Disney World - Day 5 - Epcot (Part 1 of 2)

This is it...our favorite day at Disney World! Epcot is a wonderful place for our family! With the exception of the slightly loud noise the fountains make during their show at the top of every hour, there is nothing disturbing in the park until the IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth fireworks, laser, and water show later in the night. It is an incredible show!

Here's the "giant golf ball" that is Spaceship Earth. There is a slow, interesting ride inside that takes you through scenes from the dawn of time (according to some) to present day.  

The first highlight of our day was a visit with Mickey and friends! 

One of the Photo Pass cast members graciously took pictures with our camera. I am not to blame for the fuzzies....this time! 

"Fluto"!

Minnie!

Donald!

Goofy!

The Finding Nemo ride is really cute and is quite tolerable for children who don't like a lot of action. 


The girls had fun posing in Bruce's mouth outside of the Nemo ride. 

There fun aquariums in the same building. 

Turtle Talk with Crush is interactive and very realistic...for a talking turtle! 

Next, we went to Norway in World Showcase. We had lunch reservations with the princesses at Akershus!

Belle was the princess who greeted us at the door! 

The lunch is not buffet style but the salad bar and appetizers are. DaDa had a venison sausage sandwich and corn chowder.

I had an open faced chicken sandwich with corn chowder. The chowder was SO good!

Aurora, the Sleeping Beauty, was the first to visit our table! Macie wasn't too sure about the situation...must have been the crown!

Or it could have been the blue eye shadow.

Next was Cinderella! I love how Mattie is posing like her! 

We lost our pen (third one!) and Cinderella went into a back room and got another one for us! She still has a servant's heart!

Snow White was really sweet and spent a lot of time with us. She talked to Macie about the princess on her dress.

She also commented on their cute princess hair clippies from AllyBug Bowtique! 

Ariel, The Little Mermaid!

Mattie was treated to another birthday cupcake!

This is Andrea and she is from Norway! This was her last day at Disney World before returning home. She had been there for a year!

Mattie wasn't the only one who had dessert! 


Before....

After....

Mattie's cupcake after!

We had such a fun lunch at Akershus! It was not rushed and was very tasty. Mattie was gifted with a photo package of the picture of her and Belle for her birthday! Please excuse the phone picture quality....

Check back for Part 2 of our day at Epcot! 

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If you are planning a Disney vacation, including cruises, I highly recommend Becky Lollar, Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. She is a friend of mine and her services are absolutely FREE! 

She can plan as much or as little of your vacation as you'd like. If you have already booked a vacation directly through Disney (via internet or telephone) you can transfer it to Becky and she can work with you to see if any additional discounts have been released or adjust the trip to better suit your needs. 

Here is her contact info:

Becky Lollar

1-800-883-1535 ext. 25

901-482-2218

beckymagicaltravel@att.net 

She even has a Facebook page with lots of helpful info!

I do not hesitate to recommend Becky's services! She is one of the most detail oriented people I know and is a wealth of Disney knowledge! 

Chicken Corn Chowder Recipe

Crock pot cooking season is here for me! 

I usually do not like to cook before I put ingredients into the crock pot, but the frying and sauteing in this recipe is a worthwhile exception! 

Chicken Corn Chowder
3-4 slices bacon
Fry bacon and put in crock pot. 


1-2 tbsp butter
3 chicken breasts, cut into slices or cubes
Add butter to the same skillet and saute chicken until slightly brown on all sides. Put in crock pot with bacon.


1 tbsp butter
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 - 3/4 bundle celery, chopped
Add more butter to same skillet and saute onion and celery until tender. Put in crock pot.


Add the following ingredients to crock pot and stir together:
2 cans cream of potato soup
1 can whole kernel corn (drained)
1 small can mild, diced green chilies (drained and optional)
1 cup chicken broth
chopped carrots (optional)


Add as much of the following spices as you like:
seasoning salt 
black pepper
parsley (optional)
any spice or seasoning you like


Cook on low for 4-5 hours. 


During last hour stir in:
1 cup evaporated milk or half and half


Before serving taste to see if more seasoning is needed. Enjoy!

Disney World - Day 4 - Hollywood Studios

I still want to call it MGM Studios because that's what it was when we went to Disney World on our honeymoon in 1996!

This will probably be my shortest Disney post (you're welcome!) because we didn't spend a lot of time in the park. Hollywood Studios is a lot of fun but it is also loud with a lot of action....we don't do loud and a lot of action right now! 


The most fun thing the entire day for Mattie was waiting in line to meet Buzz and Woody. Macie also loved it and really got into posing with all the cute props! She was such a ham that morning!

Mattie got into it, too....when she wasn't DANCING herself silly! 

Mattie was literally gettin' down!

After happily waiting in line for about 20 minutes neither girl wanted anything to do with these BIG guys! I don't guess I blame them....look at the size of them! I didn't want to hurt their feelings so I stepped in. I got my hands repeatedly kissed and hugs from them. Such gentlemen :-)

Even though the girls are not big enough to even be allowed to stand in line at Rockin' Roller Coaster, we HAD to ride it. It's one of our favorites. We ride swapped and walked right on. I love the set-up of walking through the studio and then stepping into the "limo" and going on a wild ride through LA with Aerosmith blasting in my ears! 

Next, we went to our much-anticipated return to the 50s Prime Time Cafe! It's a great place to get delicious home cooking. The restaurant is totally 50s from the furniture and electronics to the knick-knacks and appliances! I had pot roast and it was mouth-watering! 


Make sure you're on your best behavior while dining here! The staff is constantly looking for elbows on the table and ill manners. You may find yourself standing in the corner or with your nose on the door facing as 'punishment'! 

The High School Musical show is a highlight at the entrance of the park underneath Mickey's sorcerer's hat. It, too, is loud....and quite good from what I saw and heard!

We tried to avoid being near The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular and Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show because of all the thunderous sound effects and we were successful! 


Lightnin' McQueen and Mater! 

It was fun seeing New York City.....

.....and San Francisco sets!

These guys were also loud so we didn't stick around. 

I love the Army Men! We got Fast Passes for the new Toy Story ride but thought better of it with all it's jerky turns and effects. Are you seeing our deliberate attempt to keep our child calm here!?!

The Little Mermaid show is excellent. We saw it in 2007. 

We did go to the Clubhouse Disney show. Other than Rockin' Roller Coaster and the 50's Prime Time Cafe, it was the main reason we visited the park. My girls ADORE Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and they really like My Friends Tigger and Pooh. I mean, they could watch MMCH all.day.long. Little Einsteins and Handy Manny were also a part of the show. 

The show was really cute and after it ended we decided to head back to our room to do some laundry and rest for a while. DaDa took Mattie to the pool and did laundry (!!!) and Macie and I napped. It was the only nap I'd have on the entire trip and it was much needed after all the late nights, early mornings, and FULL days!


After we were rested and refreshed we went to the Magic Kingdom and hopped on a boat to the Wilderness Lodge. We had dinner reservations at Whispering Canyon Cafe with our fairy godparents, Eddie and Sherry! 


This was the first night of the Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom. We saw all sorts of cute costumes on young and old. The majority of them were Disney. The cutest of all was a baby Peter Pan with one sister as Wendy and the other sister as Tinker Bell! 

The girls had a great time playing in the gorgeous, gigantic Northwest themed lobby.

Here's Sherry! She was my boss.....although she likes to say we just worked together. She is the BEST! I loved working with and for her in HR and Recruiting. She now lives the sweet life in Orlando. I cropped myself out of this picture...you should be thanking me!

There's Eddie! 

Here are pictures of them with Mattie on her first Disney visit! We were in line for Peter Pan's Flight in these shots.

Whispering Canyon Cafe is anything but whispering! Their schtick is for diners to ask for ketchup and then the server YELLS for "KETCHHHHUUUPPPP"! Then, dozens of bottles of ketchup could show up at your table! We were seated in a private corner away from all the action which we loved so we could ketchup...I mean catch up.


The specialty is barbeque and it is not disappointing! We were served family-style on a "skillet" with ribs, chicken, brisket, baked beans, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, and corn bread. It is all-you-can-eat without the buffet. I wish I had taken pictures of the food but I was too busy chatting and eating!


We had a great dinner with our friends and took our visit out into the lobby for a little while longer.


As we re-entered the Magic Kingdom to board our bus the Not So Scary Halloween Party was ending and we saw lots more cute costumes. 

This was not our best day in the parks but we made it through and had a wonderful night. 

***********************************

If you are planning a Disney vacation, including cruises, I highly recommend Becky Lollar, Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. She is a friend of mine and her services are absolutely FREE! 

She can plan as much or as little of your vacation as you'd like. If you have already booked a vacation directly through Disney (via internet or telephone) you can transfer it to Becky and she can work with you to see if any additional discounts have been released or adjust the trip to better suit your needs. 

Here is her contact info:

Becky Lollar

1-800-883-1535 ext. 25

901-482-2218

beckymagicaltravel@att.net 

She even has a Facebook page with lots of helpful info!

I do not hesitate to recommend Becky's services! She is one of the most detail oriented people I know and is a wealth of Disney knowledge!