Epcot

As mentioned in earlier posts, Epcot played a huge part in our trip to Disney World. Anna and I both have a real curiosity about other countries. Our eagerness to see this park prompted us to push on the first day and head from Magic Kingdom to Epcot, skipping the hotel rest period. We were on a high that first day.

These pictures combine all our visits to Epcot. We made dinner reservations each night at an international locale. Mike and I wanted a decent dinner and a calmer end to the day. I think this worked well for the most part. 

Our first trip to Epcot was dominated by the Japan area. Anna is really fascinated by Japan and Japanese culture. This dates back to the first time she saw The Little Travelers in Japan. We love those DVDs. The Japan area has a large store where you can find a ton of cool items. Anna's BIG souvenir was purchased that day. 

Watching the sales person place the kimono on Anna and then tie the beautiful belt around her small little waist made us all feel like we were in the midst of something special. Yes, it's Disney World and, yes, this is NOT Japan. But for a minute you could tell that she felt really beautiful and happy, like she was living a little dream. This is fantastic for a parent to watch, no matter where you are.

I made reservations at the German Biergarten that evening. Lots of schnitzel, potatoes, sausages, beer, and lederhosen. This wasn't exactly a "kid" show, but the food was delicious and lots of children gathered by the band and ran around dancing to the music. Our kids had no qualms about joining the chaos while Mike and I finished dinner.

We headed home that night very tired, but very happy. The kids were asleep as soon as they hit their pillows and so were we.

The next day we headed back to the Magic Kingdom and then repeated our afternoon Epcot exploration. I'm moving on to that portion of our trip because this post will cover all of Epcot. But, really, Epcot was spread over three days.

Remember all that adrenaline that allowed us to push through day one?

Well, we crashed and burned by late afternoon on the second day. It was just too much.

But, I digress. Epcot. Day Two.

You have to admit, it's really beautiful to see the giant sphere erupting out of the ground in the distance. Our first day had been so rainy that I didn't get any great photos, but the second day saw fewer clouds.

Our preoccupation with Japan on the first day led us to bypass the Mexico area. It kills me that I didn't get a great photo of the giant Mayan(?) temple that houses the Mexican restaurant and marketplace. It was so cool. And Epcot is currently featuring a Phinneas and Ferb undercover mission game for kids. If you chose to accept the mission, they give you a flip phone that provides clues. The clues lead you to a certain location... in this case it was inside the temple.

The kids (and adults) really get into it. You've GOT to save Agent P, after all. And in the end, Dr. Doofenschmitz' plan is foiled thanks to YOUR efforts. It was a blast. Very clever, and the kids are so engaged and excited. I highly recommend it.

We had reservations that evening for the french restaurant. But things were heading south.

First, everyone was getting grumpy. And we had promised the kids they could get their faces painted. Side note: I hate face painting. There has never been a face painting experience in our family where I didn't end up getting face paint somehow smeared across my own shirt because they wanted to hug/snuggle up against me, forgetting that they were covered in paint.

BUT, IT'S DISNEY and so we promised it. And what a face painting session it was...

It really did look awesome. Anna's Bird of Paradise was truly amazing.

We made our way over to the french restaurant, but everyone was out of sorts. Complaining. Tired. Hungry. And then Abe suddenly decided he did NOT want to have his face paint on anymore. And started throwing a fit, wanting it off (not really possible at the moment), wanting me to hold him (um, he was COVERED in face paint), wanting to lay down and sleep (while walking). It just all sorta fell apart.

By the time we got seated, we were marked for doom. And there must have been some sort of bad energy in the room because two very un-Disney things happened. First, I took a drink of my water and realized the glass was shattered down one side. Honestly, I don't know how it was holding the water. And then we ordered, but the waiter forgot to bring out the cheese plate.

Disney is like a well-oiled machine. Stuff like that seems pretty rare. But Anna was falling asleep in her chair and Abe was whining and so Mike and I swallowed as much of our dinner as possible and got out of there. Fast.

We headed home, washed off the face paint, and went to bed. All of us.

The final day we visited the Animal Kingdom, which was amazing. And then we headed back to Epcot for dinner. Our hope was to meet Anna and Elsa, the characters from FROZEN, who are housed in the Norway area. I got in line and learned that I was nearly two hours away from getting to see them.

No way. It's not that uncommon to have something like this happen, but we had been so lucky with short waits that we were pretty shocked. Anna (our Anna) was pretty upset and so we let her pick dinner. She chose Chinese food.

The food and restaurant was ok. I wouldn't go back there, but our goals for that evening were simple. We wanted to go somewhere fast, eat VERY early, and then go to bed VERY early because we had to head to the airport very early the next morning.

We'd already seen the sections of Epcot we wanted to so we had dinner at 5 pm and were ready to head back. But then we stumbled across the Chinese acrobats right outside the restaurant. They were wonderful! It was a small troop and the kids got to root their way up the front and sit with other children. I feel like it ended our trip on a high note. And it was a surprise.

It was getting dark. We headed out after a group selfie photo.

Epcot was wonderful. I think my favorite memories might have been at Epcot. It's a Disney experience that lets you forget about Disney for a little bit. And we all got to slow down a bit. Enjoy good food. Do some shopping, see some sights.

I loved it. I'd go back!