Vacation Chatter, Take 3
Still flying high from the Jedi and Idol experiences, we didn’t really care what we did the next day~ we knew it would be fun, no matter what. We decided to go to EPCOT~ Experimental Prototype City Of Tomorrow~ just in case you were wondering. (Knowing this came in very handy the next week.)
Epcot was beautiful and felt like a slower pace after our days at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. The characters were in cute outfits, matching the different countries. Indigo liked seeing the characters…from a distance. He had no real desire to go get his picture taken with them~ even his favorites. I had this same aversion when I was little, so I didn’t push it. However, he is very fond of Donald and Donald in a Sombrero was being so funny, Indie worked through the nerves.
We nearly panicked when the children were swallowed up by sharks. Man, you just never know when that is going to happen…
The best food in all the Disney parks is at Epcot, in my humble opinion…
I shouldn’t have said that right after my kids were swallowed by sharks, should I?
Eww. Moving right along…
Hungry, Greyley?
JUST kidding. Don’t kill me, please, baby girl. I couldn’t resist.
While we were eating lunch, it began to rain. We didn’t mind~ Steve had brought rain gear with him and ran out to get us rain ponchos. They were lovely. Hmm, no picture of that…oh dear. Well, anyway, we looked SPECTACULAR in our rain gear. Ahem, really. You’ll just have to trust me, I guess. We kept going, but it did slow us down a bit.
Met two astronauts along the way…they were very sweet.
All play aside, I had one of the most terrifying experiences of my life on the ride, Mission: Space. You can see the ride and read about it HERE. It was 5.5 minutes of torture. It should have clued me in when they warned us no less than 6 times of the possible side effects. Also, Greyley was ready for more of a thrill after two days of roller coasters, so she picked the more intense version of the ride, so we happily went along with it. Big mistake, the whole thing.
First of all, I’m claustrophobic. I should have just kept walking when I saw the little space we’d have to be closed up in. Second of all, I should apparently NEVER experience 2.4 G force. I thought I was going to pass out and then die, I’m not even kidding. I kept my mouth shut because I didn’t want to make anyone else panic. Greyley, in the first 30 seconds, was saying, “I don’t like this!!!” I had to just close my eyes, NOT watch the screen and go to a meditative calm place.
It was ten times worse than what I’m even saying and I’m sure most of it was just in my head, but oh my. I hated it.
Everyone but Jill and Indigo felt awful when we got off. Indigo didn’t like it, but wasn’t sick. Jill loved it! That woman must be cut out to be an astronaut. I will never be signing up to go to space, thank you very much.
Things did get better…the laser light show was amazing and ended the whole day on a happy note. We felt like we didn’t fully experience the park because of the rain, but got a good feel for what it’s like. It was fun and interesting to meet the different people who worked there from all the different countries.
Day 4 of our adventures took us to Animal Kingdom…we LOVED this park!
The Safari ride was our favorite, so fun to see the animals up close and personal.
I took a TON of pictures, of which I won’t put you through on here, but…come on over if you need to see some interesting animals. 🙂
Our pretty group…
I love how Indigo’s busting a move in his own little world. This is a true glimpse of my boy.
Met these two bugs in the FUN Bug’s Life Show!
We were a little tired by day 4!
After a long day and a fun roller coaster…
These things freaked us OUT…bats.
EEK! And it was OPEN, no glass or anything! The lady who worked in that area scoffed at our reluctance. “Bats are more scared of you than you are of them!” Um, NO. And, “They don’t fly sideways, you silly people.” OK, she didn’t say the silly people part, but she implied it with her tone. I have had a bat swoop by my head, TOUCHING MY HAIR, I don’t really know if he was flying sideways or upside down, all I know is that it happened, Lady! OK, I didn’t tell her that either, but I implied it with my tone…inside my head…
Such a fun day. This is Jill and Nate’s favorite park. I think it might be mine too, tied with Hollywood Studios. Just two completely different things. But could go to Animal Kingdom all the time. The water ride was great too.
Day 5, Hollywood Studios, to see all the things we missed on Day 2. And to ride Tower of Terror a couple more times. We stuffed sugar and napkins in Indie’s socks to TRY to get him on Rockin’ Roller Coaster, spiked his hair as much as we could…and he missed it by half an inch. Shucks.
Nate found the Lord on Rockin’ Roller Coaster.
So we made him go on it 3 times…just to make sure it stuck.
We had such happy hearts with all the fun we’d had all week. So many fabulous experiences, so much love in the air…worn out with all the goodness. We were so tired, we couldn’t quite settle on a place to eat. Someone mentioned IHop as sort of a joke (I think). It was between IHop and All-you-can-eat Lobster and Indigo said in a pitiful voice and completely serious, “My parents have never taken me to an IHop…”
So, we took that boy to an IHop! And he LOVED it! 😉
The only good thing about our fun in Orlando ending was that the next morning, we would get on a big SHIP and sail away! More on that to come…