Disney Diaries - Day 4 / Epcot

 

I know, I know...Owen isn't looking at the camera, but this is one of only two group shots we took the entire trip. Very, very hard to get everyone looking in same direction. 

I saw Epcot as a slower paced day. I know a lot of families with small kids skip this park, but I really liked it and thought the girls enjoyed it. There are lots of princesses at Epcot in the various countries.    

First stop of the day was the obligatory picture in front of Spaceship Earth. It was pretty busy at this spot and our family pics are not that great. 

 

This pic of Pawpaw and the girls is super cute. 

 

Epcot was having their International Flower and Garden Festival while we were visiting, so the flowers around the park were extra beautiful. Abby loves Daisy Duck, so she needed a pic in front of  her.  

 

Pretty flowers 

We headed closer to Spaceship Earth and decided to go ahead and ride (no wait). Emily spotted her favorite attraction (a water fountain), so we stopped for a bit. I decided fam pics might be better at this location since it wasn't as crowded. 

After riding Spaceship Earth, we headed over to "The Seas with Nemo and Friends" (the former "Living Seas"). The entrance to the attraction is a large rock that spontaneously splashes water every few minutes. The kids LOVED the entrance more than the ride! They were laughing and yelling at the water and the talking pelicans. It was so fun to watch them. The attraction was a ride with some aquariums you could walk through. We rode the ride, but didn't spend much time looking in the aquarium part. We are not huge Nemo fans. Not to say we won't eventually become fans...just haven't watched that movie yet. 

It was pretty overcast with a little drizzle rain that morning. The strollers we rented were a life saver. Not only did they lay almost totally flat for naps, but they came with a rain cover, which kept the kiddos completely dry. It rained every single day we were at Disney, so this rain cover really came in handy for us. 

Pawpaw got his work out in on this trip for sure! =) 

 

While the kiddos rode in the strollers a lot, they also walked a good bit since strollers are not allowed on attractions or in some restaurants.  They did great.  Emily only fell THREE times and poor Cade probably almost got his arm pulled out of socket from me trying to prevent him from falling.  *Sigh

 

After The Seas with Nemo and Friends, we rode "Living with the Land." It was very educational. 

 

Nature calls!  Lisa changing Owen on a bench outside of Living with the Land attraction.  Gotta love Disney with a baby in tow.  =)

We were planning on eating lunch at the Living with the Land attraction, but the menu was to weird (strange food). So, we decided on the Electric Umbrella for lunch. It has your basic burger, chicken nuggets, and fries. 

Dad/Pawpaw met up with one of his long lost friends from high school in Italy for lunch. His friend lives in the Orlando area, so it was great they got to spend some time visiting. 

After lunch, we settled the boys in for a nap. Abby and Bo rode "Sourin," while Michael and Em did the Nemo ride again. Emily was too small to ride Sourin. Abby and Bo both LOVED it! 

Emily LOVES flowers and always wants to pick them. Although, I'm sure Epcot doesn't appreciate her picking their flowers. Oopps. 

 

Next on the agenda was "Journey Into Imagination with Figment." This was a cute little ride with some interactive attractions afterwards. I was sad to discover the rainbow tunnell was no longer part of the attraction. I always liked this when I was little and know Em would have loved it too. =(

Emily fell down AGAIN while playing in this area. She fell on the same knee she scrapped up at Hollywood Studios 2 days ago. Ouch!!  First Aid Kit is a MUST with kids at Disney!

 

After we left the Figment attraction, we spotted the dancing water. This was one of the highlights of the day for sure.  Michael LOVED it more than anyone..haha! He said it was one of his favorite things as a kid. 

   

Never mind the unsuspecting bystanders behind him. =) 

And of course you always have to stop at every water fountain.  =)

 

While we were heading toward The World Showcase, Emily wanted to stop and play some games. They had games set up as a promo for the movie, "Oz, The Great and Powerful." 

 

Emmie also enjoyed feeding a duck. Disney ducks are extra friendly. They eat out of your hand! 

Once we reached the World Showcase, we hit up the Maelstrom ride in Norway. This is a boat ride with some mild, but fun drops. While waiting in line (the line was moving pretty fast), Owen decided it was a great time to poop. So, a little team work was needed to clean his booty while continuing through the line at the same time. We never missed a beat. Haha!

After the ride, we headed to Germany to see Snow White. Epcot is a great place to see princesses as they are set up throughout the various countries. I wanted to see Belle in France, but because of our dinner reservation, we didn't have time. =( 

My sweet Emmie is always making friends everywhere she goes. Here she meets her first foreign friend. A language barrier doesn't get in her way. =) 

 

Snow White!
Em asked her, "where are your friends." I'm guessing she is referring to the dwarfs? =) 

 

After our visit with Snow White, we met back up with Dad and his friends for a ferry ride out of the World Showcase. The weather had been pretty coorperative all day - overcast with some light drizzel that morning, but no real rain. Well, that was about to change. You could see the storm heading our way! Thankfully, it was almost time for our dinner reservation. 

 

Ferry Ride! 

That is one tired daddy. =) 

The bottom fell out soon after we got off the ferry. We ran into a store to wait out the rain. Em finally got a chance to try on the hat she had been eying all week. 

 

The rain wasn't letting up and our dinner reservation was fast approaching, so we bundled up in our dollar store ponchos (horrible by the way), put the kids in their strollers with rain shields and headed toward the monorails. 

We finally arrived at the Polynesian Resort's O'Hana restaurant soaking wet! Emily fell asleep during the ride from Epcot to the Polynesian.  I was glad she was able to get in a little nap in, but she is not potty trained for sleeping. As soon as she woke up, she had an accident in her stroller. Luckily, she wasn't sitting on her tutu and I had a change of panties for her, so all was well.  

Emily and Abby were both so tired at this point, but Em was still able to particiapte in the traditional O'Hana coconut race.  Abby was having a sinking spell (as my mama use to call it) and wanted nothing to do with any coconut races.   

 

All she wanted was a flower lei, but the lady kept making the kids do things first...coconut races, parade around the restaurant, family dance. All of these things were fun, but she was SO.TIRED. Just give the girl a lei already!

O'Hana was wonderful - one of my favorite meals of the trip.  It was delish! All you can eat buffet style, but you didn't have to leave your table - the food was brought to you!

   

The girls perked up after some food. Hair do's at the table? Sure, whatever. 

 

Dessert was bread pudding and ice cream. The table next to us was having a birthday, so they got cupcakes with candles on them. Bless Emily's heart, she saw those cupcakes coming and thought they were for our table. 

 

Lisa was loving the bread pudding - her fav dessert. 

 

My sweet Cade is always loving on his mama...even at the dinner table. =) 

After dinner, we headed back on the monorail toward...we didn't know. We debated on going back to Epcot for the light show, but it was still raining and we were all exhausted. We actually just sat on the monorail and road it around a few times.  Finally, we made the decision to head back. The next day was going to be our last and it was Magic Kingdom again.  Can you say EXHAUSTING??