It really dawned on us today that our vacation is nearly over. Were hitting that nostalgic point, where we really try to savor all these last magical moments with one another.
Today was our final day at Epcot and things went well. Were slowing down quite a bit today, both to savor the moments and because were pretty tuckered out from all our vacationing. We did, however, get up on time and caught a quick bus to Epcot. I dont know why, but it seems like this park is always full! Hoards and hoards of people everywhere at Epcot today, but if you know how to use Fastpass and have a plan then things can be okay. We had both and our day went pretty darned well.
Our first stop was Soarin, where Brian grabbed a quick Fastpass. We had lots of snack credits left so decided to do breakfast at Sunshine Seasons. The younger two and I got there and ordered food, only to have Brian trying to wave us down since the stand-by for Soarin was only 15minutes. Oh well, weve already got 3 cinnamon rolls, 2 chocolate croissants and 2 orange juices to share. So we go with that and then toddle our bottoms over to Test Track.
The line isnt that long so we jump in and wait about 10 minutes in the line. Then its on to the preshow and into another line where we got to wait 5 minutes more. Oh well, 15 minutes for Test Track isnt too bad. But this just isnt one of those have-to-do rides for us anymore. Tristan used to laugh and laugh when the car would go fast but not anymore. Now we need rollercoasters instead! LOL
The kids requested another ride on Mission: Space, only this time back on the green side. They had learned their lesson from the previous day and happily rode green without issue.
The one thing that was nice about the kids being older is that we can allow them to venture off a bit more. Brian handed the kids his cell phone, told them to stay together and that Chase was in charge then we let them go on their merry way towards Mission: Space. It really has been great to give them a little more latitude. Thats exactly what happened here and it worked out perfectly. They stay together, watch out for each other, go on the ride and then call us to meet up. The wait wasnt too long so they called us about 15 minutes after we separated and we had them meet us in the Mousegears store.
We bought a couple of neat little souvenirs there, including a watch and shirt for me and a hat for Carissa. The kids didnt want to shop but wanted to head to Innoventions so we let them go on their way with the same directions and met them there after we had paid for all of our purchases at Mousegears.
Innoventions West is where the game The Great Piggy Bank Adventure is. This is something I found out about 2 months ago and weve played it online several times since then. Its a great little game to help teach the importance of saving, spending, investing, preparing, etc. So it was nice to have them come here and be able to take part in the real game instead of the virtual version we do at home. They also played some video games at the little kiosks in Innoventions.
I think my kids could have stayed here for a much longer time but Brian and I arent so easily distracted so after a while we headed off for another adventure. On the way out we registered for a Kim Possible mission, which we would enjoy a little later on.
With Innoventions West quickly completed we headed back outside and to The Seas with Nemo and Friends. The Nemo ride itself was pretty horrendous but the aquarium on the other side of the ride is pretty awesome. We looked at the manatees and found hidden Mickeys outside their tank. Yes, Chase hauled round the Hidden Mickey book again today and regaled us with its tales of hidden Mickeys around the world. Heres the proof...
We also hit Turtle Talk with Crush, one of my fave shows. This doesnt rank up there with Festival of the Lion King, Finding Nemo or Beauty & the Beast but is great nonetheless. Carissa was called on by Crush and she asked whether turtles were born in shells. There was also a quite funny part where Crush came out wearing a bathing suit top he had found in the ocean. He said he didnt know what it was and some kids started yelling out Its a bra and It holds ****s. It was hilarious! Finally Crush realized that it was for Dudettes and took it off. Thank goodness!
After the seas we continued on the west side of Futureworld to use our first fastpasses for Soarin. We LOVE this ride and wish Disney would bottle up that orange grove scent and sell it. YUM! We just missed getting on the ride so we ended up in the front row of the next ride. Since we were going to ask (and wait) for a front seat anyways this worked out well for us. We love the front row because there are no dangling feet in your face. It makes all the difference in the world. Trust me!
After riding we picked up another set of fastpasses for Soarin in hopes that we could use them later in the day.
The last pavilion on the west side of Futureworld is the Journey Into Imagination pavilion. Much to Brians chagrin the kids just had to ride Figment again. They loved it again (all except that skunk smell
. Eeeeeewwwww!). My kids have been singing all day
Imagination, Imagination, a dream can be a dream come true, with just that spark, from me and you. Theyd just break out spontaneously singing it when we were walking along somewhere. I must admit that I sang along.
By now wed missed our window for our Kim Possible mission so we went back and registered for another. Carissa really wanted a chance to do at least one more mission before we left. Our return time was less than an hour away so we decided to take a break for lunch.
We stopped in Mexico for lunch at the Cantina de San Angel. Brian and the kids got a great table right along the water while Tristan and I waited in line to order. We all got nachos and ended up having churros for dessert, as they were out of the other dessert they offered. Unfortunately the nachos werent very good and the churros were pretty awful. One thing weve learned is that Disney churros are only good in California. We LOVE
Disneyland churros and eat them daily when there, but the ones in Florida are horrible! Brian and I threw ours away
which means they were very, very bad. Yet another reason to go to Disneyland some decent churros!
Anyways, by now our window had nearly opened up for a Kim Possible mission so we headed to the headquarters. The kids were assigned Norway this time and wandered around doing their thing while Brian and I took in the sun and the water. Brian snapped this photo of me as I was lounging around enjoying the beautiful weather.
On a side note, we got a text from a colleague of Brians today saying it was a balmy 8 degrees today in Scappoose. It was at least 80 in Florida and it felt fabulous!
The kids were taking a long time for their mission so Brian and I walked to China to look around. The kids met us there after a bit, having finished their mission and, once again, saved the world. We turned in our Kimmunicator and gave up on missions for this trip, much to Carissas dismay. She was very fond of those missions.
We took the kids to look around China next. We stopped for the pictures in front of the beautiful theater there. They took a nice one then decided to ham it up for the picture. LOL
We found so many fabulous dragons in the Chinese pavilion that would have made a great addition to Tristans collection so he met us over there to look, but in the end decided to check out Italy before purchasing as he really wanted an ocarina? I guess its an instrument hes played in music class at school and that it says Made in Italy on it so hes hoping to find one in the Italian pavilion.
We hadnt had much chance to look in the different lands so we made our way around the World Showcase. We stopped in Germany, where the holiday storyteller was telling the tale of the nutcracker. The kids sat down with the crowd and we caught just a bit of her presentation. We were just in time to see a giant nutcracker arrive!
That was the end of her story for now, so we headed to the Christmas shop to finally get a pickle ornament.
We had talked about the pickle ornament tradition a bit and wanted to start the tradition in our own home. I purchased the ornament and had it sent back to our resort. The cast member in the Christmas store said she would add a copy of the pickle tradition story to our bag so I was disappointed when I picked it up the next day and found no story inside.
We decided to do the tradition our own way and celebrated with it the first time this Christmas. The kids left the pickle on the plate with Santas cookies and the reindeers carrots. When Santa arrived he delivered the gifts and took an extra moment to hide the pickle on the tree. On Christmas morning, after opening their stockings and exploring their Santa gifts, the kids started hunting for the pickle. Its pretty hard to find a green pickle ornament on a green tree and Santa hid it very well, but eventually Tristan found it and was rewarded with the right to open the first gift on Christmas morning. It was just a fun little addition to our Christmas.
OK, on with our day. We did more shopping in the World Showcase, stopping by a photopass photographer along the way (who actually took a picture I like!).
We finally made our way to Italy, where we werent able to find the coveted ocarina. And as a sidenote, we never did make it back to China and Tristan never did get a new dragon for his collection. Bummer. But we were able to get a picture in front of this fountain.
We have a picture here from each of our trips - 2001, 2008 and 2009 - and one day I want to get them all together and frame them for our walls. It was pretty hot and no one was around, so we didn't get a picture with all 5 of us with the fountain, which I would have really liked. Oh well, at least we have the kids there.
While walking the world showcase I kept telling myself that I was finally going to get one of the scrumptious smelling crepes in the booth at the France pavilion, however I wasnt really hungry at that point. We ended up grabbing a boat and taking it across the lake and back to Futureworld.