Disney World Day 3 - Epcot

Day 3 was Epcot, and I was excited for that. I love the World Showcase, and our princess dinner was that night at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Norway. I know a lot of people skip Epcot that have small children, and I kind of get it, but I love Epcot.  It was kind of boring that morning for our girls, but I think that's just the way our "schedule" fell. The afternoon and evening MORE than made up for the morning not being all about the girls:)

I did finally get our Memory Maker worked out and there are a ton of pictures on there, but I haven't downloaded them. I figured I will go back in and add the pictures after I get our whole trip posted.

Ready to go to Epcot!

The first thing we did was take turns (me and John) riding Test Track. It was fun, but again, it's not as exciting to ride rides by yourself:) While John was riding, I entertained the girls with popcorn and strolling around. Popcorn was our meltdown saver at DW:)

We also found some ducks to watch. I was cringing the whole time, but it kept them entertained.

Our first Fast Pass was for Soarin'. Neither of the girls were tall enough for this, so John and I took turns. We had a FP, but it still took a while for us to both ride it. That's why our morning was kind of boring for the girls, but fun for us. We made our way over to the World Showcase for our lunch at San Angel Inn. This was our first table service meal that was not a character meal, and it was really good. It was kind of dark in there; Meyers wasn't a fan of that. Emery wasn't a fan of much either. I think she was just tired. So while our food was really good, we ate it fast and got out of there. After we left, we tried to see Snow White at her character spot in Germany, but we just missed the cut off. The girl told us to come back in 30 minutes. I was slightly annoyed by that, but it turned out to be the best thing ever that we kept walking around the World Showcase. The girls were tired and so were we. I was feeling a little bad about them not getting to do anything super fun when all of the sudden the gate (pictured below) opens and I catch it out of the corner of my eye. When I look over, I see ALL the Mickey Mouse characters walking down this ramp and their "handlers" are waving anyone around to come in the gates!!! What?!?!?! Jackpot!!! They only let 40-50 people in and then they shut us all in the gates with the Mickey characters. I could not believe our luck!! We saw the gang at Chef Mickey's but they were in their Chef Mickey outfits and I really wanted pictures of the girls with them in their regular outfits at character spots, but we had not seen them ANYWHERE yet our whole trip. This was amazing because we got to see everybody (Donald wasn't there and somehow we forgot to get Goofy) and we didn't have to wait in any lines except if there was a family in front of us. You could not wipe the smile off of our faces!!! We had a neat thing happen on Friday (that I'll explain when I get around to our last day) where we heard the cast member say we were having a "magical moment". I googled this when I got home because I had never heard of it, and this is what I found:

"Though not as popular as they were in the “Year of a Million Dreams,”
Magical Moments are still around at the Walt Disney World Resorts. If
you have not been offered a Magical Moment, then you are just at the
wrong place at the wrong time."

I'm no expert, but I would say that this was a "magical moment"!!

I took this picture after we left, but this is where we were when the gate opened.

We walked right up to Minnie.  It was all so rushed at first - John had Emery and was parking the stroller.

Emery loved every minute of it, but would act shy:)

Daisy!!

Pluto!!!

Mickey or as Emery says Ickey!!!!

Chip and Dale!

We made our way out of the gates, and that's when I realized how few people they had let in, and what an amazing thing had just happened. We totally hit the jackpot and John and I were so excited for the girls. And they loved it too!

We made our way around the World Showcase, and we were heading back to see Snow White. It had been 40 minutes. Apparently the girl before really meant 30 minutes on the dot because she told us to come back in 30 more minutes. Ughhhhh! They are hard core! I was bummed, but not too much because we had just had such a fantastic experience with all the Mickey characters. I knew we would be seeing Snow White at our princess dinner at least. The girls were getting so tired.  I was wondering how we would make it to our dinner if nobody napped. We walked around that huge water fountain a few times and both girls fell asleep!!! This was the only day Meyers napped in the stroller. We found a bench, parked the stroller, and John decided he needed a nap, too:) We had a FP for something (I can't even remember what) in an hour or so, and we totally missed it. I didn't mind at all because the girls slept for over 2 hours! I charged and played on my phone while everyone one slept. I was a little jealous of all the sleeping, but somebody had to stay awake! John finally woke up, and I laid in his lap. I didn't think I fell asleep really. I thought I just dozed, but you can tell from the picture that he took of me that I'm asleep. I'm just glad I hadn't started drooling! Clearly we were ALL exhausted!

out!

out!

I thought this picture as so funny with both of them sleeping with their legs up:)

out!

After everybody woke up, we made a wardrobe change into our Snow White outfits for our princess dinner:) This dinner was really fun, but I learned my lessons with dinners. I think the next time we go back, we will do character meals/table service meals for breakfast and lunch, and maybe just one dinner. Even though the girls got a nap, they were both still exhausted. Meyers loved seeing the princesses, but after that was over it. And Emery is 2 and she was kind of the same. We gobbled up our dinner super fast, and got out of there. But we got what we came for:) Pictures and quick visits with all the princesses (Tiana, Rapunzel, and Jasmine weren't there).

E still looks a little out of it.

These Snow White "shirts" are dresses that we've had that I got my mom to hem. I like them better this way:)

We made our way back over to Norway to Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. I was really hoping Snow White was the greeting princess, but it was Belle. I was again impressed by how "on" and in character these girls are. Belle told the girls how much she loved their dresses and their bows. She said " I bet you have a magical wardrobe at home." and I said something like "oh, yeah, they do." And she giggled in her sweet princess voice and said, "I bet her name is mom." I thought that was so funny!

Can you tell we could hardly pry Emery's binky away? It's in so many of our pictures. What can you do? It was either in the picture or huge meltdown:)

Our server was training and it took a few minutes to get things going. We ordered drinks and within a few minutes our first princess was at our table! The rest followed pretty quickly which was great since the girls were kind of done.

Somehow I ended up in all of these pictures. One of us had to be because of Emery. I guess John decided to be the photographer:)

sweet hugs with Cinderella

Hugs with Ariel

Oh my! Emery looking up at Aurora is too sweet!!!!

Sweet!!

Emery giggled over these princesses!

This picture MELTS me!!! Snow White is Meyers's "princess". We've always said she looks like her. I just love this picture to pieces!!!

Snow White!!!!

We (me included since I was holding Emery) did the princess processional, and then we got out of there! Our girls were so sleepy, and we got what we came for!

They told them to bow after the processional, and Meyers curtsied! How cute is that?? So glad John caught that on camera.

Like I said, the afternoon and evening totally made up for the morning being more for me and John. These pictures from meeting Mickey and the gang and the princesses are priceless to me! Such a FUN day!!!



Favorites:

Meyers: Meeting Snow White

Emery: Meeting Mickey and the gang

Beth: our "magical moment"/surprise sighting of Mickey and the gang

John: same:)