Let's Try Something New.....

Well, I've decided that my trip posts were taking too long to write and probably way too long to read. I'm going to go in a different direction and just give you my Cliff Notes version of our trip.

Since I stopped with our park hopper day, I'll try to briefly sum up the rest of our trip.  The following day was our Hollywood Studios day.  I am going to do something that probably breaks some travel agent code, but I DO NOT like Hollywood Studios. I found it boring and weird. I probably would have liked it better if I had ridden any rides other than a handful, but I could easily skip it on my next trip.


I should mention that Toy Story Mania is a blast and we all loved it, but if it weren't for our Fast Passes, I would not wait in line for hours to ride it....or any ride.  I enjoyed Beauty and the Beast, and am happy that I got to take the little one to see it, but if it's around when we go next (and I've heard rumors that it won't be), I doubt we'd take the time to see it. Nothing grabbed me and made me want to say, "THIS is why you come to Hollywood Studios."

Cogsworth and Lumier at the Beauty and the Beast show

We were going to spend all day at Hollywood Studios, but after a great lunch at Starring Rolls, with fabulous desserts, we decided to hit a few more attractions then head back to our resort.  I got our laundry done while the kids and hubby swam. We decided to hop over to Epcot. The guys wanted to ride Mission Space so the little one and I waited for them. Big mistake, because it took forever and she didn't like waiting. Once they finally came out we went to see Nemo and watch Crush. I don't know if the little one liked Crush or the huge aquarium more. She had a blast!

Bruce!

We decided to head over the Club Cool where we all tried the different drinks. You must try them all, but some are disgusting! After that adventure, we walked over to the World Showcase. This was originally going to be a mommy/daddy night, but we changed our minds a few days prior. We decided to keep the theme at least and tried a few of the cocktails offered in the various countries. I have to say that the Grand Marnier and the Grey Goose slushes from France are fabulous! Hubby like one of the beers from Germany too. We left early, because we were all tired and needed the extra sleep.

The next day we hit the Polynesian for breakfast at the Kona Cafe. I tried the Tonga toast which is really really good, but really really filling. After a great breakfast, we rode the monorail around to the Grand Floridian and the Contemporary to see their gingerbread displays. We did a little shopping and then went back to the resort so the kids could swim again and rest.

Grand Floridian Gingerbread house

That afternoon we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. It was so much fun! I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to enjoy a little extra magic. We loved the shows, the parade and the snow on Main Street was really neat. The little one loved seeing the different characters and the older kid loved the free cocoa and cookies. Plus, if you don't mind missing a few characters, the lines for the rides are practically non-existent. My kids rode Dumbo twice in a row with no wait.

My favorite part was the parade. There are a ton of characters that you don't always see like Mary Poppins and Burt, and the floats all have distinct smells like candy and gingerbread. Plus we lucked out and had a front row spot where tons of characters came over to the kids.

Belle blowing a kiss

Bashful coming up to the kids

One of the floats....smelled like candy!

The tin soldiers were my favorite!

The next day we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for a full day of fun. We also scheduled the Pirate's League for the little one. It took about an hour, but it was probably one of her favorite hours of the entire trip. She had a blast, the cast members were amazing and she looked so cute when she was finished.  We had a great day and got everything that we wanted to do done.

We hit Epcot the next day. We started out our morning by running into Goofy. That was fun, because the kids were the only ones there so they got his full attention.  We did Spaceship Earth, which the little one loved, and Journey Into Imagination with Figment. We also did Living with the Land after the boys did Soarin'.  I thought it was fun, but not sure the others liked it.  We had a breakfast reservation at Askershus with the princesses which was a lot of fun.  The food was okay, but seeing your little one light up each time one of the princesses came over to her was well worth it.  Since we were already there, we rode Maelstrom which was fun. We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the World Showcase. The boy got a passport and had a great time running around getting autographs at all of the different countries. He also tried out the new Agent P's World Showcase Adventure which was actually a lot of fun.

We had dinner at the Biergarten which is another favorite of mine. The kids didn't seem to like it as much, although the little one loved dancing with her daddy. After dinner, we hung around WS a little longer then made our way over to watch Illuminations. We watched about half of it before we decided to leave. In hind sight, I wish we had stayed, but we'll stay next time.

The next day we were leaving, but we had a 2 PM reservation at Villa Napoli. We headed back to Epcot, where we hit a few rides in Future World and did a ton of shopping. One thing that I noticed was every few meals, we'd receive a coupon good for 20% off at select park stores before 1 PM any given day. When you've put off buying most items until the final day of your trip, that 20% comes in handy. We bought a ton of items, including gifts for family members. By the time we finished shopping, it was time to head over to Italy.

Lunch was good, but the little one wouldn't eat and kept getting the chills. By the time we left the restaurant, it was obvious she was sick. We stopped at first aid where they took her temp, 101.5, and gave her some Tylenol. We headed back to our resort to load up and go.

All in all, it was a great trip.We had a few minor snafus, had a lot of fun and cannot wait to go back.

I hope that y'all enjoyed my Cliff Notes version of our wonderful trip to WDW!

See y'all real soon!

Wyndie