In spite of our late night even by EST standards, we were up and ready to leave our room just after 7 am. It was our first full day and it had finally sunk in that we were actually there. We took a stroll around the grounds and pool area to get a good look at it in the daylight. It was dark when we arrived the night before so things looked quite different beautiful! I was happy. The world could do no wrong by me!
We collected our mugs from our room and made our way to the foodcourt. We got a cinnamon roll and 2 juices and I took a fruit bowl as a snack.
It was our Epcot day. We love Epcot and it usually works out to be the best park on our first full day so we went to wait for the bus which arrived a couple of minutes after we did, getting us to the park in time for park opening.
We made our way straight to Soarin and grabbed a FP. The standby line was only 15 minutes but we wanted to get to Test Track before it got busy and from my experience, you usually have about an hour to work with if you want to avoid lines once the park has opened before having to make choices and wait lengthy periods between obtaining FPs so off to TT we went. We stopped for some photos on the way but it was walk on. We toyed with the idea of riding again but since we wanted to do the Character Spot I thought it best to head over there straight away. It was a good move as the line was already building. We only waited about 15 minutes but when we went through the place was packed in the queuing area behind us. We met Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald - they are the static characters at this meet n greet so you do know who you are going to get, but it is nice to be able to queue once for all 5 so it is one line where a slightly longer wait is justified IMO.
We were now ready to go and use our FP to ride Soarin. We made a quick stop at Club Cool for our soda samples. I wanted to get DD one of those Build & Fill mugs, but they have temporarily stopped doing them and are waiting for a new range to be introduced. We headed back to The Land, rode Soarin and went to do Living with the Land while we were there. DD was trying to decide if we should do Circle of Life but there was still a fair wait until the next show and Finding Nemo was on the cards so we headed in that direction and rode good old Nemo. We stopped at Mousegear for about half an hour to have a browse and DD wanted to try on some of the character hats (she loves trying on hats).
The plan was to leave Epcot by 3 pm as we wanted to have a quick swim in the pool and had intended to go to DHS for Fantasmic that night, although as it was an EMH night with 2 shows of F! we had DTD as a more likely backup. It also felt a bit strange that we hadnt had our arrival night dinner and stroll around there this time. I didnt want to rush but wanted to make the most of our time that morning. We were making our way to Morocco to eat lunch at Tangierine Cafe so we stopped to get DD a frozen strawberry bar and then headed to TT to grab a FP for on our way out the park. It was perfectly timed and gave us just over 2 hours to eat on the other side of the world and get back to ride it, meaning we would leave the park as scheduled, before 3 pm.
We walked around WS anti-clockwise. It made little difference which way we went but I wanted to go against the flow a bit because crowds in WS were really starting to build with the F&W and all the booths and little tables take up that much more space in the walkways, making it feel busier than it actually is. We saw Marie in France so DD stopped for an autograph and a photo. I was thoroughly enjoying seeing evidence that the sky still is blue beneath all the constant cloud cover we seem to live under. Blue is a great colour!
Edging our way toward the Morocco Pavillion it started to feel very crowded. Again, I think part of it has to do with all the extra stands and things out, but once we got into Tangierine Cafe it was actually very quiet. We decided to share a chicken & lamb platter. I dont eat red meat but DD loves lamb and no matter what you order there, the portions are huge so this gave some variety and kept us both happy.
We couldnt finish it between us. I ate most of the sides and DD had the meat but we were thirsty and gulping down the large soda between us and still left quite a bit of food on the plate. We also couldnt eat the baklava which we should have picked on with the meal instead of saving it until we were so full. It was getting hot out in the sun and I wasnt going to carry leftovers around with me. You learn with the QSDP not to try and save anything up there is plenty food!
We continued in our anti-clockwise direction through the WS and rode TT again using our FPs before exiting the park and heading back to the resort. This is what DD was waiting for: time on the waterslide. She LOVED it and I must admit I had a few goes on it as well. There had been mixed reports as to whether there was an age limit for this slide but adults and kids alike were having the time of their lives. We had now decided to skip Fantasmic and go to DTD for dinner. On arriving back at our room from our swim we noticed our two angel towel animals, one above each bed. We hadn't noticed them in our quick dash in to get changed earlier.
We showered, changed and took the boat across at about 6 pm. It is a beautiful ride and I think quicker than the bus. The journey takes about 15 minutes and the boats are very regular and they also eliminate the extra time spent on the bus going through all the Riverside stops.
We walked around the shops at the Marketplace for a couple of hours. WPE was very busy so we headed over to where they were doing a dance party for the kids and DD spent a good hour or so having fun over there before we headed back to WPE around 9 pm, which was now empty. I ordered the salmon and a fruit bowl. DD had a kids pizza and we each had a fruit bowl. We were really hungry by now so the fruit was demolished before the food came. As usual we couldnt finish our food, but it was a great meal. WPE never fails to disappoint when they serve up the grub. They get 10/10 for service, atmosphere, presentation and taste. They have just the right amount of fennel to compliment the other flavours without overpowering them.
For some reason I always have to take a photo of the giant Tinkertoy. I remember spending hours on end playing with it as a child.
We made our way back to the boat dock at about 10.15 pm to avoid the scramble for the last boat back at 11. We timed it perfectly again and walked straight onto the boat and set off down the Sassagoula, this time in the dark, to POFQ. It was so pretty looking back at DTD from the river at night with all the lights on. If I had a decent camera/lens for my good camera it would have made a beautiful picture. The water was like glass. There was not a breath of wind that night. This was heaven on earth! We went to fill up our mugs at the foodcourt and went and sat at the pool for an hour or so just enjoying being there. There were still moments when I found it hard to digest that we were really there again. We went back to our room to open up our bags from DTD and sit and inspect and admire our purchases before a quick shower and into bed at midnight. That concluded the first wonderful day of our 2010 trip.
Day 1 rating:
Got it right: 
We stuck to our plan and achieved all we wanted to for today.
Good steady pace
Break at the pool was good for us
Could have done differently: 
With a chance for a re-do, I wouldnt have changed anything about today except perhaps we could have gone to eat dinner 30 minutes earlier. We were ravenous by 9 pm, 8 hours after our last meal and had a sudden short-lived spell of crankiness while waiting for our food at WPE.
Next up: Day 2 Magic Kingdom
Your photos of the grounds make me feel even more impatient for our trip next Sept/Oct! 
)and my trigger is wheat, rice and anything with those products in. Can make eating out especially difficult but I struggle following a diet eliminating those. Also, my grandma is coeliac and the substitutes aren't exactly the best quality unfortunately :-( Glad to hear that she seems to be growing out of it *fingers crossed*
It just grinds and screeches but won't focus or allow a pic to be taken. 
Might be worth checking it now you're home again? I had problems intermittently with my lens while I was out there too, refusing to autofocus occasionally though switching camera off and on usually took care of it. I think perhaps they struggle sometimes in the heat/humidity, and I'm sure constantly switching from aircon to hot to aircon to hot all the time doesn't help though the grinding and screeching doesn't sound good!
I googled it and it seems that the motor on auto focus setting is not working. I set it to M and it does take pics but won't let me manaully focus so the shots are awful. I really need a VR lens though anyway and having had a superzoom I did miss the telephoto range on this one so I always had another camera with me. I had problems with blur occasionally as well. This camera made me very aware of the people who walk around the parks, whip out their compact camera and snap a shot while on the move without even looking at it 
I found it quite incredible! So new lens was on the cards anyway but I didn't want a situation to dictate when I had to fork out the cash for it. Watching eBay .... 
That would be me! 
I kept looking out for you the next few days. I couldn't remember when you said you were leaving. Oh and congratulations again on your engagement. 
