Day 6 saw us get up bright and early to head over to Epcot. We came in International Gateway and marvelled at how empty the place was.
I think we had FP for Turtle Talk. Or at least, there was a Turtle Talk show that we were trying to get to. But, on the way there, we passed Soarin', and there was a really short wait. Liam wanted to go on Soarin' and since it was my favourite ride, I gladly accompanied him. We knew we'd be cutting it close to get to Turtle Talk but we chanced it.
We ran like mad when we got out of Soarin', but we missed Turtle Talk by about a minute. Phooey. So we wandered around the aquariums while we waited for Chad and Mallory.
Liam wanted to film some footage on the GoPro. It was turtle feeding time. We also picked out a Hidden Mickey and a Hidden Goofy.
We didn't have much time to spare after Turtle Talk finished before we cut back across Epcot to Norway. It was time for breakfast at Akershus. I was particularly happy that for the first time, we didn't get put in a room that's as dark as a cave. This room was actually pretty bright.
Mallory was quite excited to have the opportunity to add several autographs to her autograph book.
We enjoyed our breakfast here a lot - they have pretty good food, and the character interaction was nice, too.
We were in Norway, so we figured we should all ride Maelstrom, as it was a walk-on. Rumours were already flying that it would close to make way for a Frozen ride and sure enough, that's since been announced. RIP, Maelstrom. I think it's high time you were made over, anyway.
From there, we went to a FP at Test Track, and rode it all together. A guy in the car with us had both his hands and his feet up and completely blocked Mallory from the shot. Boo. That's the first and also the last time I think we will get her on the ride, so I wish we had a shot from it. Memory Maker was proving to be useful mostly for the ride photos, and because Mallory isn't a thrill ride fan, we weren't getting a lot of shots of her.
After Test Track, Liam wanted to ride Mission Space again, and despite what he'd said the night before about not wanting to do Orange again
that's exactly what he wanted to do this morning! He wanted me to do it with him since Chad had done it the night before. To tell the truth, I was scared to death. I'd heard all the stories about people being sick all day after riding it. While I was on it I stared straight ahead and didn't close my eyes since I'd heard the horror stories about what happens if you don't follow the rules. As with most things, it was not nearly as bad as I expected it to be. Just when it started to get uncomfortable, the pressure eased up. At the end of the day it was actually pretty cool.
Chad had taken Mallory over to Imagination so we wandered in that direction to meet up with them again. I kept trying to get a shot of the monorail in front of a landmark, and I kept missing. It was actually pretty comical. I would wait long enough that I knew one had to be passing by at any minute, and then it never failed that I got distracted for exactly long enough that I wasn't ready with the camera when the monorail was in a prime location. At the end of the day, this was the best I could do.
We headed up to the front of the park to ride Spaceship Earth. Mallory was pretty adamant that she didn't want to try it. We reminded her that she went on it when she was two and was just fine. Her concern was that we would have to go upside down/backwards in order to take a ride in 'the big ball'.
We got her on it, but she didn't go willingly!
As a reward for riding it without putting up *too much* fuss, we let her decide what to do next. She wanted to get a few more princess autographs, which led us back over to World Showcase. We passed the Outpost
and wandered around the world
We got to China before Mulan came out, but the line was already fairly long. Luckily, it was mostly in the shade and beside some doors that were blasting air conditioning. By the time we got from Spaceship Earth to China, I was parched. It was another hot and steamy day. We grabbed some drinks while we waited to see Mulan.
And then, to complete the princess roster, we saw that Jasmine was coming out in Morocco soon, so we headed in that direction. We stopped along the way to watch a performer in Italy.
Mallory was adamant that she only wanted the princesses' autographs, not Aladdin's. However we didn't tell them this until after Jasmine had already signed, and it turned out that Jasmine signed "Jasmine <3's" so that Aladdin could write his name underneath. She was really apologetic about it. She suggested putting some stickers over top of Aladdin's name. I think Mallory eventually forgave her, but the fact that it even registered on her annoyance scale meant that we'd had enough of the parks for a while and it was time to take a break.
P.S. - we wound up getting all of the princesses' autographs, except for Pocahontas', because by the time Mallory bought her autograph book, we had already finished off our Animal Kingdom days and you can't find her anywhere else. She has yet to clue in that she's missing one, and I hope she never does!