Beryl, Breakdowns, Beauty and the Bates family - Day 11

[Nimbus]

Previously...
Pre-Trip
Day One - The Journey There
Day Two - Around the World at Epcot
Day Three - Swimming and Shopping
Day Four - Soggy at Seaworld
Day Five - Hollywood Studios
Day Six - Manic Magic Kingdom
Day Seven - Islands of Adventure
Day Eight - Wet at Universal Studios
Day Nine - More Splashing and Shopping
Day Ten - Sunny at Seaworld

Day Eleven - Monday 4th June 2012 – Back to the Future World at Epcot

On our first full day - way back on Day 2 - we'd visited Epcot but found that we hadn't spent much time in the Future World section. Today it was time to rectify that. Plus, we wanted to see the "Illuminations: Reflections of Earth" firework show.

As we were staying late for the fireworks, we had considered getting the later shuttle bus this morning. However, Hannah wanted to go on Soarin' again. If we left it too late in the morning the fastpasses would've been all gone and the standby line would be 80 minutes or more and so, instead, we booked to ride on the early Disney bus.

Surprisingly, the shuttle bus was quite busy. Not too busy - we could still get a seat - but it was certainly busier than last time when it was Memorial weekend. We arrived at Epcot just after 8:30am and strolled through the chopstick-wielding bag check area and towards the queues. These were noticeably longer today - the queues not the chopsticks. And, after they blasted the streamers into the air and started letting people in, we discovered we'd joined the slowest queue. Ain't it always the way?



Anyway, it took us nearly 20 minutes to get through the entrance before we could 'fast walk' towards the Land pavilion and Soarin'. When we finally got there, Soarin' had a posted standby wait time of 60 mins so we didn't join that. Instead, we got some fastpass tickets and left the busy Land pavilion.



On the way in, we'd noticed that the Character Spot place had a short queue and so, after getting those Soarin' FPs, we made our way over to see Mickey, Minnie and the rest. Of course, when we got there the queue was a bit longer but only about 20 minutes or so. I don't mind waiting that length of time to get to see the five main Disney characters - plus it gave us a chance to slap on some suncream.

I won't bore you with all of the photos taken. Here's just a small selection:







From here, we wandered over to the Sea with Nemo and Friends (aka the Living Seas). It's still strangely dark as you enter here but, thankfully, there wasn't much of a wait for our clamshell to Seabase Alpha (as it used to be called). The ride's nothing to write home about but does give you a chance to rest your legs.

The aquariums inside the Sea pavilion are pretty interesting and we spent some time looking at the various fish:



I found Nemo!

There was a member of staff feeding the eels and horseshoe crabs and we watched and listened to her little facts for a while.

Noticing that people were heading for the Turtle Talk with Crush show, we joined the crowd. This is a great, and very clever, little show and almost as funny as the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor over in Magic Kingdom. Hannah even got chosen to ask Crush a question. Her question was, "Is it cool to live in the sea?" Of course it is - especially near the polar icecaps.



Once we were done looking around at the fishies, we returned to the nearby Land pavilion because our fastpass time had arrived. Thankfully, today Soarin' hadn't broken down, so the fastpass queue wasn't too long and we managed to ride.

I have to say that this attraction is much better if you're on the front row. Your view is not obstructed by the dangling feet of the people above you and the screen seems to more fully encompass you. Of course, the scene transistions are still a bit naff but you can't have everything. It is definitely worth trying to get on row 1 if you can.

As we exited the ride, the queues for the fastpass machines were very small and so we got another set - these were for about 6:30pm (obtained at about 11am -so you can see how quickly the Soarin' FPs disappear).

The final building on the west side of Future World was the Imagination pavilion with Figment the dragon. Although the ride isn't very exciting (other than the 'blast' bit), I'm always surprised that the queues for this aren't longer. Afterwards, we played around conducting imaginary orchestras in the post-ride area before exiting the building into the bright sunshine. We didn't consider going to see Captain EO but Hannah did like playing around by the dancing, shooting fountains. Well, she did until one of them squirted her directly in the face!

Still smarting from the face full of water, we wandered to a new temporary attraction celebrating/advertising Brave, the new Pixar film. It was located on the pathway towards the start of World Showcase. As well as the sand sculpture that we saw last week, there was a small play area...



...however, because of the sun, the slides and climbing frames were too hot to touch. Hence the reason why very few children were actually playing on this.

Also, you could take part in a mini-Highland Games. After randomly selecting the family each of us represented, we tried our hand at archery, haggis fling, cake toss and caber toss. Hannah was surprisingly good at the archery - she got a bullseye! We were all useless at the haggis fling and cake toss. But I won the caber toss.



Plus, you get free badges when you take part in this too:



As we were then wandering towards Innoventions West, an American family approached us. They explained that they were leaving the park soon and asked if we'd like their fastpasses for Soarin'. Now, I know that technically FPs are non-transferable but we were happy to relieve them of their tickets which were for about 3pm in the afternoon. Feeling pleased with ourselves that we'd experience Soarin' for a third time today, we continued onwards into Innoventions West.



Here, we did what turned out to be one the best things at Epcot - the Great Piggy Bank Adventure.



Not a great picture there - I was too eager to rejoin in the fun. In this little exhibition you answer some questions and play a few simple video games to try and save as much money as possible for your dream vacation/car/house/whatever. I know it doesn't sound like much but it was actually quite fun; the piggy is cute and the games are interesting. It's worth trying out if you're not too busy queuing for Soarin' or heaving after Mission: Space (Orange version).

We also tried out the Smarter Planet "RunTime" attraction which digitises you and inserts pictures of your party into a computer game. Sounds very Tron-like but actually it's a simple idea that produces some very amusing results. We also played on some computer games and checked out this fire truck:



Certainly things have changed since they had the Ultimate Home Theater Experience here (actually, that was quite cool).

By now, it was well past lunch time so we trundled over to the Electric Umbrella. After a couple of large portions of chicken strips and fries (shared between us - not a couple each!). as well as a nice sit down, we were suitably refreshed. We did consider going to see Chip'n'Dale but the queue was a little busy. Instead we went into the Land pavilion again to use those 3pm fastpasses from that American family.

And then we queued up to see Chip'n'Dale. Look here's a photo of us all taken with our own camera:



I see our backpack was trying to sneak in on the action there. I'm not sure why I'm leaning down. Also, I have no idea which one is Chip and which is Dale and nor why they're named after a group of male strippers.

With the west half of Future World done, it was time to hit the east side. Unfortunately, the speedy Test Track was currently being refurbished so we couldn't go on that - and we didn't fancy listening to the Test Track All-Stars. Hannah was desperate to go on Mission: Space though so we collected our green passes and made our way to see smilin' Gary Sinise. Yeah, it's a good ride - but I wished they'd come up with a few different variations. Afterwards, Hannah and I took part in the post-ride "Mission: Space Race" game. Our team won. Woohoo!

Time now for one of the old favourites - Ellen's Energy Adventure. It's actually quite enjoyable and yet another good excuse for a sit down. From here, we briefly toddled into Innoventions East - the queue for Sum of All Thrills was too long - and then across the sticky floor of Club Cool for a refreshing drink. After browsing through the Mouse Gear shop it was time to use our third set of Soarin' fastpasses. Doesn't time fly?

As we were in the Land pavilion we decided to eat at the food court here. The crowds definitely lessen after tea time so there were very few queues to get some food and sit down. I had the Mongolian beef and rice, Michelle had the sweet and sour chicken, and Hannah had the chicken caesar salad. My Mongolian beef was very tasty and I'd heartily recommend it (it's a bit like beef in black bean sauce from a Chinese take-away).

It was time for Spaceship Earth next. How could we miss this one out!? The queue for the ride inside the big, silver ball was non-existent so we were seated and zooming through the history of communication in no time at all. I'm not sure why we like this ride - maybe it's just the idea that you're inside the big ball? - but it is a must-do at Epcot.



After playing around in the post-ride area and emailing photos of ourselves home, it was time to make our way to the lake near the World Showcase to see the fireworks. The wind was blowing towards Norway and Mexico so that area was out of the question. Eventually, we decided not to bother walking too far around the lake and instead I stopped in an area not far from Future World heading towards Canada.

Meanwhile, Michelle and Hannah needed a restroom stop but apparently the queue was long and very slow moving. After about 15 minutes I was worried that they'd already come out and were not able to find me. So I left my spot and had a look around and eventually found them coming out from the restrooms. The queues had been very long indeed and by now it was almost time for Illuminations to start. So, we stopped where we were, across the main pathway where Hannah could stand on a bench and we could see over the heads of the people nearer the lake.

It's an impressive firework display and, unlike last time, we didn't get a faceful of smoke - although at one point the floating globe's display went a bit wonky and didn't properly show the images. Anyway, it was great finale to our day - just a pity it didn't last longer and I didn't take any photos! Oops.

On our way back, we also noticed that laser images were projected onto Spaceship Earth's big ball - we hadn't seen that happen before.

Once outside the park, we sauntered over to the bus stop to wait 10 minutes or so for our hotel shuttle to arrive. At 9:45pm, a coach did arrive at the correct time but apparently it wasn't going to the Homewood Suites. This confused us slightly as the bus looked like the right type, it was here at the right time and it was taking people to Floridays where we'd dropped off before. Speaking further to the driver, he assured us that a mini-van was coming to pick us up.

However, that didn't stop us from worrying as we waited for 10 minutes until, eventually, the mini-van did arrive. Phew!

Surprisingly, we were the only ones onboard so had a free private taxi ride (well, we gave the driver a few dollars as a tip). Thankfully, it was late so we didn't have to contend with the Premier Beauty convention crowds. We arrived back at our hotel at about 10:20pm, went straight up to our room and were asleep not long after.

Today had been a long day but the weather had been sunny and warm and Epcot, probably our favourite Disney park, had been as fantastic as ever. Some people don't seem to "get" Epcot but we'd spent 12 hours just in the Future World section and still hadn't done everything. For us, it's easily a 2 day park.

Food Score: 7/10. The Mongolian beef was surprisingly good and different.

Favourite Attraction: Soarin', Illuminations or maybe even the Great Piggy Bank Adventure.

Next…
Day Twelve - Animal Kingdom, finally

[disney owl]

another good report thanks

[Milner]

Another lovely day.

[dixonsontour]

You did well lasting all day and packed lots in.

[Connies Mummy]

We love the Great Piggy Bank Adventure too. Last year it was DD4 fav thing and we had to go back to Epcot 3 times to play, we even played it at home a couple of times on wet wintery days!

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by dixonsontour

You did well lasting all day and packed lots in.

See more...

Yeah, we did lots - although there was still plenty to do. There's never enough time to do everything!

Originally Posted by Connies Mummy

We love the Great Piggy Bank Adventure too. Last year it was DD4 fav thing and we had to go back to Epcot 3 times to play, we even played it at home a couple of times on wet wintery days!

See more...

There's nothing thrilling nor exciting about the Great Piggy Bank Adventure but it was 'different'. And the piggy bank was cute. Not sure I'd go back and do it 3 times though.

Thanks for reading everyone.

[madhatter3]

another great day, love the photos.

[hross42877]

Great read!

[lauz]

A great day! I certainly do get Epcot and also love it there!

[Guest]

Great read!