Disney World–Epcot Afternoon

I love the Magic Kingdom but Epcot is a close second in my book. I just love wandering around the World Showcase, pretending I’m traveling from country to country.  So much fun.  As soon as we entered we found Mickey and friends with hardly any line at all.

After saying hi to Mickey and Minnie we headed towards the World showcase and past all these beautiful flowers…

CANADA

UNITED KINGDOM

FRANCE   Emily and Dad with the Eiffel Tower behind them…

We got a couple of French éclairs to share.  Can’t pass by the French bakeries without getting a little taste of France!

MOROCCO

JAPAN

We stopped at the AMERICAN ADVENTURE to check out these dolls.  So cute!  Fun to pick out of favorite Disney characters.

ITALY

I love this Italian courtyard – reminds me of the real thing.  (We love this Italian restaurant too but not with 14 kids.)  We took a break and sat on the stairs for a minute and just then Italian men came marching in ready to throw some flags.  It was a fun show and we stayed to watch the whole thing.

…and then we got our picture taken with them at the end.

Then on to our favorite country…

GERMANY

Boy did being here bring back a lot of good memories.  We wandered through the German shops excited to see lots of Playmobil, expensive authentic German nutcrackers, Steins, Cuckoo clocks, German candy and so much more.  Can’t wait to go back!!  We decided Germany was the perfect place to eat dinner.  We ordered paprika chips and delicious brats with sauerkraut and then went back and ordered homemade German noodles and another brat.  So good!

I’ve been to the actual workshops in Seiffen, Germany where these nutcrackers are made.  Fun to see them.  What’s crazy is that they were $275.  When buying them in Seiffen, we could get them for between $50 – $100 US.

 

A few pictures over the lake as we walked from Germany to China.

CHINA

Definitely Luke’s favorite country.  He loves China. In his elementary school they teach Chinese so he started talking to the Chinese ladies who signed his guy on the stick.  He counted for them and said a few things in Chinese and he was pretty excited.

Heading out of the World Showcase we realized we were short on time.  With two good rides to do… Test Track and Soaring – we divided.  The four teens heading off to do Test Track and the rest of us headed for Soaring.  It was a forever line – ugh – but it was worth it.  Love that ride.  Monae got a parent switch pass and no one wanted to go again with her so I went.  So fun.  After that we met up with the teens and headed out of the park.  Love Epcot.

Disney World Trip–Animal Kingdom Morning

We were up and at ‘em early to get to Animal Kingdom before it opened.  Here we are waiting to get in and having a great time…

 

As soon as the games were open we headed straight for the Mount Everest Ride… one of the best roller coasters in all the parks. We walked right on. It’s a fun ride, and the kids especially liked riding up to the broken tracks and then speeding backwards – but once is enough for me.   Chris and the kids went running back in for another ride, while Matt and I waited outside.  We watched the trains come shooting out of the mountain and took lots of pictures.  When they finished Chris stayed with us and the the kids went for round three.

Love this goofy kid.

Waiting with little Ryan.

Next off to Dinoland.  We walked in at the perfect time to follow Pluto and Goofy and take pictures without a wait. Then the little boys rode the Tricera Top Spin while the big kids wrote the Primeval Whirl.  Then onto the big DINOSAUR ride.

We watched the Lion King show while we ate our sandwiches and then went on the Kilimanjaro Safaris.  Fun to ride around and see all the animals.

Our other favorite ride was the Kali River Rapids.  Some of us wore our rain ponchos to avoid getting too wet but the teens chanced it and got soaked.  I think we got video – but no pictures.   Just a few pictures of Animal Kingdom’s Tree of Life before we could leave the park.

A few of the professional Disney pics that came with our photopass…