Swart Life Continues: Disney - Wednesday - Day 3

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 7

8:05 am—Jeff, I and 3 grandkids walked to Centertown Market restaurant in the hotel lobby for a real breakfast (Epcot opens later, so we had more time this morning). Mickey Waffles💕 Copeland, Eisley, & Ellie went with us and Andy's family met us there. (It's a .75 mile walk).

8:25 am—Arrived at the restaurant.

9:47 am—we all rode the Skyliner to Epcot-- we love the Skyliner!💓

10:07 am—Entered Epcot (Debbie's favorite park!)

10:38 am—Grandkids took pictures with Daisy Duck & got her autograph

10:37 am—Took group photos (by Disney photographer) in front of Ratatouille fountain in the France Pavilion of the World Showcase

10:48 am—We all rode Ratatouille, another ride where you wear 4D glasses

(so cute--loved it!!--I had never seen the movie, but watched it when I was with the Swart kids in Texas in January!)

11:03 am—sat in the shade while the Grandkids shopped in the Creations Shop. Several bought the magnetic stuffed animal, Remy, that could sit on your shoulder. After we rode the ride, it was broken down for 2 hours!😞 So glad we got our ride done before that happened!

11:38 am—Some of our group rode Guardians of the Galaxy—the rest of us shopped & sat in the cool.

This ride was a favorite of those who rode it!

12:00 pm—Jeff went into the Coke store & sampled 7 different flavors of the Coke brand sold around the world. He liked the orange drink from the DR the best.

12:20–We mobile ordered lunch at the Connections Café.

12:30 pm—Andy, Laine, & Jonathan went in the Coke store to sample the wares. Jonathan & Jeff agree that the Orange drink from the DR is the best. Other family members went into the store after we left.

12:40 pm—Ate lunch

1:45 pm—Jeff wrote this: Rode Test Track. Long line. Got in car @ 2:12 pm. 27 minute wait although we did designed our own cars during that time. In the performance test, my car finished 2nd with a score of 184. Ride broke down!!! Latch unhooked on our car. Then we stopped a second time. My glasses almost flew off my nose & I caught them with my left hand! Got off the ride @ 2:23 pm. It's a fun ride!!

2:49 pm. Took group photos in front of Spaceship Earth.

3:52 pm. We all rode Spaceship Earth. 8 minute wait. Stopped 3 times😔.

Michelle and Avi inside that big ball!!

3:42 pm—we all rode Soarin (Debbie's favorite!). A 23 minute wait.

4:20 pm.—We all rode Kodak’s World of Imagination & met Figment.

Rachel still has her "Figment" from when she went to Disney as a child and so the boys wanted to get one too!

There was a couple of characters from Inside Out that the kids got pictures with

Cool picture Andy took of the "leaping" water fountain (and the cute boys!)

The group took a shopping & refreshment break.

5:34 pm—We all rode Frozen Ever After in the Norway pavilion of the World Showcase

Some of Rachel's pictures while waiting on our "time" to enter Frozen

Some of Josh's pictures at that time

And one of Andy's:

In line to ride Frozen

This is one of my favorite rides too!💖

Josh's family must have been either in a boat in front of us or behind us and didn't swipe their magic band to get the picture on my account...as I don't have it....😢

5:59 pm—Kids shopped in Frozen gift shop.

6:15 pm—We mobile ordered supper from Regal Eagle Smokehouse, a barbecue restaurant. Jeff had ribs & onion rings (the best fast food meal we had at any of the Disney parks).

Had to get a picture of Laine and I in the restroom after eating💗

Epcot's Christmas Tree (Laine in front of it)

Spaceship Earth is very pretty at night -- changes colors/designs continually

Because we weren't able to see the laser light show on the Castle/fireworks at Magic Kingdom yesterday (due to them closing the park at 6 except for those who had purchased after hour tickets), we used our park hopper tickets to go back to Magic Kingdom as it was open on Wednesday night late for people to see the show.

7:00 pm—We walked to the monorail arriving at 7:18 pm. This was the hardest part of the trip. We literally sprinted from the American Experience to the front gate of EPCOT! When we got there, the monorail was broken!😒 Waited in line for quite a while... (Rachel had purchased and brought with her, Christmas bulb light necklaces for all....they sure came in handy when we were trying to keep up with each other in the crowds later!)

7:40 pm—We rode the monorail from Epcot to the Magic Kingdom to see the fire works show.

A quick nap!

7:50 pm—we got off the monorail at the ticketing center to catch the next monorail to the Magic Kingdom & it was broken (frustrating)! The light show started at 8 and we were beginning to panic!!

7:59 pm—So we then boarded the ferry & sailed across the Seven Seas Lagoon to the Magic Kingdom (that meant we ended up riding every form of transportation available in Disneyworld). The girls on the Ferry....

8:04 pm—We finally arrived at the Magic Kingdom!!! Along with a MILLION other people!! Ssshhhh😖😖!! We struggled to get through the crowd to find a spot to watch the show but we saw very little of it, much to my disappointment as it's one of the best things at Magic Kingdom!

This is a picture I found on-line of the castle with the laser light show

8:15 pm—What Jeff wrote in his notes: we watched the fire works show at the Magic Kingdom. We all got scattered trying to find a place to view the fireworks among 70,000 of our closest friends! I watched from the ice cream store—the last store on the right side of Main Street. After the fireworks, I joined most of the family in Tomorrowland (Josh's crew headed back to the resort) . We decided to ride a few rides because the park stays open till 11:00 pm.

We had some snacks!

9:12 pm—Some of us rode Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin again. It had just reopened after being broke down & broke down twice while we were in line. (this was never the case in any of the other times we have been at Disney--it was frustrating!!)

9:39–we rode the Carousel of Progress.....Debbie first rode this ride in 1964 (I was 11 years old) with my parents at the World's Fair in New York (after the World's Fair, it was donated to Disneyland and they created one for Disneyworld as well)....I've always enjoyed it!!