Epcot, Imagination, and $7 Ponchos

So our third full day was spent at Epcot. Most adults say that this is their favorite place of all the Disney Parks. Think it is the German Beer at the World Showcase?? Since the kids were our focus, we never even made it to a single country. It's shocking, I know!

There are lots of cool things at Epcot, and they have made a lot of changes since I was there in 5th grade. I was relieved that my favorite thing about Epcot was still there: FIGMENT! And I also learned that David's favorite thing about Epcot as a child was Figment, too! We found out that we both had the same purple dinosaur toy after our respective trips. How cool! I knew there was a reason I married him. . .And the kiddos got to see and love Figment, too.

We started our day in "Spaceship Earth" inside the huge golf ball. Jessa made up her mind before we even got in line that she was not going to like it. So she didn't. But the rest of us did!

Jessa said she was scared because it was dark,

but Spencer kept saying "I not scared. I a tough boy!"

Spencer rocked the Santa Hat for a 2nd straight day.


The highlight for all of us was the Finding Nemo stuff. It was the updated version of what used to be "The Sea." Our kiddos are all about fish and aquariums. They had tanks with fish from Australia - much like the characters in the movie. They were SO cute checking out the fish, calling "DORY!?" and "NEMO!?" looking for them. We all enjoyed the tank with sting rays like Mr. Ray from the movie.

Perhaps they come by their love of watching fish honestly? Who is that big kid with the pink ears? HA!

Jessa posing with NEMO!

They made themselves at home checking out the dolphin tanks!

I swear they would have stayed right there ALL day!

"Turtle Talk" with Crush was somewhat disappointing for Jessa. In case you have not heard of this, the kids sit at the front of a room with a "tank" in front of them. Crush, a turtle from Finding Nemo swims up and really talks to the kiddos. The person providing his voice can see the kids because he says things like, "Hey, dude in the orange shirt, what's your name, dude?" And the kid in the orange shirt says, "Matt." And Crush says, "Hey, Matt, dude!" All the kids think that is magic and amazing and REAL! Jessa was disappointed because even though she raised her hand, Crush never talked to her. She did get to tell him "bye" over the microphone, but that was not enough! Daddy to the rescue - David ran ahead of us to the gift shop and bought her a Crush to talk to anytime she wants!!

I mentioned Figment, who we found at the Imagination Institute. The kids enjoyed riding through a journey into imagination. The song was the same as I remembered. My Daddy sang it to me forever after our trip! The kids and I bought David a Figment toy to remind him of the one we both had when we were younger.

David snuggling with his brand new Figment!

We also rode "The Land" boat ride. You sort of ride through different times and climates. At the end, you ride through these green houses. The kids were so funny yelling out the fruits or veggies that they saw growing. I was most impressed with Jessa hollered, "Look, there's squash!" And she was right!

We had to try to spend time inside because the weather was not turning out to be so good. There were sprinkles all day long. Well, when we went to leave the Imagination Institute, it was raining - hard. Did we have some umbrellas in the car? Yes. Did we even discuss bringing them? Why, yes, we did. But none of that mattered at this point because here we were, in the rain. So I see people whipping out their Disney Ponchos. These fancy items are basically a clear piece of plastic with a Disney Logo stamped on the back. But the law of supply and demand tells us that we need the ponchos, so we will pay whatever they are asking, right? So $14 later we had 2 child ponchos to protect our precious children. The adult ones were $8 a piece, so we decided to tough it out.

Jessa was all about the poncho.

Spencer was not. So he got wetter, but they both ended up asleep in their strollers, in the rain.

He would not put his on, so we had to slide him into it after he fell asleep to keep him somewhat dry on the way to the car.

We are talented, no? And yes, he could breathe. I am sure because I checked like 50 times in a 10 minute walk.

We realized we had done everything that they were tall enough to do, except for the World Showcase, so we called it a day. We were all cold, wet, and tired. Spencer was still asleep when we got back to the hotel.

How cozy does he look?

We still had one more day to finish up the other parks, so we changed clothes and joined Spencer for an afternoon nap. . . What a nice way to finish the day, don't you agree??