It appears that the lack of sleep at the start of our trip finally caught up with everyone. The girls slept until 8.30 (a full 12 hours). I know we get to come on lots of trips now, but even when we visited a lot less when the girls were little and we stayed offsite with only a few Disney days, we have always prioritised their naps/ sleep even when it meant missing out on things (it’s the reason we’ve never seen Epcot fireworks before since having the girls!!) For us, having everyone happy and enjoying the things we do is better than doing everything but having fall outs/ meltdowns because of exhaustion. (Saying that, I have told them under no circumstances are they allowed to say they’re tired until after the fireworks at the Halloween party!!)
Anyway, we were still up and at Typhoon Lagoon for park opening. We managed to do a fair few slides with practically no queue (as well as meeting a lovely lady who recognised us) before it got busier and my body decided it had had enough, so I went and sat down while Steve carried on with the girls for another hour or so. It was the perfect day weather-wise as it was hot but not too sunny, so no melting soles of feet today.
Just before lunch the news broke the Bibbidi Bobbidi reservations were opening today. I realised I didn’t have a credit card with me, and as the app and website hasn’t been remembering my stored one had a bit of a panic as we only have 3 days, we could book it before returning home. Amazingly, Steve remembered you could get the card number from the app, so crush’s averted. As it turned out, we decided to set off back to the hotel shortly afterwards and were there for booking time anyway. It wasn’t the easiest thing to book. First it placed me in a queue which it kept kicking me out of, then the queue time kept going up instead of down, then when I finally got through it kept saying the times I’d chosen were already taken! Still, I finally got an appointment, albeit slightly later than I wanted and on a party day, but in reality, after a few hours the girls are ready to have their hair taken down anyway, so we were all very happy. Less than half an hour later the appointments were all taken, so I was glad we got something.
We went down to the lobby to say goodbye to Jade, James and Arlo who were leaving today. The girls ran around after Arlo for a while before their transfer arrived. It was sad to see them leave as we’ve loved our little chats.
We had a Hollywood Studios reservation but fancied eating at Epcot, so tapped into Hollywood Studios, grabbed an ice cream from Hollywood Scoops, rode Runaway Railway then headed to Epcot with the plan to return to HS later to ride Slinky Dog in the dark. We’d planned on using the Skyliner (much to Polly’s dismay as it terrifies her) but a storm in the area meant it was down, along with the boats, so we ended up walking with a pit stop at Ale & Compass Lounge on the way. Polly tipped her drink all over herself but said it was fine as it was Sprite and clear!!
The rain never actually arrived so as soon as we’d finished our drinks we set off for Epcot. We controversially decided to travel the wrong way around World Showcase and head to France first. We had no real plan but tried a few bits of food that we fancied as we passed each booth. It was relatively quiet and not too hot (a first for us at Epcot) so we enjoyed taking our time. As we got to America the American Adventure was just about to start. We’ve never watched it, and the girls were really keen to, so we started to head in together before Steve decided to use the time to sample a few beverages instead. The girls and I headed up to the theatre and watched the show. They love history and asked about a million questions to make sure they understood everything. On the scene where the men were chatting at the petrol station Winnie turned to me and said ‘19 cents a gallon? I wish petrol was that price now!’ Like she pays for it!!
After the show we walked the rest of World Showcase. We are a few more things from the booths (potstickers, braised beef, fillet mignon, fish pie) as well as grabbing a quick service meal in China for Polly and Mexico for Winnie, who then declared she now likes spicy Mexican food even though she only had a plain chicken taco!
Polly had a bit of tummy ache so decided against heading back to do Slinky Dog. Winnie really wanted a crepe though, so Steve said he’d go get one while we sat on a bench near the international gateway exit. After sitting for a while, the girls suddenly decided that they would like to see Harmonious. By this time, it was around 8.40 so I didn’t think we’d find anywhere good to watch it from which also had an easy getaway route, but we easily found a spot between England and France that was slightly side on but perfectly good enough. We loved the show, and the girls were fascinated by their magic bands lighting up in time with the fireworks.
As soon as it finished, I ordered an Uber to pick us up at Beach Club as we couldn’t face the walk back to the front of the park in the crowd, and for $15 for an Uber XL we were back at Animal Kingdom Lodge by 9.40 with two tired but happy girls.
Steve has his Keys to the Kingdom tour which we bought him for Father’s Day tomorrow and the girls and I are going to play it by ear.
Doodle & Peg Do Disney 