Disney World Part 3

Thursday we moved out of the condo.  Britni and Jerod went to a timeshare presentation and hung out at Disney Springs and their hotel, and we went back to Epcot until we could check into our hotel at 4.  I knew Eamon would want to go on the Finding Nemo ride, Connor wanted to go on Test Track, Connor wanted to do Turtle Talk and have the turtle talk to him, and we wanted to go to Japan to eat lunch and shop in the store, since they have a big Studio Ghibli section.

We started out going to the Finding Nemo ride and Turtle Talk.  Turtle Talk was a disappointment because unlike the previous day, when only one or two kids raised their hands, 15 or more kids raised there hands, so there was very little chance for sweet Connor to get picked.  He didn't take it too hard though.

It was crazy bright, hot, and humid.  We tried to do this PhotoPass.

Connor and Eamon wanted a treat, so we bought them these ridiculous Mickey and Goofy sugar cookies.  There was so much black food dye on them and it changed the color of the boys poop for a week!

Poor Connor got sunscreen in his eye.
It made him miserable all day.

The grossest "cheese" photograph smile.

We then took the ferry over the water to get to Japan and had lunch and went to the Japan store.  We bought two more puzzles for the kid's room and took some picture with the torii gate with the ball in the background.

He's so cute.

After our trip the World Showcase, we knew we had to wait until 4:30 to leave the park because we were having out puzzles left for us at the package pickup.  So Eamon and I went to ride Finding Nemo again and Patrick took Connor to Test Track.

After Nemo, Eamon and I went to meet Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy!  Again, Eamon was thrilled in line, but once he saw Mickey, he was so nervous.  He pulled his hat over his face and said, "I covering my eyes."  Mickey was so sweet and started covering his eyes too!  Unfortunately, the photographer wasn't quite fast enough to catch it.

Eamon hiding from Mickey.

I guess this is a little better?

Get that finger out of your nose!

I was disappointed that the Goofy pictures were all SUPER blurry.  Bad form photographer!  Some of them even looked like they would have been cute.

This one of Eamon looking at Minnie is precious though.

After we got out of seeing characters, we met up with Patrick and Connor, whose sunscreen irritated eye was REALLY bothering him.  We knew we had some more time to kill, so we put Eamon on Patrick's back and Connor in the stroller, and went shopping a bit more.  On the way, both the boys passed out!  We picked up our packages and somehow managed to get the boys buckled while they were still asleep.  We drove to Disney Springs to the Hilton, unloaded all of our things with the help of some really nice valets, and Patrick checked us in.  After we parked, we got Eamon onto my back and Connor in the stroller, STILL asleep, and went to our very nice room.  We parked Connor in the corner and I laid Eamon on the bed... still asleep!

Then I took a bath :)

From the car to the hotel room...

On the hotel room bed.  Eamon loves putting stickers on his belly.

We had to wake the boys up at 6.  We went to meet Britni and Jerod for dinner at the Cuban restaurant and then walked the length of Disney Springs to go to the Ghirardelli ice cream store, which was across the walk from the awesome kids dancing stage!  From 6-10, they have a DJ playing music and doing games for kids to dance and have fun.  I think it might have been Connor's favorite thing of all of Disney World.  I wish we could find something even a little bit like it in Huntsville.

Cute plant art.

Waiting for the ferry at Disney Springs.

Friday we went to Animal Kingdom.  It was hot and humid and we were all pretty tired.  But we didn't have much planned for the day, mostly just our 4 FastPass rides.  The first was Kali River Rapids, which Connor called "Splish Splash Mountain."  Since Eamon and I couldn't ride on it, we went to go meet Mickey and Minnie again!  The photographer was great!  He could see how nervous Eamon was and let us hang out for a minute to get Eamon more comfortable.

First try.

Mickey and Minnie gave Eamon high fives.

Second try!  I love this picture, even with my ridiculous face.

After meeting the characters, we had time to kill, so Eamon and I got a snack.  I got a frozen chai that was amazing, and got Eamon and HUGE doughnut that he ate most of.

After eating his doughnut.

We met everyone and went to the Kilimanjaro Safari.  We hung out for a while, waiting for our FastPass time, eating and figuring out if we were going to eat lunch.  The ride was PACKED.  Even with the FastPass, it was quite a wait.  And unforunately for us, the people in front of us did not understand how to get on the ride and so the four of crushed onto a seat with another couple.  It was super uncomfortable and pretty dangerous, since Eamon kept moving around and the side I was sitting on was open.  We're also pretty sure we were on the shortened version of the ride, which was also disappointing.

After the safari ride, we went to "It's Tough to be a Bug,"  which Connor HATED.  Again, with the scary rides.  We actually ducked out a couple minutes early because he couldn't take it.

We made sure to take pictures in front of the tree, since we had gotten pictures with all the other icons.  The kids were not thrilled. 

After pictures, we went to eat lunch and then went shopping for a bit and saw the Flights of Wonder show.  Then we decided to call it quits on the parks.  The boys were tired and it was HOT.  We went back to Disney Springs to hang out before eating dinner and going to dance again.

The Lego store was super fun!

Yummy Earl of Sandwich!

We had a great time dancing again and even got some video of Connor and Eamon enjoying themselves.

My cute buddy.

Saturday we woke up, got packed up, and left before 9.  We drove all the way home, stopping at Cracker Barrel on the way for lunch.  What a great trip!  I'm so glad the Wootens let us stay with them.  I'm so thankful to Patrick for doing almost all of the driving.

Eamon asked for Daddy's glasses while
Connor and Patrick were in the bathroom.

Disney World Part 2

On Tuesday, we headed back to Magic Kingdom.  We stopped by the Lost & Found to see if Patrick's magic band showed up, but no luck.  

We got our picture with the castle again!
Much better.

Our cute kids.

We went to get our picture taken with Ariel before meeting up with the Wootens.  Eamon was really excited to meet the Little Mermaid while we were in line, and Connor was indifferent. But we we sat down, Connor chatted Ariel's ear off, telling her about how he plays games on the iPad, and Eamon was so nervous.  The pictures ended up hilarious because Eamon looks SO MAD.  But he was just apprehensive.

Best picture.

After seeing Ariel, we met the Wootens to see Mickey's Philharmagic.  Connor thought the slapstick moments were hilarious, but I think the whole thing went over Eamon's head and it was hard for him to keep the glasses on.

Afterward, Patrick wanted to go on the carousel with Eamon, since he enjoyed it so much on Monday.  The Wootens went to meet some characters and ride some rides.  We went on Jungle River Cruise, which I remembered fondly from the first time we were there.  It didn't disappoint!  I thought it was hilarious and the boys had fun being with both of us on a ride.

Family selfie while the boat ahead of us was stalled out.

After the Jungle Cruise, we had an ice cream sandwich and met the Wootens at the Haunted Mansion.  I was nervous about it because it was not my favorite, but I knew the Wootens wanted to go on it, and Patrick thought it would be fun.  It was not a great idea for Connor.  I think Eamon ignored it all, but Connor HATED it.  For a while, it was all he talked about Disney World.  He does not like things that are purposefully scary.

Poor Connor was not amused.

I liked this shot I got of the castle.

We then headed to Hollywood Studios.  I was wiped out and Eamon hadn't napped in two days.  We rested for a half hour in the car in the parking lot and felt a lot better.  Patrick took Eamon in the carrier and he fell asleep walking into the park.  We went to the Lights, Motors, Action! stunt show.  Connor announced, right before we walked in, that he had to go to the bathroom right then.  We ran to the bathroom, but were separated from the group.  Connor and I were on the other side of the stadium seating from everyone else, so we enjoyed the show together.  We were pretty excited to see Lightning McQueen, but unfortunately, he was only in the show for a couple of minutes.

Riding the "roller coaster," as Eamon
called the parking lot trams.

Connor and I enjoying the show.

Lightning McQueen!

Connor loved seeing Lightning McQueen and was pretty disappointed with how little he was in the show.  I was relieved when Patrick told me later that Eamon slept until right after McQueen went "off stage," so he didn't know what he was missing!

We thought about going to the character meet and greet with Lightning and Mater, but decided it would probably be packed right after the show.  So we headed to the Disney Jr. show and got our picture taken along the way.

Connor sat on on the group and the
photographer went with it.

So cute of the Wootens.

After the Disney Jr. show, everyone else headed to the Tower of Terror and Eamon and I got something to eat.  He was a delightful, if wiggly dinner companion, and my food was really good!

Blurry food picture.  When I discovered I couldn't eat pickles
because of my geographic tongue.

After Tower of Terror, we went to Fantasmic! the great show at Hollywood Studios.  This was a mistake for poor Eamon, who was terrified.  Mickey is threatened by a bunch of villains and there's a lot of fire.  Eamon was so, so worried for Mickey and even brought it up a couple weeks ago about how the fire was going to get Mickey.  Poor kid.

Wednesday we went to Epcot, Patrick's and my favorite park.  The boys really loved it too!  The weather that week and progressively gotten hotter and hotter and the humidity really kicked in that day.

My attempt at Mickey nail art.

Eamon LOVED the big, BIG ball.

All the previous day, Connor had been asking for mouse ears like Parker and Porter.  Hollywood Studios didn't have them anywhere, so the first gift shop I found at Epcot, I looked for them and had success.  I went shopping with Eamon and he wanted the Lightning McQueen ears.  And he wore them nonstop the rest of the week!  It was so cute.  He wore them a lot when we got home and basically every time he rediscovers them, he will wear them for at least a little while.

Picture with birds of paradise flower, that will always makes me think of Marie.

First up was the Finding Nemo ride, which all the boys but Eamon weren't really excited about since they were pretty much only interested in roller coasters at this point.  But Eamon LOVED it.  After the ride, you can explore some aquariums and Eamon loved that too.  Connor, not so much.

A tank of clown fish.

After the Nemo ride, the Jemisons went to get lunch and the Wootens went to a character meet and greet to see Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy.

He loves his ears.

We intended to go to the Japanese section to go get lunch, but by the time we got to England, we were ready to stop!  It was hot and I was hungry.  The fish and chips place had a fully shaded patio with lot of seating and we were glad for it.

Pictures I took for Aunt Sassy.

We left lunch to go meet the Wootens at Test Track, and on the way, Eamon fell asleep on my back.  We transferred him into the stroller and I took him shopping while they waiting in line and did the ride.  Eamon slept a long time!  Almost 2 hours.  It was a relief to me since he had not been napping and we had been getting him to sleep so late.

Sleeping buddy.

I got the kids a treat in the store: cotton candy!  Connor ate his so slowly.

After Test Track, we went to Turtle Talk in the building with the Nemo ride.  It was really fun and funny.  You interact with Crush the turtle, who is voiced by a comedian who can see the audience and somewhat direct his character on the screen.  Really neat.  He asked the kid audience questions and Connor wanted to be picked so badly, even though he didn't raise his hand.

He did not want to take this picture.

Afterward, we went to have dinner at the German restaurant.  The Wootens went to ride some rides beforehand and we met to have dinner.  I was really psyched for it, but was pretty disappointed.  The kids were not thrilled, except for the brief moments in which they got to dance on the dance floor, I couldn't eat SO many things because they were so full of vinegar, and it was crazy expensive.  Ah well.  I'm sorry Wootens, it was my idea.

As we left the park, the boys asked what was inside the big white ball.  We told them it was a ride and then noticed the wait time was 5 minutes, so we went on Spaceship Earth together.  I'm pretty sure the boys didn't care at all, but I was glad we went on it!

On our way our of the park, we got to take pictures with the ball, all lit up for sunset.  It was beautiful and the photographers knew what they were doing!