Family travel is so fun when you can find a place that everyone enjoys, and that is what we found at Epcot! Parents will enjoy the World Showcase while our kids loved the attractions and rides. Spaceship Earth automatically draws our attention to the large textured sphere, and thankfully we have a FastPass so we don’t have to wait in the super long line.
As with the other two parks, we were there at rope drop and moved quickly to an attraction we did not have a FastPass for, Living with the Land. I was truly amazed at the information shared during this ride. It was an eye opening experience to learn all the behind the scenes work Disney does to grow food for use in it’s parks.
The favorite attraction of the boys was the Chevrolet Test Track! Marty and I loved it too! We paired up, me and Mason on one team and Marty and Cooper on the other team. First, we split up and designed our cars. This was so fun because we could choose our car body, aerodynamics, color and more. Then we moved on to the Test Track, which is a modified roller coaster that reaches speeds of 60+ mph. We all loved it, even Cooper (he does not like roller coasters!) Through Disney magic, in our magic bands, we race our prototypes against each other and Marty and Cooper’s model wins!
Last year we took a day trip in Wisconsin to Mount Horeb, where their main street is lined with trolls and appropriately named the Trollway. The boys loved finding each troll and marking it off on the map, but more about that in a different post. When we went to Norway in Epcot World Showcase we were immediately drawn to the large troll in the gift shop.
And just like the stave church we have seen on Washington Island in Wisconsin (built by a Norwegian) we were again drawn to a familiar landmark. A stave church is a medieval christian wooden church. Inside the Epcot stave was some beautiful art and of course a few carvings, which the boys were drawn to, and had to replicate.
We made reservations for lunch at Biergarten Restaurant, it was a safe bet for us because we love German food and German culture. The Biergarten offered great food and outstanding atmosphere. The inside of the restaurant is made to feel like being outside at Oktoberfest. The ceiling is dark, like night time, there are building silhouettes, and of course a large center stage. Although I didn’t plan it, our timing was perfect for the German band which lead to dancing and laughing. We sat at communal tables with enough space to feel like we weren’t sitting on top of the next people’s laps. We met two couples on their honeymoon! We were able to prost (cheers) with Weizen (beer), Riesling (wine), Spezi (orange soda mixed with cola), and ice water. Mason loved the Spezi and is determined to find just the right combination at home.
That lunch was beyond words, and we could have easily gone back to the hotel after that two hour festival! But we pushed on, spent an hour in the Japan gift shop, so many interesting and fun things including a cooking demonstration and Hello Kitty!
As we continued on we watched a few live shows, went in and out of gift shops and watched the O’Canada film. We really enjoyed the World Showcase, and if it were not so blazin hot, we would have stopped in each pavillion to learn more about each culture. That will have to be for another trip.
