Epcot Try Two

Since our first day at Epcot was slightly a bust, I was happy that we were able to do another day there. But before we went to the park, we took the Skyliner to the Boardwalk to eat breakfast at Trattoria al Forno. 

I had heard it was one of the best breakfast spots at Disney and I wanted to give it a try. Scott and I ate dinner here in August when we came by ourselves and it was terrible!! They have since completely redone the menu so maybe it's better now. I'm happy to report that breakfast was fantastic and I can see why it gets rave reviews. I got the breakfast pizza and Scott and I both agreed it was the best thing we ordered. The pizza was huge and we should have all shared it. I didn't get a photo of it but I have a video of it and the rest of our meal on my Disney 2021 highlights on IG. 

We finished breakfast then headed over to Epcot to rope drop. I have never experienced rope drop before but I'll never be anxious to do it again. It all was very confusing to us honestly. We've walked into the parks up to thirty minutes before they say they open and hopped on rides so we assumed it would be the same this time but they literally had us all wait behind a rope, in the middle of the park, until exactly 11:00 when Epcot opens. It was hot, and crammed full of people who were already getting smelly and I was not the slightest bit thrilled by the situation. If I had known that's what it was going to be like I would have just browsed around the Boardwalk or popped in Beach Club and shopped in the gift shop. We were anxious to get in line for Frozen though so we stood there packed like sardines with everyone else. If we hadn't done rope drop we would have waited in line for a really long time for Frozen (we waited 21 minutes) so I guess it was worth it but it was a little disappointing. I was expecting something different out of the infamous rope drop like a special song or Tinker Bell flying above us. That would have been epic. 

We road Frozen, did some shopping, grabbed some drinks and food, and focused most of our time collecting our passports from around the world. It's similar to the Wilderness Explorer thing in Animal Kingdom. You find each "Kidcot Fun Stop" in each country and someone is there to hand you a "passport." Collect all 11 and you get a special little card that says something about traveling around the world. The boys love stuff like that so it was a fun challenge to get all of the passports from each country. 

We won't talk about how we got all the way to Germany (from the UK) to collect our passport before realizing we had lost all the others we had collected. Campbell was playing with them while we were in Italy (see photo above) and somewhere between our Italian pizza and my glass of prosecco he must have set them down and walked away from them. 

We ran back to Italy to try to find them but they were gone (some super lucky kid found them without having to do all the work to get them, I'm certain of it). Campbell cried. It was a big thing. We were running out of time so Scott and I decided to divide and conquer. He went one way, I went the other, and in the end, we got all of our passports. Praise. 

This trip around the world went slightly better than the first. The kids don't love Epcot and I don't blame them honestly. It's not as fun for kids as it is for adults. They kept saying they were bored but I love Epcot so much I could never not go while at Disney. It was probably a good idea for us to do two half days here with the kids. 

Unfortunately our time at Disney had come to an end. I always want more days at Disney. We had the absolute best trip and we made a lot of memories. I do wish we had done one extra day so we could have had a day in the middle where we didn't go to any parks but instead stayed in our room to chill, rest, and re-group. I really think it's necessary with little kids to do that. I say that every time and we never have a day where we don't have a park reservation. It's hard to be at Disney and not go to a park but next time I think we'll have to do that in order to make our trip more pleasant for everyone. We learn each time we go to Disney what we could do better the next time and for this trip, that was my biggest takeaway. Overall, the trip was pretty smooth sailing. We loved our resort, our food and our time together as a family at the happiest place on earth!