Florida: Day 6

Where are we?  Day 6? I'm starting to feel like this is the trip that never ends!  We've been back for over a month now...sheesh.

We decided another "down" day was in order and headed to the beach. We took a 1.5 hour drive to Clearwater.   It was a beautiful day and clear water it was!  Clear, but freezing although that did not stop the kids from enjoying the waves.  

We played, collected shells, built a sand castle, had a picnic lunch and played some more.  When I was researching which beach we should visit, a website described Clearwater Beach as "sugar sand" and it did NOT disappoint.

All of this, of course, was going on while the supposed "blizzard" was gearing up to sit St. Louis back home.

 

 It was a great break from the hustle and bustle and left us rejuvenated for our final Disney day--or at least that's how I remembered it....

Florida: Day 5

We were lucky enough to have Papa John (my dad, not the pizza) join us on the evening of Day 4.  So, Day 5 brought us to Epcot bright and early.  It has been SO many years since I was at Epcot.  In fact, I am pretty sure the last time I was there I was sporting Jams and a perm.

Amelia's favorite ride was the first she rode--Test Track.  She loved it and rode it 3 more times immediately.  The "it" ride at Epcot is Soarin', though, and she was much less impressed with that one.  At one point during the ride, it looks like a golfer hits a ball straight at you and she is STILL talking about that part over a month later (and how much she didn't like it).

Henry did another great job handling a long day of walking and riding.  She especially seemed to enjoy all of the aquariums of Epcot.  I think he could have watched the fish/sharks/divers all day long.

I love this picture of Amelia, who grabbed Goofy's attention as we were walking by a window. She was so excited!

We spent most of the morning doing the ride thing and then crossed into the countries around lunchtime.  In fact, we ate lunch in England--fish and chips, of course.  

Jason read in a tour book about a kid's passport kit that can be bought in gift shops around Epcot.  We decided to give it a try with Amelia and it was very popular.  At each country we visited, she got her passport stamped and a little note written to her about the country she was visiting.  The Canadian representative even mentioned they were "Home of Justin Beiber!" (and hockey).

Amelia had no idea who "Marie" from the Aristocats was, but she still wanted to wait in the short line to meet her.  Upon our return home, we rented the movie from the library, so now we are all caught up!

Just another picture of Henry being tortured..this time in Morocco, I think.

Meeting Mulan was a pretty big highlight for Amelia.  Of course, that was shortly after getting stood up by Alice (in Wonderland).

Snow White was a very fun character to watch!  I can only hope her voice isn't like that in "real life".

She made a point to get some pictures with Henry even though we weren't really planning on it.  It really amazes me how genuine these characters seem.  It is also pretty incredible that the characters never made us feel rushed one single time.

I thought Epcot was great!  I actually ended up liking it better than Hollywood Studios.  Of course, it was an absolutely beautiful day, so I'm sure that helped!

Florida: Day 4

We decided to slow things down a bit for Day 4.  After two days at the parks, everyone could definitely use some down time.  So, Downtown Disney it was.  The area is mostly shopping and restaurants, but there is lots to see and do without spending a dime!

I'm not sure if I've conveyed how much Amelia LOVES the Peter Pan story.  Her favorite character is not Tinkerbell like you might imagine, but Wendy Darling. (She even does an English accent:  "Pee-ta!").  She was beyond excited when she saw Wendy (and Peter and Tinkerbell) flying overhead in one of the shops.  She would not rest until her picture had been properly taken with pretty much the entire Peter Pan cast!

The kids tried on a few hats...

Hung out with Lego Woody...

and did some acorn collecting.

Amelia couldn't help herself when an obnoxious pop song came on the outdoor speakers.

And that is precisely when Henry decided to check out the acorn collection!

 The biggest hit (for me anyway) of the Downtown Disney area was the pin trading shop.  Amelia started the trip out with 6 Disney trading pins (that I bought on Ebay) and was surprisingly into the whole trading thing.  In fact, I was wishing I had bought a few more because she was at the point where she didn't really want to trade any more of her pins.  While searching for the elusive Wendy pin in the store, one of the employees offered to sell us some old trading pins for only $1 each!  They weren't at all attractive, which made them that much easier to trade!


After lunch, dancing, and shopping we decided to stop into The Rainforest Cafe for dessert.  We sprung for the Volcano--something I've been wanting to try with Amelia since our trip to the Dallas version of this restaurant last summer.  It's a little pricey, but between the 5 of us, we couldn't even finish it!

And then it was back to our "Florida home" for swimming and resting up for Day 5!

Florida: Day 3

Day 3 brought us to Disney Hollywood Studios.  I had never been to this park before (apparently it used to be called MGM).  I had heard lots of good things about it and many people seemed to think it was the second best park of the four for Amelia's age group. 

Our first stop was the new Toy Story Mania ride.  We had heard that we needed to get there when the park opened or try to get a fast pass.  On SLOW days the wait is 2 hours and up.  We waited about 40 minutes or so and I am glad we didn't wait anymore.  It was okay, I guess, but definitely did not live up to the hype in my opinion!

I almost enjoyed waiting in line more than I enjoyed the ride itself.  There was so much to see!

We did a few more rides after Toy Story and saw a couple of shows.  Nothing really wowed us too much, but Amelia enjoyed herself.  We happened upon this drive-in movie theater restaurant after a friend recommended it to us.  We failed to make a reservation, but we came at just the right time apparently and got a prime seat.  The tables were shaped like cars and they were all facing a gigantic movie screen that was showing "Tom and Jerry" among other things.  It was a little pricey, but really fun!

After lunch the kids burned off some energy at the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground.  This huge Play Doh container actually smelled like Play Doh!

It was a fun place, but a parent's nightmare.  There are so many tubes and tunnels that it is very hard to keep track of where your kid goes.  I could barely keep up with Amelia and my claustrophobic self didn't really appreciate all of the tight little spaces.

We ended up leaving in the afternoon and Amelia, Jason, my mom, and I returned that evening for the Fantasmic show--one of my favorite attractions at DHS.

But, the highlight for me was definitely the Tower of Terror!  In fact, that was my favorite ride of all of the Disney parks!  I ended up riding it 3 times and it was so exciting every time! Maybe by the time we return to Disney Amelia will be old enough (or tall enough, really) to ride it with me!

Florida: Day 2

Day 2 began with a late start and rain showers.   Which, as you can imagine, was not on my agenda.  We decided to tackle the Magic Kingdom this day since we figured it wouldn't be as crowded as other days and we were hoping the threat of rain would keep some people away.

As we pulled into the parking lot, however, the "threat" of rain became a reality and we were grossly unprepared.  No umbrellas, no ponchos, no waterproof jackets.  But, what we did have was a super excited little girl, who's face lit up at the site of the characters stepping off the train during the welcome show.  I must admit that I got a bit teary eyed when I saw her get so excited.  I fully expected my mom to be feeling the same.  When I looked over to catch her eye, she (with her hood up and glasses smudged with raindrops) glanced back and said, "I ain't feeling it yet".  

 But, thankfully, that was the low point of the day.  Minutes later we were through the gates and meeting Drizella, Anastasia, and the wicked Stepmother.  And because Amelia was dressed as Cinderella, they were especially funny.  The child in front of us (a boy) decided last minute he DID NOT want his picture taken with the ladies and started to throw a fit.  Anastasia took one look at him and said, "Well, you're never going to get a princess acting like that!".

Then it was on to meet the fairy Godmother on the other side of the castle.  By now, the rain had stopped.  Whew.

We met a few more folks, rode a few rides, and then stumbled upon this Jamboree.  Amelia was all about dancing and doing the Hokey Pokey.  She even insisted I take a picture of her.

As you can see, our day was filled with rides and characters.  Henry was pretty go-with-the-flow about everything.  Day 2 was a long day for us at Magic Kingdom.  The poor guy took 2 naps in his stroller which allowed us to spend lots of time there. 

Belle was certainly one of Henry's favorite characters of the day.  He just kept staring at her with a goofy half smile.  Belle must have some draw over my kids--she was Amelia's favorite last visit.

While Peter Pan was one of Amelia's favorites of the day, Henry did not care for him.  Henry was already fussy while we were waiting in line to meet him and was screeching a little in his stroller.  When it was our turn to talk to Peter, he asked Henry if he was trying to crow like a rooster.  And then he asked if we wanted to hear him crow.  We encouraged him, of course, but we were certainly not expecting the noise that came from this man.  It was so incredibly loud and after that Henry was done with Peter Pan.  So, of course, I grabbed Henry and stood right next to him for a picture

Henry is so obsessed with cars (which he calls "vroom vrooms") that he was in heaven watching the speedway.  Incidentally, this was Amelia's favorite ride as well--but for other reasons.  She enjoyed being the driver!

It was really a fun day and as you can see, the weather ended up being beautiful--60 and sunny! Amelia surprised us by riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad AND the Haunted Mansion.  She thought it was especially neat when she got to be in charge of the time card on Big Thunder.  She had to wear the necklace from when she joined the line until we got on the ride so that the employees could report the accurate wait time.  A very important job, you know.