We had planned to spend the evening in the Hollywood Studios, riding Tower of Terror and Rock n Rollercoaster (for the boys), seeing Playhouse Disney for Lillian and riding the Great Movie Ride for Camryn, but we were just too pooped from being up until 4 am at Magic Kingdom. We just needed a break, even though it meant missing some crucial rides for Aiden (and man, was he bummed! He cried for about 15 minutes!)
Instead we rented a bicycle surrey and took a ride around the water. It's about a mile all the way around the Boardwalk, past the back entrance to Epcot, the Yacht and Beach Club resorts and back to the rental place. There are two hills along the way as well, so it's a good workout when you're pedaling 2 adults and 4 children. We only made it around the circuit once.
I let Aiden be the official surrey ride photographer since he was a little down in the dumps. He did a pretty good job!
Lillian had fun ringing the bell:
The back side of the slide at the Yacht & Beach clubs:
The Yacht Club resort (Aiden REALLY wants to stay there next time, because the pool is AWESOME!):
Camryn, from Aiden's POV (She's a beauty, my firstborn!):
One of the many boats we've boarded this week:
Not a bad photographer for a boy of 7, eh?
After our surrey bike workout we went over to the Beaches and Cream restaurant at the Beach Club resort. They have something there called the Kitchen Sink, which is described as "scoops of vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, coffee and mint chocolate chip, smothered in every topping we have". Every topping they have includes Oreo cookies, sliced Snickers bars, brownies, chunks of Angel Food cake, as well as the standard bananas, hot fudge, strawberry and pineapple toppings and caramel. The whole thing is topped with an entire can of whipped cream. There's even a special presentation made when the thing is brought to your table. Lights flicker, sirens go off, and the waitress makes a little speech before she plops the entire thing down in front of the eager diners.
And here is our Kitchen Sink:
Quinn ate more of the Sink than anyone, I think. He really enjoyed it, too. Little booger.
Bellies full of ice cream and assorted other goodies, we boated back over to our hotel to take one last swim and then pack. Before going back to the room, Camryn and I hit the hair wrap stand. She chose her school colors (royal blue, white, green and yellow) and a frog charm (because she says FROG stands for "Forever Reigns Our God"):
and in honor of college football season starting back up, I chose navy, orange and white for my beloved Auburn Tigers:
No, I'm not wearing makeup, because it just melts off in this heat. Despite the warm weather and the higher-than-we-expected crowds, we've had an awesome week. We rested more on this Disney trip than we ever have, and being Vacation Club members with larger accommodations really made a difference for us. I think joining DVC is one of the best investments we've ever made. We're already checking out which DVC property we can visit next time and planning to purchase more points. We're officially DVC addicts.
We have a long (8+) hour trip home tomorrow, and then it's back to the grind. I'm looking forward to sleeping in my bed tomorrow night, but I can't wait to relive the magical memories we've made this week when I thumb through our souvenirs and pictures. Disney World is just one of my favorite places on earth.
