Disney Day 5, Part 3 - Downtown Disney and Magic Kingdom at Night

After our swim and rest, we took the boat from French Quarter to Downtown Disney.  It was a fun ride, the kids liked that the driver kept blowing the horn.  The people in the hotel along the river can't have enjoyed the frequent horn blows too often.  Our first stop at Downtown Disney was dinner at the Earl of Sandwich.  It was so crowded but the line moved fast, and the food was so good!!!  Our next stop was heading over to do some shopping.  On the way we found a cute little holiday scene and tried to take a family photo in front of it.  Neither kiddo was in the mood for a picture so this is the best we could get.

It was also super crowded at the Downtown Disney stores and the kids got cranky pretty quickly.  We hit up a few stores and then headed back to the hotel for bed.

A view of Downtown Disney lights from the boat

One very tired monkey

After the kiddos were snuggled in bed, Mom and I decided to head back to the Magic Kingdom. We wanted to see the lights and decorations at night, watch the Electric Light Parade and see the Wishes fireworks show.

Of course, the lights on the castle were beautiful!

Pink icicle castle

Mom and I in front of the castle

Mickey and Minnie topiary

The Wishes fireworks show was great.  My pictures of it are not fantastic, but here are a few.

There was another show called The Magic, The Memories and You - it was a show that was done entirely on the front of the castle, and it was awesome.  I have some videos of it that I will upload separately.  Here is one picture of it.

After the show on the castle, we watched the Electric Light Parade.  It was fun because I recognized so many of the floats from previous years.  Here is Tink's float.

Mickey and Minnie's float

Captain Hook and Peter Pan

I think this was Puff the Magic Dragon

This was the new float in this year's parade (we heard a cast member telling someone else) - it was HUGE and long.  It is hard to tell in this picture but it seemed like there was no way it would make the circle.

The back end of the same float that is above

On the walk out, Main Street looked beautiful

One more look back at the castle

Back at our hotel, it was also decorated beautifully with lights and decorations.

We got back to the hotel a bit after midnight and everyone else was fast asleep.

Disney Day 5, Part 2 - Cam and Leah around the World

We decided to take a picture of the kids in front of each country in the World Showcase.  As you can see, they didn't really think it was a very good idea.  They did not like being posed in every country - they mainly wanted to go find the Kidcot station and color their bears.  Oh well!!  :-P

 Mexico

 Norway

China

Germany

Italy

America

Japan

Morocco

France

United Kingdom

Canada (are they cheering that we are done with the country-by-country pictures?)

They actually really enjoyed the World Showcase especially the parts that they spent at the Kidcot stations, coloring and talking with the cast members.

Disney Day 5, Part 1 - More Epcot and Swimming

Our plan for Saturday had originally been to go to Magic Kingdom.  The day before, we learned that the Disney Christmas Parade was being taped on Saturday and that certain celebrities would be there that would be sure to draw a large, loud crowd.  The cast member we asked about it said that he wouldn't get anywhere near Magic Kingdom.  So we changed our plan and headed back to Epcot for another day.  It was pretty empty when we first got there, so we headed to the character meet-and-greet area.

Even though the park was pretty empty, of course the character area was still packed.  We had to wait in line for a while.  I can't remember what we were doing here, something to try and keep Leah amused, I'm sure.

Family photo with Mickey

and Pluto

A kiss for Pluto before we move on

Cam and Minnie

Nana and Poppa with Minnie

Cam and Donald

This is about as close as Leah was willing to get to Donald

Cam and Goofy

The whole family with Goofy

After characters, we headed over to the Living Seas.  Here is Nana and Leah.  It was actually pretty tricky to get this picture because Leah did not want to look at the camera - she was mainly interested in checking out "Mee-moe" behind her.

Leah loved the fish tanks, especially the ones that were at her height.  She loved chasing the fish.

"Mama, feeeesssccch!"

After riding on Soarin again, we headed back to the World Showcase.  On the way back, the kiddos were holding hands in their strollers.  It was ridiculously adorable.

What sweetpeas we have!

 
In the World Showcase, we checked out the Kidcot station in each country.  It made it really fun for the kids and they enjoyed stopping in each country to talk to the cast members.  Cam asked for a flag from each country on the back of his Kidcot bear.  Here is Cam with his Kidcot bear in front of the troll in Norway.

Cam and Nana coloring the bear.

Leah loved coloring her bear too.  Mama did not love that the coloring implements provided to the kids were Sharpie makers... but somehow, Leah made it through the day without getting marker all over herself.

We stopped for an ice cream break.  Leah loved the Mickey ice cream sandwich.

Cam chose a three-color popsicle because it would last the longest.  He was right, it did last the longest, so long in fact that he got tired of eating it and Tim and I finished it.  But he was very proud of his choice and enjoyed it quite a bit.

While we were in France, we got to meet Belle.   Cameron thought she was very pretty.

He loved getting right snuggled in with her for a hug.

And he even got a kiss!!!

We thought it was hilarious that Belle's lipstick was so heavy that it left a huge lip print on Cam's cheek.  He wore it like a badge of honor - so cute!!

Mama, Cam and Leah with Belle

We do have pictures of the kids in every country, but that will be a separate post because this one is long enough as it is!  After the World Showcase, we decided we had done everything at Epcot that we wanted to do, and we headed back to the hotel.

Cameron posing with the alligators at our hotel

I don't know what move he was doing in this picture, but it was pretty funny.  Leah obviously was not in the mood for picture taking.

It was pretty warm out, so Tim and Cameron decided to go for a swim.  While they were doing that, Leah and Mama took a nap.  Well, we tried to take a nap anyway, Leah wasn't 100% on board with it.

The pool at the hotel was pretty cool.  Here are Cam and Daddy under the clam shell waterfall.

 It was a very cool pool!

Cameron coming down the waterslide

 Hooray for swimming in December!

After a bit of swimming they decided it was pretty chilly and joined Nana in the hot tub.  I think that was Cameron's favorite part.

It was a fun day... pictures from a fun night (and more Epcot pictures) to come!