Disney day one

My Disney pass was a Park Hopper, which basically means I can travel between any of the four parks within any one day. The four parks being Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. I decided against going to Animal Kingdom for a few reasons.. I wanted to be efficient, but also do everything that I wanted to do in the parks. From what I had heard about Animal Kingdom, it didn't sound like something that I just HAD to do. And I am about to do the Galápagos Islands, which is a whole lot of animals in their natural environments, which I would prefer over zoo-like safaris any day. So I started with Epcot. If you have any images of big Disney icons/landmarks in your head, Epcot is the one that looks like a giant golf ball. That was very cool.

The things that I heard about Epcot (from my roommate, Gabby) was that it would be where I would meet all the princesses. So that was my goal for the day. Each princess had appearance times, so I travelled all "around the world" to meet them and have a photo with them. When I say "around the world", I actually mean that the Epcot park is set up in sections of different countries. France was first on my list to meet Belle. She was wonderfully graceful and hummed while she walked around. She looked just like a cartoon! It was incredible how much she was in character. She even commented on the bow I was wearing in my hair, saying that the Wardrobe would sure love to see that! And so it continued for a few hours, visiting Germany for Snow White , who also commented on my bow- saying that we should trade some time; China for Mulan, who asked what my favourite part of her film was; Aladdin and Jasmine were a package deal at Morocco, who asked why I was by myself and then said I was SO brave, like Merida (oh for goodness sake, Emma, don't cry! BLINK BACK THOSE TEARS! Thanks for the tongue tip, Janelle! Totally worked!); United Kingdom for both Alice, who really wasn't that friendly, and Mary Poppins, where I forgot to ask for a photo; Aurora was supposed to be in France as well as Belle, but I never saw her at her allocated spot. I was totally devastated that I didn't get to meet Ariel. She is my favourite princess, but she wasn't there.

With my mission complete (with the exception of Aurora), I thought that it would be a good time to park hop on over to Hollywood Studios.. So I started to make my way to the exit, when I bumped into the Ezzy family! The wonderful family who host the marriage group that Shane and I go to once a fortnight. (If you weren't aware of this group, please don't be alarmed.. It's not that kind of group. Shane and I are going great!) So naturally we spent the rest of the day together, instead of me going park hopping. It was SO refreshing spending so much time with people who I know and love. And to hear familiar, Australian voices, and to catch up, it was just wonderful. The part of Epcot that the Ezzys hadn't done yet, was all the different "countries", which was the only part that I had really done. I didn't mind because we did the countries in more detail. Mum, you would LOVE Epcot. It's not even drastically Disney. It's beautiful little towns, buildings, street lamps, bridges, lakes.. All decked out to look like their respective countries. I actually felt a little like I was travelling while going from country to country. When I was in the United Kingdom, I was taking a photo of one of the trees, when some older guy just passing by with his wife, made a comment along the lines of "Who comes to Disney and takes a photo of a tree?!"
I said loud enough so that he could hear, "My mum would have a field day in here, gawking at the trees!" No reply...
Each little country had a mini film feature in a big theatre about their country. France was the coolest one.
America's one was so boring. And it went for about half an hour. After that, we decided to skip the films and just enjoy the sights. We bumped into Donald Duck, from the Three Cabaleros in Mexico so I thought I would have a photo with him. He totally tried to hit on me. Kissing me twice and going in for a third. Hugging a bit too often for my liking. Bit uncomfortable, but I just brushed it off, saying loudly in a joking sort of way, "Oh, Donald! Stop! I'm married!"
The Ezzy kids convinced me to go on this "really cool ride". I played along and didn't think much of it. But it was SO much fun, that we lined up for it 5 times! We all stayed to watch the night show which was displayed over the lake. Lazers and images from countries all over the world showed up on the giant globe in the centre of the lake as it spun around. The fireworks was beautiful and went for a surprising amount of time, considering that they do it every night.

I slept so well that night. I loved doing a Disney park with kids. It was a wonderful experience and makes me keen to take mine one day. (If not for them, then for me! Haha!)