just denise: An Epic (or Epcot) day at Walt Disney World

I wasn't really sure what to expect at Epcot. What I knew was that we had two character dinner reservations there and it was home to Mission: Space -- and having a future astronaut in the family, I knew that was definitely on our list of places to go see.

Our first stop at this park was the aforementioned Mission: Space. We started off on the mild version aka Mission Orange. We got loaded into the shuttle and set off into space. Each person gets assigned a position: engineer, flight commander, etc. So you really feel part of the mission.

Don't let the mild version fool you. It still rocked and was one heck of a ride! While Diane and the boys went for another ride on the wilder green version, Sydni, Granny Gran and I went playing around in the space zone they had set up at the exit. Definitely a place to spend some time away from the heat and rain on this day.

We then headed to our dinner with the Princesses at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. When I asked Sydni months before if she wanted to have dinner with the Princesses she was adamant that she didn't. I told her fine, we would just go without her and the boys because it was something I wanted to do. Not really meaning that I didn't think anything about it until two days before our trip when I was busily planning our itinerary. Sydni mentioned dinner with the Princesses and I was confused and said we're not seeing them because you said no. I'll leave all the drama out other than to say I frantically made a call and we were on our way to meet royalty.

We had a very late dinner but it was totally worth it. The first princess to greet us was Belle. She was so welcoming and we felt right at home.

Next we met my all-time favorite Cinderella. Which was a total surprise to us as we had been told she wouldn't be there that night. Lucky us!!

Seeing the excitement on Sydni's face as each princess came out to meet us was so rewarding. She enjoyed herself so much! Sleeping Beauty even came out and had Sydni lead the princess parade through the restaurant and the boys escorted her. Although the boys looked like they were being taken to the guillotine.

This was definitely worth the price of the meal. Oh and the food was good too! They started us off with buffet appetizers then for the main meal I had Seared Herb-Dusted Beef Tips which were scrumptious. The kids had the Swedish meatballs and they were heavenly. We were so full we couldn't even really eat the dessert but it did look delectable.

The kids were treated to another birthday celebration here. So fun!

They even got birthday cards from the princesses.

Our other character meal at Epcot was the Garden Grill with Chip 'N Dale. I love these little guys and who isn't interested in seeing what a rotating dining room looks like! That's right. The restaurant floor rotates. It is so mild that you don't feel it but over the course of the meal we went around the entire restaurant. Our characters at this restaurant were hands down the best characters out of all the restaurants we visited.

They interacted with the kids so much and just made the whole experience so much fun. In addition to Chip 'N Dale we saw Mickey Mouse and Pluto. Such sweeties.

The food was served family style which just means they bring the food put all at once and you just get what you want from the serving platters. It was simply delicious.

And of course there were Mickey ears everywhere.

The only other rides that we did here were ridden by Diane and the boys: Test Track and Soarin. They liked the test track a lot but thought Soarin was ok. Thank goodness for those magical after hours once again.

We didn't really explore the countries at Epcot and I am totally bummed that we missed both Finding Nemo rides but what we saw was awesome. Missing those is just another reason to head back to Orlando soon.