The Bare Necessities - Day 2 Thursday 1st August 2019 Epcot and Hollywood Studios

[Goldia]

Day 2 Epcot and Hollywood Studios Thursday 1st August 2019

Welcome to The Bare Necessities Trip Report. I’m Abby and I went to Orlando at the end of July 2019 with my husband David, our children Max (14) and Kate (12). We’ve been to Orlando before But this trip was different as we had my parents Jac and Tom with us, they will be referred to as Mum and Dad or Grandma and Grandad throughout the report. I was so excited to take them with us as this was their first time to WDW.

Day 2

This morning we had Epcot in the plans. I was awake by 5.30am and Dave also woke up before the alarm. The kids were up at 6am with the wake up alarm call. We were all showered and ready to leave in double quick time as we'd said to Mum and Dad we'd meet them at 7.30am and we were out the door by 7.25am. It was EMH at Epcot from 8am I wanted us to go straight to Soarin as the tier 1 FP I'd booked for today was Test Track.

We walked round the corner to Mum and Dad’s room. Dad wasn’t ready so I took some photos of the resort. Partly to distract myself, but also as it really is a pretty resort and I liked all the iron railings and posts.

We were the only ones who seemed to be wandering around. Dave and the kids...

Mum said we should make our way to the bus stop and Dad would meet us there ok then obviously I was pretending that I was fine with this

We walked to the bus stop.

There was an Epcot bus there but as Dad wasn’t with us we had to let that one go

I was channeling a less stressed version of myself that probably doesn't really exist and was saying it was fine and there would be another bus along shortly. I'm sure they all believed my "It's fine"

We ended up waiting until 7.57am for the next Epcot bus, so you can all imagine how I was itching to be in the park and knew we were missing out on the EMH. It’s not far from POFQ to Epcot and we were pulling into the bus station by 8.10am. But when we got to the park there were absolutely massive queues at bag check.

I decided to stick with my plan anyway and so we went to Soarin’ and when we arrived at 8.30am the posted wait time was 15 minutes so we didn’t have to wait too long. Phew .

This wait time was pretty accurate. I had decided that I would ask for us to be seated in row B1 and so we then had to wait again. The cast member who was sorting out the allocations was called Jose and I explained that it was Mum and Dad’s first time at Epcot and their first ride was on Soarin’. Jose said it was worth waiting for the best seats in the house and he is right, it’s much better than having dangly feet or a bendy Eiffel Tower. Both Mum and Dad loved this ride, it is completely different to anything they’ve ever done before and we had great seats in B1 so I’m glad I asked about this. The smells were really good today as well. I was sitting next to Dad and I loved the ride even more I think, plus I think I forgave him for his lateness at the bus stop as he was really loving the ride (well I forgave him a little bit).

After Soarin’ we went over to Nemo (standard...not much to say even for me) and then Mission: Space.

I had said to the kids that we should try the green mission in case Mum and Dad didn’t like it.

Of course, the kids went with Mum and Dad and so me and Dave were with another couple. I was the Engineer and he was the Commander.

The kids arranged Mum and Dad so that they could get the jobs they wanted. Mum was the Navigator, Max was the Pilot, Kate was the Commander and Dad was the Engineer.

They both said they enjoyed it and again this is a ride that was not at all what they had been expecting as it isn’t a typical roller coaster.
Our Figment FP had been open from 9.05am, but as it was now 9.50am and we had the breakfast booked I decided to try and modify the Figment FP for a later slot, this was fine and I got a 10 to 11am slot so I figured we’d go on it after breakfast.

We walked back over to the Land pavilion and checked in at Garden Grill for our one and only breakfast ADR (not counting the QS from day 1 at BOG). I prefer to be in the parks doing rides when it's quiet first thing plus we prefer to eat a meal at dinner.

Garden Grill is a firm favourite, we have done dinner twice, but never breakfast. Our reservation was at 10.05 and we turned up on time for this one we were all hungry. I asked at the podium if we could have a booth, she said there are only 2 booths that seat 6 or more so it could be a bit of a wait, but I wanted what I wanted and said it was fine we didn't mind waiting. In the end the buzzer went off after 20 minutes so not too bad.

We were shown to our table and the characters started arriving pretty much straight away. Chip was up first.

Then Mickey appeared pretty much as soon as Chip had gone

The adults all had a Mimosa and the kids chocolate milk.

When the fruit and cinnamon bun skillet arrived we dived in and I completely forgot to take some photos and when I remembered I may have done some swears to which Dave was a bit cross.

So we asked for some more...they did get eaten though so it wasn't completely wasteful.

These were so tasty and even Max who doesn't like cinnamon said this was good. It was warm and sticky and gooey and yummy

The savoury skillet soon arrived, with sausages, bacon, potato tots, scrambled egg and our first Mickey shaped item...The Mickey waffle.

We also had maple syrup, chocolate sauce and salsa. Kate really loved the salsa and ate the whole lot.

This was all do tasty and we ended up getting more of the meat and the waffles. It was really good.

The kids couldn't resist testing out the rotation, as usual.

Dale was soon with us.

Then Pluto, which was a really great interaction as he balanced the autograph book on his nose and Kate was really laughing and enjoying meeting him.

We were pretty much done with eating by now, but before we left we got a bonus meet with Chip and then Mickey again!

This is a favourite with us. Our server today was a bit indifferent, but to be honest it didn't really matter. The food and the characters and the rotation all made up for it.

Part way through the meal I realised we were not going to make it to the Figment FP so modified the timing again! I managed to move the Spaceship Earth to later so that we could do this just before leaving the park and then booked the Figment FP for before the Spaceship Earth one.

On the way out the kids couldn't resist trying out the rotation again Grandad was definitely egging them on here.

After breakfast we went over to Test Track for our FP.

I did worry that a fast ride straight after all that food was perhaps not a good idea, but it was fine in the end. The Girls all made a car and the Boys teamed up, but I don’t think they all got much of a say as Max was in charge of the controls.

I was pushing for this beauty...

But Kate went without the stars in the end

Max's car was built for one thing...Power!

The Girls car was the winner with 211 points and the Boys got 207! So we were pretty happy with ourselves. The Boys only won the Power round.

Max did some test driving afterwards.

It was coming up for noon and I had arranged a Dibb Meet in the Rose and Crown. I had explained to the others the day before and said they didn’t have to come with me, I think they thought it was a bit weird but they were happy to come along, also it was bit hot by now and I think Mum and Dad liked the idea of having a sit down in the air con.

We met the Walt4it family, John, Alison, Joe and Josh for a drink. I was a bit nervous actually, but I shouldn’t have been as it was lovely chatting with them about our trip and hearing what they had been up to.

They were all as friendly as you would imagine if you’ve read their trip reports. The boys were a bit tired as they had been out late at EEH the night before. We had a lovely drink I had a Gin and Tonic and I was so busy talking that I totally forgot I was supposed to be taking photos of the drinks and so this didn’t get included in the food report.

Of course Dad told them that he was very nearly a galactic hero. It was lovely swapping stories. It's a shame there wasn’t more seating as we couldn’t all sit down.

We said our good byes and we went off to the much rearranged Figment FP, but the ride had been shut down . It seems like our Figment ride was doomed! We decided to sack it off. I knew we'd be able to ride it a different day. It's not like it ever really has long lines.

The kids wanted Mum and Dad to try out Club Cool and of course the Beverly was on the cards.

Some really great photos of them trying this.

I persuaded the kids to also give it a go as I don’t think either of them did last year and I explained there were refurb plans for Club Cool and that I didn’t know if it would be here next year so it might be their last chance to drink it.

The kids did not approve of the idea it might not exist in the future as they think this is one of the best things about Epcot.

By the time the drinks had all been drunk our Spaceship Earth FP was open so we headed over there. Kate went with Dad, Max with Mum and I was with Dave.

But Dave's photo didn’t show up in the story at the end, so I had a computer generated lady-friend in my story. The kids thought this was hilarious.

We walked to the bus stop to catch the bus back to the resort and Mum wanted to know why there were no seats at the parks bus stops but there are at the resorts bus stops . Unfortunately, while it seems that I know everything about WDW this was a question I couldn’t answer. It was really hot waiting for the bus and she wanted a sit down. There are also no fans at the Epcot bus stops which was making them all a bit cross too and I suspect this was my fault down to some poor planning

Back at the hotel we had a quick change into our swimming stuff and headed off to the pool. Dad managed to find the one and only sun bed around the pool that wasn’t being used. We all had a swim and Max managed to hit me in the face with the Toy Story ball he bought yesterday (this was before the lifeguard said he wasn’t allowed it in the pool). It then happened again, I wasn’t best pleased about this and decided maybe I’d be better off on the sunbed and the lifeguard decided Max shouldn't have that ball in the pool and gave Max a little blow up ball to play with instead.

Mum and Dad went and had a nap while we enjoyed our pool time for a whole 5 minutes before the rain came so that put an end to my sitting on the sun bed. But all was not lost as I decided to check out the laundry and treated myself to my first pool bar cocktail This is a paid for cocktail from the bar.

It was a Bourbon Breeze and very tasty.

The others were happy enough in the water even though it was raining so they stayed there while I went back to the room. They weren't too far behind me.

While getting ready to go out Max let me and Kate share one slice of his pizza left over from Tony's and he had the other 3 slices...he's very generous.

After our huge Garden Grill breakfast none of us were particularly hungry we hadn't had any lunch or a snack (plus Kate and me had shared a half a slice of pizza!). We left around 5.15pm to go to HS in the evening for a couple of shows, Indy and Frozen singalong (even Dad sang) and Fantasmic.

I’d forgotten my ears so ran back to the room and Mum sent Max to her room to get her ears, just as we both got to the bus stop the bus arrived so we didn’t have to wait too long. But the bus then went all the way around Riverside before going to the park.

We ended up being on the bus quite a while as there had been a crash at the entrance to HS so the bus couldn’t turn into the park. We finally got in there at 5.55pm and we made it to the Indiana Jones 6pm show.

We really enjoy this show and Mum and Dad liked it too. I’d been able to book up a Star Tours FP so we nipped next door to do this after the show. Lots of the people on the ride seemed to think that the instructions to put their bags under their seats didn’t apply to them . The cast member had to tell a couple of ladies in the first row that they needed to put their bags under the seats and then had to tell some people in the row behind us the same thing. In the end Star Tours was good and we liked the mission we were on.

We decided we should have a snack (plus I realised we were never going to get through the credits if we didn’t actually eat anything!) so we stopped for our second Mickey shaped food of the day...the Mickey pretzel with cheese. We shared 3 between the 6 of us. Perhaps not enjoyed as much by Mum as by the rest of us, maybe more of an acquired taste? I’m not sure that Dad liked the cheese either!

We watched the Frozen sing-a-long and this was brilliant. The narrators were really funny and we all laughed a lot and me and Mum and Kate joined in with the singing.

As we came out of Frozen it was raining quite heavily, so we waited until for it to ease off to a drizzle before leaving the cover of the little shop.

Kate had been interested in the grilled cheese from Woody's for dinner and I had been interested in the adult lemonade but we skipped this and went to Min and Bill's Dockside Diner.

We had 4 QS credits. Loaded Nachos which we all enjoyed, mostly shared by Mum, Kate and me.

Max had the foot long hot dog with pulled pork and coleslaw except he didn't have coleslaw, this came with chips (crisps) as did all the hot dogs and we saved those for the kids as a healthy breakfast the following day. He ate most of it and I had some of the sausage and pork.

Dad and Dave both had the chilli cheese foot long hot dog. They liked them well enough...its a hot dog there's not much to say.

As the 4 QS drinks we got 3 beers for me, Dad and Dave plus a soda for Mum. She was surprised at how big it was.

The kids wanted milkshakes so Max had chocolate and Kate had vanilla, these were both snack credits. When the vanilla was served the lady realised she'd given us a small cup and so gave us a second.

The kids liked these but they were difficult to drink with the paper straw and a spoon ended up being easier. I think Dad had Kate's second shake as pudding as she couldn't finish it. By now it was about 8.40pm and I was very keen to get moving to go to Fantasmic which was due to start at 9pm.

Before heading into Fantasmic we got 2 ice cream cookie sandwiches from Hollywood Scoops for me and for Mum and Dad to share. These were as tasty as ever.

Fantasmic was great even if it was raining again.

The rain didn't put people off as the stadium was still very full.

After the show we followed the crowds out of the park and to the bus stop to head home. We were pretty shattered but we’d had another fun day with 2 parks, some great rides in the morning, our lovely Dibb meet up, the wonderful breakfast which had kept us pretty full all day and then a laid back evening at HS watching the shows

Statistics
Steps 23875
Attractions 6 plus the 2 shows and Fantasmic!

Coming Soon
Next up tomorrow is EMH at MK, where I end up getting quite cross with the buses (not Dad's fault this time though), we have lots of Fantasyland fun, there was a whole lot more rain, and we end the day with a little bit of pixie dust from Eric and dinner at Crystal Palace. Just your typical WDW day really

[caitlinsmummy]

I'd have been the same waiting for your dad ... it has me on edge when we're running late so I can imagine exactly how you were feeling.

Garden Grill looked lovely and I love the smile on your dad's face egging the kid's on with the rotation

Looks like a lovely meet with 'wait4it' meets are so scary though.

It's a shame about Figment, but knowing you I know you will have managed to squeeze it in at least another 2 or 3 times on the trip

I'm so glad your parents were enjoying the rides here. How did they find Test Track with the speed test? I wasn't sure how they'd feel about it?

It does make sense what your mum said though, it would be nice to have benches near the bus stops and fans to cool you down like they have at the others. Waiting in the heat is so draining.

Ouch I bet that ball to the face hurt I like your idea of 'doing laundry' sneaking off for a cocktail

I laughed so much at Max 'sharing' his pizza ... that's something Caitlin would do too

Another fab day ... apart from the dad mishap at the beginning. Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow xx

[Fuellady]

Oh dear, I can just imagine how stressed you were at your dads tardiness this morning Seems like it all worked out fine in the end despite having to miss Figment. I've never been on Figment, if I'm honest I don't really know what it is

Breakfast at Garden Grill looks fab, both the buns and fruit course, and the hot skillet. Good character interactions with Kate too.

How lovely to have a Dibb meet, it's nice that the rest of your family were up for it too.

Good evening at HS despite the rain.

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by caitlinsmummy

I'd have been the same waiting for your dad ... it has me on edge when we're running late so I can imagine exactly how you were feeling.

Garden Grill looked lovely and I love the smile on your dad's face egging the kid's on with the rotation

Looks like a lovely meet with 'wait4it' meets are so scary though.

It's a shame about Figment, but knowing you I know you will have managed to squeeze it in at least another 2 or 3 times on the trip

I'm so glad your parents were enjoying the rides here. How did they find Test Track with the speed test? I wasn't sure how they'd feel about it?

It does make sense what your mum said though, it would be nice to have benches near the bus stops and fans to cool you down like they have at the others. Waiting in the heat is so draining.

Ouch I bet that ball to the face hurt I like your idea of 'doing laundry' sneaking off for a cocktail

I laughed so much at Max 'sharing' his pizza ... that's something Caitlin would do too

Another fab day ... apart from the dad mishap at the beginning. Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow xx

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The missing the bus didn't make much difference to the day in the end we started off with Soarin and we did it right. I'd been tempted to do Epcot as our first park and Soarin as our first ride as this was our first ride on our first trip and it was so unexpected and such a great ride, it was the old Soarin over California.

The meet up was fine, of course as they are a lovely family. I was so worried that my lot would thing it was crazy...maybe they did but they didn't say anything. Plus I was worried that maybe it would end up being really awkward and we wouldn't know what to say to each other. But again of course there's a common interest

Actually they were fine on test track even the fast bit! Well, they said they were fine with it.

I was quite cross that he not only hit me once but he hit me again literally 2 minutes later. Perhaps I should have been paying more attention!

Originally Posted by Fuellady

Oh dear, I can just imagine how stressed you were at your dads tardiness this morning Seems like it all worked out fine in the end despite having to miss Figment. I've never been on Figment, if I'm honest I don't really know what it is

Breakfast at Garden Grill looks fab, both the buns and fruit course, and the hot skillet. Good character interactions with Kate too.

How lovely to have a Dibb meet, it's nice that the rest of your family were up for it too.

Good evening at HS despite the rain.

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Never been on Figment, oh my here is some of the song

One little spark of inspiration
Is at the heart of all creation
Right at the start of everything that's new
One little spark lights up for you

Two tiny wings eyes big and yellow
Horn of a steer but a lovable fellow
From head to tail he's royal purple pigment
And there voila you've got a Figment

Ok I'm going to stop there, it's a great song Lynda and an awesome ride! Some people don't appreciate Figment and dislike the ride, but they are, well basically they are wrong!

[Rescuer]

Oh I bet your Dad was in the bad books. I can just imagine you saying I'm fine through gritted teeth and considering how unreliable the buses could be you did well to hold it together.

It turned out to be a fabulous day though, Garden Grill breakfast looks great and I too love Figment and the song!

[jothp]

Another fantastic day. I'm the one in our family who tends to get quite cross when things don't go to plan! I tend to get really annoyed with people who can't follow instructions too!

I love that your dad is still talking about his score on Buzz.

[MrsSilverStar]

Ooh, I enjoyed the little snippet of the Figment song in the comments, I’ll make sure we go on just for you Abby!

Glad the bus delay didn’t cause any problems - I would have been cross too. We regularly do family holidays and I found out this time that my sister told her husband he didn’t need to worry this summer, as it wasn’t a theme park holiday so I wouldn’t make them all get up and out early of course, you know I had every day trip booked for a 9am start

Garden Grill looks fab, love the photos of the kids testing the rotation with your dad looking on,

What a fun meet up! I was trying to guess who it would be, I like that it wasn’t in the food report so we had a surprise!

[walt4it]

Day 2 and I'm still with giving your Dad "Legend " status.
Was a joy to meet you all and - I do understand the nervous feeling

Having typed all of the words you have and all of the photos you have shared on here too, it was such a lovely moment to meet you and your family. When two trip reports collide!

My only wish is that we had a whole afternoon to waffle on about our Disney passion and share the moment a bit longer.
I'm off to see if my photos have a full on pic of Max

A food filled day again and I'm still in awe as to the number of photos you include in each day

Hope we get to meet again one day

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by Rescuer

Oh I bet your Dad was in the bad books. I can just imagine you saying I'm fine through gritted teeth and considering how unreliable the buses could be you did well to hold it together.

It turned out to be a fabulous day though, Garden Grill breakfast looks great and I too love Figment and the song!

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Poor Dad, I didn't have to be cross with him really as Mum told him off when he got to the bus stop. He said we should have got on the bus and he'd have met us there...I've no idea how he thought that would be a good idea as I don't think he brought a phone with him most days so he'd never have found us.

It was another fab day and I think they were reassured that it wasn't all going to be big rollercoaster type rides.

I'm glad to see you're a fan of both the ride and the song

Originally Posted by jothp

Another fantastic day. I'm the one in our family who tends to get quite cross when things don't go to plan! I tend to get really annoyed with people who can't follow instructions too!

I love that your dad is still talking about his score on Buzz.

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Hmm, yes following instructions I'm sure I never get cross in that situation my lot always do what they are told

Originally Posted by MrsSilverStar

Ooh, I enjoyed the little snippet of the Figment song in the comments, I’ll make sure we go on just for you Abby!

Glad the bus delay didn’t cause any problems - I would have been cross too. We regularly do family holidays and I found out this time that my sister told her husband he didn’t need to worry this summer, as it wasn’t a theme park holiday so I wouldn’t make them all get up and out early of course, you know I had every day trip booked for a 9am start

Garden Grill looks fab, love the photos of the kids testing the rotation with your dad looking on,

What a fun meet up! I was trying to guess who it would be, I like that it wasn’t in the food report so we had a surprise!

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Figment is a ride that Heath will be fine in too, plus he will love the play area at the end. There are lots of little games, so make sure you don't have to rush off anywhere after riding.

9am isn't too early just wait until next month you will be marching them to the bus stop for 7am

As I didn't remember to take a photo of the drink I figured I should wait until the trip report proper to write about the meet up. It's a crazily nervous feeling, I still remember how you, me and Helen just sort of bumped into each other in the gallery. The nerves went away pretty quickly that day, but I suspect the cocktail helped a fair bit.

Originally Posted by walt4it

Day 2 and I'm still with giving your Dad "Legend " status.
Was a joy to meet you all and - I do understand the nervous feeling

Having typed all of the words you have and all of the photos you have shared on here too, it was such a lovely moment to meet you and your family. When two trip reports collide!

My only wish is that we had a whole afternoon to waffle on about our Disney passion and share the moment a bit longer.
I'm off to see if my photos have a full on pic of Max

A food filled day again and I'm still in awe as to the number of photos you include in each day

Hope we get to meet again one day

See more...

What's funny about meeting up with people is that you really feel like you know them as you've read all the trip reports. But of course the reality is that's just a snapshot of their lives and them as people is much more than just a few weeks of a summer holdiay. It was lovely meeting you all and seeing the reality of the walt4it clan is no different to the trip reports.

Another meet up would be great I know where I'm going to be next summer...But I believe you've bowed out of WDW or have you? You know what they say, never say never again! Now there's a trip report title for you.

[Th1nkT1nk]

Another great read! After your experience, I think Garden Grill is now a definite maybe for me next year... it looks great!
Sounds like such a great day... can’t believe how many steps you did!