Florida Trip: Day 6 - Last day at the parks

Friday, November 25
Day 6
Last day at the parks! Farewell to Christine and Kelly! Packing!

Sadly, Friday was our last day at the parks. We got a bit of a late start, and didn't make it to the Magic Kingdom until a bit after 9. We met up with the girls right away and went on a quite a few rides. We also spent way too much time at the Emporium shopping (1 hour, ugh).

Parade we saw on way to Emporium

Mom spotted this sign and really wanted a photo with it

 Our last rides at MK:

•  Buzz Lightyear - You shoot at stuff for points. There was virtually no line, but it still really wasn't worth it. My laser didn't work well.
• Winnie the Pooh - Christine really wanted to do this ride. The wait time said 15 minutes, but it was really 35, which was super irritating.

New rides coming to Fantasyland in 2012 where Mickey's Toon Town used to be

Cinderella's Fountain behind the castle

 

• Mickey's PhilharMagic - It's a 3D show featuring lots of Disney classic songs. It was pretty good.
  
  
• Splash Mountain -  We had fast passes, so it worked out well. It was fun to get on it again.

We may have posed for this one... Christine didn't think we were serious

•  Swiss Family Robinson Tree House - We had some time to kill before dinner so we walked through it. It was interesting enough.

 We had at 1:45 lunch at Tony's Town Square and were seated at 2. This worked out perfectly as the girls had to meet at the front of the park at 3 pm to leave. Lunch was pretty good and it was fun to have a meal all together.

Once we said goodbye to the girls, mom and I split up from Carey, Mary and Caroline. Mom and I did some quick shopping, then took the monorail to the Grand Floridian to look at the Christmas decor. There we saw a really neat life-size gingerbread house, made out of real gingerbread.

I also enjoyed walking on the beach barefoot. I just had to. Who goes to Florida without going to the beach? Us apparently!

Then mom and I took the monorail over to Epcot to see a few things we hadn't yet. We walked around the World Showcase starting on the UK side.

This was supposed to be like Hampton Court

We watched the Canada film which was neat to see. I liked the parts where we saw Banff, Quebec City and Montreal since I've been there. Then, we watched the France film which was also interesting. I bought some mouse au chocolat there as well as a strawberry tart for breakfast the next morning. At the American pavilion, we watched the candlelight processional and listened to the music for a while. We were done with Epcot and left around 7:30. We took the bus back to our hotel, where we split an individual pizza in the food court. Then we made a few last minute purchases at the gift shop and walked back to our room.

Mom, Carey and I went in the hot tub one last time. Then we packed. I was thankful all my stuff plus a few purchases fit.

Weekend Recap: Christmas Tree, Tagine and Trans Siberian Orchestra

Tomorrow I shall finish my Florida trip recap, but today I'll share about our weekend.

I was feeling sick all last week, and finally started feeling better on Friday. With this new found ambition, we worked on putting up the Christmas tree. We put it up in a different location than in the past. Now it's in the front entry. I'm really liking it so far!

Adam putting some ornaments up

Chester really wanted to help us. Unfortunately, his help included eating the pine needles that fell off the fake tree as we adjusted the branches. Eventually, we had to just block him off from the area which led to a lot of whining. Poor Chester. I put him in his little Santa outfit, which he hates, so he was extra pathetic.

Santa Chester

"Can I help you mom?!"

Saturday, I dropped Adam off at the St. Paul Ice Fishing & Winter Sports Show for a few hours. Back at home, I did some housework and laundry. How exciting...

It started snowing a lot in the afternoon and continued most of the night. We ventured out in it to meet Adam's parents, brother and Grandma for dinner to celebrate her birthday. Luckily, we didn't have far to go as the roads were a bit slick. We met at FACES Mears Park in downtown St. Paul.

We had a great meal together. I had a hard time deciding what to get. When the waitress said the chef specialized in Moroccan flavors, I decided on a tagine. I've never had tagine before, so this was a new adventure for me. I had the spicy seafood tagine and it was awesome! Adam and his dad had tagines as well which they both enjoyed.

My spicy seafood tagine

Adam's kafta tagine

 The chef, David Fhima, came out and talked to us a few times which was interesting. He said they were calling us the "tagine table" back in the kitchen. For dessert, Adam and I split a delicious order of tiramisu.

After dinner, everyone stopped by our house. Adam's Grandma had never seen it before, so it was nice to have them over.

By our tree after dinner

 I slept in Sunday (thanks husband), which was awesome. Adam and Chester snuggled/napped while we watched the train wreck Vikings game.

My snuggly boys

 Then, we headed over to the Xcel to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra. We attended the 3:30 pm matinee show. I'm glad that's the show we went to because it was 2 1/2 hours long (with no intermission)! We mostly enjoyed it, but I have no desire to ever see them again.

There was lots of flashing lights - my mom would have hated it!

Something about them just bothered me. It was like you play Christmas music. It has a bit of rock to it, but it's CHRISTMAS MUSIC. I'm sitting next to a 60-year old. Head banging to Christmas music is just weird. It made me laugh a lot. They just took themselves way too seriously. It was bizarre. And some of their slower songs with singing were just plain boring. I wish they would have played Christmas Eve/Sarajevo about 10 times. I definitely prefer Mannheim though and I would see them again for sure.

The other annoying part was all these hardcore fans around us. Almost everyone around us had seen them multiple times. Really? We had pretty good seats - floor, row 13, so maybe that was part of it. I don't know. There was also this SUPER annoying family right in front of us. The mom took at least 10 photos per song with her crappy camera. Her 2 kids were also taking tons of photos with their phones. And it wasn't discreet either. It was putting the camera up in the air and blocking the view of everyone behind you. It was absolutely ridiculous.

After the show, we went over to Cossetta's for dinner. The line was super long, but it was worth it. We haven't been there together in a while. At the little market we bought some of their red sauce and gnocchi. I'm excited to make it sometime this week!

Back at home, I worked on our Christmas cards. I can't wait to get them done and in the mail.

It was a fun weekend, but busy busy busy!

Florida Trip: Day 5 - Thanksgiving at Hollywood Studios & Animal Kingdom

Thursday, November 24 - Thanksgiving Day
Day 5
6th in line for Aerosmith! Animal Kingdom! Ice cream sandwich Mickey! Hot tub! No turkey!

It may have been Thanksgiving Day, but with 80° temps it sure didn't feel like it! It's hard to get into the holiday spirit when you're surrounded by green plants, grass and trees. 

To start the day, we went to Hollywood Studios to get on some rides that had really long lines the last time we were there. Carey and Caroline headed over to the Toy Story Midway Mania! ride while mom and I headed over to Sunset Boulevard for the Aerosmith Rock'n'Roller Coaster. It wasn't 9 yet (park opening) so the street was still closed off with a rope. We worked our way to the front of the rope with some stealth moves by yours truly - an empty bench to sit on? right by the rope? Ok... 

Waiting for the rope to drop

It was mass chaos once the rope went down, people running and such, but mom and I were sixth and seventh in line for the coaster! It was as awesome as I remembered it. There's not much better than a fast upside down roller coaster with loud rock music blasting in your ears. I think it's my favorite ride at Disney. Mom even enjoyed it!

We were in the first car of the day!

 When we got off, Carey and Caroline were still in line for the Toy Story ride. Caroline was getting Fast Passes for the girls (normally it's a 110+ min wait) and it was a really long line, so Carey was waiting for her at the front of the building. We raced over and joined them in line. We were so thankful they waited for us! It was still about a half hour wait, but much less than it would have been for us.

Waiting in line at Toy Story

 The ride itself was rather disappointing and didn't live up to it's immense popularity. All it is is a series of carnival games on big screens that you shoot at. The ride just takes you from one screen, where you stop to shoot for a bit, and then go on to another. It was worth doing once, but I would certainly not wait long for it!

 Next, we went on the Studio Backlot Tour which was pretty lame. It used to be much better. We headed back to the Rock'n'Roller Coaster to get the girls Fast Passes, but we were too early by 20 minutes (you're restricted to how many FP you can get in a certain time period). So, we decided to just grab a bite to eat before getting the FP and heading over to Animal Kingdom.

So long Hollywood Studios!

 At Animal Kingdom, we briefly met up with Christine and Kelly at Dinoland U.S.A. for the DINOSAUR ride. We gave them their FP for Aerosmith and they gave us the ones they got for us for Expedition Everest. Then, they were off to eat lunch and head to Hollywood Studios.

My one photo with Stine for the day

Chester sighting!

  This was our only time at Animal Kingdom on this trip, so we did a lot.

• Finding Nemo The Musical - We got there right before it started so we had really bad seats way up high and on bleachers with no backs. This may have influenced my dislike for the show. The staging and costumes were neat, but otherwise I wasn't so much a fan.
• Wildlife Express Train - Nothing too thrilling but let you see parts of the Animal Kingdom you wouldn't see otherwise and we had some time to kill
• Pangari Forest Exploration Trail - A walk where you see different animals. Pretty cool and worth the time it took.

He must be soooo bored

•  Kilimanjaro Safaris - I didn't like the safari at all. Our guide seemed really reckless driving. At one point I was airborne and slammed back down on the seat. I felt sick after. And don't even get me started about these poor animals. How is it any kind of life for them to live where all these motor vehicles are constantly going by - they must be so stressed
  

• Expedition Everest - We had 3 passes, but they weren't even necessary because there was a single riders line. Carey went in the single riders line and walked right on practically. She ended up riding with us! It was fun, but I did not enjoy the part where we went backwards! Ish.

We survived Everest!

•  TriceraTop Spin - Like Dumbo but with dinosaurs. Worth it if there's not much of a line.
• Primeval Whirl - Just like Mulholland Drive at California Adventure. A pretty mild spinning roller coaster.
• Maharajah Jungle Trek - Similar to the Pangari Forest Exploration Trail. Saw a lot of interesting things
• It's Tough to Be A Bug - Cute 3D show with characters from It's A Bug's Life. I actually enjoyed it.
• Festival of the Lion King - Circus like show. I wasn't a big fan but mom really liked it. 

The Tree of Life

Yummy Mickey cookies and cream ice cream sandwich. My treat for the day!

We called it an early night and left around 6:15. We saw everything at Animal Kingdom that we had wanted to see and we had dinner reservations back at our hotel. When we returned, Mom, Carey and I went in the hot tub before dinner. It was so relaxing.

Dinner was at 8:30 at the Maya Grill. They served this really yummy bread with awesome chimichurri sauce. Delicious! For my main course I had MahiMahi with a Mexican red sauce topping and rice. It was pretty good. For dessert, Mary bought me some coffee gelato. Yum!!!

My only photo of dinner and it's blurry

My Mahi

 While it may not have actually felt like Thanksgiving, it was a great day at Disney!

Florida Trip: Day 4 - Parade Day!

Wednesday, November 23
Day 4
Epcot! Monorail ride! The parade! Epcot again! Illuminations!

Wednesday was the big day. The whole reason for our trip. Christine and Kelly marched in the parade at the Magic Kingdom!

But first, we went to Epcot right away in the morning. Soarin' is an extremely popular ride at Epcot, so we wanted to get on it right away in the morning and then get the girls Fast Passes so they could go on it that evening without waiting two hours. The Fast Passes go quick so they wouldn't still be available when they came in the afternoon. It worked out well. I had never been on Soarin' before in Florida, but had at California Adventure in California. It's a cool ride, but I still don't get what all the hype is about.

We did a few other things at Epcot before taking the monorail to the Magic Kingdom.

• Spaceship Earth - They redid it and it's pretty cool now and interactive
• Turtle Talk with Crush - Good for little kids. I wasn't as amused though...
• Living with the Land -A boat ride through the greenhouses. It was actually pretty interesting to see all the different plants and how they grow them.
• Lunch at the World Showcase - Mom and I got cheese empanadas at Mexico. They were good but really cheesy. I couldn't eat all of them.

With our food at the Mexico pavilion

Taking the monorail to MK

 At the Magic Kingdom, we met up with the girls right away to give them their Fast Passes.

Then, we got Dole Whips (yum!) before heading over to get a good spot for the parade.

Dole Whip floats!

A little show with characters at the castle

It was really neat to see the Aquinas band march at Disney.

Christine is in the front row, second from the right

Kelly is front row far left, Stine is front row second from right

Christine trying not to smile at mom's shouting

 After they went by us on Main Street USA, mom and I dashed over to Liberty Square to see them again and get some photos with the castle in the background. Worth it!

Me: "Christine, did you see us when you were marching?"
Christine: "Yeah... both times..."

 Then, we rejoined Carey, Mary and Caroline to watch the parade.

Stitch giving mom a high five

Once the parade was over, we went and watched the Monster's, Inc Laugh Floor show. It was pretty good.

Caroline, Mom and I with the last of the parade going by in the background

 Next, we took the Walt Disney Railroad around the park before getting on the Monorail. Carey, Mary and Caroline headed over to the Grand Floridian to check out its Christmas decor, but mom was anxious to meet up with Stine at Epcot so we went straight there.

We met up with the girls in the UK pavilion at Epcot. There we got our pictures taken with Tigger and Pooh! Christine's favorites. How lucky.

Tigger hugging mom

Us with Tigger and Pooh

 We strolled around the World Showcase the rest of the night. In France, Christine and I split a crepe. It was okay. While the girls went on the rides at Norway and Mexico, mom and I went on the GM Fast Track. Even the single riders line was long, but I enjoyed it.

We met back up with them by the world showcase to watch Illuminations before heading back for the night.

Illuminations, Reflections of Earth