Fantasia and Epcot and Legos, oh my!

In the course of all my planning for the trip, one theme seemed to emerge.  "Epcot is huge," warned all the travel guides.  "Wear your most comfortable shoes and pace yourself." "Take your time."  "Take a break in the middle of the day."  Really, I thought, how big can it be?  It's just a theme park.

Y'all.

It's huge.

Huge.

We only did a very small portion of Epcot, and we thought we might die were impressed with its size.  At Epcot you can eat pastries in France, sample spoon bread in Norway, snack on kebabs while surrounded by belly dancers in Morocco, and indulge in beers from around the world.  We, of course, did none of this, because we were traveling with a six year old.  Instead, we rode Test Track a bunch of times, a roller coaster that puts you through mock automotive safety tests, from extreme heat and cold to banked hair-pin turns at high speeds.  Basically, you serve as a crash test dummy while Disney tries to blow your face off at sixty miles an hour.  Obviously, the boy loved this.  I could probably live without doing it again.  I did, however, absolutely veto the Mission: Space ride, as a couple of people have ACTUALLY DIED ON IT.  That's where I draw the thrill ride line - if it can actually kill you, then it's probably too much.

Christmas landscaping - impressive throughout the parks

The Giant Golf Ball Spaceship Earth

Heading to France - note the Eiffel Tower in the background

All of us and the Epcot icon, Spaceship Earth

We caught the monorail from Epcot and rode it around its loop through several of the resorts.  We thought Matt would be more impressed with it, but he was unmoved by the monorail experience.  He did enjoy our lunch stop at the Polynesian hotel, both because of the ducks wandering around the outdoor tables and the famous Dole Whip pineapple soft serve ice cream.  I'm not a pineapple fan, and I would make a trip back to Disney just for the Dole Whip.  SO. GOOD.

O.M.G.  - Dole Whip.

We took the guidebook's advice and took a midday break back at the hotel.  We actually did this every day, and I believe it prevented any possible tantrums and meltdowns.  And it helped Matt and Charles relax, too. We stayed at the All-Star Movies Resort, which, as with everything at Disney, is themed within an inch of its life.  The buildings are all named for Disney movies - Toy Story, 101 Dalmatians, The Love Bug, etc.  We stayed in the Fantastia building, complete with giant brooms and sorcerer's hat.  The pool was Fantastia themed as well, with a sorcerer Mickey fountain.  This is one of Disney's "budget" low-end hotels, but we loved it.  The room was comfortable, it was convenient, and the maids arranged Matt's stuffed animals on the bed every morning.   Perfectly lovely.

Our budget hotel - not the Grand Floridian, but perfectly fine

Fantasia building - that's Matt under the giant sorcerer hat

Brooms and buckets

Fantasia pool - and yes, Matt made me go swimming.  In November.

The boy's traveling zoo - every day the maids would arrange them after making the bed. Super cute.

After our morning at Epcot we hit Downtown Disney that evening.  And this is where all my careful planning fell apart.  I seriously underestimated the scope of Downtown Disney.  It is huge, and sprawling, and loud, and the parking is crazy and the restaurants are packed.  The first restaurant we attempted was so loud poor Matt covered his head, whimpered "too loud," and attempted to curl up in a fetal position to escape the noise.  Needless to say, we left without being seated.  The Disney store was similar, huge and loud and overcrowded.  But the Lego store - the Lego store was awesome.  There's a huge Lego sea serpent outside, along with bins and tables of Legos where you can build, and inside awaits every possible Lego set known to man.  Matt was in heaven.  He spent almost all of his trip money there, and enjoyed himself immensely.

Giant Lego Woody the Cowboy...

and giant Lego Buzz Lightyear.

The boy and his shopping bag...

...which soon became too heavy to carry because of the gazillion dollars worth of Legos in it.

Next up: Animal Kingdom, also known as The Park That Tried To Drown Charles.

Edited to add:  Oh my God, y'all, I just found a place to order the Dole Whip mix.  Yes, it has to ship from Hawaii, and yes, you have to have a soft serve machine to make it, but I DON'T CARE.  I bet Amazon would be happy to sell me a soft serve machine.  Dole Whip at home?  YES!