The next day was our Epcot day. We had originally planned to try to rope drop Remy’s, but with the late night, we decided no one cared enough about Remy’s to try, so we arrived at the park around 9:30am, just in time for our first Lightning Lane for the Seas with Nemo. I booked the next Lightning Lane for Soarin’ later in the evening. After the ride, the kids checked out the aquarium and then went to Turtle Talk with Crush.

We then headed over for our Lightning Lane for Spaceship Earth and then booked it up to Norway to make our breakfast reservation at Akershus.

The princess breakfast was really fun and the food was tasty! The girls met Aurora, Belle, Snow White, Ariel, and Rapunzel. Afterwards, we met Anna and Elsa and then rode Frozen (our tier 1 Lightning Lane choice).

We wandered through the World Showcase, getting gelato in Italy and doing a lot of shopping in Japan. LS’s main goal for the trip was to purchase a maneki-neko (lucky cat), and they had a good variety! She chose a solar powered gold colored one. We also got some Pocky, a fan, and a Miyazaki puzzle.

We finally made it over to Canada for our lunch reservation at Le Cellier. I had been dreaming of the poutine since we last ate there in 2014, and it did not disappoint!

We then headed to our Lightning Lane for Soarin’ and then to Moana’s Journey of Water. It started to storm, however, and they closed the attraction. We waited out the heaviest rain back in the aquarium and then booked it over to Cosmic Rewind to make our Lightning Lane time.

This was our first time riding Cosmic Rewind. We had purchased a pass for LS, but she decided at the last minute that she did not want to ride it, so we took her older cousin instead who had also changed her mind and now wanted to ride it. It was so much fun! Probably my new favorite ride at Disney. It’s like Space Mountain but smoother, faster, and spinnier.

We then all headed over to Journey of the Imagination and finished our Epcot day back at Journey of Water. We left right before the fireworks to beat the crowds.

Our next day was spent an Animal Kingdom. We actually did manage to rope drop early entry, despite the earlier opening time of the park. We walked onto Navi River Journey and then headed over to the Safari right at opening. LS was super excited to see the cheetahs! Then we walked the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail where the girls got their Wilderness Explorers handbooks to earn badges. Then we headed over to Tusker House for our breakfast reservation.

Tusker House was great! Lots of variety on the buffet, and the character interactions were fun. We met Donald, Mickey, Goofy, and Daisy here. And I’m not sure what is in the juice they give you, but I couldn’t get enough of it.

After breakfast, we took the train to Rafiki’s. LS and I tried our hand at drawing Donald Duck at the Animation Station and her cousins liked the petting zoo. The girls got more badges in their handbooks.

We headed back on the train, then over to Asia where we got in line for Kali River Rapids. However, there was some lightning in the area, which delayed the ride a bit, but soon we were on and only got a bit wet. We then explored the Maharajah Jungle Trek to get some more badges.

Soon it was time for our Flight of Passage Lightning Lane so we headed back to Pandora. This was my first time on this ride and it was fun, but the 3D was a little off (maybe due to our seats on the end?), which made me a little dizzy (and I don’t normally get motion sickness from rides).

We ate barbecue for lunch, then headed into Dinoland USA.

We were about to get in line for Dinosaur when something waved to me from behind some bushes. It looked to be a dinosaur? No, it was Chip and Dale! We went around a few corners and finally found them hidden away in a shady area with no one else around. This was a super cool character interaction since there wasn’t really anyone else there.

Afterwards, we went on Dinosaur and then went over to the Boneyard for another Wilderness badge. The girls happily sat digging in the mammoth excavation site for a bit before it started to rain again.

It was almost time for the park to close, but we had one last ride to do: Expedition Everest. The girls really wanted to ride it but it was a posted 45 minute wait. We headed over there, only to find it had temporarily closed down due to the weather. After consulting some radar apps, we made the decision to jump in the slowly forming line outside the ride, and, sure enough, we were let on a short time later, and our 45 minute wait turned into only about 15-20 minutes.

I didn’t expect LS to go on this ride, as she was nervous about all the coasters, but I think peer pressure won when her cousins both wanted to ride. It turned out that she loved it! It was easily our favorite of the day.

Satisfied, we headed back, stopping briefly for a quick photo in front of the Tree of Life.