Happy 4th of July!!
I love these little firecrackers!
Previous 4th of July posts… 2016 (Samantha’s legs!), 2015 (super!), 2014 (ha!), 2013 (baby spencey!), 2012 (cool kid), and 2011 (does not get cuter)
Red, white and blue
Red, white, and blue…and a package of gummies too!
Sometimes you just need some gummies to convince you to put on your cute dress and go outside with your brothers! But when the gummies are gone you actually realize it’s not so bad and even smile a bit…
A win win for all!
Epcot
On our final day at Disney, we hit up Epcot. When I originally planned the trip, I wasn’t planning to take Samantha to Epcot as I didn’t think there were very many rides she could really enjoy. Instead, GJ was going to take her back to Magic Kingdom for the day while Robert and I took the boys to Epcot. Well, from the time I planned our FastPasses to the day of our actual trip, Samantha’s Frozen obsession grew exponentially! Considering that both the Frozen ride and the Elsa and Anna meet and greet are in Epcot, we decided to change our plans! But, that meant we had no Fast Pass for the Frozen ride and the line for it can get really, really long. So, what did we do? We got up bright and early and made a run for it, of course! 🙂
At Epcot and ready to go!
We were there before park opening and lined up with the masses to make our way to Norway at rope drop. There was a huge crowd headed that way but we had no problems and only had to wait about 5 minutes in line.
After the ride we waited about 15 minutes to meet Elsa and Anna – it was totally worth it! Look at Samantha’s face! 🙂
Samantha even picked something special for Elsa! 😉
We then got to meet Anna who was pretty funny telling some sort of story all about Sven and Kristoff!
We then waved goodbye to the two best VIPs of the trip in Samantha’s opinion…
and then, of course, we hit up the gift shop! Samantha walked out with an Anna doll to match the Elsa doll she already had.
She was one happy little girl! I’m so glad we changed the plans to get her over there!
We spent the rest of the morning riding Figment, The Seas with Nemo, and Test Track (which was so awesome!).
We then made our way to Italy for lunch and toured some of the countries in the World Showcase…
including a stop in France for dessert!
The boys then wanted to get their faces painted…
and Samantha was worn out!
While she was asleep, Robert and the boys and I went inside to ride Living with the Land and Soaring (hands down my favorite ride at Disney now!). When we came back outside, it was POURING rain! Oh no! Luckily, it was the end of our day and we all had ponchos so no biggie.
We made it back to the car and back to the hotel where everyone was tired from the big adventures. The next morning, we had one last club level breakfast (these kids are living the life right here!)…
and then said goodbye to Disney!
It was truly a GREAT trip. Despite threats of rain every day, we got SO lucky with the weather. All of the kids got to see and do things they were super excited about…and Robert and I got to watch them be super excited! 🙂 Also, despite late nights, early mornings, and hot weather, we had virtually no meltdowns and very little whining from the kids. They were Disney troopers for sure! As always, a HUGE thanks to GJ and Daddo for making it all happen. Now, when are we going back???!!!!
Magic Kingdom
Even though we had a late night on Saturday night watching the Star Wars fireworks, we were still up bright and early on Sunday to hit up the Magic Kingdom! As another special treat, we bought the Early Morning Magic special where you get to get into the park at 7:45 (before official opening at 9:00) and had unlimited access to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Peter Pan, and Winnie the Pooh with breakfast included! We obviously did it for the Seven Dwarfs ride and it was totally worth it!
The boys LOVED it and got to ride it a total of 4 times in a row. We honestly could have ridden it way more but they did the other rides too.
We all had to split up a bit because Samantha couldn’t ride Seven Dwarfs and didn’t really like being left out.
Thankfully they started running the carousel at about 8:15 and she was happy as could be riding that over and over and over!
Right before rope drop, Robert and I got ready to hustle over to Space Mountain while the kids went with GJ and lined up to meet some princesses. Maxwell had planned to ride Space Mountain for the first time with us, but after the Tower of Terror incident, he changed his mind. 🙂 Robert and I beat the main crowd over to Space Mountain and the kids met some VIPs. There were hugs for Cinderella…
and plenty of love for Elena of Avalor!
We spent the morning riding Buzz Lightyear, The Little Mermaid, Small World, Dumbo, and Barnstormer – it was Samantha’s first time and she LOVED it!
After lunch, GJ took Samantha back to the hotel to nap while Robert and I took the boys on some of the bigger rides. Everyone was a bit tired by this point…
but with the help of some ice cream, they remained all smiles!
And they obviously loved Splash Mountain…
and also got to ride Big Thunder for the first time. A huge hit!
We were then able to pick up another Fast Pass for Tomorrowland Speedway where the boys both proved they are excellent drivers! By that point it was late afternoon and the rain was coming so we headed back to the hotel for some room service that night! Perfect! After two FULL days we were all feeling about like this…
But we still had one day left! See you tomorrow!
Star Wars!
After our fun morning, we had something even more fun planned for the afternoon! Robert, the boys, and I, along with Keath’s family, signed up to do the Star Wars Guided Tour! It was a 7 hour adventure where we got to do ALL of the Star Wars stuff at Hollywood Studios including meeting all of the characters, riding Star Tours, Jedi Training, and marching with the Stormtroopers! We also got a LOT of facts, background info, and stories about Star Wars (which I probably could have done without but, it was interesting). We were all pretty excited about it because it guaranteed that we got to do everything – as long as the weather held out! The #1 thing the boys wanted to do was Jedi Training…and that’s the one thing they won’t do in the rain! It was threatening all afternoon and evening but, clearly the good side of the Force was with us because it all worked out!
It was fun to get to be a VIP with official Star Wars credentials!
We were in a group of about 30 and had headsets on the whole time so the guides could talk to us and tell us important facts! We got to go into all of the movies, shows, and rides with no waiting. It was pretty cool! Right off the bat, we got to meet Darth Vader! The boys’ reactions were PRICELESS! There was no joking around with ole Darth and, in case you’re wondering, he does not sign autographs!!
Spencer’s eyes!!
We also not only got to see the Stormtroopers march down the street being lead by Captain Phasma, but we got to march with them as well!
Captain Phasmo even spotted Maxwell and gave him a serious look over…wonder if it had something to do with that Stormtrooper shirt he had on?
I think she must have reported him because at dinner that night, Maxwell almost got put into jail by the Stormtroopers! Thankfully they let him go after a thorough inspection…
After dinner we finally got to do Jedi Training! This was the most exciting and best thing ever!! The boys were outfitted…
and then got to get up on stage to learn the ways of the Jedi!
Spencer was the youngest of all the kids and got a little extra special attention! 🙂
They all learned how to wield that lightsaber!
One of the most important light saber rules was to hold it down when not fighting. Spencer had a little trouble remembering this and by the fourth time the Master Jedi had to say “Spencer, put your lightsaber down” everyone in the audience had to laugh! ha!
They also learned to use the Force…
and then two villains came out! Darth Vader and the Seventh Sister Inquisitor. All of the young Jedis got to fight one of the villians…thankfully we got to fight Darth Vader!
Spencer went up, down, and around with that light saber!
Maxwell had some serious moves to fight off Darth!
The power of the force was too much and Darth Vader retreated…
But then Kylo Ren came out!
Pretty sure Spencer was terrified…
and Maxwell thought it was awesome….
and they then both dutifully used the Force once again to drive Kylo Ren away!
Have you ever seen such fierce (and cute!) Jedis?!
Jedi Training was my favorite thing we did the entire trip. The boys loved it and it was worth every penny spent to get us there!
The fun wasn’t over yet! We then got to ride Star Tours and then got to meet more characters while also enjoying the the Galactic Spectactular Dessert party! We got to meet Chewie…
Spencer continued to be skeptical of all characters! ha!
The kids meet BB8 and thought that was pretty cool…
and then, against Maxwell’s wishes, we met Kylo Ren! Scary!
We then got to watch the Galactic Spectacular fireworks show from a reserved area. It was the MOST fun day for our Star Wars loving little Jedis. I’m so glad we got to do it all and didn’t have issues with the weather. Like I said, the Force was with us!
See you tomorrow with Magic Kingdom fun!