First Trip to Disneyworld -- Epcot Day #3

The alarm went off at 6am this morning. Yikes! Aren't we on vacation?

It's Extra Magic Morning Hour, people! If you stay on property, you get to visit the parks either an hour early in the morning, or stay three hours after closing at night. They rotate EMHs among the parks. As we were traveling w/the preschool set, we planned around the two morning EMHs offered during our stay: Tuesday @ Epcot and Thursday at MK.

While we were all a little groggy, we met up with the Maurers to depart at 7:30am. The Colwells decided to mix it up and hit MK twice on their trip. They headed there instead of Epcot that morning. So, we pull up to the "biggest golf ball i've ever seen" (ADV). We waited for five minutes at the gate before they admitted us to rope drop. We picked up our strollers and actually parked at the rope. There was no show this morning, but they did drop the rope and create a wall of cast members to set the pace for the masses surging toward Soarin'. We were ready. We FP'd Soarin'. Showed the cast member (CM) the little girls to get the rider swap passes. Then the dads, boys & Robbie rode standby.

Andrea and I took Lauren & Lilly to the kidcot station to let them color. Then we traded out with the guys to ride Soarin' ourselves. Our wait was double their time which was frustrating for the dads I think. But they took all the kids over to the Lion King movie and did potty breaks. (sidebar: Andrew is now all into recycled materials... totally due the Lion King flick at the Land.)

We checked the clock & realized that our EMH was over. We used it all on two rides of Soarin'! Next we headed over to Test Track. Once again, the dads, boys & Robbie rode first. Andrea took Lilly to go climb around in the cars at the exit, but LRV preferred to look around in the gift shop. The boys loved TT. They all got to ride together in one car. They were ready to go again... but after patiently waiting for three rounds of rides, we decided the little girls needed a ride that worked for them too.

So we headed to Mission Space: the big ball. I rode w/LRV. She was not really into the ride until we got to the 'planetarium' portion where you see all the stars. There she was awestruck. However, the anamatronic history lesson really didn't do much for her. But I enjoyed the fact that we held hands the whole time :) (she isn't a big fan of the dark.) She enjoyed the cartoon 'us' at the end. She thought it was hilarious that the stick figures had our faces.

After MS, we headed to another kid friendly spot: The Seas. We walked right up to The Seas w/Nemo & Friends. Cute. It had the music from the Nemo musical at AK. Then we wandered around the aquarium. We missed two Turtle Talk w/Crush shows. They cut the line off a lot earlier than you would guess. So we took ADV's pic inside Bruce's mouth and then got in line super early for the next TTwC show. The kids sat right up front while the adults sat on benches. The TTwC technology is amazing. Andrew was actually the first kid Crush tried to talk to! But ADV was totally off in space and not paying attention. So Crush cracked a joke & moved on. Later in the show, he did talk to Will. Will was totally stoked. (TTwC turned out to be Will's favorite show at the parks.) Worth the wait... but don't wait to long to queue up.

We were closing in on lunch & headed over to Electric Umbrella. Not the most glamorous eatery, but convenient & air-conditioned. Pizza, burgers, & grilled chicken salad for our family. While we were eating, Jay's parents arrived. They surprised Jay & Andrea by mentioning that they might head down to WDW so they could experience it with the kids. So it was a party of twelve that headed into World Showcase.

Our first stop was Mexico. I love this pavillion. I've heard sketchy things about the TS restaurant, but I might have to try it some day b/c it's just so beautiful there. Perpetual twilight. We walked right on the newly updated boat ride. Mellow & relaxing. The kids enjoyed it. Although Brian was miffed when I agreed w/ADV that it wasn't a real volcano we passed. The fireworks made an impression on LRV too. She liked them b/c they weren't loud.

Big success. So we continued the boat ride theme to Norway. We snapped some classic troll pics in the gift shop. After initially balking, we even got ADV to put some viking gear on and pose. I'm pretty sure we'll be back to Norway for a multi-princess meal next trip.

We kept walking... waved at China... waved at African outpost. Stopped for a minute in Germany. I learned that Maurer means 'wall' in German. And Andrew found our name on one of the shop signs: Volkskunst. They sell cuckoo clocks. He was pretty impressed. Sometime I would like to eat at the German restaurant. Looks like a good time. Wonder if/when our kids would be up for that...

Italy was next. Tutto Italia looks like another yummy restaurant. So many good TS options in World Showcase! We saw a photopass photographer & hoped to get some pics in front of the fountain. But that's when meltdowns began. ADV hit his wall. hard. So we said goodbye to the Maurers and planned to bust it back to the car. But surprisingly watching the drummers in Japan chilled him out.

As we passed thru Morocco, we saw Jasmine & Aladdin posing for pics. Lauren decided she wanted to meet them, so we got in the back of the line. The boys wandered around killing time. We waited for 15-20 minutes with LRV in a happy mood. Then when it got to be her turn, she freaked out. She was suddenly scared of Jasmine & Aladdin and didn't want to smile for the camera. So, we've got a pic of her hiding her eyes and refusing to look at Jasmine. Classic.

At this point, we were all hot, tired & ready to go, so we blew thru the rest of the world & headed back to POR. Brian decreed mandatory rest time for about 45 minutes, then we explored the themed Old Man Island pool at our resort. Andrew loved the water slide. Lauren worked up her courage and tried it too. And then she was hooked. The little monkey would jump to the front of the line every time. Not sure if older girls were encouraging her to go first b/c she's small or if she just plopped herself at the front with a smile... But impressively, ADV waited his turn pretty well in spite of his sister's free pass. So, Brian and I more or less stationed ourselves at the bottom of the slide to catch the kids as they flew off the slide. Lots of fun.

Up next -- date night at Epcot!