Day 4 - Epcot

Because of our early night the night before, we were all rested and ready to get to Epcot for the early magic hour. Even my feet were feeling better! Being on the monorail route because of our resort, we didn't have to wait on any buses this trip...yay!

The newest and most popular attraction at Epcot is called Soarin. We figured everyone would be rushing to that ride first, so we went in the opposite direction to Mission Space. While Hayley and Bill took off for Mars on the Mission Space ride; Syd, Em and I got fast passes for Test Track. Hayley totally loved going to Mars!! She wanted to go back immediately!

Bill and the girls did the Test Track ride, which Em and Syd did not care for one bit! I was glad I sat out of that one, as my tummy was already feeling a bit upset from breakfast.

The next place we went was to Ellen's Energy Adventure Ride. I had no idea what to expect here, but it was actually really cool. There was a short ride in these large cars, and we saw some dinosaurs. Emyley thought that was the coolest!

We had heard about this place called Club Cool where you could sample Coca-Cola products from around the world for free. I didn't try them all, but Em and Hayley sure did! There is one flavor called Beverly that is from Italy that is very bitter! Bill didn't care for that at all. I liked the Fanta Kolita from Costa Rica. It pretty much tasted like Strawberry Soda. Yum!

Another thing to do at Club Cool is build a really cute character cup. You can build: Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Princess and Stitch. Of course we all had to take part in this! And why we didn't all get different ones, I'll never know! LOL!

We were getting hungry by this point, so we headed over to the Land Pavilion where Soarin is located. We had a quick lunch there at Sunshine Seasons and then grabbed our fast passes for Soarin. This attraction is so popular, that our fast pass return time was actually 3 hours later! So, we decided to have more fun while we waited! We rode the Living with the Land Boat ride which took us through some really cool greenhouses where they grow Cinderalla Pumpkins shaped like Mickey Heads! They also experiment with ways of growing veggies and fruits, such as not using soil and hanging them! It was actually pretty interesting! Emyley decided she wants to be a scientist at Disney when she grows up! LOL!

Our next stop was the Living Seas Pavilion where we rode the Seas with Nemo and Friends. It was a pretty cute ride centered on finding Nemo. One amazing feature is that they actually have the cartoon fish inside the aquariums with the real fish! That was actually pretty cool! Next we saw a diving exhibition and walked through the aquariums. Syd and Hayley really like the Manatees!

It still wasn't time to head back to Soarin, so we stopped off in one of the Innoventions buildings. I immediately sought out a bench and took a break while Bill took the girls through the building. The best thing (besides resting my feet) was that the buiding we went in was the one with the Segway demonstration! Bill had been wanting to do this, and he got his chance! He had to sit through a training session, and then he got to take a spin on one! It was fun to watch him doing this!

After innoventions, it was time for a snack. We headed to the ice cream cart where Emyley got a rainbow popsicle, Hayley got a Mickey Head Ice Cream Bar, Sydney got a Nestle Crunch Ice Cream Bar and Bill & I both got Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches. Since it was almost time for us to ride Soarin, we headed back to the Land food court to eat and wait.
For those who don't know what Soarin is, I will try to explain. You are seated in these sling-type seats that resemble hang gliders. You are then raised high above the floor and positioned in front of this huge movie screen where you then "glide" over California! While you are gliding, you can smell the oranges in the orange grove as you soar over, you can feel the arctic chill from the snow in the mountains and the wind is blowing in your hair. It was really the most amazing ride that we did that whole trip! We wanted to do it again and again, but it was just too long of a wait for us! Anyone headed to Epcot, you must do this ride! After Soarin, we walked right back on the boat ride in the Land...Emyley insisted!

Next we headed to the Imagination Pavilion and rode Journey into Imagination with Figment. This was a pretty silly ride, and the girls really like it a lot. When you get done with that ride, you exit through the Image Works Kodak What If Labs. It is a fun place where kids can make music by moving their arms, jump on pictures to make sounds and email a cool picture of your family to yourself (still haven't gotten it, though). On the way out, we found the upside down waterfall, which was a question the girls needed answered for their Disney journals!

When Bill went to get our stroller he discovered that we received a dream (kind of)!!!! This is the Year of a Million Dreams at Disney and people can win all sorts of prizes from a night in the Castle to fast passes for every ride. Well, sitting on top of our stroller were 3 dream fast passes! Some of the rides had already been used on it, but the main one: Mission Space, had not. So Hayley got her wish and was able to ride it again! This was very exciting and we thank whoever had picked our stroller out of the millions parked in the same spot to drop off their passes!!!

But before heading to Mission Space again, Bill wanted to go to France for an eclair and I wanted to see the Beast. By this point, I was pretty much ready to leave the park, though as my feet were hurting again. Well, one thing we didn't realize last time we were at Epcot, is they have boats that will take you across the big lake in the middle to the countries! So, we departed Canada and docked in Morocco. Took a quick jaunt to France, got the eclair, missed the Beast and boarded the boat back to Canada all in about 20 minutes! LOL!

Then it was off to Mars for Bill and Hayley, and then off to our resort. We did pretty good, though. We arrived around 8:00am and stayed until 6:00pm! Bill was pretty disappointed since every trip we have taken to Disney, he has missed the Illuminations fireworks. So, we made plans to sit on the dock at our resort and watch the Magic Kingdom Wishes fireworks instead. There was just no way I was going to make it back to Epcot!