Day 2 brought us to Epcot. Today we mixed things up a bit. Tawny's parents took the oldest boys and went off pretty much for the whole day together. Leaving us with Abby & Caleb. While we were leaving, we decided to steal Connor and bring him with us, so we had a new mix of kids which gave a fresh take on things.
We dragged our feet a bit getting up in the morning, a combination of the effects of adjusting to the Eastern Time Zone and staying up rather late the night before. By the time we got to the park it was smoking hot yet again, but the clouds were rolling in, which typically helps take the edge off the heat.
The clouds decided to maneuver around the sun which kept it pretty stinking hot. We started to make our way through the park, going through a few of the pavilions looking at different takes on technology. We then walked into one pavilion where there was a Kim Possible exhibit. She's a cartoon cheerleader by day, detective by night and one of the ways they encourage the kids to go around the park is to help her solve a "crime". It sounded good at the time, so we picked up our instructions and headed off to catch the criminals. The kids were ready to conquer the world and first on our stop was Norway.
We got to our rendezvous spot, picked up a cell phone and started to get more clues. The kids were anxious to get more clues and start running around the park ... for all of about 4 minutes. But the heat was sweltering and it soon sapped them of their energy plus we were distracted by the Maelstrom. It was a ride which promised that we "may get wet", so we were all for it. Unfortunately, we didn't get wet, but the time in a/c helped a ton, plus the phone got buried at the bottom of the backpack and finishing Kim's task became impossible. (And I'm sure everyone was okay with that.)
Next we headed towards Test Track which looked like a pretty cool ride, but had a super long line. However, the single rider line was quite short and I remember what renowned world traveler Steve Pratt once blogged/said/tweeted, "when in doubt, use the single rider line". Putting Abby on a ride with a stranger wasn't going to happen, even if we were sitting right behind her, so Tawny, Conner & Caleb got in the single line and Abby & I went in hunt of Nemo.
Quite the opposite of the Disneyland ride which often had huge lineups and ridiculous wait times, with for Florida's version of Nemo we pretty much walked right on. She loved it. All the fish, getting to sit in a shell and all the characters of course. We then made our way to Innoventions where we got to make our own video game with Abby and me as the stars. We also played a "find the fire" game with flashlights and spent a lot of time there and had a blast.
Next we ventured outside and for the 3rd time today passed by the ice cream shop. Well 3rd time was the charm and Abby "convinced" me that we needed an ice cream cone. It was a perfect snack to cool us down and tide us over to dinner, but it left us thirsty. No worries, Club Cool was right around the corner. At Club Cool they have samples of soft drinks from around the world, so we went to do our research and sampled a bunch of different sodas. Abby would later take what she learned and put it to use serving pops to Shane, Becky & Tawny.
Shortly after, we met up with the rest of the group and all was great. Switching up allowed people to do some different things and spend time with different people. For the rest of the time there we split up in different groups and went on different rides that met everyone's tastes.
We then met up again to go on Mission: Space. At the beginning of the ride, you had to go on either the Green Mission or the Orange Mission. As Josh reminded everyone on numerous times, Orange was the brave mission. The group split in half, with the Orange mission people being Josh, David, Shane, Becky, Abby, Tawny & me. The rest went on Green while the grandparents watch Declan.
When you choose your colour, they give you a card with the corresponding colour and a set of instructions. On the orange card there is a warning talking about high blood pressure, bad backs, motion sickness, etc and if you're worried to go on the green ride. Most of the time, that's just a standard warning. Well, when we entered our launching pad, they had the warning again. And then a couple more times before we finally stepped into our spaceship. So we're all thinking "It can't be that bad can it? But if not, why the heck do they keep giving us the warning?" We were in so far there was no turning back, so we all jumped in the spaceship and got locked in. The ride simulates space travel from take off to landing and throws a few Gs at you along with some twists and turns. Abby started off howling with laughter, then she got upset because her cheeks hurt so much, and then silence. Tawny did a great job of comforting her, and I tried my best but about half way through the ride after my stomach did it's 15th flip I started thinking, I may have to use that barf bag right beside me. It was all I could do to calm my stomach down and even thinking about the ride now makes it churn some more.
Thankfully we all made it off the ride safely and without puking despite being dizzy and having our stomachs turned inside out. It wasn't all good for one of the other riders though as she emptied her dinner into a garbage can at the exit to the ride.
A ride on the gentler Soarin' helped calm the stomachs and then we finished the night off with one last ride on Test Track (single riders again, thanks Steve!). And it was all good until the thunder & lightning storm hit, along with a downpour. Cara Lee, Caleb and I were stuck on the track, thankfully inside, David & Connor never made it on the ride, and Shane, Becky & Abby got shot out onto the track right in the middle of the rain. It was an exciting end to a fun day.
The whole day made me think. Epcot is a lot like Expo, with the pavilions and a few good rides that have ridiculously long lines to go on them. As far as excitement goes, it's not on par with the other lands. But the day was still terrific. We're so lucky to have a great family who are also great friends. While an activity can give you a fun time as long as it's a good one, great company gives you a terrific day, every time, without fail regardless of what you're doing! (Cue the sentimental music and group photo.)
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