Thursday, September 18, 2014

Our Epcot Adventure -- July 2014

 Epcot is our second favorite park at Walt Disney World.

This was the park we had planned for our trip to really focus on. Since my dad lives in Southern California he can visit Disneyland any time, which is a lot like the Magic Kingdom but a bit smaller.

But they don't have and Epcot there so we though we'd take my dad there. Plus Epcot is WONDERFUL to eat in.

Our first stop is always Starbucks. It's a great first stop to start the day with extra energy and icy drinks on hot days.

 Then it's off to the pavilions.

The first pavilion we went to was Norway.

 I had never really been interested in Norway before. But after visiting the pavilion on Epcot it's definitely a place I want to visit in the real world. 
The people, the beautiful country, the food, the sweaters! 
All seem so lovely.

And then there's the hats.

 Oh, and the trolls.  Apparently there's a lot of mythology with trolls.
Rosie loves the trolls.
 But let's get back to the hats. 
The hats were a big hit with the kids.
 And with Papa.
 Obi is an adorable little viking.
 Yes, I bought them the hats. They were just too cute.

 When we first started planning our trip Rosie said she wanted to visit China.
We had been talking about the fact that she was born there (in the real China) and she wanted to see what it was like.
She wanted to know about the food and the buildings.
So we had lunch in the China Pavilion.

 I took Rosie around and showed her things that looked like things we'd seen in China.
 She loved the garden and the bridges and this little pink sun umbrella.
 She also enjoyed hearing me speak Chinese to the people in eating area and the little shop. 
I have to admit it was really nice to be able to speak Chinese with people again.


After exploring China for a bit it was time to meet Mickey. We had a fast pass for this so we didn't have to stand in line.
 It's always fun to see Mickey and it's always sweet to see the kids with him.
 In Epcot you get to meet all the main characters in one place.
 Obi had a fun time with Goofy. He kept tickling Obi.
 Rosie was really happy to see Minnie since Minnie Mouse is her favorite.
 Isn't this a great picture of us all?!

When you travel with a pregnant woman it means you have to stop and eat often. Which is actually good for the kids too. 
So we headed over to The Land building to explore the hydroponic garden and have some yummy food. 

We'd never been to The Land building before and it was actually really nice and quite informative about hydroponic gardening. 
William wants to build a hydroponic garden now.

Rosie's favorite place in Epcot is the Aquarium. It is so huge!
They have a shark and dolphins and even my favorite, manatees.
 They also have tons of other fish and water creatures of the smaller variety.

 The kids always love this shark photo spot.

 We spent a LONG time in the aquarium just taking our time looking at everything.  Obi actually fell asleep at lunch so I got to sit and hold him for about 20 to 30 minutes and watch the manatees. I love watching the manatees. They are so cute.
This was a great place to take a sitting break and it was air conditioned so that was great.

Right about the time we were ready to head to the Great Britain Pavilion it started pouring rain. But it was Summer so after deciding it wasn't going to let up much we just decided to head out into the down pour. 
That was super fun.
It rained the rest of the evening and we didn't mind a bit.
Besides, we were heading to Great Britain, so it seemed kind of appropriate.
My kids love walking in the rain any way.

 My dad had broken his foot the week before so we decided to get him a little go cart. That was very fun too. 
My mom also decided to wrap his cast in a Disney shopping bag to keep it dry.
He looked very festive.

 After playing in the rain in England (I got some pretty funny looks from people as they huddled under the eves while Obi and I stomped in puddles in the middle of the street) and exploring the shops we headed to France.

We had a dinner reservation at my very favorite place to eat in Epcot. Each country as some great restaurants with food from their part of the world. But my favorite is Chefs de France.
I don't have any pictures except this one of my lovely hot tea because we were enjoying ourselves so much.

We had a fabulous day in Epcot. We didn't rush anywhere, we didn't try to see everything. We just enjoyed our favorite spots and then moved on to the next one. It didn't even seem that crowded.
After dinner we were all pretty much ready to head back to the hotel.
There was one more place Rosie wanted to stop though..
 She had seen this fountain earlier in the day but we were headed to see Mickey so I didn't want to stop. But since we were already all wet from the rain, and it was a warm rain, it seemed like a great last stop before heading home.
 So we all stood in the pouring rain while the kids ran around and worked off their left over energy playing in the water fountain.



 Then we headed out of the park. 
We were all in such a good mood from such a wonderful day so we decided to stop for this picture right before we left.
Have you ever seen a bunch of people more happy to be soaking wet?
I know I say it every time. But this really was the best trip we'd ever had to Disney World.

Here's a picture of the kids waiting for the elevator in the hotel.


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