Saturday, August 20th, 2011
The kids had gone to bed right after we watched the Epcot fireworks from the balcony (and when I say balcony, it wasn’t really the balcony, but the walkway around the outside of the hotel that provided access to the rooms). John and I weren’t that far behind them. In fact, I think we put the kids to bed and then immediately John climbed into bed and I took a shower and climbed into bed. We were pretty sound before too long.
At some point in the night, I became aware of someone walking through the room with a flashlight. I figured that Anna had gotten out of bed and was walking around the room with the flashlight. I kind of hoped that John would wake up to yell at her. I felt safe because I had carefully bolted the door the night before, so I knew she wouldn’t be walking around outside the room. I knew that I had packed a flashlight, but was vaguely aware that I hadn’t unpacked it. She must have dragged it out of the suitcase.
I became vaguely aware that the light from the flashlight was not as bright as the light would have been from the one in the suitcase. I also recognized that there were two sets of feet moving around the room. One light, and one just a little less light and a little less sure.
It wasn’t until my mother spoke that I realized there were more than just the four of us in the room.
“Did you lose something?” my mother asked. I finally opened my eyes to find a 76 year old pajammed woman standing over my bed with a tired flashlight. As much as I love my mother, it was not a pleasant sight at four in the morning.
I saw, behind her, my daughter. Apparently, with excitement that went on yesterday afternoon, we never locked the adjoining doors. So apparently Anna woke up, got out of bed, went next door to see Grammy. It was probably the highlight of the trip for my mother. She's still talking about it.
We got everyone sorted into bed and the adjoining doors locked. Then we went back to sleep.
We woke up and got moving around 8 a.m. John went to the food court and came back with 4 orders of beignets and an order of biscuits and sausage gravy. I had a slight little panic right then and there at him spending 5 of our snack credits at one go. I was afraid we would run out of points. The beignets were good, but not as good as my memory of them at Café Du Monde in New Orleans, but seriously, who would look a gift deep-fat fried pastry coated in powdered sugar in the mouth? The biscuits and gravy were actually really good, though.
After we’d scraped the powdered sugar off the kids and got them dressed, we headed out for Epcot.
Here comes our big Disney complaint. The trip was magical. Truly. It was probably our best family experience together. The busses were horrific, especially the first couple of days. It was enough to wind John up for at least an hour.
Disney provides all kinds of transportation for its guests. In the past, my experience has been good. Things, however, this year were not as good. I’m not sure why. In the past, there would be a bus leaving our hotel for each destination about every 15 – 20 minutes. It was great because it would start at our hotel, and then move on to the hotel next to us and then to the destination. On the way back, the bus would stop at our hotel first and then move onto the neighboring hotel.
I guess the bus route has reversed in the five or six years since I’ve been at this hotel.
By the time we got to the bus stop on Saturday morning, several other families were headed out to the parks at the same time. We were headed for Epcot. There were at least 4 Magic Kingdom busses, and at least 2 of every other kind of bus before an Epcot bus came. We waited at least 45 minutes, if not an hour. When the bus got there, it was already full, and there was quite a crowd assembled at our bus stop to go to Epcot. We were packed on like sardines.
We were finally on our way, though, and Epcot is my all time favorite place to be. I do now have a soft spot for Magic Kingdom because that is my children’s favorite, but I’ll always love Epcot. During this trip, I didn’t get the chance to spend as much time there as I would have liked, but I was ready for the day.
We had a stroller, which we bought on line for $35. We had two easy-to-manage strollers at home, but I wanted one that was rated for a higher weight. My kids have really outgrown them. Anna’s feet hang over hers and she runs her feet along the ground while she’s sitting and you’re pushing. I figured that the kids could take turns and it would be cheaper than rent it. Besides, since we were flying Southwest, we could check as much luggage as we wanted to. It made a lot of sense.
Anna wouldn’t share the stroller, so poor Jack had to hoof it the whole trip. While there was a little whining on his part, it was nothing compared to the whining (and screaming and hitting) we would have endured from Anna had she actually had to walk. Jack was a definite trooper and I’m so proud of him for it.
We got to Epcot, got our bags checked, walked through the turnstiles, and then were in the park. Of course, I made everyone stop for the obligatory picture in front of Spaceship Earth—or as Jack likes to call it “The Giant Golf Ball Ride.”
Then we went on the ride. It was kind of a litmus test. I knew it got dark and went backwards. I used it as a measure to see what Jack would tolerate. He loved it. His favorite part was the very end of the ride when you get to see what life will be like for you in the future. Then he thought it was cool that when you left the ride, you could see yourself on the wall. It was actually a short line. I don’t want to say that we walked right on, but it was pretty close
We headed for Nemo. Again, we didn’t walk right on, but we didn’t really wait. The kids liked this one, but didn’t love it. They didn’t ask to do it again. Jack definitely preferred the Giant Golf Ball Ride.
We stayed at the Living Seas place to catch Turtle Talk with Crush. This was almost a panic attack. During the show, there is an opportunity for kids to go and sit in front of the screen. There they are able to ask Crush some questions and he answers them. It’s kind of cool. Anna didn’t seem to want to, which was good because that would have been a mess. Jack didn’t want to do it, and when I pressed him, he started to cry. So he sat next to me on the bench. When the show was over, he said that he wished Crush had talked to him. I pointed out that maybe next time he could sit on the floor and talk to Crush. Crush wasn’t able to see him from way back. He’d have to sit on the floor. Crush was only a sea turtle after all and couldn’t see that far. We never went back, though; we found other things we liked better.
We went to Imagination! next. Again, it wasn’t quite a walk on, but it wasn’t a long wait either. And again, while the kids liked it, they didn’t love it.
We had lunch at the Electric Umbrella. This was our first experience with the amount of food. I forget what everyone else had, but I’m pretty sure that there was mac n’ cheese and grapes involved. I had a cheeseburger with mushrooms that was pretty tasty. Then for dessert, we shared chocolate and mango gelato (two different kinds, not mixed. It was tasty, though, when you mixed it). That was super yummy. I would definitely eat there again. My only complaint was the crowd was a little much—the tables a little too close.
After lunch, we went back to the hotel and swam in the pool. It was pretty cool.
We got dressed and then headed back to Epcot. There was another long wait for the bus. We waited again for another 30 minutes for a bus to come. In the meantime, multiple busses for all the other parks, including the water parks and Downtown Disney came and left empty.
Finally a bus driver stopped to ask us where we were headed, and John gave him an earful. He actually told the guy that the transportation “sucks.” He went on and on, but then apologized to the guy saying that he knew the driver himself wasn’t to blame. The driver called in and a couple of minutes later an Epcot bus showed up.
After that, bus service was still not spectacular, but it was decidedly better. An outside contractor was called in, Disney began using designated busses to our hotel, and they began using Magical Express busses to help out. We still waited, but it wasn’t as bad. Waiting for a second bus didn’t necessarily add hours onto our bus experience.
We got to Epcot in time to ride the Golf Ball Ride one more time. We still had time before heading to dinner at the Garden Grill in the Land, so we stopped off at Club Cool to check out some soda from around the world.
Once we got to the Land, we went and checked in at The Garden Grill for our table. We had to wait for a bit, but not too long. Then we got to our table.
The place was jumping which was a change from my previous experiences there. It hadn’t ever been this crowded. But the tables were filled and staff was jumping.
What hadn’t changed was the quality of the food. It was really good. Our waiter described it as a buffet brought to our table. We had bread and salad. Then the adults had a plate brought to us with steak and rice, turkey and mashed potatoes, and fish and veggies. I forget what was on the kids’ plate, but it included mac n’ cheese, chicken legs, and broccoli. We all cleaned our plates. Anna chowed on the chicken and mac n’ cheese. Jack nibbled on everything else, but really enjoyed the broccoli. John and I both liked everything on the plate we had. He especially liked the steak. I liked the potatoes a lot. The fish was nice, but I’ve had better. We got seconds. On everything. Most of the food on our plates was grown at Disney, some of it specifically at the land.
This was one of our character meals. Pluto, Chip, Dale, and Mickey all came to our table over the course of the meal. It was actually pretty nice. At first, Anna wanted nothing to do with the characters, but Dale was really good. Pluto had come first and Jack went to him. Anna would not. Dale came next and he went to Anna and me. After that, she was just as much as a character ham as her brother.
After dinner, we meandered down toward the lagoon to stake out a place to watch fireworks. The kids made friends with other kids around them and with the ducks that were waiting for snacks. We shared popcorn with the families around us, eating some and handing more off to the ducks who ate the popcorn out of our hands. John and I shared a beer. We sat on the ground and watched the fireworks show, Illuminations.
It was amazing. The fireworks were really, really good, but in the middle of it, a giant globe is sailed out to the middle of the lagoon and a little light show is played out on the continents. Jack was absolutely amazed by that globe…for about 24 hours actually.
After the fireworks, we went off with the masses toward the bus to our hotel.
We all collapsed in our beds and fell sound asleep. There were no more night time visitations.
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