The Brooks Family: WDW Day 3: Epcot Afternoon

Grey chose not to nap this day, so after about 30 minutes of trying, James just walked him around the resort. Thankfully the rest of us got a little snooze before heading out to Epcot for the night. We stopped to take a picture with Rafiki on the way to the park. We passed him everyday when we headed to our room and Grey would gleefully say, "Fiki!"

If you have a bag you have to go through a (longer) bag check line when entering any park, so James and I always separated so that one parent could take the stroller and get inside with the kids quicker. This afternoon, James had the park bag, so the kids and I took some photos right in the entrance of Future World while we waited for him...

The photopass photographer thought it would be a good idea to get some shots of just the kids. Hunter wasn't too thrilled with the idea and kept trying to push Charlotte's arm off of him during the photos (these 2 have a hard time getting along lately...but there are moments of fun and love between them and I cherish those!). The photographer said, "You'll have some real life shots in there!" And boy did she deliver...

After James found us, we headed back to the World Showcase and straight to France so we could get some snacks from Boulangerie Patisserie. I think we got a napoleon, strawberry mousse (or some cream and strawberry dessert) and a chocolate éclair. They were yummy! France is probably the most beautiful area of World Showcase in my opinion, but it was dark and I only had my iPhone so my pictures didn't do it justice. Here's a stock photo...

They had Christmas decorations all around Disney World and in France, they had these large open ornaments with different French landmarks inside. Here's the Eiffel Tower...

Somebody should've napped...

They had their Eiffel Tower lit up just like the real one in honor of those who died during the attacks in Paris...

Next we headed to Japan, briefly looked around and then came back to Morrocco...

Here are my sisters and I on the same fountain in 1986!!!

We had fun looking around the shops in Morrocco. Char wanted to take our picture in front of this fountain...

Good quality right there. Hunter is into photo bombing right now. You'll notice this trend later.

Then we headed back to the UK...

There was a fun little quartet singing and playing instruments in the street. It really felt like we were in the UK. Cobblestone paths and all!

We quickly headed into Canada and caught the Lumberjack show. It was pretty cool. They were having a competition with different teams of lumberjacks...log rolling and wood chopping. We all enjoyed it. Once that was over, we headed back toward Future World to catch our dinner reservation.

More photo bombing...

We got to Garden Grill a little early and had to wait a while for our table. That was fun with our feisty little one, but we survived. We ate here last time and loved the food, so we were excited to go back. And it was going to be Grey's first encounter with his favorite classic characters!

First up was Dale (Grey isn't that familiar with Chip and Dale, so he just kind of stared)...

Chip came by soon after...

Then Pluto! Grey was excited about this one. He loves Pluto!

And finally, Mickey!! Grey saw him a few tables down and said, "Hi Mickeeeeyyy!!" in a quiet, high pitched voice, but once he came to our table, Grey was too shy to talk to him. Or maybe he was just in awe!

Mickey was excited that Grey had on a Mickey shirt and hat. He kept pointing to them.

Hunter's not that into characters, but he handled all of the meets well. Somehow he ended up inside Char and Mickey's hug...

It was a great meal and we were stuffed! Afterward, we headed back toward World Showcase to watch Illuminations, but got some photos along the way...

Here's our first shot in front of one of the big Christmas trees...

Here's the full tree. They were all glorious!

Epcot's tree had different ornaments from around the world and "Merry Christmas" written in different languages.

We watched Illuminations back in 2012 during our first trip, and I wasn't that impressed, so we skipped it in 2013. Well, I loved it this time! I think I must have been grumpy before or something. It was spectacular! I didn't take any pictures or video because I was just taking it all in, but here are some stock photos of the fireworks at the end...