Disney Trip: Day 3- Epcot!

Who's ready to recap our day at Epcot? Let's dive in!

We woke up early again, ready to tackle the day. We met up with E and Z and headed over to Port Royal for breakfast. We ate, talked about the day, and got ready to board the bus to Epcot.

When we arrived there was a sense of excitement. This is a park that combined some of our favorite stuff as a group, so we were all looking forward to it. On top of that, the Flower and Garden Festival was beginning in a few days, so they were already setting up, offering us a great sneak peak at all of the great things coming our way!

Epcot, here we come!

And we shall!

A close-up of Spaceship Earth

SSE with the awesome Fountain show in the foreground

The beautiful flowers already set up for the festival

We immediately headed to Test Track. Since my knee cap had popped out at the Magic Kingdom the day before, we figured it was time to start using the Guest Assistance Card. I had no clue what to expect, so I was a big nervous, but I wanted to make sure I wouldn't encounter stairs at this point since I wasn't confident I would do too well. Boy, did that card rock. I asked the first Cast Member I saw what to do and she told me to gather my part and go directly to the FastPass Lane. We were ushered in immediately, with no FastPass, and sailed past the 70 minute standby line.

Sort of speaks for itself I suppose...

The inside of Test Track

Of course, we had an awesome time on the ride. Always a blast! Of course, I was pretty sure that our encounter using the GAC was a fluke and figured as we walked over to Soarin' that we'd be stuck in line. Not so. We 'soared' onto the ride, once again using the FastPass Lane. I was floored. I was also kicking myself for not using this the previous day while I was in so much pain I was pretty sure I'd be better chewing my own leg off. I learned my lesson though- we were all pretty stoked that while it was great to be able to get onto rides in a timely manner- it was really serving it's purpose by helping me reduce my amount of time standing so I could endure the entire day without being in awful pain. We also hit up "Living With the Land"- one of Z's favorite rides while we were there. Hubby had never been on it before and he really loved it. I had been on it as a little one, but it had been so long that I had completely forgot most of it. I loved the tour of the awesome things they were doing behind the seas to create safe, sustainable foods that are actually served throughout the parks. Awesome, really interesting stuff! Next time you're there, check it out!

Always fun!

Did you know Water Lilies are edible? I didn't!

The famous nine pound lemon

I also want to take this moment to talk to anyone who may be thinking "Gee! I can use this pass and just walk onto every single ride." Don't. This is a great service that Disney has offered people like myself who don't need a wheelchair every day of their lives, but cannot handle long, intense days of walking miles upon miles FOR A MEDICAL REASON. I cannot stress enough that this is a MEDICAL issue. There were plenty of times throughout the vacation where we had to wait LONGER to wait for an accessible vehicle. Please, for the love of everything sacred, do NOT try to take advantage of this and put someone who NEEDS this out because you think you can just skip some lines. Use the regular FastPass like everyone else and enjoy your day with your family and friends. Okay, off my soap box.


After Soarin', we grabbed some lunch at the Electric Umbrella. We next went to The Seas to hit up Nemo and Turtle Talk with Crush. E and Z had never seen it before, so we wanted to make sure they got a chance to try something new. It looked like they really enjoyed it, and we were lucky to have a really funny Crush that day!

Now, my memory is getting a bit fuzzy as to the order, but we also managed to fit a ride on Spaceship Earth in there, too. Again, I had seen it when I was young, but I had only remembered tiny bits and pieces. The ending definitely changed though. We loved it! It was a nice time, it was slow, and I always like the educational stuff, too. But since my camera ISO only goes to 1600, I wasn't able to take any pictures. E has some though, so be sure to check out her pics!

We made it over to the World Showcase via Friendship Boat. We hit up a few of the different countries, and decided to stop into the American Experience. We had AMAZING timing because Voices of Liberty was performing in less than 15 minutes!! We were SO happy to caught them- they sang beautifully. I have some videos on my phone, but E's is really good. Check it out below.

The American Adventure Pavilion

Voices of Liberty

Voices of Liberty

We made our way to France, where we had dinner reservations at Les Chefs de France. While we waited for our table, E and Hubby tried to teach me some French phrases. Needless to say, I butchered the language. Also, another family totally took our reservation. They called my name, and another party of 4 walked up and took it! Luckily, Hubby checked with the Host, and we were seated only moments later with the apologies of the restaurant. We also got some free wine out of the deal, so I wasn't about to complain. :)

Les Chefs de France

My salad with a strawberry vinaigrette dressing

My dinner!

SUPER yummy dessert

Dinner was awesome. I got a roasted chicken breast with potatoes and broccoli. I'll be writing a full review on all of the restaurants soon, so I wont bore you with it here, but it was seriously delicious. I can't even begin to touch on the dessert. It was probably my favorite dessert of the entire trip. SO good.

After we were drunk on good food, we decided I probably wouldn't be able to handle standing for Illuminations. So, we went back to the hotel, bought some booze, and hung out in the little community area outside our rooms. We had a great time just talking and while the boys drank and caught up. I was able to ice my feet for awhile and just enjoy great company. It was one of my favorite things we did on vacation, and it didn't even involve going to the parks.

View of Spaceship Earth from the World Showcase

My friend, the cuttlefish

That really is an abridged version of all of the great stuff we did together that day. There were frozen Cokes, Grand Marnier Orange Slushes, cuttlefish, weird looking bugs, Italian jugglers and so much more. But for the sake of your brains, I wont go into all of that.

Want another perspective of our awesome time? Check out E's Blog HERE and get more magic! 

Stay tuned tomorrow for our trip to Animal Kingdom! Did we catch the poachers? You'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out!