15-Minutes of Fame

The Woodard family (minus Deke) had our 15-minutes of fame a few weeks ago on Voice of America-China. We were out campaigning for Hilary Clinton and a reporter followed us. Sorry you can only hear some of the report, since it's in Chinese.

They also got some great still shots of us like this.

That's our little contribution to the 2016 election.

Disney World Overview

I often have friends that ask for links to links to my Disney trip review posts. Since my latest review is divided into so many parts, here is a link to each section in one place:

Part 1: Arrive in Orlando, Epcot

Part 2: Hollywood Studios

Part 3: Chef Mickey's, Magic Kingdom

Part 4: Disney Springs, Epcot

Part 5: Magic Kingdom

Part 6: Hollywood Studios

Enjoy!

Disney World Trip: Part 6

Saturday:
We got a slow start and then went to Animal Kingdom, which is our least favorite park. In the future, we’ll skip it. It didn’t help that it was freezing by Disney standards--in the 40s but the windchill was below 30 degrees, which is cold for being outside all day. 

We rode the Safari, saw the Lion King show, did a few rides in Dinoland, had snacks for lunch, saw Donald Duck, and DH and DS1 rode the Dinosaur ride. 

By 2pm, we were all way too cold and had to go back to the hotel. DS2 and I took a nap, while everyone else watched TV. Then we went to dinner in the food court, DS2 and I went to a dance party in the hotel lobby, and everyone else played in the hotel's arcade. After that, just back to the hotel for bed.

Sunday:

We went to Hollywood Studios, so Eric could bask in the Star Wars glory again on our final day. We rode Star Tours, went to the Launch Bay theater, saw the Muppet show, Little Mermaid show, went to the Club Disney character dance party, ate lunch at the ABC Commissary, took Deke's’s picture with Jake again, and shared some final Mickey bars.

 

We ended the day riding Toy Story Midway Mania, which was the perfect way to end the trip because we all love it, and it was a FP that I was only able to get at the last minute. When we got on, it had a 120 minute wait. 

Other than Fletch really acting up a lot (between not enough sleep, out of his routine, eating a lot of sugar, overstimulation, etc.), we had an amazing time, and I'm so glad we went for as long as we did (although the extra few days may have put us over the edge). We did so much, met so many characters, and just loved seeing the looks on the kids’ faces when we did things, especially Deacon. It as just an incredible family vacation, and now I can't wait for our Disney cruise in November. 

Disney World Trip: Part 5

Friday (Here’s one of the posts where I started to get lazy. A bulleted recap, and then a photo dump.):

We had a whirlwind day doing all the things at MK that we missed earlier in the week. We got to MK around 9am, and didn't leave until after fireworks at 9pm. We weren’t sure we would stay that long b/c it started pouring rain around 10am, but once we saw how the rides cleared out in the rain, we stuck with it, and the weather ended up being beautiful. Here's a list of what we did: (I can't get the font on these bullets to change...sorry)

• Rode People Mover, Winnie the Pooh, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train roller coaster (including Deacon, because he just cleared the height requirement but I swear he was close to flying out), Small World, Peter Pan (2x after a cast member saw that Deacon really wanted to ride again but they weren’t doing any more FP for at the FP kioks and gave us “pixie dust” with special Peter Pan FastPasses to go ride again), AlaPiperin's Magic Carpets, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Little Mermaid ride, and the merry-go-round.
• Ate lunch at Pinocchio's Cafe (not my first choice but it was raining and we needed to get inside)
• Met Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, Anna, and Elsa (the last one with a FP)
• Saw the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor show
• Danced with The Incredibles at their dance party
• Met Peter Pan and paraded around with him.
• Ate dinner Crystal Palace and met Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet
• Went to a Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Tutorial
• Watched the electrical parade
• Watched fireworks 

We did so much b/c the park wasn't very crowded. We were able to just walk onto so many rides that normally have very long lines. It was a really great day.

Disney World Trip: Part 4

Wednesday:

Wednesday was our "down day" without a lot of plans. We hung around the hotel room, had breakfast, gave the kids baths, let the kids play on the Nemo playground, walked around the resort, and then took the bus to Disney Springs. 

We went to the candy story, Disney toy store, lots of souvenir stores, etc. Then we had lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express, which was so, so delicious. We sat outside in the sunshine and it was perfect. 

We left there and the kids got their faces painted while I cleared up a problem with our dining plan, and then we went to the Lego store, which has a race track that the kids loved. They played there for at least an hour, and could have stayed longer. 

They really needed that unstructured play time with no waiting in lines or crowds, so it was perfect. We walked around some more after that, and then took the bus to Fort Wilderness for the Hoop Dee Doo revue dinner show.

We saw a real armadillo outside of Hoop Dee Doo.

The show was good but not as good as I remember. The food was really yummy. After the show, we took the boat back to Magic Kingdom, and then the bus back to our hotel (only way to get back from Fort Wilderness). 

We got back around 7pm, so gone almost 11 hours. We had a great, relaxing day, the kids were really good, and the weather was gorgeous. 

Thursday: 

We left the hotel around 7:30am for the Askerhaus princess breakfast in Epcot. Breakfast was fun, with Ariel, Belle, Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. 

After breakfast, we went back and did Turtle Talk and Nemo rides again, and then walked around the country pavilions that we missed earlier in the week, including riding the Mexico ride. 

We also got pics with Chip and Dale, Donald Duck, and a few other characters. Mid-day we ate lunch in Germany, sitting outside in the sun.

 

After lunch, we took the bus back to the hotel. Deacon fell asleep in the stroller, and stayed asleep back in the hotel so I took Piper and Fletch to the pool. 
 

It was a bit chilly for swimming, but the water is heated, so they were fine. They pool has lots of kids activities--games, dance parties, swimming races, etc. They had a blast. DH and Deacon came down a while later, and DH stayed with the kids while I did laundry b/c by that point, we knew we’d be staying a few extra days. After swimming, we had food court dinner again and hung out at the hotel.