jenrose66
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2005
- Messages
- 2,248
Sorry it's taken me so long to start posting again. For some reason, when I first tried to post this trip report the system kept telling me I just posted it, but it wasn't showing up. I tried for 3 days and nothing. I decided I probably needed a couple days away from the board at that point. It's a good thing I saved it to a word document.
Cast
Jen, 23 thought 8 days at Disney wasn't enough
Jake, 25 missed the water pressure in the shower at home and was ready to leave
Tuesday July 5th.
We were pretty tired from being out late the night before but our Segways awaited us which was plenty of incentive to get out of bed. I have to admit the morning did start out a little aggravating. It's probably because I'm so anal, but anyway...here goes:
The afternoon before I stopped at the concierge desk to ask about how I should get to Epcot by 8 a.m. the next morning. I expressly said "I was told I would have to take a cab, which I'm fine with I'd just like to know how to set it up or if you have someone you could call for me". She said that there was no need for a cab that a bus starts running for Epcot for the Princess breakfast in Norway at 6:45. She said to be at the bus stop before then and we'd be on the first bus.
Well me and Jake were at the bus stop by about 6:37. Right around 6:50 a Magic Kingdom bus came. At around 7:00 another Magic Kingdom bus came. I asked the driver if there would be an Epcot bus. She said it would be coming. So about 15 minutes go by and a bus for every park but Epcot keep coming. Now I'm getting nervous. Not only had Jake been looking very forward to our Segway tour, but I was getting charged for it whether we made it to the tour or we didn't. Anyway by about 7:20 I walked over to the lady at bell services as asked her if there would be an Epcot bus to get me to the park at 8 and she frowned at me and said I needed a cab. I asked her if she could arrange this repeating that I needed to get there at 8.
She called a cab that was there in 2 minutes. I didn't know how long it took to get to Epcot but I was glad we had a ride. Well, within 10 minutes or so, we pull into a desolate Epcot. It is about 20 to 8. A guard looks at us like we are the biggest pains and said, you can't come in here what do you need. I explained that we had Segway tours. He pointed to a bench in the sun and said, "well we're not open just sit down". On the other side of his table within equal distance of the bench he pointed to was a bench in the shade. My husband walked to that bench and again he was like "just have a seat". Now we aren't criminals. I was a dumb tourist and I had no idea how long it was going to take me to get to Epcot. I thought I had done everything right, I asked 2 hotel staff and a bus driver how to go about getting to Epcot and stressed that I didn't need to be early, just on time. I don't know why the guard needed to be so mean because I didn't expect to go into the park, I was happy to sit down. I was so embarassed and he made me feel so bad, I just wanted to cry.
By 7:50 a bunch of people started getting to Epcot awaiting their various before hours activity and I immediately felt better. Our bus probably didn't show up at 6:45 because it doesn't take long to get to Epcot from POFQ. It would have been nice if someone would have told me. It would have saved me tons of worry, embarassment, and the 15 dollars the cab cost me.
Anyway, enough of the negativity. Once in the park we headed straight to guest relations to sign in. Within 5 minutes we were off to Innovations to take our course. The room itself was very blah and kind of small. Me and dh were the youngest people there by about 10 years, which was fine with me. You start the tour by fitting a helmet on yourself and watching a short video. After that you learn how to start the segway and step on, which is probably the hardest part. I was gripping mine I guess (instead of balancing it) that that causes the machine to come towards you which is a little intimidating. Once on the machine it's a breeze. You literally need to press you toes forward and you start to move, it's a very efficient way to get around. We had to learn how to maneuver around cones and up and down a ramp. I had a great time watching Jake because he was having so much fun.
After "training" it's time to go to the world showcase. That is the fun part. I think WS is so beautiful and it is great to be there when there are no people. We went through a lot of the gardens and were given pieces of trivia by our guide. We had two women running this course. I feel bad I don't remember their names because they were just so nice.
Halfway through our tour of WS we are given 10 minutes to ride our Segway around. This was fun but it got a little boring. They block off how far you can go with cones and it was maybe about 20 feet total, right in the area by Italy. At this point we were able to get our pictures taken and just kind of "explore". After free segwaying we made our way back to Innovations. I could have rode those Segways all day. Though I guess it's good it's only 2 hours because my feet really did hurt. At the end of the tour you park your Segway and get a neat pin with a Segway rider that moves. I thought that was good. I would highly recommend this tour.
After the Segway tour, we were hungry because we had skipped breakfast. We had a light breakfast at the cafe place in the same building as our Segway tour and then were off to see Future World.
Our first stop was the Land. I like how Epcot has a bunch of attractions in one building that is air conditioned! We got a fast pass for soarin and rode the boat ride through agriculture. We also watched the conservation movie which was quite cute. After experiencing the Land our fast pass wasn't yet ripe so we went to "honey I shrunk the audience" I think. I really liked that.
Now is probably a good time to talk about all the sponsorship that goes on at Disney. The Land is brought to us by Nestle, GM does test track, Kodak does honey i shrunk the audience. I think that one was the worst. You watch this depressing commercial about a lost dog. I just can't stand it. Disney doesn't have enough money that they have to start brainwashing us with subliminal messages to buy more stuff. I loved how they every so slightly slip in AT&T on different scenes from spaceship earth and energizer on Star Tours at MGM.
Anyway, it was finally time for Soarin. This was very enjoyable. Too short! We were in the middle row so I did see what you guys mean about shoes dangling in your line of vision. At first I was nervous because I wasn't sure how high we were going, but once the ride started I was fine. Jake loved how they let you smell things on the ride. Especially the fresh pine when you're flying over the trees.
So we were at Epcot until about 4:30. We did eveything that we wanted to do. We decided to skip test track, since we were there last year and the line was prohibitive. I enjoyed the Ellen ride, but I was a little diappointed with the living seas. I was also sad to see that wonders of life wasn't open. I really wanted to ride body wars, I thought with the busy season it would have been open. We finished the day at Epcot with a late lunch at Le Cellier and I would highly recommend it, you can read my dining reviews here
.
It was time to go back to the hotel for a bit of a rest and then we were off to Magic Kingdom. Our strategy was to try and ride a bunch of rides during the parade and fireworks. It was so busy that this strategy was lacking. We got there at 7 and it seemed like wall to wall people there. I found Magic Kingdom to be incredibly crowded this whole trip. As luck would have it a nice girl gave me and Jake 2 fast passes for splash mountain because they didn't need them so we got to ride with virtually no wait. It was very cool to ride this ride in the dark and we got a front seat which made the drop very scary to me. We got soaked but it felt good. After that we rode BTMRR. The wait was probably about 45 minutes. This was also a nice ride to do in the dark.
After our 2 rides the parade had just started passing by so we decided to just watch. We were on a bridge near frontierland. It didn't affor the best view but it was all we needed. It was a very nice parade. We stayed in the same spot for Wishes. These fireworks were beautiful. Much better than what we saw the night before at MGM. I couldn't really hear the narration from where we were but we had a very good view of the fireworks.
After wishes we waited for the crowed to thin and had a quick bite at the Tomorrow Land Noodle Station. The line for the bus was not bad at all seeing as how POFQ had it's own dedicated bus that night.
It was another good Disney day.
Cast
Jen, 23 thought 8 days at Disney wasn't enough
Jake, 25 missed the water pressure in the shower at home and was ready to leave
Tuesday July 5th.
We were pretty tired from being out late the night before but our Segways awaited us which was plenty of incentive to get out of bed. I have to admit the morning did start out a little aggravating. It's probably because I'm so anal, but anyway...here goes:
The afternoon before I stopped at the concierge desk to ask about how I should get to Epcot by 8 a.m. the next morning. I expressly said "I was told I would have to take a cab, which I'm fine with I'd just like to know how to set it up or if you have someone you could call for me". She said that there was no need for a cab that a bus starts running for Epcot for the Princess breakfast in Norway at 6:45. She said to be at the bus stop before then and we'd be on the first bus.
Well me and Jake were at the bus stop by about 6:37. Right around 6:50 a Magic Kingdom bus came. At around 7:00 another Magic Kingdom bus came. I asked the driver if there would be an Epcot bus. She said it would be coming. So about 15 minutes go by and a bus for every park but Epcot keep coming. Now I'm getting nervous. Not only had Jake been looking very forward to our Segway tour, but I was getting charged for it whether we made it to the tour or we didn't. Anyway by about 7:20 I walked over to the lady at bell services as asked her if there would be an Epcot bus to get me to the park at 8 and she frowned at me and said I needed a cab. I asked her if she could arrange this repeating that I needed to get there at 8.
She called a cab that was there in 2 minutes. I didn't know how long it took to get to Epcot but I was glad we had a ride. Well, within 10 minutes or so, we pull into a desolate Epcot. It is about 20 to 8. A guard looks at us like we are the biggest pains and said, you can't come in here what do you need. I explained that we had Segway tours. He pointed to a bench in the sun and said, "well we're not open just sit down". On the other side of his table within equal distance of the bench he pointed to was a bench in the shade. My husband walked to that bench and again he was like "just have a seat". Now we aren't criminals. I was a dumb tourist and I had no idea how long it was going to take me to get to Epcot. I thought I had done everything right, I asked 2 hotel staff and a bus driver how to go about getting to Epcot and stressed that I didn't need to be early, just on time. I don't know why the guard needed to be so mean because I didn't expect to go into the park, I was happy to sit down. I was so embarassed and he made me feel so bad, I just wanted to cry.
By 7:50 a bunch of people started getting to Epcot awaiting their various before hours activity and I immediately felt better. Our bus probably didn't show up at 6:45 because it doesn't take long to get to Epcot from POFQ. It would have been nice if someone would have told me. It would have saved me tons of worry, embarassment, and the 15 dollars the cab cost me.
Anyway, enough of the negativity. Once in the park we headed straight to guest relations to sign in. Within 5 minutes we were off to Innovations to take our course. The room itself was very blah and kind of small. Me and dh were the youngest people there by about 10 years, which was fine with me. You start the tour by fitting a helmet on yourself and watching a short video. After that you learn how to start the segway and step on, which is probably the hardest part. I was gripping mine I guess (instead of balancing it) that that causes the machine to come towards you which is a little intimidating. Once on the machine it's a breeze. You literally need to press you toes forward and you start to move, it's a very efficient way to get around. We had to learn how to maneuver around cones and up and down a ramp. I had a great time watching Jake because he was having so much fun.
After "training" it's time to go to the world showcase. That is the fun part. I think WS is so beautiful and it is great to be there when there are no people. We went through a lot of the gardens and were given pieces of trivia by our guide. We had two women running this course. I feel bad I don't remember their names because they were just so nice.
Halfway through our tour of WS we are given 10 minutes to ride our Segway around. This was fun but it got a little boring. They block off how far you can go with cones and it was maybe about 20 feet total, right in the area by Italy. At this point we were able to get our pictures taken and just kind of "explore". After free segwaying we made our way back to Innovations. I could have rode those Segways all day. Though I guess it's good it's only 2 hours because my feet really did hurt. At the end of the tour you park your Segway and get a neat pin with a Segway rider that moves. I thought that was good. I would highly recommend this tour.
After the Segway tour, we were hungry because we had skipped breakfast. We had a light breakfast at the cafe place in the same building as our Segway tour and then were off to see Future World.
Our first stop was the Land. I like how Epcot has a bunch of attractions in one building that is air conditioned! We got a fast pass for soarin and rode the boat ride through agriculture. We also watched the conservation movie which was quite cute. After experiencing the Land our fast pass wasn't yet ripe so we went to "honey I shrunk the audience" I think. I really liked that.
Now is probably a good time to talk about all the sponsorship that goes on at Disney. The Land is brought to us by Nestle, GM does test track, Kodak does honey i shrunk the audience. I think that one was the worst. You watch this depressing commercial about a lost dog. I just can't stand it. Disney doesn't have enough money that they have to start brainwashing us with subliminal messages to buy more stuff. I loved how they every so slightly slip in AT&T on different scenes from spaceship earth and energizer on Star Tours at MGM.
Anyway, it was finally time for Soarin. This was very enjoyable. Too short! We were in the middle row so I did see what you guys mean about shoes dangling in your line of vision. At first I was nervous because I wasn't sure how high we were going, but once the ride started I was fine. Jake loved how they let you smell things on the ride. Especially the fresh pine when you're flying over the trees.
So we were at Epcot until about 4:30. We did eveything that we wanted to do. We decided to skip test track, since we were there last year and the line was prohibitive. I enjoyed the Ellen ride, but I was a little diappointed with the living seas. I was also sad to see that wonders of life wasn't open. I really wanted to ride body wars, I thought with the busy season it would have been open. We finished the day at Epcot with a late lunch at Le Cellier and I would highly recommend it, you can read my dining reviews here
It was time to go back to the hotel for a bit of a rest and then we were off to Magic Kingdom. Our strategy was to try and ride a bunch of rides during the parade and fireworks. It was so busy that this strategy was lacking. We got there at 7 and it seemed like wall to wall people there. I found Magic Kingdom to be incredibly crowded this whole trip. As luck would have it a nice girl gave me and Jake 2 fast passes for splash mountain because they didn't need them so we got to ride with virtually no wait. It was very cool to ride this ride in the dark and we got a front seat which made the drop very scary to me. We got soaked but it felt good. After that we rode BTMRR. The wait was probably about 45 minutes. This was also a nice ride to do in the dark.
After our 2 rides the parade had just started passing by so we decided to just watch. We were on a bridge near frontierland. It didn't affor the best view but it was all we needed. It was a very nice parade. We stayed in the same spot for Wishes. These fireworks were beautiful. Much better than what we saw the night before at MGM. I couldn't really hear the narration from where we were but we had a very good view of the fireworks.
After wishes we waited for the crowed to thin and had a quick bite at the Tomorrow Land Noodle Station. The line for the bus was not bad at all seeing as how POFQ had it's own dedicated bus that night.
It was another good Disney day.
