There's 104 days of summer vacation - Day 4 Epcot & MK

[Alison]

Not much sleep last night as we had a problem at the villa – the air conditioning had broken down! We needed to get it sorted so we had a quick breakfast and headed to Walmart to buy a Tracfone, as we wanted to go out to the park but still be contactable. We left a message with the management company and then headed to Epcot.

It meant we missed another rope drop – boo! We still managed to park fairly near the front although, fitting the pattern that happened all trip, we parked at the very far end of the row!


Spaceship Earth by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Biggest golf ball in the world by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Geometric by limegreenlife, on Flickr

Normally we would ride Soarin’ first on standby but the queue was already at 30 minutes so we got fastpasses and went and rode Living with the Land. Sadly, there were no vegetables earning their ears!


Up, up and away! by limegreenlife, on Flickr

Stephen wanted to ride Figment next. Why, I will never know but it is one fo his favourites – think it stems from his first trip four years ago when he rode it over … and over … and over!


Imagination pavilion by limegreenlife, on Flickr

As I was taking pictures of the fountain, a monorail flashed by, so I waited about ten minutes in the boiling heat for it to appear again so I could get the shot! I sent the boys of to play in the Imageworks section in the air-conditioning!


Monorail by limegreenlife, on Flickr

We walked on to the ride, as always!


You've got a Figment! by limegreenlife, on Flickr


You've won one scent! by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Imageworks by limegreenlife, on Flickr

It was ridiculously hot by now – the ground almost seemed to be shimmering. We decided to pop into Club Cool so Nigel could have some of his favourite Beverly!


Mmm - Beverly .. by limegreenlife, on Flickr

Had to include this one of the Fountain of Nations – not the greatest of shot but can you spot a sort of hidden Mickey in the clouds?!


Hidden Mickey? by limegreenlife, on Flickr

(Cont in next post)

[Alison]

On to the World Showcase now and Stephen was on a mission – to meet Duffy! He was rather gutted they didn’t have the Duffy that he had his eye on in the Duffy shop, though!


Meeting Duffy by limegreenlife, on Flickr

We were hungry now so decided to head off somewhere new for lunch. We went to the Lotus Blossom café in China and ordered pot stickers and orange chicken to share. Stephen ate most of the chicken – normally, he doesn’t like Chinese! This was looking promising! We spent a bit of time wandering around Norway and rode Maelstrom.


Master of all I survey by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Troll by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Viking by limegreenlife, on Flickr

And then headed into Mexico. Love the theming in here, as always.


Fiesta Hoy by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Pyramid by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Pinata by limegreenlife, on Flickr

We headed back into Future World, via Mouse Gear to cool down – we were still melting. Stephen bought a pin of Buttercup, the unicorn from Toy Story 3 and was over the moon – he hadn’t been able to find much merchandise at all of him.


Sweets as far as the eye can see by limegreenlife, on Flickr

Standby for Soarin’ was 55 minutes by now. We were glad to be able to use our FP and we got to sit in the front row for the first time! It is a great ride but the film isi starting to look grubby. It will be interesting to see what they do with the refurbishment.

We stop off at Sunshine Seasons for more food to share – Nigel gets sweet and sour chicken and we have some cakes, including the famous strawberry shortcake, which was absolutely delicious.

We head home via our favourite shop, the Art of Disney. We take a quick look at Spaceship Earth on the way out but the queue has been 30 minutes all day – we will do it another time!

(Cont in next post)

[Alison]

We get home and make contact with Cyndi from the management company. She is really nice and promises to be over in an hour to see what she can do. We all shower and Stephen has a long swim - he learns how to swim and dive to the bottom of the pool without his goggles, which is really handy!

Cyndi arrives and checks the air conditioning – it is going to need an engineer. She promises to arrange something for tomorrow and, in fact, rings us later to tell us that we will be first on the engineer’s list the next day. Great service from the management company.

We need to get out of the hot house – we give Stephen the choice and he chooses Magic Kingdom. On the tram, we discover it is EMH – what a rookie mistake! Never mind, we decide to go in anyway. Anything we do will be a bonus.

We start at Columbia Harbour House for fish and chicken and salad to share. Stephen orders the fish and chicken basket and I think they must have mixed up his order as he gets a full sized portion of each!

Stephen’s choice of ride – surprise, surprise; we end up on the Haunted Mansion again!


Welcome to the Haunted Mansion by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Don't forget to bring your death certificate by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Constance by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Talking heads by limegreenlife, on Flickr

We then went to see if we could find somewhere for the parade. We were quite late coming to look so really didn’t expect to find anything but suddenly spotted a double bin near a popcorn cart. This ended up being a great spot – we could use the bin to rest the cameras on as a makeshift tripod, it was big enough for us both to stand behind and the kind man standing next to the bin let Stephen sit on the kerb in front of him. Also, the CMs move on anyone trying to sit in front of bins so we had no one in front of us. We were very lucky.


Show time by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Make a wish by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Castle of lights by limegreenlife, on Flickr

(Cont in next post)

[Alison]

We enjoyed the parade and it brought back many childhood memories. It does appear quite dated compared to Spectromagic, though. It was interesting having the cameras with two different lenses on – the UWA included the castle, which was nice.


Which side of the mushroom? by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Pumpkin coach by limegreenlife, on Flickr


The Witching Hour by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Pete's Dragon by limegreenlife, on Flickr

Nigel had a play around with long exposure.


Whizzing lights by limegreenlife, on Flickr

We got some popcorn to eat while we watched the new show – we weren’t really sure what to expect with it but it was very effective.


Pictures of Disney by limegreenlife, on Flickr

We stayed where we were for Wishes – it wasn’t the greatest spot, but we were comfortable here and we decided not to worry about what sort of shots we got and just enjoy the show.


Whizz! by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Bang! by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Ooh! by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Aaah! by limegreenlife, on Flickr

We decide to head in for Tomorrowland for a couple of rides before the park closes to us but it is really, really busy with being EMH, so we only ride the Wedway. Stephen lost his new pin and was a bit gutted. We are so tired so decide to head out.


Main Street at night by limegreenlife, on Flickr

It was fairly empty walking out of the park and we only had to wait for a couple of trams. Stephen went straight to bed – we finished our pie from Perkins and weren’t far behind!

[sarahewoods]

Loving your reports, esp more as the photography is wonderful. Thank you for sharing xx

[Guest]

Wow - I've been loving your reports, your photos are amazing - trying to convince my hubby that he wants to spend £1000 buying me a new camera but he's having none of it

[Alison]

Hey, if you manage to convince your husband, let me know how you do it!

[making49]

The photos are brill, really clear. Looking forward to reading more.

[summersun]

great report

[stace&tink]

Your pics are amazing, thank you so much for sharing. great report. cant wait to read more. x