Disney Day 3: Pool Fun and A Character Dinner

A I figured the kids would sleep in Saturday morning after our exhausting day at Magic Kingdom but that wasn't the case. Both kids were bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6:30 am. We spent Saturday morning and early afternoon hanging out the awesome hotel pool which included two water slides and a lazy river. Allison took full advantage of the water slides, as did Jeff. I don't know who had more fun. Jeff giggled like a little schoolgirl every time he went down the slide and since he was on the covered slide it echoed throughout the pool area for all to hear. Here's a picture of the slides. As you can see, one is enclosed and one is open:

And here are Jeff and Allison as they zoom down they slide (can you hear the giggles??):

After all the slide fun, we all went in the pool to enjoy the lazy river.

After a fun day at the pool, we headed out to the Swan & Dolphin Hotel for a character dinner at the Garden Grove Restaurant. I had never been to the Swan and Dolphin but always wanted to visit so we went a little early to walk around and check it out. I didn't realize it was connected, via walkway, to Disney's Boardwalk Hotel as well as Disney's Beach and Yacht Club. Here we are in front of the Swan:And inside...
And in front of the Dolphin:
By this point we had worked up an appetite and it was time for our dinner. The kids were very excited to see Pluto and Goofy. I wasn't sure how Daniel would react to the characters, given that he is wary of anything that moves. Usually when he sees characters he doesn't recognize, he runs the other way. But since this was Disney, and he is very familiar with all the characters,e was very receptive to them. I think it also helps that they can't talk to him, which is usually what makes him go into his shell (when a stranger talks to him). Here they are with Pluto:
And with Goofy:
I even managed to get a video of Daniel with Pluto...and he even danced with him!



After dinner we walked back to the Boardwalk Hotel and then to the back entrance of Epcot. I thought it was neat how close you can get to Epcot without actually paying to go in. I wondered how well you could see the fireworks from there but we weren't about to stick around that late and find out. Luckily we didn't have to walk all the way back to the Swan because they have a boat that will take you there. So we hopped aboard the boat and back we went. Another thing we found out was that The Swan and Dolphin are not Disney Properties. They are both owned by Starwood. (Just an interesting fact we learned). I knew for sure it wasn't Disney when we exited the parking lot and told the attendant that the restaurant said they wouldn't validate our parking ticket (which she had told us they would on the way in). She responded with "Bullcrap they don't validate." and then she opened the gate for us and let us exit without having to pay. I think if a Diseny employee said the word "bullcrap" they would magically disappear. So we went back to our hotel and collapsed once again. Luckily the next morning the kids managed to sleep in until 7:15, as did I. The next day was Sunday which meant it was time to head home, but before we left, we went on a walk around the hotel property. Jeff and Daniel were dressed in their Sunday's best:

Our timeshare was right next to the JW Marriott and the Ritz Carlton. As a timeshare guest, we were allowed to use all the facilities and the JW and the Ritz but we didn't have time to do so. I did want to check it out though because we're going back in December to stay there with my parents on the way to Jeff's graduation in Gainesville (and the way back). The JW pool was huge and also had a lazy river - a much bigger one (too big to photograph). However, we decided we like the timeshare pool the best. Here's the kids in front of the JW:
After our walk, we said good-bye to Marriott and headed out to grab some lunch. Somehow we ended up at Ikea which made a perfect ending to a fun-filled weekend. It was the cheapest meal we had - love me some Ikea meatballs! Then we made the trek home. But no reason to be sad, we'll be back in two months!