Our last first birthday - Part 12

[IloveJack]

Our last first birthday
We've taken each of our kids to the World for their first birthday. Penelope, aka "Eppy," is our last. We decided to make it super-special, so we're spending two weeks at Disney, with 10 days in the parks.

Cast:
Susan, (me), 36, 11th trip
David (DH), 31, 9th trip
Sammie (DD), 8, 7th trip
Lily (DD), 5, 5th trip
Joey (DS), 3, 4th tip
Eppy (DD), turning 1, 1st trip

Wednesday, December 21
I was awake with Eppy at 6:30, but I didn't get everyone else up until 7:45. After a few days of warmth, it was chilly again, so we dressed in hoodies and jeans and loaded up the car. David had to take the golf cart back, so I followed him, and then we drove to Epcot.
It is so much quicker to drive; we were there in 15 minutes. We got there before rope drop, but it didn't matter, because again, they were funneling everyone through the same 4 metal detectors. (They didn't do this later in the day, just at opening, for some reason), and we were moved from line to line because they didn't have any signs saying strollers could only go through one line. There were quite a few grumpy people and the CM in charge just laughed at the poor organization. Then, we had to completely cross the front area as they were only using the gates on the far side from the metal detectors. It was like they were purposely making entry take forever. This was the only park where we experienced that, though.
We went straight to Soarin' for David and Sammie to ride, and I took the others to ride Living with the Land. Joey liked it so much that we rode it again after we grabbed some breakfast at Sunshine Seasons. Again, it was a waste of food. We were just tired of eggs and sausage, but didn't want pastries. We're an oatmeal and cereal kind of family except on Saturdays.
We had FP for Nemo, which actually had a line. We'd finally noticed that the crowds were starting to pick up. Then we watched the fish for a while, enjoying the manatees. Joey would stay in there all day, if we'd let him.
Lunch was at Coral Reef, another new one for us. It was really good and cheaper than last night's dinner. Because Mom and Dad had been on our reservation, we still had their meals left, so Sammie was treated as an adult from here on out, but she wouldn't eat the adult meal, so we split the kids' meals between them and they ate the shrimp off Sammie's plate. David and I each got the steak, and though it was undercooked (for what we ordered) it was good. Dessert again didn't disappoint, but the turtle cheesecake no longer has a turtle on it, like I'd hoped. David got the Bailey's and Jack mousse, and was surprised at how strong it was.
We wandered through World Showcase, hitting up every photopass location we could find (we came home with 1200 pictures on our account), and visiting every country. I asked in France about icewine, and they said Canada had it, so we backtracked, but David was unwilling to pay over $100 for the bottle. Then, since we were in Canada, we decided to go around the other way toward Mexico. We stopped in Norway to get a Duffy kidcot thing, but they were out, so the kids colored a Santa mask and then went to every country and asked the kidcot CM to write "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year" in their language. The CMs were happy to oblige. (Who says you can't homeschool while at Disney?).
We went back to Germany (for the fourth time), and David finally settled for a dessert wine but not icewine. It was highly recommended, but he's yet to try it.
We saw Santa and Mrs. Claus in America, but Joey got scared and refused to be a part of a family picture. I bought him a hot dog, but he dropped it before he could eat it, so he ate the fries and we stopped to get a funnel cake. David and the kids shared it while we people watched. We continued on around back to the front of WS, where we stopped for drinks and to rest our feet.
We had FP again to ride Frozen, and we let the girls change into their dresses for a meet and greet with Anna and Elsa. Then they changed right back and we headed back around the lagoon for dinner.
The Rose and Crown has long been one of David and my favorites, so of course our last meal at Epcot was here. I was happy to see bangers and mash back on the adult menu, so I got that, and the rest of the family had fish and chips. We'd never been seated inside the dining room before, so we enjoyed looking at all the plates on the walls and enjoying being inside on a chilly night. Dessert was recommended by our waitress, Jaffa tarts for me, and Banoffee tart (Irish whiskey caramel) for David. The kids had trifles, and basically dug the strawberries out.
We stopped at every PP location between the Christmas tree and the exit on our way out of the park. Then we headed back to the Meadows at the Fort because we'd had the purchases from Disney Springs on Saturday delivered there, and had continually forgotten to go get them. We hit the bed at 10pm.

[JanetMegan]

I'm really enjoying your reports...I don't want your trip to end

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Love the world showcase sounds like you made a day of it

[faline]

Loved your Epcot day!!!

[deedee73]

That Jack Daniel's chocolate mousse is on the stronger side. Yummy. It is always my choice of dessert there.

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