Adventures of Kevin, Cyndi, Kaitlyn and Kenzie: Vacation Part 3 (Disney Arrival, Disney Springs, EPCOT)

Saturday afternoon we made it to Disney! Kaitlyn has been talking about Disney the past couple of years as her friends have visited. She doesn't remember her first trip at all and only has vague memories of her second trip (when I was pregnant with Kenzie). We told her that Disney was pretty expensive so we wouldn't be able to go to the parks this time. But if she worked hard in school we could stay overnight at one of the hotels and go to one of the restaurants and the shops at Disney Springs. She was excited about that alone!

This is the balcony of our room at Animal Kingdom Lodge. There are actually giraffes waayyy in the back of our Kaitlyn's picture.

And there they are a bit closer!

Disney Springs!

The look Kaitlyn gave when photographer told her to look like she was holding something above her sister's head...

Hard to see... but there's the "mistletoe" that was magically added by Disney. Kaitlyn was supposed to kiss Kenzie's cheek, but Miss Uncooperative turned her head at the last second!

Both girls loved our pick for dinner and just happened to be wearing their Jurassic Park shirts.

Sorry about the funky lighting in the pictures, but the lighting was weird and constantly changing inside. Speaking of lights, Kenzie loved the lights, noise, and movements here!

After dinner we stopped in the Coca Cola Store and drank Around the World- samples of beverages sold in Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America. Spoiler alert- almost all of them were kind of gross. One actually tasted a bit like watered down dish soap. And, yes, I have experience with that... thanks Mom,hahaha.

Kenzie was fascinated by the huge tree in the hotel lobby.

Sunday (first park day) we went to EPCOT. Here's Kenzie on the bus. She became a little pro at the whole bus process/ getting strapped in. She even lifted her arms for the seat belt.

As we pulled up to EPCOT, I'd been able to keep Kaitlyn distracted and had her convinced we were pulling up to the back part of Disney Springs to do some last minute shopping before we left. She didn't get suspicious til we were in line to get in and she saw "the ball". Here's the video of her finding out exactly how long we were going to be staying...

We had breakfast in Norway before we hit the rides. Kaitlyn picked a "troll horn" aka a cream horn.

We had to do rider switch for Soarin since Kenzie couldn't ride. She didn't seem to mind waiting for me and Kaitlyn too much!

For lunch we headed back to Norway and to the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall.

I love this picture of Kenzie... typical "who are you and why are you touching me, hahaha"

I was so proud of Kaitlyn on this trip. At 10 years old, she is considered an "adult" on the Disney dining plans so she ordered off of the adult menu. She tried some pretty adventurous things at a few restaurants.

At lunch, we all ordered the Tradisjonnell Kjottkake... traditional Norwegian meatballs in a Lingonberry sauce.

After lunch, we used our Disability Access Card to basically "Fast Pass" at the Character Spot. This card was pretty awesome because we didn't have to wait in any of the really long lines with Kenzie. Basically, if the line was too long for her to wait we go to the Fast Pass line and the cast member there would scan her card and give us a return time that was equivalent to whatever the stand by wait time is. So, if we got to the ride at 3 and there was a 60 minute stand by wait, we would be told to return at 4 or later. We come back and they scan the card and our magic bands and we get to go on the Fast Pass line. The only catch is you can only have one one your card at a time, so we would have to go on the ride and "clear" it before you could go to another ride to request a return time for it.

But back to the EPCOT Character Spot. As you can see, it went well hahahaha.

Mickey liked Kevin's shirt...

And hit on me in front of my family, haha

Keeping a wary eye on Mickey (and the other characters farther down the line)

Somehow she managed to fall asleep in this position. It did not look comfortable!

Christmas Cookie challenge... I only made it halfway.

Japan!

Germany! (I had to get some Germany ears!!!)

Back to Norway so we could ride the Frozen ride. If you haven't been on it... try it. If you have, ask Kevin about the "surprises" hahaha

Resuming our walk around "the world" brought us back to Germany and another Disney photographer. (It was nice how many family pictures we got this trip!)We also stopped for some Gluhwein!

France!

We had dinner in England at the Rose and Crown. Our waiter was "David from Glasgow". He was awesome and it was pretty cool to talk to him about our trip to Glasgow a few years ago.