Showing posts with label epcot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label epcot. Show all posts

travelling around the world, finale

A random pineapple we passed along the pathway back to the entrance of the park

More topiaries...
Toy Story 3

The Ball!

Us and our Duffy bears...

In case you were curious...the latest rage at Disney are these Vinylmations. They come in various sizes & themes. Some are keychains, magnets, pins, & others are just figurines.

Mom started collecting them & bought 2 more today. The only catch is that they come unidentified...so you have no idea what one you bought until you break open the packaging. Oh, and their non returnable.


mom was hoping for the music one

signed, sealed, delivered, it's yours!

mom didn't have either of these, so she wasn't too bummed


Close up of Duffy...
& mom's foot...

some of the stamps from the countries!

And the Cars passport:

which I passed on to Matt's younger cousin, Cameron.
Look at that nifty button I got for getting ALL the stickers :)
Yes, I'm a kid.

So that wraps up the Epcot trip (I promise no more posts about Epcot). Thanks Aunt Debbie & Ellie for getting us in to the park!!!

If you ever get the opportunity to visit Epcot, you should totally do it. (And then write four posts about it...it's the cool thing to do)

THE END!

travelling around the world, part 3

This is why I ADORE Epcot....the countries.

Stop #1: Canada

If you ever go to Epcot, and you have kids (or are just like me, and you ARE a kid), you HAVE to make sure to hit up the Kidcot area.

Since Canada is the first country we came to, we stopped at their Kidcot to get our Duffy...

professional color-ers

So what's Duffy? Duffy is this bear that has become a Disney icon at the Japan location, so they brought it to the US park. It's on a stick & the purpose is to take it to each country to collect stamps. Epcot also has a passport kit you can buy & take around the countries...but free was more fun :)

The Kidcot areas are presented by Sharpies. So you had a buttload of Sharpies to use to color Duffy.

I was actually a little bummed that they switched to Duffy, because the last time mom came to Epcot, they had masks. You were able to color the mask & then at each country you got your stamp but you also got a string of charms to hang on the mask from that country.

aunt debbie likes to take pictures with her eyes closed

We weren't in Canada long...

Stop #2: United Kingdom


We walked around for a bit to kill time before our noon reservations.



Naturally, we got noticed and were crowned.



Lunch time!

princess table

vegetarian shepherd's pie - delish! mom & i split this,
and we both had sides of the cauliflower gratin

in honor of the "happy couple", will & kate, the restaurant passed out
drinks to toast the newlyweds. hip hip hooray x3
(note to self: it's not customary to then slam down your plastic cup in the "bottoms up position")

Stop #3: France



I was craving a pastry or something. But I resisted the temptation. Instead we collected our stamp on Duffy and discovered that there were FREE passports! So we of course jumped on that bandwagon.

The passports were to promote the new movie Cars 2, which releases early summer.

Stop #4: Morocco
No pictures...pretty sure this is where I found $8 though!
And this is the start of where you can get the Kidcot personnel to write your name on the back of Duffy, in their language.

Moroccan "Nicole" is just squiggles. I could do that.

Something to note: all the "cast" members in each country are actually FROM the respective countries. They are able to write & speak the language.


Stop #5: Japan





Stop #6: USA

It was colonial USA...not modern day.

And I asked the Kidcot guy to write my name on the back :) He was quick to fire back though, and asked "did you color this yourself?"

Stop #7: Italy




Stop #8: Germany



Stop #9: China


Got stamps, got stickers in our passports, got our names written in Chinese, and found out mom, Aunt Debbie, and I were all born in the year of the pig. To which the Kidcot lady said "ohh, the 3 little pigs", and then laughed. 
Um?


Stop #10: Norway




Stop #11: Mexico



Sand carving!



travelling around the world, part 2

So once we finished up realizing we were not green thumbs, we moved on to see if we were farmers.

I have to say, this was super interesting & super cool.

Epcot has this new area called "The Land" where you ride through different experiences of weather (rainforest, dessert, etc), before ending at this area where they produce their own vegetation.

blurry mess...



The park actually uses the vegetables produced in this area. I thought that was cool that they produce their own veggies that they serve.  

papaya





Compost leaves are used rather than fertilizer, & ladybugs and bees are used to control pests rather than pesticides & chemicals.



Some sunflowers...


The "fish farm" area...

Tilapia

Matt - don't say I never got you anything, here's a picture of bass @ Epcot

(There were also tanks of sturgeon, eels, shrimp, and the American alligator)

We finished up pretending to be educated farmers just in time, because the countries were now opening!

travelling around the world, part 1

I took off work for the Royal Wedding...please tell me someone else did too???

My mom suggested a trip to the UK in honor of the wedding...so that's what we did. The UK at Epcot, of course.

My mom, grandma, & I drove over to Orlando, picked up grandma's friend Ellie, and then met up with my aunt at Epcot.

mom & i waiting on tardy auntie

I hadn't been to Epcot since like the early 2000's??? Maybe??? So my inner kid was super excited!

Once we all got there, we had to get a group shot...
 Ellie, grandma (in wheelchair), Aunt Debbie, mom, & I...& Daisy in the background

Not only was it the Royal Wedding day, but it was also the tail end of the flower & garden festival for Epcot.

So we did the "adult thing" & checked out some blooms, along with Disney characters created using flowers & grass.

@ the entrance, the bear from Toy Story 3, and a fun garden of corn, tomatos, & some other veggies


the start of the butterfly garden...Bambi characters

The butterfly garden area had flowers that attracted butterflies...



look to the far left & in the leaves...there is a white butterfly that had ADHD - it would not sit still for me to take a decent pic.


cocoon houses...

a little edumacation for ya


right before we exited the garden area, a real butterfly landed on fake Thumper
(haha, funny enough, Thumper is the nickname Matthew calls my mom)






So Matthew has pretty much used his killer detective skills that he gained from being a criminology major; and deduced that these characters had to have been painted. "There's no way that's all flowers!"

Naturally I didn't see any signs that explained the creation portion of the characters. And my inner kid wants to believe that it's ALL flowers & grass.

One last shot with a topiary...before moving on...


I just need to add PRAISE the Lord that my allergies did not act up during that entire experience.