Day Three at Epcot: Miiiiiine. Mine Mine Mine!
Plans for the Day:
ADRs: Coral Reef 11:45; Le Cellier 6:55
FP+: Mission Space 10:40; Soarin’ 2:10; Nemo and Friends 3:20
Good morning! We are on day three of our trip and now it’s Epcot day! A warning for you all: we are not big Epcot fans :-\ I know some people are HUGE Epcot fans, but we’re not.
We enjoy the World Showcase, but Epcot just feels very dated to us. I will say that we visited during the Flower and Garden Festival though, and we were very impressed with that! That being said, this day’s report will probably be split into more posts than usual because I took a lot of photos.
We didn’t wake up super early, since we’re not really rope drop people or anything. We got up and sat on the balcony and ate some of the cereal we had brought. We really enjoyed watching the animals, especially this one bird, who we named Kevin (as in the movie, Up):
I know I’ve mentioned before that I love the movie Up, but let me take this opportunity for me to fully explain. First, I loved the character Kevin and name every random animal I see Kevin. This includes every inchworm (long story), and my cat (see below). We also have a golden retriever named Russell. Yes, we know that Dug would have been the better name. He is basically the real life Dug, but the name Russell just fits him so perfectly.
Kevin stalking my other cat like a lunatic.
And helping me study for the bar exam last summer.
So anyways, this bird Kevin was named as such because it sounds EXACTLY like the bird in the movie. I seriously think they must have used its call for the sound effect of Kevin. It was cracking us up. And it had this one rock it would run to every morning and stand on and wait to be fed. We loved watching him!
Once we had eaten, we headed down to take the bus to Epcot. We made it over there fairly quickly, and were probably in the park by about 9:30 AM. Chris was on bag duty today, so I strolled into the park while he waited in the not too terribly long line. While he was getting everything checked, I stopped by one of the kiosks right out front to check out some pins. Here’s one where I can finally remember a specific pin I bought! We decided to get the Flower and Garden pin as a good memento of our trip. Sorry, I had to steal the picture from the internet.
Also, obligatory:
As we were walking in, we knew we would have some free time before our first FP, so we headed to Test Track to see what the line looked like. The wait time for the ride was about 30 minutes, but the single rider line was only 10. We weren’t worried about sitting together, so we decided we’d do that.
I should add that when we came to Disney in 2012, Test Track was under refurbishment at that time. I had ridden it in 2005, but Chris never had. I couldn’t remember too much of it from outside, other than the outside loop and the hot and cold room. I was eager to see how the new ride looked!
When we got inside, we sort of strolled right by the design screens since we didn’t really know what they were. Plus, the line was so short that we didn’t want to stand there designing things so we just got in line. Funnily enough, the lady with the fantastic nails from HS was in line in front of us again! Isn’t it weird how you run into the same people in Disney? No joke when I went to Disney in 2012, I ran into a lawyer I’d worked with that summer while we were in Magic Kingdom. Seriously, what are the odds of that?
We were quickly at the front of the line. As it turns out, Chris was in the car right behind me, so it’s not like we were really that split up. I have to say... not really that impressed :-\ I mean, am I missing something? It seems like your sort of swerved around a tractor trailer, went over some bumps, and then headed outside. Neither Chris nor I thought much of it, and I have to say, I’d be pretty irritated if I’d waited in line for it for an hour and that was it. I don’t know, I just wasn’t feeling it. Maybe I would’ve enjoyed it more if we had designed our own cars?
Anyone else out there agree with me? It seems like the only thing I got from it was bad hair since I forgot to put my hair up before the outside track! You can see me trying to hold it down in the picture. At least I look like I'm having a good time.
By the time we looked around at some of the cars after the ride and made our way back outside, it was time for us to use our FP+ for Mission Space! Now I know what you’re thinking: Star Tours nauseated you, but you’re getting on Mission Space? I know, it’s weird. It has never bothered me at all, and I rode it back in 2005 before there was Mission Orange and Mission Wimp (or whatever the easy one is called!). It is definitely an odd sensation, but it’s never made me feel sick.
Now before I go any further, I’d like to make a commentary on FP+ here. We never had any issues with Magic Bands or FP+ other than the occasional my band/fingerprint combo wouldn’t work the first time at the gate or something like that. But apparently a lot of people do not understand the concept of FP in general. I can’t tell you how many times this week I saw people come up to the first FP+ stop, scan their band, and have the CM tell them that their FP wasn’t until 5:00 pm and it was currently noon. What are you doing? Did you really think you could just stroll right in? I saw this happen repeatedly. I also saw a number of people never scan their band at the second post, which yes, a CM should have been checking more carefully, but I bet it caused problems if that person got off that ride and immediately tried to get a fourth FP without their window being up! I don’t know, I was just really blown away by the number of people who apparently didn’t understand that having a FP didn’t mean they could just get on it at any time of the day. Anyways…
Chris snapped a picture of a hidden Mickey in line for Mission Space (ok, it's not "connected" but I still think it's pretty clear that's what it is). I should mention that we were still searching for them! I didn’t talk about it in my Day Two chapters, but we were definitely actively searching for Mickeys and really enjoying it!
We had a great ride. I just can’t describe that sensation. It is so bizarre! I can’t remember which position I got, maybe Commander? I’m the type of the person who never presses the button. Chris is the type of person who ALWAYS presses the buttons and freaks out that I don’t push the buttons. Oh well. Lieutenant Dan got us there safely all the same.
Once we were done with Mission Space, we were getting close enough to our first ADR for Coral Reef that we decided to head that way and see if we could get in a little bit early. Now I should add that when Chris and I came to Epcot in 2005, we basically only had the opportunity to do World Showcase. We came for a half day and Test Track was under refurbishment, Soarin was at 80 minutes and out of Fastpasses (the old style ones then), and we just didn’t really venture towards The Land and The Seas. I had eaten at Coral Reef back in 2005 though, and remembered really enjoying it. I had seen a couple of negative reviews about Coral Reef before going on this trip, but I have to say we were pretty happy with it!
Before heading into the restaurant, we stopped to check out the seagulls at the Nemo and Friends sign. I LOVED this. I’m a big Nemo fan as well (ok, I’m basically a Pixar fan all-around) and think the seagulls are one of the best parts of the movie.
We also grabbed a picture with Chip and Dale, who were nearby! You can also see that I've amassed quite a few Up pins by this point.
We were about 15 minutes early for our reservation, but they still let us in almost immediately. The restaurant was pretty empty when we got in, and we were lucky enough to get a table right next to the aquarium! We got some great pictures while we were sitting there. I was so excited to see the sea turtles!
Our meal was pretty good, though not one of my favorites for the week. We split the crab dip for an appetizer and that was delicious. I ordered the Mahi Mahi and Chris had the Rainbow Trout. I liked his trout and would have ordered it myself but it came with beans and that’s a no go for me. The mahi mahi was good, but it came in a coconut-lime sauce and it was REALLY coconut-y. And I drink coconut milk every day, and it was still a lot of coconut to me. I got the Chocolate Wave for dessert, and I believe Chris got the same thing, though I failed to get pictures.
Our waitress was super friendly and gave us a little piece of chocolate that said congratulations for our honeymoon, so that was nice. She was also very knowledgeable about the fish in the tank. By the time we left the restaurant, it was packed in there and there were a lot of people waiting outside. Overall, I can’t really complain. The crab dip was delicious and I loved the view, just not the heavy dose of coconut.
Once we were done for lunch, we stopped and got a couple photos with Nemo out front.
Up next- The Seas and more!
And then walked away! It was really bizarre and I was not amused. We walked away and saw someone who appeared to be a manager. I asked her if they could send the mug for us and she said “absolutely!” and brought us to another register where a different CM quickly got it taken care of for us. I didn’t say anything because I know Chris hates confrontation and I didn’t want to be a whiner on our honeymoon, but it was pretty rude. I understand that the mug isn’t something in their system where they can mark it off to be sent, but it was really easy for the girl to fill out a slip for it, and we didn’t have any problems. Whatever. Onto the next thing… 
There was also some veggie drink that was really gross. The other flavors were pretty good though, I can’t remember exactly what the flavor was but I think it was from Japan and I liked that.
Sign me up!
