THE LAND OF CURLY HAIR

Saturday, January 30, 2021

DISNEY WORLD, DAY FIVE - EPCOT

Before we headed out for our fifth day of vacation life, we walked out to the front of the resort to get a picture with the Art of Animation sign in the background.

One of the bike-riding security guys rode by just after we took our picture and offered to take one for us. Not as close to our faces, but you can see more of the main building.

The final park destination was Epcot, which meant another Skyliner ride. We just missed a chance to swim in the Big Blue Pool with the timing of our trip, but I took some pictures of it as we walked from the front of the resort back to the Skyliner.

Isn't it a fun area?

Silas made a comment one day about how he thought Florida was supposed be sunny, but this is what the skies looked like most of our time. It was still warmer than Oregon, though, and it was nice to not deal with Florida's heat or humidity. Our building was on the right side of this picture and we had a glimpse of the water from our room.

This was view from our gondola as we headed to Epcot. That tall building on the left side is Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios, the drop ride we'd all done a couple days earlier.

One of Tyler's personal purchases was this bubble wand he snagged as we left Magic Kingdom the previous night. He loved it and had all the bubble solution used up by the time we boarded Test Track, our first ride at Epcot.

Next up was Mission: SPACE, which offers two tracks and we split up for the ride. A really big deal is made about the intensity of one track, with the other offered to folks who need things toned down. I really like thrill rides, but I can't handle spinning and didn't want to risk ruining my day so early on. Tim and I both opted for the wimpy track, while the sibs all did the exciting one. Silas said I'd have been totally fine. Devon, who gets motion sickness and decided to risk it, said it made him feel a little gross and he wouldn't do it twice, but that it wasn't nearly as big of a deal as they worked it up to do and he's glad he did it.

At this point things began to fall apart for a little while. I thought Epcot was beautiful and was super excited about spending the day there. However, a combination of our routine being disrupted by a later park opening, hunger, communication breakdowns, a point with half our family (led by the oldest W, yours truly) in tears, hunger, communication breakdowns, an awesome plan for the day foiled by the requirement to be stationary while eating (a requirement we obviously knew about, but just didn't consider as we started the day), hunger, communication breakdowns, and the simple fact six people were on their fifth day of travel and fourth day in parks made this our hardest day. And did I mention hunger and communication breakdowns?

There was still plenty of good, but I admit the day was sorta disappointing for me because it was a one shot deal and didn't go at all the way I'd hoped. Such is life. I'd love to go again someday, but either ditch folks I'm with to walk the World Showcase by myself (set my own pace as I snack around the world, which is what I'd most looked forward to at Epcot) or go with others after C19 restrictions are lifted (group pace and eat as we walk).

So, now that I've acknowledged the rough patch because no trip is all dreamy, let's talk about the good stuff.

The Skyliner entrance isn't the same as the main one, so we backtracked to get a shot in front of the Epcot ball, which I recently learned is actually called Spaceship Earth.

Next up was another ride. Cool thing about Soarin' Around the World? It involves scents as you fly over various countries and world landmarks. It probably mentions that detail somewhere online, but I wasn't expecting it.

We all headed to the World Showcase after that ride and did a family split. Such an awesome part of the park! Check out this assortment of food Silas ordered in France and I got to have some of. Beautiful and delicious! We all ended up back there at the end of the day when he got those two treats again, as well as a few others, for everyone to sample.

Naomi spotted Lumiere as we took a food break. See him?

Now do you?

Just a couple random shots of buildings as we walked around the World Showcase. This area was so fun to look at! I loved how different the eleven different countries were represented architecturally.

The two rides my group did in that area were Frozen Ever After and Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros, but we only got a picture at one of them.

We were there during Taste of Epcot: International Festival of the Arts, which meant extra vendors displaying their work. I don't wear much jewelry, but one of my favorite festival booths was Jortra. This small, family-owned business is local to Orlando and makes jewelry from cantaloupe seeds (sounds weird, I know, but it looks really cool), orange peels, coffee beans, and bamboo. I took this picture just to remember the name and didn't intend to post it, but it gives an idea of their style. You can click into their site link above to see what other jewelry they have.

As the day wound down, I turned around to see this.

I love that thing! In the same way I thought the intricacies of Animal Kingdom's Tree of Life were amazing, the relative simplicity of this giant structure was equally beautiful. And just a little while later, this. So pretty all lit up against a black sky!

I took that picture as we all slowly gathered from our splits for our very last park pictures of the week, group shots in front of the ball at night.

Four parks down, none left!

I had to make some final purchases at Ink & Paint on our last night and realized not needing to use the resort lobby all week meant I hadn't taken any pictures of it. I think the wall of paint swatches behind the staff is fun.

The opposite wall is filled with sketches, some that made the final cut and others that didn't, for the four movies the resort is based on.

It's a bright, cheerful space. Even brighter than the little sunburn my pasty white self got on a day where the sun only broke through for a few hours and temps hit the mid-60s. Ha!

Four days filled from beginning to end with Disney parks were in the books. But we still had one more day on the road with more good stuff to come.

*****

Here are links for all the posts about our Disney trip.

Day One - Portland to Orlando

Day Two - Animal Kingdom

Day Three - Hollywood Studios

Day Four - Magic Kingdom

Day Five - Epcot

Day Six - Orlando to Portland

The trip was a prize from our orthodontist's office, Senestraro Family Orthodontics, as our name was drawn from all the established patients who referred new patients to their office in 2019. We've loved that office for over three years now and highly recommend them to anyone within driving distance of their three offices in Sherwood, Wilsonville, and Woodstock. Initial travel information was provided by Kristy and all travel arrangements, as well as really helpful daily tour plans for us to use as suggested launch points for our days, were provided by Tanya, both from Incredible Memories Travel. I'll definitely use their services if we ever get to travel again and recommend them to anyone who'd like someone else to do all the background work for their next vacation.

DISNEY WORLD, DAY FOUR - MAGIC KINGDOM

The fourth day of our trip was spent at Magic Kingdom and our top priority that day was to take a picture to give Senestraro Family Orthodontics. We wouldn't have been on a Disney trip if it wasn't for them, so we'd packed our six SFO shirts in our luggage and made sure they were included in our clothing layers for the day. Cinderella's Castle is the classic Disney park symbol, so we made a beeline for a photographer in that area, shed our hoodies, and lined up. Look at those six happy people at Disney World with beautiful smiles from #BracesOnFaces! Oh, wait ... well, just imagine all those straight-ish teeth under those masks.

I spy a little more castle in the background.

All six Ws and the whole castle. We should have chosen a photographer on the other side of that gigantic light pole, but, as my mom used to say, should haves don't count. The main goal was to get picture proof that SFO's Disney trip winners took their trip. Done!

That task finished, we took off for some roller coaster adventures. Quick group shot as we headed to Tomorrowland's Space Mountain.

Then some pictures from the group ride, plus one taken later in the day of me and Silas.

Next up was Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I knew I wanted a picture of all of our wrists sporting MagicBands at some point in the week, so we struck the pose while waiting in line.

Confession: One MagicBand was proof that my frugal self who likes to stick to a plan can blow money unnecessarily just to satisfy a relatively unimportant desire. We'd intentionally saved way more money than we'd need for this trip so that we could just relax and not worry about pinching pennies. I'm still a frugal person who values responsible spending, though. One W's MagicBand disappeared at Hollywood Studios the previous day. No irresponsibility was involved and it wasn't a practical problem because the park replaced it with a card that does all the same things.

However, I still hadn't taken the group wrist picture. Ridiculous, perhaps, but I really wanted that picture. Back at our room that night, I zipped down to Ink & Paint, the resort store, and bought a replacement one just so we could have it for a picture. No name on the back, as the store ones aren't personalized, but it worked for my purpose. A totally unnecessary MagicBand for one single picture.

Anyway, moving on to the ride pictures. The kids had seen some funny poses from other people over the course of the week, so I think the last one is Silas acting like he's clinging to Tim from fear. Usually the little Ws spent most of their roller coaster time trying to figure out where the cameras were so they could strike a pose.

Our final group ride of the day was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, so off we went in that direction. We'd never heard of Texas John Slaughter before, we so were amused by this sign we passed along the way because one of Silas' co-workers and the youth pastor of some little Ws is named John Slaughter.

Parade time!

We don't get any pictures from our Big Thunder ride, but we noticed Splash Mountain appeared to be open next to it. I'd noticed a lack of available water rides online as we planned our trip and we'd been told at a closed ride entrance at Animal Kingdom that all water rides were shut down because this time of year is when annual repairs take place. Imagine our surprise when Splash Mountain was up and running. Score! Half the fam didn't think temps in the high 50s and low 60s were warm enough for a water ride, so they split off. The other half thought we should make the most of our park time and got right in line.

I don't think Silas or Devon ever went, but Naomi was able to talk Tim into going with her during a family split later in the day. Twice. In a row!

Parade time!

The next character sighting was Jack Sparrow.

Pirates of the Caribbean was next for my half of the fam. I know the other Ws also went, but we don't have any pictures of them.

With some time to kill before lunch, we all ended up in the same part of Adventureland and did a little scramble of Ws. Tyler asked me to go on The Magic Carpets of Aladdin with him, then later recruited sibs to join him for two more rounds. One of the simplest rides of the week, but also one of his favorites because he had control over how high we went.

Some of us did Enchanted Tiki Room and Swiss Family Treehouse, then the little Ws hung out together while Tim and I went off to do other things for a little while before lunch.

Parade time!

This was the second of two days we had lunch reservations, this time at Liberty Tree Tavern. Again, the food was tasty. What I liked best as a family of six on our fourth day of travel, third in a park, was that the meals are served family style and it's all you can eat. There's only one meal option, so all you have to do is sit down and choose a drink. No thinking. Just eating. The meal is Thanksgiving-ish with three different types of meat, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, and rolls, followed by a perfectly divine toffee cake, which seemed more like a giant cookie, with ice cream and chocolate sauce on top.

Our post-lunch split had Tim and Naomi, Devon and Tyler, and me and Silas paired off. We've already seen the Splash Mountain pictures from Tim and Naomi. Devon and Tyler took a picture of themselves in line for Peter Pan's Flight.

A shot in front of Cinderella's Castle.

And a character sighting of Eeyore, Piglet, and Rabbit.

We all did the Haunted Mansion at some point in the day, but somehow Silas and I didn't get a picture.

Tyler had told me at some point in the day that he thought we should recreate the MagicBand wrist picture from the morning in front of the castle. I loved the idea, as my shot could have been taken in our driveway and his proved we were at Disney World. Unfortunately, no Ws have learned to levitate, making a vertical version of my horizontal pose impossible. Next best option? Ask a stranger to take a picture of our wrists lined up in front of the castle as our family regrouped just before dark. Perfect!

Naomi spotted a mass character sighting as our day wrapped up and decided to record it. It's hard to see, but Daisy, Pluto, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and a bunch of dancers were on the balcony.

We'd already taken a castle picture earlier for SFO, but we headed to Main Street for a night view right before we left the park.

As I mentioned in my first trip post, only two friends knew of our trip way in advance. One was Tammy. I felt like a bunch of joy got sucked out of anticipating this trip because of the secrecy involved in not wanting to upset people I care about who would be bothered by the timing. She's one whose life is far more impacted by C19 risks than mine, but she's also one who is a complete Disney fanatic and who knows I'm not one who makes decisions flippantly. So I told her early on.

She'd already given me a bunch of expert advice when we announced the prize last summer, but I wanted any tips she had for me now that we were actually going. And I really wanted some drama-free excitement from a non-W. And by wanted, I mean needed. Desperately. She came through, as I knew she would. In the midst of our chats about the trip, she mentioned a particular puzzle she's wanted and asked us to keep an eye out for it. Devon found it and was quickly promoted to her favorite W. Ha! It was cool to find something that would make her happy after she'd helped me be happy.