Disney Day 5--Epcot

We had been to Epcot several times in the evening for dinner, but this was our official full day at Epcot. We started the day meeting characters. They had the perfect set-up where you would wait in one line and then you could meet Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Donald Duck. I waited with the kids while Richard ran and got fast passes for Soarin. It worked out great!!



Up next was Turtle Talk with Crush. The kids thought this was really neat. Crush is up on the screen (animated) but he calls on people in the audience to ask him questions....BOTH kids got called on!! One asked him what his favorite color was, and I can't remember what the other one asked : ) I was so glad that they each got called on because I knew we would have to keep going until they both had gotten to ask him a question. It was a really cute show. They had some fun places to take pictures afterwards and a ton of neat fish to look at in the aquariums.


Next we rode Soarin. This is a ride where you sit in a seat suspended in the air and watch a movie. You really feel like you are flying! Both kids really liked this ride. We rode it several times, but even with a fast pass you would have to wait for a while (this ride is SUPER popular).


Emily was starting to get a little tired at this point. She did want to meet Belle and The Beast, but after waiting for about 30 minutes she was ready to move on to the next thing. Thankfully we got to cut to the front of the line to get a quick picture with Belle (Beast was not there yet, so everyone else was waiting on him).


Next we went to an area of Epcot that is all about using your imagination. They had several different stations that the kids enjoyed. Our favorite one was where you got to star in a video game! It was very entertaining!

Emily and I went looking at all the pretty flowers for a while and then she played on a little playground they had in the middle of the park. Cooper and Richard were off riding all the fun rides that Emily was not tall enough for. We meet up with the boys for dinner at the Japanese restaurant ...it was so good!! The kids did not eat much food, but they did enjoy the show of the food being cooked in front of us.

Cooper was really wanting to ride Mission Space again so we headed over there next. I had heard that it was really fun so I went to ride it with him. WOW!! I don't usually get sick on rides...but I had to try really hard not to throw-up on this one! Probably not a good idea to ride this on a full stomach!! Emily was not tall enough for this ride but she had a lot of fun trying on stuff in the shop at the end of the ride.



Cooper and the Stitch topiary. They were having some sort of flower show while we were there and there were tons of beautiful flowers everywhere! They also had topiaries of the Disney Characters all over the park. Of course Stitch was his favorite.


Epcot was definitely the best park to eat at. They have the best restaurant selection by far! Our favorite rides were Soarin, Test Track, and Mission Space.

Disney Day 4--Animal Kingdom

This was our worst day as far as weather. It poured down rain as soon as we got to the park. We did have ponchos to wear so that helped a little but it was really raining hard!! There was hardly anyone at the park since it was raining and we got there right when it opened. The first ride we rode was Expedition Everest. Cooper was a little nervous but he ended-up loving it! It made it extra exciting to get rained on while riding it! There was no line at all so we rode it at least 4 times before moving on.


The kids really wanted to ride the rapids. It was cold and we were already wet, but I still was not brave enough to ride the rapids and get even more wet! The kids loved this ride and still talk about it to this day! Thank goodness daddy was willing to ride with them : )


It had started raining really hard again, so we headed over to see the Finding Nemo show (it was inside). It was a great play with lots of fun music. The kids really enjoyed it.


By the time the show was over, so was the rain--thank goodness!! The sun was starting to shine and it was time for lunch. We had some really good barbecue and then we went to meet some characters. The kids thought it was neat to see the characters and get their autographs...I was shocked at how long some of the lines were!


Of all things...while we were there, we ran into Joey. This is one of Emily's favorite friends from school! He was there on vacation with his family, I never thought we would randomly run into each other!


After all the characters (and Joey) we went to the Lion King show. It was SO good! The kids loved all the dancing and music! I thought both of the shows at Animal Kingdom were really well done.


Up next was the Safari ride. We thought this was really fun. It was neat to be able to be so close to all of the animals. The kids wanted us to take a picture of every animal we saw!




At this point Emily was getting a little worn out. She and I sat down and rested while the boys went to look at more animals. These are a few things that they saw while they were gone:





We had a few fast passes for Expedition Everest so we went back to ride that a few more times. At this point the park was pretty busy so we were glad to have the fast passes. Cooper really wanted to go see the Bugs Life show. He got to see it twice--once with me and once with daddy. Emily wanted no part of seeing it! (it was a little scary)

In front of the Tree of Life


This was the kids at the end of the day. You can tell they were not too thrilled with having their picture taken!


We went back to Epcot for dinner at the Coral Reef. It was a really neat restaurant--one whole wall is an aquarium. It was a great way to end the day.

I do have to brag on my kids a little bit....we were actually at Disney World parks for 5 days in a row and our kids walked the entire time!! No strollers! It made it easier to get through the crowds not having to push a stroller with 100 pounds of kids in it!! Way to go kids!

Favorite rides at Animal Kingdom were Expedition Everest, the Safari ride, and the Rapids. And of course the shows!!

Disney Day 3-Hollywood Studios

By day 3 Emily was pretty exhausted. She managed to stay at the park until lunch time...lunch was when the meltdown began. After a quick lunch, I carried Emily all the way back to the bus stop and she and I went back to the hotel so she could rest. She took a long overdue nap and even had time to swim for a little while. Meanwhile, back at Hollywood Studios, Cooper and Richard were having a great time.

Let me back up a little bit...

Our first ride of the day was on Rock N Roller Coaster. Cooper loved it! It was his first time to ride a roller coaster that went upside down. You can tell from the pictures he was pretty excited! (I think he rode it 3 more times before we moved on to the next ride)



Up next was the Tower of Terror. Believe it or not, but this was Emily's favorite ride. There were grown men that were scared to ride it, but not little 4 and 1/2 year old Emily!! I can't even count how many times we rode that ride! She and I went to the Little Mermaid show and the Beauty and the Beast show. I thought Beauty and the Beast was really good. By the time it was over it was time for lunch. And this was when the meltdown started (I won't share about all the whining and tears but it was very unpleasant!!) So off to the hotel she and I went while the boys stayed at the park.

Cooper got to participate in a show where he trained to become a Jedi. He thought this was super cool!! The sad part was that the Star Wars ride was closed so he did not get to ride it. But he had a great time getting pictures made with Star Wars guys and looking at all the fun toys!

Daddy had to pose with them too

dressed as a Jedi in training


getting his certificate after the show


They saw a couple of action packed shows that they really enjoyed and played on a playground from the movie Honey I Shrunk the Kids.


The low point of the day for Cooper was when they went back to ride Rock N Roller Coaster one last time and he was not tall enough. Apparently we shrink throughout the day....who knew! Anyways...that made for a very sad little boy! They meet us back at the hotel and then we went to Epcot for dinner and a few more rides. We had some yummy Mexican food and the kids posed for some fun pictures. We watched a few fireworks and then quickly headed back to the hotel to get some sleep!!


These were taken in Norway at Epcot


they had this cool green car at the end of the ride "Test Drive" at Epcot.