Day three started with a room change. Our first room faced the highway and it was just too noisy. We tried for two nights and really had lousy sleep. We asked to be moved to a pool side room and slept much better that night! Totally worth the time and effort and pack up and move. I am not one to take everything out and put it into drawers anyway (which I am beginning to think I should. I am so annoyed with the suitcases and everything being packed into them and searching every time we need to change clothes. Quite annoying) so most of our stuff was still in suitcases. When you travel do you take everything out and hang it up and put it into the drawers? Just curious.
We spent day three at Epcot. We all agreed that Test Track was the biggest hit. Mike and Connor had done it last year (waited in line for 2 hours, Connor fell asleep on Mike’s shoulder) but Noah had been too nervous to go on it. This year we all went and it was crazy how fast those cars went. I am pretty sure I have a permanent face lift.
We learned the art of “fast passes” this year and this made the whole standing-in-line-forever-to-get-on-a-ride a thing of the past (at least on this day). The two biggest rides at Epcot are Soarin’ and Test Track. We got fast passes for both the minute we walked in and never stood in line for more than 15 minutes the whole day. Amazing. And my feet appreciate it!
We ate in one of the “lands” choosing Italy. The food was super yummy. Noah ate spaghetti and said it was better than mine. Ragu would be heart-broken.
We took the boat back-and-forth from each side of the park. We had never done this before either and sure saved on energy. The boats set sail every 15 minutes so it was only a short wait each time.
It rained as we left that park that night.
Day four was our “off” day. We were supposed to spend it by the pool. Unfortunately, it was not the nicest day. Temps were cooler (low 70’s) and it sprinkled some too. We decided to do a little mini golfing in the hopes it would clear up. The place we went to was interesting with a large volcano in the middle that "erupted" every 20 minutes or so with fire. You could actually feel the heat! Connor was not impressed and was nervous about the next volcanic episode the whole time. Connor struggled with loud noises on this trip and he could often be found with his hands over his ears (fireworks, loud musical numbers in shows, etc).
It did stop raining, but it never really got sunny. The kids didn’t care though. They swam and swam and we even ate lunch by the pool. No rain, just cloudy.
That night we headed back over to Downtown Disney for supper.
We ate at
T-Rex, which was a lot of fun! We had no idea what was in store for us! Of course, they put us into the Ice Age room (they knew we were homesick for MN) and we had a lot of fun eating while meteor showers rained overhead. The whole room was blue for awhile and then pink, hence the weird hue in all the pictures. I had a yummy chicken/craisin/glazed pecan/gorgonzola/vinaigrette salad. Mike had a shrimp meal. My salad was really good. Mike’s shrimp was so-so.
The boys both really liked the Lego store. They had an outdoor section where you could build your own car and race them against other kids down a ramp. Connor had a great time building here.
While checking out some shops, I discovered
Basin. I LOVE this store. I want to work at this store. I want to own this store. I want to spend large amounts of time at this store. They sell specialty soaps/lotions/creams. Their specialty is hand-cut soaps. Noah and I (while the other two were in the bathroom) smelled every.single.bar.of.soap. I was in heaven. These soaps are handmade and filled with gorgeous shapes/figures and hand cut to whatever ounce you want. I bought two, Hawaiian jasmine and lavender. I can’t wait to try it, although it is so gorgeous I hate to wreck it.
Another two successful days!
The lines were horrible at Magic Kingdom. That was disappointing and annoying at the same time. Made for a much longer day and there were things we wanted to see that we just couldn’t wait in line for 2 hours to see.
We did walk through the Swiss Family Tree House that takes you high above the park and allows you to see how that family lived while stranded on that island.
We also rode the Pirates of the Caribbean ride which takes you through the scenes of the movie on boats on a river. Pretty cool.
We ate supper at Casey’s Corner. It’s a little sports themed restaurant that serves ball park food. They show black and white sports themed Disney cartoons. Connor sat on the wooden bleachers and drank his chocolate milk and watched while the rest of us ate our hot dogs.
No trip to Magic Kingdom is complete without the Parade of Lights. This year Connor and dad ran to ride Splash Mountain while Noah and I saved spots along the parade route. They pipe music throughout the whole park and it’s like you’re in another land.
Finally, a day at Magic Kingdom would not be complete with a trip to the Main Street Confectionary for candy before the fireworks. This candy store has every type of candy you can imagine and my personal favorite is the Jelly Belly jelly beans! They have every flavor imaginable and you can fill your own bag with the ones you like. Connor also loves this place because they have his favorite (M&M’s) in every color and you can make you own bag of these too. Did you know teal green ones taste the best?
Our last day at the parks was spent at Hollywood Studios. We were looking forward to this park because the past two years we had been to Disney the lines had been nonexistent at this park, and after the day at Magic Kingdom, we were tired of standing in line. Unfortunately, this did not happen this year. The lines were long and there were many attractions (mostly shows) that shut down at 5:00 and we never got a chance to see them. That was a huge bummer.
One of the biggest shows at Hollywood Studios is the Lights, Motors, Action: Extreme Stunt Show which gives you a behind the scenes look at film making secrets with vehicle stunts and amazing pyrotechnics. There is lots of fast car chases and explosions, which is right up a little boys alley!
We went to a new show this year; the Star Wars Jedi Training Academy where we watched a dozen kids go through training to become Jedi Knights (unfortunately Noah and Connor did not get picked for this, but they still had fun watching the others). Darth Vader comes out at the end and each of the newly appointed Knights gets to fight him. Really fun to see. We spent some time after watching the training and riding the Star wars ride in the gift shop to spend Mommy’s free money! We even bought the Star Wars monopoly game.
The Journey into Narnia and the Voyage of the Little Mermaid were two other shows we enjoyed while there that day. But, the best show we saved for last.
We had set up a package deal to eat at a nice restaurant and see the show Fantasmic that evening. This show is a nighttime fireworks and water show starring Mickey Mouse and a bunch of Disney characters and plays classic Disney music and songs. This was by far the most expensive meal we ate while there the entire week so we were pretty excited. Stear clear of Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano.
All I can is….YUCK. Not a single one of us had a good meal. We EACH got an appetizer, main entrée, and dessert (are you seeing dollar signs? You should be) and the only thing good enough to brag about was one of the deserts (not both). Oh, Mike decided his steak wasn’t too bad either. We were so disappointed, not to mention a little ticked that we spent so much money on a yucky food. However, along with the meal came seats to this show and we knew the show would be impossible to get into otherwise.
The show was wonderful and well worth the wait of an hour (at least we could sit and wait and not stand!)
All and all, a great time was had in Disney for the Budachs. It was quite difficult to come back. Especially when the temps are an unseasonable 28 degrees. We are thinking next year might be a year to skip Disney and go see our beloved Twins in training camp in Fort Meyers and lay on the beach. Stay tuned!
