A week ago today: Epcot

Our visit to Disney World started with Epcot last Monday. We arrived after the park opened because we came from visiting with my aunt in Bradenton (pics from there are coming too!).

The weather was fabulous, and the lines were short.

We only had a little bit of time before our very important lunch date, but we managed to ride the Finding Nemo ride, see some real sealife, and attend "Turtle Talk with Crush" which was one of my favorite attractions of the whole trip. We also, thanks to Fastpass, rode Soarin'. Big Sister loved it!

Then we were off to the Royal Askershus Banquet Hall to eat lunch with the princesses.
Here is Big Sister waiting in line with her autograph book.


I had actually packed cute little princess spiral notebooks for them to use for cast signatures, but I left them in the car. On our way to lunch, I sent Daddy running back to a little gift kiosk to get an "official" (read: expensive) autograph book, only to find that the little booth right outside of the restaurant had the same one. In fact, pretty much every store in every park had them. But we had to be sure, because we were about to see some VIPS (very important princesses).

First, the whole family had a picture taken with Mommy's favorite, Belle.

I have a better picture that I took myself, but I can't seem to get the red eye right. So I'll temporarily scan the ones from Disney. Please don't call the plagiarism police.

Then we sat down and enjoyed a Norwegian buffet and waited for the four other princesses to visit our tables. Big Sister could not sit still in her seat. Little Sister ended up jumping up & down on the ground next to our table. The princesses were very gracious as they tried to get her to stop bouncing and look at the camera.

The last princess to visit our table was the one the girls most wanted to see. From the moment we came in, they both wanted to see Ariel.


Apparently, as much as Little Sister loves her favorite princess Ariel, she loves pizza more.


To which Daddy says, "That's my girl."

After lunch, we visited a few other countries (including Mexico, in the photo below) and rode a few more rides in the area called "The Land." Big Sister was very interested in the Living with the Land boat ride about sustainable agriculture, and the ecological movie featuring Lion King characters. Again, to which Daddy (and Mommy, too) say, "That's my girl."

Little Sister really liked the "big ball." When we went inside it to ride Spaceship Earth, Big Sister kept calling it "that dark ride with the people telling Bible Stories."

We rode what used to be my favorite ride- Figment's Journey. It is totally changed from what I can remember, but you still gotta love Figment. Big Sis did. She also had fun playing in the Kodak labs.

Little Sister enjoyed an interactive area with pictures of instruments on the floor and pictures of babies playing them all over the walls. If you stepped on an instrument, it would play and light up the corresponding wall picture. I don't think she knew that, but it still had two of her favorite things: babies and music. Okay, three: babies, music and jumping.


We also visited an interactive area where the girls learned about storm preparedness, tested the sturdiness of consumer products (which included trying to break televisions, boomboxes, and other electronic devices), and made paper.


Finally, Mommy, Daddy, Papa and Big Sister rode Test Track. I have to purchase the photo from this ride from the Disney photopass wesbite, and when I do, I will post it. Let me just give you the visual: Mommy, Daddy, Papa all holding on while we turn sharp corners, break hard, and avoid collisions. Big Sister leaning over in the seat because she is more concerned with covering her ears than holding on. I'm a bad mom for thinking we could skip the earplugs. She is a brave kid who says she doesn't really want to ride that one again...