theDIBB - Here Now! first WDW family holiday - Day 9. Epcot, the day that rain stopped play :-((

Today was a slower start again as our first fast pass was not until 10:50. So we let the kids sleep as long as possible then got ready. Left the villa at 10:20 and parked up in Epcot by 10:50. Got in and got a few MM photos. The Flower garden festival is on so there were nice flower sculptures around. It was a wee bit cooler today and more dull but to be honest after the baking heat yesterday we were grateful.

Made our way to our first FP which was for Mission Space, checking the wait time for Test Track on the way past – 80 minutes!. We all chose the orange 'more extreme' version. When we got to the front all the warnings about motion sickness had freaked Evan out so he decided not to ride it and Andrew took him out. Us 4 girls went on in one 'crew' and the boys in another. We loved this. I can only imagine the racket us girls were making squealing and giggling! Would definitely do this again! I do not know how they give you that feeling of pressure at launch? Magic! Came off and spent some time playing the games while the wee ones played in the wee area with the tunnels and things.

Left there to make our way to the opposite side for our FP for Soarin and stopped at Club Cool on the way. This was hilarious –with everyone agreeing the Beverly was indeed disgusting. Beverly face photo alert below! All the flavours were tried numerous times. LOVED Soarin! This is my kinda ride. Enjoyed the feeling of flying and all the different smells. Mmmmmm. The McNicols also bagged the front row so we had no dangly feet in front either.

After Soarin we headed outside for a coolbag lunch and drinks. While finishing this off we could feel the start of some pretty hefty raindrops so we huddled under a big brolly thinking it would pass. Yeah right. Our FP for Turtle Talk was next u so we ran and splashed our way to this. How good is Turtle Talk?! I was well impressed! Sat there grinning amazed at how he was interacting with the kids. I mean I get how they do the voice, but how do they anticipate the film when they do not know what questions the kids are going to ask? Kieran had his hand up to ask a question and since Matthew always copies what Kieran does, he put his hand up too. Of course he got picked and they brought the mike over to him and we all waited with baited breath. Mathews speech is not so clear due to his downs, so he just spoke a couple of words which they could not understand but they dealt with it so well. Crush just said 'Just wanted to say Hi eh? Yeah, I am digging that little dude!' Brilliant.

We came off and waited the 10m wait to go on The Seas with Nemo which was a cute little ride but nothing special. I was now 2:30 and we had used all 3 FPs so I went off in search of a FP kiosk to see if we could get a 4th FP for Test Track, only to find it had been closed down due to the weather. The kids had stayed behind looking around the shops and aquarium with the other adults so I went back and explained we had no chance, but that the rain seemed to be easing off. Let us just say I am no weather woman and leave it at that shall we? By the time we left the Aquarium the skies were black and and the big fat raindrops started. I would not normally mind Florida rain but this was cold. And Windy. We headed back inside the Land to do Living with the Land to keep us out of the rain. We spent most of this gazing at how heavy the rain was chucking down on the greenhouse roof, as it was like a river running down there! Coming out I bought a Poncho and we headed outside. It looked like it was going off for all of 2 minutes then it started all over again. Dianne dashed inside and bought herself and all the kids ponchos too. The Dads of course declared they did not need such girly items (too tight to buy them more like!).

so flattering!

Poncho'd up, the sun came out of course! We packed up the ponchos and headed to the character meet n greet which was a 10m wait. Met Mickey, Goofy then Minnie. Goofy was funny, mucking around tickling my ears and making me laugh. Headed outside to black skies again. Walked around the butterfly garden (not sure if that is always there or just because it was the flower and garden festival?) and the kids were all excited when one took a notion to my dress and planted itself on my hip. It did not want to leave and in the end Kevin had to gently take it off and put it on a flower.

Coming out the rain was in full force so the ponchos were back on. We headed towards Spaceship Earth which was a 10m wait. I almost fell asleep on this. Not because I did not enjoy it (twinkly stars are right up my street) but it was warm and dark, and Dame Judi Dench was whispering in my ear. Came off and played around the exhibits. I popped outside to get wi-fi and check on MDE to see what was happening with Test Track to find it was blooming freezing and blowing a gale! Let the kids play longer then we re-grouped and walked back round to the entrance to pick up the coolbag from stroller parking and decide what we were doing next. It was now 5:15pm, we had not entered the World Showcase yet, we were cold, wet (wet feet, urrgh), and it was blowing so hard I was at risk of floating up into the air in my poncho like some super sized plastic bag. The adults decided reluctantly that staying for our 7:20 ADR in Teppan Edo in Japan at the other side of the park just wasn't going to happen, and it was looking possible that Illuminations might even cancel. The CMs were saying the weather was due to stay the same until 11pm and all our weather apps said the same. So the rest all took shelter in a shop while I traipsed up to Guest Relations in my now sopping wet go-walks. Thankfully they agreed not to charge me the usual cancellation fee for cancelling within 24hrs (9x$10 so $90) due to the circumstances.

We then headed home. The McNicols for a Chinese takeaway and back to the villa, and the Eastons to the Texas steakhouse on the 192 for dinner. I was cold and couldn't face an air conditioned restaurant. Picked up a Chinese from Bamboo Wok at Berry Town Centre which was all very nice although we were one dish missing when we got it home.

The kids had a jump in the (thankfully heated) pool and Hubby and I settled with a glass of wine.

So, Epcot will have to be revisited on one of our free days now, as I am not missing the world showcase and still want to do Test Track.

Tomorrow the plan is Busch gardens. Everyone keep their fingers crossed for better weather for us or we might have to hit an indoor mall instead!

No MM photos added to today yet as the site is down. When it comes back up I will come back and add some more photos.

This was at the gate as we left, having finally abandoned ship!