Day 3 called for an early morning at Epcot as we had a PPO for Akershus.
This...almost did not end well. Haha.
We had a breakfast reservation at 8:30 this morning. I think I mentioned earlier that my family is somewhat slow to get going in the mornings. Even though I had woken everyone up in time, the previous days were catching up and my crew was moving like molasses. I finally got us rounded up and out of the room to hurry over to the bus, only to watch the tail end of the bus pulling away before we made it load. Crap. So we waited for the next bus, and Mom is losing her mind just a bit. I knew we weren't going to make it to our reservation on time and I was really afraid that we'd lose our slot. So, we pulled up to Epcot and I told DH to give me his bag and for him to take the kids on in to Akershus and I'd meet them there after I made it in. But see...there's this small problem....I forgot that DH had NO idea about how early morning reservations worked and that there was a completely separate line for entrance for PPO folks. Oops. I made it thru security and was about to start jogging towards the reservation when who do I spot? My fam. Mommy fail. He said he did see the reservation entrance line and that's where they went in at, but that they JUST gotten thru there as well. Okay, it's okay...we're only a few minutes late..Go GO GO!
I had wanted to stop and get some nice empty park pictures and take a casual stroll back to Norway...yeah...that didn't happen. (I was able to snag two quick empty park photos, then it was back to speed walking!)
About this time, DH is getting frustrated with me because we're in such a hurry and I'm about in tears thinking that we're going to miss it. But, at least we were in the park early, right? We finally get to our destination and bless the CMs, they were all "Calm down, you made it. It's okay!"
Whew!
We were greeted and taken inside to our table, which happen to be facing the entrance to Frozen (The only ride I had NOT been able to get a FP for, so yeah, you see why this breakfast was so important now, right?) We made our way thru the buffet line, and our server brought our warm platter to the table. We ate and then the princesses started making their rounds!
Aurora was very kind and spent quite a few minutes with the monsters. She was talking to DD about swimming and how she (Aurora) had asked Ariel to teach her how to swim because Ariel was the best at it. She asked DD to remind Ariel when she came by that she was to teach Aurora how to swim, and that perhaps Ariel could help DD get better as well!
We scarfed down our breakfast and Mom had one goal in mind. Frozen! I had been watching as the people just kept passing by the window while we ate, and I just knew the line was going to be horrible when we got out. But, I knew that DD would absolutely love the ride and we were going on it. Period. Thankfully, I didn't realize how fast the line moved for this particular ride and was quite surprised that it was only about a 15 minute wait when we made our way over to it. I could finally calm down, it all worked out. Man...I was mentally exhausted already for the day. Haha.
So..... Am I the only one here that didn't realize that they actually took a ride photo on this ride?
I had nooooo idea. Oops.
Now. Here is where I am going to go way off into left field and offer a bit of randomness to this report. But I just have to know. Where you all aware that Norway has some outstanding bathrooms? I mean...I don't normally make it a habit to take photos of these, but I walked in with DD after our ride and just had to stop for a minute. I mean...wow.
Just how pretty are these?
After our pit stop, we headed off to our first FP of the day, Test Track! Some how or another I made it through this entire line and ride without taking a single picture. Not sure how that one happened, but, it did. The Boys designed their car together, and DD and self designed ours. I can proudly say we came out on top of nearly every test except for I think one. Girl power!
After test track we were off to our second FP of the day, Mission Space. I had told DH that there were two sides, and that due to DS and I having motion sickness issues, I highly HIGHLY suggested the green side....
Do you have a bad feeling about this one yet? Yeah...me too.
DH said that if we were doing it, we were doing it on orange...I walked thru the line going..."Are you sure? You know I hate you...I absolutely hate you right now" Of course I was kidding and he knew it, but I was incredibly nervous. We got to our loading bay and DS was about in tears. We all agreed to do it for DH though and we loaded up....me and the two monsters immediately grabbing barf bags for the ride, just in case!
So how did it go? Not as bad as Tower of Terror had. Haha. It was a little intense, but it wasn't nearly as bad as any of us expected. We did what they said and looked forward and didn't close our eyes, and in the end, it ended up being a really neat ride. I'm glad we did the orange side, at least once. Once we were off and had gained our bearings again, we were off to Spaceship Earth! Man, I can say I'm really glad we had a FP for that one. The ride had been down earlier in the morning apparently and had just come back up. The standby was incredibly long!
By the time we got finished, it was nearing our lunch reservations at Coral Reef. We had just a bit of time to spend so we decided just to walk around the aquarium. DD saw the Nemo ride and wanted to get on, but the line was SO long for this one as well which surprised me because of what I had read on here about not really ever needing a FP. I knew we'd be coming back to the park that evening and the next day so I told her I'd just keep an eye out for a pass later.
I guess I should start this section off by telling you all that I was a little wary about our lunch stop. I have read the reviews on Coral Reef here and it seems like either a love or hate relationship here.
We had reservations for 1:10 and were seated immediately. Our server was Leigh Anne, and she was FABULOUS! We ended up ordering the calamari and octopus appetizers, DS got a steak, DD got mac and cheese, and DH and I both got the shrimp and grits on Leigh Anne's suggestion as her favorite. The monsters devoured most of the calamari before we could get any, and I was very proud of them both when they at least tried the octopus. (They preferred the calamari obviously.)
The food here was one of the better meals we had on our vacation. While I'm not going to venture to say it was the best seafood I've ever had, it wasn't bad either. We had no issue with our service here as some have reported. Everything from drinks and bread, down to dessert was brought in a timely manner by our lovely server. Being an ex-server myself, I can be a little judgmental on my service...I know, I know...I do cut them slack, but you know some people just don't need to be in the business. Haha. Thankfully, Leigh Anne is a perfect addition to this restaurant. I was so impressed by her that I stopped by the front desk to speak with the manager and fill out a ... card. I have no idea what they're called, but a good service card...thing. Someone help me out here!
It was time to head out of the park, but DH wanted to take a quick detour to the monorail. (My big kid) So off to the monorail we went. We traveled down to the Magic Kingdom and back...only for most of my crew to catch a quick cat nap on the way (DH not shown, because he'd kill me).
We finally made our way back to Pop for a nap..or pool time...I'm not even sure anymore. I really should of taken notes. LOL. Regardless, we took time to relax before heading back into the park for the evening. Mom wanted to see the night time show and try to get a bit around the World Showcase. (Spoiler: That never happened. Boo)
-Continued in next post-
) Down, back up, down again, back up, one more time....ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? I'm done, I'm so done, I will never ever get on the ToT again. One last FP ya'll have to fight me for. Haha.
This was totally me. Not for the motion sickness, although I get that from rides like ST, but because it was legitimately Terrifying! I hate that dead drop feeling!
