Disney World Part 3

So I am supposed to be grading papers, but I need a break! So I decided to finally get back to the blog and tell you about our 2nd day in Disney World! I know it has been awhile but we are in FULL TAKS prep mode at school and I just turned in my grad assignment last night. I have one more big assignment then I am done with this class. Then I start my 9 hours of classes for the summer at the end of May.

So we went to Epcot for our 2nd day. I have fond memories of Epcot from my previous trips with my family but this time around, it turned out to be my favorite park! It is the nerd in me that enjoyed all the educational aspects to it. Also, we were there for their Flower and Garden Festival!! Anyone who has been reading this blog know how I have been *trying* to improve our yard and I LOVED all the flowers. To save all of you who don't care about those type of things, I have decided to dedicate a separate blog too all things flowers and gardens and skip it when I talk about our adventures at the park themselves. You are welcome! :)

So we started the day at Spaceship Earth. This is the ride that actually takes you inside the ball at Epcot and goes through the history of Earth. Naturally, I loved it and wish I could take all my students on that ride. :)

This picture was taken later in our trip but it has the Epcot ball in it :)

Then we started wondering around the Innoventions displays. They had some great displays that my students would have LOVED and learned a lot from. Most of them were a little too childish for us but they did have one called the "Sum of all Thrills." Basically, you get to "design" your own roller coaster. I of course let my genius engineer husband Blake do the designing.

These are the "claws" you program your design into. It simulates the ride you designed. Obviously, this isn't us. :)

I think I also got some video of Blake designing but I need to download them into my computer. Once I do that, I will post them in a different post.

Then I drug Blake into the Expo center while we waited for our Fast Passes to become valid. It was sponsored by HGTV and there was some lady there that I think hosts a show. There was a line to take pictures with her and since I didn't know who she was, I just took a picture from far away.

Then we went to the Universe of Energy ride which was ok. It would have been great for my students to see though. It talked all about where we get our energy from. :) I took a picture of Blake in from of it but his eyes are closed and I won't embarrass him by posting it here. :)

Then it was finally time for Mission:Space! I was very excited about this ride especially it warns you 50 million times about getting sick so of course I wanted to prove it wrong. Unfortunately, I did go into it with a headache which did not help with the nausea they warn you about. Basically, you are put into a simulator that spins so it simulates zero gravity, similar to what astronauts train it. Again, lots of cool info that I wish my students could see. :( Do you see a theme with my thoughts about Epcot? :)

As we exited the ride, of course you have to walk through the souvenir shop. Disney is smart. :) We saw these "space helmets." Blake had me try one on for fun and of course, I thought about how I could use this in my classroom. I had just finished teaching my kids about space and I thought it would be funny to teach them about space while wearing the helmet. I look ridiculous in of course, but then it would catch their attention.

Of course, the only picture I have of me in it, my eyes are closed. But since I have no shame, I will still post it here. :) You are welcome.

We were in another souvenir shop and I saw a wall of candy. I was in love! I accidentally bought $13 worth of candy (some of it WAS Blake's, I would like to point out!).

Seriously! Look at all this candy!!!

After all that, we finally started on the World Showcase. The first country was Mexico. It was ok, but since we had already been to Mexico twice,  we didn't stay there very long. I did go back for dinner which made me miss my Houston TexMex :)

Can you find Blake?

Next up was Norway. They had a mini museum on Norway Vikings which was interesting (and guess who I wish could have seen it). And I enjoyed all the architecture. We rode the Maelstrom ride which again was ok, nothing spectacular. We bought a small viking hat for our nephew Austin and Blake made me take pictures with it.

This was taken by some Old Ags :) Ags were ALL OVER Disney World :)

Love it!

Blake in front of the Maelstrom mural.

Oil rigs! My dad has done business with Norway :)

Front of our boat

Grass on the roof?

I wasn't happy Blake was making me take this picture...

But I smiled anyway :)

Blake with the troll topiary. They had topiaries ALL over the park, but those will be in the other post.

Blake wanted to eat dinner in Germany so briefly looked at China and then went over there. I also forgot to post a picture from my dinner in Mexico. (Yes, I am a picky eater so we ate in 2 places)

Isn't he so handsome? :)

View across the lake with random people in it.

Cuckoo clock!

After all of that, we were wiped and knew we would be spending another day at Epcot later, so we left.

So that is "all" we did on our second day. Relieving the memories here makes me miss it and thankful for the time Blake and I were able to spend together. I should get back to grading now. :( Hopefully I will be able to post again sooner rather than later but will TAKS coming up, it might be awhile. Thanks for reading to the end!