Friday, September 24th.
So the 6:45 alarm came early. But everyone was fresh & excited for our first full day in the parks. We pulled up front & center with our handy handicapped passes around 9:15am & made our way to soarin. Oh my goodness, everything was walk on! 10 min wait for soarin. Love that ride. Nana sat with Lauren & I could hear her telling her all about her favorite ride & all it’s wonderful smells ☺ Andrew has developed a fear of heights, so sitting next to a super-happy hailey was the perfect cure. And of course we were all thrilled that ben has hit the magic 40”. It was his first ride & he loved it. Especially sitting next to papa.
Following a great first ride, we made our way to test track. We used fast passes, but it only saved us 10 minutes vs the 20 min walk-on line. Both kids were skiddish, so Lauren sat up front btw dad & aunt steph. I kept an arm around Andrew in the back. Lauren loved it by the end. Jury is still out on Andrew. We’ll see if he wants to do it with my folks on Tuesday.
We played around the playground at the mission space. Andrew was the only kid tall enough, and he wasn’t in the mood. So instead, we headed toward check in for our KP mission. On the way we saw Rafiki, the queen of hearts & posed for a pic with Aurora. She left a big lipstick print on Ben’s face. He was so proud.
This time, Andrew, Lauren & Hailey each got their own KP assignments. But we had 30 min to kill before they began. So we hit the 3 caballeros ride. This is hailey’s fav. She hugged Lauren (who was certain there would be evil trolls) the whole time. It was so cute watching her point everything out to her cousins.
Then we picked up our kimmunicators & we were off to save the world. Lauren & I headed to china. We’ve never explored this pavilion before. Lauren took her assignment very seriously. She was ever vigilant looking for monkey fists’ minions. Seriously. But we gave our code to a certain shop attendant who gave us a fortune cookie with a key inside. Lauren enjoyed her first fortune cookie & then discovered that she is a rooster in the zodiac calendar. A rooster’s big trait is decisiveness. Sounds about right & a lot like her mom ☺
Then we noticed a certain princess moving quickly to her meet & greet spot. Lauren was first in line to meet Mulan! She told her all about the mission and Mulan mentioned that Ron Stoppable was too busy to help b/c he was eating his way around the world showcase. Lauren thought that was hilarious. So then, we finished our mission, by rescuing the jade monkey. It was really well done.
Then we made our way to France for our 12:30 adr. On the way we passed snow white, jasmine & Aladdin; but stopped for a pic with belle.
The boys met us in France and told us all about how they rescued Norway. Now, I had made the adr at chefs de france b/c I thought the kids would love to see remy from ratatouille who makes appearances at lunch only. I hadn’t mentioned it to the kids & I’m so glad. B/c remy was on vacation. Bummer.
I love chefs de france. It’s a beautiful restaurant with my fav kind of food. But I wouldn’t say my kids agree…. The kids werent’ into their cheese pastry apps. But brian & I enjoyed French onion soup & lobster bisque. The kids had chicken fingers. We had croque monsieurs. Yum. And then to finish off the adults had crème brulee & profiteroles. Lauren had vanilla icecream & Andrew had a choc chip cookie the size of his head ☺ the kids did enjoy watching serverur amusant thru the windows. They couldn’t get over the fact that he could balance on top of 7 chairs. Anyway, I definitely prefer dinner & I definitely prefer adults only!
We dragged out our lunch b/c there were two torrential downpours. As luck would have it, our timing was perfect & we were able to avoid the rain almost entirely. We decided to make one final stop and it turned out to be a huge win.
Sum of all thrills is a simulator where you build your own rollercoaster, jet or bobsled experience. Andrew was the only kid tall enough, so we left it for the end of the day. He and Brian waited 20 minutes & designed a jet flight pattern. In the meantime, Lauren & I explored the rest of the innoventions pavilion. Lauren created handmade paper, took part in a build your own safety kit game, and then as luck would have it, we were able to watch the boys in the simulator. Andrew LOVED it. It was just perfect for a smart & creative 7 yo boy! Hopefully, we’ll be able to do it again on Tuesday. I’d love to watch him in action.
We chilled in our hotel from 3:45-6pm. The kids journaled their fav experiences of the day & watched tv. Before long, it was time to head back for Mickey’s Harvest Feast at the Garden Grill. Our first stop was pics: you can’t skip the classic ‘hold the world up’ pose. Then we were off to spaceship earth. Andrew & I rode together & it is just amazing how smart that kid is. He was telling me how the word alphabet got it’s name from the first two letters of greek: alpha + beta. My 7 yo! After a wonderful future under the sea, we found an energy game kind of like shuffleboard. Big hit with the kids.
Before long, it was time to hit Garden Grill. This restaurant inside the land slowly rotates thru the environments of the boatride down below. We waited 45 min. for a table and then the meal moved pretty slowly. We weren’t out of there til 9:25 even tho we had a 7:20 reservation. With both a slow lunch in france & a slow dinner, I think the kids did pretty well, but by the end they were tired. But the character interaction was pretty fun. Lauren loved meeting Chip & Dale. She discovered if she rubbed Dales’ back, he would shake his tail. She thought that was awesome. we also saw Mickey & Pluto.
The food was fine. It’s served family style: salad, turkey, tilapia & beef. The chef was super accommodating and made chicken fingers, fries & broccoli for our kids. The usual chicken drumstick wasn’t doing much for them. We ate with loren & Sharon but with loren needing to be on the end to prop his leg up, and the kids needing to be on the other end to get up and down for character hugs, it was hard for anyone to really chat with them besides brian, as we were all facing outward in the same direction. But they seemed to have a good ‘visit’ as my mom would say.
All in all, a great day with soarin & sum of all thrills being the highlights ☺
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