Epcot, Universal Studios, and a tiny bit of Animal Kingdom

Epcot (Day 3 of Disney) was my Mom's favorite park. There was a big loop going around a big lake where they had mini villages from countries around the world. By the front entrance was a bunch of futuristic rides and exhibits. 

The future is bound to be full of giant spheres like this one

 

Inside the dome was a ride that takes you through the history of technology. They take a picture at the beginning and used it in a little animation at the end, showing us in the future. Aaron and I really nailed the facial expressions. 

This ride was all about sustainable agriculture. Our little boat took us through this garden where they had melon and tomato vines growing to look like trees and all sorts of cool experimental stuff like that. 

Mom discovered Club Cool, where they had 8 exciting flavors of soda from all around the world. Most were really different from anything I have tried before.

Italy's soda was super bitter and gross, but the others were all good!

Elliot loved this color exhibit that was in a strangely under-marked building near the big ride everyone else was going on. 

This video is from the magic paintbrush thing inside the color place. He was SO EXCITED. 

Mimi & Elliot by the Finding Nemo ride

Note his oh-so-appropriate hammerhead shark shirt

 We got rained on pretty good in Epcot, although apparently it was nowhere near as close to the downpour they toughed out the night before in Magic Kingdom. I would have liked to spend more time in Epcot, but Elliot needed to sleep and everyone else was tired from not being murdered in an alleyway until late the night before. My favorite ride of the whole trip (out of the pool of rides that pregnant gals can ride) was Soarin' at Epcot. The park gets a lot less hype than the others, but we found a lot to like there! 

Universal Studios is not part of Disney, and it definitely had a very different vibe! It was Aaron's favorite park. Their rides were way more extreme. They were fast where Disney was slow, and everything was high-tech special effects or digital screens compared to Disney's animatronics. The Woolfs and Aunt Trisha are die hard Disney fans, but I think that Universal Studios is the way to go- at least if you don't have kids and are not pregnant. 

We bee-lined it for Hogsmeade, where I quite enjoyed a frozen butterbeer. Aaron reports that the rides were awesome. Universal Studios is actually comprised of two parks. The plan was to spend the first half of the day in Islands of Adventure, then take the Hogwarts Express to the other park. The other park has Diagon Alley. 

"Posidon's Fury" was the only attraction outside of Curious George and Dr. Suess world that is on the list of pregnancy approved attractions. We had no idea what it was, but mom and I decided to check it out with Elliot in tow. 

It turned out to be an awesome special effects journey. This tunnel had water spiraling over it somehow. 

It ended with an intense pyrotechnics battle between Poseidon and  the bad guys

You could feel the heat of the fire, and it freaked out Exhausted Elliot. He had his head buried in my shoulder for the whole fight.

 It was all downhill from there. The sleep deprivation finally came to a head and Elliot flew into full meltdown mode. I wheeled him across the park with him desperately trying to escape the stroller and screaming at the top of his lungs. The guy by the entrance gave me his default "Have a great day" with a really funny look on his face like "clearly you are not having a great day, but I have no idea how to deviate from my script." 

This does not do it justice. 

 4ish hours later, Elliot woke up and I decided to go back even though we we wouldn't have much time before it got dark and closed. I really wanted to see Diagon Ally, and it did not disappoint!

Gringotts

Weasleys Wizard Wheezes

After that, we had just enough time to take Elliot to Curious George before the park closed. What we didn't realize was that it was a splash pad, which was less than desirable since it was now dark and raining. That did not dampen his enthusiasm.

Video- Us taking shelter in a curious george train car in the rain with a very enthusiastic Elliot.

The next day was Friday. We had flights leaving in the afternoon, but we already had tickets to Animal Kingdom because somehow our 4 park deal was cheaper than buying 3 day passes would have been. We had debated skipping it depending on how long exhausted Elliot slept in, but ended up going. 

Elliot with some Gorillas

 It didn't take long for us to regret our decision. The park was super hot and crowded, and we were worried about Elliot having another meltdown on the plane if he had another no nap day. We said our goodbyes to the Woolfs and headed home for a brief nap before heading to the airport. 

Overall, we had a good Disney experience! We had a pretty good set up with the big rides group and the kid, pregnant lady, and non-roller coaster enthusiasts group. It was also really nice having Aunt Wendy plan the itinerary and reserve all the fast passes using her extensive Disney knowledge.