A bit of a late start again (though our whole family was ready by 7:15), and we missed the Welcome Show at the Magic Kingdom. I was bummed, but at least we were there, and not long after rope drop. In fairly short order, we rode Dumbo, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, "it's a small world" and the teacups - where we even waved at Alice as she rode just before us!
At about 9:45, we headed into Toontown to see about meeting some fairies and princesses. It only took about 20 minutes to get through both lines, and the girls did so much better than last time! Emmersyn sort of ran the show (as you've come to expect on this trip, right?) in initiating hugs, etc, but she was always sure to point Hartley out if the character hadn't noticed. (They usually had.)
After sitting on Fawn's lap, Emmersyn assumed that was the status quo and plopped right down on Tinkerbell before she knew what to expect! Also, she marched right up and climbed onto Aurora's bench to sit for a picture instead of standing like the previous group. Do you think she's done this before? :) Hartley even enjoyed a little tickling with Belle!
After Toontown, we headed through Fantasyland to Liberty Square to eat at Columbia Harbour House - where the girls got free cookies simply for being so cute! We all ate, and put the girls down for a nap just before noon. The rest of us checked out a few stores, (FINALLY) picked up classic MMC ears for the girls with their names on them, used up some snack credits and just took our time leaving the Magic Kingdom.
Because the girls were sleeping and we weren't in a hurry, everyone else rode the monorail to Epcot while I ran back to the hotel for a few things we'd need that evening. I also stopped at the pool bar and filled up the mug, which cracked me up. You see, it was so freaking cold, that the lifeguards were all standing around in jogging suits and coats and playing games on their phone... and the bartender was sitting at his own barstool watching soaps. "Busy day, huh?" I asked. Only one of them answered, "No, not too bad." Lol... sarcasm, my friend. Learn it.
At Epcot, crowds were a bit larger than I had expected. Would the first day of the Flower and Garden Festival really bring that much traffic, even on a Wednesday? Thankfully we were just there to take it in, so it didn't really affect us. Speaking of the F&GF, the new topiaries (many of which had appeared overnight) were adorable.
The girls got their first taste of the Weevos play system where we would spend a lot of our next few days when in Epcot... and absolutely went nuts over it. Interestingly (to me), I had done some consultant work over the fall that revolved around the accessibility of these systems, so it was fun to see them in use. And boy, did Emmersyn and Hartley ADORE them . They were so brave!
After probably close to an hour on the playsets, it was time to pry the girls away. They were pleased with the distraction though, because we then changed them into their Snow White dresses and they were in awe of themselves (and one another)! :) As you might imagine, they got a lot of attention too, so we literally stayed in one spot on a sidewalk for quite a while longer. Too funny!
We were planning to spend the rest of the day in the World Showcase, and started with the Canada side since Mike and Shelly had only seen a few pavilions on the other side on their first visit. We spent some time in the shops and gardens of Canada, the UK, France (including the F&GF fragrance garden), and Japan and enjoyed a Strawberry crepe in Morocco. Well, FROM France, but IN the Morocco pavilion. 'Cause their relatively close neighbors, you know. :)
At some point in the afternoon, the time had come for Grandma Shelly and Grandpa Mike head back to the hotel, then the airport, and then Ohio. We said our goodbyes and wished them safe travels, thanking them for coming to one of our favorite places with us!
After our goodbyes, the four of us continued to mosey around the World Showcase. Zach and I shared an "American Dream" treat which looked pretty but was fairly boring tasting (red and blue icees, vanilla soft-serve). We spent some time in the Germany pavilion (where we found out a certain princess would be meeting and where we would just HAVE to be back around 4pm), got sprayed with too cold water (for a freezing day) by the Coke coolers in the Coolpost, and let the girls run around the China pavilion for a little while.
As mentioned, we had a special engagement we had to make just after 4 in the Germany pavilion, and it was well worth the trek back. Snow White, Emmersyn and Hartley were all quite smitten with one another!
Unfortunately (for us, not them) we did have to share her with the other guests. We were thrilled to get jackets back on the girls though (and pants), because it was absolutely freezing at this point and we were terrible parents letting our toddlers run around in a short-sleeved, short dresses! ;)
We had a little while until dinner, so we headed for the Mexico Pavilion with plans to ride the girls' second favorite ride anywhere on property at least one or two times, as well as let them play with the musical instruments again. Our plans changed though, when the pavilion was inexplicably packed! We had time to ride Gran Fiesta Tour just once, and it was time to backtrack to Norway.
Our experience at Akershus was simultaneously better than and worse than our expectations. We didn't try for Cinderella's Royal Table reservations since the girls haven't even really been crazy about the princess on previous trips, but wanted to check this one out. Besides, most reviews I've heard favor the princess dining in Epcot anyway, except for the camp whose only argument otherwise is "But [CRT] is in the castle!". :)
Anyway, the staff was very friendly. We were seated immediately, and the set-up of the restaurant and the dinner experience was great. An appetizer/cold-cuts buffet, but plated (and selected-from-a-menu) dinners, plus the girls got to order meals as well, at no additional cost. Our photo was taken with Belle at the start of the evening, and we were given several keepsake photos included with the price of the meal. Of course the cast of characters making an appearance can hardly be beat (if you're a princess fan like myself), but wow was the interaction pretty lame. Each princess quite literally stopped for 30 seconds or less, smiling for a picture regardless of whether the girls were ready (and absolutely NOT with each of them - just one in between, despite the fact that they were several feet apart and did not fit in the frame together very well). Oh, this is AFTER coming out about 45 minutes after our arrival (and therefore when our one-year-olds were already quite bored). That was pretty disappointing, but thankfully (ha!) the girls wanted out of there fairly quickly anyway after they were finished eating.
Since we had pretty much accomplished all we wanted for the day, we decided to make a quick run to Downtown Disney with one goal in mind - to see about some Tapo Heads. You see, a store at DTD called Once Upon a Toy has all sorts of Disney and WDW pieces for Mr. Potato Head, and my girls are nothing short of obsessed with them these days. Zach and the girls played with the pieces on the table that was out for kids, while I had a hay-day working the pieces in the box like a puzzle to get the biggest bang for our twenty bucks. I'm pleased with the result, as are my daughters!
We were only out for about half an hour, and back to our hotel around 7:30pm. While Zach went on a Diet Coke run, Hartley, Emmersyn and I watched the Boom Booms from the comfort of our (barely) quieter hotel room. I'll say it again - what a magical upgrade, however low and obstructed the view!
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