Walt Disney World - October 25, 2009

On Sunday, we started our morning at Epcot. We only had until about noon, because the boys really wanted to eat lunch at Hollywood Studios. Sunday was Karen's birthday, so she was able to get some special fast passes for all of us. That turned out to be very helpful, because we were able to hit everything we wanted to see in just a few short hours.We went in to Epcot knowing we were going to skip quite a bit. Although it has improved since we were kids, it's still not entirely of interest to young children. We started with Spaceship Earth, and then headed over to visit Nemo and the gang. They loved the ride, and Turtle Talk with Crush. There was little to no crowd, so both boys got to chat with Crush. Even Sophie, Tony and I were picked on.

After the ocean, we took to the sky. Well, I sat with Sophie and everyone else tried out "Soarin'". It got rave reviews, so I guess next time I'll have to make sure I try it. Then we headed to Test Track. The premise of the ride was neat, but Tony and I were both a little disappointed. It had really been hyped up, and it turned out to be a fairly short ride. At any rate, the boys thought it was awesome.

We ran quickly back into the World Showcase to ride the Maelstorm, and then headed out of Epcot. Our last park was Hollywood Studios, where the boys were determined to eat lunch at Pizza Planet. Again, I was a little disappointed. I was expecting it to look just like the one in Toy Story, but it was just another resturant with an arcade. The boys didn't seem to mind, however, and that's all that matters.

Here they are with their rice krispie treats shaped like Mickey!

We left Pizza Planet and literally ran right into the photo op with Lightning McQueen and Mater. Cars was the first movie the boys saw in a theater, and our whole family loves it. This could have been one of our favorite character meetings!

We did the back lot tour and then Aidan wanted to be "shrinked". Of course, I grew up with Honey I Shrunk the Kids. The boys have never seen the movie, but what's not to like about a playground that makes you feel as though you are one inch tall? I loved it!

After waiting for the Back Lot Tour and playing hard, we all needed an ice cream break. It was the only day that we were uncomfortably hot, and the treats melted rather quickly.

Refreshed, we decided that the Great American Movie ride was next on our list. We spent some time checking out the footprints. The boys are standing on Mickey Mouse's square.

Sophie has a little growing to fit in Minnie's shoes!

My hands were a perfect fit with Audrey Hepburn.

We checked out the Play House Disney show next. It's one of Aidan's favorites, and he was thrilled! Afterwards, we caught several Disney characters outside for autographs and pictures. We had to detour for a picture with the giant Lincoln Logs - Aidan's favorite toy.

We had to educate the grandmas on the Play House Disney gang. Here's Jo Jo (minus her circus).

Handy Manny is a favorite of mine, and apparently Sophie's too!

Our next stop was dinner. We celebrated Karen's birthday at the Hollywood and Vine. It was a great buffet, and no one threw up this meal. When we finished, we took off in the wrong direction and accidently stumbled into a dance party at Play House Disney. Even though Andrew thinks he's too cool for these characters, he monopolized JoJo and Manny for a good five minutes while they danced together.

When we got back on track, Andrew and Tony went to ride the Tower of Terror. I thought about it, but just wimped out. Tony said he kept expected (and almost hoping) that Andrew would change his mind. No such luck. He LOVED it. On that note, it was getting late and the boys were clamoring to go swim at the hotel. We decided to go ahead and call it quits. Just like with Epcot, we didn't quite hit everything at Hollywood Studios. We did see everything we wanted to for the most part, so we left feeling fairly successful.

Because of some sharing of meals, we had some extra meals and snacks left on our meal plan. After swimming, Tony and I headed to our hotel's snack shop and had a lot of fun. We came back with a pizza, chili cheese fries, cookies, ice cream, and soft drinks. It's amazing no one threw up then.

We were so sad it was our last night, but we had one last thing to look forward to - our character breakfast on Monday to celebrate Andrew's birthday before we left Disney.