Disney Day 6 - Friday
Today was a sad day. It was our very last day at Disney! While we were excited about some of the things we had planned, we were also sad that our trip was literally almost over. It was also a misty day. It wasn't raining enough for a poncho, but it was sprinkling enough to frustrate you!
Brad went downstairs and got breakfast from the Ale & Compass Marketplace while I had cereal and Melody had donuts. We all got ready, and we were at the bus stop by 8:15 am. We didn't have to wait too super long before getting on the bus to Animal Kingdom. We had Fastpasses first thing for Flight of Passage. We arrived before park opening, but we had to wait in a HUGE line. Apparently everyone arrived early too! We ended up going straight to Pandora. There wasn't a lot we really wanted to accomplish other than Flight of Passage, and the boys wanted to do Everest again.
We made it to Flight of Passage right at 9:15. We found a bench to sit on, and we watched the girls while Emily and Justin used their Fastpass to ride and also get a Rider Swap ticket. Both girls did really well. We did end up setting up the iPad with Mickey Mouse on it to entertain them at one point. Little did we know, the whole experience of Flight of Passage is fairly time consuming.
We had a PhotoPass photographer come up and start taking picture nearby, and he would talk to us as he had breaks from people. He was a huge Avatar fan, and he seemed to truly love the rides and entire area. By the time Brad and I were up to use our Rider Swap, the standby line was over 3 hours!! There is NO WAY!!!
We finished up around 10:30. Brad and Justin decided to go use their Rider Swap tickets from Tuesday along with their Fastpasses to ride Everest. Flight of Passage left me a little nauseated so I wasn't a big fan of riding Everest. Instead, I went and found a stand to refill our popcorn bucket and tried to settle my stomach some. Emily stayed back with Lydia for a bit in Pandora.
After refilling my popcorn bucket, Melody and I went to DinoLand. First, I found a picnic table, and we ate some popcorn. After our snack, we headed to The Boneyard. This is a really nice playground area for kids. Melody found a slide, and she literally went up and down the stairs a hundred times! She eventually went down the slide some, but she loves stairs. Emily eventually joined me with Lydia. Not too long afterwards, the boys arrived. They road Everest about three times.
After the boys arrived, we decided to all go get lunch. It was around 11:45, and none of us were super hungry, but we knew the girls would be hungry before we could make it back anywhere else to eat. So we went with our original plan and tried Restaurantosaurus. The line was deceiving. While it wasn't super long, it took a long time to get your food. Justin and I sat at the table with the girls while Brad and Emily ordered lunch. I fed Melody crackers and applesauce, and she eventually ate some of our fries. Brad and I both got the Bacon Cheeseburger combo meal. It came with a burger, fries, and a dessert. The dessert was a Turtle Brownie. My two most favorite things about this restaurant were the toppings bar and the unlimited drink refills! It was all very yummy, and we would definitely go back. We actually like it more than Pizzafari!
After lunch, we decided to head back to the room. Melody fell asleep almost immediately after being put in the stroller. She was tired!
We spent some time in the room resting, but we really wanted to get to Epcot to enjoy our last night there. So we headed over around 2:15 pm. We changed Melody into her Ariel dress for dinner at Aksershus!
We still had quite a few snack credits, so we did some more visiting to the Festival of the Holiday booths.
We also decided to go ride Living with the Land one more time. It was our last ride of the trip (it was also our first ride!). We spent some time in Sunshine Seasons and let Melody run around some. As we were sitting, we noticed a poopy/gassy smell, but we assumed Melody had gas. She had been good and not pooped in the parks the entire trip. Well that was not the case this time! She had pooped. We decided to just head over to the Baby Care Center and change her there. We knew we wanted to do some shopping at MouseGear before dinner, so this seemed logical.
After we got to the Baby Care Center, we noticed her poop had leaked outside of her diaper. This was SO unlike her. She was also starting to develop some red spots all over. At this point, it just looked like bug bites, but they didn't seem to bother her. So we removed her pants (luckily no poop got on her dress or us), and she just went pantless in her dress!
We went and finished up some shopping we wanted to do at MouseGear. I bought a few stocking stuffers for Brad, and he did the same for me. We also did some more eating at the booths. About this time, Justin and Emily met us to eat at a few of the booths before dinner. We also did one last refill of our popcorn buckets
We tried to go check in for dinner around 6:10, but they said we could not check in more than 5 minutes before our reservation. So we went over to China and found a little alcove where we let the girls run. We had another rude instance when a lady came over there and started smoking. I said something to Emily, and I think the lady heard me complaining because she flicked her cigarette into the World Showcase Lagoon. So rude. FYI-this was NOT a smoking area. There is a smoking area about 50 feet away.
We finally went and were able to check in at Akershus at 6:30. We waited maybe 5 minutes or so, and we were called into the restaurant. First up, we met Belle. This picture was taken by a PhotoPass photographer.
Then we were sat at our table. Our waiter, Hans, was AMAZING. He was super friendly and explained everything when we had questions regarding the menu. Emily and I ordered the stuffed pasta, and the boys ordered the meatballs. After we ordered, we went and ate the "buffet" which was called the Taste of Norway. I loved the salad, again!
As soon as we got back, all the princesses arrived. Meeting the princesses was quite different than meeting the characters at Garden Grill. One, Melody didn't cry! She didn't smile either, but at least there wasn't a meltdown. Two, they all come at once. At Garden Grill the characters are sporadic. You really never know when they are going to come to your table. Every now and then a waiter may give you a heads up, but even that is rare. At Akershus, they all come at one time. So you meet each princess back to back. There isn't the worry of just getting your child back into their seat just for another character to sneak around the corner. You know you are next and so you can prepare. However, this can also come as a surprise and you may be at the buffet when the princesses come, and you will not get another chance to meet them. Luckily we got back to the table from the buffet just in time. Third, they do not take as much time at your table as they do at Garden Grill. The princesses would not pose for pictures unless the child was out of the high chair. I think Lydia only got one picture with a princess because she was in her high chair. They pose quickly and take off to the next table.
Once we received our food, the princesses did a cute parade that all the kids were invited to participate in. Of course Melody is still a little too young for this!
The food was pretty good. I liked my pasta ok, and Brad enjoyed the meatballs without the sauce. He didn't like my pasta because it has a similar sauce that he disliked on his dish. I did order a watermelon margarita, but they brought me a regular one. It tasted fine, so I opted to keep it. Hans was willing to replace it however. I even told the waitress who brought it to me that it was supposed to be watermelon. She said it was...it wasn't red...Maybe she didn't understand!
Next up was dessert. Brad did ask if they had anything sugar free. Hans said no, but he was willing to go to the bakery and check and see if he could find anything that would suffice. We thought that was a really nice gesture. We told him it was ok, but it was still kind. The desserts were ok. They bring you the desserts "family style". They have three different desserts on one tray. I had a bite of each, but I was so full I didn't want any more than that.
Once finished, we walked the rest of the World Showcase and used up the rest of our snack credits. First up was Karamell-Kuche in Germany. Emily and I waited in line to use a few snack credits here. I really wanted an apple, but your snack credits don't cover ALL Disney apples. So I settled for what it would cover. Just a simple caramel covered with peanuts would suffice. I also ordered a chocolate Rice Krispie. [I ate both after we got home. The apple was good, but the Rice Krispie was disappointing. It was super bland, and I expected a bit more caramel to be involved since it was bought at a caramel store. Oh well!]
We left Germany and went to Japan. Brad wanted to do a bit more shopping at Mitsukoshi. He actually was planning to buy me a few things for Christmas there, so Melody and I sat outside while he shopped. She played and danced until her heart was content!
When he finished, we took a PhotoPass picture outside of the store. It was a really cute nighttime picture!
Our last stop was Les Halles Boulangerie & Patisserie. Brad and Justin both used the rest of our snack credits here. I hung out here with Melody in her stroller while Emily and Lydia went towards the International Gateway to help keep Lydia calm. It was already bedtime for the girls! We left the park around 9:15 pm. It was perfect timing really because it started to sprinkle as we left.
We got back to the room and packed things up to make leaving in the morning easier. We were planning a 5 am departure, so we wanted as much packed up as we could. We kept Melody up because we decided to just let her sleep with us since it wasn't going to be a long sleeping night. Brad and Melody went to bed while I showered. I came out to the cutest picture of those two!
We finally all went to bed around 11 pm. Not too bad considering we had to pack everything and all shower! Now here's to hoping we get some good sleep before our long drive!
I think today was a good ending to our trip. We ended the night very low key and relaxing which was nice. I always hate to see our trips come to an end, but it eventually has to happen.
