Epcot: Party of 5

Tuesday's plan was to try to stay up late for the Illuminations fireworks show, and Wesley doesn't take naps for us anymore. So, we slept in and it was much needed by all of us!

When we got up, we grabbed pop tarts to eat at the bus stop and took the bus to Epcot. Upon arrival, we immediately grabbed fast passes for Soarin'. Well, I sent DH to grab the Fast passes while DS and I were going to catch Captain EO. DH didn't have a burning desire to watch the movie again since we saw it in November, but we had a discussion about it at home a few weeks earlier and DS piped up that he wanted to watch it. I doubted he even remembered it, but sure enough he was able to recount the tale of the good guys going to see the bad lady to make her beautiful after singing a song and dancing.

Captain EO was over, so we took a Journey Into Our Imagination. Details are a little fuzzy, but I think Greg's parents arrived and had done Spaceship Earth. So, while they went to get fast passes for Soarin' and they planned to ride Living With The Land, our plan was to catch Spaceship Earth. En route to Spaceship Earth, Wesley saw Donald Duck in the character meet & greet in/near Innoventions. He asked to do it, we explained to him that it was a 30 min wait. He wanted to wait, so we did it. DS and DH got on line while I bought an autograph book/pen real quick. This may have been Wesley's 4th trip and he has met plenty of characters, but I thought he might be old enough to enjoy collecting autographs.

We had 12:05 Priority Seating reservations at the Coral Reef, but we cancelled them without any issue. We headed over to The Living Seas with Nemo and Friends and the infectious tune "Big Blue World" became our sing song catch phrase for the week. We had a quick lunch at the Electric Umbrella - I remember having a Caesar Salad that was CHOCK full of chicken - and Wesley had his own lunch but really enjoyed eating my salad with me.

Details are a little sketchy, but Greg's parents went back to their hotel for a few hours and I think it was time for us to ride Soarin, so that is what we did. Afterwards, we took Wesley for his first tour around the countries. Yep, it was his FOURTH trip and we still hadn't done that. Hey, he is only 4 and a half and previous to this, he would nap for us and our touring plan was a bit different.

Anyway, I remember Mexico was first and we did the boat ride - which Wesley really liked! After that, onto Norway and another boat ride. Well, it was a boat ride that dumped you into a movie about the people of Norway (that dumps you into a gift shop). I don't know what it was, but Wesley LOVED the Norway movie. Like, it was over and he asked to watch it again. We let him watch it one more time and were able to persuade him to come out with the promise of a treat. They have a wonderful little bakery in Norway and I got the School Bread - Oh My GOODNESS that stuff is awesome! Seriously, seriously yummy! Wesley got Worms in Dirt - and made a mess - and loved every minute of eating that little sucker! Greg had a beer - not sure if he ate something or not, but I remember he liked the beer.

China - we saw the movie and then I don't remember what we did. I think we had a 2nd fast pass for Soarin from Greg's parents, so we went in that direction. I found a stuffed Pascal in Mousegear for my niece. We let Wesley pick out a stuffed animal - and he picked Stitch who is now his best friend. I remember we stopped in the Coca Cola Ice Station Cool and we let Wesley try the many carbonated beverages of the world - which we never do. He even asked us "Hey, why you guys letting me drink soda?" To which we explained it was a special occasion and we needed him to stay up late ;)

Our trip did coincide with Epcot's Flower & Garden Festival and they had a special Pixie Hollow Fairy Garden set up. We followed the signs and saw the little pixie home and stumbled upon a little playground. We let Wesley play and do his thing and it was so relaxing! Then Wesley asked to go to another playground, to which I told him that was it. A lady piped up - "Oh there is another playground - over by the Rose Garden." So off we were to the "other" playground that really was quite nice! More relaxation and taking it easy for this family!

Greg's parents came back to Epcot and met us at the playground. We walked past Canada and then over to the UK. We had a 6:55 Priority Seating at the Rose and Crown in the UK pavilion. When we checked in, I requested a table on the patio, hoping we could drag dinner out long enough to catch Illuminations from our seats. We had to wait a bit for our table, but were given a pager, so we did a little exploring.

The UK has a couple of phone booths that I thought Wesley would get a kick out of and I completely underestimated how much joy they'd give that kid!

Dinner was yummy! I split an order of Fish & Chips with my mother in law and then had a No Sugar Added Fruit Trifle for dessert and it was so good!!! We watched the fireworks - which I LOVE - and then did the mass migration to the bus stop.