Disney: Epcot

On Day 1 we headed to Epcot while waiting for the rest of the family to arrive. It quickly became apparent to us that the girls LOVED the characters which was a surprise to me - I thought Maddie would be a little frightened just as she is with the Chikfila cow, but that was no so. The countries in Epcot were the perfect place to see the princesses and other characters. The park provides times that each character will be out to take pictures with and so we never had to wait long in line.

Sleeping Beauty and Belle in France



Alice, Pooh and Tigger, Mary Poppins in England (along with great Fish & Chips for lunch). Alice is Anna's favorite so she had to wear her own Alice shirt and bow :).



Jasmine in Morocco




Mulan in China



Snow White in Germany (we also ate at the Biergarden here which was a buffet of German foods along with a performance of German songs and instruments)




A few other favorites were Chip and Dale, which Maddie insisted on called squirrels, and Duffy the Disney bear, who is apparently Mickey's bear.




Rides/sites we enjoyed were:

The Seas with Nemo & Friends - in this ride you are sitting in a clam shell and go on a search for Nemo. Maddie was a little scared when a giant scorpion type thing started thrashing about in the dark. Because it is a continuously moving ride there was never a wait. We did it twice, the second time Maddie's body was trembling :(.

Journey into Imagination with Figment - Figment was one of my husbands favorite things as a kid and so that ride was a must. It was another inside continuously moving ride and Maddie was absolutely terrified when a puff of air blew at her (it was so powerful my glasses fell off my head!). There was a play area after the ride that the girls loved.

Living with the Land - this was a boat ride that explained some of the things scientists at Epcot are doing to help improve man's relationship with the land through food growing techniques.

Gran Fiesta Tour - another boat ride with the 3 Caballeros in Mexico.

Innoventions - there were 2 Innoventions areas which are a great balance of learning and play for the kids. We did a family game by Waste Management teaching about recycling, made a video game sponsored by IBM, made cute froggies out of Velcro, learned about saving money with a piggy bank game, and practiced making a family survival kit in case of a fire, flood, etc.

We had such a great time at Epcot that we decided to go back and spend another half day later in the week.