Last Day at Disney!

I know by now you are probably saying Enough with the Disney posts! This is our last day!
We always go to Epcot on our last day. We absolutely love Epcot - even the kids! The Boardwalk is an "Epcot" resort, so we have just a short walk over the bridge and we go in the back entrance. It is beautiful! You come in at the back by France and Great Britain.

We were lucky to see Princess Tiana!

It was the Garden Festival - and it was amazing! I couldn't stop taking pictures! Don't worry I didn't post them all. But it was truly breathtaking!

During all of our past Disney trips, we have never seen Marie from The Aristocats, so that was a real treat! Annamarye has two small stuffed Maries.

On our trip earlier in the week, we just rode rides, this day we visited the countries in the World Showcase. The kids made masks and we bought "passports" for them. At each country there was a "Kidscot" station where you can talk with someone from that country and get your passport stamped. They also add a charm to your mask. The kids really enjoyed it!

After touring the countries we used our fast passes and rode Soarin' and Test Track one last time.

Our last Disney dinner is always at the Coral Reef restaurant in Epcot. One huge wall of it is an aquarium (sorry I don't have a picture). You can go scuba diving inside it. At the end of the Nemo ride you can look at the aquarium. It is actually connected to the Nemo ride. After dinner we rode nemo again, and were able to see some scuba divers in the aquarium with Nemo!

On our way to our room for the night, we stopped on the boardwalk and let Annamarye get a hairwrap!

OK, that is it for our Disney trip! Back to everyday life in Alabama! At least we are having great weather and are getting to play outside after school!

Chef Mickey's and Epcot

Tuesday was our shopping day. I know I know. A lot of you are laughing about this. There are some great outlets in Orlando and we always plan a day to go. James loved it because they had an Under Armour store and Annamarye was in heaven because there was a Justice store. She mentioned a few weeks ago to me about going to "Justice" and I cringed! My first thought was "Oh NO!!" When my nieces were young I remember going with my Mom and Sister and them to Limited Too. It was a zoo then! Anyway, we had a fun day.

Tuesday night we went to Cirque de Soleil's La Nouba. It was fabulous and the kids loved it!! Johnny and I have seen a couple of shows in Las Vegas and knew the kids would enjoy it.

Wednesday morning we were up bright and early and headed to Chef Mickey's for breakfast. This is Annamarye's favorite!

After breakfast we headed over to Epcot. We met up with our friends the Owens.

While John and Celisa got Clint and Clay something to eat, Carter went with us to stand in line for Test Track. We had fast passes to Soarin, but had to wait in line for this one. It was long, but really wasn't that bad. And the kids did great waiting. You are moving the entire time too so that helps.

I was a little concerned though when on our way I asked Carter if he had ever ridden Test Track before. He said "No, I was in line once and got scared so I had to exit". But he did great! He and James sat in the front, and Johnny, Annamarye and I sat in the back.

We all rode Nemo!

For dinner that night we went to Restaurant Akershus in Norway of Epcot. Several years ago we had breakfast there, so this year we thought we would try dinner. When you get there they take your picture with Belle.

And then while you eat, all of the princesses come around to your table. This was the night before Annamarye's birthday, so they had the table decorated for her!

This was the first time we have ever seen Ariel! So we made Johnny get his picture with her!

Annamarye also got a special birthday cake in a treasure chest!

Cape May Cafe and Hollywood Studios

On Monday we had breakfast at one of our very favorite places - Cape May Cafe! It is located at the Beach Club Resort. During our first trip to Disney, it was recommended to us and we have made it there for breakfast and dinner each trip since!

After breakfast we headed to Hollywood Studios and straight to Toy Story Mania! It's a fabulous fun ride!

My all time favorite Disney characters: Chip and Dale!!

This trip we saw the Indiana Jones stunt show, and it was really pretty good. We also saw the "lights, motor, action" stunt show. I think that is the name of it. I can never remember. We saw Little Mermaid and another one of our favorites is the Star Tours ride! I have always been too chicken to ride Tower of Terror, but this year I sucked it up and got on. Let's just say I have ridden once and that is enough! As luck would have it, we were on the front row and I was in the very middle!! Thank goodness someone warned me they open the doors at the top and you can see out to the parking lot! Needless to say I didn't see anything because my eyes were closed pretty much the entire time.

One of our all time favorite parades was the one at Hollywood Studios. It was a great character parade! A couple of years ago they changed it to a "Block Party Bash". It is a lot of fun, but I miss the characters. This one stops and they sing and dance with the kids for about 10-15 minutes before moving along.

The army man from Toy Story is in charge!

After a great day in the park we had dinner at another favorite -The Brown Derby! It is another one we visit each trip.

Hoop Dee Doo Revue

After a great day at Magic Kingdom, we headed to the Fort Wilderness Lodge to see this:
It is called the Hoop Dee Doo Revue. It was really good! We were all surprised, but really had a good time. Even the kids loved it! I will say they need to change their check in system. I made the reservation last October when I made all of the others. So I had my confirmation number. When you get there you have to check in at one place to get another confirmation number and then go stand in line to check in again and get your table assignment and stand in line for your picture. Crazy! Anyway, we had a really fun night!

They brought ribs and fried chicken to our table in buckets. It was all you can eat salad, ribs, chicken, mashed potatoes, baked beans with strawberry shortcake for dessert!

We had a funny waiter and our table was right up front.

Disney World

We had a fabulous Spring Break! It was a much needed break and get away! We left early Saturday morning and got there around 5:00. We stayed at the Boardwalk Inn. It is considered an Epcot Resort. This was our third time to stay there. We have stayed at other resorts, but we love the Boardwalk! We had dinner at Cat Cora's restaurant Kouzzina, which is on the boardwalk. Afterwards we walked along the boardwalk watching the performers and looking in the shops.
Each trip to Disney we try to do different things. Since the kids are older, we decided to get them lanyards and some pins for trading. Here they are with their starter kits.

We always go to Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom for breakfast our first day! That way we are already in the park when it opens. Here's Johnny and the kids waiting for the bus. Yes, it is still dark outside! I forgot to mention, when we go we go! We go non-stop most of the time. We are up early and usually back in our room around 9:00.

James, Annamarye and Piglet. I'm glad my kids will still have their pictures made with the characters! This is probably the last year for James?

Our first ride of the day is always Buzz Lightyear! The past two times we have been the first ones on! The first family of the day gets free pictures!

Next we headed to the Speedway! Another favorite, especially since both can drive now!

Here's Johnny and James on the Jungle Cruise! This has been the same since I first went to Disney as a child! It is corny, but a favorite!

James saw his friend Logan while waiting in line for Goofy's Barnstarmer, so they rode together!

We rode all of our favorites - Dumbo, It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan, Aladdin, Snow White, the Teacups, and Mickey's Philharmagic. Johnny and James rode Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railway. I have ridden Space Mountain and once was enough. We were in line for Haunted Mansion and they ended up closing it. We did get to ride it later in the week though.