I was headed to Epcot. In spite of my complaining feet and legs (they weren't complaining TOO much), I walked to the International Gateway.
I'd brought my poncho with me. *cue ominous music*
It was almost 3 p.m. as I strolled towards Epcot. I loved this walk! Today, I passed an older woman and her husband; the woman was carrying a pink sketch Dooney and Bourke letter carrier, and I told her how much I liked it.
I made my way into Epcot, and decided to look at some areas I couldn't remember exploring before.
I was going to go on JII, but I realized something in that moment - I hate the new ride more than I like Figment. Plus, they just destroyed that pavilion when they moved out all the interactive stuff! I remember being obsessed with that ride and area when I was a kid. But as an adult, I just walked on by.
I was pretty hungry! Time for a sandwich!
Quite frankly, the turkey sandwich I had was the worst CS food I can remember having at WDW. The mayo was disgusting and I couldn't get the taste off the meat. The meat was rubbery; the bread tasted like a mixture between stale and poorly made - I couldn't figure out which. However, I knew I was very hungry and had a long night ahead of me, so I ate the entire thing.
Back to WS!
Of COURSE I went straight to Mexico!
Then, I just wandered. I had no plans - but I did have FP+ here tonight and I planned on taking advantage of them.
I went back to Mexico in preparation for my TT FP+; I tried to take a decent photo on the ride of the Christmas decorations in the pavilion, but failed.
I really do love this ride.
I went over for my FP+, but the single rider line was a lot shorter! I went through it instead and was on the ride in just moments.
When I got off TT, I just went and got right back in the single rider line. This time, however, I noticed it was sprinkling before I made it in the building, and by the time I got near the front they were announcing that due to inclement weather, the ride may stop at any time.
I asked the female CM what would happen if the ride did stop, and she said "we'll come and get you." Oh. Ok. Hm. Well, I've already explained how I feel about feeling trapped, but I did decide at this time to go ahead and ride. Call it a sick desire to push my boundaries. *cue ominous music*
I got strapped in and was sitting next to a man and woman who appeared to be in their 60s, who were with the adults in the back of the car; but they were having a grand time, laughing and joking and hollering. We made our way through the ride slowly, and then...
We stopped a few cars back from the outside portion. I was sure we were going to stop, but we advanced to the first position, and then started the acceleration towards the outside portion and... it was RAINING! And it was COLD! The woman next to me started laughing like a loon, and then I couldn't stop laughing, and soon the whole car was cracking up while whipping through the rain like a bunch of adult lunatics.
We got off the ride, I put on my poncho, and I decided not to use my FP+ here. It was just too long of a FP line for me. I rode twice in the time it took some to get on once.
I walked to SE, but decided to just shop instead - they used to have astronaut ice cream for sale in those little stores under the SE legs, but there was none (bummer). Instead, I got an AWESOME calendar with 12x18 prints of classic WDW rides! I LOVE IT.
I had eaten the sandwich at dinner, but I had the urge to have a cookie. This is not something I would eat at home, but boy I do NOT hold back on the sweets at Disney - probably because I need the sugar to keep going! So I headed back to Seasons and stopped for one of these:
Holy moly was that cookie DELICIOUS. I annihilated it in moments, and took a pic of where i was heading next.
It was raining outside pretty good, so I just sat and enjoyed Seasons, because my FP+ was coming due. After waiting a bit, I wandered over and asked if I could go in early. "Try it and see," the CM shrugged, and I held my band up to the Mickey head. Sure enough, it flashed green and I headed in.
I love me some Patrick Warburton.
This was my first time back on Soarin' in several years. I just thought it was "ok" before, but didn't want to rush to get FP- in the past so I just skipped it. I struck up a conversation with the people in front of me in line (they're walking in front of me two photos back) and they were talking about how much they loved it. Ok, fair enough.
We went in and I was in the third row. Ok, it didn't bother me. But when I put my seat belt on, it was loose. Very loose. Fit another person in there loose. I could have had a child sit on my lap; there was a ton of slack. I expected it to tighten up with the ride started - I mean, the CM didn't say anything when he saw it, so I figured it was normal. Up we went -- but it didn't tighten up. The slack stayed in place, and I held on tightly until we came back down.
I was sitting next to the man of the couple and he looked over and asked how I liked it. I told him I liked it ok, but "was this normal?" and showed him the huge amount of slack in my seatbelt. His eyes got huge and he elbowed his wife and said "look at this!" and her eyes got big. I could get out of my seat without even unlocking my seat belt.
I stopped to tell a CM on the way out and she said that was normal, and usually they "tuck the end of the seatbelt under you" - um, what?? She seemed very distracted while I was talking and had another group of people coming in, so I just gave up and left. Seemed very odd to me! Anyone seen this before?
I stayed for a while longer but the rain continued to come down, drizzling but constant, and I finally gave in to fatigue and just plain irritation at the constant patter of rain on my head (my poncho hood wouldn't stay up).
I headed back to BWV, sad that I had seen my last full day but ready to rest up for what should be a LONG day tomorrow. I made sure I was 100% packed up because I was heading to open the park at MK and planned on being there until right before my ME bus left at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon!
I feel like I spent so much time at Epcot, just wandering - and drinking. I left out a lot of the drinking. LOL!
Seriously, it used to be the BEST pavilion; you had to drag me out kicking and screaming.
