So, where did we leave off? We had just checked into POP and were ready to hit the road and head to Epcot. So, our first experience with Disney Transportation, and luckily it was not indicative of the rest of the trip, was not that great.

The bus was packed and NO ONE was offering a seat, so I stood holding Ariel for the entire bus ride, and at 48 pounds, she can certainly make your arms ache, especially when you have to hold her with one arm and hang on for dear life to the hand rail in the bus with the other! What really got me was one lady who wasnt even holding her child in her lap, but gave them their own seat, and they couldnt have been more than 3 years old!

But, enough complaining. Onto the park.
We arrived at Epcot about an hour and half after we had planned to, so our carefully laid plans had most certainly gone a rye! The line to get our bags checked were very long, but moving quickly and we figured our idea of hitting Soarin first thing was pretty much shot, so we decided to take it leisurely and that wed get to as much as we could, which, unfortunately, turned out to be not too much.
We went to the Cold Station first because walked past it and happened to be thirsty and Mystik tricked Darth into taking a huge swig of the Beverley, and boy was he mad!

We had fun trying all of the different drinks but soon headed out.
Next on the itinerary was Nemo and Turtle Talk, and as Mystik took the kids that way, I hoofed it over to fast pass Soarin and was immediately bowled over by how great the smells coming out of Garden Grill were and I started regretting the ADR change that took it off our itinerary, but, hey, theres always next time!
I made it back over to Nemo to find out that they hadnt gone on it because the Stand By line would be over an hour and we wanted to DO something, darn it! Turtle Talk was just about ready to start, so we milled around looking at all the different sea animals until we were let into the theatre. I have to say, Turtle Talk was GREAT. Very entertaining and funny and I would highly recommend it to anyone. The highlight for us, however, was when Crush came out with the bikini top around his neck and asked what it was and a little girl in the front of the room yelled out, ITS A BRA FOR YOUR COCNUTS!!!

and the room erupted with laughter. Ariel started getting a little wiggly towards the end, so we positioned ourselves to be the first ones out and headed over to Innovations ( I think!) and Darth and I played with giant robot arms that play the different instruments
and then headed over to ride Figment, which I rode when I was young and loved! In fact, I still have the beach towel! Ariel got a little freaked out with the loud noises and air blowing in your face and said she was tired and laid her head on Mystiks lap. After that, we realized we were all super worn out and decided to save our Soarin fast passes for later and headed back to POP for a break.
The bus ride back was much more enjoyable and Ariel and I went to the room while Mystik and Darth went to the food court to find us some lunch. They came back with nachos, drinks, and cake, all of which were great.
After lunch, Darth went to the pool, and Mystik, Ariel and I laid down. After Ariel fell asleep and Darth came back from the pool, he and Mystik headed back over to Epcot to use the Soarin fast passes, planning on meeting Ariel and I between 5:00 and 5:15 at the bus stop to take the Monorail to the contemporary for dinner at Concourse Steakhouse at 5:30. This is the reason we didnt split up again.
I woke Ariel up at 4:15 and boy, was she not in the mood! Finally had to tell her Mystik had a prize for her (Were potty training, and she had done a great job that morning!) to get her moving.

We made it to the bus stop about 4:45 and were at Epcot right at 5:15. Mystik and Darth were NOWHERE to be seen. We walked around the entrance to Epcot, up to the monorail station, back to the bus stop, etc, etc until almost 6:00. Yes, a half hour AFTER our reservation. We made it to the Contemporary at about 6:15 to find Mystik and Darth waiting for us. Apparently, when we werent there as early as they thought we would be, they went on to the restaurant. Ah well, at least we found each other.
I had the onion ring appetizer, which was great, Darth had the chicken wing appetizer, which was great, and Mystik had the scallops appetizer which were really good, or so she says, Im allergic to shellfish, so I wouldnt know! Mystik got the prime rib, I had the ribeye, and Darth had the NY Strip (I think?). All of it was good, though, honestly, I didnt see anything exceptional about the entrees. The desserts were something else, however. Mystik and Darth had the chocolate cake, which they still talks about and I had the cheesecake, which was wonderful.
The plan after dinner was to go back and catch the World Showcase and try to work in some other things we missed, but we were all so pooped that we decided to just head back to the hotel and go swimming. We went to check out the Hippie Dippie pool

and swam for awhile until we couldnt keep our eyes open and headed back to the room.
Now, I know what youre thinking, what a wasted day at the parks, and, honestly, thats how I was feeling, and I was pretty down thinking that none of our plans were going to work out and I told Mystik that tomorrow, our Magic Kingdom day, we were doing it commando style.
Stay tuned to see how it worked out. Oh, and we DID go back to Epcot and did some more to make up for missing so much.
