Port Orleans Riverside to Epcot * Thursday

This was our 2nd day at Epcot, and we were planning on doing anything that we really missed out on plus a few more things. We planned on taking this day slow and steady.

I remember sleeping lightly in the morning. We had no real wakeup call. We planned on sleeping in just a bit and going from there. Then I heard Rob say, “The power is out.” My eyes popped open. I looked around. No a/c, no clock. Yup, power was out. Now, even though it was still early, I was beginning to panic. I had to take a shower and get ready. That included needing the power. Please, please power come on. Sure enough, it came back on. I don’t know how long it was even out, but it really made no difference in our getting ready. Had Rob not even mentioned it, I would never have had to panic. So darn that Rob!

We still were able to get ready and be out the door by 8:30ish. Not a problem in my book. When we arrived, we headed to get our double stroller when I noticed the Photopass CM.

Well, I was gonna give PhotoPass another shot. I figured today’s pictures had to come out better than yesterday’s at MGM. The CM took 3 different poses. The first with Spaceship Earth totally in our background ...



... then another one just a bit closer up ...



... and finally a horizontal picture.



It wasn’t until I ordered the PhotoPass CD and loaded them on my computer that I thought that there was just something off about these pictures. Then I realized that all of us, except Brookie, had our sunglasses on. So, being the Supremo Photo Pizzazzer that I am, I put some sunglasses on Brookie.



And all was well with the World again. The End.

Oops! I guess I should go on. You would probably want more than that for an update, right? Okey dokey.

But first, a classic photo ...



We went and picked up our double stroller and headed straight away to The Land to get some Soarin’ fast passes. No way, no how was I going to miss that attraction again. We all hiked it up the most steep incline that Disney has on this property and went inside. Rob’s job was to get the Soarin’ FPs and mine was to take Alec and Brookie to the restroom. Yes indeedy. It was already time for a potty break. Downstairs, Rob and Evan went, and I went to the restroom near the Garden Grill. I found the biggest stall available at the way end and we all went in. I had Brookie go first, then Alec. Then, I made Alec turn around and face the corner while I went. He’s a good kid. He listens, at least for that. Then we all washed up and went over to the escalator to meet up with Rob and Evan and then we were on our way to The Seas.

But not before stopping at a cart to buy some most healthy chips and water. The kids were hungry. Apparently, their parents didn’t feed them well enough before they left for Epcot. They shared a couple bags of chips and we were finally on our way to The Seas ...

MGM Studios * Star Tours and Out!

On our trek back to the far end of the park, I asked Alec if he liked Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. He said, “Yeah. I almost peed a little but I liked it.” I just about peed when he said that!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch - I mean Star Tours area, it was finally FP time. Rob took Evan first while I plopped my big old butt down on the curb with the kids. I needed the seat badly. Right around the area that we sat we saw the cool Star Wars riding thing. For trip reporting writing sake, I’ll call it a scooter. I’m sure I’ll get some flask from any Star Wars fans. Feel free to tell me the correct name and I will edit this, maybe. I thought this would be a cool place for pics once Rob and Evan came back.

Time now is 3 pm and what did we hear coming out? The parade, by golly. Only we were just far enough away that we couldn’t see diddly squat. Rob and Evan returned, and Evan and Alec are MAD that they couldn't see the parade. I blew it again. I am totally not a parade person and neither is Rob. So, we were not even going to bother. Sorry kiddos, next time we promise.

Back to the scooter thingie. We stepped over there and noticed there was a PhotoPass CM. I quickly ushered Alec up onto the scooter. Evan quickly hopped on the back. I wanted to tell Evan to wait his turn, but both boys seemed happy so I left it that way.

Here’s the picture I took while the CM was trying to get his pic ...



Here’s the PhotoPass picture which I think is just a tad better than mine ...



Flash forward to home when Evan saw the picture. He was mad because Alec was in front and he wanted to be in front. I tried to tell him that he could have had his turn but he chose to hop on back. Sorry Evan. I, too, was disappointed.

Brookie had her turn next and, once again, here’s mine ...



... and the much better PhotoPass ...



Okay, now that we were done with that, I decided it was time for Alec and I to ride Star Tours. There seemed to be a problem. The FP return line was jammed into the massive amounts of people watching the parade. I looked at the CM at the standby line and showed him our FPs. He then told me to enter the standby line and scoot through to the FP. That worked. We had a bit of a wait still, and Alec was not happy with that. Go figure!

We got to the point where we are shown to our circles on the floor right before the doors to enter. We were in the first row. I looked at Alec. His legs were crossed a little funny. I asked him if he had to go pee. He said, “No, I just like standing this way.” Okay, whatever. The woman on the little TV above starts talking to us about how to move all the way over, blah blah and then I hear it. “Mommy, I think I need to pee.” I turn around and say, “Are you sure? Can you hold it?” But I saw the pee dance starting. I looked at the CM standing beside us and asked him where the nearest restroom was. I wanted to make sure we made a beeline for it. But, instead of him telling me, he said, "Wait a minute let me check." Uh ... no time to check. But he was quick and told me. I then made sure I said rather loudly, “Let’s go Alec, but remember, this was our only fast pass and we just lost it.” Another CM overheard me (my sneaky intention) and ran over and gave us FPs to use anytime the rest of the week. Score! He also told us to follow him through the special guest/handicap line to get us out of there ASAP.

I have to warn you all now. You are going to hear some potty talk. Alec and I ran across the way to the ladies restroom.

Thank the Lord that there was no line, and I ushered him into the first stall. He told me at that point that he needed to poop too. Glory be! Just wonderful. I quickly put the liner on the toilet and told him I would wait right outside the stall door. I happened to glance down and see that he had taken off his shorts and underwear and left it on the floor. Ew! That totally grossed me out, but nothing I could do now about it. Then Alec said, “Mommy, I had a little diarrhea and a got a bit on my leg.” I could hear the trembling in his voice starting. I quickly came into the stall with him and got him cleaned up. It really was not as bad as I thought. A very quick wipe. I helped him get his underwear and shorts back on and we both went and scrubbed our hands clean.

We found Rob, Evan, and Brookie and told them what happened. When I asked Alec if he wanted to go back to try Star Tours now, he said no. He didn’t feel good. Rob and I looked at each and decided we had it for the day, so we decided to head back to the buses.

On our walk on out, brilliant me said, let’s go this way, it is a much quicker walk to the front gates. Which it is normally is ... that is, when Indiana Jones isn’t just getting out. We got slammed with people and we hung on for dear life as we maneuvered the strollers through the masses.

We dropped off our stroller and made our way all the way to the furthest upon furthest bus stop and waited in the bright sunlight for next bus to come. This has got to be the worst bus stop out of all the parks.

Now, I have some more PhotoPass pictures to show you. These PhotoPass pics were taken first thing in the morning but I love them so much that I really wanted to wait until the end of this segment to show you them.

First off, I was super excited to get another PhotoPass taken. But Brookie, not so much. She started her whining, but I told Rob to just pick her up and she’ll get over it. The CM took the first picture ...



Okay, Brookie did not just get over it. But let’s keep trying. How about this time?



What? Even worse. Oh come on now! Let’s try it one more time ... and you will notice that I added the graphic because it went so well with the picture ...



I thought that picture was the funniest of all the PhotoPass pictures. We all get a big kick out of viewing those pictures in order! Hope you enjoyed them too.

Now, back to the resort we went to cool down and relax. We were going to go back to MGM later for EMH and catch all the shows we missed. That was the plan ...

Magic Kingdom back to Port Orleans Riverside

We left Crystal Palace, and Evan reminded us that we needed to go back to Pirates so he could buy himself a gun with his spending money. So, back we went and he picked one out. He loved that gun and still does. He also bought a Pirates medallion that cost $20. I nearly flipped at that price, but it was his money and he knew that once it was gone, it was gone. Alec also wanted the medallion, so he bought that too with his money.

So we were strolling back to leave the Magic Kingdom, and we looked at the castle and what did we see? Was it the Dream Team? Nope, we just noticed that that the smoke had finally cleared away. That meant we could get more PhotoPass pictures. I then proceeded to tackle a CM to take a couple of pictures for our Photopass. Well, almost. At least I got me some more pics.






After he took the photos, I asked the CM if he could take the famous Tinkerbell photo with Brooke. He said he was sorry but he was not allowed to do that anymore. I was disappointed, and it must have showed in my face because the CM looked at Brooke and pulled this out of his pocket for her ...



I guess that kinda made up for not taking the Tinkerbell picture.

Off we went back on the bus to Port Orleans Riverside. Evan was very proud of his new gun, and when I went to take a picture of him, he gave me this pose. I totally wasn’t expecting it but I loved it!



And then he turned on me!!! Oh no!!



I was pretty tired, but all the kids wanted to go to Ole Man Island (POR’s main pool). So Rob decided to take all 3 of them. I thought that was most excellent of him. I took some time to jot some notes down in my PassPorter journal pages. I also took a couple of pictures of the view from our room.

First, looking straight out looking toward building 14 ...



... and then looking slightly to the right.



And finally, here is a really bad, quickly put together video of our flight down to Orlando and a bit of the Magic Kingdom. Rob took the video, and I just did a bit of editing. In no way is this a representation of what my real skills are at home video editing! Click here for "Rob's video".