Fantasy Round 2: Pre-Cruise!
Day 3 [part 1]: Epcot Flower and Garden Festival!
Hurray! Nice day at Epcot. Featuring to the left: bush statue Daisy!
Because we travel from Canada, and with our dollar being so terrible, the entire trip ended up costing us quite a bit even with our discounts. Plus my parents weren’t REALLY quite that ready to shell out roughly $125 a day for parks. This was why we decided to do the three days prior to the cruise, with only 2 of them in the parks. Magic Kingdom was the obvious choice for the one day, and the other we chose to do Epcot. If it were up to Glendon and I, we would have wanted them to do the three days so that we could do a half day morning in Animal Kingdom then half day evening in Hollywood Studios, but that would have meant another day park ticket, as well as park hopper. My sister thought was was insanely way too many dollars. SO we chose to have a full day at Epcot and World Showcase. Helped that it was also Flower and Garden festival! This excited my mom and dad.
(How do you guys decide which park to go to when on a time crunch?)
We started the morning with yet another breakfast at Captain Cook’s. Originally we wanted to have a sit-down meal at either Ohana or Kona Cafe because we were getting pretty tired of the quick service breakfasts… but we slept in. SO we decided we rather spend it at the parks so we just quickly ate some bagels and toast.
After that we popped onto the monorails and headed over to Epcot! I think I’m going to do this post just a touch differently and just post all our most memorable photos. We didn’t really have a day plan, just more of wandering and checking things out! So here we go! (I have no idea what they call those green character bush statue things, so I will just be calling them bush statues.) [EDIT: I have just been informed by Glendon that their proper name is called TOPIARY... but as I've already called them as bush statues they will continue to be bush statues in this post.]
Fresh Epcot! And a gorgeous Spaceship Earth
Bush statue Mickey!
Dad and mom with the Spaceship Earth background
Bush statue Elsa and Anna!
Momma loved the floating potted plants in the water
We spent a glorious few minutes watching the manatee eat lettuce. They are so interesting to watch, such a large animal!
So I could watch it over and over again haha.
Nemo at home haha.
One of my favourite rides at Epcot is Living with the Land. I LOVE going through the greenhouses and seeing everything being grown.
(Have any of you ever done the walking tour before? I’ve always been curious but not sure if it’s worth paying for haha)
We stopped in Innovations to do the Sum of all Thrills! Glendon and I had heard some rumours that they might be taking it out so we thought we should take my family to at least try it out haha.
Michelle and Glendon designing their coaster. They wanted as many loops and flips as they could fit in!
Mom and dad unsure of how to design their coaster haha. “Nothing upside down!!”
Here is Glendon and Michelle with their finished product
Here is mom and dad riding their coaster. Mom is the one sitting closer to us haha. No loops or flips, but if you listened closely you can still hear her “AHHH” “WHOOOOAAA” even though she said afterwards it was not scary at all ahaha.
More floating pots
Minnie Mouse and Pluto bush statues!
Photo Pass!
Flower and Garden time is just so gorgeous!
Mom and dad loved the orchid garden area
“How do they grow them so nice??”
Mom and dad in front of the Mexico pavilion
Norway! Frozen ride was still under construction while we were there
Mom and dad in front of the Temple of Heaven in the China pavilion
Fun fact: a few years ago my family and I did a family vacation to Beijing and we got to tour the actual Temple of Heaven in China. This one in the World Showcase really is a fantastic model of the real one where it is hollow on the inside. But when you see the real one in person, it is magic. Built with all wood and no nails. It’s HUGE and definitely worth a see if anyone is doing world travels.
Pond area in China pavilion
We stopped at Nine Dragons for lunch, and each of us just ordered a lunch special, which came with a choice of appetizer, entree, and dessert. Here is my dumplings. (I think the other options were soup or spring rolls)
Entree. I forgot what this was. Mu Shu something? My mom and I both ordered this one. But Glendon, my dad, and Michelle ordered the Kung Pao chicken and that one was really really good.
Michelle and Glendon both had the strawberry red bean ice cream. They loved it.
I cannot for the life of me remember what the other option was for ice cream. I THINK it’s sesame? Something like that. Either way, mom and dad loved it haha.
Bush statue Donald! With Huey Dewie and Louie following behind
To be continued… After lunch!