Disney: Day 2
Epcot
Park Hours: 9:00 am-9:30 pm
Outfits:
Purple, Blue, Grey
(pardon the sloppy picture but these were just for my reference before the trip)
It was hard to get up and going after our long day 1 but the thought of going to the park energized the kids and they were ready for Day 2.
We had a Fast Pass for Spaceship Earth but because we got there at 9 when the park opened there was only a 5 min wait so we switched it for Mission Space and just went through the line. The planner in me had a hard time with the Fast Passes bc if there was only a 5 min wait then I felt like we were wasting it. If we got to the ride and the wait time was under 15 mins we would try to move our pass to something with a longer wait, sometimes this worked and sometimes it didn't. I found the whole thing rather stressful. I will do a whole post on the rides that we needed passes for and ones that were wasted. The kids thought Spaceship Earth was interesting as it takes you through the history of the earth but it was a one time thing for us.
After leaving spaceship Earth, we headed to Mission Space because the wait time was only about 20 mins. I read some blog posts about this ride before leaving and chose to do the Green ride because people spoke of getting sick on the Orange one and not being able to handle it. Brett was upset that we were going on the Green one so I told him that if they could handle it we would could do the Orange one next time. This ride was super fun but it is not for the claustrophobic. You go into a small flight simulator and get to participate in a real flight simulation and you each get to do something during the "flight." They have a pilot, navigator, commander and an engineer. Each person has a different thing to do during the simulation depending on your job title. I got a little nervous when I saw the puke bags in front of each seat. Do people really need those on this ride?! Lily was just barely tall enough, she was right at the 44" mark, so she had trouble reaching the panel in front of her and she was a little freaked out by the whole thing so she just held my hand. Luke, my space lover, LOVED it! You take off, fly through space and around the moon, and then land on Mars. After the ride you exit through a room with other simulators and a play area for littles. Then you get to walk through a gift shop, which happens at most big rides. Isn't that nice of them? I tell you what, there is not many things that I really detest and one of them is having to walk through gift shops with my 2 kids. My mom gave them each $100 to spend on special memories so EVERY time we found a store they wanted something. Lily found a stuffed animal, of course, that turned out to be Stitch's (from Lilo & Stitch) girlfriend, Angel. Am I the only one who had no idea that Stitch has a girlfriend? The lady in the store acted like I was insane that I had no clue! Luke spent some of his money on a small "build your own" lightsaber. We found a green Luke Skywalker lightsaber that we decided to get Luke for Christmas. He has been asking for one and all the ones I have found were well over $100. This one was only $30 so we went ahead and got it and just told him that he would have to wait until Christmas to have it. We had everything but the Angel doll shipped to the resort so we didn't have to carry it with us.
When we finally got them out of the gift shop, we decided it was time for lunch so we checked our Disney app to find somewhere to eat. We decided on Mexican and headed towards Mexico. We ate at La Cantina de San Angel. Since this was our first meal and we weren't sure how much the kids would eat, we got a kids meal for them to share, chicken tenders, and Brett and I both got the Tacos de Barbacoa. They were delicious!!! We got to sit by the water where the kids got to see ducks and relax. I highly recommend this place as it was not crowded, the food was reasonably priced and really good. It was a cloudy day so the picture isn't fantastic but this was our view for lunch.
Park Hours: 9:00 am-9:30 pm
Outfits:
Purple, Blue, Grey
It was hard to get up and going after our long day 1 but the thought of going to the park energized the kids and they were ready for Day 2.
We had a Fast Pass for Spaceship Earth but because we got there at 9 when the park opened there was only a 5 min wait so we switched it for Mission Space and just went through the line. The planner in me had a hard time with the Fast Passes bc if there was only a 5 min wait then I felt like we were wasting it. If we got to the ride and the wait time was under 15 mins we would try to move our pass to something with a longer wait, sometimes this worked and sometimes it didn't. I found the whole thing rather stressful. I will do a whole post on the rides that we needed passes for and ones that were wasted. The kids thought Spaceship Earth was interesting as it takes you through the history of the earth but it was a one time thing for us.
After leaving spaceship Earth, we headed to Mission Space because the wait time was only about 20 mins. I read some blog posts about this ride before leaving and chose to do the Green ride because people spoke of getting sick on the Orange one and not being able to handle it. Brett was upset that we were going on the Green one so I told him that if they could handle it we would could do the Orange one next time. This ride was super fun but it is not for the claustrophobic. You go into a small flight simulator and get to participate in a real flight simulation and you each get to do something during the "flight." They have a pilot, navigator, commander and an engineer. Each person has a different thing to do during the simulation depending on your job title. I got a little nervous when I saw the puke bags in front of each seat. Do people really need those on this ride?! Lily was just barely tall enough, she was right at the 44" mark, so she had trouble reaching the panel in front of her and she was a little freaked out by the whole thing so she just held my hand. Luke, my space lover, LOVED it! You take off, fly through space and around the moon, and then land on Mars. After the ride you exit through a room with other simulators and a play area for littles. Then you get to walk through a gift shop, which happens at most big rides. Isn't that nice of them? I tell you what, there is not many things that I really detest and one of them is having to walk through gift shops with my 2 kids. My mom gave them each $100 to spend on special memories so EVERY time we found a store they wanted something. Lily found a stuffed animal, of course, that turned out to be Stitch's (from Lilo & Stitch) girlfriend, Angel. Am I the only one who had no idea that Stitch has a girlfriend? The lady in the store acted like I was insane that I had no clue! Luke spent some of his money on a small "build your own" lightsaber. We found a green Luke Skywalker lightsaber that we decided to get Luke for Christmas. He has been asking for one and all the ones I have found were well over $100. This one was only $30 so we went ahead and got it and just told him that he would have to wait until Christmas to have it. We had everything but the Angel doll shipped to the resort so we didn't have to carry it with us.
When we finally got them out of the gift shop, we decided it was time for lunch so we checked our Disney app to find somewhere to eat. We decided on Mexican and headed towards Mexico. We ate at La Cantina de San Angel. Since this was our first meal and we weren't sure how much the kids would eat, we got a kids meal for them to share, chicken tenders, and Brett and I both got the Tacos de Barbacoa. They were delicious!!! We got to sit by the water where the kids got to see ducks and relax. I highly recommend this place as it was not crowded, the food was reasonably priced and really good. It was a cloudy day so the picture isn't fantastic but this was our view for lunch.
The kids took their Mickey and Minnie with them everywhere. :)
After lunch we decided to walk around the countries and meet some characters and right off the bat we ran into Donald in Mexico.
Brett got one of these hats when he came to Disney with his high school band and the next year he wore it every day for marching practice and drove his band teachers crazy. :)
There was a character in every country, so I won't go into all the details, but I will share some pictures of the kids with the characters. Luke didn't meet all the characters bc most of them were princesses and he was NOT into that but Lily was excited to meet everyone. We loved talking to them about all the countries and looking around the little shops.
He told Mulan that boys don't like princesses so she got onto him. haha
China
I think Lily was the most nervous with Aurora.
Snow White had the sweetest, tiniest voice. They both wondered why she talked that way. :)
Jasmine and Aladdin were super fun. They were in a house together but took several pictures with our kids and spent lots of time with them. Aladdin taught Luke how to fly on a flying carpet and Lily loved Jasmine's jacket. Warning though, their line is long and they close it before they even start signing. We just happened to hop in line right before the lady said "no more come back later."
Alice was funny and asked Lily if she was a bunny bc she was hopping. She told them about the rabbit that got away and how she was shrunk to a very small size.
Mary Poppins photographer did not show up for some reason so we had to take our own photos (I know, total first world problem). The kids LOVED her! She used a lot of Mary Poppins phrases like "spit spot" and "come along now children."
We spent most of our afternoon seeing the countries and then had to head back to the front for our Fast Track Fast Pass. This is another "must do" item of ours, in fact we used our Fast Pass and then got back in line to do it again because the wait was only 20 mins. The beginning of the ride is designing your own car. This was super fun for the kids. Then you get into another line and when you get to your car for the ride you scan your band and it links the car you designed to your ride car. You go through a bunch of safety tests like brakes, etc and then you go like 60 miles per hour on a track, as you can see from my hair. The kids liked that it "tested" the cars they made and rated them against each other.
Lily's pink car. :)
Our next stop was Future World West to see Nemo. We rode The Seas with Nemo and Friends and when you exit there is an aquarium and some fun things for the kids to explore. They really liked the shark mouth. We also went to Turtle Talk with Crush while we were in the area. This was a super cool interactive screen with Crush and he told you some fun things about turtles and actually answered audience questions.
Our fabulous Disney planner scheduled dinner for us at Coral Reef. We are not seafood eaters but I could not pass up the experience of eating with the fish and the kids could not have been more excited. The food was great and the view was fun. I would highly recommend this restaurant.
A little dinner silliness
After dinner, we hiked back over to Mission Space (for our Fast Pass) so my husband could experience the Orange version. The kids were not really sure and we had just eaten dinner so I was seriously afraid one of us was going to puke. We got in our simulator and I looked down to see that there were no puke bags in ours! Now I was really scared that one of us was going to hurl and it was just going to fly around and get all over us. Thankfully we all survived, although Lily was yelling, "I don't like this!" the whole time and holding my hand. After it was over she said it was OK but didn't want to do it again. I am glad we experienced them both and yes the Orange was much more intense.
With their orange flight tickets, a little nervous and unsure
When we got out of Mission Space, I checked my phone to see what the wait was for Soarin' since that was the only thing we had not been able to do. The wait time all day was about 90 mins and we really didn't want to wait that long. It was now about 8:50 so I figured we would not be able to get in but we ran, back across the park, and were the last group to get to do it. Soarin' is a hang glider simulation with an IMAX screen that is 180 degrees around you. They lift you 40 ft above the ground with your feet dangling so you feel like you are really hang gliding. You get to fly over San Francisco/Golden Gate Bridge, Napa Valley with hot air balloons, Yosemite Falls, etc and end at Disney. It was beautiful! They use special effects like wind, sounds and even scents. I would highly recommend this ride. When you chose your Fast Passes you have to choose between this one and Fast Track, can't get Fast Passes for both unfortunately, so I would get to the park as early as you can to get in line for the one you don't get a pass for because both of them are worth the wait.
As we walked back to the front of the park, we heard the fireworks show start so we just watched from the middle. I think it was one of the best firework shows we watched while we were there. if you can stay until 9 then this is another fun experience. My kids love fireworks!
I was skeptical about Epcot because I heard it was more of an adult park. Our afternoon was not as "fun" as some of the other parks because a lot of it was just spent walking and waiting in line to meet characters and not enjoying rides but the kids did enjoy seeing the different countries and each one had a fun display to show their culture. If we had done the park hopper option, we probably would not have stayed the whole day at this park but we had a great day.
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