Disney Day 5 and 6 - MK, Epcot, and Hurricane Matthew

Day 5 was supposed to be our Epcot day. Since the hurricane was going to wipe out the entire next day (and what we thought would be our last full day at Disney), we decided to go back in the Magic Kingdom that morning. The kids wanted to buy a couple of things and ride a couple of rides. We had to be back at the Contemporary at 11:30 for lunch at Chef Mickey's, so we didn't have just a ton of time.

 

 The hurricane brought rain that day too. It was nothing major, just the misty stuff, so it didn't slow us down too much. The park was actually pretty empty so it was a good time to be there! And I think for the only the 4th time in history, Disney was closing all its parks at 5 pm that day due to the hurricane that would be arriving that evening, so that kept people away.

 The kids were happy about getting Goofy and Pluto! Harrison bought Mickey the last time we went.

Then it was time for our lunch at Chef Mickey's! The boys LOVED this! We are so glad we did the character meals one more time.

 

After lunch, we headed to Epcot. The rain had stopped for a little bit so we snagged some pics while we could!

Unfortunately, while we were in the line for our fast pass for the new Soarin' (which we loved by the way!!!), we received an email that our flight for Saturday morning had been canceled. The hurricane was going to be gone by then and Saturday was supposed to be a perfect day, but apparently, Delta didn't want the airplane to be in Orlando during the hurricane and couldn't get it there in time for our flight Saturday morning, so that was the reason it got canceled. Oh and by the way, the next available flight wasn't until late Sunday night, a full day and a half later. We had originally planned to leave the Contemporary on Friday night and stay at a Hilton Garden Inn right next to the airport that night since our flight home was early the next morning. Once our flight got canceled, Joel called the Hilton to extend that stay one more night too, but they were booked that night because of all the airline cancellations. It probably worked out best that way anyway because we probably couldn't have gotten there Friday night. We then tried to call the Contemporary from Epcot, but it was a 2 hour wait to reach anyone. Basically, it was a nightmare for everyone involved! Joel decided to just head back to the Contemporary to see if we could just extend our stay for 2 more nights and we cancelled the Hilton. After over an hour wait in the lobby, we did get to stay at the Contemporary. They gave us a 20% discount on the room, but it was still $1,000 added to our trip! Yikes!!! Oh well, nothing at that point we could do except make the best of it and laugh!

The boys and I just made our way through Epcot while Joel was dealing with everything. We had a good time, but it wasn't the same! It was just stressful until we had everything worked out.

 The boys LOVED test track! And the rain held off just long enough so we could do it. Right after we got off, it closed for the day because of the rain.

 

The parks closed at 5 and everyone was then required to be hotel bound (there was a curfew!) from then to the end of the next day. We were honestly more worried about being stuck in a hotel room with the boys for a whole day and a half than the hurricane itself. However, the hotel had a whole section set up with kids activities so it was really not as bad as I thought it would be. And they had people playing with the kids...like babysitters...so it was even better!!!

 The worst part of the whole day and a half was meals. We were stuck with the quick service place at the hotel and Thursday night, it literally took over 2 hours to get our food after we ordered. And it's not even good. :)

Friday, they did open Chef Mickey's for us to eat there, so that was a change for one meal.

The hotel had an arcade, so we spent a good amount of time there during the day on Friday too.

 Things were starting to get a little crazy...

 They brought the characters out too so that was fun!

There were bingo games, and Disney movies, blocks, coloring sheets...all things that entertained our kids for hours so it was good. Oh and the hurricane was nothing but some rain and wind. Nothing major at all! We survived!!!

Stay tuned for our "extra" last day!