Day three kicked off bright and early when we hopped on the monorail to Epcot. I should back up… it first kicked off with the blaring alarm and me having to, mustering all of my will and inner strength, peel myself out of the bed, force a smile and prepare to go at it all again :-)
Once inside the gates, we bee-lined to the character meet and greet. If your littles are into characters and character signatures, this place was the place to be! And the waiting line is *air conditioned*. We saw all the classics… Mickey, Minnie, Donald (who was quite the evasive duck up until this point), Pluto and Goofy. Since we already had signatures, we were in for just the sheer, unadulterated joy on the baby’s face this go round. Just look at the kid…
Afterwards, we picked up Soarin’ fast passes and headed to the Nemo Pavilion where we rode the sweet ride, checked out the displays and tanks and then wholly enjoyed Turtle Talk with Crush (that is rumored to be the best show in Epcot.)
Wrapping up our sea adventure, we headed back to the Land Pavilion for Soarin’ (amazing flight across California) and the Living With the Land boat ride (both littles surprisingly enjoyed and Honey was completely enamored.) We had hoped to hit the Imagination! Pavilion but the epic mistake of our Disney vacation occurred and threw us waaaaay off kilter… LUNCH reservations. Ahhhh…. Do NOT make lunch reservations. It’s just way too much. (In my novice opinion.)
Anyhoo, we literally jogged across Epcot, double stroller and two hot littles in tow, to Le Chefs de France for lunch. And while our meal was outstanding and the PCP nearly swooned when Remy from Ratatouille (a living character as they call them in Disney) showed up at our table atop a rolling chefs cart, the lunch was about two hours (!) long, set heavy on our tummies and just disrupted our day.
After France, we skipped half the world to land in Norway for the Maelstrom water ride and Mexico for the Gran Fiesta boat ride, before heading over to the Mission: Space (where I nearly lost the aforementioned two hour lunch as the PCP insisted we take the “intense” route) and the Advanced Training Lab (fun, indoor play area for all ages…even Honey.) We wrapped up the park around three o’clock and headed to the room for a little relaxing (and half nekkid dancin’ for those under the age of three) before supper.
Speaking of supper, that evening we attended the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show in the Polyneisan’s open air theater. It was fantastic!! The meal lasted about two hours and both littles were literally glued to the show. Honey even got in on the action when the invited us to learn a little luau (I’m thinking the all-you-could-drink beer combined with pure exhaustion were contributing factors.)
And that wraps up another fantastic day in the most magical place on earth!
xoxo
I agree that Epcot was surprisingly a GREAT place to meet characters with not much wait… :) I also have to 2nd your advice of skipping lunch reservations… I'd say stick to either breakfast or dinner… Glad that y'all are having fun!
That Cookie of yours just cracked me up! Loved his tidy whitey diapy dance too! I could go to Disney every year…!
How old was your youngest on this trip? I love that he is so excited to meet the characters. We are going when my youngest will be 28 months for his first trip and I'm hoping he'll be ready for characters by then. :)
Gretchen – Whit was 2 years 9 months when we went and did GREAT! He was already a poor napper so we pushed him through every day. And he adored the characters! Have a great trip!
Love your blog! I found it while researching Disney info. Your Disney trip reports are most valuable, especially since I have two little girls who will be 4 and 6when we take our trip. I was wondering if you recommend the Park Hopper. I couldn't tell from your reports whether or not you were using it. Keep up the great work!
I love your blog! So helpful in planning our first Disney trip with little ones. Do you recommend the Park Hopper? I couldn't tell if you were using it for your WDW trips or not. Thanks!
We use the park hopper on longer trips (4+ days) when we have time to hit all parks for 1 day and then want to go back and do a few favorite things on the remaining days. For long weekend trips we just do one park each day and usually skip animal kingdom and/or Epcot. At these ages it's hard to hit more than one park a day anyway…ESP on a shorter trip. One thing to consider though – if you are on the monorail a park hopper may be worth it just to squeeze in a few extra nighttime things at magic kingdom.