Disney World - Day 5: Epcot

I am totally slacking on the blog lately ... ugh. These long posts are time consuming, but such a good journal of our memories. Not a day has gone by that Mallory hasn't made reference, in some way, to our trip. After dinner tonight she wanted to go see the "Nemo" show. It breaks our heart ... we want to go back!

So, here is the last entry from our trip to Disney. EPCOT! For some reason, we were reaaaaaally early on this last day. Look at how empty the lanes are! I have to say, I think Epcot gets a bad rep as boring or too educational (ha). Personally, I would have loved to spend more time there ... I'm sure we could have spent an entire day just walking through the "countries", listening to music and enjoying other entertainment, including adult beverages! Even still we had a fun-filled, exciting day. I'm just sayin'.
Again, since we were early... DAISY DUCK ... no line! Mallory actually cried when we walked away from Daisy.
The week before we got to Disney World, Epcot wrapped up their annual garden festival and as a result there were character topiary every which way we turned. You know I love it.
While everyone else rushed to the rides, we had less than a 10 minute wait to see more friends.
No, no, Minnie is not eating Mallory's head ... Mallory asked to give her a kiss.
If you ask Mallory about Goofy, she'll tell you he's "big and ta-w and has wong ears".
We walked right on to the Finding Nemo ride... seriously, the park was EMPTY.
We also went to "Turtle Talk with Crush" from Finding Nemo ... about halfway through, the girls lost interest. We stuck around though, the adults found it hilarious since there was a good amount of adult humor. At one point during the show a kid named Jack asked a question and "Crush", proceeded to ask the kid his favorite color, favorite food, where he lived, etc. After Jack answered his questions, Crush said, "You might be wondering why I'm asking you so many questions since this show is supposed to be about me. Well, I just don't want anyone to be able to tell me that I don't know Jack."

Ba dum ching.
Like I said, adult humor. Kept us chuckling.

Next on our list was Soarin'. I'll go out on a limb and say it is by far one of the coolest rides, if not the best, we went on while at Disney. As I'm writing about it, I wish we would have gone on more than once ... or that I could go on it again now! It's really like nothing else I've ever been on. Indescribable. Google it. :)

To keep the girls occupied while waiting, we also went on the Living with the Land boat tour to explore how innovative technologies permit food growth while preserving the environment. It brought a whole new meaning to gardening and I would highly recommend it!

We had been hoping to meet Tinkerbell, so after lunch we jumped in line ... it was 11:45 am. Well, she is a popular fairy! We wouldn't get to see her until 1:00 pm! So while Summer waited in line I took the girls are on quasi photo shoot to kill time.
They are both (or maybe all young children are) obsessed with picking flowers!

OVER ONE HOUR LATER:

She was TOTALLY worth the wait!

The last stop on our (my) Epcot list was the elusive ...
and "Practically Perfect in Every Way"
MARY POPPINS.
(Mary Poffins, according to Mallory)
We were EXCITED!

She asked us if we were on "holiday".
Love it.
Yes, Mary, we were!
(And "It's a jolly holiday with Mary...")

Okay, well, Ms. Poppins was initially the last stop on our list, until we passed the water fountains. Casey and Brian went to use their Test Track fast passes and Summer and I watched the girls dance around in the water for well over an hour. I am betting it was a major highlight of their trip.

"I am cold and shivery, Momma."
"Should we get some dry clothes on?"
"Um... no danks!"
Oh, Disney World, how I miss your character flower beds and topiary.

Because it was our last day in Florida ... sigh ... we had no intentions of heading back for any night show or activity. After naps we swam in our heated, non-heated pool for the last time.
Aubrey, lounging with her life jacket on, IN an innertube (pretty good idea, actually), sipping on her frozen lemonade (not really).

At a reasonable hour the next morning,
backing out of our condo driveway............

Yes, yes, we definitely need to go back!
SOON!
(and it won't be soon enough...)

Disney World - Day 4: Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios held an extra level of excitement because we had a reservation for the Disney Jr. character breakfast. Mallory and Aubrey had been hearing about "breakfast with the Little Einsteins, Handy Manny and Special Agent Oso" for weeks! Our reservation even got us into the park early!

Aubrey and Mallory were "patiently" waiting...

...but SO excited to see the characters.

I think Mallory was also excited for the food.
Buffets are a kid's best friend.
(...even though kids under 3 eat free,
she got her money's worth!)

Yummy Mickey waffles!

Special Agent Oso...
ridiculously goofy bear, but the kids love him.

June from Little Einsteins

Leo from Little Einsteins

There are FOUR Little Einsteins, but only two were scheduled to be at the breakfast. Just as I suspected ... Mallory asked, "Momma, where Quincy and Annie go??"

Handy Manny!

We immediately fast passed the Toy Story ride since it is the most popular ride in the park and we were not interested in standing in a 90-minute line!

Next Casey and I occupied the girls while Summer & Brian had their turn on Tower of Terror - I forgot how much I love that ride!! There's nothing like feeling your stomach jump into your throat, haha!
Hollywood Studios is a really cool park, but it's a different kind of entertainment. There are more shows than rides and yet it still has something to offer "kids" of all ages. We took the girls to see the Little Mermaid show (complete with cool ocean sprays of water over the audience and bubbles!) and then the Disney Jr. stage show where they got to see the rest of their pals. It also made me feel a little better about the amount of Disney Jr. TV Mallory watches ... every kid and parent in the room was singing along!

Lots of dancing and clapping!!

Jake & the Neverland Pirates is a fairly new show on Disney Jr.
...featuring none other than Captain Hook and Smee!

Okay, okay, you wouldn't have gotten ME out of the park without taken the girls to the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" play area where you are the "shrunken kids". I still remember this from my first trip to Disney World when I was 10. SO much fun and of course, Mal and Aubrey could have played there all day!

Sliding down the roll of film...

Enjoying the tree root slides...

Okay moms ... you think Play-Doh is awful now ... imagine that giant can being ground into your carpet. Ha! Casey and Mal were standing under the "leaky hose" which kept squirting them with water.
Mallory would have walked through this cargo net structure 50 times ... we honestly dragged her out of here (crying) to go eat lunch.
After lunch, and four straight days of park excitement, the girls were spent. Here's Aubrey nearly napped out in her stroller. (I have no idea how that was comfortable...)
We headed to Aerosmith's Rock N Roller Coaster to get a second fast pass to use on our return trip to the park that evening. But .... we figured since the girls were wasted anyway, we might as well ride once and THEN head home. Casey and I went first - BEST ROLLER COASTER EVER!! Neither of us had ridden before ... it was closed for maintenance (or something!) during our trip to Disney in 2007 ... it was definitely worth the wait!!

Then, while Brian & Summer rode, we walked next door and enjoyed the Beauty and the Beast Stage Show (which also hasn't changed since I was 10, haha, although now it's in an amphitheater of sorts, it used to be standing room only). Lovely show and the girls were intrigued.

Mallory got a little emotional at the end ...
Disney movies have a way of tugging at even the smallest hearts.

I'm sure you're not surprised that we couldn't help grabbing a snack on our way out of the park. Kane family trip favorites: soft pretzels and frozen lemonade!

Like I said, they were toast.

We came back a little after 7pm and used our fast passes to ride Toy Story. Awesome ride and by far one of my favorites. It's like a county fair-type shooting game within the ride. And it's in 3-D ... super fun! Gotta love the glasses!
After the ride we made our way to find a seat for the night time show - Fantasmic! It's a live stage show combined with Disney film clips and just like everything else, it was pretty amazing. Good and Evil were represented by 30+ characters and I found myself as captivated as Mallory. She got to enjoy another frozen lemonade and her momma got to enjoy 20 minutes of Mallory on her lap. It would have been the perfect end to yet another day, BUT we still had that Rock N Roller Coaster fast pass to use up. And ... we got to sit in the very front seat! So that ended up being the perfect end to our day!

I can feel the trip coming to a close, but we still had plenty to do at Epcot, so I'll hold onto the fun for another day!