Princess Dinner

On Thursday night we had dinner at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in the Norway area of Epcot.  There are five different characters at the Princess Storybook Dinner.  We thought that would be the best princess meal for our group since we had three girls with us and each of them had a different favorite princess.  We saw Belle, Mary Poppins (not sure why she's at a princess dinner), Cinderella, Ariel, and Snow White.  While the princess selection was great, I was concerned about the actual dinner, which was Norwegian food.  I ended up having some very tasty meatballs with mashed potatoes, though.

Waiting for the bus to take us to Epcot.  MV and Mollie chose to wear their princess dresses.

 Ariel is Janey's favorite princess.  She was so excited to talk to Ariel.  When she returned to the table she told Fran (read with a gasping voice), "I can't believe I just did that!."

 Mollie is eating carrots in most of the princess pics.

 Part of every character meal includes walking or dancing around the room with the characters.  Mollie held Cinderella's hand as they paraded through the restaurant.

 A selection of desserts.  The one with the red drizzled over it looks good, but it wasn't.  It was rice pudding, which I've never had before.  I didn't expect actual grains of rice in it.  Yuck!

 Picture with a wooden troll statue in a shop in "Norway."

 We are probably the only people who have ever ridden Maelstrom two times in a row.  It's sort of like It's a Small World where you ride a boat through different rooms.  But in Maelstrom it's all about Norwegian history and it is sort of dark and scary.  There are some big trolls that rise up.  There are a few small hills that you go down quickly, which is what the kids thought was fun.  When we got off the first time, they said, "Let's do it again!"  We had plenty time until the fireworks display, so we did.

Disney Day 2

 Headed to the bus stop to catch the bus to the Magic Kingdom.  As we entered Magic Kingdom, it began to sprinkle.  We all put on our ponchos or raincoats and headed to our 9 a.m. Fastpass rides.  The girls went to Enchanted Tales with Belle (a new ride in Fantasyland) while the boys went to Tomorrowland Speedway, which they rode twice.

I loved Enchanted Tales.  Each child is given a part to play in the story.  MV was the wardrobe and Mollie was the teacup, Chip.  Janey didn't want to play a part.

 

Mollie is playing her part as the tea cup.  They are acting out the scene in Beauty and the Beast when Belle and the Beast fell in love.

 At the end, the Beast is supposed to dance with Belle.  However, the little boy playing the Beast was scared so Belle danced with Mollie.  At the end, each child had a chance to take a picture with Belle and was given a bookmark.

Although a light rain continued to fall, we kept riding.  The great thing about a little rain at Disney is that the lines are very short.  We simply walked on without standing in line to every ride we wanted to ride (except Peter Pan, which is inside.  There was a 60 minute wait so we passed that one up.)  In the new expansion of Fantasyland, there are two Dumbo rides (the old ride and a new one).  We all rode the new one.

 Mollie's first roller coaster -- Goofy's Barnstormer.

 Prince Charming Regal Carousel.  There is no picture of Ben because he was mad because someone had gotten on the horse beside MV before him and he had to ride a different horse.

 While riding the carousel, we noticed that there was only a 10 minute wait to see Cinderella and Aurora from Sleeping Beauty.  Aurora is Mollie's favorite princess so we hurried over to meet them.
 

 3-D glasses on for Mickey's PhilharMagic.  I was sitting next to Mollie and she was completely into the show.  She jumped, screamed, and reach for the 3-D images in front of her.

 Riding It's a Small World

Although it was starting to rain hard, Ben and MV REALLY wanted to ride Big Thunder Mountain.  Only John, MV, Ben, and I rode that time.  Everyone else chose to get out of the rain.

We headed back to our room after riding Big Thunder Mountain.  Ben and Mollie crashed for an hour or so.  Then they were ready to head out again to Epcot for supper with princesses.

Disney Day 1

 Fran (following us in the Elders vehicle) took this picture as we were entering Disney World last Wednesday afternoon.

At our hotel Port Orleans Riverside.

 As we entered the Magic Kingdom Monday evening, we discovered the show Dream Along with Mickey in progress in front of Cinderella's castle.

 Our first night, we only rode Big Thunder Mountain.  Rain was in the forecast for Thursday and we wanted to make sure we got to ride Big Thunder Mountain.

 This was Ben and Janey's first ride on a rollercoaster.  Ben loved it.

 Janey was undecided.  She screamed during the ride but then said she liked it.  She didn't want to ride it again, though.

 Granddaddy and Mary Varner

Waiting for the Main Street Electrical Parade.  This year we sat at the end of the parade route in Frontierland.  It wasn't crowded there and was so much nicer than on Main Street where people are pushing for the best view.

 Mollie thought these animals were so funny.  She laughed every time one passed.

 We chose to keep out of the crowd and view the fireworks from the bridge by Tom Sawyers Island in Frontierland.

After having been in the car all day, everyone was tired as we headed back to our hotel after the fireworks.