Epcot

The kids were ready to hit the parks Sunday and Epcot would be our plan for the day. They enjoyed taking the Disney Bus to Epcot but didn't understand why the sign on the front of the bus said Art of Animation on it. "This bus is gonna take us to the hotel?!? We need to go to Epcot!" Didn't matter how many times we tried to explain, 8 and 5 year olds know more than their parents!

Once to Epcot, we made our way to Norway for breakfast with the princesses. We got our photo with Belle, and saw Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora and Mary Poppins. Liam says that Belle is the prettiest princess. I though Mary Poppins was beautiful. 

Breakfast was good, and the kids had a blast getting autographs and parading around the restaurant. 

After that, we headed over to the character spot and met Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale. The kids thought Chip and Dale were the best. 

Throughout the day, we rode/went to: Soarin' twice, Living with The Land twice, the Nemo ride, Turtle Talk with Crush, Journey into the Imagination, Maelstrom, Grand Fiesta ride in Mexico & Spaceship Earth. We also visited all of the countries and got stamps for the Kidcot activity. We had dinner at The Land and saw Mickey, Chip, Dale and Pluto. Chip and Dale helped us think of a character's name that starts with H. (Hercules we then thought of Happy) That was a fun little experience. 

It did rain for about a half hour and that's when we rode the Land ride and Soarin' for a second time. We also got to see Pooh and Tigger. 

We hung around for the fireworks and Megan cried her eyes out. She's not a fan of loud noises. I think we made it back to our hotel by 10 pm. What a long day! Everyone's feet hurt, we were hot and sweaty, and tired but what a great start to our family vacation! 

The girls. 

Our future. 

Disney even trains the squirrels, who apparently don't mind getting close to humans while posing for photos!

By the way, can I say that the Magic Bands are amazing! Well, they're not the most comfortable things to wear, and sometimes it's hard to scan properly. But other than those bugs it's great! No more keeping track of fast pass tickets. No more hotel key card. No need for a credit card. No more photo pass bracelets or tickets to log! It's all on the band. 

By the time we got back to our room, our photos from the park were loaded onto Shawn's Disney account. We took advantage of any photographer we saw along the way. It seems like I hardly took any personal photos. (And for me that means I'll probably come home with less than 1000 photos!) 

The kids got a kick out of being able to unlock the hotel door with their magic band. I find it comforting and alarming that if a child gets lost, Disney can locate him/her through the magic band. I was surprised by how many people still aren't using them. 

It does seem a bit unfair to locals that might want to go to Disney for the day. Fast passes are arranged months in advance. I wonder if the locals plan their spontaneous trips to Disney or not?!?

But anyway, the longest we waited in a line at Epcot was maybe 25-30 minutes. The weather is unbearable hot and humid, but that's the trade-off for getting here before all the schools went on summer vacation. 

That's all for now. Next up: Magic Kingdom.