An Ice Cream a Day is the Moreton Way! - Day 8 Epcot and Cracker Barrell

[LLKJDisney]

Friday 31st May 2019

Firstly I am sorry for how long this trip report is taking to get loaded on! But it is my new years resolution to get it finished and I will not stop until it is complete!

We all had a lie in today and didn’t get up until 9am. We had no plans until 4pm which is when our first FP at Epcot was. After breakfast, I managed to persuade the boys to go to the Wizard gift shop and have a look around Old Town. We arrived there just after 11am it was boiling hot with not much shade. I know its not everyone’s cup of tea but we enjoy having a look around Old Town, it has certainly had some $$$ spent on it over the years. It was fairly quiet as it was only early, we had some fun in the arcade.

and then came across the popcorn shop which had every flavour you could imagine. Lucas loves popcorn but wasn’t very adventurous and just went for a tub of toffee popcorn, but the different flavours in here to try were amazing, they even let you taste test before purchasing a larger tub!

We were all hot and sweaty so decided to leave just before 1pm. We needed to fill the car with fuel so we stopped at the WaWa garage on the 192. We prepaid $40 which was a little too much but not to bothered. Jacob grabbed a huge slushy drink inside for $1.96 it was massive, great value, probably would have been nearer $10 inside the parks.

We headed back to the villa, the boys as usual were desperate to get in the pool but we had no time today. We planned to go out for dinner before Epcot so wanted to be out by 3pm.
Cracker Barrell was the choice today.

This has been another family favourite in the past. I love looking around the shop just before you go into the restaurant. Lee thought our server looked like Nick Grimshaw from Radio 1; I didn’t see it to be honest. The boys both went for Chicken Fingers and Fries, I went for a chicken salad and Lee had what he always has when we go to Cracker Barrell, the Chicken and Dumplings. The food was fine but we agreed that we actually preferred Bob Evans, bill was around $40 plus tip. I had a quick browse around the shop but no purchases were made, we had the obligatory pictures on the rocking chairs outside.

I didn’t feel great and my head was pounding, I think the sun this morning had got to me. Lee did the driving, which did nothing to help the way I was feeling ☹ He is not a great driver and it always makes me nervous when he drives.

We parked up in Epcot at 4.20pm, it was still in the 90’s but at least we knew it was only going to get cooler. Once in the park we headed straight for Soarin to use our FP, standby was showing 45 minutes which isn’t bad for Soarin. We were sat in Row 3, which we know is the worst row but we are far too polite to ask for the front row, although it would be nice to experience the ride without the dangling feet in front of you!

Jacob was eager to ride Test Track but our plan was to go around World Showcase, so we said we would keep on eye on the wait time. Our next FP was for Journey into Imagination, now this was a new one for us, the boys liked it and it made them both laugh out loud but I am glad we didn’t queue for it.

After JII we joined the line to meet Ralph and Venelope, these were at Hollywood Studios during our last trip. Ralph was very playful with all the kids; it must be so hard to manoeuvre around in that costume. We got some nice photos.

It had now cooled down and it was so pleasant walking around without sweat pouring off you. We started our walk around World Showcase in Canada. We always visit the kidcot stops in each country, it helps keep the boys entertained on the way round. From Canada we went to the UK and much to my annoyance the employee on the kidcot station never even looked up when filling in the boy’s postcard, it doesn’t take much to interact with children. However, I have to say this was an isolated incident as all the other kidcot stations were great and gave the boys lots of information about their country.

In France we stopped off for our daily ice cream, as ever it was beautiful. (not a great photo of me but the ice cream is the best! )

The boys continued to learn lots of new words in different languages. The sun was just beginning to go down and the view over the lagoon in Epcot was amazing. There were a lovely atmosphere and people seemed a lot more relaxed than they do in the searing heat in the afternoons.

We stopped off in USA to grab a drink and a snack for the boys, it was good not to have to rush around from one ride to the other. We finished our journey around the world with the boat ride in Mexico, Lucas loved Donald especially the bit with him diving off the rocks. Inside Mexico there were many Coco references, this was one of Lucas’s favourite films so we took time to look at the exhibits and interactive games in the lobby.

When we came out of Mexico, we grab a spot to watch the fireworks. We knew this would be a long hour as the boys hate waiting around and can’t sit still but we knew if we didn’t grab a spot, we wouldn’t be able to see the fireworks. Lucas was particularly unhappy and said he didn’t even want to see the fireworks! Sometimes, I wish they realised how lucky they are to see these sorts of events. The show started and although we all enjoyed, we all agreed that the fireworks at MK are now far superior. The night time show at Epcot was revamped in September this year so maybe it is an improvement of Reflections of Earth. We expected it to be a mad rush for the exit but it actually wasn’t and we were able to stroll out at our own pace. It had been another lovely evening and I definitely prefer going around World Showcase in the evening. It only took us 20 mins from the Epcot car park to the Villa and we were back by 9.50pm and it bed shortly after!