Holy Land Experience a little later in the morning and we could move a little slower. I was beginning to question my schedule and whether we would make it at this pace. We’ll see! 
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