DM wakes us at 7.00a.m. with coffee (I knew there was a reason that we brought her with us!) and it's another hot start - 79.c already!
We breakfast at Golden Corral (Ponderosa with donuts!) and get to Epcot by 9.00a.m. for opening. As usual DS1 & DN go their seperate way and we head straight for the big "Golf Ball".
Now I know it says in my book that this is probably not the best way to go as eveyone else has the same idea but hey! I'm in a rebelious mood today so lets buck the trend and live dangerously! Well suprise suprise - no queue - we walk up the ramp and virtually straight no to the little train.
You Know - it occurs to me that my biggest worry before coming to Orlando was the thought of endless queues/huge crowds and pushing & shoving to get anywhere in the parks - but - so far I've seen just the opposite - it's July 13th - which is supposed to be one of the peak times and yet we have had a fantastic time with very few queues, no real huge crowds and only come accross very polite and well mannered people. The temperatures have been pretty high (ave. 94.c) and yet it hasn't been bad - we took the usual precautions and with the occasional showers and scattered clouds giving relief we seem to have the best of both worlds.
Anyway - the Spaceship Earth ride is the ideal ride to start on as is brings you all that essential Disney feeling from the word go and puts you in the right frame of mind for the day - when we round that last corner and see Earth in the night sky is sends a shiver down the back of my neck. We exit and fastpass TestTrack on our way to Honey I Shrunk The Audience - this is a fantastic show and the look on DD's face as she tries to reach out and grab things that appear to be in front of her is really funny. We go on Journey into Imagination with Figment after this which although colourful is a bit of a dissapointment - I know that this is brand new - perhaps it's not finished yet - anyway - after sending some funny picture E.Mails to all & sundry at innovations (all FREE!) we head back to TestTrack. It's now raining and when we get there we find that they have closed the ride for at least an hour........however.......after equiring with a CM I am informed that they will honour our fastpasses all day! - Brilliant!. So we go back to Universe of Energy and Wonders of Life for a couple of hours untill the rain has stopped.
I know that these attractions are "educational" rather than "thrill" rides but I personally thought that they were some of the best - I mean - the kids (and adults!) learned quite a lot in these places and we came away from this park feeling very good about the whole day. The Universe of Energy is great the way the whole cinema becomes a ride and the Body Wars and Cranium Command in Wonders of Life are an absolute must for the younger members of the party.
We stroll over to TestTrack and it's open - as we get there we meet the boys who have done the same as us and fastpassed the ride - so - as DM,DF,DW & DD don't want to go on this one the rest of us go twice! - this is one of my favourites of the whole trip - it's great fun - maybe a bit tame for the "coaster freaks" but very different and pretty fast too.
Well it's that time again - FOOD REQUIRED - we leave the park at @ 3.30p.m. (with hand stamps) and head back to 192 to International House Of Pancakes (IHOP) for lunch/dinner. The waiter is great - the food is good too - the portions are HUGE - and the pancakes are "to die for"! Me and DS2 share a plateful for dessert and get to try all the different flavoured syrups out..........YUM!YUM!........SLURP!...........
The - it's back to Epcot for the evening - we arrive in time for the parade (Tapestry of Dreams) and after a quick "mooch" around a few countries - we position ourselves between Italy & Germany (as instructed by friends!) and wait............"Sorry folks - due to the weather - tonights parade has been cancelled".........
You know - were not having a lot of luck here are we?
Well - no point in moaning - theres still another week to go and I'm sure that we can come back next week.
We visit some more countries and after meeting the boys (they caught the monorail to MK for the evening) we head home.
Looking at today we have done an awful lot - its been one of the best days so far and despite the rain - despite the parade being cancelled - we've all had a great time. The Living Sea was great - DD made a mask in the World Showcase and every country we visited "stamped" this for her (all free of charge) - we sat in some superb cars in the TestTrack building (at long last I'm beginning to see why the American's love those huge trucks....they ar absolutely loaded with gadgets!) and we've all learnt loads about the world in which we live. Perhaps "Walt" would say - we've experienced what Disney (and particularly Epcot) is all about.
Tomorrow - Disney MGM Studios and Fantasmic - I hope!
Milly
We breakfast at Golden Corral (Ponderosa with donuts!) and get to Epcot by 9.00a.m. for opening. As usual DS1 & DN go their seperate way and we head straight for the big "Golf Ball".
Now I know it says in my book that this is probably not the best way to go as eveyone else has the same idea but hey! I'm in a rebelious mood today so lets buck the trend and live dangerously! Well suprise suprise - no queue - we walk up the ramp and virtually straight no to the little train.
You Know - it occurs to me that my biggest worry before coming to Orlando was the thought of endless queues/huge crowds and pushing & shoving to get anywhere in the parks - but - so far I've seen just the opposite - it's July 13th - which is supposed to be one of the peak times and yet we have had a fantastic time with very few queues, no real huge crowds and only come accross very polite and well mannered people. The temperatures have been pretty high (ave. 94.c) and yet it hasn't been bad - we took the usual precautions and with the occasional showers and scattered clouds giving relief we seem to have the best of both worlds.
Anyway - the Spaceship Earth ride is the ideal ride to start on as is brings you all that essential Disney feeling from the word go and puts you in the right frame of mind for the day - when we round that last corner and see Earth in the night sky is sends a shiver down the back of my neck. We exit and fastpass TestTrack on our way to Honey I Shrunk The Audience - this is a fantastic show and the look on DD's face as she tries to reach out and grab things that appear to be in front of her is really funny. We go on Journey into Imagination with Figment after this which although colourful is a bit of a dissapointment - I know that this is brand new - perhaps it's not finished yet - anyway - after sending some funny picture E.Mails to all & sundry at innovations (all FREE!) we head back to TestTrack. It's now raining and when we get there we find that they have closed the ride for at least an hour........however.......after equiring with a CM I am informed that they will honour our fastpasses all day! - Brilliant!. So we go back to Universe of Energy and Wonders of Life for a couple of hours untill the rain has stopped.
I know that these attractions are "educational" rather than "thrill" rides but I personally thought that they were some of the best - I mean - the kids (and adults!) learned quite a lot in these places and we came away from this park feeling very good about the whole day. The Universe of Energy is great the way the whole cinema becomes a ride and the Body Wars and Cranium Command in Wonders of Life are an absolute must for the younger members of the party.
We stroll over to TestTrack and it's open - as we get there we meet the boys who have done the same as us and fastpassed the ride - so - as DM,DF,DW & DD don't want to go on this one the rest of us go twice! - this is one of my favourites of the whole trip - it's great fun - maybe a bit tame for the "coaster freaks" but very different and pretty fast too.
Well it's that time again - FOOD REQUIRED - we leave the park at @ 3.30p.m. (with hand stamps) and head back to 192 to International House Of Pancakes (IHOP) for lunch/dinner. The waiter is great - the food is good too - the portions are HUGE - and the pancakes are "to die for"! Me and DS2 share a plateful for dessert and get to try all the different flavoured syrups out..........YUM!YUM!........SLURP!...........
The - it's back to Epcot for the evening - we arrive in time for the parade (Tapestry of Dreams) and after a quick "mooch" around a few countries - we position ourselves between Italy & Germany (as instructed by friends!) and wait............"Sorry folks - due to the weather - tonights parade has been cancelled".........
You know - were not having a lot of luck here are we?
Well - no point in moaning - theres still another week to go and I'm sure that we can come back next week.
We visit some more countries and after meeting the boys (they caught the monorail to MK for the evening) we head home.
Looking at today we have done an awful lot - its been one of the best days so far and despite the rain - despite the parade being cancelled - we've all had a great time. The Living Sea was great - DD made a mask in the World Showcase and every country we visited "stamped" this for her (all free of charge) - we sat in some superb cars in the TestTrack building (at long last I'm beginning to see why the American's love those huge trucks....they ar absolutely loaded with gadgets!) and we've all learnt loads about the world in which we live. Perhaps "Walt" would say - we've experienced what Disney (and particularly Epcot) is all about.
Tomorrow - Disney MGM Studios and Fantasmic - I hope!
Milly
