Doing Disney Day 3: Epcot AND Magic Kingdom
I have to admit. I woke up on day three pretty tired. But I was also most excited for this day. Epcot is truly one of my favorites. I absolutely LOVE the world showcase. If I were at Disney as an adult without children, I would spend at least two days exploring here! But, alas, I wasn't.
I don't think my kids were particularly excited about going to Epcot this time. As much as we enjoyed it last time, they'd prefer Magic Kingdom all day everyday. But I assured them they'd have a good time.
We arrived at Epcot as soon as it opened. We had a plan. We booked it straight to Frozen Ever After. It's the newest, most popular ride at Disney right now. I wasn't able to get Fast Passes for it so I knew our only chance of avoiding a two hour wait was to go there first. It was quite a hike to Norway where the ride is, but we made it. The wait was 45 minutes. So, yes, we waited. And. It was worth it!
We then made our way back to the beginning of the park to use our Fast Passes and hit the rides there before touring the world showcase. Our first stop was The Seas with Nemo and Friends. We stopped so I could take a picture, but a sweet Momma saw me and walked over and offered to take a picture of all of us together. She said she knew I wasn't in any pictures with my children because I was always the one taking them. Word. From one Momma to another!
There's nothing wrong with the Nemo ride. But the best part is the aquarium at the end and Bruce's Shark World.
We then rode the boat through Living with the Land. I have to say this was super educational and quite fascinating. Spoken like a true stay-at-homeschool mom!
The boys went to ride Test Track while I took the girls to meet . . . wait for it . . . Anna and Elsa! Honestly . . . Hannah Kate looks like a bystander here. But I do think, deep down inside, she was giddy. Ellie was over the top. But she was wearing it all over!
I mean . . . look at her! I'm telling you. She bought the whole princess thing hook, line and sinker!
And she also obviously thinks herself a princess, too. Case in point, she's got that leg propped!
We met back up with our boys and went to eat a late lunch. I'd made reservations a few months ago for a nice meal at Epcot. But, even though we had reservations, we still had to wait close to an hour to be seated. That would be my only complaint about the whole trip. I guess it was nice to just sit and rest a little. Even though everybody was starving! But we had a really yummy lunch.
Ellie's meal came with a precious cupcake. She ate all the icing and sprinkles, and Hannah Kate finished off the cake.
And, according to Disney, Mason is an adult. So he couldn't order off the kids' menu. But we didn't exactly want to pay the price of an adult meal for him either. So he and Seth shared a steak, and then he got a fancy dessert. He was happy!
After lunch we visited the Mouse. Again, Ellie can hardly contain herself.
I didn't know what in the world Hannah Kate was doing. She kept touching his ear! Once we left, she looked at me and broke out in giggles. She said, "I got to touch Mickey's ear! That's all I've been wanting to do since I saw him!" Why, yes. Yes, you did. There's nothing else that can be said about that!
Ellie absolutely REFUSED to stand with Goofy. I guess because he was so . . . goofy.
Either that or she only had eyes for Minnie!
And then we finally headed over to world showcase. My original plan for this day was to leave Epcot mid-afternoon and go back to the condo for a rest before going to the Magic Kingdom for the Wishes fireworks show. Because of the Halloween party schedule, this night was the only one they were doing Wishes during our visit (except for Saturday, which wasn't an option since we had to be up super early the next morning to drive home). But because our lunch took so long, we decided it just didn't make sense to go back to the condo. Besides, world showcase was calling my name.
Our last trip was in April so we got to experience the International Flower and Garden Festival. It was absolutely stunning! This time we got to experience the Food and Wine Festival.
We stopped so the kids could play hide and go seek in an English garden.
We shared a chocolate crepe in France.
We also shared a lobster roll in England.
There were so many more things I wanted to try and experience, but we just ran out of time. Besides, the natives were nearing meltdown stage. So we went ahead and made our way to the Magic Kingdom.
We still had three hours until the fireworks show. I sat and saved us a spot while Seth took the kids to ride and walk around a bit.
My biggest regret of our last trip was not seeing Wishes. It doesn't begin until 10:00PM. We went to the parks five days in a row without taking any breaks. We got there when they opened and stayed until they closed. By the fifth night, my people were DONE. It was obvious they were not going to make it until 10:00PM. I was so bummed. So this time I planned for it. No matter what, we were going to see Wishes! And we did! It was just as wonderful as I knew it would be. I was so busy watching and listening that I didn't take the first picture of the magnificent fireworks.
Day three was a long day. We arrived at Epcot before 8:00AM and didn't leave Magic Kingdom until nearly 11:00PM. Needless to say, I planned a day of rest for day four. Because we still had two more days left!
