Family Fun in the Sun - Day 26

[Fairy+4]

Day 26 – Epcot Wednesday August12th 2009

After hearing so many wonderful things about Epcot on the DIBB we decided to use a Disney day and spend the day there. We have been to Epcot before a few years ago, but had had no idea about how best to maximize the place and to be honest left thinking it was ok, but we wouldn’t go again.

How wrong were we, I can confirm that today was truly an amazing day and possibly one of the best of the entire holiday, everyone had a great time with lots of new firsts for us which was lovely.

We were all up and out of the door by 9am and parked in Amaze 37 by 9.30am. It was at this point I turned into a scary lady with firm plan – I instructed Scott and the girls to hunt down maps as soon as we were in and locate Soarin where we had to get a fast pass, before heading over to Test Track to ride that before the line got too ridiculous.

Once through the turnstiles maps were located, Soarin found and we were off at route march pace. It wasn’t too long before we arrived and we managed to secure FP for 11.01am. Right next on the plan was Test Track but Scott was suggesting Nemo and Jess’s face lit up, so what does any self respecting mum with a plan do – well give in of course so we walked straight onto Nemo. This was good, but Hannah and Lauren weren’t too keen as it didn’t do much did it. Once we hopped Scott started to head for the fish, well this was too much and he was told we could come back later and do the fish – to say he wasn’t happy was an understatement.

Next stop was Test track and when we arrived the wait time was 15 min, so we joined the line, Scott said it didn’t look too busy we would have had enough time to look around at the fish, I just replied that this and Soarin were very popular and if we wanted any hopes of riding both this was the way it was to be done. The wait area is quite well thought out and the girls enjoyed seeing everything.




The posted wait time was correct and before long we were in our car and off. WOW, this ride was brilliant and I really enjoyed it despite it being fast and I would have no hesitation about riding it again, at this point Scott said it was worth missing the fish just to see my face when I got off, everyone enjoyed it. We then went through the exit and took some photos



When we exited we looked at the wait time and saw it had risen to a massive 45 minutes, Scott’s response was along the lines of I’m glad we went when we did it’s certainly popular isn’t it.

Next up was Mission space, now to say the girls were impressed mum was going on another ride was an understatement and they agreed to do the green line so they could go with me. Jess unfortunately was too small so Scott agreed to wait outside with her whilst we rode. The posted wait time of 20 minutes was more like 15 and it wasn’t long before we were accepting our mission and off. I have to admit to be a little worried but again I really enjoyed it as did Hannah and Lauren and they said they were coming back again later with their dad.

We exited via the shop and picked up a couple of pins and some sherbert type stuff and then decided to head over to figment as Jess was getting bored. Hannah and Lauren didn’t really enjoy this but Jess loved it, in fact she loved it so much she insisted on getting a small figment on the way out. We all enjoyed playing around on the computers until the girls decided they were hungry so we headed off to The Land and picked up a veggie wrap, a chicken wrap, a ceasar salad, mac ‘n’ cheese and a banana for Jess. The food was ok but not brilliant and most of it was left, we always fin that we struggle with food in Disney for some reason. Our FP time was up now for Soarin but Hannah and Lauren wanted to do The Circle of Life first so we headed off to the theatre and pretty much walked straight in. Both Hannah and Lauren have been part of the eco-drive at school over the last year and this really emphasized a lot of that for them, Jess enjoyed the characters and Sott and I thought it might have been a little OTT.

Next was Soarin, I’d given the girls a quick idea of what was involved and they were all really excited about it. The standby time was now 60 minutes so I’m glad we had FP. We still had a 10 minute wait but it wasn’t long before we were being welcomed aboard our flight and were in. On this occasion we were on the bottom row and although we all loved it a lot, it was spoilt slightly by the feet dangling from above us. Jess was amazed by this to the point she wanted to ride again immediately so we got another set of FP on the way out to return at 5.05pm.

continued...

[Fairy+4]

Next up was Nemo again, remember Scott and wanting to see the fish, so we walked straight onto Nemo again, for some reason Jess didn’t like it this time round and was nearly in tears when we came off. It was then time to see the fish, and for the girls to do the various quizzes dotted around.




Next up was Honey I shrunk the audience, we ended up waiting for about 30 minutes in the pre-show area that was basically a glorified advert for Kodak, the thing is they pack so many people into this area that it was an extremely uncomfortable and tempers were beginning to flare all over the place and quite a few families ended up arguing. Finally we were all in and sat down. Everyone but Jess really enjoyed this, it scared her to death and she told her dad that it was a completely unsuitable film for her to watch and she had been really scared. To try and calm Jess down we asked her where she wanted to go and she said the golf ball so we all trekked over to the entrance and joined the 20 minute line. Fantastic, we all enjoyed this especially the girls who got to answer all the questions at the end, they found their futures very funny indeed. When we exited the girls wanted to get a FP for Mission Space so off we went.

After this Scott wanted to try Ellens Energy Adventure so we walked over to Universe of Energy and caught the last 5 minutes of the pre-show before walking straight in. The dinosaurs frightened Jess a little but overall we all enjoyed it, Hannah and Lauren especially as they hadn’t expected anything to move as it was like a cinema.

Our FP time had opened again for Soarin so we headed back to The Land and joined the FP line, this time we were there for 20 minutes before being welcomed aboard again. This time we were on the top row and although I was a little worried about the height aspect, once we were up in the air I was fine and enjoyed it more this time round than I had the first time, it really did make a difference not having feet dangling above you.

Next up was Mission Space again, Scott was going on with the girls this time around whilst I waited for them. Apparently when they got to the line they were asked which team they were going on and when they replied green were told to join the normal line as it was faster than the FP line. They were in and out within 20 minutes and I met up with them in the advanced training lab where Jess had been playing, Scott said he had enjoyed it and if I wanted to ride again go now while the line was so small, so off I went with Hannah and Lauren, we must have only waited 10 minutes before we were at the front, I think I enjoyed this more the second time around as I knew what to expect and therefore wasn’t so worried.

When we found Scott and Jess neither of them looked happy, Jess was tired and hungry as was Scott so we decided to call it a day, we had hoped to do World Showcase but it just wasn’t worth dragging Jess around anywhere else so headed off to the exit, as we did the clouds blackened and the thunder and lightning started. We had made the right choice and decided to head over to Chilis for dinner, we had a lovely meal here even though everyone was shattered, happy, but shattered. Once we had finished we headed off for home, all 3 girls fell asleep in the car on the way home and Scott and I commented on what a fantastic day we had had.

Once we got home the girls went straight to bed and Scott and I watched a little tv before calling it a night also.

I’m sorry there weren’t many photos today, but everything seemed to go so fast that I completely forgot.

Tomorrow – a well deserved rest day.

[orlandosgr8]

A lovely day for you all, rounded off with a lovely meal at Chili's. Hope someone had one of their lovely Margaritas

[Guest]

Epcot is def. my fave park and we loved Chilis when we went on our last trip

[Guest]

Another great report.

[Guest]

Great report
A very busy day!
Thanks

[scotsprincess]

hi

another great day

lovely pics