Georgemac and Crew – Oct 2006 Day 12 – Epcot and Magic Kingdom

[georgemac]

Day 12 – Mon 30th Oct – Epcot and Magic Kingdom

The Itineray for Today – was a lazy day and Seaworld but we are definitely off itinerary now and making it up each day!

Weather forecast – Sunny with high of 82 degF

We are up at around our usual time, decide today to visit Epcot. We are out of the house at 9.40, use the I4 (Mrs Garmin is still in the glovebox) and are in Epcot at 10 am, and are parked in Amaze, near the front with no trams running, so it looks like the park is quiet and we will have a good day. I tell the others to head for Soarin, as the wait is only 20 minutes, I will go and get fast passes for Test Track and meet them at Soarin. I obtain fast passes, with bonus fast passes for Mission Space, then head to Soarin where there is no sign of the family! I call DD on her mobile and they are waiting outside – I go and find them and head for the ride, the wait has increased to 30 minutes, but well worth it, really enjoyed it, except for DS who think’s it’s too tame! We then head for Mission Space, do the intense ride with the FP, then ride Test Track with the FP. Back to do the Nemo and friends ride, was not sure if this was the new one, but now know it is, was OK but I have definitely been on the shells before, perhaps an Ariel ride? Next we headed for Turtle Talk with Crush, what a hilarious and absolutely fantastic show this is, one of the best I have ever seen I think – everyone enjoyed it and the small kids sat at the front had a ball! Don’t miss this one. The chicken strip was now showing signs of hunger, so we headed for the Land, but the menus have changed, everything is very healthy and looks good, so that was no use, nothing to suit him there! We had a look at the Dessert Grill menu, that menu was rejected by all three other party members, so we did living with the land tour and then headed to the Electric Umbrella where chicken strips were available and consumed!

It was just after 2 PM, so we decided to take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom, we arrived there about 2.40, and they were getting ready for the parade, and it looked pretty quiet. The gang headed for Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe, while I went to check out Pirates of The Caribbean to see if FP was available – no FP for this ride, so I collected FP for Thunder Mountain Railroad on my way back to meet the gang. We watched and enjoyed the Make Your Dreams Come True Parade, I got chatting to a nice guy from Boston who loved our accent. We then headed for Pirates of the Caribbean which was a walk on, and really apart from the addition of Captain Jack Straw is pretty much the same. The CM outside really looked like Johnny Depp though and always had a large audience. Next the railroad ride with FP. Decided not to do Splash Mountain after my soaking at IOA on Saturday – takes too long to dry out in the milder temps. We then made our way back to the Christmas Shoppe to pick up the hand engraved ornament, and then to Mickey’s Philharmagic – simply brilliant again. What a pleasure it is walking round MK when it is not too busy, brilliant compared to our visit last year when we could hardly move. We wandered round to Tommorowland, and had 2 tries on Buzz Lightyear, dad winning both times, and we rode Space Mountain, all rides being walk on’s. Lots of people now arriving for MNSSHP, some very good costumes. We stop and have ice cream Sundaes at the top of main street, there was no-one in the shop except us, before heading for the monorail back to Epcot at around 5.30 PM.

Back to Epcot and head for the car to get some warm tops for evening in case required, again the weather today has been absolutely superb. We headed for Imagination and watched Honey I Shrunk the Audience, again a brilliant show. We then snacked our way around world showcase, the food and wine festival must be a huge money spinner for Disney. We only saw 1 number performed at Canada by the group Off Kilter, this was a pity as they seemed quite good. There were long lines at the Fish and Chip shop in the UK, do they really dress like that in Yorkshire? DW and DD then decided to stay at the viewing area between the UK and France, and DS and I headed back to America to watch the band SOS – we only watched 2 numbers as they were not his cup of tea. Met DW and DD and we watched Illuminations which was fantastic. Headed out of the park, and we were back in the villa at 9.50 PM, and an excellent day was had by all. Disney is still a magical place.

[georgemac]

[georgemac]

[Jools]

More lovely photos

[Guest]

can I ask you what camera you have used, because all your photos are brilliant... I love the parade photos...
Elaine

[georgemac]

I have a Sony DSC-H1 which is 5 megapixel and has a 12 x optical zoom, I have some good ones and some bad ones - I took over 1500 photos!

[Guest]

a good park-hopping day! I agree, your pictures are superb, some excellent detail.

[highlander447]

Another great day and great pics

[truesdpr]

Great pics of the parade and the fireworks at Epcot. We love Epcot too!

Pam.

[Guest]

A hectic day park hopping. More fab photos.