Belle meets all the guests at the door, so she was the princess we spent the least amount of time with.
This was our third Cinderella interaction of the trip, but the girls were still just as excited to see her.
Briggs didn't want to leave his seat or stop eating, but he was happy to smile with the princesses when they posed with him.
Ariel posing with her card from Adelie.
Aurora reading her card.
After a great breakfast, we walked out to find a strangely short line for the new Frozen Ever After ride. Although we had a Fast Pass for later, we jumped in line and rode the new ride with a very short wait time. Briggs didn't care for it, but the rest of us enjoyed it. I was excited about riding it again and was surprised when the girls didn't want to use the Fast Pass for a chance to ride it again later. (Although at our Fast Pass time, the Fast Pass line was as long of a wait as when we rode it stand-by earlier.) While in Norway, we then popped by to see Anna and Elsa. We had great interactions with them, and they may have been some of Briggs' favorite characters. He seemed more comfortable with them than anyone else we had met.
More cards made for more great conversations with princesses.
Briggs was very happy to pose with Elsa...
...and Anna.
After our morning filled with princesses, we spent the rest of our morning walking through the different countries and exploring. Briggs LOVED the model trains in Germany. We watched them for a long time. The only way we could coax him away was with a little gelato snack break.
Watching the trains
Snack break
After our snack, we made our way out of the World Showcase to use our fast pass to meet Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy. When asked, Briggs always said he was most excited to meet Mickey, so I was excited to give him the opportunity. He really enjoyed meeting Mickey and Minne, but was pretty scared of Goofy.
Briggs was very comfortable with Mickey and enjoyed showing him the Lightning McQueen car he had brought with him.
Briggs was okay with Goofy as long as he was being held.
My top goal for our Epcot day was to ride Soarin, which was closed for refurbishment on our first Disney trip. We didn't have a Fast Pass for it, so when I saw that the line was only estimated at 40 minutes, it seemed like the right time to try it. I took the girls with me to ride it while Briggs and Zach played outside. Well, 70 minutes later, we FINALLY got to ride. I loved the ride, the girls liked it, but that was by far our longest wait of the trip. I would have loved it a lot more at 40 minutes. Because we could use the Rider Swap, Zach got to ride it later in the day without the wait. The girls could have ridden with him, but they both chose not to do it again.
Waiting and waiting and waiting...
After Soarin', we rode the Nemo ride (which was another ride that made Briggs cry) and then did Turtle Talk with Crush, which we hadn't done last time. HUGE hit with all the kids, and us too. We then had dinner at the Coral Reef restaurant, which we really enjoyed. Staley chose it as her favorite food of the trip this time. The food was very good and the atmosphere with huge aquarium tanks in the dining area was amazing.
Nothing like watching sea turtles, sharks, and exotic fish swim by while you eat.
We finished off our day with a few more character interactions and walking around Epcot at night. The kids wanted to meet Joy and Sadness, but when we got there and saw that there was literally no line to meet Baymax, the girls met him as well. (We have never seen that movie and know nothing about Baymax, but Adelie was VERY interested to see what he felt like.) Briggs wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.
I love this picture of Adelie.
The girls with Baymax
We took a happy picture for Joy and this sad one for Sadness. I love that even Briggs got in on the sad face.
I had hoped to make it late enough to watch the Illuminations night show, but we decided that a late night might not be the best idea since we were going to have a late night the next night. I'll just have to put the Illuminations show on my list for our next trip.
We did not have to get up early on Tuesday, so we all were able to sleep in. We had planned a leisurely day of play at our resort to rest up for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party that night. After getting up and ready, we headed to Disney's Boardwalk resort for our Bon Voyage breakfast with Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Ariel, and Prince Eric. The food was good and we enjoyed our interactions, especially with Flynn Rider.
I love how Disney doesn't miss the details. The powdered sugar Rapunzel sun on my pancakes was just the start. The pastries were shaped like suns or sea creatures, the waffles had Ariel's face on them, and the fruit was served with little swords to eat with. The kids LOVED the little swords.
The girls, of course, had more cards to give to the characters we met.
Flynn was carrying his satchel, so Adelie asked him what he had in his satchel. He showed them that he still had Rapunzel's crown in there. The girls thought that was great. He also put his card from Adelie into his satchel with the crown.
Rapunzel loved her card from Staley...and Staley loved watching Rapunzel read her card.
We saw Rapunzel and Flynn comparing their cards away from our table, and I think all the cards made their way into Flynn's satchel.
We met the same Ariel that we had met the previous day at our Akershus princess breakfast...and she remembered her card from Adelie the day before. Luckily, Adelie had made multiple Ariel cards so Ariel got another one.
After breakfast, we walked along the boardwalk, took pictures,...
...and chased lizards.
We then headed back to our resort for a swim. Briggs wasn't very into the swimming, so he and Zach didn't last long before heading back to our room for a nap. The girls and I tried out two of the pools (Nemo and Little Mermaid), played on the splash pad, and explored the Nemo playground. I had hoped to fit in a little family rest time, but that didn't happen. We were having too much fun!
The Christmas party has lots of special character meet and greets, Christmas shows, a special parade, and free treats. What we quickly learned was that the special character meet and greets generally have very long lines. And after a cookie and some chocolates, we didn't feel the need to fill our children full of junk just because it was free. So we didn't take full advantage of all the special offerings at the party, but we enjoyed the magic of it nonetheless. Staley was most excited that the Christmas party was scheduled until midnight, and she was bound and determined that she would stay up UNTIL midnight at the party.
My friend, Jenny, made the kids special shirts just for the Christmas party.
This was the only time on our trip where we wore long pants. Lucky we were dressed a little warmer than usual since it ended up snowing at the party.
The party kicked off with an Anna and Elsa show where Elsa lights up the castle and makes it snow on Main Street. Of course, Briggs didn't like it because of his aversion to night time shows, but I thought it was amazing!
We spent much of our party time taking advantage of the fact that there were basically no lines for any of the rides. We rode lots of our favorite rides, as well as some new ones. I walked right onto Space Mountain. Zach checked out Pirates of the Caribbean. We did Buzz Lightyear's Ranger Spin, the People Mover, Tomorrowland Speedway, teacups, Little Mermaid, It's a Small World, Peter Pan, and Magic Carpets. Some of them we did multiple times.
It was fun to get to try out Space Mountain, but look how bored the people behind me look.
The Buzz Lightyear ride. I love how you can only see Adelie's Minnie ears.
The girls had really wanted to meet Moana on our trip to Disney. They were very disappointed to find out that Moana was not currently at Disney. (Apparently the sea had called her away from Disney for awhile.) When they found out she was making a special appearance at the Christmas party, they really wanted to meet her. We went to find her at the beginning of the party, only to find a line that appeared to be a few hours long. A nice cast member told us that the shortest line for Moana would be during the Christmas parade. So when it was time for the parade, the kids and I watched it while Zach got in line to meet Moana. As soon as the parade ended, Zach had made it to the front of the line and the girls got to check one more wish off their list. What a great Daddy!!
I was sad that Zach missed seeing a great parade. Even more so, I was sad that he missed seeing all 3 of his kids thoroughly enjoy a great parade.
The parade was full of characters, music, princesses, and Christmas cheer. Think dancing reindeers, toy soldiers, gingerbread men, and Santa Claus. It also did not feature any dragons or fireworks, so Briggs enjoyed it too.
Meeting Moana was a highlight for the girls.
We stayed at the Christmas party until almost 11:00. The kids were all troopers, and Adelie was still not ready to head back. By the time we got them in bed, it was close to midnight.
All the decorations and special events and icy magic and Florida snow was so festive. Even though it wasn't even Thanksgiving yet, it was hard not to get into the Christmas spirit. I'm so glad we got to enjoy the Christmas party, even if we didn't quite make it to midnight.
