We bought a two-day Disney pass and grabbed some fast passes for each day. The first day we toured Epcot. We arrived at 9 am when it opened, but after standing in line for the DAS pass, it was 9:45 am before we could walk into the park to enjoy it. It was quite ironic that the longest line of the day was the line to stand in to get a pass so you did not have to stand in other lines. (Yes, I told Disney about this irony & how they needed more staff at 9 am for Guest Services.)
Our first stop of the day was a photo op with Daisy Duck, followed by photos with Micky, Minnie, and Goofy. We then went through the butterfly garden as it was the Flower Festival at Epcot. They had beautiful colorful displays all through the park with some extraordinary topiaries.
Our first ride of the day was The Seas with Nemo and Friends. We then headed over to the countries as it was 11 am and they had just opened. Our first stop was just outside Canada for a pineapple icee and some tasty steak tips and mashed potatoes. We picked up the bear for Alex to get stamped at each Kidcot station and then watched the O'Canada 360 film. After that we traveled to the U.K. We looked for Winnie the Pooh, but he's moved on to Magic Kingdom these days. However, we passed some large wooden doors that opened and there were 5 characters ready for pictures with zero line! We saw Rabbit, Max (Goofy's son), Chip & Dale, and Minnie Mouse. As we finished up with Max, they closed the doors so no one else could come in. It was a super fast 20 minute character pop up that we just happened to be in the right spot to catch.
In France we ate a cinnamon pastry and saw Sleeping Beauty as she was going in for a nap. We decided on a bigger lunch at Morocco and the boys ate some chicken & fries. Alex enjoyed getting a stamp and hand-drawn picture in each area. We breezed through Japan and America, Italy, and Germany. We enjoyed an egg roll from China. In Norway, we snagged a DAS time to come back for the ride, then headed back over to the west side to ride our next fast pass ride, Soarin'.
I did not realize that the kids had to be 40" to ride, so poor Alex had to sit out with Kim. I probably should've let Evan sit out as well. He was so scared he was clawing at Vince & I to get off the ride. After the ride, we picked up a DAS handwritten time for the Land, as the app wasn't working (good thing, since I already had a DAS waiting for Frozen). We walked over to ride Journey into Imagination with Figment (Evan was still a little scared from the previous ride), then came back and rode Living with the Land. Evan did some better on this ride, but we held him tight. I didn't want him to think all rides were scary so we kept letting him ride. It was then time to go back to Norway to ride Frozen. I opted to let only Alex go while Vince stayed outside with Evan.
It was getting close to dinner time so we decided to eat a fancy dinner at the nice Italian restaurant. It was so yummy! After dinner, I let the boys visit Elsa & Anna. By then it was 8:45 and the park was about to close. We called it a day & caught the bus back to the hotel. We could see the fireworks from the parking lot. We didn't get to see several things, but I'm glad we had a fun, full day!
The second day we got up a little later and caught the bus from the hotel to Magic Kingdom. Both days were chilly in the morning, but the sun was out & we had jackets. We arrived just in time to use our first fast pass at Buzz Lightyear in Tomorrowland. The crowds were small so we jumped on the Peoplemover and the boys got to see inside Space Mountain (which was totally dark). We then rode the Carousel of Progress. None of these rides had any wait time. It was then time to do our second fast pass, Haunted Mansion. On the way, we stopped and got a DAS pass for Peter Pan's Flight. We ate lunch at the Columbia Harbour House and then rode Peter Pan's Flight. We then got a DAS pass for It's a Small World. We walked right into Mickey's Philharmagic without any pass. We then had some time to kill so headed toward the Country Bear Jamboree, but were interrupted by the parade. I forgot all about a 3pm parade, so that was a bonus! The boys enjoyed watching it, and then we saw the bears. We then used our last fast pass of the day on the Pirates of the Caribbean. We finished the day early evening at the ice cream parlor. That was the longest line of the day. They need a fast pass for food! It was quite a full day of rides (zero characters). We were so busy, I took hardly any pictures this day.
We left at 5pm to go eat at the T-Rex restaurant in Disney Springs. The restaurant was way too loud and dark for us and the food was mediocre. I would much rather go to Rainforest Cafe next time. The boys enjoyed the LEGO store and Kim, Elise, & I grabbed some pastries from a bakery.
Our third day was spent sleeping in and exploring the hotel resort. Elise left to go back to PA. The boys climbed on the playground. The water was way to cold to swim. We drove out to the Disney Wilderness Preserve. It was a total waste of time. It's just flat grassland they've done nothing with, just preserved it. It was free for a reason. That evening we ate at BJ's Brewhouse. The food was terrific. We had lots of leftovers that we crammed in our hotel fridge.
Kim & John left on Thursday. We extended the stay at the hotel for one more night. Vince & I took the boys to Orlando Science Center. It was 4 floors or pure entertainment for them. They had some exhibits closed for remodeling and we still had so much to do. Both boys purely enjoyed the entire day until we left at 4 pm. I feel like we more than made up for missing school this week with all they learned at the science center.
Hurricane and other weather exhibits
Animals
Fruit stand
Lots of dinosaurs
We ate leftovers in the hotel for dinner after enjoying the splash pad. The pool was too cool for me, but Vince & the boys swam for a bit.
On Friday, we checked out & dined in the hotel restaurant (as we did every morning for breakfast), and said goodbye to our favorite waitress, Louree. She gave the boys Mickey Mouse stickers every day. One day a little boy gave his Mickey balloon to Evan (& Alex), so we passed the balloon along to a family of 3 when we checked out.
We drove to Savannah, GA for the evening, and since it was Vince's birthday, we ate seafood on River Street. We enjoyed our meal at Dockside Seafood. The boys ate fried pickles and french fries. I had a salad. We walked around River Street for a bit and then called it a night.
We drove home Saturday. Now I'm ready to go back and do all the things we missed at Disney!
