Orlando day 3

Day 22 - 2/7/10 - Epcot

After a light breakfast of bagels and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in our room, we headed out early to Epcot. We had been told at check-in that the transport to the parks started at 7.30am, but after waiting 15 minutes without any sign of any boats we guessed that that was only for the buses and decided to walk instead. Alex detoured into The Swan to get us some coffee while the kids and I started walking to the International Gateway. It was only a short walk and we were passing through the gates at 8am.

First stop was the Kim Possible Recruitment Center where we signed up for the first mission at 11am. World Showcase wasn't open yet, so we walked through the United Kingdom

and past Canada

into Future World. First stop was The Seas with Nemo & Friends.

There wasn't anybody in line, so we boarded a clamobile and rode it straight away then we checked out the rest of the pavilion.

We found Nemo

and Dory

Turtle Talk with Crush wasn't operating yet, so we headed over to Spaceship Earth. I left the others in line while I ran over to get Test Track fastpasses. When I got back I called to find out how far up the line they were, but they were already on the ride so I waited for them at the exit. When they finally appeared, we checked out Innoventions and then walked back to World Showcase to start our Kim Possible mission.

 We picked up our kimmunicator in the UK and had a lot of fun with it. We did the UK mission first and then walked towards Germany as we had a lunch reservation at the Biergarten.

We walked through France

Japan

and Italy

Sammy didn't want to do another mission, so he and I checked out the shops and met Snow White again while the others did the Germany mission. Then it was on to the Biergarten for lunch

We loved the Biergarten! Alex's family are German so this was one place he really wanted to eat. It was his kind of food and definitely his kind of beer. He got to speak German with the waiters which was fun for all of them and very amusing for our kids. We were seated with a family from Tennessee who were driving past on their way to visit family in southern Florida and decided to stop at Epcot for the day. Such a different experience from ours where every minute of every day was planned! Our reservation was at 12pm but the first show wasn't until 1.30pm so we had to hang around after we finished eating but that was okay because it was relaxing and we were enjoying chatting to our table mates.

The show was corny but fun

After lunch we walked around the World Showcase, stopping at the Outpost for some bongo playing

and picking up fastpasses for Maelstrom in Norway. Then it was on to Mexico and the Gran Fiesta Tour

before heading back to Norway for Maelstrom.

After that we walked back over to Future World to use our Test Track fastpasses. I was a little worried about Alex on Test Track after all the beer he drank at lunch! But it wasn't too wild a ride and a lot of fun. We were all ready for an afternoon break after that, so we walked back to The Dolphin and spent the  afternoon at the pool before going back to Epcot for dinner and Illuminations. We didn't have reservations anywhere so we got fish & chips at the Yorkshire County Fish Shop and sat on the wall overlooking the lake to watch the show.

Orlando day 2

Day 21 - Thursday 1/7/10 - The Magic Kingdom

We were up early and on the first bus to The Magic Kingdom for our breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table. We passed through the gates at 8am and headed up Main Street towards the castle.

Our reservation was for 8.15am so we were taken in immediately to meet Cinderella. She was so lovely and very impressed that the whole family (except for me) had dressed in blue (unintentionally!) to match her dress!

Once seated we were served a huge platter of pastries to nibble on while we waited for our breakfast. The boys were given swords while Emily got a wand and they all got a "wishing star".

The princesses came out and started to greet the guests and then they said it was time to make a wish with their wishing stars. They boys were so into it, I've never seen kids wish so hard before! It was really a magical moment.

Dad and big sister made fun of them

but they couldn't spoil the moment and hopefully their wishes will come true!

All of the princesses came to the table and signed our autograph books. They were all very friendly and attentive and gushed over our "handsome princes".

Snow White

Sleeping Beauty

Ariel

Belle

We left the castle just before rope drop and lined up at Tomorrowland. We rode Space Mountain and Tomorrowland Speedway. Bumped into Chip and Dale

rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority

and Buzz Lightyear again.

We walked back over to the Castle and checked out Cinderella's well

then bumped into Snow White again

and met the Fairy Godmother.

We walked through Fantasyland and stopped to watch Mickey's PhilharMagic. We ran into the talking trashcan

and then arrived at Mickey's Toontown Fair.

We had a look around and a play on Donald's Boat and then walked over to Frontierland and rode Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. There were some arguments over which one to get fastpasses for to ride again, so we ended up with 3 Splash Mountain and 2 Big Thunder fastpasses for later. Then it was back over to Main Street for the Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade.

after which we went back to Frontierland to use our fastpasses. Sammy and I were done on Big Thunder first, so we were able to see the others on the big drop.

After that we decided to go back to the hotel for a break so we walked towards the entrance

where we met Pinocchio.

We caught the bus back to The Dolphin where Alex took Emily and Sam to the pool and I stayed in the room with Harry as he just wanted to relax and watch some tv. After a rest we got ready for a swim but as we were walking towards the pool, everyone was running inside as a big storm had come up and the pools were being closed. So we checked out the resort a little and then got ready for dinner. Some friends of ours who live in Southern Florida were passing through Orlando and meeting us at the resort for dinner. They didn't know what time they would arrive so we didn't make reservations anywhere. By the time they got there everyone was hungry so we just went to Picabu which was a mistake. The service was terrible! We waited nearly an hour for our sub-standard meals. It was lovely catching up with them though and we all slept well that night after another magical Disney day.