Day 4 - EPCOT

Saturday was our last day in Disney World. We were having so much fun, but we were beginning to get tired. And we were so ready to see Jonathan. For breakfast, Andrew and Coleman decided to dine on our deck. They didn't ask us, they just picked up their things and moved outside. They can have some knock-down-drag-outs on occasion, but they are really such good friends.



When we had finished eating, we headed to our last park. Spaceship Earth was waiting for us at EPCOT! Our original plans had us skipping EPCOT and only seeing the other three parks on this trip. My good friend Elizabeth (with all her other wonderful tips) recommended that we not skip EPCOT, and we are so glad she did! It was another great day.

When we arrived we picked up our stroller and headed to straight to Soarin'. It did not disappoint! After Soarin' we headed straight to Spaceship Earth. Since it was Saturday, our waits were longer than the other days, but we didn't wait for anything more than ten minutes. Andrew rode with Brent and loved this ride. This was another day that I could easily have counted as a school day. He learned so much about technology, our earth, and world cultures. Here they are in the car we rode in.


Then we headed to Imagination! We rode a fun ride and then they played in a children's museum area. Here they are conducting music. The faster they waved their arms, the faster the music played. It slowed down when they did. They had lots of fun.


We ate lunch at The Land after Imagination. The food at The Land exhibit was some of the best in all of Disney World. When we finished lunch, we headed out to travel around the world. Here I am with the boys at the beginning of our tour of the World Showcase. In the background, across the lake, you can see the Eiffel Tower.


And this was a blast from the past. In high school, Brent's trombone group came to Disney World and played for the Magic Music Days. This is the restaurant they played in. I was a "Little Sister" to the group, so I came too. The funniest thing about that trip is that Brent and I weren't even dating then. I was someone else's "lil sis."


Here's Mexico. We went inside to see a marketplace and take a ride that toured us through different areas of Mexico. It was nice and cool in there. This was also the hottest day of our trip, so we were all glad to go inside.

Next up was Norway. They had a Viking museum we toured. Andrew and Coleman wanted me to read every sign and description to them.


Then we visited China.
We saw a neat movie about China's past and present. The boys loved this statue of a soldier.



Germany didn't have much for the boys to do, so we just strolled through.


They did have a miniature garden with a train set that they had fun watching.


Then it was over to Italy.


We stopped off in America briefly, but the show The American Adventure wasn't playing so we didn't stay too long. Next up was Japan. Andrew and Coleman were really hoping to see some ninjas, but alas, none could be found.


Here they are in Japan getting their bear passports stamped. This was a neat thing that we'll do better at next time. There were bear puppets at each country in a place called the KidSpot. You picked up your bear at the first country you visited, and each country would stamp your puppet. At some countries, the hostesses would write the boys' names in the language of the country. It was a really neat idea. However, we didn't realize it until Italy, and didn't want to go back and start again just to get those stamps from the first countries we visited. And then, I left them on the bus that night back to the resort. We were pretty tired by then and clearly not thinking quite right. So next time, we'll get the puppets at Mexico and keep up with them!


Outside Morocco we saw Jasmine and Aladdin. Jasmine was the only princess who got to sign their autograph books.
We breezed through the rest of the countries as they didn't really have any kid attractions, it wasn't meal time, and the boys were getting hot and tired. Here's a photo of France.



And the United Kingdom and Canada finished off our tour.


Everyone was ready for our snack when we finished our tour. Andrew picked a cinnamon and sugar pretzel. Coleman picked ice cream. Did I mention it was the hottest day we were there? Here's what we found when we stopped for our next ride.


So after a trip to the bathrooms, we let Brent ride Test Track. He thinks the boys would have liked it, but it was really loud while we were waiting, so they decided to wait and ride it next time. Then we rode Mission: SPACE. It was super fun. We were in a space simulator and each of us was assigned a job to complete our mission. Andrew and Coleman couldn't reach their controls so Brent and I helped them out and made sure we were successful. When the ride ended and we unbuckled, Coleman jumped up and down and shouted, "That was AWESOME!"


From there we went next door to the Universe of Energy.



And then around to the Living Seas with Nemo.

Here are Brent and Andrew in their shell.


When the ride was over, we looked around the viewing rooms. It was set up like a big aquarium with tanks of all kids of sea life to look at. Coleman is still our ocean lover, so I think this was the highlight of his day. We also went to Turtle Talk with Crush. It was a cute visit with the famous sea turtle from the Nemo movie. He answered questions from the kids in the audience.


Just a great photo of our big six year old.


We headed over to a great souvenir shop to find a Donald Duck for Jonathan, and then it was back to The Land for a few rides before our dinner reservations. A nice lady offered to make a picture of all four of us.The Land exhibit was fascinating, but most memorable were these nine pound lemons!


We saw lots of new techniques for growing vegetables, fruits, trees, and fish. The boys had a good time identifying vegetables they knew.


We watched the "Circle of Life" movie and then headed over to the Garden Grill for dinner. This was our last character meal and it was really good. We sat down and they all came to us. Here's Pluto.


My very favorite Disney characters have always been Chip and Dale. I was so glad to get to have my picture made with them! But they came by one at a time, so here I am with Dale first.


Dessert was a fun ice cream with mouse ear Oreos for the boys. Brent and I had a yummy cobbler a la mode.


Then Chip came by.As we were walking out of the park, we passed The Big 5 (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto) at a character spot and decided to say "Hi!" one last time. The boys didn't get autographs again, but we got all four of us with Mickey, Minnie and Donald.


And a couple of parting shots with Spaceship Earth.


Silly Daddy!
We had so much fun on our first Disney trip. Elizabeth reminded me, it's not a vacation really, it's an adventure. And she was so right. We were tired, but it was the very best kind of tired. The next day we made the long trip back home and were so happy to get Jonathan in our arms. He had a super fun week at Gigi and Papack's. We were all glad to be home in Gainesville that night. As Andrew likes to say, "It's good to go places, and it's good to come back home."

And it is.