Day 2 At Disney 2012 - EPCOT

Day 2 began with breakfast and then a walk from the hotel over to EPCOT.

The weather was beautiful and sunny.

Having a ball

After going through the park gates, then the Epic Epcot Death march began.

Epcot is big, really big and walking all around its many attractions takes a fair amount of time and shoe leather. This is exacerbated by carrying a five year-old on one's shoulders much of the time.
First we went to Soarin', which was awesome.

Soarin' is a hang glider simulator that takes you around California. You can feel the wind on you face, smell the orange blossoms as you pass over the orchards, smell the ocean as you buzz an Aircraft Carrier and it really does feel like you're flying.

Everyone in the family liked it and Leah thought it was a far more suitable flight simulation for her.

So awesome in fact that Abby shouted "Again!" when the ride stopped so she and I went on it again as Natasha and Leah went to wander around. Again the wait was only 20 minutes and we were once again soaring away. Good time indeed.

We then took the Living With The Land boat tour through the EPCOT greenhouse.

One of my favorite agricultural products in its growing state

We saw a variety of plants and things growing, some of which were being done hydroponically:

Tapioca before it becomes tapioca

We then did Turtle Talk with Crush which the kids loved as Crush, an animated turtle interacted with the audience and responded to questions and such which the kids found to be very cool.

Then we did The Seas with Nemo and Friends a very gentle ride combining views of animated and live sea creatures which the kids enjoyed.

We then went to the Norwegian Pavilion for lunch with the Disney Princesses (Cinderella, Belle, Ariel and Aurora) which was excellent and the kids got their autographs.

Beware Mickey the Viking!

The kids then tried the Kim Possible Adventure but it was a little too advanced for them and they got frustrated. We called the adventure early and went on to other things.

We then went to the Mexican pavilion to quietly browse and try on some sombreros:

Just a little too big

We then went to the Japanese Pavilion for dinner and I had a sample of sake which was very good.

All other rides in the park were voted down as too scary/fast for the kids, leaving yet untouched possibilities for when they are older.

We then watched the fireworks show and headed back to the hotel.