Disney World 2015 ( Day 8 )

It's Day 8 of our Disney Trip and we're very sad to see it come to a close.  Last night, Charles gathered all of our clothes and washed everything at the Laundry Room near our room and we spent a good portion of the night, once the kids were asleep, packing up so that we could quickly pack our car and leave our "home" for the past 7 nights.   We all decided we will definitely be back as we really enjoyed staying at the Port Orleans Riverside but regretted that we didn't get to explore the resort more than we did.

Nobody is in a really big hurry to officially check out of our Hotel and bring our trip to a close

After feeding Morla and informing Best Friends that we would be in later in the evening to pick her up, we headed back to Epcot for a few hours.

Immediately upon entering, we saw Pluto out taking pictures.  Both other times we entered Epcot, Pluto was in the same place and both times Ashleigh asked if she could go see Pluto. Unfortunately, with the other times, we were rushing to get to one place or another so we had to tell her no, not this time.. Well, as soon as she saw Pluto, she asked again. Knowing there wouldn't be another opportunity, we headed over and allowed the kids to visit with Pluto.   I'm so glad we did, because not only did it make both Ash and Garrett's day, but it turned out being one of my favorite pictures from this trip.

Those smiles make it all worth while!!

Originally we had thought we would head over to Morocco to have lunch but someone said they wanted to have lunch again in the AC at the Electric Umbrella.  We grabbed more burgers and headed up stairs and sat in the same place we had on our second day at Epcot..   The fact that this was the end of our trip was again apparent when both kids didn't want to eat and nobody really felt like doing much.

One Unhappy Camper

With bellies somewhat filled (Ash refused to eat), we headed to our first Fast Pass of the day - Test Track..  Everyone had been looking forward to riding this and luckily we had a fast pass because this is one of those rides that almost always has a huge line. Even with the fast pass, we waited probably 15 minutes before we got to ride it.  Fortunately, there's some really neat computer screens where you can design a car and at the end of the ride they tell you how your particular design performed.  Ashleigh was riding with Daddy and Alyssa, Garrett and I were riding together, so Alyssa and Garrett designed our car.

Garrett and Alyssa design a car

Garrett and Alyssa's Finished Product  and Alyssa and Dad's Design

Everyone enjoyed this ride very much and Ash said she wanted to ride it again. Unfortunately, it had a good 90 minute wait for the standby ride so that wasn't in the cards for us but at least we got to ride it one time.

You can't even see poor Ashleigh. LOL

Alyssa gives a Thumbs up for Test Track

After you get off of Test Track, Chevy had a really nice display of concept cars as well as vehicles you can purchase.. (Go figure, a car lot in Disney World?).  There are also many static interactive displays.  Alyssa spent the first few minutes checking out the cars she felt she deserved - haha - and then they all had fun playing around with the various displays. 

After everyone drooled over the nice cars and had a bit of fun, we headed over to see what the wait times for the standby line was (as said, it turned out to be 90 minutes) but to our shock, Mission Space's Orange line was only a 10 minute wait.  This is, without a doubt, Dad's favorite ride and we thought we were going to have to miss it (since we missed our Fast past on the previous day at Epcot) so we high tailed next door to hop in line.  

Display showing all the locations of the moon Landings (or where we were suppose to land on the moon)

Charles and the kids head into Mission Space

I was extremely worried as to how the kids were going to react to this particular ride.  There are two versions of this ride, the Orange Version which is pretty intense and then the Green Version which doesn't have the positive and negative G's.   We rode the Orange version, which Charles and I both love but because of the intensity of the ride, it is the ONLY ride in Disney World that actually supplies barf bags within arms reach.  Both kids rode it like a pro and they LOVED it!!! 

Like Test Track, Mission Space has a lot of interactive static displays after you exit the ride.  One of these was a game in which two teams (or at least 8 people each) have to work together at a computer screen.  This struck Alyssa's fancy and she decided to give it a try. Her team had two people less then the other team but her team ended up winning.

We had one final Fast Pass ready at this time.  Both Garrett and Ashleigh had requested that we ride Spaceship Earth one more time before we go and I was able to get us a Fast Pass for it. We headed back over to the big Golf Ball and hopped on for one last ride. 

And of course, before we headed out of the park, we had to get one last picture of all of us together.

We were all starting to get hungry again and we had enough credits from our Dining plan to have a meal before we headed back West.  We decided to hit up Downtown Disney and do a bit of souvenir shopping as well as grab an early dinner at the Earl of Sandwich. This turned out to be the only dinner none of us enjoyed - the service was somewhat rude and the server had no idea what was going on with the dining plan (even though we were told they participate)..   

After eating, swinging by the Lego store for Garrett, a toy store for Ashleigh and Once Upon a Christmas for me (I buy a Christmas ornament every time we got to Disney), it was time to say goodbye.  With heavy hearts we loaded up into the car and drove away from the Disney complex headed in back to California..  And wouldn't you know it?? It started raining!! LOL

 

See ya in 2018!!

Disney World 2015 (Day 7)

Day 7 is upon us and it's our final day in the Magic Kingdom Park.  It's really sad to see this part of our trip over with and done, it seems like it was just yesterday we were arriving and checking into our hotel and now we're one day away from leaving :(

Heading into Be Our Guest

We decided to sleep in a bit late again so we ended up arriving at the parking lot right around 1PM knowing we had a 1:45pm lunch reservation at Be Our Guest that we did not want to miss.  This is probably the most coveted reservation in the park at this moment (maybe second to Cinderella's Breakfast in the Castle) and we really got lucky getting it.  However, after parking and taking the tram to the Transportation Center, we were informed that the monorail that runs from the Center to the Magic Kingdom was not working. Our only way to get to the park would be to take the boat and cross the lake.  With little choice in the matter, we headed to the boat and luckily were able to board the boat currently docked.  It took about 20 minutes from boarding the boat, launching and crossing the lake before we made it to the Magic Kingdom.

Once actually inside the park, we knew our quickest way to get over to Fantasyland would be to hop on board the train again and take it over to the Fantasyland Station.   We knew we were going to be late regardless and just hoped that once we got there, the people working at the check in would understand that the monorail was down.

We finally reached Be Our Guest right at 2pm and checked in. No questions were asked and we were send directly into the restaurant without any problems.

This restaurant is absolutely beautiful inside.  The details both make you feel like you are entering a 1700 era French Castle as well as stepping into the Beauty and the Beast story..

While the line wasn't long, the Suits of Armor kept the kids entertained. They talk among themselves, sometimes sing, times sneeze.. They were very entertaining and the kids liked them.

Menu Options During Lunch Time

Placing our Order

Ordering food during lunch is a unique process compared to other quick service meals.  You walk up to a computer screen and make your selections and then you just go find a table in one of the three dining rooms (The Ballroom, The Rose Room or the West Wing).. Once seated, the servers are able to track your table via your Magic Bands  or if you do not have a Magic Band you are given a plastic rose that does the same thing.  When your food is ready, they bring it to you on the old French serving carts with real china and silverware.. Drinks are refillable at drink stations and they also serve coffee and teas if you would like.

We opted to go and sit in the West Wing and managed to score a round table directing in front of the balcony that had the Enchanted Rose and the Magic Mirror that Beast gives to Belle.  There is also the ripped portrait of Prince Adam (Beast's real name) hanging in this room.  Every 15 minutes, one of the petals of the Enchanted Rose falls from the flower and lightening strikes and for a brief moment you can see the picture of the Prince switch to a portrait of Beast.   There are curtains hanging throughout the room and they are all tattered from where Beast has destroyed them.  We were thrilled to find a place to sit in this room as it is probably the smallest of the three dining rooms.  Within about 10 minutes of placing our order and finding a seat, our server pulled up with our food and it was time to eat.

Alyssa and I both opted for the Slow Cooked Braised Pork with mashed potatoes and green beans.. Charles and the kids opted for the Croquet Monsieur sandwich with fries.  All of us ended up getting the Master's cupcake so that we could try the Grey Stuff as we heard it was Delicious (don't believe it? Ask the Dishes)..

Alyssa and I both agreed that the pork was absolutely to die for. Very moist and tender and the gravy was perfect.  The green beans were a bit bland for my taste and I don't think Alyssa cared for them much either..  Charles said his sandwich was really good as well.. The Cupcakes??? Well, lets just say that the Dishes don't lie.. They were really really good.  Foodwise, this quickly became one of our new Favorites and will be on the "Must Do" list for future trips.


With very full tummies, it broke our hearts to leave Be Our Guest but we had a 3pm Fast Pass to allow Ash and Garrett to go see both Rapunzel and Cinderella.  Garrett loves Rapunzel so this was a fast pass made with him in mind..  


Once the Princesses were met, we headed over to once again catch a showing of Philharmagic but on the way we decided to try our hands at pulling the Sword from the Stone..  It didn't budge.. Oh well, they might not be the future King of England but they are still Princes ;)


At 4:50 we had Fast Passes to meet Mickey Mouse over at the Town Square Theater..  This is a very different Mickey Mouse meet as this particular Mickey talks.. I kinda wish I had gone for the regular Mickey meet and greet but I thought this one would be neat.. It kinda freaked Charles out as he wasn't expecting this one to talk.. LOL  Also, this Mickey doesn't really pose with the kids, just kind of plays with them.. *shrugs*

Right next door to Mickey was a meet Tinkerbell so the kids went inside to go meet her..  Dad and Mom sat in the rocking chairs on the front porch of the Town Hall and just people watched while they went through the line.

Of course, by the time the kids came back, it started raining.   We headed inside town hall for about an hour hoping that the rain would stop as we didn't wander too far as we had dinner reservations at 720 nearby.   We tried to hop on the train to give us something to do but just as we got seated (after waiting in the rain) they told us that the train was going to stop running for a bit so we headed back to find someplace dry until our dinner reservation.

Dinner Ressies were at the Crystal Palace.  The Crystal Palace has alright food but most people go for the characters because it features Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore .  However, unfortunately for us, my camera wasn't happy that I hadn't changed out the battery and decided to go on strike, so I wasn't able to get any pictures of the kids with the Characters..

To end our day, we had a final fast pass for Enchanted Tales with Belle.  We headed over there and Charles, Ashleigh and Garrett each got picked to play a part in the retelling of "Beauty and the Beast".. Charles was a suit of armor, Ashleigh was Philippe the Horse and Garrett was an enchanted picture frame.. LOL

It was still raining at this point and Ashleigh had to use the restroom (and refused to use any restroom other than our hotel because they all had automated flushers) so we headed back to the monorail (which was working again) and then headed back to our hotel.. Once again, the kids crashed as soon as their heads touched the pillow and our final day at the Magic Kingdom was officially over..

Tomorrow is our final day at Epcot..