4th Time Lucky Day 5 Chasing Remy

[karalma]

11.12.21

At 7.00am Alix was poised with her finger on the button, hoping for a boarding pass in Remy's virtual queue. It was quick and easy and we were delighted to be given a pass. We were in boarding group 94 with an estimated time of 1.00pm and an estimated wait time of 15 minutes. This was ideal for us - or so we thought. The plan was get there for rope drop, ride what we could, lunch at the booths around World Showcase and then ride Remy.

We arrived for rope drop but because of the early entry for resort guests TT was already 40 minutes and Soarin 10 so our plan was to head to Soarin. We got as close to the front as we could amongst a large crowd, when I looked down and realised I had lost my magic band. We left our place at the front and retraced our steps back to the turnstiles. We asked a CM who asked to see the band of someone else in our party and she gave me a card to replace it and said the boarding pass would be fine. We asked if it could have been handed in and she went to ask. She returned and told us that a CM had it but the CM had gone to rope drop but would be back soon. Darren offered to wait while Alix and I went to Soarin. The CM said we might see the CM and described her for us. Fortunately she looked very distinctive with long grey braids and Alex spotted her off to the side, apart from the crowd. The band was quickly retrieved and popped in my bag as you don’t need them now as you used to with FP. We called Darren to let him know and he quickly caught us.

The line for Soarin had gone up to 20 by the time we got there and jumped to 40 just after we got in line so we settled in for a wait. We guess they must have opened another flight deck as we were on in 10 minutes. I loved the ride as much as ever, applauding loudly at the end, with others. Next up was Livin with the Land to see the Xmas overlay but this was disappointing.









When we left Soarin was only 20 minutes so we rode again. I was so excited that we got to ride twice. We noticed Pooh Bear in his Xmas hat so gave him a wave.



We then headed for TT and used single rider to walk straight on. Alix and I got to ride in the same car.



We had spotted the holiday doughnuts so stopped to try the peppermint but we weren’t too impressed, as it was a little dry.



We then enjoyed a few refreshing drinks in the refurbished Club Cool before browsing a couple of shops. By this time our estimated time for Remy had climbed to 4.30. We weren’t sure whether to wait it out or leave and return as we didn’t know how long you had once you received a notification and we didn’t know whether the time ever dropped. We took a pic of Alix with Coco and his dog.



We decided to ask at customer service on our way out. Alix spotted a magic tiny shot so we waited in line and as we waited we asked the CM about Remy's virtual queue. The CM wasn’t sure if there was a time given but she told us we would be fine as long as we had the boarding pass so we decided to return later. The return time was up to 5.30 by the time we left. I really liked these tiny shots as it made me look slimmer but Alix didn’t as she thought it made her head look big.



We spent another lovely afternoon in the pool. The return plan was ride Remy and head over to HS as we expected Epcot to be busy on a Saturday night and we wouldn’t have been visiting on a weekend if it wasn’t for the virtual queue. We thought about cancelling it but we hoped Epcot wouldn’t be too busy at 5 as it was open until 10. Darren deliberated all day about whether to come with us. He didn’t really want to and in the past would have dropped us off and gone and done something with Matt but as Matt wasn’t here he would have been on his own. The thought of chips from Rose n Crown was tempting him but in the end it was the long lines of traffic we saw in the direction of the villa that was the wining factor and he chose to come with us.

Alix picked up a festival of the holidays leaflet as we intended following the cookie trail.



We rode Spaceship Earth as it was only 20 minutes, but actually 15, before we headed to World Showcase as the boarding time was now 6.05. When we reached World Showcase it was a sea of people. Alix said she had never seen it so busy but she had been ill on our NYE visit so we had definitely seen it worse. But that was a different time. Now it just felt dark and warm and uncomfortable with our masks on. The lines were so long we didn’t bother calling for cookies or chips but headed straight to Remy as our boarding was called. We had a bit of trouble finding it’s location and couldn’t believe the size of the queue. The app said the estimated wait time was 35 minutes but it turned into 45. The line was like a rat maze, every time you turned a corner there was more people.









Our verdict: Alix - well that was a waste of 45 minutes; Darren - it was ok but I wouldn’t want to do it again and me - it was fun but I wouldn’t queue for it.

Darren offered to go and move the car to HS while Alix and I used the cable cars, so that we didn’t have to return to Epcot at the end of the night. We were able to jump straight on the cable cars and found these fun, even though we had no idea where we were going. On the way we got a call from Darren to say he couldn’t find the car. This is the third night running. We seem to be lost without the tram announcements. The previous nights Darren has been able to use Google Maps to locate it but for some reason this wasn’t working. Thanks to the announcement on the cars we realised we had to transfer but this was quick and easy.

Mickeys Runaway Railway was only 35 minutes and we knew Darren wouldn’t be bothered about this so we jumped in line and it only took 25 minutes.



We got a call in here to say Darren had arrived at HS and would wait outside. During the ride Alix slid across the seat and rolled her eyes at me so I thought she wasn’t enjoying it but when we got off she said "Well that was a lot better than expected."



I really enjoyed it, particularly the dancing part. Checking the wait times we found ToT was 15 minutes and Smugglers was 25. I suggested Smugglers first and then ToT if Rise was too long, mainly because I didn’t want to walk backwards and forwards across the park. Rise had just broken down so we weren’t expecting to get on tonight but it was worth a try. Darren and Alix decided on trying for all 3 so we headed to ToT first, only to find that the Tower show must have just finished and everyone had gone to ToT as the wait time showed 20 minutes but the line was out onto the walkway. So it was off to Smugglers. This was a really long walk to find the end of the line but actually only took 15 minutes to get on. Darren and Alix were gunners and I was an engineer. We had time to get in line for Rise but it was showing as 90 minutes so we decided to try again another night. Alix bought a pop on the way out of the park.



We were pleased we had managed 2 new headliners, Soarin twice and TT today. This is more than we would have done with our 3 FPs. We were also very grateful that Darren had brought the car over and parked close to the front.

[mick]

A busy but good day with lots done


Joan

[Goldia]

A pain about the return time for Remy being so late, but you seemed to have a lot of fun in Epcot in the morning and then late night at HS too.

[Floridadreams]

Sounds like another good day - such a pain that Remy was so delayed though! Is this the same ride as in Paris?
I’m so enjoying reading actual trip reports again! Do you have an index so I can track down the other days?

[karalma]

Originally Posted by Floridadreams

Sounds like another good day - such a pain that Remy was so delayed though! Is this the same ride as in Paris?
I’m so enjoying reading actual trip reports again! Do you have an index so I can track down the other days?

See more...

Sorry I don’t know about the Paris ride. It is great to have trip reports again. The index is below.
Index

[katebush95]

Great day apart from the Remy experience being a bit of a pain.