Attwood Family

I know, I know, unusual title but highly relevant when you have a very short child.  I have spent the last four years lifting Miss E up to wash her hands every time we are out.  On our most recent trip however, we encountered some welcome solutions to this extra wear and tear on my arms (thank goodness missy is a feather weight).

I present solution #1 which was found through Disney.  I call it the low tech solution.  It was thrilling to Miss E to be able to take care of business with complete indepence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is solution #2 which was found in Georgia Aquarium.  I call it the high tech solution.  This one is very cool.  The end result was the same as in the low tech version.

Of course the girls took stuffed animals on our trip.  One of the things that they looked forward to on the bus ride back to the hotel each night was seeing what their stuffies had been up to that day. (We had a really fun ‘cast member’ for our room).

 

We did go to one more part of Disney while on vacation – Downtown Disney.  We were blessed to visit with extended family one evening while at Disney.  They drove quite a distance to have dinner with us and it was great.  The best part was watching all of the kids chat.  By the end of dinner they were all wearing smiles and laughing.  Wonderful.

 

 

 

 

 

While there, we stopped to enjoy the Lego store.  Man, that was some great lego.  Elspeth spent quite a bit of time crafting a small car that she raced alongside other kids.  It was really cute and pretty fast, but it did have some stearing issues (it tended to drift to the right).

 

Both my girls rode the bus today.  They ended up coming home over heated, tired, hungry but content with their days.  Katrine says that she has nice teachers and friends in her class.  Elspeth says that she has a boy teacher who doesn’t smell so he must shower; oh and friends too.  What more could you ask for.

This was our final leg of the trip….the journey home.

To help break up the monotony, we scheduled one stop.  Chocolate world!  Now that is one yummy smelling attraction.  It was enjoyed by all and chocolate was purchased before we finally headed home to familiar beds.

We visited this park at least four times this visit because we wanted to see as much as possible.  The expansion of Fantasyland to include castles for Cinderella, the Beast, Ariel and Rapunzel has been really well done.  There was a lot of things to discover each time we walked through.  For instance, we didn’t even notice Rapunzel’s tower until we walked past the hanging lanterns at night and looked up.  They have also reworked the Dumbo ride and it is amazing.  They have added an air conditioned indoor playground where you can let your children play while you wait for your turn to fly with Dumbo…or you can just go in to let them play and cool off.  they have also added hands-on activities to other waiting areas that helped to prevent an attack of the “How much longers”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They have also added a treasure hunt, complete with pirate map, to Adventure land and a sorcerer card game to Main Street, Frontierland and Fantasyland.  The girls had a lot of fun searching for treasure and battaling disney villians.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course there was the character meet and greets.  The wait for Anna and Elsa without a fast past was about 40 minutes which is way shorter than we had feared it might be but we used a fast pass anyways.  The other princesses have also be moved to thematic settings.  Tiana is inside air conditioning decked out in Mardi Gras colours and Merida’s area looks like a Scottish castle courtyard; just to describe two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This time we were actually early enough one day to watch the official park opening.  The mayor of Main Street comes out to welcome you.  Then a train pulls up full of characters who come to the railing and wave.  Then a count down and in you go!

 

 

 

 

 

As usual the parades and fireworks were top notch.  If you are heading to Disney, I would suggest that you pack some glow sticks.  At 8 for a buck they are way cheaper entertainment than the various light ups for sale and can be a distraction during the wait for something to start (the girls made magic wands).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One all time favourite ride is the Jungle Cruise.  I just love the signs and props as you wait.  Katrine actually got the silly jokes and puns this time while Elspeth just enjoyed the sights.  We enjoyed this one in rain and at night.

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, some random photos:

This was a hot day.  The weather was nice and sunny…until after dinner when the rain began.  By the time we were lining up for Fantasmic the skies opened up.  Within ten minutes we were soaked except for the parts covered by our ponchos.  Then the thunder and lightening began.  We called it a night and headed back to the hotel for some warmth and snacks.  Even though we missed the cool light show it was a fun day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We began the day by waiting to meet Princess Sofia.  Elspeth discovered this show over the summer so she simply had to meet her.  Both girls were excited to meet Phineas and Ferb as well as seeing Ducky MoMo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While Elspeth played at the playground Katrine went to the Monster Inc meet and greet.  The location was very well decorated and had nice big fans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both girls enjoyed the Star Wars section.  They also thought it was funny when Glenn jumped up to play Gene Kellly from Dancing in the Rain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Elspeth the day was about Frozen.  The parade, the sing-along, the short movie clip and the Olaf show, they were her highlights.  At one point in the sing-along Elsa let lose her powers and snow fell from the sky.  Elspeth’s mouth fell open, she stopped singing and dancing to look up at the ceiling in awe.  “Look!  She really can make it snow!”  It was a true Disney moment.

This visit began without rain and then, well the sky opened up.  It did stop by mid afternoon and we stuck it out with wet sandals and then trucked over to the Magic Kingdom to sneak in a few attractions in case it continued to pour.  The may have given us soggy shoes but thanks to those fabulous ponchos we stayed nice and dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were a couple of highlights.

1.Katrine got to ride on her first backwards coaster with her father while Elspeth and I went to visit Pochahontas and explored a bit of Dino-land. (Hence the fewer photos of Katrine).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. The rain actually brought out many of the animals on the Safari Ride.  We got to see a baby rhino frolicking in a mud puddle.  Plus, the birds and elephants were out in force.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.  Our lunch at Tuskers, but that is another post.

Okay, of course I need to end this post with some random images of our day.

This is where we began our holiday and we were lucky enough to actually  go back a second day as well.  On our first day at Epcot we were actually able to spend the day with some of Katrine’s China family which was super fun!  Love how happy she is about spending time with these girls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was Elspeth’s first time at Disney and she was wide eyed.  Her first ride didn’t get her but her second ride was Soarin’.  All through the ride she was exclaiming over how she was flying and she had always wanted to fly.  Once she got off of that ride, she was in the mood and ready to discover what else the park had to offer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Epcot has Katrine’s favourite princess – Mulan.  We were second in line to meet her.  Now that was a hot, sweaty wait.  It was Elspeth’s first princess of our stay and although you won’t know it from any of the photos she was pretty pumped.  According to her she simply couldn’t smile in the sunlight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right before dinner it started to rain and thunder.  I would highly recommend to anyone traveling to Disney at the end of August to pack cheap ponchos.  With Erika brewing we used those ponchos extensively over the next seven days.  You can get ponchos at Disney but mine were cheaper and Elspeth’s made her look like a ladybug.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our second trip to Epcot we stayed to watch the Illuminations show.  We had just come out of Mexico and there was an empty spot at the railing so we took it.  Little did we know that some of the fireworks were actually going to be launched from the other side of our viewing spot.  Now that was a bit of a shock; but also exciting.  I would highly recommend the Illuminations show.  It is visually beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now for some random Epcot memories: