Needless to say the kids slept like logs after Hollywood Studios and we were very grateful when they all woke up in GREAT moods for our 7:15am breakfast at Chef's Mickeys. I guess when they were in college Bryson used to sing this loud "Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning" song up and down the hallways at the Beta house the morning after a big party. So Rob figured he would return the favor on the early mornings of our trip. Unfortunately the rest of us had to experience it too. But it was funny.
The Chef Mickey restaurant was right inside our hotel so luckily for us we could just walk right downstairs. As soon as we sat down at our table this really Goofy guy stopped by to say Good Morning.
and to make sure these two were still hanging in there.
I think Mickey was genuinely excited to see the kids. At least the face on the masks sure makes you think so.
Cooper was sitting in exactly the right spot for each of the characters to hug on Cooper when they walked to take their breaks.
This particular morning the kids seemed most excited to see Donald.
I think they might have thought this was Howard the Duck not Donald Duck
We weren't sure if Minnie would be there but she must have known Meg was dying to see her.
We figured we should get a girls pic too!
even Pluto made an appearance at our table.
After breakfast we went back to the room to regroup. Ilena and I changed up our plans and instead of going straight to Epcot we figured the kids might like a couple of hours in the Magic Kingdom first. Plus is was raining and we figured it would be easier since we new our way around. We ran into the last of the Mickey Squad when we walked through the gate.
Did you know there is an old fashioned Barber Shop in the Magic Kingdom? Well there is, so we decided to get my guys some haircuts and Bryson joined us.
Honestly the haircuts were not the greatest but it is still fun to say they got their haircuts at Disney. We heard Splash Mountain was open so we headed that way. We were already wet so what the heck?
We then somehow convinced Meg to try Thunder Mountain, BAD IDEA she did not like it, You can barely see her crouched down between her mom and dad up in front of us. Cooper and Brody love it so much that they didn't even want a grown up sitting with them.
In order to cheer Meg back up we decided to head back over to Dumbo. For any of you that have been to Disney World they are redoing Fantasyland and it is going to have some amazing new things like Ariel's Grotto and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Unfortunately it doesn't open until November or December so we spent our trip walking next to these huge construction walls hoping for a glimpse. Well we got lucky and ran into a family walking out of a door in the construction walls and asked them what they had been doing and they let us in on a little secret. So we haded over to a different door and "volunteered to help". The cast member opened the gate and there it was in full view Maurice's cottage from Beauty and the Beast. I was beside myself with excitement!! We were getting a sneak preview.
I think it cheered Meg up!
We all loved the details both outside
and inside the cottage.
They led us into is workshop where a magic mirror opened up and led us into Beast castle where we met Madame Wardrobe
She told us that we would be helping retell the story of the day Beast and Belle fell in love and she asked for volunteers to play characters in the story. Rob became "Royal Guard", Cooper "Philippe" - the horse, and Meg "Chip" the teacup.
Then we were all led into the Beast Library where Lumiere the candlestick helped us re-enact the story of the day the Beast and Belle fell in Love. Enter Belle. I will add it was pretty cool to be right up there in the action.
Lumiere made sure the Royal Guards marched the entire time.
Each character was introduced at the appropriate time of the story. Enter Phillipe.
He was so cute standing there looking up at Belle. I wonder what he was thinking.
And you could just tell Miss Meg, excuse me Chip could not believe she was getting to meet Belle.
Then they all danced (well Rob had to March) around the room singing "Be Our Guest".
then Belle thanked each of them for helping gave them huge hugs and a special bookmark to keep in their favorite book (an ode to her love of reading).
She looks as smitten with my husband as I am.
To be honest I was very disappointed we weren't spending all day at Epcot. Being the nerd I am it is one of my favorites to go to. But this experience changed it all.....I AM SO EXCITED that we got to this sneak preview it made the trip for me.
The boys were anxious to hit a couple more fast rides before we left for the day. We had planned on being back around 1pm and since we were running behind we decided to make our way out of the park. Rob and Bryson ran over to hit Space Mountain again, Ilena took the boys somewhere (I can't remember) and I had Meg. Meg and I took our own quick ride on the teacups.
And ran into Merida (from Brave) on our way to meet Ilena. So they came over to us.
They didn't want their picture with her but Cooper and Brody were both quick to tell her they have their very own bows too!
Meg wanted to show off her bow hunting skills in front of the castle afterwards.
One of many little arguments about who gets to stand where.
Since I didn't have my own little princess to snuggle with I stole some from Meggie.
Surprisingly the kids all went down for naps when we got back to the hotel. I even had one! We had 4:30 reservations for a late lunch/early dinner at Epcot so we got good and rested up. Come of us had to change outfits since w had gotten so wet.
Meg and Cooper woke up happy as can be. Brody was starting to get a headache but was also really excited for something new. We hopped on the monorail and headed to Epcot. We got there just in time for a few pictures before our reservation.
(note: we made the guys put regular shirts on in case the restaurant had a dress code ;). WE ate lunch at Coral Reef it is a really cool restaurant right on the aquarium walls. The kids had fun spotting all the sharks while we ate. We used one of our "table service" meals for this one. And you really get a ton of food. The kids loved their dessert because it had Nemo on it.
Right next door was the Finding Nemo ride (one of my favorites) and then you can go to the "Turtle Talk with Crush" Show. Here is wikipedias description "Guests are admitted to a movie theater-like room featuring what appears to be a large aquarium-style window opening onto an undersea vista. Children are encouraged to sit on a carpeted area up front so that they may have a better view, while parents and other adults sit on benches behind them. The host and moderator gives a brief introduction to the show, and then Crush swims down to appear in the window. Crush looks and sounds much as he does in Finding Nemo, complete with animated facial expressions and subtle gestures. With the help of the moderator, Crush selects children and adults from the audience and engages them individually in dialogue, asking them questions and responding with quick wit and humor to questions about his life as a sea turtle or any other questions guests choose to ask. Crush individually chooses the children by saying what they are wearing" Brody's head was starting to hurt worse so he sat up on the benches with us and Cooper and Meg sat right up front. Crush answered the question of a little boy on the left of us and then asked if anyone else had a question. Cooper immediately raised his hand (most likely because all the other kids were and Crush said "the little Dude in the gray and white striped shell, what's your name?" Cooper spoke up clearly but when crush asked what was his question Cooper's response was "uh, uh........".(I was thinking crap he doesn't know what to ask) and then "very slowly and quietly you hear "C-O-O.....P.......E-R" Crush's jaw dropped and he goes "Dude, that guys there on the bench (talking about Rob) just said, wow he spelled his name". I thought I was going to cry, it is the first time he has EVER spelled his name without being prompted after the o's. We were all so proud.
Outside of Crush's tank we met Bruce the shark. He tested out how the kiddos tasted but he remembered that "kids are not food"
We headed over to "Future World" so that the adults could check out the ride Mission Space
I got to hang out with these two while they all rode. They had fun in the little splash pad outside the ride exit.
I could hardly get them to stand still for pictures.
While we were waiting I overheard a little girl that had a phone call waiting for her. It was Goofy calling to wish her a Happy Birthday. Did you know all the gift shops in the park will do this for you? I decided to surprise Brody when he got off and the sales lady asked him if he was Brody Varner and that he had a phone call waiting. I think Brody thought it was pretty cool.
Both Ilena and Brody got a little nauseous on the ride and so we decided to just walk around the park until the fireworks show. At that point Brody's head was pounding and Meg was getting tired. Bryson and Rob decided that was a good time to debut their outfits.
Bryson had developed a pretty bad blister on his foot so I told him and Rob that if they would just walk around the "World" part of the park with us I would by them a beer. Cooper stopped walking looked up at me and said in all seriousness "Mommy, will you get me a beer too?" Sometimes he just cracks me up.
We stayed for the show and even Brody with his pounding headache thought it was pretty great. By now we figured Brody was probably dehydrated and he was starting to run a fever. This was probably the hottest evening of our whole trip.
Bryson was in need of a little "chew" so we decided Ilena and I would go get the kids in bed while the guys ran over via a cab to a gas station. (note: there is no tobacco sales on Disney property- love this). I had to snap this picture of how sweaty Bryson was. Sorry Ilena but I thought it was hilarious.
I think Cooper loved everything. Maybe next time we can go back and spend some time in the various countries of Epcot.
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