Our day at Epcot started out much slower than the rest of the week. The park opened at 9AM but I don’t think we arrived until about 9:30AM. I was up early that day but we took the morning much slower in our hotel room. I think everyone appreciated the break.
He insisted on sitting by himself on the bus.
This was actually his second outfit of the day since he spilled an entire container of chocolate milk all over himself. He also got an emergency bath. We had a slower start to our day but that doesn’t mean it was uneventful! LOL
Mike and Ian sitting closer to the front:
Matthew needed a water break before we even got in the park:
We got in the park quickly and it was pretty empty. Woo hoo!
Right away we saw Daisy Duck so we got in line:
Our plan for the day was to go on Test Track and Soarin’ as quickly as possible. Mike decided he didn’t want to ride Test Track so I took the boys by myself while he got us Soarin’ fast passes.
Ian and Matthew seemed to like Test Track but Ian later refused to ride it again. LOL
When we got off Test Track, Mike was already done getting fast passes. While we waited to ride Soarin’, we headed over to the Character Spot to meet up with a bunch of the characters. The line was a little long (30 mins) but it gave us the opportunity to see several characters in a row. The line was indoors (yay for air-conditioning) and they had cartoons playing on TVs to keep the kids entertained while in line.
We saw…..
Mickey Mouse:
Pluto:
Donald:
and Goofy:
After visiting with the characters and getting their autographs, we headed over to ride The Seas with Nemo and Friends.
Once the Nemo ride was all done, Ian posed with Bruce the shark and then it was time to use our fast passes for Soarin’.
We got all the way to the part of the Soarin’ line where they’re about to queue you up in rows for the seats and Mike chickened out. Not only that, but he totally played it off like it was Matthew that was afraid. LOL
Ian and I enjoyed the ride though! 🙂
Ian buckled in and ready to fly over California:
Crappy cell phone pictures of the ride:
The flight ended with fireworks over Disneyland:
It was pretty cool!
While Ian and I rode Soarin’, Mike and Matthew rode Living with the Land. Once we caught up with each other, we decided to grab lunch at Sunshine Seasons (right outside Soarin’ and Living with the Land).
After filling up on some delicious food, we headed over to look at the aquarium and do Turtle Talk with Crush.
It was a gorgeous day!
A quick water break:
Turtle Talk with Crush was super cool. Mike and I were a little worried our boys would get called on (Ian had his hand raised the entire time). Afterward, we were relieved when they didn’t. Ian told us he was going to ask the following question: “What happens when you eat spaghetti?” I”m really not sure what Crush would have said to that! LOL
Since I have a Chase/Disney credit card, we had access to a private character meeting and an opportunity to get a free 5×7 from the meet-and-greet. We decided to stand in line for this before heading to the hotel for naps.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure the meet-and-greet was worth the wait. We stood in line for maybe 35-45 minutes and it was characters we’d already met. We were so tired that I’m not sure it was entirely worth the wait. Oh well.
This is the picture I got printed for free:
After that, it was definitely time to go take naps. We were all really pooped and it was HOT.
We got out to the bus stop and waited for-ev-er for the bus to come. You can’t seem to escape the sun so of course we were standing in the blazing hot sun too.
As the bus was entering the parking lot, I was trying to corral the kids and Mike was folding our stroller up, MY BIG CAMERA CAME OFF THE CAMERA STRAP AND FELL TO THE CONCRETE.
Let me repeat that for you: AT THE WORST POSSIBLE TIME EVER, MY VERY EXPENSIVE CAMERA FELL TO THE CONCRETE.
Awesomeness. Pure awesomeness.
It was a tense few minutes as we got settled on the bus. I finally got a chance to turn the camera on and test it out.
Test shot #1/OMG! DOES IT WORK?!?!
Yay! Yes it does!
Test shot #2/Thank You Baby Jesus I’m So Relieved I’m Going To Make A Silly Face:
Camera crisis averted! I have NO idea how it came off the strap but I have about 8 extra inches of strap at each end to make sure it never happens again. What a scary moment!
After that, we took a nice refreshing nap.
Heading back:
Our first order of business was for me to pick up the free 5×7 from our Chase/Disney meet-and-greet. In keeping with the “I’m not sure it was worth it” theme, I’d say it easily took me 35-45 minutes to get the picture printed. Oh well.
After that, we rode Spaceship Earth (the ride inside the giant Epcot “golf ball”). The boys really enjoyed the ride and the post-ride exhibit. We had to tear them away so that we could get over to World Showcase.
Post-ride picture:
Mike and Matthew’s picture came down before I could get over to take a picture of it!
As we were walking over to World Showcase, we saw a Photo Pass photographer set up in front of the giant tree. We decided to wait and as it was our turn, the photographers switched out. The new photographer was a little flustered and having difficulty getting things to work properly. We ended up waiting a relatively long-ish time (5-10 mins) for her to get set up and she took this picture:
Don’t really think it was worth it. You can barely see the tree in the background. Oh well. LOL
We walked around World Showcase to find someplace to get food for dinner. We made a quick stop for me so that I could get a “Cosmo Slush” from the cart in United Kingdom pavilion. 🙂
While the boys and I caught a belly dancing show in Morocco…….
…..Mike got us some dinner from the Tangierine Cafe. We all enjoyed our dinners and I was glad we got to try something a little more adventurous than cheeseburgers and fries. 🙂
After we ate, we started walking around to find a spot to watch IllumiNations (the fireworks/laser/water show that happens in the middle of the lagoon). Thanks to a very friendly cast member’s recommendation, we found really good seats between the Mexico and Norway pavilions. We actually got to watch the show while sitting which is a huge thing after 3 full days walking around the parks (our poor ouchy feet appreciated the break). Unfortunately, the wind was blowing in our direction so we got hit with quite a bit of ash during the show. It didn’t ruin the show but it was very distracting.
We didn’t take video of the show (sometimes it’s fun to just experience stuff and not worry about documenting everything on film/video). Here is a video I found on Youtube, if you’re interested: http://youtu.be/7g3Nz4tPgbs
Epcot tree on our way to the front of the park:
Spaceship Earth was stunning all lit up:
After the show was over, we headed to the gift shops and did our part to stimulate the Florida tourist economy while waiting for the chaos to die down at the bus stop. By the time we left the gift shop, I think there were probably only about 50 other people inside the park and we only had about $5 left in our wallets. LOL The good news is, we got the bulk of our souvenir shopping done and managed to catch a half-full bus back to our hotel. No standing that night! 🙂
Our hotel as we approached the building:
Once we got back to our room, we were off to sleep very quickly!