Day Three begins with another call from Mickey and Stitch. This time, Buzz doesnt hang up the phone right away.
Today is our day at EPCOT, and we get ready for a big day at the park.
On our way to breakfast, we get a few pictures along the way. I had wanted to get this shot of Acadian house since we arrived, but due to all the rain, a big yellow wet floor sign had been placed on the steps the entire trip making for a less-than-picturesque photo. Today, I figured it out- I just had to get down and angle the photo just right so the sign is obstructed by the fountain.
First stop of the day- Riverside Mill for some breakfast. I was hoping to have a croissant to help put me in the mood for our lunch at Chefs de France, but I couldnt seem to find one. I finally decided on a pastry that I later found out was a chocolate croissant. Not knowing the name for it, I pointed to it in the case when telling the CM my order. I thought that she answered me You mean a Hawaiian bagel? It seemed a peculiar name for the pastry but usually liking any food with Hawaiian in front of it (Hawaiian pineapple, Hawaiian pizza, etc.), but I went with it and agreed. She reaches into the case and hands me not my chocolate-covered pastry but a plain
rye bagel,
It was a big let down from what I thought I was ordering, but not wanting to be that guy who complains about his order, I smiled, thanked the CM and took the bagel. It wasnt very good either. Oh well. Maybe next time Ill get that chocolate croissant.
After breakfast, we made our way to the bus stop. We actually made it to the bus stop a little earlier than we did the day before, so I was hopeful that we would make it to EPCOT in time to see the opening ceremonies (which we also had never seen). It wasnt long before the EPCOT bus came and we were on our way until a couple of minutes go by and I realize that there doesnt seem to be as much weight on my shoulders as usual.
My backpack!!! Wheres my backpack!?! 
Panic quickly sets in. Somewhere between the food court and bus I had forgotten by backpack that I use to carry my camera, batteries, autograph book, poncho, etc. in! I end up splitting off from the rest of the family, getting off at routes next stop at the West Depot and hurry to the food court or other bus stop to see if I could find it. The West Depot is the bus stop for the Alligator Bayou area of the resort, which I had never before set foot in. I must have circled the whole bayou (which actually looks pretty cool and made me wish I had my camera with me) at least once before I finally found my way back to the food court where I, with much relief, found my backpack still hanging on the back of my chair. I call the rest of the family and I tell them that Ill meet them at the bus stop where we first got on. Coming out of the food court, I took a path that I thought would be a short cut to the bus stop, but ended up sending me right back to the bayou where I again got lost.
Finally, tired from running around the bayou and still stressed from the little ordeal, I find the rest of the family at the bus stop and we again try, this time with success, to head to EPCOT.
Even with the delay, we still ended up getting to EPCOT before rope drop. It wasnt long before we had made it into the park.
Of course, after we enter EPCOT, taking pictures of Spaceship Earth always seems to be the first thing we do. This one has to be one of my favorite accident shots of the trip. I had lined up the shot without thinking the monorail would be going by and the moment I took the picture, I zoomed in to the shot. Im glad it did too- it makes for a much better picture than the one I was expecting.
More Spaceship Earth- this time a little more abstract.
On the way to the rope drop, Mom noticed Stitch nearby and pointed him out to me. I told her than I had already seen Sticth at the Animal Kingdom, but it turns out that now
she wanted to meet him. Awesome! Stitch even let we get in a shot of just him while we were there. I guess hed gotten over that whole being jealous of me thing from the day before.
We made it through to Innoventions Plaza right before the Opening Ceremony were going to start. It didnt turn out to be very exciting. I had heard that the characters come out and that the Family of the Day drives up in a Test Track car to start the countdown. From where we were, all we could see was Goofys hat and a little bit of the top of Plutos head and a little announcement and countdown. A little bit of a disappointment, it didnt seem anywhere near as fun as the ones at Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios. We followed the large crowd to the right to our first ride of the day, Soarin.
A sign inside The Land on the way to Soarin. Im not particularly fond of the Circle of Life attraction, but the signs leading up to it with Pumbaa and Timon are pretty cute.
We opt to do the stand-by line at Soarin so we wouldnt have to leave and then come back to The Land (with Living With the Land closed there wouldnt be much else to do here besides that movie I already mentioned not being crazy about) and also because the Fastpass distribution was more of a madhouse than the actual line.
The ride was fun- nice and relaxing, which is probably just what I need after all the backback and bayou drama this morning. We even got to sit in the front row which was really nice. After we landed, I split off from the rest of the group to pick up a time for the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure at the recruitment center in Innovations.
After reading up on the whole Kim Possible experience, I was worried that the whole process of getting a time and location was going to be extremely complicated, but it turned out to be really easy. All I had to do was swipe my ticket, answer a few questions about my party and out pops a ticket with my time and location- Italy at 11am.
I knew full well that we were never going to make it to Italy at 11am. I found a CM in the area and explained that being in Italy at 11am would take us way out of our way since we already had a lunch reservation in France. She was really helpful and was able to change our location from Italy to the much-closer International Gateway. She also let me know that if we got there after 11am, it wouldnt be a problem (or as Kim Possible herself might say, So not the drama!)
The next thing on our agenda for this morning was to check out the Character Spot. While I was waiting to meet up with the rest of the family, I thought Id go ahead and scout out what characters were out today. I especially wanted to check out the hallway along the exit and the area right outside of it near Club Cool since I heard that some random characters show up there from time to time. Just as I was getting there, I saw Stitch (again? That guy is everywhere!), Rafiki and Marie from
The Aristocats!
I was thrilled to get to meet Marie. I had only seen Marie out once before a few years ago in France. She was just about to leave for the day so she wasnt doing individual meet-and-greets or autographs and only posed for a few photos by herself before going backstage.
How adorable is she?
Another new autograph! This makes three for the trip.
After meeting Marie, I got a call from the rest of the family saying that they were outside Innoventions, so I went over to meet them.
Next chapter: Character Spot and The Seas with Nemo and Friends
Looking forward to that free admission! 
He started with classic pose - “Is everybody neat and pretty?”
Seemed to be in a good mood today. 
Instead of just doing a pose like all the other characters did, Goofy made everyone spread out and did this whole male model runway routine a la Zoolander. He was moving around so much that I had a hard time getting a photo of him that wasn't just a big blur, so this is as good as I could get. 
"Cheer up man, you're at WDW!"
