When we decided to Park Hop during our day at Magic Kingdom, Zach really wanted to go to Hollywood Studios. He LOVES Toy Story Mania and thought it’d be a good chance to go ride it.While the boys rode the cars I did a little research using my touring plans app and found out that all the fast passes were already given out for the day for that ride, that Hollywood Studios would actually be closing at 7 that day, and that the wait times were mega long. Animal Kingdom was already closed for the day so that left only two options: stay at Magic Kingdom or go check out Epcot again.
Zach LOVED the fireworks show (Illuminations) last time we went to Epcot and we liked how it was so easy to get to by hopping on the monorail. We talked to Kye about it and he wanted to go back there too so we did it! We didn’t get to the park until a little after 6 so that gave us a few hours to check out some rides, eat dinner,and get a spot for the fireworks.
We all grabbed maps and tried to decide where to go and what to ride. I’d looked up the recommended rides and we debated whether or not to ride new stuff or ride the stuff we rode last time that we knew we liked. We decided to go with new stuff! Zach did want to do the Spaceship Earth again but other than that we decided to try out all things we hadn’t done before. If we keep hopping to Epcot every visit maybe one day we will actually see the entire park 😉
Kye LOVED reading the park map…why have I never thought of handing him one before? Free entertainment!!!
Yes, the boys were trying to figure out where to go and I just took pictures of them instead of helping haha
Since Spaceship Earth was the first ride we came across, we went ahead and did it first!
Kye’s face is HILARIOUS
After the ride Zach went to go ask someone for help on where we needed to go next while Kye and I enjoyed the fountain and had fun just being silly.
A bunch of people told us to ride Journey into Imagination with Figment. Omg that ride was SO TRIPPY. It was hilarious. I guess a lot of Epcot is like that? Kye actually did really like it but Zach and I were cracking up at how bizarre the whole thing was. The people in the buggy next to us were singing along to the entire ride. It must be one of those cult classic type rides? Kinda like how I love Tiki Room?
Using his imagination haha
The cast member who helped us in line was super sweet and thought it was Kye’s birthday for some reason? I think he was telling her about how he is going to come back to Disney for his birthday in March but she got confused. She let us get out of line and go over to her little station thing and she handed Kye the phone and Goofy sang Happy Birthday to him! It was very neat and so thoughtful! She really liked Kye and kept saying how cute he is and such 🙂
Something I do really appreciate about Epcot is that after many of the rides there is a HUGE area to play and in this area are many “educational elements” the coordinate with the ride. The ones after the Imagination ride were neat! We didn’t take a lot of time to check them all out because we wanted to try to get more rides in but they are something we may explore more in the future when if we ride that ride again 😉 Kye kept singing and talking all about imaginations after it so I guess he did learn from it!
Zach and I thought the Imagination ride was super trippy until we rode Captain EO. Um. I know a lot of people LOVE Epcot…so what rides do you all love so much? It can’t be these two?!?!? Zach and I were CRACKING up through the entire thing of Captain EO. Michael Jackson fighting to save the world? It was awesome. Kye hasn’t seen movies with real people in them and he was a tad afraid at certain parts but Zach and I were laughing and joking around about it so much that I think it kept him from legit being bothered by it. Kye liked it and talked about how good that guy could sing 😉 Guess he’s a Michael Jackson fan haha!
We had issues with deciding about dinner. Zach really didn’t want to eat at the same place we ate last time but Kye really wanted chicken and fries. We had a beast of a time deciding where to eat. Epcot is a HUGE park and at that point my poor foot was just DONE for the day. I was in a lot of pain and wasn’t too happy about it. I just wanted to SIT and EAT and didn’t care where. We finally decided on Mexican. No fries but they had chicken. I told Kye that he could have lemonade to drink since they didn’t have any fries. I’m all about the parents being the boss and not catering to our children’s desires all the time (they do NOT run the show!) however it’s Disney. And I like avoid Disney Meltdowns if at all possible. So if it means spoiling a little, then I spoil. Plus he hadn’t had a nap that day and it was 7:45 (which is his usual bedtime) and we were just eating dinner. Even though Kye wasn’t a fan of the chips, I LOVED my meal (I think Zach liked his too!). I can def see us eating at Mexico again in the future!
We had a little bit of a window before the fireworks and wanted to fit in one last ride. Zach really wanted to ride Maelstrom. We heard from somewhere that it was similar to Pirates of the Caribbean which is, duh, our fav plus Zach’s high school mascot was the Vikings.
On our way there we stopped for a potty break and witnessed our first ever non-family friendly Disney experience. A group of college age kids were all cussing and one of the girls in the group threw up all over the ground right near us. It really bothered me. Disney is supposed to be about the kids. About magical memories as a family. I shouldn’t have to be worried that my kids will hear foul language or witness drunken behavior like that. It put a BIG negative on Epcot for us. I wish all of Disney was dry and I don’t get why they have to serve alcohol there? They could still make it a worldly experience without that portion. I know a LOT of people LOVE Epcot and a lot of the reason they do is the drinking so maybe there should be a compromise about it? Like make it an adult only park after a certain time of the day? Our experience really left a bad taste in my mouth about Epcot and I hate that because I do love all things Disney so much!
Past Viking and Future Viking with the ORIGINAL Viking 😉
The ride was cool! It scared me for a second though b/c I don’t do crazy rides and it seemed like it was going to be crazy. It did have a big drop similar to Pirates and I didn’t like that either but we survived it 😉 And we totally skipped the movie portion of it too haha
We stopped for a second so I could get out Kye’s surprise! I LOVE to hit up the dollar store prior to a Disney trip and get glow in the dark stuff. This time I got him a sword with glow sticks and he had a blast with it. I also go another pack of glow necklaces to use during the fireworks!
We only had a 20 min wait or so for Illuminations. I LOVE that you can sit down and wait and that it’s not crazy crowded anywhere to watch them b/c they can be seen all around the park so well. While we waited Kye wanted to share his necklaces like we did last time. I told him to go give one to a little girl nearby and instead he ran up to this teenage girl and gave it to her haha! He told us it was because she was pretty!!! Kid loves the ladies 😉
The show was beautiful and a wonderful way to end our day! We got back on the monorail and I joked that we could go back to Magic Kingdom for a bit because it was staying open a little later that night haha. We had a FULL day and were all exhausted and ready for bed!!! We got back to the townhouse and had wonderful Disney-filled dreams 🙂
Goodnight from Epcot!
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I have been reading your blog a lot lately and I can say without a doubt your children are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. And not only physically, but mentally. Especially Kye, he is SO well-behaved and mature for his age, and that is thanks to you. Your way of parenting is amazing. You inspire me SO much…
Your kids are adorable… Can I see baby #3 arriving in the near future? 😉
Before our Disney vacay this year, my only Disney experience was Epcot for one day during spring break when I was in college (10 yrs ago). So, I thought that all the parks would have the "flavor" of Epcot. While I really enjoyed the one day we spent there on our vacation, I was SO GLAD that the other parks were much more "magical" than the more adult-geared Epcot.Our favorite ride there was probably the whole Nemo building. Though, I really, really loved walking through the World Showcase :-).
@Stephanie thank you so very much for the sweet compliment!!! It means the WORLD to me 🙂
@Taylor thank you!!!! we aren't in too much of a hurry for #3 but it's def on the agenda for someday 😉