Disney World day 6: Epcot

After breakfast we walked back toward the Future World section of Epcot. Along the way we ran into a Photo pass person and took some group shots...

You can tell it was pretty cold!
But we were having a great time and we were all still excited for the fun to come.

The topiary everywhere are pretty fun. This Pluto one was near the Mickey ones we had our picture next to.

We went straight over to the Land Pavilion and had Doug run ahead to get Fast Passes for Soarin'. The park was just opening up by this time so were able to get there before it got too crazy.
While we waited for our Soarin' time we decided to ride a few rides.
First we rode Living with the Land. It is a slow paced boat ride through their gardens and greenhouses. It gives a lot of interesting information and was fun to look at. Abi liked it a lot.
She wanted to ride with Grandma and Grandpa so Doug, Maddy, and I rode behind them.

We liked the hanging pumpkins!

We then left the Land Pavilion and walked over to the Imagination Pavilion. First we went on the Journey into the imagination with Figment ride. It was pretty fun... Abi thought it was good.
They had a bunch of activities when you got off the ride that were even more fun... especially with how much Maddy loves music.
First, there was the Melody Maker. When you put your hands/arms between the bars you could conduct the music.

Then there were these big squares all over the floor. When the kids would jump on them they would light up and play whatever instrument was on it. The girls both LOVED this!

Then we watched the 3D show Captain EO. This one was a must do now that it is back after being gone for a really long time because of Doug. When he came here as a young kid he made his dad sit through this show over and over again. I asked him if it was because he liked it so much. He said, no it was because it was hot outside and the theater was air conditioned.
He even called his dad on our way into the theater to tell him what we were about to see!
So funny.
So, it is a Michael Jackson movie if you didn't know and it was so eighties and so cheesy but actually pretty fun to watch.

After Captain EO we went back over to the Land Pavilion to use our Fast passes on Soarin'. I loved this ride when my mom and I went to California Adventure ten years ago so I was so excited to go on it again. Abi was tall enough but I was a little worried she would be scared... but I shouldn't have been . She loved it.
Doug hadn't been on it before either so it was really fun to see both of their reactions to it. If you have never been on it, you basically sit on this seat and it goes up in the air, not really high, and into an area surrounded by a huge screen. You then watch the screen as it goes through different parts of California and because of the way the screen is you feel like you are hang gliding over all the places. They pump in the smell of oranges over the orange trees and pine trees over the mountains. It is great.
My parents waited with Maddy while we rode and then we waited for them while they rode. When we got off I asked Abi if she liked it. She said yes. I asked, "What was your favorite part?" She said, "Everything!" and gave me the biggest hug.
I got this picture inside the Land Pavilion while we waited for my parents. We all really liked the hot air balloons.

Here's Abi re-living the ride...

As soon as we were done here we began our journey through the World Showcase. The first stop was
Canada!

Those of you who know me well know I love Canada. The places I have been there are the most beautiful places I've ever been. Doug and I share this love and have discussed living on Prince Edward Island or in Victoria British Columbia many times.
We loved the depiction of the gardens in Victoria.

They have these Kidcot Fun Stops in each country. I had read all about them and was pretty excited for Abi to go to them. They were supposedly going to have a charm for each country the kids could decorate and put on one big mask so we even brought her Little Passports suitcase to put them all in and her passport to have the cast members at each station sign... but
when we there they were pushing Duffy Bear.
Duffy Bear is Mickey Mouse's bear and he was all over the place in Epcot. So, at the fun stops all they had were these big Duffy bears to color and each stop had the same thing. It was fun for Abi. She loved coloring it but we didn't go to any of the other stops because of that.
Here she is outside the Canadian Fun stop with her Duffy Bear.

I was also really excited to see the World Showcase Holiday Story tellers. Each country has a little platform during the holidays and the Santa (or other holiday figure) from that country tells a story about their traditions. Very cool. We ended up only seeing a few though because they have specific times they are out and we would have been bouncing all over the place back and forth to see them all.
This is the Canada santa.

We had to get a picture in the totem pole cut out!

We then crossed the border into the UK

This store in England was the cutest. I loved the things in here. The girl behind the counter signed Abi's passport for her.

We then walked across the English Channel to France...

Here Abi was able to meet Marie from the Aristocats.

At this point we all of a sudden became a bunch of grouchy boots'. It was kind of funny I guess how it hit us all at the same time but we were all getting really hungry and couldn't find something that we all wanted so we breezed past France, Morocco, and Japan and ate, of all places, in the USA pavilion. I thought that was kind of funny... but it worked.
We ate at the Liberty Inn.
For dessert Doug and I got an apple pie and a chocolate mousse.

Abi got chicken nuggets, fries, grapes, and a Sprite. She liked all of it.
I think this picture is funny because it shows my mom taking a picture of her food which I was doing as well.

I got chicken fingers and fries and a Diet Coke. It was pretty standard.

Doug got a burger and fries and soda.

After lunch we walked back over to the Japan Pavilion because I wanted to go to the famous Mitsukoshi Department store (named for the oldest department store in the world). It is home to all things Japanese and what I wanted to see: the Hello Kitty things and Pick a Pearl!
We browsed for a few minutes and then went to get in line to do Pick a Pearl.
I was going to do it for both girls but decided to just do it for Abi and then if we ever go back we'll do it for Maddy then.
She got to pick out her oyster....

and then watch as the cute girl found her pearl for her...

There's a lot of clapping and yelling and fun but I couldn't understand about 80% of what she was saying so Abi was really confused...

Here she was showing Abi the pearl. It's hard to see but it is very pretty.

It was a 7mm. Here Abi is showing off her little pearl in its bag.

By this point the cold was really getting to us so we decided to head out for the day knowing we would be coming back the next week.
We walked past Italy...

and decided to make a stop in Germany before leaving. We really liked the miniature village with train...

My family is also part German and Doug and I met in German class in high school so it is one of those places that means something to us. I really wanted a German Christmas Pickle for our tree so we went on a little search to find one. Did I?

On our way out we walked past Norway again, just in time to see their story tellers...

As we walked through Future World, we made one more stop. Spaceship Earth had no line so we decided to ride it. It was so much fun! It's one of those rides that really isn't that popular anymore and never has a line but we all really liked it. It is inside the giant geosphere (the big golf ball as a lot of people refer to it).

After getting back to the hotel, we rested for a bit and then went back to the food court for dinner.
Abi had mac and cheese, grapes, a cookie, and apple juice.

Doug and I both had the veggie lasagna again.

After dinner we got the girls to bed and then my mom and I left the boys and rode the bus over to Downtown Disney to go to the huge movie theater (that George Lucas opened) to see Harry Potter! It was so fun and we both loved the movie.

This was a big souvenir day for us. We used the gift card from my sisters family to get Maddy the Hello Kitty doll in Japan (thanks guys!) and I also got Abi the Hello Kitty Twister game there. We couldn't pass that up after playing Twister almost every day of our vacation! I also got the Hello Kitty puzzle without Abi knowing for Maddy to give her for Christmas.
In England I got Abi the pink shield so she can stop using the top of the tool box as one, the Colors book for Maddy, and the Cadbury chocolate bar for me and Doug!
From Germany I got the Pickle ornament! and the Nutcracker book. I wanted a copy of that book for a long time so it was really exciting to find a little cute one.

Funny quotes from today:
Doug told Abi when we were in the Germany pavilion that if she stepped on a crack it released alligators from somewhere.. I wasn't privy to this conversation so I don't know why.. but anyway when we were walking back to the bus she was stepping on the cracks and he reminded her of the alligators. She said, "Daddy! That's only in Germany!" I had no idea why at the time so it made me laugh so hard.
Also, today for some reason Abi kept saying, "And that's the tickle pickle!" It's become kind of a family saying now.

Next up: Our magical first day in the Magic Kingdom!