Disney At the Parks... Day 1: Epcot!

The kids couldn't help but be excited for the first full day at the parks. That is why were were up so early!!! Not exactly... Josie was really excited about sleeping in a hotel room. The new squeaky little crib! The room with Mom, Dad, Luke, Steven, AND Isabel all together! Yay! We didn't get a lot of sleep. But, we managed to soldier on like good Mouseketeers. You can practically see the kids running towards the big globe of Epcot.

You might notice that some members of our party weren't with us... They weren't with us ANY of the mornings, in fact. Grandma and Grandpa chose to sleep late every single day! They missed out on a lot of Disney Magic, but they seem to be okay with that...

First up once we got in the park: Test Track. Notice how confidant and excited everyone is...

And here they are on the actual ride...

Kind of makes you queasy just looking at it... I tried to take a picture of Isabel, but she was ducked way down the entire ride (like in the crash-landing position they tell you about during pre-flight instructions). So, I have a picture of her seat. Probably not worth posting here.

After Test Track, which Steven, Isabel, and Katie rode a second time with Dad, we went on some other rides, but Josie was too short to participate on most. There wasn't a lot for her to do at Epcot, except for wait for everyone to go on rides. After the long winter of ice and snow, she was mostly content to just be walking outside, free from her huge jacket.

And here she is at lunch time... Conked out.

Finally, about 2 hours after lunch, Grandma and Grandpa arrived on the scene. They got there just in time for the rain, which continued the rest of the day!

The rain didn't keep the characters from coming out. Luke overcame his fear of 9-foot tall mice, dogs, etc. on this trip. He was able to actually hand his autograph book to some characters and even worked up to high-fives... We were amazed. I kept waiting for him to cry hysterically...

See how curly Grandma's hair got from all the rain? She commented on it so much that I thought it was worth noting here for all posterity... Here we are in line for the Maelstrom ride. I can't understand why a FastPass is ever needed for this *attraction*. It's not spectacular, but... hey, you're sitting down, and it's out of the rain. Plus it's in the Norway area so we were able to feel connected to our heritage. And who doesn't love trolls?

We were surprised by all the Disney characters we saw in Epcot. We even stumbled upon Snow White herself! She had the most amazingly nasal princess voice ever. It was so high pitched that it truly puzzled the kids. She was, of course, enchanting... See Luke right in there giving her his autograph book? No fear. Atta Boy.

After meeting Snow White, we had dinner at the Biergarten Restaurant in the Germany area of Epcot. Kate was thoroughly embarrassed when she mentioned that one of her friends wanted her to get a picture with someone in lederhosen, which was the uniform for all the male German wait-staff at the restaurant. Kate thought the *host* who checked us in was pretty cute, so... Grandma came up with a plan. As we left after dinner, Grandma asked the host (the cute one) to pose with Kate for a picture. Here it is! Now it's up on Kate's facebook page, so all's well that ends well. This is the type of boyfriend that we approve of: one who lives very far away and she's most likely never going to see again.

After dinner, which included polka-like dancing to a live oompah band (Grandma twisted her ankle schooling all the kids on the proper way to polka), most of our family went back to the hotel. It was raining, cold, dark... But Grandma, Grandpa, Steven and Isabel stayed until the park's closing. They were exhausted and soggy little Mouseketeers! In the end, we all enjoyed Epcot and the rain didn't dampen the Disney Magic too much!