The moon, starts and tides aligned this weekend as Erin finally made it to Disney. A huge thanks to Mallory for arranging this and doing what none of us down here have been able to do – just go to Disney. There were rumors that she didn’t want to actually go to Disney – ever – but those have now been laid to rest. And I think we may have convinced her that Disney really is amazing.

Normally when we do Disney Bob and I drive up early, spend the day at a park, go on a few rides and eat. Since Erin had never been, Mallory planned to get the highlights (and a few other things) in so Erin had a good overview of the Disney experience. They (Erin, Mallory and John) did Animal Kingdom at 7 am on Saturday (yes, after driving all night) then the Magic Kingdom from 9 am to … oh … I think we left around 11 pm. We did rest a tiny bit in the afternoon before doing dinner at Citricos – and dessert.

Apologies for the image sizes here, for some reason the ap is not letting me change them. But I digress.
So in two days we managed something like 26 hours in the parks. We checked out the Disney ap and noted some great features and some problems. We somehow managed to get all 5 of us on Fastpasses at overlapping times with a little creativity. This cut down the wait times considerably, a must if you have limited time in the parks.

We did get to enjoy Wishes – the show and fireworks at the castle which was a first for Bob and I. We had a few firsts this trip, which is pretty incredible since we’ve been to Disney so often, But the revamped Fantasy is now open so we saw the other castle (sorry, Erin, Cinderella’s castle is still THE castle)

and had lunch at Be Our Guest

where we did note the slightly disturbing ability of Disney to track you to your table with the Magic Bands. I’m not complaining as I can see some positive uses for this – traffic flow, finding lost children, opening lines and relocating staff as needed etc., but it is a little … well disconcerting is probably the best word for it. We also rode the brand new, technically not open Seven Dwarfs mine ride. It is really well done and while short (like most rides at Disney) it was worth it.

Somehow I missed the memo that is was Star Wars weekend at Hollywood Studios. Apparently is is Star Wars weekend every weekend in May, but I managed to not know that. In honor of this, however, we did have the Yoda and Darth Vader cupcakes.

We also ate at San Angel Inn Restaurante inside Mexico at Epcot. This was another first for Bob and I and another excuse to have dessert.

It was a busy, jam packed weekend, but it was a great time. I do wish Val and Bill had been able to join us, but it gives Erin and incentive to come back.

I realized I have missed a few posts here, so I will try to catch up later this week with the hidden veggie lasagna and the pecan pie. But for now I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend.