Epcot at DisneyWorld

After a well rested night, we were up early again and headed out the door by just after 8am and headed to our next park - Epcot. Although I had been to DisneyWorld before, I had never been to Epcot. I wanted to see and do it all and be able to experience everything there (the girls too), but I had an inkling that I (or we) wouldn't enjoy Epcot nearly as much as the other parks. Just my preconceived ideas.

But we headed there and got there shortly after they opened. We stopped right off, again for a PhotoPass picture in front of the famous ball of Epcot (and as of this posting, I just received our Photo Pass CD in the mail so you will be seeing some of their pictures now too!)

In my mind, Epcot has two main parts. The front part, where you walk in around the ball and then around a big fountain and lots of little extras spokes off that main center circle. Then you can walk past the fountain into what I deemed the 'world' part, which consisted of a bigger circle you can walk around and experience all the different countries they have on 'exhibit' there. So we spent the first part of the morning in the first circle. We thought we'd go to the worlds after lunch. I think that was maybe a mistake. But more to that later.

So first we were on our way to the Nemo and Turtle Talk area when we spotted a character spot. Its an inside area where they had all the classic characters lined up ready for photos and autographs. Since we were there first thing there was hardly ANY line. We decided to do this first then and there. So we stopped to see Mickey, Minnie, and all the gang...

I'll stop here and mention the best tip I got from reading Disney blogs from last Disney trip we took. Everyone there has the characters sign autographs. Its THE thing to do apparently. However, instead of buying the (expensive) autograph book that Disney sells, you can buy (ahead of time) a picture frame matte (or 2, if you have more than one kid?) and have the characters sign that. Then when you get back, you put a picture in there and it makes a much better souvenir! Instead of an autograph book that you'll end up putting on a shelf somewhere later. ;) I bought a 8x10 frame that was matted to a 4x6 to give plenty of room for characters to sign. If you don't want to do this, another idea is to take some Disney books and have the characters sign their books - like Cinderella sign the Cinderella book. We did that too in DisneyLand but got all our books signed then, so we just took the picture frame mattes this time. The other thing is the books can obviously weight you down and give you more stuff to carry (unless you have a stroller, which it won't matter then!). I made sure to put our picture frame mattes inside a gallon size ziploc bag in between and for storage so they didn't get messed up. Also, don't forget the pen! I got a super fine point sharpie - again, it makes it easier for the characters to sign. We chose to get one matte filled up completely and then start the next one. So some of the characters signed both and that was ok! Also, as we got closer to it being full, we only let characters sign that had an easier time with it (in other words, Mickey's big old hand makes it hard for him to sign in small spaces, as opposed to Belle who had free hands ;). But I can't tell you how many people commented, while there, about what a great idea that was. I take no claim for it...I stole it from reading a Disney tips site. But I am sure to pass it on, b/c it is a great idea. :)

Anyway, so here is Pluto signing our picture frame matte. The girls thought it was funny he signed on his nose. ;P

I thought it was kind of a neat idea with this photo this particular guy did...

Then next we headed to the Nemo ride. It was basically a boat type ride (in a seashell) that took you through Nemo's life. It was ok fun.

We got dumped off into a waiting area for Turtle Talk with Crush.

Crush, being the turtle from Nemo that talks in Australian surfer dude language. A popular character apparently. ;) Anyway, they have it designed where you walk in and you are on one side of the "aquarium" and there's a "porthole" where Crush comes up to to talk to the humans. He talks, you answer, he answers, it's interactive. They have the adults sit on the bleachers and the kids sit up front on the floor so they can talk easier to Crush.

I was very surprised that Brooke was the first kid to raise her hand to talk to Crush! Its hard to see in the picture, but she's down on the floor (Brenna next to her) and the guy is holding the microphone to her. I forget even what her question was or what he asked her. But she LOVED talking to Crush! A definite highlight of the day. (if you look close in the picture below, she is the one the guy in the red shirt is holding the microphone up to to talk to Crush and Crush is looking right at her)

From there, we walked back to the center of the circle and realized Tinkerbell was about to come out so we went and saw her next. The girls liked her - she was silly and funny. :)

After all that excitement we were needing a break to cool off and it was close to lunchtime. One thing we learned is to eat early! If you wait to closer to noon, the restaraunts really fill up and you'll have trouble finding a table and have to wait and wait in line to order (even at counter service places). So we tried to eat lunch around 11ish. This time we ate at the Electric Umbrella. Counter service, good food, nice AC. ;) The girls enjoyed the chicken nuggets from this place.

After lunch we went and rode the SpaceShip Earth ride. It was for all of us and kinda cool. You basically ride through and watch how history of people has evolved and discover the realm of future possibilities. They even take your picture and perform a 'what your future will look like' display.

Before leaving the first circle, I saw on the map one more place for a character greeting in the general area, so we went over and got to see Daisy and Stitch. I will also be quick and mention to get a bunch of maps in the beginning (because your kids will steal them from you!) along with the time guides for the parades and shows and it also gives you character greeting locations and times. You can also download Disney apps on your phone that give you wait times for rides and you can go to m.disneyworld.com (or some version of that...the exact address is given on the maps) to get access to real time character stuff and restaraunts and other info. We always cross-referenced stuff, bc some stuff that was on the maps was not on the apps and vice versa.

Anyway, Brooke LOVES Stitch now for some weird reason (I don't think she's ever even watched a Lilo and Stitch episode, she just liked that he was so funny...and its kinda funny that a character that doesn't even talk can be 'funny', isn't it??).

Another photo op...

And as we were headed to go to the second back circle (the worlds) we stopped in the Coca Cola store to sample different sodas from different countries. Eh. Whatever. Free samples. Most aren't that good. But its a chance to cool off and get a free drink (dixie cup size is all though). The girls liked it more than me since they never get to drink real soda anyway.

This is the backside of the ball (notice the fountain behind us) just before you go into the world part of Epcot...

This is the entrance to the world part of Epcot (I'm sure there's a more technical name, that's just what I call it)... there was a Cars floral design that all the Cars fans and kids were oogling over. We didn't feel the desire to take a picture but you can maybe see it in the back of this picture...

Now you remember I said, we may've messed up by doing the first circle first and saving the world part to the afternoon. I said that, because, by this point, it was the heat of the day and you are walking and walking and walking on hot pavement. Most of Disney property, there are parts in the shade or you get a nice breeze every once in a while or something. Some sort of reprieve. But it seemed to us, in the world section of Epcot, there was nothing but heat and dry, nonshaded pavement. So we got really really hot. We quickly decided to skip a bit and ride the boat to another world (there's a boat that will take you around the inside of the circle (the inside of the circle of world is a little pond/lake/body of water)). We thought it might cool us off a bit.

We got dumped off near where Beauty and the Beast were (I forget what country). Beauty was there already, but they were waiting for the Beast to show up. So while we waited, Belle grabbed up the kids waiting and started playing games with them. So fun!

It wasn't long before the Beast showed up. My girls were a bit hesitant, but reminded them of his gentle heart. Here is Brenna testing the waters and petting the Beast.

She quickly decided she liked him and he had a gentle heart.

Just down the road, we found Alladin and Princess Jasmine. :) Brooke asked him where his monkey was. He had an answer (they always do!)..

We went and took another quick PhotoPass overlooking the water and in the distance was the Epcot ball. Here's the PhotoPass guy taking a picture of the girls (this I think was one of the magical pics where they add something in later)...

From there we took a restroom break to cool off (don't they look hot in that above picture??), get a fresh drink of water, and refresh. We became fond of the companion bathrooms (like family bathrooms) cuz we could all go in at the same time and Brad could help with the kiddos pottying. Also, I will mention now that we bought, ahead of time, 2 water bottles with the filters built in to take on our trip. Target had a pack of 2 for $18 (thanks Carolyn for that heads up!). We still ended up buying water occassionally (every once in a while you want ice cold water), but it was nice to be able to fill up our jugs everywhere and still have clean fresh drinking water! We also took a spray misting fan (get yours ahead of time! I bought ours for $5-$7 at WalMart...They cost $18 at Disney!) and two smaller personal fans the girls could use and hang around their neck - those were about $3 at WalMart). We also bought 4 of the neck wrap things, one for each of us. I got them at Academy (thanks Elizabeth for that heads up!) for $3.99 each. You let them soak in water and then they stay cool supposedly for 24-48hrs. Now, I don't know about that...but they were a help in the heat of the day. And we would douse them with water occassionally as we walked through the parks to refresh them. We stored them in the ziploc baggies when we weren't using them to keep the wetness off our other stuff. Definitely glad we had those!

Anyway, I digress. So, after our bathroom break, we ran into Snow White in Germany...

As expected we weren't too impressed with the world part of Epcot. We stopped at a couple stores. I had to bribe Brooke to try on this hat...

And some of the buildings were fun to look at

Brenna took this opportunity to catch a quick nap...

While she napped, we got an ice cream snack and went back in to sit down at the Electric Umbrella.

When she woke up we were back in the first circle (we really didn't do much in the world part of Epcot), so we decided to spend some time in the gift shop. It was there she decided that she wanted her mouse ears. Here is the little machine embroidering her name on them.

Brooke, at that time, couldn't decide an which ears she wanted, so she just wanted to wait on that purchase. She even asked (Brooke) if she could have a turn in the stroller to nap. Haha. So I am so glad we brought the stroller. BOTH girls ended up riding and napping in it occassionally and it was nice to have to carry all our stuff too. Well worth it..and really no more of a hassle than not having it.

While Brooke was finishing up her nap, we saw Duffy the Disney Bear. Don't ask. I have no idea who he is or what he represents, but Brenna thought he was cute and wanted to go see him so she did. We asked Brooke about it..but she had just woken up and wasn't interested (she was still in her sleepy groggy...5 more minutes!...mode :P )

After that it was getting closer to dark. Epcot has an Illuminations water light show that we wanted to be sure to see, so we staked out a spot for us and we just had a picnic lunch there.

What we were continuously amazed by was how friendly the 'wild' animals were - the ducks would come up to you, the squirrels would eat from your hand!, and even rabbits would come right up to you! It was just like in the Disney movies where all the animals are your friends - LOL!!!

As the sun started to go down it started to cool off and was actually nice out!

As we waited, Brenna started this trend with her neck wrap. This was her idea I promise. ;)

The Illuminations show is a combination of fireworks, water and then images displayed on the globe out in the water. It was ok. Glad we saw it and all, but it wasn't like over the top impressive or anything. Here are some still pictures from that show...

And the video of some of the show (its only a minute or so of the 15-20 min show)...

Our next day was going to spent at Hollywood Studios! We were excited - the next day was Fourth of July and we knew it was going to be a long day so after we left Epcot we headed back and went straight to bed.