Epcot

Sunday morning, we were back up and at ’em again early, and into the park before it officially opened (at least, not for those of us not staying “on property”). But we were in the park and standing among the horde ready to enter at rope drop! We had time to take the iconic pics in front of the giant Epcot ball, and then we were ready to run to France to hop in line for Remy’s first thing!

The line was about 40 minutes, but it was mostly inside, so it wasn’t too bad. Riding in those little rat cars was so cute and lots of fun, and perfect for the whole family. (Also, huge shout-out to the cast member that snuck us through some back hallways when Addie was about to have a potty accident, and then to the front of the line so we didn’t lose our spot!)

While in France, we waited in another 40-minute line just for the patisserie, to get delicious brunch food. So while we were waiting, I got some adorable glamor-style shots of each of the girls. We had forgotten to get the “first visit” button for Addie on our first day, but luckily, we stopped into a store right when Epcot opened and the guy there asked if it was our first visit, and we were so glad he did!

And the food at this place was amazzzinngggg… I had taken the girls to do a little “KidCot” activity off to the side, and left Nana in line to order for us, and she really went all out! Chocolate croissant, ham & cheese quiche, baguette, chocolate-chocolate chunk cookie, and a croque monsieur. Plus two small packs of macarons. And everything on this tray was amazing. My favorite was definitely the croque monsieur – I could eat another one of those right now!

After that, we took our time strolling through all the countries, stopping to see the amazing topiaries that were part of the Flower & Garden Festival, and finding cute corners and treats and things as we went along.

As we started walking into Norway, we almost missed Anna & Elsa over on the side.

This was Addie saying, “We almost missed these girls!”

And then I just so happened to see the sign that said “Meet Anna & Elsa,” with a wait time of only 20 minutes, so obviously we hopped in there!

These girls that play the princesses are honestly amazing at their job, and make each interaction with the kids special and magical. Both my girls loved meeting these princess sisters, and I got a little emotional watching them practice making snow with Elsa, because it was so sweet and special!

We had lunch in Mexico, and lucked out finding an out-of-the-way indoor air-conditioned room to eat in, which was a huge blessing, since this was the hottest part of the day, on our hottest day, and we were in desperate need of a sit-down and a rest. While we were waiting on our food, and lady walked up to me and said, “Would y’all like this churro? It came with my drink and I don’t want it, if that’s ok?” And before I could even register what she was saying, Emerson jumped up and excitedly said “YES!” So they had a little pre-lunch dessert, and that sugar really perked them up.

We did the little boat ride in Mexico after lunch, and then raced across the park to beat the afternoon thunderstorms. We hopped in the Mickey & Friends pavilion to meet Mickey, Goofy & Minnie. Addie only wanted to meet Minnie, but Emmie loved her time with all of them. Emmie also got Minnie to sign the Minnie Mouse shirt she wore the day before, and she was so super happy about that!

By the time we finished with Minnie, it was an absolute deluge outside, but they kicked us out anyways. We made a run for the aquarium, where we knew we could hide out indoors for a while, but first had to swim through a couple of rivers on our way there. The puddles were honestly up over my giant tennis shoes, and like halfway up my shins at points, so even though we were wearing ponchos, we still felt totally soaked, since our shoes and socks were completely submerged. We walked right on to the Nemo & Friends ride though with absolutely no one else in line, and then hid out in the aquarium center for a bit while it was still raining.

We did the Living with the Land boat ride once it stopped raining enough to make it over there, and then ended the night riding Spaceship Earth inside the giant Epcot ball.

We ended up leaving “early” around 7:30pm, since it was about to start up another round of thunder and lightning storms, and we didn’t think we could make it another hour for the fireworks (if they didn’t get canceled due to the weather). So we got McD’s and went back to the hotel to get dry and warm and try to get some rest. This was our hottest day, and also our wettest day, and we walked about 18,000 steps.

 

 

Day 1 – Animal Kingdom & Hollywood Studios

Day 2 – Epcot

Day 3 – coming soon, Magic Kingdom!