Day Nine

We got up early the next morning (Tuesday) and head back to Epcot for its Extra Magic Hour.  This was our one unpleasant entrance experience.  We had a very rude couple cut in front of us during bag check, but karma got them when they got in line for the Room-Key Turnstiles and had to be turned away since they had paper tickets.  But no big deal in the grand scheme of things, especially when you're at Disney!  I took Colwyn and Lachlann on Test Track while Doug got Fastpasses for Soarin'.  Doug got to take Colwyn on Mission Space.  Colwyn told me much later that it was really cool, but at the end when the shuttle is teetering on the edge of the cliff, that he waited for the other people around him to get up before he did, because he was afraid he'd tip the shuttle off the cliff.

We headed over to the Land pavilion next and alternated taking the big kids on Soarin' and having breakfast with the little kids and riding Livin' with the Land.  Next we took the boat over to Morocco and explored that area thoroughly.  We were really impressed with the tile mosaics, the fountain, and the gift shops.  They did the Kidcot thing there and got little trading cards for the country.  Japan was next and I made a beeline for pick a pearl with Fiona, something I'd been looking forward to for a while.  Pearl is her birthstone, as well as her aunt's (they're both born on the same day, actually), so the idea was to get them both pearls and get matching settings later.  Pick a pearl was a lot of fun.  The girl told us how to count "3-2-1" in Japanese (it sounds like, "Itchy, knee, sun!").  We got 7.5mm pearls, both nicely white.  The giant department store was really awesome, and I kept thinking of how much my sister would have loved it.  Too bad she's 'too cool' for Disney.  We also did the Kidcot stop there before heading on to the American Adventure.

We lucked out in America because the Fife and Drum troupe were coming out just as we were finishing up the Kidcot stop.  I'd been looking forward to American Adventure least because, well, we live here.  We also live in a very historic area so I thought I would feel, "Been there, done that" but it was actually a very nice area.  We tried Italy next, but there weren't any cast members there, so we took the boat back to Mexico.  Doug took the big kids on Test Track while I headed out of the park and to Lost and Found at the Ticket and Transportation Center.  Niall fell asleep before we even left Epcot, so that was convenient.  The people in Lost and Found were really nice and helpful, though Niall's monorail had broken at some point.  I'm sure I could have complained and probably gotten a free replacement out of that (not because I deserved it, but because Disney is exceedingly nice that way), but I didn't want to take advantage.  We rode the monorail around the resort loop a few times while Niall napped, and Doug and the bigs caught up to us.

We headed into Magic Kingdom next and went straight to Adventureland.  We rode the Magic Carpets, the Jungle Cruise, and Pirates of the Caribbean.  We popped into It's A Small World real quick and got Fastpasses for Peter Pan before heading over to Be Our Guest for our reservation.  They were running a little behind so we fit in a ride on Little Mermaid, which was a very nice surprise (and much better than waiting around for an extra 20 minutes).  We did still have to wait a few minutes to be seated, but the kids entertained us with sword fights and posing for funny pictures with the gargoyles.  Be Our Guest was simply amazing.  I couldn't believe how incredible it looked inside.  They really went above and beyond there, and to think that it's even just a quick service at lunch, rather than a Signature restaurant is just incredible.  Unfortunately, our waiter sucked.  He was painfully slow and boring to boot.  The food was okay, but nothing special.  Meeting the Beast was a highlight, but it was too bad that he didn't sign.  We loved the way he walked through the restaurant as he was announced, and it was pretty comical that he barely fit through the doorway to where his actual meet and greet was.

When we left, we decided that there wasn't time to do Peter Pan before the fireworks (Colwyn was really annoyed).  We got a less than stellar view of the fireworks from the Tomorrowland bridge, but had fun with our glow bracelets we'd brought from home (and shared with some kids nearby).  We decided to let the crowds thin out and took the opportunity to call home.  By the time we headed out, the park was pretty empty and we got a nice Photopass picture in front of the castle.