So, with the debacle that was Universal Studios behind us, we turn our attention to something much more fun - Epcot.
Grandma & Grandpa met us at the Beach Club and we walked over to the International Gateway and on over to Future World. First stop - Journey Into Imagination with Figment. Can you believe that there was literally no wait!
Both kids love this ride, therefore, we all love this ride.
After that little treat, I ran over to get Soarin' Fast Passes since Madison was tall enough to ride.
I caught up with the family in time to jump on the Nemo Clam Shells, and get a picture with Bruce.
Turtle Talk with Crush was awesome as usual.
From there, Bambi & I took Madison to do Soarin' while Evan played in the fountains and soaked himself.
Madison was a bit nervous on Soarin, but she got over it pretty quick. We were front row, which means we got lifted as high as you could. My little thrill seeker loved it.
We met up with a very wet Evan by the fountains, changed him into dry clothes (yeah, we've been through this before) and rode Figment again.
I ran over to get Test Track Fast Passes. It wasn't particularly hot yet, but I had to swing through Club Cool and grab a nice cup of Beverly.
We thought we would have time to catch Honey I Shrunk the Audience before lunch, but the next show didn't start for 30 minutes and we had an ADR at Coral Reef in 45 minutes. Still haven't seen this show. Oh well, something to save for next time.
We all wandered over to Club Cool so the kids could try some Beverly too. Man, their faces were priceless. Evan did like the Vegitabeta, and went back for a few cups of that.
Turns out that we could have done HIStA, as long as we had to wait at Coral Reef. We checked in about 20 minutes early, and waited close to 45 for a table. Not getting off to a good start. I was hoping for a table closer to the aquarium, but we were seated against the back wall. I could have requested another table, but we had waited long enough and the kids were starving and quite stir crazy by now.
I had the Mahi Mahi. The waiter brought out one little piece of fish on a pile of rice. I told him there had to be a mistake, because I ordered Mahi Mahi, and they only brought out one Mahi. Yeah, he didn't think it was funny either. (What I did have tasted very good)
Bambi had a Wild Mushroom Lasagna, which got very high marks. I don't remember what the kids had, but it came with ice cream and sprinkles. By the way, you don't have to put the sprinkles on the ice cream to enjoy them:
After lunch Bambi and I took Madison to ride Test Track while Evan went back on Nemo with Grandma & Grandpa. I probably don't need to tell you what our little adrenaline junkie thought of Test Track, do I? I do like that they will let you add the picture to your Photo Pass account. (I know it looks like Madison is about to blow chunks here, but she wasn't.)
Madison wanted to see Mulan again so Bambi took her to meet up with the rest of the family and head over to China while I rode Mission Space.
After successfully landing on Mars, I met up with everyone else just in time to see Mulan.
Usually we spend a lot of time in the World Showcase chasing characters but we didn't have to this time because we had seen them all already. (Well, not Beast, but we didn't bother to fill Madison in on that little tidbit.) Instead, we did something we haven't done before while at Disney World - we went back to the hotel to swim. It helps that the Beach Club is an easy walk from Epcot.
After swimming we headed back to Epcot for dinner at, well, just about everywhere. I'm a big fan of the International Food & Wine Festival. It seems like a cheap way to get dinner, but $4 here, $5 there, $3.75 there really adds up quick. Bambi and I each got a wrist band gift card with $20 on it. We emptied those and spent about $10 out of pocket. So we did feed a family of 4 for about $50.
We started near the International Gateway and headed towards Canada. First stop: the New Zealand kiosk and a lamb slider. Evan was big fan, since I only got one bite and he finished it off.
The cheese soup was fantastic and usual, as was the strawberry shortcake and the beef empanada. We stopped in Mexico for a corn tortilla with chipolte chicken. We had to go back for another one of those little pieces of heaven.
The taste of Spain was Ok, but the pierogies left a lot to be desired.
I did make a quick detour through the bakery in Norway to pick up some school bread. I found a recipe for this online and tried to make it at home. It didn't turn out well at all, so Bambi had to be a smart aleck and take a picture to remind me what it is supposed to look like.
The biggest problem with this food festival is that there is so much too it. You get get so filled up on the first few booths that it get hard to walk to the rest of them. I had skip a bunch to save room for the sausage on a pretzel roll in Germany, the Cannelloni in Italy and some very good Mushroom soup in Austria.
Meanwhile, the kids got a little face painting done.
We watched Illuminations from the bridge between England and France. As good and this show is, my favorite part is in the very beginning when the guy "blows" out all of the torches around the lagoon.
Grandma & Grandpa left after Illuminations while we took advantage of Extra Magic Hours. We did (suprise!) Figment again. Then Bambi and Evan rode Nemo while Madison and I did another trip on Soarin'.
It was getting pretty late, so we headed back to the Beach Club to crash for our last night there.
Up next: back to Grandma & Grandpa's house and our last day in Florida.