Disney World Part 2: Epcot day

August 12, Wednesday

I'm so glad we're all here in Disney World! I got up at 6 AM. Five of us had to take turns showering so it took us a while to get ready. Our goal was to be at the bus stop at 7:30 AM and we did really well. I think it was 7:25 AM when we walked out the door of the Villa. As we were walking to the bus stop, we saw an Epcot bus pass us by so that was a bummer. I had told everyone we were going to the Peninsular Road bus stop but they all headed to the Miller's Road one and that ended up being fine. Emily told us that you can actually see the bus times on the app so that's really nice to know. There's a bus about every 12 minutes so we got on at 7:41 AM and it took us right to Epcot. By the time we got into the park, it was about 8 AM. I miraculously made it through security just fine and Daniel was the only one who got stopped. We got a picture in front of the Epcot ball and then we headed over to the early entry entrance. Nathaniel, Audrey, and Charlie headed for Frozen and the rest of us headed for Guardians. I think it was about 8:20 AM by the time we got in line. It was 9:15 AM when we got on the ride. I love that ride so much! The song we got was September. Nathaniel, Audrey, and Charlie were all in the Norway area after riding Frozen so we met them at Club Cool. We all tried the sodas. The Beverly was terrible, like everyone said it would be. Nathaniel and Audrey didn't think it was that bad. Brandon met us there and met everybody that he hadn't met yet. Then it was time to head to our Mission Space lightning lane. Dad rode the green side and Michael and the boys rode the orange side. Emily and Brandon went to Mexico. 

Audrey and I hung out with Charlie in the playground by the ride. 

Once everyone was off Mission Space, we walked over to Remy's Ratatouille Adventure. Most of us had lightning lanes except for Emily, Brandon, Andrew, and Jonny so they went in the single rider line and actually got through the ride way before we did. We got held up because somebody vomited in the front car so it slowed us down but it was really a fun ride. 

After that, we headed over to Biergarten restaurant and got checked in a little before noon. They got us into the restaurant pretty quickly. There were 11 of us total. We all enjoyed the buffet. They have so many delicious things and I really love their schnitzel, mac & cheese, and pretzel rolls. For dessert that apple strudel is so good and I doused it with caramel. Nathaniel and Audrey and Charlie headed straight for the villa. They decided to walk to Beach Club and take a Minnie Van. Dad was so exhausted and he left at that time, as well. We finished our food and watched a little bit of the show and then it was time to head to our Soarin lightning lane. 

We decided to take that opportunity to take the boat across the lagoon. It took us from Germany to Canada. We didn't have to wait very long for it to come back and take us over there. I really wanted to do the boat so I'm glad we got that done. Once we got off the boat, we walked over to the Land pavilion and used our lightning lane for Soarin. It was Soarin across America and it was really cool. I really like the part in the Grand Canyon and where they had the cattle it smelled like grass. Next, we went on Living with the Land. Then we walked over to Guardians to use our lightning lane. The bummer was it was past our return time by the time we got there but luckily there's a grace period. 

We realized that we had two extra lightning lanes. Actually, we had three but Brandon used Audrey's. Then we still had Nathaniel's and Pappas to use. So Jonny and I rode it again. The first time we rode it, we got Disco Inferno and we got Disco Inferno the second time as well. 

The rest of us had a lightning lane for Ratatouille, but Emily, Jonny, and Andrew all got one for Test Track instead.

After the first ride with everyone, Michael and Daniel decided they wanted to walk around the world showcase so they went to do that and Emily, Brandon, and Andrew went to connections café to get a drink. Jonny joined them and I headed to the bus stop. I was glad that housekeeping had been there and replaced our towels. I still think it's ridiculous that when you have a place that sleeps nine people there aren't at least nine towels. I'll have to call them to bring us more towels in the morning. I slept for about 45 minutes and then I had to get up and get ready for dinner. Daniel went to the pool by himself and Jonny and Andrew fell asleep. I think Emily napped, as well. Later, they told us a story of how Charlie went up to Jonny and cackled really loudly and screamed loudly to wake up Jonny. Jonny was laughing his head off when they were telling the story. They headed to Magic Kingdom while we were at dinner. They ate dinner at Cosmic Rays. Emily drove us over to the Grand Floridian to go to Citrico's for dinner. It was a very nice dining experience! I ordered the halibut which was the Fish of the day, Michael and Emily both got red snapper, and Brandon got a Wagyu steak. We also ordered truffle pasta as a side to share. They brought us bread to start. Then they brought out amuse buche which is apparently something they do for special guests so that was very nice. They also gave us a complementary plate of thin bacon/ham, cauliflower which was the other side on the menu, and a second order of truffle pasta. It was so nice and we thanked Brandon multiple times. He treated us to the meal and used his cast member discount. Multiple people came up to the table to greet us. The chef and an assistant came up to give us the amuse buche and the chef came out again to give us extra truffle pasta. Emily saw someone named Ahman from Ale and Compass who switched to work at Citrico's now. They gave us a complementary tiny strawberry cheesecake to share which was perfect because we were stuffed. Then they gave us two boxes of chocolates to take with us in a little gold box. Well, two little gold boxes. After dinner, Emily and Brandon said hi to a few people and then we headed to the monorail and took that to Magic Kingdom. 

The parade had just ended and people were waiting for the fireworks so it was a madhouse. It was a giant mob of people that we had to get through to get to our Haunted Mansion lightning lane and by the time we got there and had a bathroom stop, it was already 9:40 PM and I told Michael if we go on the ride we're going to miss the fireworks. He thought we could do both but he was wrong because Emily and Brandon went on it without us and she didn't make it out of there until about 10:15 PM. So we did the right thing by going back to Main Street and watching the fireworks. We found a spot that wasn't a great view but it was better than nothing. Emily eventually joined us and Brandon left as he had planned. We told the other kids what we were doing and they were at Astro Orbiter for quite a while. When we were done we headed over to Haunted Mansion and we rode it. The others went to go get some treats while we rode and then we met up with them in Fantasyland. I stopped in the shop by Mickey’s Philharmagic and got a birthday button for Jonny. 

They were riding the carousel so I got some cute pictures and watched them go around with Charlie. Then we headed over to Winnie the Pooh. By then, it was 11:15 PM and we tried to use our lightning lane but it was kind of too late for that but they let us do it anyway. We had to join the queue on our own without a cast member to help us. That worked out fine. We all rode that and then decided to head over to Peter Pan. I thought it would be a great opportunity and I thought Charlie would love it. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out to be the best idea. As we walked up there, it said the wait was 10 minutes. Then as soon as we got in line it said 25 minutes. Charlie was already tired and the line weaved in and out of a long indoor queue. Nathaniel and Audrey decided they just needed to get Charlie back to the Villa so Audrey took him back. Jonny he wanted to go to Mine train so he left. It was just me and Emily and I told Emily she should go with Jonny and I would be fine by myself. She said she might want to ride it because she never gets to but I told her I'd be fine on my own and that Jonny would like for her to be with him so she went. I rode Peter Pan by myself and it was very nice. 

Then I headed over to Mine Train and I was able to catch up with them in line. That's such a fun ride! 

Daniel's eyes were bothering him and we talked about it in the line but he decided to go on that ride with us and then he headed back to the Villa. In the meantime, Nathaniel had ridden space Mountain by himself. The rest of us headed over to Space Mountain and I waited while Jonny, Michael, Emily, and Andrew rode it. Then we walked over to Tron. It said it was a 60 minute wait and Emily didn't want to wait so she left to get her car. I think it took more like 45 minutes to ride Tron. I gave Jonny his birthday button and we put it on his backpack front zipper. Nathaniel was ahead of us on Tron and made it to the Villa before we did. 

Right now, it's 2:15 AM and we're just getting to our bus stop at the Villa.