Back to the Disney Tripologue

I know I've taken quite a hiatus from the tripologue to focus on Benji's birthday, Halloween, and other recent accomplishments and activities. But I feel the need to complete what I set out to do and share more of our great trip. And I certainly don't want to tell Benji great details about the first 4 days of his trip to Disney World and remember nothing about the rest of the trip. So this is as much for me as it is for my readers.

So, we pick up again with the fifth day of our trip. I've already written about the biggest part of that day — the haircut. As with many days of this trip, we spent the afternoon in Fantasyland riding Benji rides. This day we had a rite of passage — Benjamin's first ride on Dumbo. Dumbo isn't really an interesting ride (it's just Dumbo cars flying in a circle) but it's notorious for being one of the longest lines in the park and one of the must-dos for little kids. Of course Benji wasn't begging to ride Dumbo yet, but the line was extremely short for Dumbo so Mommy took him on while Daddy manned the camera. (It turns out that riding that day was a good idea since we never saw a line that short the rest of our trip.) Although it wasn't as fun as the Peoplemover, Benji did seem to enjoy himself. I think he particularly likes rides where he can feel the wind in his hair. He also seems to like watching how the rides work. Both at Busch Gardens and here, he spent the majority of the ride watching the spokes that hold the car to the center of the ride, which makes it a bit hard to get him to face Daddy for a good photo.

Another highlight from this day was meeting the giant character Stitch from "Lilo and Stitch." Although Mommy would have loved for him to choose a more classic character for his favorite, it seems that the fuzzy blue Stitch has a strong appeal. He loved touching Stitch's nose like he loved the noses at Pooh's breakfast. And throughout the trip we would "try out" different stuffed animals with Benji at the stores. He consistently liked different Stitch dolls, so with a big sigh Mommy gave in and we got him the weird blue alien. He still loves his Stitch doll at home and crawls up to it to give Stitch big hugs.

Later in the day we took a long ride on the monorail, stopping at the Grand Floridian hotel to check it out. Although it was gorgeous and much closer to the parks than our hotel, we decided it wasn't worth 3 or 4 times as much money per night. It was kind of relaxing to loop around on the monorail a few times. There are great views of the parks, especially Epcot, and it's air conditioned.

We finished our day with dinner at — where else? — Epcot, at the Rose & Crown Pub. Epcot's evening fireworks show is centered around the World Showcase Lagoon and there's only one restaurant on the lagoon. Admittedly the food at the pub was not the best at Epcot (although still good), but the big draw was a great guaranteed viewing area for the fireworks. Benji didn't like the fireworks as much as the Electrical Parade, but it was a nice way to end the day, especially since we had our desserts waiting for us (including a Bailey's trifle) at our table when the show was done.


Everyone needs a family photo with an alien.


Benji's new favorite character, Stitch.


Do I have to get in the stroller, Mommy?


The shortest line I've ever seen for Dumbo.


Riding Dumbo -- a rite of passage.


Monorails are fun rides, too.


Is the Segway Matthew's favorite ride?


Benji loved flirting with the waitress through this entire meal.


I'll pay for this meal, Mommy.