30 Magical Moments: #2 Ride Ellen's Energy Adventure

LaRae and I thought we would sleep in and stay out late on this trip. However, our internal clocks had a different idea, so most mornings we woke up fairly early and went ahead to a park. This first morning we decided to go straight to Epcot.

All photography this trip is iPhone only!

As we entered the park we encountered our first "new" experience: we didn't have a FastPass runner! Independent, strong women that we are, we forged ahead to Soarin' to grab our own FastPasses. Turns out the standby line was only 15 minutes long, so we got FastPasses and then rode in standby.

Living with the Land was at its typical 0 minute wait, so after Soarin', we took a cruise through one of my favorite attractions.

LaRae was Disney-Bounding this day! More on that later!

Can you read the lettuce?

Hidden Mickey in the lettuce

Our FastPass time for Soarin' came up quickly, but we didn't really feel the need to ride again, so we handed our FastPasses to a nice couple who was about to pull some of their own. This was the first of MANY times on this trip that we were asked if we're twins. Folks, LaRae ages amazingly well; she is 7 years older than me. Granted we both are the same height, have very dark hair, and wore red lipstick the entire trip, but only one of us was wearing a birthday button. I'll give you a second to work that one out. ;-)

Even without the kiddos, The Seas with Nemo and Friends is still a favorite. Again, this had almost no wait.  Afterwards, LaRae got a pressed penny for each of the kids.

I tried to take lots of pics with a Birthday Vinylmation
but failed at that endeavor. Whoops!

From here we pulled a FastPass for Test Track. This attraction was closed in November, so we were excited to see the upgrades to it. Then we made our way to Magical Moment #2.

Magical Moment #2: Ride Ellen's Energy Adventure

This attraction was on my "haven't done's" list. It takes 45 minutes start to finish, and while I think Ellen is a hoot and a half, that's a long time for a tired kiddo or a potentially bored adult! Thankfully the ride was pretty fun, and it gave us mini rest time.

Ellen's Energy Adventure spends a lot of time with dinosaurs.
Watch out! Some of them spit!

Grateful for our rest, we strolled over to the World Showcase. Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival was in full swing making this the second trip where we've happened upon this event. There were queues to take photos in front of many of the topiaries!

Remember how I said LaRae was Disney Bounding? That means that her outfit suggested a Disney character. It's a subtle way to dress as your favorite character in the parks. She got compliments all day on her Snow White outfit!

A quick stop for the Gran Fiesta Tour in Mexico!

China Pavilion

Now I think I'm caught up! Got things a little backwards there where I was telling the Magical Moment at the end of the post. Whoops! Now the posts will start with the Magical Moments and end with stories. :-) The next magical moments involve food and drink in the World Showcase. Can you guess where we went?