October 5, 2015-The Long Way to Disney (Day 6)

A few treats in Paris!
(click here for today's pictures)

This morning started earlier than the previous mornings-I don't really know why but my people are waking earlier and earlier.  The first thing we heard this morning was someone whining "momma, momma, help me."  It sounded something like that but I wasn't really sure; Robby even heard it from the bathroom and came out and checked on the big kids. 

The big kids were all ready to wake up so they started getting ready but we still heard the almost meow-like whine of "momma, momma, help me."  By this time we determined that there was not a cat outside of the window but it was Whitman.  Robby went in to get him and he was perfectly content but I guess he needed his momma. He did lay in bed with me for about 2 seconds until he ran to the bathroom where Robby was.  He tried to open the locked door while saying "downstairs, downstairs."  That wasn't the door to downstairs-I guess Campbell isn't the only Dennie kid who can't find their way out of our bedroom.

We really should be leaving the house later each day too but nope, today we were in the car before 8.  Robby drove right to Hollywood Studios-except that wasn't the park we were going first today!  It didn't take long to find Epcot and we were on one of the first rows of parking.  We were inside the park and rushed towards Soarin since Nonna and Pops both agree that Soarin is their favorite ride.
They were able to keep up with us and when we had to stop at the next rope, Pops asked what we were hurrying for.  We told him that we had to hurry so we could stop and wait (that kind of was the theme of the day).  

When they dropped the next rope, we were off with a few hundred of our closest friends-who also did not have a Fast Pass to Soarin.  I grabbed Keaton out of her stroller and threw it at Robby while he dumped Whitman and ran to the stroller parking.  Reagan, Anderson, Graham and Campbell were in the front leading the way for Nonna and Pops who were ahead of me since I was dragging Keaton and a confused Whitman.  The four kids up front were trying to walk as fast as they could as they had been told to do but they also didn't want to get lost in the crowd.  They were all hollering at each other shouting "come on! slow down! hurry up! where's Mom? which way do we go? I can't see Nonna."  Just listening to them was enough of a show!
We made it to the entrance and I didn't know if Robby was going to be able to catch up with us from parking the strollers but just as we were herded into the line, Robby appeared and he went with everyone else and I stayed back with Whitman to receive a parent swap (meaning I could go in the fastpass line with 2 extra folks when the others were finished).

Whitman hung out with me and we watched people pour into Soarin-it was very interesting and then after a bit, it became eerily empty in that area.  I guess everyone that was going to go to Soarin had already arrived.  This gave Whitman a good little bit to run around in a completely empty Land area.  Then the people started arriving and before I knew it, my crew had finished the ride.  I then jumped in line with the boys and we watched the ride while the others sat down and had a snack-an M&M cookies and a red velvet whoopie pie.  The boys were crazy about the whoopie pie.  They went on and on about how to make one and Anderson even asked if we could make one for his birthday party.  
Now I know that there isn't much to Living with the Land but it is a pretty neat little ride-always makes me wish that I had a garden.  It was our next stop and this was really the first time that we have been on the ride when most everyone can read (only Whitman and Keaton can not and Campbell can halfway).  So when they saw a sign they were shouting the names of the fruits and veggies growing.

We then walked over to the Nemo ride that had been broken the other night.  The line for it wasn't too long so that was the next ride.  It was a bit of a walk but soon we were at the ride with Figment about the 5 senses.  It also was a cute little ride and at the end there was a loud bang and Graham screamed like a little girl-of course this caused the little girl, Keaton, beside him to be scared to death!  After you get off of that ride, there are some games and activities to do so we spent some time in that.

Next up was our walk towards the countries.  Since this is the Food and Wine festival, Robby did stop off in Hawaii for some pork sliders.  His line was still long today but it was worth it because they were delicious.  Then we walked through Canada and the kids played in the telephone booth for a good while.  The funny thing was that they played with the pay phone more than the phone booth-both of those two things are a very foreign concept to them-especially the part about the phone being real and the operator could come on if they don't hang it up.  

We walked past a stage and Robby saw that the show was about to start so we hung out for a few minutes to watch a lumberjack show.  About that time the sun came out and it quickly became hot.  I had to hold Keaton so she could see and had to set her down a few times and even take off my backpack-it was hot, hot!  Thankfully that was the hottest part of the day and we even had pretty good cloud cover today.

The lumberjacks were entertaining-the threw their axes, carved two chairs out of a log, sawed a log and even had a log rolling competition.  After it was over, we walked through the UK and stopped for lunch in the back near the maze.  Mary Poppins was there so the girls and I met her and got her autograph.

Then we all had our lunch-their was a squirrel that enjoyed trying to get to our food but that didn't stop us from eating a good lunch.  Then the kids had time to play in the maze for a good while before we headed to France.  On the way there, we picked up the Phineas and Ferb scavenger hunt thing and were off on our mission.

Te set up to the Phineas and Ferb thing is a bit long and I would have even preferred another stop on the scavenger hunt and less pre-talk.  It was still pretty neat and we were able to explore France while chasing evil Dr. Doofensmirtz (excuse my spelling-I am too tired to look it up!)  I would even enjoy a grown up scavenger hunt through Epcot if you could do it when there are no crowds!  

Nonna had earlier asked what you get if you complete the scavenger hunt and I told her "satisfaction" but I guess Robby and Pops thought that the kids needed a little more than just "satisfaction" after completing their mission-they needed "pasties."  I do not know what was ordered but it all looked good and most of the things I had never seen anything like it before in my life.  That sure didn't stop the kids though because they devoured each and everything that was ordered.  

After this we walked just a bit and caught the boat to Hollywood Studios.  The ride there was pretty and my Campbell and Keaton sat outside a bit.  I watched them and they sat perfectly still.  Then at one stop Reagan and Graham joined them and again they were little angels.  Now don't believe that they have been perfect but so far, at least at the parks, they have been very good.  Coming to and from the parks and at the house, they have had a few attitude problems and a few disagreements but even though it is no excuse those poor babies are just exhausted.

After the boat, we walked right into Hollywood Studios and I was a bit sad to see the big Mickey Sorcerer hat was gone.  But the boys were thrilled when they figured out that we were headed to see Indiana Jones after a bathroom stop.  The crowds were crazy big there but we were able to snag a seat on almost the front row but way over to the side.  This action was probably a bit too close for Keaton and Whitman.  Keaton and Campbell kept their ears covered and Whitman pretty much said "no, no, no" or "I no like this show" the entire time that we were there.  It will be amazing if he doesn't start having nightmares after this trip-he has seen so many things that would just be terrifying to someone if they didn't understand that it wasn't real.

From Indiana we walked to my favorite stop of the day, and it might just be my favorite of the entire week-a Frozen sing along.  The actors were so good and it was quite a sight being in a theater filled with people all singing along to Let It Go!  I could hear Campbell and Robby belting out the songs and I was singing away while moving Whitman's arms to the music.  Now my sweet Keaton, who just had a Frozen birthday party, was snoozing!  Robby was finally able to wake her at the end to see Elsa and Anna as the snow fell onto our heads but other than that, she pretty much missed it all!

Reagan then really wanted to see about the wait times for Tower of Terror but they were way too long so we checked on Rockin Roller Coaster.  They had a single rider so we shoved our single riders into line.  Reagan was a bit skittish about going and Anderson probably wouldn't go alone.  We convinced them to go but Graham was the one not wanting to go next.  He is a bit more timid about rides (well life in general) but it didn't take much for him to change his mind and catch up with his brother and sister.  

We waited for a very long time for them to come out of the single rider line-the coaster had been shut down some today and they were just behind.  Robby was able to take Keaton and Campbell back to Nonna and Pops and to buy a few drinks.  Meanwhile, Whitman and I were waiting on the others to finish and we picked up some ice water.  I even did a bit of window shopping and saw a purse that I really liked-it had Mickey on it!...if only I carried a purse!  

After waiting a while for the others, we all met back up at the Little Mermaid show (today was the day of shows).  It was a good show but I do believe it is about time for DIsney to revamp that show a bit but Campbell sure loved it.  She was convinced that the huge dog at the end was a real dog!  When that show was over, we picked up our strollers and the girls, Graham and I stopped off to see Doc. McStuffins on our way out of the park.

We then caught the bus to Epcot-we had little wait for the bus and the ride was less than 10 minutes.  And to top all of that off, when we climbed off the bus, we were not too far from our car.  On the way home, Robby picked up Mexican for everyone-some food from Taco Bell and some from Chuys.  

Back at the house we all ate and then the kids headed to the pool.  It was dark and the pool lights brightly changed colors and they all loved this.  Whitman watched Thomas upstairs instead of swimming and I guess that Keaton was too tired to swim because she didn't want to tonight.  They swam for a long time and even when it rained, it didn't seem to stop them (the rain ran me inside since it was getting on my computer enough that I couldn't see the words that I was typing.)

When we made them come in from swimming, they all had showers and then it was bedtime.  Hopefully they will sleep a little bit in the morning but I do believe that the race will be on to get downstairs to finish off the last big Texas cinnamon roll.

No comments: