Day 3 at Disney World, which was a Friday, was our day to spend at Epcot. We had a breakfast scheduled at Chip N Dales Garden Grill that morning and then three fast passes for the day. We didn’t end up using our last fast pass in Epcot which was for the Frozen ride that we really were hoping to do. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until 3:40pm and we just didn’t make it that long and could never get another fast pass for earlier in the day. We rode Nemo and went to a Mickey Meet & Greet. I will be the first to say that I did NOT do my research well for this park. I had no idea what rides were good for kids other than the two we had scheduled (Nemo and Frozen) and I just felt unprepared. The meet and greet with Mickey could have been a lot of fun, but the kids were mostly scared even though Brody did pull it together a little bit. It definitely is a fun opportunity to snag some cute pictures with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy if your kids will cooperate. I learned when I got home about a few more rides that I think Brody would have liked at Epcot, but Madelyn would have been to small for. Ultimately, I think this park is better for kids a little older and you could probably knock most of it out in a half day. It wasn’t hard to get to Epcot, but it was a little further than trying to get to Magic Kingdom. We walked to a monorail from the Polynesian and the walk was only about 10 minutes.
Brody was scared of Chip and Dale and Goofy for our character breakfast, so that was a bit annoying. The food was good and they served some type of melted Nutella to serve on your Mickey Mouse waffle that was dynamite!! The breakfast was served family style, so everyone just dug in.
We walked around the park a little bit before our Nemo Fast Pass was ready. They had something called Turtle Talk with Crush from Nemo that we tried to go to, but it’s a small theater seat setting and Madelyn was having no part of sitting still and being quiet during the show.
Brody did love himself a Mickey Mouse pretzel snack while we waited on rides.
Ya’ll I wore these Pink New Balances for most of the trip and I loved them. They are super cute and comfortable and were perfect for walking around Disney. I had several of you ask about them on Instagram, so I thought I would share.
sunnies | shirt | shorts | shoes | purse | earrings
So we met the characters and snapped a few photos and then decided to hit the monorail back home. There are supposedly some great places in Epcot to grab lunch since it has all the different countries, but we didn’t have time to try and figure it out! So we went back to the hotel to eat and drink so refreshing mojitos 🙂
Madelyn had fallen asleep in the stroller on our walk from the monorail to the hotel, so we decided to take advantage of a nice meal. We ate at Kona Cafe at the Polynesian and I had some sushi (lava roll) that was quite yummy and Matt had a burger and we both enjoyed our mojitos. We went back to the room for naps and I knew it would be long before Madelyn was up since she fell asleep early. Her and I went to the little beach in front of our room to play for a bit because it was beautiful outside.
We got everyone up, showered, re-grouped and headed to Magic Kingdom for the late afternoon and early evening. I was able to get us a couple of fast passes for Pirates of the Caribbean and Winnie the Pooh. It was fun to be at the park in the evening when it was a little less crowded, but because it was Friday night, it didn’t stay that way long. Brody was a little scared in Pirates of the Caribbean, but we all loved Winnie the Pooh!
Brody picked out an Eeyore to add to his collection and Madelyn got her first Pooh Bear. We missed the fireworks at the park again becuase they weren’t until 9pm, but we decided to go home and order room service and we watched them from our room!
I really enjoyed our schedule of doing a park the first half of the morning, breaking it up with lunch and a nap, and then gearing up again to go in the evening. Obviously this works well when you don’t have a dinner reservation at night (I still enjoy a nice sit down dinner some of the nights) and if you can schedule your fast passes for the morning.
:: Our Schedule for the Day ::
8:55am Chip N Dale Breakfast at The Garden Grill
11:05am Nemo and Friends Fast Pass
12:10pm Meet Disney Pals at Epcot Character Spot Fast Pass
Back home for Lunch at Kona Cafe at Polynesian
NAPS at Hotel
4pm Back to Magic Kingdom for more rides
Fast Pass to Pirates of the Caribbean
Fast Pass to Winnie the Pooh
730pm Home by Ferry for Room Service Dinner
Here are a few rides that I think we could have enjoyed at Epcot that we didn’t get to:
Soarin’ (supposed to be really cool), Test Track , Mission Space, Living on the Land
You can read our previous Disney Recaps here:
Disney Day One | Checking in the Polynesian
Disney Day Two | Magic Kingdom
As a recently former Cast Member who helped launch My Magic Plus, its sounds like you did a GREAT job!!! It’s NOT easy and it CAN be stressful/hard to be flexible and spontaneous – like when you snagged a Chef Mickey reservation. (Well done!) I just want you to know it sounds like you did an awesome job at a place that’s crazily complex.
I’d recommend working with Disney customer service on the phone in advance next time if you didn’t – they’ll literally plan your whole trip for you for free and they know everything / will stay on as long as you know. There’s also speciality Disney travel agent if you have the funds to do so.
Either way – they would have been able to tell you what to do at Epcot in advance and also, tips on Fast Passes etc. Any travel agent worth a dime for Disney would know 1) top attractions for any age at all park, 2) how to game the Fast Pass system including making unforeseen changes and 3) tips on how to get around etc. No stress or research should come with an agent fee which is nice for mamas! I even heard about one that would make changes for you in real time via text requests!
Hope you had a BLAST.
Your 3 Disney day posts were my first reads on your blog 🙂
Cute post! Annie, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but did you really do Disney with a $980 Gucci bag? I think it is a beautiful bag, but I cannot imagine bringing it to Disney. Not a criticism but just wondering the rationale.
rude, don’t you think? people should take what ever fits their needs and is comfortable.
What a fantastic trip! I want to take the kids to Disney, but it feel so overwheming trying to figure out what and when to do things! You make it seem like I could totally do it. Such great memories for your kids.
I just don’t think Epcot is fun for younger kids My hubs and I (no kids) were at Epcot over Thanksgiving and we talked to SOOO many families with young kids that weren’t feeling it. Most were just there for the frozen ride in Norway. The Land is good, but I don’t think young kids would enjoy – mostly a boat road learning about agriculture and vegetation. The figment ride is cute and there is also an interactive movie theatre showing old Disney movies that lasts about 20 minutes. Young kiddos seems to love the Magic Kingdom so much more:)
I am loving how you did these posts! You’re making me want to go back to Disney something bad!
EPCOT was a favorite of ours when my kids were little! We’re locals so AP holders, but the Flower and Garden Festival (March-May typically) has playgrounds for the kids, a butterfly tent/garden, and other fun things. Plus, my littles loved The Land and Norway (bf it was Frozen), plus just walking around the countries.