Day 5: Epcot is amazing and the first step towards a resolution with DH’s phone
DH woke up really early and went to the cafeteria to do some work. While there, he noticed that his phone’s location moved to guest relations at HS, rather at ToT. As soon as he noticed this, he wanted to head over there (HS had opened at 6 am, so it was already open). He took the chromebook, so I could google chat to stay in touch with him and he grabbed a bus to HS with plans to meet us at FEA after Epcot opened.
Meanwhile, the kids were sleepily waking up. I had originally planned for all of us to take a Lyft to BC/YC and then use the international gateway so we could rope drop FEA with less of a crowd. However, I was pretty intimidated at doing all that solo. So I took the kids on the bus instead. We ended up getting to Epcot around 8:30, which I was worried was too late to do a successful rope drop. However, we got through the bag check and taps easily and we were quickly at the rope drop area, about ten to fifteen rows back from the rope. We were all pretty nervous about rope dropping without DH. He is much taller than me, and very good at maneuvering. The kids were grabbing tightly at me throughout the drum show that starts the day at Epcot.
And, then we were off! About 80% of the crowd headed left for TT and almost everyone else peeled off towards Soarin’! We felt totally alone in the world showcase as we moved quickly through Mexico to Norway. I had a bit of trouble finding the actual ride once we were in Norway, but I think we were on the second boat of the day. Woohoo! The kids liked the ride, but not as much as some others. We met up with DH in the gift shop. He had is phone, but now it was alllll bendy and the screen was completely shattered. Ugh.
He seemed (understandably) bummed about the phone but unwilling to let it ruin our day. We asked if he wanted to do FEA also and he said nah, he’d rather eat some breakfast together. So we went to Kringla, which we all really enjoyed. DH and DD really liked the school bread, but I prefered the thing with almonds all over it.
Then it was time for our TT fast pass, so we made our way there. Everyone really enjoyed the ride. And the kids really really enjoyed the part after the ride. They loved all the games and learning about cars and all. I didn’t want to rush them, so by the time we were done we were running behind from the original plan. DS accepted that he’d have to miss Mission Space, which was next, but he was the only one really interested in riding.
So we went off to Spaceship Earth with our next FP. The kids completely loved this and loved the room at the end of this ride too. They wanted to do SE again immediately, but we had a FP for LWtL and I was hoping to grab Soarin’ with a same day drop, so we headed off to the Land Pavilion.
As soon as we tapped in, I grabbed a Soarin’ FP for 7pm that evening without even waiting for the drop. I knew that time wouldn’t work because we had a reservation for Akershus then. I was able to modify it to around noon, but couldn’t get it any earlier (it was around 11 am at this point). Meanwhile, the kids completely adored LWtL. I spent most of the ride working on modifying our FP so I don’t have much of an opinion, but I think DH thought it was interesting too (he’s an environmental historian, so he has a lot of knowledge in this area). We used the bathroom and then couldn’t decide how to handle this gap in our plans.
DH says, why don’t we just ask if we can use the FP about 30 minutes early. We ask, and they say, sure no problem! However, then we had another problem. After DD had almost puked on FoP, she was understandably nervous to ride Soarin. I told her about the rating system I had seen here which put Soarin’ at way fewer than FoP, but she was still nervous. So DD talked to the CM at the ride who explained how she would be sitting in a swing and if she closed her eyes she almost wouldn’t feel anything. She decided to risk it. A bunch of nice folks surrounding us act all supportive and tell her she’s going to love it. Well, turned out it was her favorite ride of the trip!!! She totally loved it, said it was beautiful and didn’t make her sick at all. Phew!!!
I immediately get us another FP for it for later that evening, but we don’t want to make yesterday’s mistake again, so we know our morning needs to come to a close quickly so we can take a break.
We stop in Sunshine Seasons for lunch for DS knowing he won’t like or won’t be able to eat the food at Food and Wine. We get a kids meatball and noodles platter. DS eats the noodles and chocolate milk, DD eats his meatballs and applesauce. Adorable.
Then we quickly walk through food and wine. The kids get popcorns. I try to get another Mickey pretzel, but there are none to be found! DH and I share crab cakes x2, loaded mac n cheese, scallops, and ravioli and are full.
DS really wants to ride a friendship boat, just for fun, so we take a boat from Epcot to HS and then a bus back to Pop. While we are on the boat, DH talks about “when” (rather than “if”) we come back to Disney, which gets me all excited. All my planning made the trip smooth enough that he’d consider it. Yay!!
We get back to Pop feeling good. We decide to swim, going to the computer pool this time, which was really nice. It was much quieter than the hippy dippy pool. After swimming we go back to our room and just chill for a bit. The kids watch some cartoons on the disney channel, laughing so hard we can hear them through the wall. Then we all shower and get ready to go back to Epcot.