After we checked in and got settled at the hotel, we headed to Epcot for a dinner reservation at the Garden Grill. It was nice to be out of the car after two days of driving and
jumping right into the fun.
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| Our first wait at the bus stop at the resort. The kids are wearing buttons that say "1st Visit". Mary's button is on her stroller. |
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| Known in our family as, The Big Ball. Officially it is called "Spaceship Earth", Epcot's signature park feature. |
We headed straight to the Finding Nemo ride and got on with no wait. You ride in clams so Andy calls it the Clam Ride. He wanted to go again as soon as we got done.
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Going into the Nemo ride. The seagulls in the background are all saying, "Mine, mine, mine."
We also went to Turtle Talk with Crush because there was no wait. Crush is the sea turtle from "Finding Nemo". It is an animated, interactive experience. Crush can see and hear you and talk back. Totally awesome, dude! George, Andy and I sat on the floor in the front and George got to ask Crush a question. He asked him where Crush lives and Crush explained his various habitats and the Eastern Australian Current (EAC). Definitely a "how do they do that?" experience, very fun.
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We checked in for our dinner reservation at the Garden Grill and enjoyed our first of several character meals. The kids really got a kick out of it. Andy was so excited to see each one, it was fun watching him. He snapped a bunch of pictures on his disposable camera. The restaurant slowly rotates around through various scenes and time periods depicting landscapes from tropical rain forests to fields with crops.
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| Our first visitor, Dale the Chipmunk |
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| Mary was not so impressed with Dale. |
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| Mickey saying hi to Mary but keeping his distance too. |
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Zack, Andy, George and Mickey
Look at those smiles. |
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| Chip and the boys |
Andy enjoyed the chipmunks so much that he bought Chip and Dale stuffed animals with his Disney gift card.
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| Pluto with the boys |
After dinner we went to the World Showcase lagoon and watched the nightly fireworks show called "Illuminations". It was quite spectacular. Mary slept through it. How do you sleep through fireworks?
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| Epcot fireworks - from WDW photo gallery |
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| Christmas tree near the World Showcase Lagoon. One section of lights towards the bottom was out. |
On our way out of the park, a cast member (anyone who works at Disney) told us there was no wait to see Mickey so we headed in for a few pictures.
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| I love this one of George. He just bought that Mickey. |
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| Andy is so tickled. |
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| Sweet baby girl |
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| Minnie was giving Andy a kiss. |
We had a great start to the trip. The kids hunkered down and snuggled with us on the bus ride home. The evening was one of my favorite parts of the trip.
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| Zack asked me, "do you think Jesus plays golf with that big ball?" |
