Park Day Seven: Epcot (TP Crowd Level Predicted and Actual 7)
Even with the late night, the girls were up and moving ahead of their normal 7am wake up. I may not have been able to get them to sleep in, but Dis Jr put them into a similarly inert state. I headed down for coffee refills and then Hubby and I discussed our plans for the day. Astute readers will have noticed that we didn’t have any rest days built into our trip. Our girls are very active and, while they would have enjoyed a day at the pool, I felt the late winter weather was too unreliable to plan one. If we had a day off and it ended up being a cool or rainy day, I did not want to spend the whole day explaining to the girls why we were at Disney but not going to a park that day. Instead, I tried to make sure that the later days in the trip left room for burnout.
This was our second Epcot day and it was going to be all about the World Showcase. We’d go in late, start with breakfast at Les Halles, and work our way around the lagoon. My touring plan was a collection of snack notes and showtimes for the various acts in each country. Our final TS meal of the trip was scheduled to be an early dinner at Akershus, but we were having second thoughts. I had kept up our TP reservation alert for Artist Point for the next evening and, over the course of the week, had managed to snag a 4:10pm reservation. Our next day at HS was only booked as a half day, so we would have plenty of time to get over to Wilderness Lodge if we wanted to. One of the reasons we didn’t have Artist Point in the plan to begin with was that the girls didn’t want to meet any “bad guys”. However, after how much fun the stepsisters were, we thought meeting Dopey, Grumpy, and the Evil Queen sounded like more fun than the repeat princesses at Akershus. The only problem was Belle: while we had met her at Enchanted Tales, we didn’t have her autograph. Her first set was scheduled to start right when WS opened at 11am, and we were already planning in being in France at that time, so we opted to meet her there and nix the Akershus dinner. Even better, while the girls were watching TV and Hubby and I were rolling up dirty clothes, I got another TP alert for a 5:20pm ADR which was perfect for us.
After lazing around for a while, we got it together and headed into the park just after 10am. After getting through the tapstiles, we realized that sunscreen would be needed, so we pulled over to apply. The IG bridge sometimes has character training around that time, but we didn’t see anyone out, so we headed into France. We all shared a vacation breakfast of champions.
Surprisingly, the girls weren’t all that into it. Hubby and I were in our glory, but they seemed to find everything to be too rich. No matter: that’s just more for the adults! Breakfast consumed, we joined the small line that formed for Belle. Unfortunately, we were all lined up in the wrong place (future note: Belle meets by the bridge, Aurora meets in the gazebo) but the families there quickly resituated ourselves in the right spot.
We were done meeting Belle at 11:07am and headed back into the main part of the pavilion to complete our tasks for the country. At each pavillion, the girls were going to press a penny, take a picture, and visit the kidcot stations.
We were moving on to Morroco at 11:35…
… and heading out just a few minutes later. Our visit with Belle had added a bit to our morning and we had plans for our first show at 11:45am.
It was a trio of ladies for our performance, which I thought was very cool. After a couple minutes, the girls saw other kids coming buy with treats and asked for one, too. I hopped right around the corner and grabbed them this delight.
They shared while the watched the rest of the show and then I did my best to get the sticky puddle and kids wiped up. I’m not sure at what age I’ll stop carrying wipes for the girls, but I don’t think it’s going to be any time soon! After the performance, we had another stop in the Japan pavilion.
We got there just after noon to find the counter without a wait. One person was picking their pearl when we got there so the girls had a chance to check it out. By the time I paid, she was done and it was our turn. The whole experience was really cute. The CMs had the girls count to three in Japanese and made a big deal over each pearl. A small crowd formed as we went which might have been uncomfortable for a shy kid but mine were eating up all of the attention. B went first and she ended up getting smaller twin silver pearls. C got a bigger pearl with a pinkish hue. Then, A got a bigger very white pearl. Everyone was thrilled with what she got and we all had a blast. Considering typical Disney prices, this was an incredible value and nets a unique souvenir. After our pearls, we pressed pennies, got our passports signed and headed onward to the America pavilion.
It was 12:30 and the kids started complaining they were hungry when they saw the Joffrey kiosk full of treats. They wanted to go straight to the giant doughnut, but mean mom insisted that they have a little real food first. I agreed to let them share a passionfruit and strawberry smoothie with their cheeseburger, and Hubby enjoyed the frozen coke and bourbon as the included drink with the QS credit. As I was putting in our mobile order, the sky got ominous. We quickly covered the strollers and headed into restaurant. We had our food at 12:40 and had to rush the girls to finish up because we had plans at 1pm.
I’m a sucker for a good acapella show and this one did not disappoint! The girls got a little squirmy during some of the slower songs they didn’t recognize, but, for the most part, they were really into it, too. The acoustics in that space, coupled with the caliber of performers, makes for an impressive concert. After Voices of Liberty, we made a quick bathroom run before heading right back in for the 1:30 American Adventure showing. While the seats were comfortable and the animatronics were well done, I can see why this show is skippable for many people. After so many back to back park days, our plan for the day was to relax and enjoy what World Showcase had to offer. However, for anyone who isn’t spending quite so much time in Epcot, I think there are other experiences that are going to be more rewarding for that kind of time commitment.
After the show, we were a little tight on time. The plan had been to do out photo-penny-kidcot circuit before Voices of Liberty, but that’s when the girls had gotten hungry. We didn’t want to be late to our next stop, so we opted to go ahead for now with the expectation that we’d be doubling back soon to finish up in America.
Despite nearly two hours having passed, the girls had not forgotten about the giant doughnut they were promised. So, after getting them situated in Italy, I doubled back for a cold brew for myself and a treat for the kids.
Having consumed a doughnut approximately the size of their heads, the girls stopped at kidcot, pressed a penny, and grabbed a picture.
From there, we doubled back to America for another round of pennies, passports, and pictures.
They can’t all be winners, right? The girls wanted a video of them singing Grand Ole’ Flag too, which they performed complete with the hand motions they learned at preschool. To their delight, they got a smattering of applause at the end, primarily from two young ladies who had been minding their own business trying to rest at the fountain before the girls’ impromptu performance. Tasks complete, we forged ahead to our next performance of the day.