Our favourite (Emily is not old enough to vote legally) park was on the agenda again today. We planned being there early as I wasn’t able to get fast passes for Mickey, Minnie and Goofy. At 8:20am we left the house at 8:40 we were waiting inside the park for rope drop. Rope drop is the official opening of the park. 

As soon as this was done we headed to Joy and Sadness from the movie Inside Out and we were second inline. In December we had a fantastic meet and great here. Today it was regular, also the setting change no more controls panel for example. But we were able to keep the autograph book out of Emily her side, 

Right after we went to the Character Spot, just 5 minutes waiting time for a picture with a Mickey, Goofy and Minnie. Emily loved Goofy for some reason she wasn’t afraid at all. Here Emily saw the book but there was no drama this time and everyone got a kiss, for Minnie she took her pacifier out.., 

Next we went back to the entrance for a picture with the one and only Daisy Duck. The cast member was really helpful, she got the autograph before it was our time to meet with her, Emily walked up on her own and gave Daisy a big hug. 

Now it was time for our first Fast Pass, Soarin for Danielle. She got me a baby switch pass for later that day. The remainder of the day we did not use any Fast Passes by the way. While Danielle was Soarin’ over the World Emily and I where visiting the After Market from Test Track. 

Until I found out that there were playgrounds added throughout the park for kids to play. Officially Emily needed to be 2 years old but because she is tall and I speak Dutch the attendant didn’t even dare to ask me about here age. Emily had a lot of fun going up and down stairs and sliding down the slide. Mama joined with some ice tea from the local Starbucks before we walked towards World Showcase, our favourite area in Epcot. 

On our way to World Showcase we walked through a indoor butterfly area, I expected a lot more from it, I think I saw only 10 butterflies. 

While walking through the park we also made some pictures from and with the Disney themed topiaries, below a selection from what there is to see in the park p. 

World showcase is only partially open until 11 o’clock. We went counter clock wise and here you can only walk up towards French were there is another rope drop. We made this on as well and we ended up being fourth in line for a picture with Belle in her village outfit. The photo was not (yet) available in our Memory Maker and will follow later. 🙁 And now with the photo from Belle!

After saying Au Revoir to Belle we moved to the almost complete opposite of World Showcase for a picture with Mulan in China. 

While walking there I reserved a table at the Biergarten. This is a buffet restaurant in the German pavilion with Bavarian style food, it’s not exactly the same! We sat on the table with people from Hamilton in Ontario, about 1,5 hours from where we live. Emily’s appetite was enormous nothing she didn’t eat… 

When lunch was done we decided to go to the car, but as we left World Showcase Emily was already sleeping in her stroller. This gave me the opportunity to ride Soarin’ before we left to the car. 

Just before we arrived our car Emily woke up. At home we played a little bit and Emily had another nap from about an hour. When she woke up we went to Twistee Trear for ice cream and got us some Chicken Nuggets from McDonalds on the way back home. 

After dinner we decided to jump in the pool with our new floating thing for Emily. In the beginning she didn’t really enjoy it but in the end she didn’t want to leave her island. The best part of the pool is splashing water. I splashed a lot to make her laugh. 

At 7:30 we got out of the pool took a shower and after a bedtime story she went to bed. Danielle is doing some laundry while I’m preparing today’s blog. 

The bananantibiotics did what they were supposed to do, Emily woke up only once and that was very conveniently at 11:00pm while we were still awake. The remainder of the night she coughed a lot due to her runny nose but not a single cry. We’re happy parents again… 

We decided to leave early as today was going to be a hot (33 Degrees Celsius) and sunny day. The theme park of our choice was Sisney’s Hollywood Studio’s! We arrived at 8:50am and had an almost front row parking spot, at 9:03am Emily and I were behind the gates, Mama got randomly selected for additional security screening and was there a couple minutes later. 

First target Minnie Mouse in her Hollywood dress and Sorcerer Mickey! We expected a little bit of a wait but in the end we were the first visitors of the day and had 2 private meet and greats with these famous movie stars. 

Meet & greet number 3 of the day was a personal favourite of Emily…Princess Sofia the First. We were third inline but Emily couldn’t wait tried to pull her mama directly to Sofia while queue jumping at the same time, off course that’s not how it’s supposed to be done and we waited a couple more minutes. First Sofia got a kiss on her cheek and then there was them for the photo. 

After Sofia came Pluto, here she recognized the surroundings from Mickey Mouse clubhouse. What a difference with 6 months ago. Next came Doc McStuffins, which Sofia knows from one of her bedtime story books. Here she became a little bit annoyed that all the others were allowed to play with her autograph book and she wasn’t. 

We decided to visit the Little Mermaid show. In the beginning we thought that it was a mistake as she did not want to sit on a chair or on either of our laps but when the music started she jumped on Mama’s lap and watched with an open mouth. She also pointed out Flounder and Ariel every time the came on stage while shouting something like “Arelle”.

It was only 10:30 and so we decided to checkout the lines for Goofy (short) and Chip & Dale (really short). Goofy went fine, she just wanted to be hooded by me. Chip & Dale was another story as soon as the Autograph book came in sight she threw a whole Donald Duck style anger tantrum. It was almost fun to watch, especially the way both Chip & Dale responded. Funniest moment was when Dale tried to get the pen from Emily…he jumped a couple feet into the air from cry. 

Time to leave, surprisingly it took almost 10 minutes before she fell a sleep in the car. So we believe she feels much better as yesterday and the days before. Since she fell a sleep we decided to drive a bit further and ended up at the Mall at Millenia (our favourite shopping mall). Here we had lunch and Emily ate a whole plate of fried rice, much more as the last days too. Both Mama and Emily found some nice summer clothes at Lilly Pulitzer. 

Shopping was done and we went back to the villa where Emily went to bed and I went in the pool. Emily had a her regular nap from about 2,5 hours. And I spend 2 hours in the pool. Danielle stayed indoors and did some laundry. 

After I took a shower and Emily woke up we decided to visit Epcot for a couple hours. At 6:00pm we arrived in the park. First stop was The Sees with Nemo & Friends. Emily walked the whole waiting line (that’s a long one) holding up everyone behind us it looked like a parade. The ride she totally enjoyed, she pointed out every single Nemo, Marlin, Dory and Pearl. I believe that she recognized from Nemo’s reef the splash pad on the Disney Dream. 

Out of the blue Emily decided that she should be pushing her own stroller… Very convenient except for the pace! Next stop was the Land. Here we went on Living with the Land where you go on a boat tour where you get an explanation about a program Disney supports and runs on their own property researching better ways to grow fruit and vegetables. 

When we got out we were a little bit hungry. I took the chicken wrap children’s menu together with Emily where she ate the carrots and the apples and Imate the wrap. Danielle went for a box with assorted Melon and Emily got a real banana. After we were done we decided to leave the park, it was already 7:30pm and we didn’t want to exhaust Emily. 

At 8:15pm we were at home and about 15 minutes later I was reading Emily a story about Aurora (Sleeping beauty) her seventeenth birthday. Afterwards I wrote this blog with the sound of Illuminatioms, Happily Ever after and later on the Star Wars firework in the background.