After our time in Marco Island we left on Tuesday afternoon. We arrived just in time to go to sleep at the All Star Music resort. We woke up in the morning for a moment I have been anxiously awaiting for MONTHS. Breakfast at Chef Mickey’s where we’d see Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald Duck. Eli is currently obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I couldn’t wait to see his reaction, so there will be a lot of pictures. I’m not going to do much picture filtering with this event.
And…apparently that’s it. We have no pictures of Eli meeting Mickey and Minnie. So…we’re hoping Grandpa Jess got some good ones and we can do another post of those pictures.
Next we headed to Animal Kingdom for another moment I’ve been waiting for…Halle to ride Expedition Everest. It’s a roller coaster that goes forward and backwards. The backwards part I kept a secret from Halle, and luckily you can’t see it when you’re standing in line. As we got to that part the tracks end and appear ripped apart like the Yetty tore the tracks. Halle’s comment, as I remember it, was something to the effect of, “Is the ride broken? What happened? Did the Yetty do it?” And then it clicked, and she got VERY excited, “We’re going to go backwards?! Mom, are we going backwards?” Keep in mind this is all in a matter of seconds she’s saying this. It was adorable, and she was thrilled. Here she is going backwards.
The apes were cute, and this one was carrying his blanket around.
Holding hands on the train.
Meditating with Rafiki.
Best buddies.
Asleep on the way back to the hotel.
The next day was Halle’s turn to do something fun. She remembers getting dressed up like a princess when we went in 2011, and she knew she was going to do it again because that’s what Grandma Joan gave her for Christmas.
There’s two new castles in Disney World that just opened in November – Beauty and the Beast’s castle, and Ariel’s castle. There’s a place called Gaston’s Tavern where you can sit in Gaston’s chair.
In the Beast’s castle there’s the magic rose. Every 30 minutes a petal falls from the rose. Halle was so excited she got to see a petal drop twice.
Nap in It’s a Small World. I just noticed that Jess is napping in front of us.
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The Barnstormer was Eli’s first roller coaster. He wasn’t a fan.
That night was a character meal with Pooh and Friends, more of Eli’s favorites, but he wasn’t in the mood since it was a long day with just a nap on It’s a Small World.
He did really enjoy the fireworks after. Halle hates fireworks and really any loud noise.
Next was a day I’d been waiting for for a long time. A bacon macaroni and cheese truffle hotdog. Unfortunately, unlike the kids’ awesome experiences I just described, mine was not everything I had dreamed it would be. I could make a much better version at home.
This is how Eli has tantrums. He lays silently on the floor. He really wanted to see Mickey, and it’s hard to be patient when you’re 2.
We ate at “Be Our Guest” in the Beast’s castle that night. It was very cold outside, so Halle and I hid behind a gargoyle.
Halle was too scared to meet the Beast.
The park closed at 8 that, but our dinner didn’t end until 9 or so, so we had the place to ourselves to take a nice empty picture on Main Street.
It just so happened that our building at the All Star Music Resort had a clarinet player on it. Jared plays the clarinet, and I think the silhouette looks just like him.
Getting her face painted at the Animal Kingdom on another day.
Best Buddies getting on the Finding Nemo ride in Epcot. Eli goes to work with Jared everyday, so he spends a lot of time with Grandpa Jess, and they are the best of friends.
Jess fell asleep while we were eating lunch in “The Land” in Epcot. We were really mean and all cleared the table and walked away. What was more hilarious (but we didn’t catch a picture of) was that a woman came and sat right by Jess. The place was pretty packed, so I think she was just happy to find an empty table.
This was the ONLY time Eli fell asleep in the stroller. As much as I appreciate Paulette’s willingness to let us borrow it, we hated this stroller. It was hard to fold, and even when folded was ginormous and awkward. The “sit” part of the sit ‘n stand stroller only sat up, and did not lay down at all, so Eli just could not nap in it. At least in our single stroller we can lean it back and it’s as if he’s laying down. You couldn’t do that in this monster, though you’ll see that Joan tried.
In Epcot there’s a really fun thing you can do called “Where’s Perry.” They give you a phone and Phineas and Ferb guide you around each country (you don’t have to do all of them, you can pick and choose, each mission takes about 30 minutes) and you find clues. The clues are REALLY cool. The point is to stop Dr. Doofenshmirtz from destroying something with one of his evil “inators.” You’d have to watch Phineas and Ferb to understand. This was probably one of Halle’s favorite things. I highly recommend you reserve a few hours, if not a whole afternoon, to do this.
We ended our final night there eating in Japan, which is exactly like eating at Benihana in Salt Lake City. Eli loved the chopsticks and was very good eating with them.
The next day we ate lunch at the Coral Reef in Epcot before catching our flight home. And…big surprise…Jess fell asleep.
On our wait out of Epcot to head home we took some final pictures.
I LOVE Disney World.
