A Disney Anniversary - Halloween Time at DLR, UOR and WDW - Sept/Oct 2019 - COMPLETED 01/09/2020

Day 8 - Part 2 - Express Pass Failings

When I had calmed down enough we caught the Hogwarts Express over to Universal Studios. As I mentioned earlier, we planned to stop riding rides so we could search for a SD card. A search that ended up being in vain.

The wait was only about 10 minutes so we decided to save our Express Pass for our trip back to Islands of Adventure later in the day.







We were so dispirited after not finding an SD card we threw our plan away completely. We knew we were heading out to Cowfish for lunch (I'd changed our reservation from dinner to lunch the previous day knowing we would be leaving in the afternoon). Lunch was at 1pm so we just decided to see if we could get all the rides we wanted to do at Universal done before lunch, and then we'd finish up rides at Islands of Adventure and go home. Honestly I wasn't in the best head space for having fun, as I was still worried about how the photo recovery would go. I really did try and get out of my head and have fun, but I was not doing a very good job of it.

Since we were up closer to the entrance of Universal Studios (having walked around looking for an SD card) we decided to start with Jimmy Fallon's Race through New York.

We did glimpse Hashtag the Panda out the front of the ride, which was fun!





We were given a "green" boarding pass and headed in.





We got to enjoy the musical stylings of this barber shop quintet while we waited! They were good (not Dapper Dans good, but still good!)




Pretty soon we were on the ride. The Express Pass hadn't really done us much good here as it only bypassed the first part of the line before you get a boarding pass. Once you have the boarding pass you just wait to be called along with everyone else (which took about 10 minutes for us). Still it's great because there is no "line" and plenty of seats around the place!

I wasn't expecting much of this one, knowing it was a pretty basic simulator attraction. It was a basic simulator but I really really enjoyed it! Mostly because it was so utterly hilarious. Jared and I both really enjoy Jimmy Fallon and the completely surreal and incredulous journey you go on "racing" him through New York is pretty fantastic. The ride itself may not be all that impressive but the comedy and story that comes from it is, so I think it's worth riding just for that reason alone.

After Jimmy we headed over to the Mummy. We had a lot of trouble getting a locker to open with our phone (which is where we had our tickets stored). I went to find a staff member to ask how we could get the locker to work (we were getting so fed up with the lockers by this point) and she informed us we could just use a "locker pass" and proceeded to hand me two! Anyway we used these passes from here on out to open lockers, which was easier than using the phone.

Right before we headed onto the Mummy it had started raining heavily. In true Orlando fashion it lasted 2 minutes and was then done!

We enjoyed the Mummy but it is looking old and tired. A lot of the mummies in the opening scene weren't work (aka didn't pop up) and again the whole thing looks as though it could use a refurb. I do know a lot of people complain about Disney World's maintenance of it's attractions but I have to say Universal was definitely coming off worse this day (to us anyway).

The express pass worked well for our trip to escape having our souls doomed for all eternity (though the wait for the ride was only about 10 minutes) but after this they started to be MUCH less valuable.

We headed towards Transformers next. The posted wait was 30 minutes, so not too bad, and we though "hey we will be on in no time with our express pass". We've never normally waited more than 5 minutes with express pass in all of our past experiences. I believe we waited 15 minutes (which was half the standby wait).



Halfway through our ride the attraction frozen. When it started working again we weren't facing the right direction, so we could hear the action going on but we couldn't see it. I figured the long express pass waits were probably due to the fact the ride had broken down a few times. Unlikely Disney though, Universal didn't seem to be too worried about clearing the Express Pass backlog (considering people pay for the privilege to use Express Pass, whereas Fastpass is free, this seems like a daft move!).

When we were done it was lunchtime (or time to head out to Cowfish for lunch) and we still had three attractions we wanted to get done at Universal. We had thought we'd managed to get them all done before lunch with EP and everything had gone so badly we were really depressed. We didn't really want to go back into both parks after lunch but it looked like that would be what we'd be doing. We had already agreed to skip Men in Black and ET, both of which were originally on our list of rides to do that day.

As we walked out of the park we passed Bart and Lisa Simpson. Bart gave me a hi-five and this simple act made me smile and clearly my sour mood a little.

Lunch at Cowfish was fantastic. We really weren't too hungry but we were exhausted and sitting down in the cool was so welcome.



Our exhausted faces!







Our food was fantastic. Cowfish has some of the best sushi that I've ever tasted (sushi-rolls that is) and I love the fusion with American style burgers. Since we weren't that hungry we ordered two sushi-rolls to share and loaded fries.

I loved the vegetarian roll in particular:









Continued in Next Post....
 
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Loving your review so far and what amazing pictures!!! Did you guys stay at a Universal hotel or did you just visit for the day? We're going for a week to DIsney in February and would like to sneak out for one day over at Universal. Is it worth it?
 
Loving your review so far and what amazing pictures!!! Did you guys stay at a Universal hotel or did you just visit for the day? We're going for a week to DIsney in February and would like to sneak out for one day over at Universal. Is it worth it?
Though it doesn’t much sound like it in this report I really do love universal. And if you haven’t been in a while or before it would be worth it. The only thing I will say is that a day isn’t a heap of time and I think that was part of our problem. Plus you’ll probably have shorter hours in the park in Feb. If you can squeeze two days that would be better. We just did a day trip this time but we have stayed on Universal Property before (at the Hard Rock Hotel). If you can swing a night there it’s worth it, as you are so close to the parks and you get unlimited express pass for all rides! Just remember not to take any kind of large bag into the park!
I’m glad you are enjoying reading along and that you like the pictures 😀😀
 
I am going to Universal next week and hoping to ride Hagrids. I have been following a thread on here about it and it still seems hit or miss. Also , they seem be closing it in the afternoon most days . Fingers crossed I get at least one ride in . It definitely gets rave reviews .
Sorry about all your stress but sounds like it worked out in the end
 


I am going to Universal next week and hoping to ride Hagrids. I have been following a thread on here about it and it still seems hit or miss. Also , they seem be closing it in the afternoon most days . Fingers crossed I get at least one ride in . It definitely gets rave reviews .
Sorry about all your stress but sounds like it worked out in the end
I can’t tell you what happens every day but o will say we had good luck with showing up an hour before opening and rope dropping the ride. I would probably make a point to run as fast as you could toward it. It is worth the wait but perhaps manage your expectations as it’s ridiculous how badly it operates!
 
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Day 7 - Part 10 - We closed down....the Photopass!

Once we were done wandering around a blissfully empty hub we wanted to take a few more shots with the train tracks leading towards the Cinderella Castle. However, there was a photograph photographer set up just in front of the tracks, and probably about 4 groups still waiting to get pictures (other than these 4 groups of people there was no one else down this end of Main Street).

Since we would have to wait for the Photopass photographer to be done to get our picture we figured we may as well jump in line too. As it turned out, we had the final photopass pictures in the hub that evening! This came with two bonuses; there was absolutely no one in any of our shots AND our Photopass photographer advised us she would give us EVERY Halloween magic shot she had in her camera! We were so excited, we'd only had one up to that point!

This was a really cool experience, it felt like our very own Magic Kingdom photoshoot - the photographer was so cute and didn't seem in a rush to clear us out (even though after she did she could go home!).

First up was just a stand picture of the two of us.



Then we had to look "shocked" at the flaming pumpkin!



The next shot is my absolute favourite of our trip! Our photographer asked us to do a Waltz pose. Luckily, having taken ballroom dancing lessons, Jared and I actually know how to do this. I pointed that out to her and told her how excited I was, even though I had no idea what the final result would be! I love dancing, and I love the waltz so even on it's own this picture of us "waltzing" in front of the castle was perfect.



The next day, we would discover that the photo was even more perfect, as we Waltz'd with ghosts!






Our final photo apparently involved a dastardly plan to poison Snow White. Jared has the poison Apple so I'm going to blame him if she falls into an eternal sleep! :rotfl2:



Because we were the last people taking pictures here after we were done we could set up for the photo we wanted. The Photopass photographer was very curious about what we were doing too, and we were having a lovely chat (which as I said was so nice of her, as she could have easily just headed on home).







There were still a few people milling around Main Street, probably about 20-30 or so but we were further back than everyone else except one other guy with a tripod, so we could reasonably empty pictures of the street!



Jared was a little disappointed that Main Street was missing the fairy lights that give it it's timeless look, but I really enjoyed the different lighting. I think this was easier knowing we'd see the classic fairy lights at Disneyland.

The top of Main Street still had a few people so we decided to get a photopass with the pumpkins, and then take some pictures from up atop the Train Station.

We got ANOTHER magic shot here and I really love this picture, with all the gorgeous colours! We really felt like VIPs this evening, with all the great magic shots and pictures without anyone else in them!





Our gravediggers shot came with another magic video!


I'm pretty sure we were one of the last (if not the last) people to get a photopass in this location as it was basically 1:00am, and Main Street was officially closed after that. So I'm going to say we closed down photopass!

We headed up to the Train Station for some pictures, but as you can see there were still a few people around.







The final shot we wanted in the parks was one we had to be patient to get, this photo opp was where everyone was milling waiting to get their pictures.





We were happy enough with just a few people in our shot though. We were pretty tired, and we weren't willing to wait for the final few people to move out of the picture.

We left the park at about 1:15am, and sadly didn't close down the park. I think there were about 10 people behind us! Still we had almost closed it down, and we had closed down the photopass so I'm going to count that as a win!

Out the front we took a few more shots.

Love the spooky fog here!





It was 1:20am when we were done and we crossed our fingers that the buses were still running. We had a plan to catch an Uber if they weren't, but we were still hopeful. That being said, I wasn't looking forward to having to walk to the All Star Resorts bus stop, which is always one of the furthest away. As we were walking up to the bus depot a CM approached us and asked us where we were headed. We informed him All Star Music and he advised that there was a bus right at the front of the bus bays that was headed to the All Star area, so we didn't have to walk anywhere! It was perfect timing too as I'd imagine this may have been the last bus of the night. There was about 7 people on it (including us).

We had really enjoyed our time at Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. Despite the crowds and the time wasted waiting between shows, the amount we were able to get done was fantastic. We really enjoyed the entertainment and of course we had the BEST time in the park after closing, making beautiful memories that we will always remember. I felt like the experience was worth the money we paid, though I'm not sure I'd do it again (we probably won't go this time of year again anyway), unless I was in a similar situation (where the only way we could stay in the park late was to be at the party).

Continued in Next Post....
OMG love the pic with the waltzing ghosts! However, look how much better your pics are then the photopass ones, lol.
LOVE the one with the pumpkins at the front, wow.
I read your last wdw TR and your photos have improved SO much (and they were already good then!)
 
Great update. Very stressful about the photos, but Jared sounds like such a good hubby !
My last trip was the 1st time I had seen Diagon Alley. I thought it was much better than Hogsmead, less fake-looking IMO. Love the potter lands, too. Wish we could have ridden Hagrids, it sounds amazing.
 


OMG love the pic with the waltzing ghosts! However, look how much better your pics are then the photopass ones, lol.
LOVE the one with the pumpkins at the front, wow.
I read your last wdw TR and your photos have improved SO much (and they were already good then!)

Isn't it amazing! That's sweet of you to say about our pictures...we are shooting a different style to the photopass photographers, and we probably have a better camera for shooting at night. But it's a lovely compliment.

Thanks for your feedback about the improvement. I really do appreciate that, as it's always our goal to improve our techniques, gear (within our budget) and pictures. Our last trip to the US parks was in 2015 and since then we've upgraded our camera equipment and lenses (and have more versatility with those) and we've also had a bit more experience. You remind me though, I have to go back into that 2015 trip report and re-link all the photos, as they were hosted with Photobucket (who suddenly decided I had too many pictures for a free account >:( >:( ). I have the pics on Flickr so I must do that at some point soon!

Great update. Very stressful about the photos, but Jared sounds like such a good hubby !
My last trip was the 1st time I had seen Diagon Alley. I thought it was much better than Hogsmead, less fake-looking IMO. Love the potter lands, too. Wish we could have ridden Hagrids, it sounds amazing.

It was incredibly stressful but you are right, Jared is fantastic and so patient with me when I'm freaking out (he's much more level headed that I). Diagon Alley is fantastic, I like Hogsmeade and think it's pretty good (realism wise), it's just that fake snow that does it (in the heat in particular it's pretty unrealistic!). Diagon Alley has the benefit of being more "enclosed" so it seems more all encompassing. Hagrid's is great, I hope you get a chance to ride someday (and that by the time you do they've fixed it's issues!). Really appreciate all your feedback on the updates by the way, it's really encouraging to know someone is reading along so avidly - so thanks!
 
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Day 8 - Part 3 - Back to Diagon Alley, 2015

After lunch we were feeling exhausted, but we wanted to power through, mostly because we still hadn't been into Diagon Alley and I really wanted to go The Escape from Gringotts attraction.

Walking back into the parks, we saw Doc Brown chilling outside a cafe. I decided to say hi. I asked him what the future was like, he replied "bright and ever changing". I love that you can just happen upon characters at Universal, much like at Disneyland. And the interactions I've had with them have always been fantastic.





We could see plenty of the trimmings for Halloween Horror Nights, one of which was scheduled for that evening. Honestly I could not think of anything worse than going to a place where people are paid to scare the pants off you! I don't do well with jump scares, scary dark places or horror! It just messes with my anxiety levels way too much.



Further along we ran into Doc's invention, the Delorian. Jared's favourite movies of all time are the Back to the Future trilogy. He loves seeing his favourite time machine whenever we go to Universal.



We decided to hit the Simpson's Ride before heading to Diagon Alley, especially as we'd be leaving from there on the Hogwarts Express to Island's of Adventure (it was only logical). So we enjoyed walking the longer way around, and taking pictures of Springfield.







I remember feeling super hot at this point! We headed onto the Simpson's and again our Express Passes we pretty useless. We waited 20 minutes with a standby wait of 35! My feet were absolutely killing me so I was not thrilled! The ride is great fun, I ride it again and again because I love the comedy (and how it takes a tongue in cheek look at theme parks). That being said it really needs a refurb! The screen and graphics are pretty awful at this point!

After we were done we stopped to take in this fantastic view of London.





And then we headed across the pond (literally and figuratively)





And through the entrance and into the Alley...



Since we didn't really take any great pictures of the Alley this time around I invite you to view some we took in 2015, when we had access to a proper camera! It hasn't really changed much so this is an accurate representation of what we saw.













I remember how cool it was to rope drop this area and, because the staff were funnelling people to Gringotts via Carkitt Market, to enjoy a completely empty Diagon Alley!



This was not the reality on this trip at 3:30pm in the afternoon:





Because we were hot, exhausted, stressed and rushed we didn't really take in all the details of Diagon Alley this time around. I wish we'd had a bit more time, like I'd originally planned before my plans fell apart. The detail is utterly stunning!



We even managed to stay until dusk in 2015 (sigh).



We headed into Gringotts with our express pass. Below is a mix of photos taken in 2015 and those I took on my iPhone this time - play "spot the difference" with these pictures.











Thankfully the wait was only 10 minutes, it was getting hard for me to stand still on my feet! Gringotts is fun, but it does rely a little too much on screens I think. The ride without screens is just a lot of rock work. Which I suppose it what Gringotts is. I really didn't mind the screens the first few times I rode this but I think the more times I ride I wish there was a bit more variety. It's still a fantastic ride, and I love the thrills. I think it didn't help that I was just pretty much over it by this point of the day.



After we were done on the Simpson's we headed back to Platform 9 3/4 to catch the Hogwarts Express back to Island's of Adventure.



All I wanted to achieve back at Islands of Adventure was the Amazing Adventures of Spiderman. We had planned to do King Kong as well, and as much as I really wanted to see the giant Kong animatronic I just couldn't face more than one ride.

I love Spiderman so much! Though much older than Transformers, and basically exactly the same (and using all the of the same technology) it's just so much better. I don't know if it's the way the 3D is used, the comic book vibe, the fantastic music or how everything just seems to fit more seamlessly (it does have way better transitions) but it's hand down one of my favourite rides at Universal. I know it has had refurbishment relatively recently, but it amazes me that the motion, images and effects are all better than Transformers, a much newer attraction!

I'm guessing Universal Studios was busier because of the fact a Halloween Horror nights was scheduled. Island's of Adventure seemed so much quieter in comparison. Spidey was a 10 minute wait and we walked right on. I was in a much better mood after being rescued by the intrepid webslinger too.

It was SO hot at this point so on the way out I ordered a slushie (or icy as I think you American's call them). By the time we left the parks it was about 4:30pm, which was much later than we'd planned to leave.

Though we didn't have the best day at Universal I think that most of that was down to us. We were stressed because of the issues with the missing photos, we wasted time looking for an SD card and we planned on only being at the parks one day when you really do need more time to successfully do and see everything. That being said, Universal's new policies for lockers and the fact that the Express Passes only helped us avoid waiting about half the time (when we paid so much money for them) was disappointing. As was the state of many of the attractions which could desperately use some TLC. I wish we'd had more time to slow down and take in Universal's smaller details, but at least we got to experience some of it on this short trip. Plus getting to experience Hagrids coaster was fantastic. Still Universal is coasting a little on the success of the Wizarding World (which is fantastic). However, other than that I really feel they could work a little on building more immersive and well themed lands. Islands of Adventure does this better than the studios park but a lot of the areas loose something, especially the more cartoonified lands. Perhaps that's what we will see with Universal's Epic Universe! I'm excited to see what they have in store for that park.

We were so ready for the pool! We got back to All Star Music at 5:00pm, having already explained to Becky and Derrick all the dramas which lead to us being home much later than expected. They joined us in the pool for about 30 minutes. I actually had about 15 minutes on my own as Jared had to go back to the room for a few things, and I was just too hot so I jumped right in. I really enjoyed singing to the soundtrack (which included, ironically, the song from Men in Black 3. You know, a song linked to a Universal attraction). I also do this weird thing called "pool dancing". I basically prance around in the water and wave my arms about and really go for it. It's great exercise and less pressure on my ruined ankles and feet. This time I wasn't quite as outrageous as normal (there were a lot of people around who I didn't want to freak out) but I did bob along to the music while I waited for the others to join me.

Jared and I must have gotten food from the food court back in our room that evening, though I forgot to note it. We were too busy recovering photos (which as it turned out was much easier than expected though it cost us like $150.00 for the program we needed to do it). So, if anyone accidentally deletes photos in the next year, send them my way. I have a program that can recover them! It's a yearly subscription though so by next September we will no longer have access to it. Still, $150.00 was money well spent so I could recover our beautiful photos and memories.

Continued in Next Post...
 
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Isn't it amazing! That's sweet of you to say about our pictures...we are shooting a different style to the photopass photographers, and we probably have a better camera for shooting at night. But it's a lovely compliment.

Thanks for your feedback about the improvement. I really do appreciate that, as it's always our goal to improve our techniques, gear (within our budget) and pictures. Our last trip to the US parks was in 2015 and since then we've upgraded our camera equipment and lenses (and have more versatility with those) and we've also had a bit more experience. You remind me though, I have to go back into that 2015 trip report and re-link all the photos, as they were hosted with Photobucket (who suddenly decided I had too many pictures for a free account >:( >:( ). I have the pics on Flickr so I must do that at some point soon!



It was incredibly stressful but you are right, Jared is fantastic and so patient with me when I'm freaking out (he's much more level headed that I). Diagon Alley is fantastic, I like Hogsmeade and think it's pretty good (realism wise), it's just that fake snow that does it (in the heat in particular it's pretty unrealistic!). Diagon Alley has the benefit of being more "enclosed" so it seems more all encompassing. Hagrid's is great, I hope you get a chance to ride someday (and that by the time you do they've fixed it's issues!). Really appreciate all your feedback on the updates by the way, it's really encouraging to know someone is reading along so avidly - so thanks!
Yes, it's definitely the fake snow, looks so silly! And you are welcome, am enjoying +++ :D
Agree RE Gringotts and screens, and big time not wanting to be scared!
We liked most of the rides at universal, but Disney does theming and immersion a million times better.
That's really annoying RE the express pass. We stayed a night at Hard rock, and used EP on both days and it was a very big help, pretty much walked on everything. Unlike Disney!
 
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Yes, it's definitely the fake snow, looks so silly! And you are welcome, am enjoying +++ :D
Agree RE Gringotts and screens, and big time not wanting to be scared!
We liked most of the rides at universal, but Disney does theming and immersion a million times better.
That's really annoying RE the express pass. We stayed a night at Hard rock, and used EP on both days and it was a very big help, pretty much walked on everything. Unlike Disney!

Yes we've never had an issue with express pass before, so it was an anomaly to our previous experiences with express pass. Hopefully not one other people experience going forward.
 
Day 9 - Part 1 - The Future is....under construction!

Today was our EPCOT day, and our very first experience of the Food and Wine Festival! We were really excited about that (me even more so because I'd finally started to get my appetite back after the jet lag made it took a hit).

Since EPCOT was the only park without Extra Extra Magic Hours we were able to leave the hotel at 8:15 after a really solid 11 hours of sleep! It was so needed and I felt totally and completely rested and refreshed (and myself) for the first time so far on the trip.

A quick aside, I did forget to mention in my last update that the previous afternoon, before swimming, we'd offered to give some of the many many giant bottles of water we'd bought to Derrick and Becky. We had miscalculated a little as to how much we'd need, and we didn't want it to go to waste. The moment of exchange, was, for some reason, documented thoroughly and excitedly:







Derrick and Becky were, for some reason, so very grateful for the water (they advised us they hadn't really been drinking enough) and told us that we'd now more than paid them back for all the Photopass photos they gave us. I'm not sure that's true (just from a cost/value perspective) but it was nice to be able to do something nice for them. Honestly, we had so much water it only seemed right we shared (and I do hate it when things go to waste)!

Leaving the resort at 8:15am, we arrived at EPCOT at 8:40am, and were in to rope drop pretty quickly. It is looking pretty depressing and ugly with all the construction walls about! Honestly though, I've never thought much of EPCOT's theme and decoration. I do love World Showcase, but the Future World area always seemed to me to be anything but futuristic (even worse than Tomorrowland). Not only that, I never been sure if Edutainment was a good fit for Disney. It's not that I don't love enjoy being educated while having fun, it's just I don't really think that's why people go to Disney. This will probably be an unpopular option, and please note it is just mine. Plus like I said, I never saw EPCOT in it's heyday, and I can't fault those who did and who were immersed in that edutainment model (and created amazing memories in it), for wishing the park would keep that vision going forward. Since I first visited in 2011 so I was never able to experience the park in it's EPCOT Centre glory days. To me, it's always been the weakest of the parks and so I'm looking forward to the revamp.







Derrick and Becky had gone to Hollywood Studios for Extra Extra Magic Hours, so they'd taken the Skyliner and would be meeting us in the park. We were a bit further back from the rope drop than normal, but that was fine with us, we only had 3 actual rides to get through.



It was also the 1 October. I had forgotten that meant that it was EPCOT's birthday! A CM announced this to everyone, advising us that EPCOT was 37 years young and that we'd all sing happy birthday to her just before park open (do parks have pronouns? If they do I'd imagine they'd be female like ships :P). The chorus of Happy Birthday didn't happen though, unless it did further up rope drop and we couldn't hear it. Sad, Jared sings Happy Birthday in the most hilarious way (as loud, out of time and out of key as he possibly can). Either way, it was fun to be at the park on it's birthday (went back to calling it an it there :rotfl2:).

White waiting, we were messaging Derrick and Becky about what things looked like at the international gateway rope drop and we decided we would "race" each other to see who got to Soarin', our destination, first.

Derrick and Becky won, but only just. We timed in perfectly, as we headed towards The Land pavilion we spotted them only a couple of people in front of us. So there you have it, no matter which way you go, if you only get to the parks 15 minutes before rope drop it doesn't much matter which entrance you come in from (for Future World attractions). I think they were a little closer to the front of their rope drop as well, as less people come in from the gateway. So it must be a slightly longer walk.



We were in a selfie mood that morning apparently!



I do recall Becky and I telling Jared and Derrick off for never just looking "normal" in a picture and for blocking other peoples faces! This was them trying to be "normal" :rotfl2:



We were in the second row on Soarin, but right over to the very right, which meant our views weren't that great. I snuck my phone out and grabbed a few pictures.



Jared "soaring"



This is how far around we were. The images were pretty distorted as a result!



I'm not sure if it's just me, but I feel like there is much more distortion if you don't have a central view on Soarin' Around the World, compared to the Soarin' Over California.

I really miss the original. This is why I understand nostalgic reasons for not wanting EPCOT to change, even if I don't agree with them. I feel the same about Soarin' Over California. While I think that may have been a better attraction (with less CGI, better motion and better integrated scents) the screens were old and tired towards the end, and I do agree the new video and world locations are improvements (I just wish they'd filmed them slightly differently).

On that note, does anyone else agree with me the that hang gliding motion was much better on the old version? I feel like there was a lot more movement and less "hovering over the scenes", but maybe that's just me.

Still regardless of the merits of the new version, I wish they'd bring back the old one. They did recently at California Adventure, but we missed it by about a month (boo). Failing bringing back Soarin' Over California I'd love to see a Star Tours approach to this attraction. Multiple locations and variations every time you ride. It would make it much more fun I reckon!

After Soarin' we all headed towards Test Track. The standby wait was already 50 minutes so Jared and I decided we would hop in the single rider line. We tried to convince Derrick and Becky to join us but they really wanted to wait in the queue (weird right!). Anyway, Jared and I were on the ride on about 5 minutes (having not designed SIM cars but that was fine by us). After we were done we decided we'd hop straight back on, so we got to ride twice in a row in about 15 minutes, and I'm sure Becky and Derrick would have still been in line at that point. Additionally, the second time we rode we were in the same car which was fantastic.

Jared got the camera out while we were on board, so you'll finally get to see some decent shots of EPCOT!









The sun was in the perfect place for sunbursts during our second ride.



I look like I'm reaching out to touch the light!







Love the ride photo we managed on our second trip! Jared had clearly worked out where the camera was. I had too, but forgot to look at it!



Continued in Next Post....
 
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Day 9 - Part 2 - Eating around the World.

World Showcase was not officially open yet, nor were the Food and Wine booths, and we needed a break. So we decided to head into the Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe and....eat! This might of been a counter productive move, as we were going to be eating for the rest of the morning and early afternoon. But my appetite was back and I was walking off all the calories I was eating and more, so I just decided that constant eating would be fantastic (after all what else do you do at the Food and Wine Festival). I just hoped my stomach would go with me!

I'd heard some many great things about the food at the Norway bakery, and we'd only eaten there once, and I'm pretty sure we'd only got a cupcake, so this time we decided to go all out. We also had so many snack and meal credits left, and it was our second last day, so we knew we could go for it. So we headed towards Norway. It was a beautiful day (at this point) and the coolest day of the trip so far (it's like the weather knew it was now October).







This was our first experience converting a meal credit to snacks. We were each able to get 2 snacks and a drink using a meal credit. Considering the price of things at the bakery I it wasn't much of a waste of a meal credit! So....what did we order....

Well firstly, we had to try the much applauded school bread.



This orange/berry cupcake looked really delicious to me, so we grabbed that too.



The Troll cone looked really adorable, and I love cream so this looked really appetising to me.



Lastly I couldn't go past this summer cheesecake, mostly because the colours were so vibrant and I knew it would photograph AMAZINGLY.





We shared everything and enjoyed it all.

The school bread was definitely our favourite. It had a fantastic cinnamon flavour (we both love cinnamon) and tasted a bit like a cinnamon roll crossed with a donut, but much more moist. It was amazing.

The Troll horn was fantastic too, the pastry was light and crispy and the cream not too overdone. I think this was my second favourite but it's pretty close with the cheesecake (which was Jared's second favourite).

I really enjoyed the summer cheesecake too. It was really light, for a cheesecake, which is how I prefer them. I can't really put my finger on the flavour but it was fruity and candy-ish and just good.

The orange/berry cupcake was my least favourite. It was still fine, but I couldn't taste enough of the orange flavour that I was really looking forward too. Plus it wasn't quite dense enough for me. It was still fine though and the berries were great.

We had a very important task to get done while in the Norway Pavilion, and that was finding one of my very favourite perfumes, Layla. I had run out a while ago (I often buy it online now) and there is nothing like having a bottle you bought in the park. We first discovered it on our first Disney World trip and it's become a bit of the "scent of our holidays" for us. It's a really beautiful clean scent apparently inspired by the Norwegian mountains.



When we were done it wasn't quite 11am, so we decided to wander over to the Imagination Pavilion near which was where the first booth we wanted to visit, Flavours from Fire, was located. On our way over we passed the Australia booth, which made us smile.



FYI American's, if you really want to sell an Australian menu, please call Shrimp "Prawns"!



I was tempted to try the deconstructed Pav later (that's what we Aussies call Pavlova's) but we never got around to it! Oh well, Mum makes a fantastic one every Christmas.

We met Derrick and Becky again near Flavours from Fire. They were on their way to a reservation at Sunshine Seasons for lunch, so they didn't stay long. We did have a quick chat though, and I managed to glimpse the first monorail I'd seen all day.





The clouds forming behind the Imagination Pavilion had an ominous vibe, but elsewhere the skies were clear.

At about 10:50am the booths were starting to open, so Jared hopped in line to grab our first planned snack. Just FYI, since I'm such a crazy planner I had gone through each of the Food and Wine menus and picked out a number of snacks and drinks that appealed to me and listed them on my itinerary in the order of the booths we'd come across walking anti-clockwise around World Showcase. I did this knowing that it wasn't set in stone, and if we saw something else we (or Jared) liked we could deviate from the plan. That being said, we didn't really see anything else that we really wanted to try, and I was really pleased with the things we did try.

We were also SO pleased we'd saved many of our snack credits for Food and Wine. At $5.00 - $10.00 per snack it was a good use of the credits, and it meant we didn't have to worry about money as we ate our way around the world. Not to mention, in AUD we would have been spending $8.00 - $15.00 per snack!

We were able to use snack credits on all the food items we wanted to buy. I had emailed Disney to ask if we could, and gotten a very confusing reply which basically made it sound like the only way we could use credits for Food and Wine was to convert a meal credit for three snacks, but only at one booth. Whoever gave me that advice clearly didn't know what they were talking about!

Anyway, our very first snack was the Steakhouse Blended Burger with beef and mushroom served with a Brie Cheese Fondue, Arugula and a Truffle and blue cheese potato chip on a brioche bun ($5.25). It was fantastic! I picked this because I love love love truffle and the flavours did not disappoint. Nor did the amazing fresh brioche bun. I do wish we'd got one of these each.



Just look at that delicious brie cheese ooze!



From Flavours from Fire we headed towards the Cheese and Chocolate Studios.







We ordered the Black Pepper Boursin Souffle from the Cheese Studio ($5.00) and the Liquid Nitro Chocolate-Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey Caramel from the Chocolate Studio ($5.25).





These were the only two items that I was a little disappointed with. The souffle with not light and fluffy enough, and it was more of a muffin than a souffle. The flavour was not quite cheesy enough for me, and too peppery (I don't love pepper). The Liquid Nitro Truffle was nice, though a bit rich, but I expected something that was more, well, "flash frozen". I've had a liquid nitro chocolate dome before that was nice a chocolate orb with filling and I was expecting something more like that I think. Still the mousse and caramel were really good, if not a little rich for my taste. It was more the presentation (it looked more like a chocolate smash).

While we were paying for our food at the Cheese Studio we ran into a CM from Perth, Australia!!! We always get so excited to find people from our small city elsewhere in the world, it makes you feel like a kindred spirit. Sophie was her name, and I was so excited to meet her I had to have a photo.





While walking we ran into a lovely couple with a very fantastic and refreshing looking cocktail. We asked what it was and were informed it was an Aloha Sunrise (Vodka, Pineapple Juice and Grenadine) from Hawai'i. So that's where we headed next!



I really loved the cute tiki cup the cocktail came in. And it was delicious and refreshing. We did have to pay for this one though, as alcohol wasn't covered by snack credits. As a result this was the one drink I had (it was $14.00, which is about $20.00 AUD, so we couldn't justify buying many more drinks). We had a brief panic when asked for our ID, as we AGAIN didn't have our passports on us. Thankfully, the CM advised that a photo of the passport was an acceptable form of ID at Disney World and that it was almost expected because he thought it very silly to carry one's passport in the park.





From Hawaii we headed to Canada to enjoy the Le Cellier Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon with Truffle Butter Sauce ($8.25). This was FANTASTIC, though very hard to cut with the plastic knife you were given. We managed to find a table on the edge of the World Showcase Lagoon and we took a break while enjoying this. Another thing I wish we'd bought two of (anything truffle and mushroom always gets me, and the steak was cooked perfectly).



Our next item from the list was Creme Brulee from France. Jared lined up for one and while he did it begun to rain! I managed to find shelter in a Gazebo at the back of France!



When Jared bought the creme brulee ($4.75) we just decided to sit, rest and wait out the rain. I think we assumed, since this was Orlando, it would rain for 5-10 minutes and then be done.

The creme brulee was fine, definitely not the best I've ever had but it did have the nice surprise of including a hazelnut sauce at the bottom which I was not expecting (clearly I did not read the full menu description for this dish).







During a brief lull in the rain Jared ran around to take a few pictures of France.











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Day 9 - Part 3 - From Brazil to Japan in 30 minutes

10 minutes after the rain began it was still raining (wait, what!!). This was surprising but we were pretty happy sheltered in our little gazebo. Sadly as we were relaxing waiting on the rain to stop, a CM approached and advised us we'd have to leave the gazebo. Why? For the best reason really, Belle was having a meet and greet there. It was so cute, Belle apologised for kicking us out and I told her it was ok, I'd just wait to have a chat with her in a bit. I then hopped in the pretty short line for photos and a chat.

Here we are having a chat. I believe I was telling her how much I love the grey stuff, and she was explaining she did too but was sad because the staff at the Beast's Castle still wouldn't give her the recipe (seriously, is she not the mistress of the house now :rotfl2: )





Thanks to having gotten soaked on our way into France these are not my favourite photos of myself on the trip, but it was so much fun to spontaneously meet a character, which is a rarity at Disney World. I believe Belle was the only character I met the whole time we were at Disney World. And we had such an adorable interaction.

These next photos are us doing "Princess pose", which was a suggestion of mine. You know, since we are both Princesses. Her in reality, me in my mind (and Jared's and my Dad's mind! :P)











When I was done chatting with Belle it was STILL raining. We couldn't stay in the gazebo so we left France to head across the channel to the UK, hoping to find shelter. We wandered into the shops for a bit, but didn't really feel like browsing. We then hovered in a doorway for a while but decided we were blocking people going in and out of the shop. Our next thought was to hide in one of the red phone booths, but they were sooo stuffy, though they did make for a fantastic photo op!



We finally found a semi-sheltered spot under a tree. A couple was already huddled up there, but we asked nicely if we going join them and they responded kindly that we could. The best part was that they responded with lovely English accents, which perfectly matched our surroundings. We had a brief chat and then the rain eased off so we continued on our way, headed for Brazil.

By the time we reached Brazil the rain had stopped. All in in all it had rained for about 30 minutes. So in the grand scheme of things not really that long, but in Orlando it felt like an eternity. This was the only rain we experience on our trip, so that was great. Additionally, we were almost grateful for the rain, as we had at least been cool and out of the sun most of the time we were walking around World Showcase. I would have hated to have had to stand in the sun for a few hours as it would have just zapped me of my energy, so the rain really was a blessing.

The seats at the outdoor tables inside the Brazil booth seating area were all wet from the rain. We were pretty soaked at this point so we didn't care, we just sat down (or I did) while Jared went to order our next delicious treat (it had been a while since we'd eaten one and we were ready for the next snack).



The Brazil booth was one of my favourites, visually. It was really beautiful with the bright colours, gorgeous mosaic tiles and canopy of multi-coloured flags.







We ordered the Crispy Pork Belly with Black Beans, Tomato and Onions ($6.00).







This was delicious, and was of one of my very favourite of the dishes we tried at Food and Wine. I love Mexican flavours, and this was very close. The beans and salsa complimented the pork really well and it was really really crispy! Near perfection!

We stopped at another two booths next, Morocco and Japan. From Morocco we ordered the NY Strip Steak Green Shermoula Flatbread with fresh Radish and Tomato Salsa ($9.00). This was an addition to my original list of snacks because it sounded really good.





From Japan we ordered the Teriyaki Chicken Steamed Bun ($5.75), and we did get one each this time. Jared had great fun speaking a little Japanese to the CM at the Japan Booth (who was Japanese). He also told her that he worked for a Japanese company, Kawai. She surprised him by getting excited and knowing all about who Kawai are! He thought it was cute.







Both these two dishes exceeded my expectations in every way, and quickly because my favourites, along with the crispy pork belly. The flatbread steak was so tender and the Moroccan spices so fantastic (I love those type of North African spice blends). The steamed bun was one of the best I've had, sweet on the outside, juicy and tender on the inside with the perfect teriyaki flavour.

This little guy was very interested in the food too!



We had sat down on a bench at the front of the Japan Pavilion to eat, and to wait for Becky and Derrick, who were on their way to us. We had decided to meet up and head to the 1:00pm showing of Voices of Liberty. While we waited for them we took a few more photos, and we could see the skies clears starting to clear.













Pretty soon Derrick and Becky were headed our way.



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Day 9 - Part 4 - Voices of Liberty

We had a little trouble getting into the American Adventure pavilion to see Voices of Liberty. The CM wouldn't let us in at first, telling us to come back for the 1:30pm showing of The American Adventure. We tried to tell her we weren't there to see the American Adventure, but to catch Voices of Liberty but it took a few goes before she let us in!

I was excited to watch Voices of Liberty perform. I love a-capella (just love it) but I'd never seen them before. My brother and sister-in-law were at Disney in July and on my recommendation, saw the show (they are both members of a few choirs so I knew they'd love it). My sister-in-law, Molly, was so excited because she discovered a number of members of the group as also part of the a-capella group Voctave, which she loves. She actually went back for each of their performances that day, and met a number of them afterwards and said it was one of the highlights of her time at Disney World.

The dome of the American Adventure pavilion is just stunning too, so we took a few pictures of that while waiting for the show to start.





We grabbed a spot on one of the benches and the group was out in no time. They told us we could come sit down under the "acoustic sweet spot" under the dome if we wished, so Jared and I did (Becky and Derrick remained on the bench).

The performances were perfect! The control these people have over their voices is just stunning. I remembered Molly telling me that the soprano could reach notes she'd never ever be able to attempt, and it was so true, she was fantastic. Not just that, as a group they were amazing and sung so well together (which is one of my favourite things. I love the melding of different voices and harmonies and how it creates such a moving sound).

The vocalists control, dynamics, pitch and arrangements were all spot on too. If you've never taken time to stop and listen to Voices of Liberty I would HIGHLY recommend it on your next visit, especially if you love the Dapper Dans.

The group performed a medley from Mary Poppins for the first time, along with America the Beautiful, I come from Alabama and other Americana songs.



This guy sung a love song to a bewildered lady in the front row - it was pretty funny.







The incredible soprano is there in the blue dress. She has some vocal chops!



We took a few videos of the performances too, and they sound great! I always say if something sounds good on a phone recording the singers must have been absolutely perfect (because phone records really accentuate any errors).



This is the Mary Poppins medley, which was my favourite!


And the finale, America the Beautiful.


Afterwards I met a couple of the performers and grabbed some photos. I made sure to tell them how much I enjoyed the performance and how fantastic I thought they were, I'm sure they are often taken for granted as small side entertainment that not many people in the parks experience.





I was explaining to the soprano (in the blue dress, I sadly didn't note her name down) that my sister-in-law Molly had been over in July and loved them and their show, and had watched each one. She immediately remembered Molly, which was so adorable, and agreed to film a video saying hi to her, and telling her to come back real soon (which I'm sure Molly would love to do). Another of the performers saw our anniversary badges and congratulated us, and enjoyed hearing the story of how Jared made my life long dream of going to Disneyland true on our honeymoon (she thought it was so romantic, which is was).

I absolutely loved Voices of Liberty and will make sure to see them every time we head back to the EPCOT from now on.

After the show we made our way back to Norway, having done one lap of World Showcase.

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Day 9 - Part 5 - Winter in the Summer

We had a fastpass for Frozen Ever After booked from 12:40pm - 1:40pm. It was nearing the end of our booking window so we hurried over to Norway to hop on. The standby wait was 40 minutes, which wasn't too bad considering the popularity of the ride. Still waiting only 5 minutes with a fastpass was better! As we scanned our fastpasses I was struck by how enticing the noise the machines make when they admit you actually is. It's the magical "you don't have to wait too long" noise! Or "you are among the chosen" noise.

It was beautifully cold in the Frozen queue. The aircon was really working! I guess they had to crank it in order to create the effect you were in the middle of an enchanted winter, even in the heat of a Floridan summer (yes I know it was technically spring, but it was hot enough to be summer!).



We took a lot of photos on the ride, so I'll show you those and then share my thoughts. You'll see a bit of the colour distortion I mentioned earlier in a few of the pictures, just like on the Mine Train. This ride uses the same projection technology to animate the figures faces so it must be to do with that, and we just happened to capture colours the naked eye couldn't see.



Olaf and Sven are SUPER cute here. Especially Sven, he reminds me of my dog Teddy when he's trying to get something from me (you know, the butter wouldn't melt expression)!





































We really enjoyed Frozen Ever After. It is definitely next-level in terms of dark rides at Disney World. I know many people feel Disney phoned it in by using projections to animate faces. I don't really mind this effect though, as it's very realistic and works. Plus it must be cheaper than animating the whole face and works basically as well. In fact, other than the light on the face, I find it sometimes works better than traditional animatronics. It is always more impressive when the face is fully articulated (like with Hondo Onhaka) but often, especially with the older animatronics, the faces don't have as much fluidity when articulated in the "old school" way.

I really also loved the ride because you can sing along to the soundtrack of the movie. I do enjoy the Frozen soundtrack. It took me a while to get into it, and now after Let it Go has been played TO DEATH and don't love it as much as other Disney soundtracks, but it's still fun to sing along to.

The only criticism I have of the ride would be the lack of themeing done in the "transition" scenes. There are quite a few of these long transition tunnels and in all fairness, Disney did what they could to "frozen-ify" them. But they are a bit jarring. I think part of this problem stems from the fact this is a re-theme of an existing attraction. It would have been great if they'd started from scratch. Especially as there's nothing that special about the boat ride system used by this ride (and Malstrom before it). I understand they were trying to save money here, and they've still created a fantastic ride. I just still wish one of these great dark rides would be made using a trackless system like Pooh's Hunny Hunt and Mystic Manor (I know Ratatouille will be it opens, but I've heard, because an over-reliance on screens, that doesn't have the seem appeal as Mystic and Pooh).

It is clear from the ride photo though that I am the only person who has ever found Frozen Ever After thrilling (hehe, no idea why my arms were up actually)



After riding we decided to head into the Norway shops. Jared and I really wanted to get a gift for Derrick and Becky to thank them for their generosity with the Photopass pictures they had given us, and just to thank them for agreeing to come on this trip with us.

There was a Disney artist selling paints and reproductions of his painting within the Norway Pavilion. His work was incredible and I asked Becky if she might like one. She said she would so we spent a lot of time going through each image until we though one she liked. This was it, a fantastic scene of the Cinderella Castle during Halloween (which seemed an appropriate souvenir of our trip).





We also enjoyed meeting the Norway Troll (Jared was very formal with him). I gave his giant nose a pat!



Our next stop was the inside of the Mexico Pavilion. Derrick and Becky had never been inside, and we wanted to show them how beautiful it was.



We decided to hop on the Three Cabelleros ride as it was only a 5 minute wait.



I love views you have of the San Angel restaurant as you float into the entrance of the ride. It's very reminiscent of Pirates of the Caribbean.

















Two of the three cabelleros. Derrick had fun trying to help me pronounce this word during our wait for the ride (I'm so bad at Latin based languages, they aren't as natural with our Aussie accents! Plus I can't roll my r's well).



I really like the Three Cabellero's ride. Would I prefer an update themed to Coco? Probably. But I really enjoy the atmosphere, theme and architecture of this ride. It's really very cute, and an improvement (in my mind) on something like it's a small word (plus without the annoying soundtrack). I don't really mind the screens, and I enjoy the Mexican "travelogue" video, which I'd liken to Impressions of France but in a ride. Having never been to Mexico myself it's great to experience some of it's landscapes in the ride. It's of course not as good as Pirates of the Caribbean, but I do love the homage to that ride in the entrance, with the San Angel Restaurant overlooking the entrance to the ride. Derrick and Becky really enjoyed the ride too, never having done it before. It is a great way to relax and unwind. I'd never wait long for it, but it's a good distraction when the line is short.

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Day 9 - Part 6 - Posing with the golf ball

It was hot again when we left Mexico. We'd well and truly left the winter of Norway to head back out into summ...i mean...spring! So we decided to stop for some slushies.

There was a great booth where you could mix slushie flavours and toppings. I got blue raspberry and cola with pop rocks, which was really fun! The slushies also came in these genius cones that made it so much easier to walk and eat.





We walked past the EPCOT Preview Centre and was tempted to go in and see all of the plans Disney have for the new and improved park, but we were tired and it was about 2:15pm, so time for our afternoon rest.

I had to go to the bathroom on our way out which gave Jared the perfect opportunity to capture the symbol of EPCOT, the golf ball, in all it's glory. Apparently in the 1980s it was decided that spaceships looked like golf balls. In all seriousness though I love the look of Spaceship Earth, the architectural design is so unique and apparently very difficult to pull off. At this time of the afternoon the ball was being lit by the most beautiful golden light.











On our way out we ran into a Photopass photographer and as we hadn't done that yet today we stopped to get some shots.





Derrick really just can't help himself! :rotfl2:



We decided this time we'd take couple pictures a little differently. So it was just the girls and then just the boys. And we both got magic shots too which was great fun.





I love our magic shot with Remy, though thanks to the people behind us it is a bit hard to make him out! If only the photographer had waiting about a minute so until the group of people right behind us were out of the shot!



Jared and Derrick decided on the "buddy cop movie" pose for their picture. It is super adorable! Plus the crowds behind them had cleared out at that point!



During their magic shot, Derrick and Jared came up with a genius and imaginative new idea, likely inspired by Figment (I've still never been on that attraction, I really should one of these days, I've heard enough about it from oh so many Disney blogs).



We left the park and were on the bus by about 2:40pm. I don't know why, but I really wanted to take a million photos of Jared hanging like a Rhesus monkey from the bus bar (like a true gentleman he let me take the available seat).





He quickly become unimpressed with his bus photo shoot!





We got back to the hotel just after 3 and headed to our rooms to rest. Never fear though, we'd be heading back for more EPCOT fun later.

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Amazing pics of FEA, and the light on SE!
I loved voices of liberty, too. Can see why they have a big fan club.
LOVE the impromptu meet with Belle.
Lots of yummy snacks..you guys really do Disney right!
 
Amazing pics of FEA, and the light on SE!
I loved voices of liberty, too. Can see why they have a big fan club.
LOVE the impromptu meet with Belle.
Lots of yummy snacks..you guys really do Disney right!
Thanks! I love doing Disney “right”! I think if you have a plan and you know what you like you can’t go wrong though!
I’m struggling to work out what FEA is (I just woke up though so my brain might be slow)
I’m glad you are a fan of voices of liberty too (all the best people much be right!:tongue:
 

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