Watching Illuminations at Epcot

After our nap, Sweet Pea dressed up as Tinkerbell again.



We took the bus to Epcot and headed to the Rose & Crown pub in the United Kingdom potion of the Worlds Showcase for dinner.



I picked this restaurant for dinner because it is known for having a good view of Epcot's evening fireworks show, Illuminations. Our reservations were for 7:50, but I checked in almost 20 minutes early and requested a table on the patio with a view of the fireworks. The staff explained that they would try to accommodate us, but obviously couldn't promise anything. We hung around the United Kingdom pavilion and waited for our buzzer to signal that our table was ready.

Grandma Trudy and Ross were busy trying to get a purchase offer together on a condo for Trudy and making calls to her realtor an lawyer and even one of my realtor friends for advice.

Sweet Pea had a wonderful time running around in a short hedge maze.

We didn't get called to dinner until about 8:15pm and we were all very hungry, but we did get a really nice patio table overlooking the lagoon where the fireworks show was going to take place.

We ordered a delicious plate of cheese from the U.K. as an appetizer. Sweet Pea ordered tomato soup for dinner, Ross ordered a cottage pie and I ordered the fish and chips. Ross's meal was just okay, but the fish and chips were really special. I lost half of my meal to Ross. Lol.





During dinner, Illuminations started. On the right, you can
see the image of North and South America that were projected on a huge spinning globe.



As the show progressed, many other things were shown on the globe such as people's faces, balloons, jets, etc. there were also fireworks all over the lagoon. It was a lot of fun.




One of the best parts of dinner was the Sticky Toffee Pudding with custard for dessert. It was outstanding.

We left long after the park closed and Sweet Pea "pretended" to
sleep on the bus ride back to the cabin.



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Rope Drop @ Magic Kingdom

We arrived before rope drop at the Magic kingdom today. Cast members sang and danced on the balcony as we waited for Mickey Mouse's train to arrive.

Sweet Pea was so excited to see Snow White, Mickey and Minnie Mouse and several other characters get off of the train.

Ross went for Space Mountain fast passes,while Trudy, Sweet Pea and I headed straight for the Tinkerbell meet & greet. Sweet Pea got a picture with a fairy named Terance.

Sweet Pea was totally star-struck by Tinkerbell and could not even really speak.

Since we were already in Adventurland, we decided to ride the flying carpets.

Ross and Trudy rode behind Sweet Pea and me.

Once we were loaded into the "carpets", we looked up and saw Aladdin and Princess Jasmine briskly walking by. I can't believe how neat this quick snapshot of them with my phone turned out.

Below is a picture of the infamous spitting camel sculpture that sprays unwary riders with water as they come by, but Sweet Pea steered us well out of reach every time our carpet came near.

Next all of us rode Pirates of the Caribbean and then the Jungle Cruise. Our guide was by far the most funny and enthusiastic I've ever heard.

Our Space Mountain FP were about to expire, so we left Grandma Trudy to do some shopping while we went to use them.
Ross and I had previously learned that Big Thunder Mountain was closed for refurbishment, but hadn't broken the news to Sweet Pea yet. It is her favorite ride, so we were worried that she would take it hard. We decided that telling her right before her first ride ever on Space Mountain would be a good time.
We walked her over to the giant wall that separated the crowds from Big Thunder Mountain and showed her all the construction. There were a few tears, but she recovered quickly and we were on our way to Tomorrowland.

I was more nervous about Sweet Pea riding Space Mountain than she was, part because the coaster is almost totally in the dark and set up toboggan style so I knew that Sweet Pea would be siting in a separate seat in front of me and not next to me.
I took this right before it was our turn to board.

During the ride, I couldn't see her and when I reached around the seat to put my hand on her shoulder, I felt her all scrunched down in her seat. I was terrified that she was terrified.
I didn't need to worry though because she loved it. Afterward she explained that she was just scrunched into the corner because it was more comfortable.
On our way back to Grandma Trudy, we saw the talking trashcan. I thought Sweet Pea would love it, but she wasn't very interested so we moved on.

This was taken in queue
For the Tiki Room.

The Tiki Room mostly consisted of robotic singing birds. Sweet Pea liked the Tiki Room far better than the rest of us.
After that we hit the Hall of Presidents on our way out. I was surprised by how interesting ithe show was and seeing all of the animatronic presidents made me wonder when exactly men started wearing modern 3 piece suits.


We waited on the curb of Main Street USA for Grandma Trudy and then headed back to fort Wilderness for lunch.

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First Night at the Magic Kingdom.

Grandma Trudy was very eager to make it to the Magic Kingdom, so after our naps we headed over. The lights along Main Street were just coming on, guests were already staking out spots to watch the parade and throngs of street cart vendors were selling glowing Mickey hats and light up toys.

Right away we ran into a couple of cast members who were enticing children to play games with a large parachute. Sweet Pea had a fun time getting in on the action.



We stopped for a quick photo in front of the castle.




Since most of the people were crowded along the parade route, the lines for the rides were very short. We watched the Monsters Inc. Comedy Show and Sweet Pea was featured on the Princess cam.

Next we rode the Buzz Lightyear ride.



Here is a picture of the picture they took of us on the ride. Sweet Pea is hard to see, but is in the seat next me.



Sweet Pea loves getting her photo taken after the ride with the captured Zerg.



After the ride, we stepped outside and the fireworks show was starting. We had a surprisingly good view from Tomorrowland.




We rode the Carousel of Progress which is a circular theater that depicts a single family living at 4 different times. The original was envisioned by Walt Disney for the
1964(?) World's Fair and looked as though it was probably sponsored by General Electric.



The neat thing about the theater is that the audience revolves 1/5th if the way around the the stage after each period of time to view the next part of the show. Below is a picture of the 1900's kitchen.




The next picture is from 1920.



I missed taking a picture of the 1940's, partly because it looked like someone had dumped a cup of soda on the stage. The poor dog, Rover, was dripping wet. I notified a vast member so they could clean him up, but Sweet Pea was super concerned about him.

The picture below is of the last time period. I assume that in 1964 this was originally really cool, but now it is a crazy amalgam of the 1980's, 1990's and an imaginary futuristic stove that didn't work correctly. It really needs a major update.



After the Carousel of Progress, we headed for the exit. Sweet Pea and I waited on Main Street while Grandma Trudy shopped in the Emporium for a bit. Sweet Pea really wanted a balloon, but I said "no" for this night. She was gazing longingly at a vendor who was hawking them in the pictures below.







Just before we left, the last Electric Parade was starting and Sweet Pea begged to stay and watch it, so we did. If you look closely directly below, you can see Tinkerbell, on her float.







It was very cold on the way back to the cabin. We had to bundle up on the golf cart because we were freezing. Sweet Pea has a towel on her lap.



Sweet dreams!



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my iPhone.

Epcot Round 2

We headed to Epcot again for a fairly relaxed morning. We started with Space Ship Earth, which is the ride inside the giant Epcot ball. We rode in carts that moved passed scenes of major points in human history, such as the invention of fire, paper and the printing press. Sweet Pea was fascinated by this ride.




Next Grandma Trudy took Sweet Pea to get her face painted while Ross and I waited in line for the Sum of All Thrills. This ride was exactly the sort of thing that Ross and I love. You get to use a computer to design a roller coaster and then get strapped onto to the end of a huge Kuka Robotic Arm, with a virtual screen over your head which simulates tr ride.




Below is a picture of the Kuka arm. The upper left is where we were seated and then the arm waves all around to simulate the motion of your roller coaster. Next time: More Loops!



Here is Sweet Pea's lovely face painting.





We then visited wonderful playground in Pixie Hollow.



Isn't this neat?




Sweet Pea didn't want to leave. We sat inside a little dome and
pretended to bake a cake out of the rubber mulch.




After the playground, grandma Trudy went to buy a pair of sicks and we went through Bambi's Butterfly Garden.










We were supposed tower Grandma Trudy back at the Figment ride, but there was a little mix up and she got on before we arrived. After the ride, there are activity stations for kids. The idea was good, but the computers were really slow and I think the whole area needed an update. Below Amelia trying make a melody with her arms.




Once we met back up with Grandma Trudy We we're all ready to head back to the cabin. When we arrived, our mousekeeper had created another towel animal. Is this a hippo?



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Dinner at The Garden Grill (Epcot)

Sweet Pea decided to wear her Minnie Mouse outfit again tonight.

We headed to the Garden Grill at Epcot for dinner. This was another family style service restaurant so the set menu consisted of a cob salad, Turkey with dressing, mahimahi with vegetable and steak with mashed potatoes. The meat was all good, but not great. We were told that the vegetables for the meal are all grown on site and they were all very good. We ordered an entire extra family sized bowl of the cob salad and ate every bit of it.
For dessert there was a "berry cobbler" which was actually dry cake with a dollop of jam on top.


Sweet Pea was served a red velvet ladybug cupcake, which was okay.


The main feature of the meal though was visits from Pluto, Mickey, Chip and Dale. We got photos and signatures from everyone and they all spent a lot of time at our table getting lots of hugs from Sweet Pea. This was one of the best character meals that we have attended. (Again, I don't have any pictures on my phone. Character meetings are very fast and very hectic.)




We finished dinner about 9pm, just as Epcot was closing, but as we were leaving we that Soarin' was going to be open until 10pm. We went to check and discovered there was only a 5 minute wait time. We rode it twice in a row before heading out of the park at 10pm.

Goodnight Epcot!

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