Part 7: Disney World! : Epcot here we come!

In the last post I mentioned that Cal got a fever at the end of our first day at Disney while we were eating at 1900 Park Fare.  In the morning after a good night's sleep he still had a fever of about 102.

Oh, beans.

We really had no idea what to do.  One of those situations where you and your husband just kind of stare at each other and feel like you should have some kind of answer but nothing forms.  I am not good with driving and navigating directions and the like and didn't feel comfortable just heading off with Emma and leaving Nick to watch Calvin.  I also didn't want to stay with Calvin because this was my first time to Disney and it was Emma's too...I didn't want to miss the joy Emma experienced.  But the biggest obstacle was that this little boy of ours had been so excited to go to Disney...we didn't want to make him sit in a hotel room all day while his sister got to have all of the fun.

So after talking it over and talking with Cal we decided to try to lower his fever with ibuprofen, throw him in the stroller, and just go.  Cal said he could do it, we felt confident and so that's what we did.  It really did work well for us.  Besides when you spend oodles on a vacation the last thing you want to do is not be able to enjoy it due to sickness.

Sidenote: I will say that I do try to be a good mother.  I was asking him all day if he felt okay and he assured me he did...I would not have dragged his body all over the known world had he been sick, sick.  But it seemed he just had a fever with no other symptoms.  We did lots of hydration, lots of rest, lots of shade.

We headed out for breakfast at 8:10 A.M. at Akerhaus.  We would have had to catch a shuttle to Epcot at about 7:30, so we opted to drive to Epcot.

* I really recommend driving.  I know lots of people swear by Disney transportation and it is so nice they have it.  But for us it really worked so we could leave later for things and we could leave when we needed to and go back to the hotel.  It's no fun waiting for a shuttle or monorail when your kids have lost it and just need to go to sleep.  Carrying sleeping children (and water bottles and strollers and bags...) is no fun either.  PLUS when you stay at a Disney Resort parking is FREE which is a definite plus in my book!

 Eating at a place in a resort before it opens is amazing as you get to go in before everyone else and the place is basically deserted!  It was amazing.  The picture above is our first glimpse of the ball.

Here we are!  Can you tell we're excited???  I will also say that as neat as Disney is, at Epcot I kept felt like saying "ugh, the 80's called and it wants it stuff back :)"  I felt like I could have enjoyed it more if I had aqua-netted the crap out of my bangs and pegged my jeans.  But I digress... :)

Here's where we were headed to...Akerhaus!  We were so excited.  It was in the Norway part of Epcot.  So cute and amazing!

*If you've never been to Epcot it's helpful to think of the place as two different lands...there's regular Epcot with rides and the ball and fountains.  Then there's the "Around the World " part with different countries represented and such.  Epcot is huge!!! and very spread out so wear good shoes! :)

Cal with the Viking Statue.  He was apparently acting like a Viking.  You see that right?  All Vikings are clean cut cute little boys standing calmly around :)

I must tell you, I took a ton of pictures of buildings.  I didn't want to miss details.  It really is amazing all of the intricacies of the place.  They really do make you feel like you are in another land.  Okay, maybe not another land, but they do a great job with the buildings and the atmosphere.

At the front of Akerhus right when you go in you can get your picture taken with Belle.  The kids loved that and our meal package included pictures of the kids with Belle that their photographer took.  My photographer (Nick of course, heehee) couldn't get a great photo around their photograher so I left that one out of here  :)

Once we went in there was a nice buffet...mainly of normal breakfast foods but there was also a lot of Norwegian foods...pastries, pickled fish and the like. We always make the kids try different foods and it was nice to at least try them although I didn't find anything that even I could stomach :)

The nice part of the buffets and meal plans is that drinks are included.

While you are eating the Princesses come around and meet you.

This is one of the only places you can meet Ariel which was the main reason we went with this character meal.  She was so nice and so funny when the kids were asking her questions.

After meeting Snow White she took the kiddos on a little parade around the restaurant with the other princesses..  The kiddos really had a great time.  On a side note I always feel bad for Emma that I passed on Island hair to her :/  But isn't she gorgeous???

After breakfast when we left the restaurant the park was already opened which was super nice!  The one thing Nick had said he wanted to do was to ride "Soarin' " so that's where we headed to.  I don't know if it was the lights, the sounds, the enclosed space, a mixture, or what but Cal freaked out waiting.  This was the first time we asked about using our pass for his Autism and it really saved us.  Cal stims when he gets mad in that he acts like the hulk (he does Hulk arms) and screams...lovely, right?  Imagine that for a 45 minute wait and you've got us in line.  

So our "flight attendant" got us in to the ride.  Thanks Dude!  It was such a fun ride.  The children have no recollection of going on this ride.  Maybe they had their eyes closed the whole time.  I can't really explain it to you but I'll try.  The ride picks you up and kind of moves you into a round movie screen area.  You then watch scenes and it feels as if you're "soarin"  ha!   When you're at the beach it smells like beach and a mist hits your face...its pretty unreal.  No, scratch that, it was very real!  And so much fun! :)  Highly recommended.  And even though the kids don't remember it they didn't scream or anything through it so that's nice.

Had to include this photo..our Emma just being goofy.  Trying to pass the time with Cal in line.  

After Soarin' we checked out the other things in the front half of Epcot.  Basically everything except the countries.  I have to be honest, in writing this a few weeks (uh-hem, throat clearing) later it is hard to remember what all they liked at Epcot.  But I do know they loved the Finding Nemo area called "The Seas with Nemo and Friends". These birds were outside.  Saying "mine, mine, mine, mine..."  The kids LOVED it!  I think they looked at them a total of 5 different times.  They were so silly!

 These kids are in heaven being at Disney!  And aren't they just the cutest?  They loved seeing all of their fishy friends and I adored seeing their smiling faces enjoying every minute of it.

 One of the things to do at the Seas is Turtle Time with Crush. It's an interactive event where the kids sit and talk to Crush and he'll answer questions.  It was the cutest little thing I've ever seen!  One of the kids kept asking him if he toots or things like that and the turtle kept acting like he couldn't hear him.  It was so funny how he averted from questions he wasn't going to answer.

*A tip is inside the Seas there is a HUGE aquarium and a play area...this would be a PERFECT place to find refuge if it starts raining while you're at Epcot.  Also, the water is very peaceful and there are some darker rooms with fish...this might be just the place if you have a fussy one in a stroller you're trying to lull to sleep.

Here's the sign of the Nemo area.  We ate lunch at The Coral Reef in this building as well.  It is a restaurant with kind of like stadium seating and the front wall is a window into the huge aquarium I mentioned above.  We requested a table in front of the aquarium and we got a perfect one!  There are tables right at the glass but people kept coming up and taking pictures over the people sitting there.

We got a table right at the same level as those tables but across the aisle.  We were in a large c-shaped booth, all P-Diddy style.  And my tip about aquariums getting kids to nap rings true in that this knocked Cal out.  Out, out.  Stretched out snoring, missed everything out.

But the meal was phenomenal.  And they give you a fish list and then you can look for those fish to swim by. It was a lot of fun and kept Emma entertained throughout the entire meal.  A huge thanks to our cousin Lisa for recommending this place!  You can view the Coral Reef's Menu here.  I recommend the creamy lobster soup...very yummy with large chunks of lobster!

 I have tons more to write about Epcot so stay tuned for more!  I'll leave you with this picture of our sweet boy clobbering an ice cream sandwich!  Little boy's get hungry!  A lot!  So glad he got his belly filled with ice cream on vacation :)

And as always if you have any questions or something you want my opinion on, don't hesitate to ask :)