Three Go To Orlando: 2nd October 2012. Day 2 EPCOT

[nickymouse66]

Well, I'd forgotten how it felt being stuck on UK time - until I was ready to hit EPCOT at 3.30am..I tried to get back to sleep, but gave up and at this time I was really glad of the free Wi-Fi in Pop Century! I eventually got up for the day at 5.00am, as did Cody – Mike had a lie in until 5.30!

We went for breakfast at All Things Pop, not all of the counters were open as we were there for around 6.30am – Cody & Mike both had the Bounty Platter (bacon, sausage, scrambled egg, potatoes, french toast & a pancake) and I had a Cinnamon Roll as I wasn't too hungry – this came to $18 and we all enjoyed what we had – I forgot to take a picture...

We had a bit of a look around at the giant icons near to our room





they were amazing and we didn't really have any perception of quite how big they were until we were up close!

I had purchased 5 day MYW tickets as we had decided we would not park hop and we didn't want to do the water parks this time.

We would have liked to do MK on the first day, but being 'full day' people, the park hours guides were not showing the Main Street Electrical Parade until tomorrow, so EPCOT it was and it was morning EMH which suited us early risers. We were soon on a bus & discovering that the refillable mugs do not travel well in a backpack when they are full (this was despite us trying various upside down, shaking moves to test if they leaked – of course they did not until they were safely in the bag...)

We arrived at EPCOT just as it was opening,



now, I had been studying various reports, charts & guides, which all told me that if we did not sprint (or at least jog) immediately to Soarin', we'd either spend all day in a queue or have to miss it completely (no exaggeration or drama of course) , so we briskly trotted straight there and we were literally soaring within 5 minutes! To be honest, I welled up a little bit, this was our first ride of the holiday and I really love it...



We did the Land and The Lion King while we were in the vicinity (no wait times) and then went back into the sunlight to have a much more leisurely stroll around the rest of the attractions. I had originally thought that we would need two days to do Futureworld and World Showcase, but it was so quiet, that we began to feel hopeful that we could do it all in a day, none of the rides had any wait times, there was a little bit of a queue on Mission Space for the green route but we had chosen:



we'd done it before and loved it!

It was our first time on Nemo and Friends as it was closed in 2005 when we last visited – I enjoyed it!



By 12.00 noon we had finished Futureworld completely (including sampling the Coca Cola products – why oh why did I not take notice of the Beverly reviews! ) so we moved on to WSC.
If I'm honest, we have never really done WSC any justice, in fact, last visit we only managed Mexico & Norway, so this time we started from the Canada end and decided we'd have a good explore (I do have to admit at this stage, that we did not view a single 360 degree film in any country as we had seen them on previous trips and had no real desire to see them again!). We purchased a Davy Crocket hat in Canada which our sons girlfriend had asked for (she likes furry hats? )



then progressed around the rest of the World. We had a minor meltdown in the UK when the camera stopped working – but it was just the batteries … phew



so on we travelled...

I must confess, I was most impressed by Morocco – the detail was incredible and we had always waked straight past before..



We stopped to watch the musicians in America and decided that the Liberty Tree Tavern would be a good place to stop for lunch as it was now 3.00pm – Mike had an Angus Burger with fries, Cody had Pulled Pork with fries and I had Chicken Strips with fries, we had 1 large and 2 regular soft drinks which came to $39, we had the added bonus of the band marching through and playing while we ate.



The Food and Wine Festival had started, but to be honest, there was almost too much choice for us and we really wanted to sit down in a cool restaurant as it was so hot..

We made it as far as China when the Heavens opened! We looked at all of the displays



then dodged the shower to get to Norway – Maelstrom actually had a 15 minute wait



by the time we had finished, the rain had gotten worse, so we sprinted (nearly ) to Mexico – and while it's definitely not the best ride, I really love the stalls and shops inside and there was a Mariachi band playing and it was lovely being 'under the stars'.

At 6.00pm, we were beginning to feel tired, so decided to call it a day, the fireworks weren't on until 9.00pm and we didn't feel like staying – we had seen Illuminations before and we had a spare day on our ticket, so we could always come back..

We were lucky and got straight on an empty bus back to Pop Century, and by the time we had got in and showered etc we were all ready for an early night – I got the short straw for fetching us drinks from All Things Pop in our mugs – we had had a wonderful first day with the temperature in 90's – fantastic..

The one downside - we realised when we got back, we had not seen a single photo pass photographer!

[disney owl]

a good 1st day

[Juliemack]

It's great to take advantage of the early starts of the first few days - we (me and DD) love love love EPCOT and just wandering round World Showcase, it's our perfect day

[tink3]

Sounds like you had a good first day.

[Guest]

Thank you for sharing

[VickiHayling]

we were in Epcot too yesterday (small world lol) and I was amazed that we just walked on everything. The crowds were building by the time we left at 2 though. Have a great holiday.

[Guest]

Sounds like a lovely day, looking forward to hearing more

[taryn70]

Great day , looking forward to the rest

[chaffey]

Sounds like a great first day.

You know you are in Florida when you can't sleep and wish the night away

[DisneyBlonde]

We were almost in the same place! We checked into the Boardwalk on this day

Epcot is our favourite, especially WS at night.