Florida Day 6: EPCOT

We had "4pm" tickets to EPCOT to meet up with all the rest of the Pizza Ranch crew, but with Ryan not going down for a nap until late afternoon, we sent Adam's parents ahead and we finally arrived at 5:30pm.

We had to take the obligatory "picture with the ball." One son was all cued up and ready to smile and one thought his back was too itchy to take a picture.

I'll let you guess which is which.

We were happy to find a short line for the character greeting and loved meeting Mickey, Minnie, and-one of Ryan's favorites-Pluto.

Mickey Mouse at EPCOT

Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto at EPCOT

Minnie Mouse at EPCOT

Next, we headed to the Nemo attraction, which seemed the most kid-friendly place in this park. The Nemo ride wasn't my favorite and Ryan hated the shark part, but once we hopped out, we went to "Turtle Talk with Crush" which was a fun interactive animation "show". Ryan was disappointed he didn't get to ask Crush a question, but still liked it. After the show we explored the aquarium. This was Ryan's favorite part. We saw lots of fish, but also a dolphin, manatee, giant sea turtle, and some divers.

Turtle Talk with Crush

We had taken the stroller into the building with us at the start of Nemo and didn't realize it was the ride line, so the attendant had to bring our stroller out for us. Unfortunately, she didn't put on the rain cover (understandable) and also didn't pull the shade canopies forward. While we were oblivious in the aquarium, there was a major downpour which soaked the stroller seats and baby carrier. Therefore, Ryan sat on TOP of the rain cover the rest of th enight and Cohen had to be carried everywhere. We learned our lesson about always putting on the rain cover!

We headed over to the Imagination attraction, but since I'd gone on the ride in the morning during our learning activity, I knew Ryan wouldn't really like it since it had some pitch-dark parts, weird blowing sensations and a skunk smell sprayed on you (it's about the senses) so we skipped the ride and just went to the activity part. Ryan made his own dragon, which he named Dutch, conducted an orchestra by waving his arm, and jumped on squares that lit up and played different sounds.

Imagination activities at EPCOT

We grabbed some supper at the Electric Umbrella and then headed to the World Showcase Plaza where we were supposed to meet everyone to watch fireworks. They attendants ended up not allowing us into the special front-row viewing plaza (sometime about lightning, but whatev) so we just kind of watched from where we stood behind a pillar.  Cohen slept through most of the show and Ryan either played with his light-up Mickey ears or covered his (real) ears. 

ECPOT Illuminations Show

With everyone tired and another day of Disney ahead of us, we decided to follow the crowds to the exit after the show.  We had a nice night, but save for the aquarium, I wouldn't recommend taking kids this young to EPCOT.  We all had free 4pm-close tickets, though, so it was a fine outing and some fun fireworks.