Disney--Part 2

The Friday of our trip we traveled to Epcot center. We got to sleep in a little bit as the shuttle didn't leave the hotel until 9:20. Unfortunately this was also the hottest day! We got into Epcot quickly off of the shuttle and after snapping some pictures of Josh, Steve, and Heidi in front of the giant Epcot ball, we spotted Daisy Duck taking pictures just inside the entrance. The line was short (maybe 2 or 3 kids in front of us), so we excitedly went for another character encounter. Finally, we ventured farther into the park and found a short line for Spaceship Earth so we hopped in line and within a few minutes were tucked into our "cars" and off on a visit through time. It was at this point that I started to think maybe I had never been to Epcot before. I traveled to Disney with my extended family as a teenager, but couldn't remember exactly what we did. As the day progressed I knew this was my first visit to Epcot just as it was the kids; ironically, two of my favorite rides ended up being here.

After Spaceship Earth we attempted to get Fastpasses for the Character Spot, only to find that they don't exist, so I ran to get Fastpasses for Soarin' which already had a long wait. Next we headed to the Nemo and Friends ride/exhibits. The line was nice and short for the Nemo ride and Heidi enjoyed looking at the fish exhibits afterwards (especially the dolphins which were in prime form for tricks). After feeding Forrest (and listening to an entertaining lecture a father was giving his three young children), we headed off into the World Showcase.

This is where it started to really stink that it was so hot. So much of the World Showcase is things that you really want to take your time to look at and enjoy, but we spent much of the afternoon dashing in-and-out of air conditioned places. Luckily the two rides in the World Showcase (Mexico and Norway) were both nice and cool boat rides. After we completed the rides I was able to convince the rest of the party that we needed food! Despite being in the awesome World Showcase, we settled on pizza in Italy for lunch. The ice water was the biggest hit, even with Forrest, who took Josh's glass with a death grip and cried whenever Josh tried to take it away.

After lunch we rode the boat across the pond to go back and use our Soarin' Fastpasses. Forrest couldn't go on this one, so we sent the grandparents first while we waited with the baby. Upon their return, Josh, Heidi, and I went to ride. Such a cool ride, it ended up being my favorite of all. Heidi was totally sucked in and asked where we were when the ride ended, she thought we had really been flying over all the different countryside scenes. Then, wanting to catch the first bus home (rather than wait until park close), it was already time to head out to the parking lot. It was nice to get back to the hotel earlier and Heidi loved being able to go in the pool again.

Day 3, Saturday, was another day at Magic Kingdom. I honestly feel that with a child Heidi's age we could have done all 4 days at MK and been  happy as clams. To be continued...