Epcot on Wheels (aka Disney Round 2)

As you know from my last post I was pretty satisfied with my first trip to Animal Kingdom. It was a fun day and I did it without having to drag my grumpy husband. I was super tired the next couple days, but the pain was tolerable (nowhere near what I expected for such a long day). When my Disney partner in crime asked if I was interested in hitting Epcot's Flower & Garden Festival a mere seven days after our Animal Kingdom trip I was super excited. A lot of stressful stuff went on in February this year that I'd rather not talk about, but the night before our Epcot trip more than one person remarked that my stress level was "scaring them". I almost backed out of the trip I was so overwhelmed, but the consensus was that getting away for the day was the best thing I could do.

Not to worry the wheelchair gloves made it into the bag this time. I also hit up a Disney store sale with a gift card I'd been saving from Christmas and scored Roo an awesome Mulan dress. I figured since we were going to Epcot I'd break it out. I didn't tell her anything ahead of time this trip. I put her to bed like any other night. When I woke her up she complained "Mom it's still dark out!" and I said "That's because I thought we'd go to Disney today." I gave her a Minnie shirt and a jean skirt to wear and then told her to come get breakfast. I'd hung the Mulan dress in the kitchen. She was thrilled!

As we were driving there she slept. All the sudden about 10min before the Welcome sign Roo woke up and started fretting. She must have had a nightmare because she kept insisting "Mom! Mom! I forgot to wear clothes! There's nothing under my Mulan dress!" She was beside herself and laughing at her only made it worse. Poor pumpkin. Eventually, she woke up enough for me to reassure her and we were there.

Our Epcot day started off great! It was a no plans kind of trip. We were there when the park opened, no ticket issues this time and we had an amazing encounter with the some of our favorite celebrities at exactly 9am.

One of the reasons I love Epcot is because it absorbs crowds better than other parks. Which means I had no prolonged experiences where I was eye level with a sea of butts. No horrible back breaking inclines except the ramp into the building where The Land is. That thing is horrible! It was warm that day. I was over heated and tired by the time I tackled it. I will tell you halfway up that 409,879,239.2 mile beast someone stopped to give me push. Armed with my gloves getting around was much easier than my trip the week before though.

Now for some highlights:

Running into her best friend at Disney!

Riding the Nemo ride again, being eaten by a shark, talking to a turtle, visiting everyone's favorite small purple dragon, running into an old friend from our trip last summer, Disney magic and some treasure.

Visiting Mulan! She said "If I would have known you were going to wear my dress I would have worn one of yours." It was an adorable, amazing visit. Not just because Roo visited one of favorites in costume, but also because when we got to the line we were turned away and a teenage girl and her mother gave us their spot! Disney magic. Mulan even kissed her!

Roo also had a wonderful visit with Mommy's favorite.

One last highlight is actually a Disney milestone...Roo's first Mickey Bar! It's a huge deal because I am an all or nothing (usually nothing) person when it comes to theme park food. I always packs snacks and usually lunch too. My kids have only ever eaten one table service dinner inside a Disney park. Getting an ice cream bar was a big deal. How cute is this?

Day Two: Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow

I bet some of you had no idea that's what Epcot stood for! Disney Nerd, right here. My Nerdelmiers and I LOVED Epcot! Let me count the ways we loved Epcot:

1. Less Crowded
2. Nemo Ride and Turtle Talk with Crush!
3. The Disney employee who made Riley's Minnie Ear squeak with "Disney Magic"
4. Isaac got his wish to go to China & Riley met Mulan!
5. Captian EO!
6. Journey into Imagination
7. Spaceship Earth
8. Inter-active computer program on spaceship Earth
9. Innovations
10. Isaac was trained for space travel
11. Riley saw Minnie!
12. The Land (awesome green house)
13. Viking ride
14. BEST DINNER EVER
15. Character visits at dinner (Tear-jerker of a video from that)
16. Fireworks
17. Nicest People (staff & guests)

Despite a small set back upon arrival our Epcot day was magical. When we first arrived Roo and I high tailed it to the Ladies room where I flipped my chair with her on my lap while reaching back to close the stall door. It was embarrassing and painful. I was wearing a dress with no pockets so the first thing I did was stand Riley up and hand her my phone. It was in my hand because the "My Disney Experience" App was my park map. After everyone was done in the bathroom I was still stunned and made it all way to the front of the line for the Nemo ride before I realized I didn't have my phone.

After the ride Mike took the kids to talk with Crush and I went racing back to the bathroom to retrieve my phone. It was there, thank goodness. Other than the fact that I had the video camera and Isaac's conversation with Crush didn't get recorded everything was fine. I told them I was glad we had our bump in the road early and now we were done. We had a great morning and then headed to the hotel for lunch and nap/swimming. We were back for our 4:35 dinner reservation.

Booking us a dinner in the park early on our Epcot night was totally the right call. We ate at the Garden Grill which gets all of its produce and fish from their amazing greenhouse on the property. We rode through the greenhouse after we ate, it was something else! It was family style dining so they brought us a large fresh salad to share. The main course was beef, fish and pork (unlimited). There was a berry skillet cake with fresh whip cream for desert. Riley had chicken, broccoli and mac and cheese with gold fish crackers on top!

I'm not a foodie by any means, but knew I'd dream about that food after we left. The waiter was as fabulous as you'd expect at any sit down dinner at Disney. He arranged the plates into a Mickey and spoke to the kids with respect. He was very prompt with refills, but he was upstaged big time!

Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale were making the rounds that night. That was the other reason I picked that restaurant, quality time with the characters. It was absolutely heartwarming! I'll post some videos, be warned you may cry. Mickey and Riley were so sweet. Isaac danced with Pluto too. First trip to Disney memories (:

While Isaac and Mike did Mission Space Riley and I ran into the the character spot (with no wait) and saw Minnie Mouse!! It was a huge deal. They admired each others dresses and hugged. It was beyond adorable. I couldn't have planned it better! To think we were just ducking in out of the rain. After that we met back up with the boys. We decided to get settled into our spot for fireworks. While we were waiting for them to start we had a nice long chat with the girl in charge of the wheelchair section. She told us the actor who does Tigger's voice narrates the firework show among other things. The fireworks were as awesome as we expected. When they were over we shuffled back to our hotel beds.