August 2018 - "Best Day Ever" Trip - Day 7
8/16 - Day Seven
Cast
Me - Jen
DH - Joe
DS - 5
DD - 2
Grammie - my mom
Grandpa - my dad
K - my best friend
J - her husband
J - their daughter, 5; my son’s best friend
X - their son, 2
This morning we were up, again realatively later than intended but we figured we’d be fine for timing because there were so many DHS buses while we were waiting for the Epcot bus the day before. Nope. This morning, we saw three Epcot buses one right after the other while we waited for our DHS van. We ended up getting Minnie Vans again.
Breakfast was at Hollywood and Vine. Mostly for the kids and the characters, but also, I actually really like their spoonbread. We all enjoyed our breakfasts. After breakfast we head to check out Toy Story Land, where my local friend/cast member joined up with us again. I was excited to see Toy Story Land, and the theming was amazing. I love the larger than life toys and the bright and vibrant colors. However, short of waiting in lines, there isn’t much to do, and there’s so little shade it’s very, very hot. We did have fastpasses for Slinky Dog Dash, though, so DH, DS, my local friend and I rode that. It was a *lot* of fun. Grammie, Grandpa, and DD watched the green army men play the drums, and J, K, J5 and X2 went to ride the Alien Swirling Saucers, but decided against it in order to keep a fastpass we had for Disney Jr. Live on Stage.
We reconvened and head over to Disney Jr. Grammie and Grandpa decided to bow out of that show and were off to take some Star Tours. After the kids enjoyed their show, we met back up with Grammie and Grandpa and went to meet Olaf followed by a sing along with the Arendelle historians. Lunch was at the Commissary. It was *very* crowded. Lunch was alright, but nothing special.
After lunch, K, J, J5 and X2 head back to the hotel, and my parents, local friend, DH and I took turns riding Star Tours while DS chilled and DD slept. Afterwards, my parents head back to the hotel, and we went to Epcot. Our local friend had driven so she left to move her car over and we were goign to try to get the boat, but they had just filled one up when we arrived at the dock, so we decided to take a bus… The temporary bus stop at DHS is a forever walk from the park. In the heat. And sun. On or next to pavement. It was awful in the middle of the day. Becasue we had taken the Minnie Van in, we were completely unprepared for the walk.
Once in Epcot, DD was still sleeping, so we were off to the Living Seas. DS and I rode the Nemo ride and then met up with DH, DD and my friend inside the aquarium. We chilled in the cool and calm for about an hour, then shopped at MouseGears for a bit. Still one of my favorite stores on property.
After MouseGears we were heading to Norway to meet Anna and Elsa where we met back up with J, K, J5 and X2. We had the most incredible interaction with Elsa and Anna. DS and J5 have been friends since birth and are absolutely best friends. Their friendship is really something special and gets commented on by people who meet them. They often tell us that they are going to get married someday when they’re older or play at getting married. The way preschoolers do. K jokingly told Elsa that she should tell them that they’re too young to get married, like she had to give marriage advice to Anna. This sparked the most amazing conversation with Elsa and the kids about why they loved each other (their answers were surprisingly sweet), and they talked about friendship. And how if someday when they’re older they do decide to get married they can have their wedding at Arendelle in the castle and that they could have a chocolate fountain. Their interaction with Anna, who we kept waiting, was equally sweet and playful.
After that, we rode the Donald ride again, and then head back to Norway for dinner. We had never eated at Akershus before. I had never been interested in their menu, or the experience, but DS had told me he wanted to meet all the princesses the next time we went to Disney World, and K suggested it as something they would like to do so I went with it. I’m so glad that I did. We very much enjoyed the interactions and the food. Our two year olds were invited to order off the menu even though they were free of charge. The princesses were delightful, including Ariel, who heard that DD had been cautious of her when they’d met in the grotto and made a point of getting down on her level and spending a few minutes with her. And Aurora didn’t bat and eye when she came to our table and I squealed and was the first one to jump up to get my picture with her. Lol. Our waitress was sweet. And the food was delicious. Especially the garlic bread pudding side with the chicken. I may dream about that. I had the tasting trio and they were all tasty, but the salmon was particularly good. The chocolate mousse was incredible and the rice pudding was dreamy. I wasn’t a huge fan of the apple cake, I felt like it was a little dry, but it still was fine.
After dinner J, K, J5 and X2 and my parents head back to the hotel and we wandered for a bit and got DS cotton candy because he had requested that he get to try it for dessert rather than have the desserts that came with dinner. Then we were exahustedly back to the room.
