Thursday, January 13, 2011

Day 3 and Still Going Strong

Today we went to Epcot Center and discovered it's not all that fun for kids.  There are just not that many things to do and it was teeming with foreign tour groups and retirees which made it much more crowded than we'd anticipated.  So, we concentrated on meeting our favorite characters instead, and, as you'll see, got a little carried away.
 
The folks at Disney clearly appreciate that the under 4 feet tall set need special attention at Epcot because they have a veritable character frenzy going on all day long all over the park.

 
Just past the entrance, Stitch and Daisy are ready to wrap you in their "arms."  Only Isaac was willing to pose with Stitch and neither one wanted to stand in line for Daisy.  But, this was just the beginning of a character filled day.

Next, we headed to the aptly named Character Spot and posed with the mouse himself.  Mickey and his friends wait at this spot from 9am to 9pm all day long, every day.  They each have their own section and are lit with photo friendly lighting.  This set-up is perfect for parents who don't want to wander all over the park looking for their child's favorite furry friend.

 Next up, Pluto.

 Then, Minnie.

 And, Donald.  Isaac's second favorite after Mickey.

 Donald was not as popular as Mickey and Minnie so he killed some down time with us.

 Finally, we posed with Goofy.  He knelt down to get closer to the boys and Isaac promptly followed suit.  We talked about visiting these characters for the rest of the day.

 We then headed to the sea pavilion to look for Nemo, we never found him, and chat with Crush, the turtle.  Here is Caleb, posing inside Bruce's very large and toothsome jaw.

 Next, we made our way to the World Showcase.  There are characters scattered about the showcase in the countries that are most related to them.  First up, Mulan in China.  Caleb would only pose with he as long as he didn't have to touch her.  He informed me he didn't like any of the characters that talked.

 On our way to Morocco to see Aladdin, we passed through Germany and decided we absolutely had no desire to meet Snow White.  So, we just looked at her from a distance and kept going.  We waited to see Aladdin and then neither wanted to touch him.  But, Aladdin is very good at this picture game and coaxed them into a photo with high fives and games involving his monkey pal Abu.

 Before arriving in the United Kingdom to visit Mary Poppins, we walked through France and saw Belle and Princess Aurora, neither of which was of interest to Caleb and Isaac.  Thank goodness because the lines to see princesses are insanely long.  The boys were not really impressed with Mary Poppins, and frankly, she was kind of annoying and talked way too much.  But, she was clearly just be friendly, as is the Disney way, and we only spent a couple of minutes waiting to see her.

 Finally, we took the boys to a character dinner where you are guaranteed visits from several characters assigned to that particular restaurant.  We had been promising them they would see the chipmunks there and when they finally did getting them to do anything other than jump up and down was nearly impossible.  Here they are with Chip.  (You can tell which is which because Chip has a chocolate chip colored nose and Dale's nose looks more like a meatball, or so I was told by their handlers.)

 
And, here's Dale.  See the nose?

 Then, Pluto again, and they were just as delighted to see him the second time around as they had been earlier in the day.

And, last but not least, one more shot with Mickey, though he was slightly more casual this time around.  We did do many more things today like test driving cars, soarin' over California, watching dolphins and manatees swim and much more, but those memories will fade and these encounters with our favorite Disney icons will last a long, long time.

3 comments:

Z. Marie said...

Cool that you got to see Donald at the main Character Spot. It used to be that the only place at Epcot they ever had him out was at the Mexico pavilion, and then he's always wearing a sombrero. (And yes, I know way too much about Disney World.)

Megan said...

I always thought the difference between Chip & Dale was the gap (or lack thereof) in their teeth. Now I have a second failsafe! :)

terahreu said...

Lucky, lucky! That looks like SO much fun! I am jealous despite the cold weather.

 

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