Day 6: Epcot

Today we are off to Epcot...  Haylee's choice. 

It was crowded when we arrived so we never took a picture of the symbol for the park...  The kids called it a big golf ball.  I am not sure what it is so we will go with that.  We started out in Future World because the World Showcase didn't open for several hours. 

Haylee and Carson enjoying a futuristic game.

 

Carson's first autograph... well not really.   He has been 2 other times... When  he was 2 months and when he was 2 years..( he just doesn't remember).   I am so glad we took him when he was 2.  It was a much different experience.  He has informed us that he is only getting the "boys" autographs.  So we will see how that goes.

 

As you can see no Carson.. I did get an autograph in his book even though he was not happy about it.

 

Next Carson chose for us to go to the Nemo area.

Enjoying a nice slow, cold ride...

Here's Brucie!!!

Then we watched Turtle Talk with Crush.  The kids (and most adults) love this interactive show.

The building is really one big aquarium full of all different kind of fish, sharks, and sometimes you can see a dolphin.

 



The we rode The Land ride.  This shows how Disney grows their on fruits, vegetables, and seafood.  They also use innovative ways to do this. 

These are potatoes that were growing from the top of this contraption.

We also got Fast Pass for Soarin' since the line for the ride was over 2 hours.

We also rode the cute little  ride call Journey into imagination with figment.

They have a new 3D show called Captain EO.  Apparently it is a movie starring Michael Jackson. 

If you see it once, there is probably no need to see it again.

 

Then we headed to the World Showcase.  Usually I just take pictures of the buildings from each country.  This time, I have the kids in the pictures wearing something or eating from the country.

This time we started out in Canada.

 

Then we made our way to the United Kingdom....and ran into this character...

 

and Carson got into the picture with a GIRL.  Actually Alice convinced him that she was not a princess so he got in the picture.

This sport is also very popular in the UK.  Next we went to France.

As you can see, Belle was not as convincing to Carson.  She  told him she wasn't a princess yet, but he wasn't falling for it.

 Street performers in France.

 

It was finally time for us to use our fast passes for Soarin'.  Carson didn't want to ride so Haylee and I rode together, and then she and David rode it.  This is what Carson was doing during the second ride.

 

Sleepin'... 

 

Then we headed back to the countries and Mexico was up next.

We also saw Donald Duck.

In case you were wondering, David is with us too.

Norway.... the land of the Vikings was up next.

Then we went to China for some Orange Chicken.

We saw Mulan while visiting China.

Italy was up next.

We did a quick tour of Japan before heading to the USA.

USA

Our last stop was in Germany.

We left and went back to our resort so the kids could swim a little before bed time. 

Tomorrow we are heading to Hollywood Studios.

 

Day 5: Disney World.... or maybe not

We were up early again, had breakfast, loaded the car, and headed to our resort for the next 8 days.  We arrived a little early to check in.  We usually stay on Disney property but this time we did not.  The resort offers transportation to the park at a rate of $11.00 per person per day.  That's not going to work nor did we want to pay to park each day.  So our only other option was city transportation.  Once we drove to the other side of Orlando to buy bus tickets, and returned to park our car, it was already noon.  It was the weekend and buses only run every 30 minutes.  So as you can see, our day did not go as planned.  The lesson of the day, stay on Disney property.  It is so worth every single penny that you spend.  Since the day was half over because we had to catch the last bus of the day by 6..again because it was the weekend, we decided to skip the parks.  We went to one of our favorite places to eat Beaches & Cream.  Again, getting to the restaurant was a big ordeal because it was on a resort so by the time we ate it was around 2.  At least the food was good and the kids had a good time.

David and I found this place while on our honeymoon.  The dessert is really the reason to visit.

Fudge Mud Slide....

I think they liked it.

Good to the last drop.

The we went to pick up our tickets so tomorrow we would be ready to hit the parks.  The only place those could be picked was at one of the parks.  So another couple of hours on Disney transportation and we were at Hollywood Studios.  While I took care of the tickets, the kids played.

Monsters are everywhere!!!

Then we headed back for a little shopping and playing at Downtown Disney.

 

As the day began, this is how we felt...

But by the end of the day we were all smiles...

 

 Then we rode the "wonderful" Orlando public transportation back to our resort for a little swimming and relaxing before we hit the ground running at Epcot.
 



Day 4: Gator Country

We were up early again, had breakfast at the hotel and then hit the road.  It's never too early to start exploring college options.   Since we were in gator country, we decided to find the University of Florida.  This was the first part of the campus that we found.

Not exactly what I had in mind so we continue to drive around and finally found the main part of the campus.....including the football stadium.

There were many people out looking around so we decided to park and do the same.  Once at the football stadium, we saw people going inside so we followed along.  All I can say is wow.  There were some athletes running bleachers and less than 50 others just looking around.  As far as I know, this would never be allowed on Texas college campuses.  Most of the time they are gated up and closed by a pad lock.  Not that I am a Florida fan but this was an amazing experience.

We were able to go all the way down to the bottom, just not on to the field.

 

Carson taking it all in....after a tumble down the stairs.

 

 

We can't forget that this is also the home to ....Gatorade..

Maybe we have a future gator in our midst.....she did say that this is a little to far from home.  We will see if she still fills that way when she's 18.

We left there and head to the Orlando area.  Again we have never done anything in Orlando except for Disney World.  Thanks to shows like Swamp People, Haylee is just obsessed with alligators.  Once she found out about Gatorland, she insisted that we go to it.  So we built in an extra day before we were to go to Disney to take in the sites.  I was pleasantly surprised by how big it was and how much there was to do.  The kids were in "gator" heaven.

The line to get in was so long, I dropped David off and I went to park.  To help pass the time in line, they had a worker with a little alligator that the kids could pet.

Haylee did not hesitate to pet it.  Carson on the other hand wasn't so sure.  Finally he petted it and so did I.  The top is hard while the side/underneath part is soft/leathery feeling.

 

Thankfully, I have never seen so many alligators and crocodiles in my life.

 

They were so excited....

 

The first show we saw was the Gator Wrestlin' Show.

 

Then the kids had their chance.

Carson was going to do it then he wasn't and then...

He did it!!!!

Gatorland is located between two swamps.  This was a very cool way to see the swamp up close.  Thankfully we didn't see any critters along the way.

We saw some huge alligators.

They also have a breeding area for alligators and egrets.  We saw several nests that had babies.

Carson had a great time feeding the animals.

Silly kids...

The kids feeding the hungry gators.

 



After this fiery photo, the kids cooled off at the splash ground.

 

 

The last show of the day was the Gator Jumparoo Show.  This is where the dangle meat over the gators to get them to jump out of the water.

 

 

 

Again.. all I can say is WOW...

 

If you can squeeze this in while in Orlando, it's definitely worth the stop.

 

Tomorrow.... DISNEY WORLD BOUND