Epcot - A really magical place

I love Epcot and I'm always surprised when people say they don't like it or that it's not a good place for kids.  Alright I will admit that the World Showcase is not that kid friendly but do a lap ride the Mexico ride and Norway ride and go back to Future World and then hit the innovation buildings they are great for kids (and somewhere where I really need to do more exploring.

We started our morning with a few Character photos at the Photo Spot (near the fountain, go early and there is no line and if you are the first group there you get a photo will all the characters) while Kyle and Papa got some fast passes for Soaring and Test Track (not everyone was rideing and we could use kid swap so we were able to double up on fastpasses).  After the photos we rode Nemo a few time (a favorite of Tavish's) before Turtle Talk with Crush (super cute).  The weather was remarkably good and Test Track was open so we decided to ride that (Kyle stayed with the boys while the rest of us rode).  Kyle and the boys hung out in the test track building while the rest of us went for a second ride (Kid swap rules, always use it even if someone in your group is not planning on going on the ride).  Inside the building there are lots of interesting concept cars that can keep young kids happy while the older people ride.  Test track is one of my favorite rides but it can be really unreliable so get a fastpass for it early and make sure you ride it early (after it shuts down even the fastpass line can be long. Another tip for this ride is when things are running smoothly this is a good ride to go into the singles line as the ride sits 3 across which lends itself well to single riders).

We moved from test track to Mission Space while Kyle took the boys back to Nemo.  I don't know why but I suck at mission space I alway fail to press my button at the right time, I guess that is why I'm not an astronaut.  Kyle also had quite the adventure with the boys as Callen was having digestive issues and Kyle learned the hard way why it's important to always bring a spare shirt for the adults.  Good thing that Disney has lots of gift shops as we were able to find him a new shirt.

Next we decided that it would be a good time to ride Spaceship Earth but the line was really really long.  I remember from last year that this ride gets really busy in the morning because it's the first ride people see when entering the park so they want to ride it first. But later in the afternoon the line is almost empty because people have either already rode it or forgot about it.  So we decided to try again later.  Our fast pass for Soaring was coming up so we headed to the land and rode Living with the Land boat ride (quite interesting really) before heading to Soaring.  This was my first time on the top level of Soaring and it really does make a difference not have someone feet dangling above you.

It was getting near lunch time so we decided to find some food.  Tavish loves sushi so we headed into Japan for some. Tavish loved the sushi but I had the Udon noodles which were not very good (I had a sausage from Germany instead).  At this point we decided to split up from Nana and Papa and spend some alone time with the boys.  We headed towards Norway so we could ride the Maelstrom but the line was really long we we picked up a fastpass and headed into Mexico.  The Mexico ride was quite short and I must say that it was nice to just be inside away from the humidity for a bit.  We ran into Nana and Papa while we were there so Tavish rode the Mexico ride again with them while Kyle and I took a break.  After Mexico we headed back to Norway, Maelstrom is a great ride and it was too bad that the line was so long or we would have rode it again.

Tavish's highlight of the Day was Ellen's Energy Adventure this is a long ride (45 minutes) but if you have kids that like Dinosaurs than this is a great ride.  While I don't think he got much of the energy talk he sure loved the Dinosaurs.  Next, we figured that it would be a good time to check out Spaceship Earth and see if the line and had died down and we were right there was pretty much no line at all.  This is another interesting ride and Tavish did much better than the last time we had gone when he cried the whole time (not for kids who don't like the dark).  Our final ride before heading to dinner was Figment in ImageWorks.  While the ride is a bit hokey the activities they have after are really quite interesting, as long as there are not lots of people (hit either early in the morning or late in the afternoon).  But we sure did have bad timing with the weather as a huge thunderstorm soaked our stroller (even though it was covered - DisneyWorld could do with some more covered stroller parking).  We all got a little wet on our way to dinner.

Dinner was at the Coral Reef Restaurant.  I must say that I was quite annoyed that we had to wait more than 30 after our reservation time to eat but we did have a good dinner (not the best in Disney but okay).  Tavish really enjoyed watching the fish and we even got to see some scuba divers.

I love Epcot, and while writing this I realized how much of it we missed.  I am really looking forward to going back as long as I can convince my husband.

 Callen sure like Mickey and Tavish was so excited he had to pinch himself to make sure he was not dreaming

 Giving Pluto some love

 But Minnie is his favorite 

 Group shot with Donald

More hugs for Goofy

 I don't like this car

Tavish did NOT want this hat - he loves Cars and we would have bought it for him but he hated it so we saved ourselves $20 

 This is where they grew Cinderella's pumpkin

 We just love Nemo

Adventure Aquarium

Our final stop on our Philadelphia tour was the Adventure Aquarium.  We had a great time until 700 elementary school kids decided to join us.  We figured we were being clever going to a museum on a Monday in February, no school groups visit on a Monday especially in February but boy were we wrong.  We did at least have the Aquarium to ourselves for the first hour and a half.  We made sure that we saw all the touch exhibits and the shark tunnel before the school arrived which was a very smart decision on our part.  There were lots of neat touch exhibits which most aquariums are getting away from.  I understand why from a biological perspective why touch exhibits are bad but they are quite fun.  We touched: sharks, rays, starfish, crabs, lobsters, and jellyfish.  It was my first time touching a jellyfish on purpose (I got stung a few times by small jellyfish when we were in the Bahamas) but this one did not sting.

Jellyfish

Don't loose a finger to the sharks 

Did you see that Ray?

I'd rather play with these Rays

When we had finished all the touch tanks we moved on to the shark tunnel.  In order to get to the shark tunnel you pass by the hippo enclosure and I have never seen such lively hippos (I've see a lot of hippos in my time).  They were moving around like crazy it was amazing. 

Swimming Hippos

The shark tunnel was pretty amazing too but I had a hard time tying to get a good picture with a shark in the background (I need to work on  my photography).  I kinda wish we had come on a Saturday and then I could have swam with the sharks, maybe next time.

 GET ME OUT OF HERE (not a fan)

Oooo, Sharks I like sharks or maybe just my reflection

All in all this was one of the better aquariums that I have been to but unlike the Baltimore and Boston Aquariums this one does not handle 700 screaming kids very well.  We left much sooner than we would have had the elementary school not been there. 

I don't know how they do it

Moms with big families that is.  Last week a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to join her on a trip to the Baltimore Aquarium. And while we had a great time I found it but a bit stressful at times too; see we had five kids and one on the way (she is 7 months pregnant) between the 2 of us.  Add in a couple hundred kids on school trips and wow did we have our work cut out for us.  Keeping an eye on 4 kids going in opposite directions can be really tricky and I must say I did not see much of the Aquarium as I was too busy watching out for our little ones.  How do moms with big families do it and I don't mean big families like the Duggers (the older ones watch the younger ones), I mean the families that have more young kids than hands.  I think my stress level would be through the roof and that was with well behaved children.  I think I'll stick with the two I've got, I like to enjoy the attractions we go to and not worry about missing kids.  We were so busy I didn't even have time to take out my camera.