Epcot

Good morning Epcot! Belle welcomed us to the Storybook Princess Breakfast, a highly recommended character meal at the Royal Banquet Hall in Norway. Nothing beats starting your day with five princesses. Ariel was one of the princesses that morning. She spent so much time with Tessa, her little mini me. Ariel told Tessa that her father, King Triton, had made her dress out of seaweed. They chatted, hugged and Tessa got Ariel's autograph. When Aurora visited our table we told her that she sings Tessa's absolute favorite song. So these two sang "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream" together and did a little twirl. I loved it! Look how tightly they hugged each other before saying good-bye. Snow White visited next and Tessa was excited to see this sweet princess again. No hints of bashfulness this time. Cinderella signed our autograph book, again, and I think they talked about how wonderful Prince Charming is.One of the fun things they do at this breakfast is have a Princess Parade. My darling led the parade with Cinderella while I hopped around like a member of the paparrazi trying to get their picture.Outside the medieval fortress, Ryan and I took a picture. We have almost this same shot from our trip 11 years ago. I'm not planning to wait that long between visits this time though, better start saving. While the boys waited in the long line for Tinkerbell, we saw Max. He is Goofy's son, which I didn't know before we started planning this trip. Tessa thought he was great. And we also saw Jiminy Cricket. Tessa may not have liked Pinocchio in the Magic Kingdom but she sure was happy with this guy. Time for Tinkerbell and Terrence. I think it surprised Tessa that Tink was full size. I could see the look of confusion on Tessa's face and she was very hesitant to approach the fairies. But Tinkerbell made her feel more comfortable by talking about their matching shoes. Apparently those little fluffs are dandelions just in case you were wondering how a fairy chooses to bedazzle her footwear. After so much excitement, it's no wonder that Tessa passed out in the stroller. We pushed her her around while we toured the different countries. It was opening day for the Flower & Garden Festival and the landscaping was gorgeous. I had worried Tessa would be bored with this part of the day so it was just as well that she slept. The weather was perfect and we had a very relaxing lunch outdoors in France, complete with French champagne. It was a totally opposite dining experience from our intense character meals. I couldn't believe Tessa was still asleep after lunch. When I saw Beauty and the Beast I considered waking her up, but I didn't have the heart. Tessa slept through Aurora too! But, in a way, that's fitting isn't it? Sleeping Beauty is Ryan's favorite princess and we laughed that she remembered us from earlier. I probably don't want to know what makes our family so memorable. The Disney photographer wanted us to pose like I was jealous that this beautiful girl was hanging all over Ryan. But, while I was trying to make a face, I started laughing and the picture didn't turn out like he planned. Our Sleeping Beauty awoke and we headed for the Nemo ride and Turtle Talk with Crush. While I think Finding Nemo the movie is too scary, we still like the little fish and his friends. Crush, the turtle with a surfer dude accent, is awesome. In Turtle Talk he interacts with the kids and answers all of their questions. We still aren't sure how Disney does this, but it's really neat. Then we rode in cute little clamshells though the ocean with Nemo. We took turns riding Soarin'. Tessa is so close to 40 inches tall that I had really thought she would be able to ride this one. She stood up as straight as she could but just wasn't quite there. Next time. Back to the hotel for a late swim, we were pretty off schedule by this point. Oh well. It was getting so late that we almost talked ourselves out of returning to Epcot that evening. But, Epcot at night is wonderful and I'm glad we went. We had missed Maelstrom that morning so we rode it first. Then we had margaritas in Mexico at the new tequila bar and Tessa played the maracas in the marketplace. Next was the 3 Caballeros boat ride, it's like Small World but with Donald Duck. We had no lines because everyone was staking out a space to watch the fireworks. And the fireworks were beautiful. When we got to Italy we realized it was so late that all the restaurants had stopped serving. Good thing our hotel had a great snack bar open 24 hours. Another long and successful Disney day.