Wednesday was EPCOT day. We got there a little late, just because it is difficult to get the gang moving in the morning. We started in the Finding Nemo ride since it was right near the entrance. It was a simple ride which was geared toward preschoolers, and I guess Amanda liked it okay. We also did an interactive movie thing with the sea turtle from the movie, but it didn't really excite her much.
We then made it over to Norway to ride the Maelstrom, which sounds way more awesome than it actually is. It's a water ride with a little drop, but Amanda really liked it. Se got a little scared by some trolls that made an appearance, but she is at the point where she likes the drops in rides like this.
After Norway, it was Mexico time, and they have a little water ride with no drops. What it DOES have is some little dancing dolls reminiscent of It's A Small World, so Amanda liked it a lot. In fact, Small World will probably end up being her favorite ride here. Oh, well. There's no accounting for taste, I guess.
After Mexico, we got some fish n chips in England and went to ride Soarin', which is a hang glider simulator where you fly over California. Amanda was a little cautious going in, but she seemed to like it ok, even though she declined the opportunity to ride it again.
By this point it was time to head back to the hotel for naps since we planned to come back that evening for dinner and fireworks. And after Reagan's nuclear meltdown the night before, we were taking no chances. The naps went well, and we went to catch the bus back to EPCOT. We must've waited about 30 minutes for a bus, which completely sucked. I could go on about the bus service here, but apparently I decided to make this a family blog a while back.
Anyway, dinner in Mexico was really good, and we had time to ride the Mexican river ride again before fireworks. Yay. We watched the fireworks/light show while walking around the big lake. It was okay, but nowhere near as impressive as the Magic Kingdom fireworks were. I got a funnel cake, which was also nowhere near as impressive as I was expecting it to be.
When the fireworks ended, we wanted the crowds to die down a bit, so we went into The Land to ride their boat ride tour through the fascinating world of agriculture!!!!!! I mock, but it was actually pretty cool. Amanda had all sorts of questions about the weird produce they were growing, and I was able to crack wise about hydroponic pot farming without her knowing what I was talking about. Disney actually uses the produce grown there in some of the restaurants, which may explain why I saw something called "Swiss chard" on several menus. From the taste of it, I'm guessing "chard" is what the Swiss call grass clippings.
By the time we left The Land, the throngs had dispersed enough where we were able to catch a bus back to the hotel with relative ease. It was another late night, but both girls did great.
Now might be a good time to mention something cute that Reagan has been doing on most of the rides, especially on the boat rides. Susan usually holds her on her lap, and as soon as we get settled in our seats, Reagan just lays her head on Susan's chest and keeps it there. She keeps her eyes open, but you can just see how secure she feels. It's really sweet.
Thursday was Hollywood Studios day, and again we had a bus from Heck. It was packed and probably took us about 45 minutes to get there, thanks to having to stop at the Fort Wilderness Campground to pick up a bunch of unshowered, inbred smokers. Ew.
Hollywood Studios was probably the park that had the least to offer Amanda, mostly because she hasn't really ever watched the movies or the Disney Channel shows that feature prominently in the attractions. We saw a live stage show that had puppets of Mickey and some others that she seemed to enjoy, and a live, 17-minute Little Mermaid stage show was pretty cool. Amanda knows a little about the movie, so she was at least interested in it, even tough she got pretty scared of the villain.
We had a character lunch at Hollywood &Vine, and the characters were from TV shows Amanda hasn't really seen! Still, she liked a character named "June" from a show called "Little Einsteins," primarily because she was a girl. I guess we'll have to start watching that one.
After lunch, it was time for Star Tours (the Star Wars ride) which was my main reason for wanting to come on this trip. Ha ha. Just kidding. Kinda. We decided Susan should ride first to see if Amanda would like it, and if so, Amanda would ride it with me. Turns out it was probably too intense for Amanda, so I rode it with Christi, Robert, and Jackson.
But while Susan was on Star Tours, I took Amanda (and Reagan) to a "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" playground, and Amanda rode a little slide there about 900 times. I only mention this because of a thought I had while she was doing it. I had seen a boy who was probably 6 or 7 go down the same little slide very, very cautiously, and the thought I had was that, while Amanda can be very timid in the face of some activities, at least she's not a wimpy little boy.
After Star Tours, we came back to the hotel so we could finally use the pool here. While Reagan napped and Susan got ready to go to the Sugarland concert with Christi, I took Amanda swimming. The big pool here has a short water slide, and Amanda has been saying she wanted to ride it all week. While the slide is short, it has a few turns and goes through a tunnel, so I fully expected her to change her mind when the time came, especially since I had to be at the bottom to catch her and wouldn't be at the top to "encourage" her. But I sent her to the top like it was nothing and waited at the bottom. And waited. And waited. Then she come barreling around the last turn right into my arms. And she loved it. In fact, she loved it so much that she didn't want to do it again. I ultimately rode It with her (against the rules, it turns out), and it's pretty intimidating from the top, so I am absolutely stunned (and proud) that she actually did it the first time by herself.
Ok, I'm gonna wrap this up now. After the pool, the evening was uneventful, except that Reagan absolutely lost it during her bath again, but she recovered pretty quickly. Not sure what's up with that, but I hope it stays in Florida.
We've got one more day at Magic Kingdom tomorrow before rolling out on Saturday.
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