A Very Special Upcoming trip for Cousininmiami!

[cousininmiami]

Hey all finally home... the internet was awful at the condo! Even cell phone service was bad, I felt like I was back in the age of the Dinosaurs! I will post pics tomorrow!

[mindflipper]

Looking at the pics you posted so far, and remembering some from a previous trip, I am amazed at how much your son has grown! It's hard to believe he's 16 - he towers over everyone in the pic on page 2! He looks like he's about to head off to college!

[cousininmiami]

OK so let's see how far I get...
We had a great time the first day, the Richard Petty experience for Travis and an Ohana Birthday dinner! I am including a picture of the plaque that I bought for Travis of his experience and I also purchased the video of the ride along!



The next day was the early day in EPCOT for my Dad, Husband and son. They enjoyed getting into EPCOT before it opened, I highly recommend anytime you can to book a tour before a park opening, its truly awesome to see the park without people! And the pictures that you can take are amazing!









So the boys did their Segway tour and had a great time! I'm not sure who was more thrilled, Travis or my Dad! You couldn't wipe the smile off their faces all day!





The girls (me, my Mom and my Sister) got to Epcot to join them after their tour and began our EPCOT day. First thing I did was to go to Guest Relations and get a "Guest Assistance Pass" for our group because my Sister is severely Autistic and can't wait in lines. That was easy to do then we were off for the day.

This was the "final" weekend of the original Test Track so we went on and all enjoyed it! I overheard someone saying that it was going to be a "TRON" themed ride now, and there were a couple of the cars with the new TRON "skins" on them.



The new car area when you get off the ride is now no longer GM, but is strictly Chevrolet, and there have been some changes there too. Then we went off to the countries for snacking and drinking wine around the world. Unfortunately all I ate all day was caramel corn and 6 glasses of wine, I was not feeling that great that night so I vowed to eat better the next day, LOL!
Here is our caramel corn being made fresh from Karamel Kuche in Germany!



I think EPCOT during the Flower and Garden Festival is the most beautiful park, I love taking pictures!





We listened to the band in England of course and had a great time! My Sister doesn't talk but she loves music and clapping along! Afterwards I brought her up to the stage to meet the band and thank them for making my Sister happy and they wanted to pose for a picture and let her hold the drumsticks!



Now on to day three... Magic Kingdom was on the schedule for today, we started with parking at the Poly and having a late breakfast at the Kona Cafe. Yummy Mickey Waffles! We had a great time at the park all day.

Went to the new Fantasyland area and I was frankly unimpressed.There is a narrow walkway all the way back surrounded by the super high walls. It's one way in, one way out... recipe for a bottleneck and a bunch of screaming kids and too too too many strollers. No trees yet, it was hot, bright, sunny and not comfortable. I am of the opinion that they should have just waited for the entire area to open up. If I wanted to ride on Dumbo, it was too crowded to even attempt it. We left the area very quickly, I will wait until it's all done!

We finished the day with finding a wonderful place to stake out for the Electric Light Parade, Magic Memories and You, and Wishes. We got a table with a yellow umbrella right in from the the Plaza Restaurant, it was great! Comfortable for my Parents and my Sister, with bathrooms and food right there. It wasn't the best location for the parade but for the Magic Memories and You and the Wishes it was spectacular!







So that's it!! On Sunday we were going to get up and go to the Studios before going home but instead we relaxed at the condo and took our time to get out, didn't check out till noon! Then we stopped by Downtown Disney for some last minute shopping and got on the road to get back to Miami. We got home by 6pm which was great so we could all get organized for the week! Had a great time, thanks for looking at my pics! xox

[Amy]

It sounds like you had a nice, relaxing family vacation for Travis' birthday. Hard to tell if he is more excited about the exotic car ride or the Segway tour ~ he has a big grin for both!
That is so sweet of the band to take the time to take a picture with your sister. That is great that she enjoyed it so much and now you have a photo to remind you of that day.
Oh my, caramel corn and lots o' wine doesn't sound like a great recipe for a long, hot day walking in the sun but it sure sounds delicious!
I'm thinking we might need to stake out one of those tables by the Plaza the next time we go. It is always such a frustrating affair trying to stake out a little piece of sidewalk for the parade, and then people just shove in front for the fireworks. A nice table might be just the ticket!
Thanks for sharing your trip and pictures with us. I'd love to see more photos of the Flower and Garden festival if you have any more. We've never been during that time and it always looks so beautiful in the photos. I especially love the one of Sorcerer Mickey in front of Spaceship Earth. Oh, and the one with the monorail and the floating flowers. Just lovely!!

[cousininmiami]

Thanks Amy! I have a bunch more Flower and Garden pictures I will post later!

[Amy]

Thanks Amy! I have a bunch more Flower and Garden pictures I will post later!

Yay!

[cy1229]

It must be nice to live reasonably close so you can zip to the World for a long weekend and not feel bad if you don't go to something on a specific trip because you know you'll be back again soon. I sometimes wonder if WDW gets old if a person lives close, but seeing your photos and reading the excitement in your trip report, I conclude that it does NOT get old.

Still, I would like the opportunity to find out first-hand some time.

Your photos of the flowers around Epcot are beautiful. Looks like you had a great time, and Travis will have great birthday memories as a result!

[cousininmiami]

Yes it's just as wonderful anytime we go to WDW! And we do live close but not so close really. It still is a (4) hour drive, and takes the planning of Royalty to get all of us to have the weekend off at the same time, work, school, baseball, etc. I invited all my kids to go on this trip, my daughter (30-yrs) and her boyfriend, my son (27-yrs) and his wife, my other son (26-yrs) and his wife. I offered to pay for everything, tickets, the condos, dinners, tours... but they all had other things to do, working, college, grad school, research papers etc. So as you see even close doesn't work sometimes! So just my husband and I go alone when I absolutely HAVE to go! Glad you all like my pics, it was a magical trip full of wonderful memories... (closing my eyes and remembering...)

[MmeLeota]

cy1229, I can't answer for WDW (or even a local in CA), but I can say this...when hubby and I lived about a 4 hour drive from Disneyland, and had annual passes we were there as often as possible. Sometimes a 3 day weekend, sometimes only overnight (at least 6 or 7 times a year anyway...sometimes more). But we never got tired of it. We found it to actually be the one place to go when we needed to relax since we were there so often and never felt like we "absolutely had to ride everyhing this trip 'cause who knows when we'll be back".

cousininmiami, this sounds like it was an amazing trip! I love the picture of your sister and the band...too cute! That was so nice of them to do that for her. We have never been for the Flower and Garden Festival either...hoping to do so one of these years...but I too would be interested in seeing more pics!