Disney, Part 5

Thursday was an open day and it had us heading back to Epcot. This was the only day for us to go to a park that had 'Extra Magic Hours'. We chose Epcot for the morning due to its staying open late for resort guests and it seemed to workout ok. We arrived early once again with Jen's parents, got a quick pre-rope drop picture with Daisy and went straight to Soarin. I convinced Emma to ride it again if we sat in the third row, which stays the lowest on the ride. She actually did just fine the second time and probably could've ridden it again... but oh well. After that we hoped right onto the Living with the Land boat tour... some pretty interesting growing techniques they have going on there. Next, we snagged some fast passes for Mission:Space and headed over to the Universe of Energy show. After watching Ellen magically learn about alternate energy, Jen's parents and I used our FPs and went on the mild version of Mission:Space. I can't imagine what the more intense version is like.


Next we finished off our sack lunch and hit the other side of the lagoon. The girls enjoyed finishing off their passport stamps, decorating their country masks and got to visit once again with Belle and Aurora. We purchased some very tasty pastries in France, watched the Viva le France show and O' Canada. For some reason the girls didn't have any desire to meet up with the other Disney characters along the way (Mary Poppins and Alice in Wonderland to name a couple) but that was fine with us. When we finished, we met up with Jen's parents (who were doing the other side of the lagoon) and headed home for a rest (aka kids go swimming) and dinner.


That evening we finally put our Park Hopper option to use and the 4 of us headed to Magic Kingdom. It had early morning 'Extra Magic Hours' so our hope was that a lot of people used that and it would be a light crowd in the evening. First up was meeting Ariel to complete the girls' autograph books, then we headed to the tomorrowland speedway for one of the girls' favorite rides. Emma drove with me doing the pedal but Abby did both by herself with Jen just along for the ride. They had a blast! Next, we headed across the park for the Country Bear Jamborie and the Enchanted Tiki Room (both childhood memories for me). During this time the rain started showing up and we finally put our host of poncho's to use as we headed back to fantasyland to ride the tea cups. That was followed by one more ride of Small World (while most of the crowd was out wondering if the parade would run) and then the real downpour showed up.

Since the outside rides were now closed (which canceled any return plans to the speedway or me getting to ride Big Thunder Mountain) we headed out. The parade indeed was canceled and Main Street was fairly open for us to walk on during the rain. We elected for the fairy ride as the monorail line was quite long and checked out the fireworks from the parking lot. As a future reference, the fireworks appear very visible from the ferry station at the transportation center and really helps you to beat the crowds. We said goodbye and goodnight to WDW and all its magic.