Day 2-Epcot

After a great nights sleep we felt energized and ready to tackle another day at Disney. Today was a blue day, but it ended up being a little chilly and super windy so we all had on jackets most of the day. I didn't plan to have matching coats. I'm not quite that good.


  We planned on going back to Magic Kingdom-we had studied the map and had our day all planned out. When we approached the parking gate though, they said that they were at capacity! We had to either pick a different park or not go. We decided to make it an Epcot day, and it turned out that Epcot was a favorite for our kids this vacation. We loved it. It combines learning with the magic of Disney.

We went to the great "big ball" as the girls called it, and afterwards to a series of stations that test different things to show how your body works-a 3D mock surgery , a reflexes game, a driving game, and fun hockey electricity game. We tried to do as many things as we could inside since it was so windy-and there was plenty to do. The kids loved the Innoventions building where they got to be part of a video game and then play it with their pictures in it. They have it so you can input your email address and they will send it to you to play on your home computer. It was fun to be home and get to play it again.

The other place the kids really enjoyed was the Nemo ride with a small aquarium to walk through afterwards. There were seahorses and these really cool camouflage fish. If Austin and Brianna wouldn't have pointed them out to me I would have thought they were pieces of coral.

We stayed for the fireworks show afterwards which was neat to see, but I think the best part of the day was when we went to our car. Now, don't get me wrong it was a great day and I love Disney as much as the next person, but as we went to the car almost the whole parking lot was empty and our kids had so much fun just running free over this massive arena of cement. There is something to be said about the simple things in life. There were shouts of real laughter and joy as they raced each other and jumped over orange cones. They found an abandoned wheelchair in the parking lot, so of course we had to race around in that for awhile.


This all led me to evaluate our visit to Disneyworld, and I have come upon the idea of what my children enjoyed most, and what that might in tale if I were to create my own theme park. I think the rides would be along the lines of these:


Ride #1-You enter a maze of metal poles-you know the kind you might find dividing the lines where you may have to wait for a ride. The ride (or game) is that you just climb all over them. You swing on them, run through them as fast as you can, jump from them, watch that your fingers don't get stepped on from the person climbing beside you, try to shake them until they come apart, and then do it all over again.


Ride #2-This one is a little more on the daring side. It involves all kind and shapes of cement walls that you jump on to. Most are two feet high, but some are as tall as eight feet high. You try to scale them, jump on and from them, run as fast as you can on them, all while dodging other people. If you miss stepping on one of them, you have to start all over again.


Ride#3-This is one I like to call "Throw food at the tame amusement park animals and then try to catch them " ride. It involves mostly little sparrows, ducks, and a few squirrels.


Ride#4-This ride is when you are pretty tired from all the other attractions and just want to rest. It involves riding up and down the escalators. That's it-just riding. It sounds boring, but believe me I think the line would be pretty long for this one. At least six Starbucks would be at the front of it.


Ride #5-Though this one involves the same technology of moving from one story to another as the last game-the object is quite a bit more competitive. It is made up of an elevator, and when the elevator door opens you race inside and fight (okay fight seems like such a harsh word for an amusement park. How about you "challenge") the other people in the elevator to see who can push the buttons first. If you push your button first-you win. Now the bonus round includes pushing the "keep doors open" button until it beeps-the longer and louder it beeps the more points you get. Now, if you push the alarm button-you lose and the game is over.


Ride#6-Now this one isn't a ride, and I am pretty sure I will get flack from others thinking it isn't a very politically correct game, but none the less I know it is one that the Starbucks will love. I will preface this with the mind-behind-the-magic of this game. Since Austin was about 4 he has had an obsession with midgets (are you seeing where the politically correct part is coming in here?) He can spot one a mile away, and just loves them. He would always ask me if he could have a midget for a brother.
Well, the object of this game is to keep a running tally over your whole stay at the park of how many "Mini-Mickey's" you can see. whoever sees the most-wins. Now if for some reason you make a mistake and say.. I don't know..point to one who really isn't one and yell real loud, "Mom, that looks like a midget".. um yea you lose in that case as well. Also, if you find one that is the body guard to one of the Disney princesses-you guessed it-double points.


The concessions at our park would consist of Skittles that your sister drops on the ground that you so loving retrieve for her and hand back, and water from the local display fountains.