Day Two: Epcot All Day

It was an early morning for us, as, unknown to Ellie we had breakfast reservations with the Disney Princesses in Epcot's Norway. Interesting note about Epcot, it was originally EPCOT Center (with the acronym standing for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) but so few people referred to it as such, Disney officially changed it's name to just Epcot, no capitalization, no Center following it. Well, no one calls it Epcot Center anymore except for me-I managed to do it all week long!

First thing after waking up, I surprised Ellie with a new Cinderella dress. She has another one from Halloween when she was 3, which still fits!!!, but I felt she was due a new one. We got her all dolled up and off we went.

We had a short wait before we could enter the restaurant so I ran and got some fast passes for Soarin' and Craig took some pictures of the kids in Norway. As we entered the restaurant, we were in a short line. Ellie still didn't realize who were were about to see until we rounded the corner for our turn for pictures with Belle! Ellie turned to me and exclaimed, "It really is Belle, isn't it mom!" It was sooo sweet! After pictures and autographs with Belle in her enormous ball gown, we were seated at our table.



Our waiter brought us drinks and explained there was a buffet of fruit, pastries, and other Norwegian breakfast specialties that we could help ourselves to as we waited for the hot foods AND the other princesses to arrive! The kids and I tried some of the goat cheese (yeck!) and Craig enjoyed eating salami for breakfast (weird!) but we all loved the ligonberry jam and cream cheese on the pastries.
Then the princess began to arrive on our side of the restaurant. It was so exciting to watch Ellie as she realized another princess was there. She could hardly eat as she waited patiently for each one to arrive at our table. We were a little worried about Hayden's reaction to the Disney characters but he quickly figured out the routine of stuffing his face with food, hugging a princess, getting out of his seat, and backing up to the princess to have his picture taken, and saying, "CHEESE!" We managed to meet, in addition to Belle: Princess Aurora, Snow White, Ariel, and Mulan (who planted a big red kiss on Ellie's cheek). At the end of the meal, our waiter presented Ellie with a special birthday card that was signed by all the princesses, plus Mary Poppins and Alice. He said that they all stopped by the restaurant just to sign the card just for her. To Craig, he announced he had a birthday surprise just for him and proceeded to hand him the bill, HA!



The World Showcase had not opened for the day so we headed back over to Future World. On our way to The Land, we managed to catch the the Mobile Muppet Lab as Beaker and Prof. Honeydew were finishing their show. The MML is an amazing self contained interactive electronic puppet show of sorts. Hard to explain, but Prof. Honeydew talked to the audience, asking and responding to their questions. I've since read that it went to Tokyo Disney shortly after we saw it.

It was then time to use our fast passes for Soarin' so Craig and Ellie went off to ride as Hayden and I got a baby swap pass, and hung out in the lobby (?) of The Land. The Land was closed for refurbishment during our last trip to WDW so it was interesting to see all the changes that were made. I still miss the Kitchen Cabaret Show! While waiting, we started Hayden's KidCot Fun Stop lanyard. There were 5 stops though out Future World and if the kids visit all locations, they would receive a prize. Craig and Ellie returned from the ride and Ellie announced, "it was the funnest things ever!" So she rode it a second time with me, all the while telling me what was about to happen before it happened! We figured we had done enough Soarin' and took Ellie to start her Kidcot Lanyard.

Then we finished up the the other attractions at The Land: Living with the Land ("boat voyage through amazing greenhouses and a fish farm") and The Circle of Life ("sort film featuring characters from 'The Lion King'"). Living with the Land was still really cool, as we got to see the hydroponic veggies but the Circle of Life could have been missed.

We went and used our previously retrieved fast passes for Test Track and Mission: Space. After prepping Ellie for a way faster roller coaster than Goofy's Barnstormer, she felt that she could handle Test Track so we rode it for the first time together. Her verdict: "it was AWESOME!!!" Craig and Hayden waited at the exit of the ride where there was a Kidcot stop and an exhibit of all the new GM cars. Hayden had a great time buckling himself in and pretending to drive all the different cars. Craig and Ellie went off to ride Test Track again and Hayden and I hung out with the cars and had fun. I decided that my next car should be the Buick Enclave, whoa what a nice car!

Knowing that Mission: Space was a more intense ride, we didn't even try to see if Ellie was the 44" high requirement for the ride. After riding it for the first time myself, I don't think she'll get to ride for a while. It made both Craig and I a little woozy. Craig and the kids waited at the exit of the ride where there was a great little air-conditioned play area for them.

Next on our agenda was The Seas with Nemo & Friends. Again, this used to be called The Living Seas so that was what I called it during our entire trip-apparently, I like all the original names better! While waiting in line for the Nemo ride, Hayden fell asleep and continued to nap during the ride, while Ellie & Craig explored the aquarium, and the Kidcot stop. He woke up just in time to wait to enter Turtle Talk with Crush. In Turtle Talk, Crush is a computer animated turtle that interacts with the live audience (much like the MML). All the kids in the audience got to sit on the floor in the front of the room and some were picked to ask/answer question to/from Crush. Ellie was in the front row and raised her hand to ask him a question but when the microphone was place in front of her she announced that she had forgotten her question. Crush's response, "uh, Dude, that's OK. You're having a Dory moment!" He then went on to ask her what her favorite food was and she answered, "macaroni and cheese." He asked if she ever made bubbles after she ate and animated bubbles appeared from out of his butt!!! Ellie was so excited that she had been picked and it was a lot of fun to watch the show.


Our next stop was a quick tour of Innoventions East. The kids made another tag for their lanyards and Hayden played on a fire truck while Ellie expertly colored her tag.


We then headed over to the character spot and got autographs and pictures of the classic Disney characters: Mickey, Minnie, Chip & Dale, Pluto, and Goofy. This is where Hayden began his friendship with "Puppy", also known as Pluto. After greeting the kids, Pluto put Ellie's autograph book across his nose to sign and then he put Hayden across his nose! He cuddled Hayden and patted his little head and Hayden couldn't get enough! It was sooooo sweet and everyone around oohed over him!


It started to rain a bit so we ducked into the Journey Into Imagination ride and afterwards let the kids play around with some of the exhibits. We then made a quick stop at Innoventions West to finish the Kidcot Lanyards and Ellie also got to try her hand at making paper. She scooped the pulp up with a filter, pressed and rolled the excess water out, peeled it up and it was put in an over to dry. When it was dry, she got to stamp it with a Jiminy Cricket stamp. Pretty cool stuff. Now the kids had completed their Kidcot lanyards so we went to Guest Relations where they received congratulations and each got a pin stating that they were official citizens of WDW. Hayden was just excited that he got a pin so he matched Daddy and Ellie!


We went for a ride on the monorail with intentions of going to find some dinner. On the ride I realized that we should have gone to the World Showcase to eat, so we happily continued our round trip ride back to Epcot. We walked over to Morocco and had a fabulous dinner at the Tangerine Cafe. We strolled though the country for a while, trying on hats and belly dancing gear. We decided our day was about done so we hopped on the bus, and headed for the hotel.


At some point on the ride to the hotel, Ellie asked her dad if she could get ice cream and apparently he said yes! So we stopped by the food court and got the biggest strawberry sundae ever! The kids had a blast digging into that thing when we got to the room. After our little sugar rush, we got the kids to bed and everyone was soon fast asleep!