A GREAT Day, Despite Some Hiccups

Despite ending up at the entrance of Typhoon Lagoon instead of Magic Mountain (thanks Travis, and quickly resolved), despite having to dodge a boy throwing up on our way racing to the monorail, despite losing Traig at the train station in Magic Kingdom, despite realizing that "Magic Your Way Tickets" aren't the same as "Park Hopper" tickets (way to order the wrong ones, Rileys!), despite two hours of torrential rain (in which we were conveniently dining and hitting the "Soarin'" ride - and missed it all)......we had a GREAT day!

We returned to Magic Kingdom first thing yesterday - in honor of Nati's birthday. We hit all of the "Mountain" rides - Splash, Space, and Thunder - with a "Pirates of the Caribbean" thrown in for good measure.


We then hopped onto another monorail and made our way to Epcot. (That's where we discovered we messed up in ordering our tickets - yesterday cost our family a pretty penny!). We waited in line for FOREVER (longest line yet - 60 minutes) for "Test Track" - a ride to honor Travis, so we gave him plenty of grief during our wait. We gave him even more after the ride upon determining it really wasn't that great.
We then proceeded on to "Garden Grill" for an early dinner celebrating Natalia's tenth birthday. Talk about a little known gem in terms of character interaction. We paid a fortune for the meal. However, four things made it a bit easier to "swallow". The food was delicious - and all you can eat (including strawberry rhubarb crisp....oh my!) - so of course, I tried my hardest to get the best value for our dollar! Second, our server was beyond entertaining, his rendition of "Supercalafragilistic" with specific lyrics for Nati for her birthday was amazing - not to mention his nonstop banter and corny Disney puns. Third, our restaurant did a slow rotation spin, so we were facing a barage of beautiful scenery - from rain forest, to the ocean, to the plains right before our eyes. And, finally, like I said before, having Chip, Dale, Pluto, and Mickey not only available, but eager to interact with just our table, was phenomenal. Chip even pointed me out specifically to flirt with - he gave me the hand signal to "call him later" - what a nut!!! =)

The interaction with Chip and Dale was extra special for Michele and I - as we've had pictures taken every trip with them - dating all the way back to when we were four years old. I'm not sure if Chip and Dale are really twins - but we pretend they are - and get a kick out of it.


















After dinner, we hit "Soarin'", "Mission: Space" (quite a thrill ride - feeling the G-Force was something else!) - and then on to the countries on the other side of the park. Unfortunately, John's camera ran out of battery just after these were taken - so I'll have to steal some pics from Michael's camera of the "Illuminations" fireworks show that we stayed to watch. Wow! What an amazing and beautiful program. I was even biting my bottom lip and holding my breath in moments as it was so moving and dazzling. It was the perfect ending to another wonderful day!