day 5- Epcot

Today was our first full day @ Epcot. We had previously gone in the late afternoon and at night and it was always so crowded. Today we wanted to find all the characters left in our book without long lines so that we could hit some rides in the afternoon. We also had an 8:40 pm reservation that evening so it was going to be a LONG day.

Our day started at Epcot and we had to wait at the hotel for our bus for a while. It seems like everyone was going to the same park. When we got there. It wasn't crowded yet so we made our way over to the aquarium and Nemo ride. Needless to say, Riley loved it! We are still singing, "In the Big Blue World" at home. 

The seagulls were yelling, "mine, mine, mine" just like in the movie. It was really cute.

We then walked into the Worlds Showcase right when it opened and Mulan was standing outside all by herself. We were so excited that we got to talk to her for a while and didn't have to wait in line for once! She was really sweet and asked if she could take Alan's arm to take a picture. I told her that she could actually take him home if she wanted. I guess she didn't. Mulan's a smart girl! :)

The flower and plant topiaries were beautiful and I had to get a picture of every one that I saw. We have been to Disney during the Food and Drink Festival and the Flower and Garden Festival and we absolutely loved both.

He's a tramp- but they love him.

The Beast and Beauty

The Clock

Riley LOVES the Candlestick

So he had to have a picture with them

Prince Charming and Cinderella 

Peter Pan and Captain Hook

As we were walking through the countries, I decided that I needed a watch. I didn't have pockets big enough for my phone and so a watch was necessary to have in the parks since time could slip away from you. So, we went to Japan and I found a cute Hello Kitty watch with some of my birthday money. At first I was only getting compliments from kids but then I got compliments from adults so I don't feel so bad. ha! 

It looks a little like this one but wasn't $1500 or a Kimora Lee Simmons Collection. I went from a non-watch wearer to a consistent watch wearer. Love it! 

We love the Japan Pavilion since we have actually been to Tokyo and we made reservations for the Benihana-style restaurant later that night. We know Kylie will love it but since Riley is scared of fire, we are anxious to see how he does. Nevertheless, we will be eating instead of watching the fireworks outside so I think he got the better deal of the two.

We made our way around the worlds to England and stopped in to see Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and Mary Poppins. We saw Alice in Wonderland and her line was short but since we were going to her breakfast in the morning, we didn't stop for her signature. BIG MISTAKE!!! Sometimes characters don't show up to their own breakfasts, do they Alice? Hmmm? But, I will rant and rave about that tomorrow!! 

The kids posed in a red phone booth and Kylie posed with 3 of the Beatles.

Alan met a woman who had an older daughter (16) with autism and we talked with her a while. Then we found them again in the Tinkerbell line. They were really sweet but you could tell that she needed a lot of care from her parents.

Right before we met Tinkerbell a family with a little boy in a stroller came up to the disability line and they let them go before us which was no big deal at all. Alan and I were overwhelmed with emotion when we saw that they boy was about 8 years old and maybe weighed 50 lbs. He couldn't move anything except his eyes and we were trying hard to hold in the tears. Just a peek at what other families go through in this life and we think we have it bad some days. We both hugged our kids and said a little prayer.

We had just enough time to get to our lunch reservation at Coral Reef. We ate while we watched the action in the huge aquarium inside the restaurant. Our food was yummy and while we were eating we heard the screams of another little Riley nearby. When Kylie and I walked to the restaurant I stopped to talk the them and they were cautious at first. I think they thought that I was going to complain about the noise so they were quite guarded. I told them that we had a little screamer too and she looked at me mean and said, "Well, he has autism!" and it wasn't until I told her ours did too that she relaxed. Apparently they have had people complain and have even had some words with unfriendly people. I tried to give her a pep talk and they ended up being really nice. SO many families with autism in this place! We never had anyone complain about Riley- so thankful for that!

After eating, it was back to the Nemo ride and waiting in line for Chip and Dale. They were SO sweet to Kylie and posed with her in several pictures. 

YES!! We only had the characters at tomorrow morning's breakfast to complete our book! Now on to the rides.

We stood in line for Test Trac and once we got up to the front I had second thoughts about if Riley would be able to handle it or not. So I told Alan my fears and like a typical male, he told me he would be fine. Yet something wouldn't let me relax so I pulled him from the ride and went to wait for Alan and Kylie at the end of the ride.


I sat down on a bench and just cried. I cried because I just don't know when he is scared and he trusts us so much. What if I put him on a ride and he had a heart attack? Yes- these were actual things going on in my mind and Riley was just sitting with me, so sweetly. 


I still remember him riding the roller coaster Thunderation at Silver Dollar City and being so scared of that ride. He was loving it at first and then he turned white as a sheet and became very frightened. Now, every time we go to SDC, he will fall to his knees and yell NO! if we get too close to it. 


Kylie and Alan came off the ride all smiles and Kylie looked at me and knew that something was wrong. She came over to me, put her arm around me and said, "Mom, what's wrong? Did Beebee die?" That made me smile- how thoughtful of my little girl. Little did I know that Beady was actually on her death bed and would die 4 days later. :(

So, Alan and I talked about it and he assured me that Riley would be fine so we rode it all together and he loved it! Then we took him to Soarin' and we ALL LOVED that ride!! Best ride ever! I held him tight at first and also at the end when fireworks went off but he did great!

We went and rode a couple of other rides like the Figment ride and the one inside the Epcot ball- Spaceship Earth. Not in any way to be confused with Mission Earth which makes people sick and 2 people with heart problems died on. No one in my family was gettin' near that ride! Alan was dying to ride it, tho!

It was getting late by this time so we headed over to the Worlds to get ready for our dinner reservation. We stopped at Mexico and rode Tres Caballeros with Donald Duck. It was cute. I was really wishing I made a reservation in the restaurant inside the pyramids, too. We heart Mexican food. We had a fun time perusing the merchandise.

We finally made it to our Japanese reservation and shared a table with some high school students who were there with their band. They performed at the parade all this week and the boys were well mannered and very respectful. The food wasn't as good as Benihana and Kylie stuffed herself full so we had to go outside for some fresh air. While we were outside, we got to see some of the fireworks show and it was AWESOME!! I wanted to watch the whole thing but then I felt bad that Alan couldn't see it so we went back inside.

This is how the night ended so we stayed as long as we could before we woke up Riley and walked at least 2 miles until we found the bus home. 

We got to bed really late and had an 8:05 am breakfast the next morning WAY across the park. But, we sucked it up because tomorrow would be our LAST FULL day at Disneyworld. :(

I'm getting a little sad just thinking about writing it.

Tomorrow: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Magic Kingdom