Epcot and the Kitchen Sink

We woke up optimistic on Thursday, but Thomas' ankle was still very swollen.  He was willing to tough it out and join us, but I was worried that he might make it worse and then he would be forced to sit out the rest of the trip.  The most important remaining day was Friday, when we were planning on going to Hollywood Studios and having the kids do The Jedi Training Academy.  I really didn't want him to miss that.  So, I decided to take the kids alone.  I figured we would just do the front of the park; the kids really wanted to try the new Test Track and have another early day.

It was sad leaving Thomas behind, but we hoped another day would help ensure the success of our remaining time in Orlando.  His ankle had improved over the last day and I didn't want to undo the progress.  So, the kids and I left on schedule and got there right around the park opening.  We raced to Test Track and walked right on.  It was a pretty neat ride, although somewhat confusing for the kids.  You get to design your own vehicle pre-ride and then during the ride, they tell you how the car you designed would fare in the various tests.  The kids expected to get in the car they designed.  They kept waiting to see it.  When the ride ends, you are let out into a showroom with some GM cars.  Jack wanted to know where the car he created was.  He thought that if they couldn't create the life-sized car, he should at least get a matchbox version.  Despite the car confusion, Jack and Anna enjoyed the ride.  Kara was not a fan.

From there, we went to Soarin'.  The line was only 20 minutes, so we got fast passes to come back later to ride again and got in line.  When we got to the point where they queue you up for the ride, they asked me how old the oldest child was.  When I told them 5, they said that kids under 7 needed to be next to an adult in their party.  After some polite back-and-forth, I made friends with another adult, declared her to be my new best friend and we were allowed to ride.  My new friend took her role seriously and helped me buckle and unbuckle the kids.  Since we had all been on the ride before, I wasn't worried--everyone knew what to expect.  Once again, Kara did not enjoy the ride, but the rest of us loved it.

Next it was Turtle Talk with Crush and the Nemo ride and then we headed back to use our fastpasses for Soarin'.  Kara was refusing to go, so we ended up giving them away (the wait was 70 minutes, so we made one party of 4 very happy).  We did the boat ride and then decided to try the cokes from around the world.  Me and the girls loved China's, it tasted like a watermelon drink.  Jack was the only one who could drink Italy's.  The rest were somewhere in the middle.  We sampled them all and had a good time.  It was Epcot's Flower Festival time and we went through a butterfly Fairy Garden that had fairy houses and topiary of the Tinkerbell characters.  They also gave the kids stickers.  It was very neat.  From there, we went on the Figment ride and then played in the attraction area.  By now it was a little after 12 and we decided to do Spaceship Earth and then go get Thomas for lunch.

Thomas came hobbling out and we went to Chick-Fil-A.  One of the things I really wanted to do on our Epcot day was walk to Disney's Beach Club resort to enjoy the Kitchen Sink dessert (thank you DIS Boards).  The Beach Club is one of the Epcot resorts, so we were going to use the back entrance to visit during our Epcot day.  We decided to still go, but to drive over instead (let me say again how nice it is to have a rental house that is just minutes from the parks).  Thomas' ankle was somewhat better, but still swollen and he was walking with a very noticeable limp.  We tried to limit his time on it, but he still did a fair amount of walking and I was worried about whether or not he would be able to make it on Friday.

The Kitchen Sink was amazing!  Because of Jack's peanut allergy, they sent a chef to our table to decide on substitutions (Disney is really good at assisting with allergies).  Because it is the signature item at Beaches and Cream, they dimmed the lights and made a big production out of bringing it to the table.  It was pretty impressive.  It consisted of 8 scoops of ice cream, every topping imaginable, including about 20 maraschino cherries, banana, brownies, oreos, and an entire can of whipped cream.  We didn't quite finish it, but we gave it a gallant effort and it was definitely good for a party of 5 to share.

After that, we went to Publix to get food for dinner (not that anyone could imagine eating at that point) and a Redbox movie.  The rental house had an awesome theater room that we took full advantage of on multiple nights.  It gave us some good ideas for creating our own theater room in our basement.

It was another good day in Florida!