Good morning, from the balcony of our Old Key West villa! I snuck out after the kids woke up (on their own, without an alarm) and captured these peaceful views.
Cereal and iPads they insisted upon wake-up. The rest of us were busy getting ready for a full day in Epcot. Spaceship Earth would soon be in sight!
A quick bus ride over there and we were in the gates ready for the obligatory shots in front of the "giant ball". Plus, I had to throw in a few Pinterest ideas.
Our schedule today started in Future World and ended in Future World with stops in the World Showcase and dinner at Coral Reef. We had to tweak plans a bit by dropping Test Track first thing at park opening. We were exhausted from the past two days and knew that we weren't up for a long wait first thing in the morning. Instead, we did the following:
Breakfast at the hotel (cereal, etc.)
Spaceship Earth
The Seas with Nemo and Friends
The Seas with Nemo tanks and exhibits
Character Meets (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy)
Mission Space (Fastpass at 11:00am)
Lunch at La Cantina in Mexico
Mexico's Exhibit and Ride
Stroll through the next few countries
Meet Aladdin and Jasmine in Morocco at 12:45pm
Watch movie in France and get a crepe!
Stroll through more countries...
Soarin' (Fastpass at 2:50pm)
Living with the Land
Dinner at Coral Reef at 4:45pm
Spaceship Earth was such a fun way to start the day! The boys loved the ride, even though it was very dark! The inside space after the ride was fun too with games and computers to type in your email address to receive your special picture!
We were supposed to still be in the Test Track line/ride, so we decided to do The Seas with Nemo and Friends even though we had a FP for it later in the afternoon. It was a great ride and we loved the exhibits even more! We got lucky and saw divers in the tanks feeding the fish and turtle!
It was hard peeling the boys out of this section of the park, but we knew we needed to move on. We made a last minute decision (based on the wait time) to see the characters in Epcot. This was not a part of my initial plans, but it made sense. They were ready to see Mickey and friends! It was a 20 minute wait and well worth it!
It seemed like waiting 20 minutes was a good choice considering we'd see 3 of the main Disney characters and it got us out of the heat since it was all indoors.
The kids had a great time meeting them for the first time! And then it was off to Mission Space for our FP. It was only for me, my dad, and Scott. The boys hung back with my mom and used the indoor play area at the exit of Mission Space. Meanwhile, I was miserable. I hated Mission Space: Orange. Way too much pressure, way too intense of a simulator. Yuck!
I felt much better once we walked to the World Showcase and grabbed some lunch at La Cantina in Mexico! It was the best Quick Service we had the entire trip. You have to get the Nachos! Holy cow! And the Churros for dessert were loved by all - especially Evan!
Of course we had to spend some quality time in Mexico so I could soak it all in. We went to the "marketplace" inside and rode the ride, which is fabulous by the way! The boys loved trying on the sombreros and getting their first stamp in the Passport we bought.
From there we had no real game plan. I just knew I wanted to see Aladdin and Jasmine in Morocco at 12:45pm. We strolled through several countries, not getting stamps to save time (hey, future trips we can get those, right?!).
It's kind of funny that we ended up in Morocco since Evan has an obsession with guitars. We stood in a very short line waiting for Aladdin and Jasmine and of course, he found a guitar! We had to buy it for him. He asks for very little and this made him so happy while we waited! And it was well worth the wait! They were so friendly to Evan (Sean was napping in the stroller). He wasn't too sure of them, but it made for a cute meet and greet!
Sean napped a bit longer, but we strolled through other countries. The UK was a big hit with the gift shops and our surprise Character Palooza in an alley! We hit the character jackpot!
We just happened to be walking by England when we noticed a few characters with minimal people in an alley. We wandered in and were next in line to meet some rare characters like Rafiki, King Louie, and others. They closed the doors to the alley and it was just 20 people or so to meet 8 characters! Unbelievable experience that I've read about, but never thought it would happen to us. What an amazing experience!
We knew it was time to finish walking through the World Showcase and make our way to Soarin'. This ride was awesome!!!! Definitely a favorite for me, my dad, Scott, and Sean! The smells, the feeling of flying over landscapes in the United States, was surreal. A bit of a wait, even with a FP, but definitely worth it.
Shortly after we rode Living with the Land, which was neat to see the foods being grown in Disney. Sean really enjoyed it as Evan took his turn at napping in the stroller with Scott. And then it was dinner at Coral Reef. Ultimately, it was our worst Table Service dinner the entire trip. An inattentive waittress coupled with food that wasn't prepared correctly led to a miserable dining experience. The boys were burned out, the Wifi wasn't working well since we felt like we were inside a fish tank, and I was ready to go. Disney made up for our experience with returning 2 Table Service credits, a $25 credit, and many apologies. We just will make sure we try other restaurants in Epcot in the future.
We returned to some crazy looking skies that never amounted to any rain, but made for a cool picture as we got off the bus.
Scott and I freshened up and my parents put the boys to bed. We decided, after much consideration, that we'd spend our night out in Magic Kingdom! We rode The Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain! We grabbed a cinnamon roll and some frozen apple juices (that we thought were beers...) in Gaston's Tavern in Fantasyland before heading out as the Electrical Parade and Wishes started. It was a fun date night in a romantic place at night!
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