Our first stop of the day was at Aladdin's Flying Carpet Ride. When the lines for rides such as these are short, you have to hop on them right then! Dad and the kids rode as I attempted to take a picture of them riding. I failed, oh well!
The Tiki Room show was about to start, so we walked right in. H LOVES this show and it's definitely a classic, even with the bad update. I wish it was more popular though-we sing the tiki tiki song around our house all the time.
It was a terribly hot and humid day and the kids were already beginning to "melt" so we needed a quick pit stop. The Sunshine Seasons Terrace was right there so we grabbed a frozen oj and a orange vanilla swirl ice cream. I think it was just enough to keep us going for a little while before lunch.
We were halfway over to Frontierland so we decided to hit two of E's absolute favs, the two mountains: Splash and big Thunder! While C and E rode, H and I hung out in the little playground under Splash Mountain. For what ever reason, the place always smells like there's a natural gas leak there!? He had a great time so he didn't mind waiting for the rest of us to ride. We were practically able to walk on both rides, so the time went quickly.
Our ressies for lunch were at the Whispering canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge. Getting there involved a boat ride, so we made sure to give ourselves plenty of time to make it to the hotel. During the ride over E decided that she was too cool to have to sit with her family, so she took a seat by herself inside the ships enclosed area. on this ride, the kids were given Disney Transportation trading cards. They were labeled as being part of a series of 17 different cards-of course we took this to mean we had a new mission...to collect them all!
We arrived at the Wilderness Lodge with LOTS of time to spare so we enjoyed the air conditioned comfort and took in our surroundings. The kids were enamored with the the "river" that flowed through the lobby and all the totem poles. Craig took the opportunity to test the napability of the many rockers while I checked out the gift shop. It is a beautiful resort. Maybe someday we can justify the cost and stay here...
Who-hoo, our pager finally went off for our lunch at the Whispering canyon Cafe. No one else knew it, but this restaurant is known for having fun with their guests. After ordering, I prompted C to quickly finish his Diet Coke. Eying me suspiciously, but obeying me like a good husband should, he complied. Sure enough, our waitress brought him out another:
Incredibly enough, before our meal was done, C managed to polish this one off too! It was a great meal, and we really enjoyed all the crazy antics going on around us. Both E and C got special birthday desserts and the whole restaurant sang to them. At the end of the meal we didn't know if our guts hurt from laughing too hard or eating too much!
After lunch, we hopped on a bus (after a LONG wait, which made us glad it was the only bus we had to take this whole trip) and went over to Epcot for a little while.
Since we are Disney Visa cardholders, we are able to participate in a special meet and greet with several of the characters in Innoventions in Epcot. While I kept our place in line, C took the kids to participate in a fire safety "game show." They finished up just in time to enter the private to meet..Minnie AND Mickey! The kids were beside themselves in excitement. We had a great visit and it was well worth the wait, plus we were entitled to a free picture from the event-bonus!
Next in Epcot, E and I rode Mission: Space. It was her first time and I don't like how I feel after riding the intense side, so we took it easy by riding the "less intense" side. She declared it to be, 'just alright" and I don't disagree with her. While waiting for everyone, H played happily in the little play area. E joined him after her ride, since she didn't want to ride again with dad. The little girl in the pic below was too happy to be in every picture I tried to take of my own kids!
In all our trips, we have never managed to make it to Ellen's Energy Adventure, so that's were we went next. It's not all that great, but it was 45 minutes in air conditioning. H loved the dinosaurs, go figure! I found it humorous that Disney doesn't allow dancing while on the ride :)
We had fast passes for Soarin' so we crossed the park and went to The Land to use them. We didn't know it, but even the fast pass return line was incredibly long. While C and E were riding H took the opportunity to grab a good hard nap. When he woke up, he tried to comfort another little guy who was upset that he had to wait with his dad and not his mom. Nothing apparently was going to substitute his mommy, much to the discomfort of all those around him. His dad ended up folding like a deck of cards and wandered off to buy him something-great parenting tactics, hmmmm.
We grabbed a quick bite to eat to go at the restaurant in the Land. C wanted something from the Tangerine Cafe in Morocco, so we treked across the world just for him. Yup, I'm a sucker for baklava!
After we ate, it began to get dark. We still had a bit of life in us yet, so we hopped on the monorail back over to the Magic Kingdom. We had to go get the car over there but figured we might be able to make it for the Wishes fireworks.
We found a great spot in front of the castle over by the animated character sculptures. The kids loved seeing all the little statues. We had a little bit of a wait before the start of the show, but managed to have a LARGE group of English teens sitting in front of us to entertain us.
The fireworks were beautiful, as always, and an amazing way to end our night at the park
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