Greetings from Guatemala: Disney 2017 (Epcot, La Nouba)

Saturday, November 25, 2017

Disney 2017 (Epcot, La Nouba)

We loved Epcot! There is so much to see and do. It is also very educational. Our day there was a lot of fun. Here is a glimpse of what we did.

our family at the entrance before the park opened

Epcot International Festival of the Holidays

The park was decorated so pretty for Christmas.

These two were excited about another fun day at Disney.

We arrived early to get a good spot in line and once the gates opened we ran straight to Test Track for our first ride of the day. It ended up being one of our most favorite rides of the week. Our family loved it and wanted to ride it again later in the day but I don't think the line ever got below 100 minutes.

You begin by designing your own virtual concept vehicle. The boys were no where near each other when they made their cars and it shocked us to see that the cars that they designed were almost identical. That gave us a good laugh.

After designing your car you get to test it out. That was a lot of fun!

Cruz riding Test Track in Epcot

what a fun memory that was

There were a lot of racing games you could play after the ride was over.

The Seas with Nemo and Friends

David and Ben on The Seas with Nemo and Friends Attraction. You ride in a "clamobile" to relive some of your favorite scenes from the Finding Nemo movie.

We loved walking through SeaBase. It is a 5.7 million gallon aquarium filled with thousands of beautiful fish, sharks, sea turtles, and more.

They got to watch two scuba divers do some cleaning.

Excited about Turtle Talk with Crush. It was a really fun show. It was very cute and entertaining.

A few photos outside The Seas

We rode Soarin' twice. We loved it!

riding Soarin' at Epcot

What I have not mentioned yet about our trip to Disney is that we went under the umbrella of a homeschool group. There is a group called Traveling Homeschoolers that I follow and they take trips together all throughout the year to places all over the world. They have an annual trip to Disney and this year we joined them. There were 1000+ there at Disney in our group that week. That meant very discounted tickets for everyone in the group. We got a really great deal on this trip and we were very thankful for the opportunity to get to go.

In order to get the discount you had to attend one of two educational classes offered by Disney. There was a science option and a history option. We chose the science option and it took place at Epcot. It was only offered on Wednesday of the week but you had several time slots to choose from. It is a one-hour backstage walking tour of the greenhouses of the Land Pavilion where guests learn about the future of agriculture. You visit four greenhouses and a fish farm to catch a glimpse of plants, insects and fish. It is perfect for anyone interested in gardening or natural sciences. It was very interesting and educational. We all enjoyed it a lot and learned a little too.

They grow Mickey shaped cucumbers there. How cute!

A Mickey shaped black pepper tree.

enjoying the Behind the Seeds tour at Epcot

Having our picnic lunch in the park (another way we saved money)

This was an interesting ride. It showed the history of innovations from the Stone Age to the Digital Age.

riding Spaceship Earth

The only country we visited was Mexico. There we did the Gran Fiesta Tour starring The Three Caballeros. It is a boat ride similar to "it's a small world" that features the sights of Mexico. It was really cute and made us feel like we were back in Latin America.

Gran Fiesta Tour boat cruise

Cruz enjoying his daily Mickey Mouse bar

us enjoying some afternoon coffee

Our last activity for the day at Epcot was the Disney and Pixar short film festival. It was a 4-D cinema attraction that featured three short films. It was great.

ready for the short film festival

A few memory maker photos before we left the park.

Christmas at Epcot

We left the park around 4:00 in order to go eat supper and be at Disney Springs by 6:00. In addition to discounted Disney park tickets our homeschool group also had deeply discounted tickets to see La Nouba by Cirque Du Soleil. We were just as excited about this as we were the parks. It was amazing! We all sat in awe as we watched all of the cool performances they did. It really blew us away. It was such a great show!