Ok I am back with a new post finally! Baseball season is swinging into gear in our house and since DH and I coach a team a lot of the administrative work falls on me. Plus DD4 is playing Tball this year so we will be busy until August. Now if it would ever warm up and quit raining in MO.
Day 6 - Tuesday, March 6 Cont'd + Mickey's Backyard BBQ Review
We had 3 fastpasses for Splash (since I had split our 7 between Haunted Mansion and Splash), so DH took DS6 and DD4 on Splash while I took DS8 and DS2 to sign up for Pirate's Adventure. They explained the game to us and we headed off to find treasure in Adventureland. We were close to Aloha Isle so I ordered 2 Dole Whips via mobile order. They were ready pretty quickly and I forgot how big they were! I wanted to save some for DH and the other kids so I asked for extra cups. I was able to use those extra cups as lids and then I could carry them around in the cupholders in our stroller. It was only mid 70's so they weren't melting fast. We finished the first adventure (there are 5 of them and each one takes about 15 minutes) so we sat down on the curb to eat some of the dole whip. DS2 was really struggling at this point and desperately needed a nap, but he didn't want to sit in his stroller! DH returned with the other kids and we took them all to get another Pirate Adventure map. It was getting close to 2:15 and I still wanted to ride Splash (DH had gotten a rider switch) but the kids were so engrossed with the Pirate Adventure game that no one wanted to ride with me! Seriously, they loved this game and the "freedom" it entailed. And it was nice for us as parents to sit back and follow them around Adventureland for once. I finally convinced DD4 to ride with me on Splash. As we were heading to Splash I told DH to try and find a spot for the 3:00 FoF parade in Frontierland. (DH is not the best about following directions, especially if I do not stress the importance of following them...see BOG and Peter Pan above). We went through the FP line for Splash but they were having technical difficulties and kept announcing slight delay. So I texted DH to tell him not to wait for us to find a seat, hoping he would find a place for all of us and the 2 of us could just squeeze in (I know some of you hate this strategy but don't worry because it didn't work out anyways). We finally exited the ride at 2:45 so I called DH to see where they were...turns out they were waiting right by the exit of Splash (The boys had been insistent on finishing another adventure and then they were fighting and then on and on so he never had a chance to get a spot). Ugh! I rushed to Frontierland to find a spot on the sidewalk and they were packed! Plus, they were not letting people walk down the street. We were kind of stuck and I was really frustrated. DS2 was still refusing to sit in the stroller so I grabbed him and started pushing the stroller, laying my phone on the canopy of the stroller. Realizing I would not fit the double stroller walking down the roped off area (on the opposite side of Pecos Bill), I gave DH the stroller and told him I would walk with the 3 boys and find a spot to stand and DH and DD4 (who was in the stroller) should walk on the wooden walkway and once I found a spot I would let them know. This was a horrible idea! We should have just parked the stroller somewhere and walked down the walkway single file. Lesson learned! I did find a spot pretty quickly and I went to grab my phone to call DH I realized I left my phone on the stroller. My stomach dropped but since we were right in front of the wooden walkway I figured we could just wait for DH to walk by and call him down. We never saw him. The parade was about to start so I turned to a nice lady next to me and asked if I could borrow her phone. She was a sweet lady from North Carolina and let me borrow her phone. Thankfully DH answered so I explained to him where we were and told him to come find us and we would be looking for him. He said he was near Liberty Tree Tavern and I asked if he had a good spot and he said "not really" so I said our spot was pretty decent so he should come there. Another big mistake on my end. The music for the parade was starting. I LOVE the Festival of Fantasy Parade, I love the music, I love the floats, I love the characters and I love watching my kids stare in amazement. But I missed all that this time because I had my head on a swivel looking for DH and DD4 (I soooo wanted to experience this with our whole family together like we did on our last 2 trips). The parade ended and DH never showed up. The nice lady asked me if I wanted to call my husband again so I tried and he didn't answer. But I figured that's ok, he knows where we are so he will just come find us. Wrong again. I waited at least 5 or 10 minutes in that same spot and he never showed. I went to a couple stores to find a CM that could help. One let me use her store phone but it couldn't call outside the park. Another CM told me to go to the restrooms between Adventureland and Frontierland and there was an emergency pay phone. I went there (with all 3 kids tagging along and me holding DS2 of course) and could not find a phone so I went in another store and asked another CM what to do. (Again, a lesson learned, always establish a meeting place with your party if you get separated) This CM told me to go to Pecos Bill to find an emergency phone. We were still a bit away from Pecos Bill, so I didn't like that idea and on top of that DS2 grabbed one of those long lollipops from the store and I had to pry it out of his hands to put it back. He started crying and so did I. The older boys felt so bad for me...anyhow I rushed out of that store and headed to Pecos Bill with tears streaming down my face...and who do I run into coming the opposite direction...DH and DD4. I was so excited and so angry at the same time. We hugged and I tried to figure out what happened. Apparently he couldn't make it back over to where we were before the parade started so he just stayed put since he said he had a decent view and DD4 was enjoying the parade. Merida even waved to her and pointed out their similar red hair. And I Missed it!!
So I asked him why he didn't come to our spot after the parade, knowing that's the last place I was and would be waiting for him. He said because he thought I would come find him since he told me where he was on the phone. Ugh! Such horrible communication. But that's ok, we still love each other unconditionally despite all of our flaws. We needed to get going at this point because it was 3:45 and we needed to be at Ft. Wilderness by 4:30 and you never know how long the boat is going to take. However, the boys were not happy because they had just 1 Pirate Adventure left to complete. DS8 is a highly anxious and task oriented person (like me and DS2 has some similar qualities we can already tell). We actually took him to some occupational therapy for a few months after he turned 4 to get help for his sensory processing disorder. Anyhow, when he starts something he wants to finish it. He was about to have a meltdown so we told him we would come back the next day to finish. He wasn't happy but well that's life.
So we exited the park and went to wait for the boat to Ft. Wilderness.
My parents were meeting us at Ft. Wilderness and I was actually kind of worried about this. I told them to take the boat from Wilderness Lodge to the Fort but sometimes they are like my husband when it comes to following directions (haha!) Turns out they showed up on the boat right behind us! We walked over to the pavilion and there were just a few people in front of us. They let us in at 4:30 for Mickey's Backyard BBQ (we had upgraded to the amazing Category 1 Seating) and there was a sign on one of the picnic tables with our name on it. They even had a high chair set up on the end for DS2. This was great seating. We were right next to the dance floor so we didn't have to move to watch the kids dance. The food wasn't out yet but they said to help ourselves to the Mickey bars...so of course we let the kids have Mickey bars! They were still upset about the whole Pirate Adventure thing and DS2 still hadn't napped so this helped all the kids. We also got some soda and then a few minutes later the bar opened and we filled up on Yuengling (a favorite of ours since we can't buy it in Missouri...in fact just writing this makes me want one so I am helping myself to one that we brought back from the Florida Walmart in my Pirates of the Caribbean frosty mug that I got last year on the
Shop Disney Parks App). Ok back to the BBQ. With Category 1 seating there were maybe 10 tables reserved and I noticed that not everyone had shown up yet for their early seating! I think this might be because it's not explained very well when you register (imagine that). About 4:45 the characters came out. Chip and Dale and Goofy all met together on one side and then Mickey and Minnie met together in front of the stage. There were photopass photographers in both locations and we had plenty of time with each set. It was so nice to get this meet and greet done early! We were done by 5:00 and the food was ready by then so we went and got some (there was no line and it felt like we had the place to ourselves, the bartender even recognized us all night which I thought was nice even after the crowd of people arrived). I was starving by this point and was excited to eat! The kids got simple plates with hot dogs and mac n cheese. DH and I loaded up on pulled pork (it was your standard stuff but made better with cole slaw on top), ribs (really good and better than the pork), caesar salad (yum), macaroni salad (yum), potato salad (yum), mac n cheese (pretty good) and cornbread (yum). I didn't try the corn, hot dogs, hamburgers, watermelon, cucumber salad, kale apple salad, or even the strawberry shortcake dessert! I'm still kicking myself for not trying that one. But I was just so full from the other food and I didn't want to overstuff myself because there was still a lot of night ahead of us! Everyone else was let in around 5:15 and the show started around 5:30. DD4 loved dancing on the floor but never even got close to dancing with the characters for 3 reasons: 1) She pretty much stood on the edge near us and the characters danced mainly in the middle, 2) All the parents followed their kids to the middle so they could get pictures of their kids dancing with the characters, and 3) The characters spent so much time with meet and greets that they were actually only dancing for MAYBE 1/2 the songs. This part surprised me and the lines for the meet and greets were long all night. In fact most people had to stand in line waiting for the characters to come back after their dance set. You do NOT want to do this! After a few songs the band took a break and the trick roper came out. The kids all lined up sitting around the edge of the dancefloor (our kids didn't have to go far because this was right next to our table). My kids LOVED this part of the show (we are country folk so we like this kind of thing). During the trick roping show the characters would go to their spots and do their meet and greets. I think there were 2 trick shows and after each one the band would start playing again and the kids and parents would dance without the characters and then eventually the characters would come back. I will say that DD4 enjoyed this show a lot as most of the kids were around her age. DS8 felt he was too old to be on the dance floor and DS6 danced some but also sat some with DS8. DS2 wouldn't go anywhere near the dance floor and wanted to be held the entire time. My parents LOVED this show and even danced with DD4 some. I have never seen my dad dance in my life (other than our father/daughter dance at my wedding) and it was hilarious! But he didn't care what he looked like and DD4 was grateful.
Around 7:00 I could tell the older boys were getting a little bored. Our plan was to go to evening EMH at Epcot since it was open until 11 and we had a rest day the next day. I pulled up the Lyft app to see if there were any Minnie Vans close and there were a few. I didn't order one just yet though, as I needed to see what my parents wanted to do. I told them we were going to head to Epcot and they said they planned to just go back to WL. I must admit I was a little relieved because that meant our family of 6 could fit in a Minnie Van. Otherwise we would have had to take a different route to Epcot. My parents were ready to go so we headed out about 7:15. The band was about to play one last song which I think was perfect timing for us to go. I pulled up the Lyft app to locate the Minnie Van again and finally after a few minutes it located one. Whew! I had been stressing about that because I had heard it could be difficult at peak times. We headed to the bus stop and the CM there told us that Minnie Vans picked up near the barn and pointed us in the right direction. We headed over there and another family was just getting in their MV. While we waited another lady came up and asked if I was able to locate a MV because her app kept timing out. I told her I did but it took a few minutes. So thankful I ordered it just before the show was over! The kids didn't know what we were doing, they knew we were headed to Epcot but had no idea how we were getting there. Our MV pulled up about 5 minutes later and they were so excited (especially DD4). The driver did have to install both car seats which took a few minutes, but we were able to cram our double stroller in the back so I was relieved. I got to ride shotgun and DH had to ride in the very back since the car seats went in the captain's chairs in the middle row. The driver asked us where we wanted to go and when we said Epcot he was shocked. He said "most families are heading back to their hotel by now". We just laughed and said "yes we know we are crazy." We enjoyed chatting with the driver and we arrived at Epcot a few minutes later. Here's a tip...I downloaded the Lyft app right before our trip and put in the code "50TWITTER" which gave us $5 off our first 10 rides. This worked on the Minnie Van so it "only" cost us $20.
Up next...evening EMH at Epcot...oh how I love it!
