Part VI Partying like it’s 1986… We Are Here to Change the World…
Ok, it’s been a little while since I last updated this story…over a month in fact, as I began to be reminded of such from my fun-loving, trip report hacking DIS Pirat….I mean DISDad’s Club friends. So shoo shoo little
s. (for those of you who don't get it... the DISDad's - myself included - have fun hijacking each other's TR's and taking them off into completely different and sometimes insane directions when one gets a little stale with no further updates forthcoming. Just our fun little way of making sure the reports get completed.
)
We were last together, at least virtually, since honestly we weren’t REALLY together – honestly, I’ve only personally met a handful of you readers who have actually posted on this report, though many of you we’ve gone back and forth on this and other online sites – but many readers just browse and move on, so I have no idea who they are.
But I digress…
…when were last together, this was the concluding statement of the previous installment
The next day would once again be filled with fun and surprises – I wonder what they might be. Stay tuned to find out…
so without further adieu, let’s get rolling and see what kind of surprises there might be in store.
It was now Tuesday, and our final full day at the World. This was, once again, a short trip, only 3 nights, with part of 4 days to enjoy the World. The alarm went off early, but this time there was no breakfast in the room. We were headed out and planned on eating in the park today. This was surprise number 1, although just a small surprise really. It was an EMH Morning at
Epcot – and that was our destination of choice. My DD has never eaten breakfast inside Epcot before, and so she was EXCITED! We both love
Soarin’ and wanted to be able to get on it a few times – so being there for rope drop was definitely on our agenda (surprise #2 – she’s never experienced rope drop at Epcot before). We got ready quickly, and were downstairs waiting for the bus at about 7:15. The bus showed up about 5 minutes later and we were off on our way over to Epcot.
Nate – a fellow DIS Dad Club pal (and my nemesis on that thread) – had planned on meeting up today in Epcot. We’d been talking beforehand about our schedules and meeting up, since he and his family were vacationing in the World the same time my DD and I were there. He works for Siemens, the sponsor of Spaceship Earth and Illuminations, and he was going to show me the special corporate lounge inside the SE building… it was going to be epic, and actually had a couple of the other DDC dads jealous. I had started to communicate via text with Nate to let him know that we were at Epcot, but my text went unanswered. Hmm – I would have to try again later.
Here’s my DD upon entering the park.
The crowd wasn’t enormous that morning, but there were certainly people there to enjoy EMH with us. We worked our way up to the central area and the rope drop, and waited for 8 am to arrive. I didn’t get any pictures of the characters that morning, but I remember Mickey, Minnie, & Goofy were on our side. I think Donald and Chip & Dale were on the Test Track/Mission Space side – but I could be wrong. It was nearly 6 months ago! (And I need to wrap this TR up… so I can finish my other active one too. We’ve got a trip coming up in April, and I don’t want these to drag out that long
)
As soon as the rope was dropped, we followed the nice CM’s over to
The Land, and worked out way in to the building and down to the lower level. Another text to Nate telling him we were getting on Soarin'. We quickly got FP’s, and then jumped in to the line. Soon we were in flight once again, soaring over my native state. Ahhh. There’s just something about Soarin’ – I’ve loved it since it first opened up at DCA 10 years ago. I was so thrilled when it was announced back in 2003 that it would be coming to WDW, and finally opened in 2005. I love the visuals, the music, the whole experience. It is one of my favorites, definitely.
Here we are after enjoying our breakfast at
Sunshine Seasons, after sending another text to Nate that we were having breakfast.
After breakfast, we were able to enjoy ride #2 on Soarin’, and grabbed another FP after we got off. Cool!... Soarin’ three times in one day at Epcot; that’s never happened before on a family excursion (typically only of my solo trips, if at all) so needless to say, we were both pretty stoked.
After our earthbound flights, it was time to head out to the neighboring pavilion to the south, one that is home to two crazy characters – both of whom I really like (unlike some of my DISDad’s buddies). One is small and purple, the other a former pop teen idol – both fantastic in their own way. Ready to go back to 1986? We sure were. And I recall sending off another text to Nate letting him know what our current destination was.
I was pretty excited to be able to see
Captain Eo again. I know that many adore the film, many abhor the film – I fall more in the I really like it, but don’t love it camp. I have fond memories of it from my
Disneyland youth and CM days. I loved the 60 Hour Party that DL hosted when it premiered - I was there. It was really cool. What crazy, heady days those were. I loved it. There's just something so cool about partying all night long in Disneyland when you're a teenager - just hangin' out with your friends, and nary a parent (of yoursor theirs) in sight. Needless to say, since it was removed from the Disney parks years ago – my DD had never experienced it. She was nervous at first, but in the end, she really enjoyed it. For the next hour or more she simply couldn’t stop singing and humming that “we are here to change the world…”
About this time (it was now around 9:30 or so), I got my first response from Nate (of many more to come) – except, the VM that I got after calling or texting him (I don’t recall which now), basically said that they aren't morning people and hadn’t left their resort yet – and it might be a while before they got to Epcot. Oh well – so much for epic. But I wasn’t going to give up on connecting. It was going to happen. So in the meantime – we headed over to the
Character Spot to get some signatures to fill up that brand new autograph album I’d purchased a couple of days prior. Sadly, because we chose to go do other things first, the line for the characters was LOOOONG. Ugh. But DD wanted to see the fab five up close and personal – so we got in line. Nearly 50 minutes later (and I believe another text to Nate) we were up to the front and the line and about to see the big cheese himself.
By the time we were done at the Character Spot, I recall receiving a VM back from Nate that said that they were getting on the bus headed over to Epcot, but since they weren’t there yet,
and we had a lunch reservation in World Showcase (could it be, surprise #3) we started to head that way texting back that we could meet up after lunch, hopefully.
Will DD get to meet more characters? Will Stopher and his DD make it to lunch on time? Will Nate ever appear? These questions and many others will be answered in the next installment of this Daddy-Daughter Adventure.
But I am not Don... which is also why I enjoy dishing, but not receiving. I love being a 
we are rope drop people and we tend to head back to the resort in the early evenings.
She was driving, right? So I just “had to” comply. Here she is at one of our family favorite photo stops
for lunch in Epcot? 
