the Never say "Never" Trip Report - COMPLETE!! **Updated 11/24** About This Page:

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you made it and had a room available already (sorry it wasn't what you asked for) Can't wait to hear about Epcot

[DyanKJ130]

Sounds like a great start, other than Mr Grumpypants! Glad you were able to get into your room, despite how far away it was - your Disney attitude! Can't wait to hear more

[Princess_Wantabe]

Up next…we’re at Disney…let’s do lunch!

We arrived quickly to Epcot and were soon viewing that beautiful golf ball…I seeing it without that giant hand. This was the 1st time the girls saw it in its original form and Amanda’s comment was that she missed the wand.

We were all a little hungry, so we decided to hit up the Electric Umbrella for lunch after seeing the lines for Spaceship Earth were very long and not moving very quickly

EU…here we come Steve, Amanda and I all had burgers, Kristen had the chicken nuggets…typical burgers but very good Sorry but I didn’t take any food photos this trip (with the exception of one…which you’ll see later on ) I’m sure you can use your imagination and just picture meat on a bun

After a refreshing lunch break…did I forget to say how hot it was outside Well, let’s just say that ‘hades’ would be in that sentence also, get the picture?!?
So, after our refreshing lunch break, we headed back for SE…our 1st must do ride at Epcot

I loved the updates here and the video made for some hilarious times later on in our trip!
Here’s Kristen’s photo of their future…


And Steve & I…


I think I was oblivious when they were taking the photo…I think I was “thinking” they took the photo in the vehicle so I was looking at the monitor (obviously I didn’t listen too closely to the narrator )

Next on our hit parade was Club Cool…a 1st for us. Steve, believe it or not, actually LIKED Beverly I must say I’ve heard so much about it I had absolutely no desire for a taste


Kristen didn’t care much for it…



And Amanda just dumped her’s down the drain…


Next, we headed for the Living Seas



Finding Nemo was a walk on and this was the 1st we’d seen it…it was cute Turtle Talk was also pretty much a walk in and I love listening to the little kids interact with Crush…very cute!

We next wanted to get fastpasses for Soarin’ so off to the The Land we went. Once our fast passes were tucked away in DH’s pocket we decided to ride Living with the Land and made our way over there when all of a sudden I hear my name being called…which is a little bizarre when you’re at Disney I looked around and saw someone I know from CT (Sue) waiting in line for LWTL. I had no idea she would be at Disney, and what a coincidence to see someone you know out of all those thousands of people! She waited off to the side until we caught up with her and her younger daughter. They were having a mother/daughter trip because her DH and older daughter (who’s the same age as Kristen) didn’t want to come to Disney…so she left them at home and was enjoying a little time with her youngest We chatted a bit after the ride and headed our separate way, we didn’t see them again before they left a few days later…but it was seeing someone you know there!

Since we still had a little time for our fast passes for Soarin’ we rode Figment, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Ellen’s UoE and Mission Space…everything didn’t have much of a wait time 20 min at most…even MS.

Here’s a few photos…these need a little explanation Our last vacation, Kristen kept trying to look like she was grabbing the balls…wearing the hat…whatever was in the far background, she wanted to be interacting with it. So, even though she’s ‘over’ that, we joked with her about it and she decided to try ‘one more time’ for a little photo interaction





In this photo, it almost looks like she’s holding that family in the palm of her hand

After our successful mission to the red planet, we headed for our ride over California I this ride but not enough to wait the 90 min standby Fast passes definitely came in handy here

And here’s where we experienced the ultimate line cutters…



Notice the family with the towels on the shoulders? They were actually way behind us in the fastpass line…I guess lines are just an option in their minds, because they pushed pass us and all those people in front of us. DH thought it was very nervy and couldn’t resist taking a picture of their progress, which had me hitting him on the arm and telling him to “stop that!” But it was funny in the end…what’s that saying about karma…something about it biting you in the ‘you know what’. Well it took a nice chunk out of their bottoms because all their cutting put them in row #2 with us in row #1 and the best/worse part was Amanda had on shoes that she had to take off (or risk having them fall off) so they got to view Amanda’s shoeless, sockless feet…and to put it nicely…let’s just say that Amanda often travels with foot powder for a reason (I’m sure it wasn’t only oranges they were smelling over California ) Watch out for that Karma!

Once we were done soarin’ over California, we were all exhausted and kinda just wanted to go back to the room. One problem…our 7:30pm ADR for Rose & Crown. I had hopes of viewing Illuminations from the patio but we were all tired. It was about 5:30 when we just made our way to the R&C to see if they could take us any earlier. Our surprise…they took us to our seats about 5 minutes after checking in.

The food was good, the service was great, but we were all so beat from being up at 3:30am that we were a little zombied out as you can see from the pics at dinner…




After dinner, we made our way out of the park and were greeted by this awesome site!





It may not be Illuminations, but it was a very nice ending to our day

After a quick stop for resort mugs and soda fillups at the resort, we headed for our room and a much needed sleep for the night


Up next…will we make it for an opening ceremony??

[tammyd_rn]

What a great way to end the day. Thanks for sharing with us. Looking forward to more.

[mcc0313]

You all sound so tired and after traveling and that whirlwind afternoon no wonder...
Sorry you missed Illuminations but glad the R&C were able to sit you early so you could enjoy a hearty meal before getting some shut eye...

[CinderAbby]

Great TR so far. I can't wait to read more.

[chezp]

What a great first day and how neat to finish it with a rainbow. Love the bit about karma at Soarin'.

[mousestruck]

Terrific update! Sounds like you really made the rounds in Epcot. Glad they could take you earlier at R&C. And what a beautiful way to end the day! (Love all your pics, too!) Come back with more, soon!

[DyanKJ130]

Great update! Steve liked Beverly!?!? Blech! Love the photos of Kristen with the balls. Too funny how Amanda got those guys on Soarin' And, what a beautiful rainbow!! Can't wait to hear more

[B.M.]

Great day at Epcot!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great update! Fun times in Epcot!! Too funny about the line cutters Great pictures (love the rainbow) More please

[karyntay07]

Hi Sherri! I'm just catching up now....but I bet we were on the same DME bus as you, or the one right after/before! I don't remember a complaining man, but we were a little further back than you if you were the first in line, so we wouldn't have heard him. I can't wait to hear more about your trip to see if our paths crossed at any other point!

[anangel21]

I love all the pictures!! It gets me excited to go on our trip! Thanks for sharing!

[Princess_Wantabe]

Monday, August 25th

Will we make it for an opening ceremony??

One thing I’ve realized over the years is that our girls are not morning kids We used to have an easier time getting out the door when they were little and I could just slap those clothes on myself…now…not so easy For this reason, in the past, we’ve had a hard time getting them up and out the door by a certain time (ie: in time for an opening ceremony )

Luck was on our side (helped along by a chocolate chip muffin and a cinnamon bun ) and we were able to entice the girls out of bed fairly early this morning

After everyone was ready to go (DH had been ready for over an hour ) we headed for the buses & Magic Kingdom…I ‘think’ this was around 8am

What I do know for sure is that we made it for the opening ceremony and had seats right in the middle



Thanks to my mom, the girls had these iFans…a little battery powered fan that looked and they loved using them this trip (I only wish I had one )

Here’s a few pics from the opening ceremony…



We watching the ceremony…it really puts you in the mood. One thing I haven’t done EVER is walk down Main Street to wait at the hub for the lands to open. If we’ve been there for the opening ceremony, we always hop on the train to take us to Frontierland and BTMR/Splash MT This trip was no different, and as soon as they let people enter the park we left behind the mass and headed for the railroad…

best…move…EVER!

We had Splash Mt all to ourselves (with a few other people).




What a fun ride…and I hardly got wet…the girls just got a little bit…

After getting off SM, the girls wanted to keep riding it..Steve & I wanted to move on. So, this was our 1st official split up for this trip. Now that they’re 14 & 16 I’m more comfortable letting them go off on their own so they were looking forward to getting away from the ‘old folk’...we were looking forward to not rushing and just enjoying moseying along

Here’s the girls making their first official split..heading for another run on Splash Mt (I hope they get wet…insert evil laugh here )

Steve & I skipped over to BTMR (ok…we actually walked there…) and scored
1st row seats!




One ride was good for us so we made our way toward Liberty Square. I wanted to ride the Riverboat but it wasn’t running that early so we headed for the Haunted Mansion…a walk on We liked the updates that we noticed and Steve was glad to finally see the pet cemetery…somehow we’ve never seen this!



So far the crowds hadn’t made it our way and we walked over to IASW (ok…we actually skipped there…) And YES, I can still hear that song in my head

I don’t remember what time it was at this time I only know I wanted a (yes, it’s 100 degrees in the shade and I want a hot coffee…don’t try to figure me out ) so we thought we’d head over to Main Street Bakery…how silly we were A lot of people were just arriving at the park, and wanted breakfast…what’s wrong with these people?!? They’re at Disney, they should have been up hours ago

So since everyone in the WORLD was in the Main Street Bakery, we skipped our sixth cup of coffee for the day and headed over to Buzz where Steve whooped my butt…this just kicked in a little competiveness between us and I really wanted to ‘wipe the floor with him’ (John Lennon may have said “All you need is love” but I’ll add that every now and then a good butt-kickin’ on Buzz will do wonders toward a good marriage…of course, that’s only if I’m the one doing the kickin’!)
But I’m digressing (I tend to do that if you haven’t noticed already)…where was I?? Oh yeah…Buzz! We rode BL two times, both times I got creamed Enough about that! Moving on…

Next we rode Carousel of Progress…nothing new to report here Still like it

We got in touch with the girls, found out they were on Space Mountain. I’m not sure on the time only that it was close to lunch time. We planned on going back to the resort for lunch/swim/shower/nap…in that order!

We had time for a spin on the Transit Authority, before catching up with the girls, where they’re still trying to get in touch with Mr. Morrow (Mr. Tom Morrow…I it)

After collecting our missing children we headed back to POR and some much needed reprieve from the heat

Up next…a little rest, a little rain and a lot of complaining (not on our part )

[CinderAbby]

Another great update - you got a bunch of stuff done. Sorry you couldn't get your coffee though.