Disney World {Part 2: Epcot}

Hello there!

Time to recap our second day at Disney. This day was kind of crazy and epically long, so without further ado, here it goes:

CHARACTER BREAKFAST

An early alarm went off {starting to see a pattern here?} and we got ready to head to the character breakfast we had signed up for! We got there right as it began! How convenient! There were snacks galore and several breakfast buffet tables set up.

                                   Snacks & breakfast

We could also see four character locations up in front. I LOVE CHARACTERS! We got in line {thankful that we were early} and were able to get our pictures with 3/4! Merida, Rapunzel, and Ariel! Princess Tiana had to go on a break, I guess.

                      Merida from Disney’s “Brave”

                                                                            Ariel!

After breakfast, we had to zip back on over to the expo and try again for the shoes. The plan was after that was to spend the day happily at Epcot, and meet up with my aunt and cousin in the evening for dinner in Downtown Disney. 

We attempted to take the bus from the Disney-property hotel to the ESPN Wide World of Sports… only to find out that those buses did not start running until 9. Noooo! We knew we had to go immediately because the lady told us the day before that people will start lining up at 6am at the New Balance tent. With a little quick thinking, we took a cab over to the expo.

EXPO {AGAIN}

Now, I am a fast walker. Very fast, actually. My college roommates will begrudgingly attest to this fact. Also, I have some crazy-good “people weaving” skills {and by this I mean being able to quickly maneuver through large crowds… not actually weaving people 😉 Gross}. I was doing my thing, all too aware that everyone I whizzed past was shooting invisible daggers out of their eyes. Sorry, I’m not sorry. I’ve got things to do and places to see! I made it to the tent and went up to a New Balance employee who told me to sign up for a time on his fancy little iPad.  As I was doing so, I was asking him a bajillion questions about the process and everything for the shoes. The problem was, the time slot I was assigned was at 1:00… WHAT ABOUT EPCOT?! My mom and I had to decide if we wanted to wait around almost all day for a pair of shoes that we were not even guaranteed to get, or go to Epcot {which was pre-paid, mind you} and miss out on the shoes completely. I was seriously about to burst into tears. I wanted to go to Epcot {even though I had been ogling the Cinderella shoes for months}, while my mom was squarely in camp sneakers. No fun. 

We left the expo, kind of figuring that if we got the text at 1:00 {assuming they were not sold out for the day again}, then one or both of us could leave the park and come back if we wanted. You only have an hour to pick up your shoes once you receive the text. Can you say stressful?

Because it was still so early, there were no busses running to the parks from ESPN. We decided to hop on any bus to a random hotel and catch their bus to Epcot. A bit annoying, but simple enough… or so we thought. We took a bus to The Dolphin resort. From there, we wandered over to their park bus station and waited. And waited. And waited. I believe we waited for 45 minutes {Busses are supposed to make rounds every 20 minutes} and saw 4 Animal Kingdom busses, one Hollywood Studios bus, and then one Magic Kingdom bus. None for Epcot. I overheard someone say that you can take the monorail from Magic Kingdom to Epcot and I was game! We asked the bus driver to make sure this was true and he said yes. Once at Magic Kingdom, we found the monorail. After asking several other {clueless} employees, one man knew that you can, in fact, do that, but have to be sure to get off at the second stop to switch rails. Good thing we had that info!

After two monorail rides, we had finally arrived at Epcot. Oh, happy day! What should have been a 30 minute TOTAL trip from the expo, we finally made it after several hours and many modes of transportation. 

                                             Epcot

We waited for Coty, my running partner-in-crime, to park her car and meet us at the gate. It wasn’t too long before she joined us! Immediately, I saw Pluto around the corner. Character picture? Absolutely!

                                  My mom, Pluto, Coty, and I

We walked around and went on a few things without my mom, who had to charge her phone. After one very long ride, I came out to a text from my mom saying our shoes were ready and she had left to go get them. Gotta love the woman’s dedication to sneakers! Coty and I went on the Chevrolet Test Track {SO NEAT!} and ran over to try and change our lunch reservation for an hour later so my mom would be back to join us. We were starving! Coty and I found Alice in England and couldn’t not take advantage of this photo op while waiting for my mom.

                                                 Alice in Wonderland

We met my mom back over at the front gate because I had her park ticket on me. Guess what? SHE GOT THE SHOES! A pair for herself, me, and my sister! We are three very lucky girls! We then had lunch at Le Chefs de France; a must try! They have the most divine French Onion Soup in all the world, I swear. So much delectable Gruyere cheese on top. I could die from cheese overloaded- happiness. You can quote me on that. 

                            French Onion Soup

After a late lunch, we walked around the different countries in Epcot and had fun browsing. It really made me want to get started on my traveling goals pronto! It reinforced my desire to visit Germany, England, France, Norway, and others. I was tempted to buy a travel guide from each.

                                           Donald Duck in Mexico

We all left Epcot before dinner and agreed on meeting up later for dinner. My mom and I took a bus to our hotel and found my Aunt Barbara and cousin, Jill. I hadn’t seen them in years! We put our stuff in the room and caught up briefly before setting out {to yet another bus stop} for dinner! My mom and I weren’t terribly hungry due to our late lunch, but wanted to socialize and maybe snack on some lighter fare. 

DOWNTOWN DISNEY

The bus took longer than anticipated and we ended up getting to Downtown Disney half an hour later than our reservation time. We asked an employee for the quickest way to the House of Blues. He informed us it was wayyyy on the other side and taking the passenger ferry was the quickest route. We hopped on the ferry, ready to go! After talking to my family for a while, I looked back to see House of Blues off in the distance. Maybe we are taking the scenic route? After a significant amount of time had passed, we docked at OUR HOTEL. You have got to be kidding me! We soon learned that there are different boat routes. One to the hotels on the river, and the other across the lake, to the other side of Downtown Disney. We switched boats and went back to Downtown Disney. We got back to where we started and made the ultimate decision to speed-walk over to dinner instead of getting on the other boat. 

After all of that, we were nearly an hour and a half late for our reservation and poor Coty had been waiting the whole time. They were still able to seat us and by now my mom and I had worked an appetite back up. The food was delicious and venue really neat. I would go back there for sure!

As you can see, this day revolved around transportation issues and lots of back and forth. The high point for me was getting the shoes, the soup in France, and chatting with my relatives. Such a long day!