Apples for Ava: Epcot

For our first day in Disney we decided to head to Epcot and avoid the weekend crowd at Magic Kingdom. The first ride we took Ava on was the Finding Nemo ride at the Aquarium. She loved seeing all the fish and the animated story that went along with it as we rode by in seashell. Afterward, we headed into the first store we saw and bought Ava her "First Ears Hat." She couldn't spend a week in Disney without it!!

Once we were done with the rides in the front of the park we headed to the World Showcase (my personal favorite) and took Ava on the quickest world tour she will probably ever experience! First was Mexico and we jumped on the boat ride with no line! She saw Donald Duck travel all over Mexico as she danced to the music! Next came Norway and the Vikings, then China where we took a break for lunch and saw the characters from Mulan. Somewhere in the middle of the showcase we really started to see alot more characters. Pluto was the first official character that Ava met and she really seemed to love him. Then came Minnie Mouse & Donald Duck. Her Autograph book is really starting to fill up.

In Japan Ava really enjoyed watching the Japanese drummers put on a performance. Anything with music really grabs her attention. Later when we stopped for a bathroom break she started to drum on the benches and make her own music.

In the United States, we ran into the designer & the owner of Precious Moments and they were selling limited edition dolls of Belle (from Beauty & the Beast) & Tinkerbell dressed up for Christmas. Grandma bought Ava a Tinkerbell doll and we had them both autograph the doll's belly. Tink was so pretty and is one in 500 dolls. This is one doll that Ava is NOT going to play with but will love when she's older.

We visited Germany and then Morroco where we Met Jasmine, Alladin & the Genie. Ava couldn't take her eyes off of Jasmine. I guess she wants to be a princess one day! We also stopped for lunch in Morrocco where Ava was able to taste some Morroccan flavor (or maybe just some "Morroccan" chicken nuggets & carrot sticks).

Next came France where Ava sat through a 180 degree movie about the country. When a horse appeared on the screen she excitedly announced, "Puppy!" I guess she really is getting a pony for Christmas! We also made it to Britain in time to meet Alice from Wonderland and the gang from Winnie the Pooh. The Pooh characters really loved Ava and got down on the ground to play with her!

After seeing the rest of the countries in the showcase, we settled down by the lake for the laser/light show. By this point Ava was begining to get a bit cranky because she had a long day but I thought she might like the show & the fireworks. She's never seen fireworks so they startled her a bit at first as she said "uh-oh" as they went off but the music made it all better for her. It was a really spectacular show and of course only Disney could pull off something that big every night of the week!! Ava's AND Mel's first day in Disney was wonderful and I'm looking foward to the week ahead!