On our first planned day at a Disney theme park, Jenny texted to say she wasn't feeling well and wasn't sure if she could make it. We still decided to go ahead and go, even if it meant not having access to her DAS pass, since I already had 5 days in a row planned the next week and didn't want to make it 6. Oscar went out for a run early in the morning and wasn't back in time to head over to resort guest early entrance with me and the kids. We wanted to ride Frozen Ever After first, which was still a long walk. I'd been to the park once before in 2009, but this geography was new to me since I'd never come in the Skyliner entrance before. On our way over someone told us it was shut down, but thankfully it reopened just as we arrived. I LOVED it! I nearly cried! I'd been on the previous ride, "Maelstrom," in 2009, and I was really impressed at how well they incorporated the Frozen story into an already existing ride structure.
Oscar met up with us when we were done, and since there were only a few people waiting to meet Anna and Elsa, we got in line. It was 8:57 and was supposed to open at 9, so I thought it would be a short wait. Turns out they had some sort of delay and it ended up being a 35 minute line. But it was Saturday, and we knew any other line would be gigantic, so we just stuck it out.
Tyler complained a LOT about the wait and said he didn't care about meeting princesses then was totally star struck as soon as Elsa started talking to him.
Then we met Anna. They don't have photographers here, but they do have automatic cameras that just take photos every few seconds.
From there we went over to meet the 3 Caballeros Donald.
We then went into the 3 caballeros boat ride, which I hadn't realized existed when I was here in 2009.
After that the kids and I toured the new Moana exhibit. Oscar couldn't come since it was a virtual queue and I couldn't add him to it when he wasn't in the park yet. The kids had a lot of fun playing with the interactive water. Tyler whined the whole time in line but then LOVED it. He's all about that sensory stimulation.
It was very beautiful, and basically the best splash pad ever. There were interactive exhibits where the water would follow your hands, you'd play a water harp, it would part for you as you walked through, and where you would clap to make a water show.
There was more water play at the end, and the kids got thoroughly soaked. We had them walk around in the sun and let Tyler play with his magic band just to dry them off before Allison and I went to our character dining at Akershus.
She was especially thrilled to show Ariel her new Sebastian.
We then met back up with the boys to ride Remy's Ratatouille Adventure in the France pavillion right next to the Skyliner. Along the way Allison got to meet and take a little walk with Belle in her peasant dress.
Remy's Ratatouille Adventure is an adorable ride with fun smells while you're on it, like cheese and fresh bread. I don't think it would be worth the 90 minute wait it had, but it we enjoyed it. When Jenny arrived in the park she was able to get us a DAS return for it, so our wait wasn't nearly that long. When it was over I tried to get us a Guardians of the Galaxy virtual queue, but it said the kids and I weren't eligible since we'd already used our virtual queues for the day. This annoyed me since everything on the internet told me you could have a virtual queue for both Journey of Water and Guardians of the Galaxy, but that's not how it worked out for us. We did get to go on it our next time at Epcot, and it's a fantastic ride, but I have no intention of returning for it until it's no longer a virtual queue. I'd rather have a 3 hour wait in standby than deal with that mess of trying to get on the app at exactly 7:00am or exactly 1:00pm. I'd tried at 7:00, but the app defaulted to the virtual queue for Tron at Magic Kingdom and said "you don't have a reservation for this park." By the time I exited out and got back in for Guardians, it was full. Those virtual queues are gone in seconds, and the lines are still over an hour once you're in them, which is why I don't think the system works. They might as well just have a super long standby line.
Here we are at the World Showcase Lagoon.
Our next return time for Test Track wasn't until after the kids would come back, so we continued walking around and getting pictures from every photopass photographer we could find. We met Pluto.
And Figment helped us use our imaginations before we rode Spaceship Earth. While we were riding that, Oscar and the kids hopped on the skyliner to join us for test track.
The kids enjoyed designing their own car for Test Track and seeing how it performed. We then got a return time for Soarin' Over California while the kids played at the Green Landing Family Play Zone. Mission Space didn't have much of a line, so we went and did that then let the kids play at the indoor play structure inside. Both of the kids loved Mission Space while Jenny and I both got motion sickness from it. Oscar was fine and enjoyed the ride too, which is surprising since he's usually much more likely to feel queasy from a ride than I am.
The kids were getting pretty hungry, so they got a Mickey pretzel and had fun trying all the drinks at Club Cool. I really liked the plastic cheese that came with the pretzel. When the pretzel was gone, I ate it straight.
After Soarin' we got a few pictures in the dark with the Epcot ball glowing in the background before heading back over to Frozen Fever.
We got the whole family this time, which was Oscar's first time, second for Jenny and the kids, and third for me. I wish my hand weren't blocking Tyler, but it's a great shot of Allison and the rest of us.
Oscar and the kids took the skyliner back to the hotel for a break while Jenny and I continued our tour around the World Showcase. We also stopped in for some air conditioning at the American pavillion and saw the Liberty Singers.
By then we could use our return time for Frozen Ever After. I had to take a picture with the troll in the gift shop since I got one there on my previous visit in 2009.
We got a muppet magic shot in front of the Test Track building.
We got a Super zoom shot
We literally walked out just in time to watch the Epcot Forever fireworks. After taking the Skyliner back, Allison climbed right into bed and fell instantly asleep. She was wiped out!
At Epcohe family the kids had a ball and had a great time and Stacy and her friend wathed fire works.
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