ScoJo15
There will be days when I don't know if I can run
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2005
- Messages
- 2,535
TR: Father & Daughter Take On The World Day 5 (9/22 Epcot & Spectromagic)
The Cast:
Me Disney obsessed 34 year old IT Manager from Canton, GA
DD7 7 year old Disney lover with 5 trips to the world already under her belt
Links to the entire report & photos:
POP Century Review
Dining Reviews
Pre-trip Report
Day 1: Wishes & Princesses
Day 2: AK & 48"
Day 3: MGM
Day 4: Incredible MK
Day 5: Epcot & Spectromagic
Day 6: MGM & World Showcase
Day 7: ToT & DTD
Post-trip Report
Photopass
300 Pictures that I took!
Day Five (9-22)
Alarm clock went off at 7am, followed by the wake up call that started off with the Playhouse Disney theme song. I quickly handed the phone to DD, but she didnt recognize who it was. Oh well, we were up and awake now since being caught off guard by the mysterious new caller. We took our time getting ready since we had Epcot scheduled for the morning and a hop over to MK to catch Spectromagic in the evening. Wed taken care of riding Soarin so there was just no rush. It was nice to relax for an extra 30 min or so & we soon found our way to the bus stop yet again with a big fresh chocolate chip breakfast cookie in DDs hand.
Upon entering the park (did I mention that I hate that biometric thingamajig?), we headed over to the Land so that we could sign up for a Behind the Seeds tour. Our Disney Visa provided a nice discount and we signed up for the 10:30 tour. Since Soarin was right there, we grabbed a fastpass to use after the tour and went in the regular line to get a ride in before the tour started. We only had to wait approximately 10 minutes.
When we rode it on Monday, we were the first (top) row right in the middle. This time, we were on the end, middle row. The experience was noticeably different. We could see the edge of the screen to our left and below our feet & we could see the feet of others above us. The ride is still awesome, but it definitely lost some of its effect of you being in the movie. DD even noticed it and made the comment that it wasnt as good as when we first rode back on Monday. Keep in mind that a bad Soarin is still head and shoulders above most rides Ive been on.
We still had some time before the tour and decided to try and see the 1st showing of Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. It started at 10:00, but the CM there informed me that the whole thing lasts 25 minutes, making it too close to our tour time. So, I suggested that we Journey Into Imagination and hang out with Figment for a while. Neither of us had ever ridden it before so we agreed to do it instead.
Figment was a total walk on with absolutely nobody in line or waiting to ride. I think we were the first people on the ride for the whole day! It was a pretty neat ride and I couldnt get that silly song out of my head Imaaaaaaaginaaaaaation ..imaaaaaaaaginaaaation . We stopped by some of the exhibits in the Kodak center afterwards and soon it was time to get back to the Land for our tour.
We met up with our tour guide, Mary Beth who then took us through some doors over by the Soarin Fastpass machines. The first stop was behind those doors where we learned how they deal with pest control and plant diseases. It was interesting learning how they use certain insects to control other insects who then control the diseases (sound confusing? I recommend the tour so you can get a proper explanation!). DD was then given one of three vials containing ladybugs and told she could release them into the greenhouse a little later (cool!) We then walked through the greenhouse, learning about the different methods they use to grow their plants & how we could even reproduce what they are doing at home. We got an up close look at the Guinness World Record breaking tomato tree and even got to sample some fresh tomatoes taken from it. We were also given some pumpkin seeds, cotton and a small plastic bag so we could start growing our own pumpkins (they sprouted in a day cant wait to plant them!) We then went into the red animal room and got an up-close look at the alligators, eels and sturgeon. DD got to feed the fish which made her pretty happy. From there, we went into the other greenhouse and DD got to release the ladybugs. It was funny when she opened the vial and tried to dump them out, they all ended up on her arm! She took each one off and placed them on the banana plant. She earned her first and only Magical Moments certificate for it! All in all, it was a pretty interesting hour romp through the greenhouses that I can recommend to anyone even remotely interested in it.
Upon exiting the tour and saying goodbye to Mary Beth, we used our fastpass to get another Soarin ride. This time we were first row again, but over on the side and could see the edge of the screen again, but not as bad as the last time. Still an absolutely amazing experience.
We were getting hungry and went to see if we could check in and eat a little early at Le Cellier where we had a 12:40 ADR. We checked in at 12:20 and were seated about 10 minutes later. This was a great meal and is detailed on my dining review.
We followed lunch by going back to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. We had both seen it before, but it was still neat to see DD close her eyes during the snake part.
The skies opened up when we left the theater, so we decided to go do the Ellen Ride otherwise known as Ellens Energy Adventure. On the way & outside of Innoventions, we caught a performance by the Jammitors. They were awesome! They take those big round grey garbage cans, turn them upside down and use bathroom plungers for legs. They then use the bottoms of the cans for drums. It was some of the best drum soloing I had ever seen. I cant believe we hadnt seen them before.
Nothing had changed over at the Universe of Energy & we both enjoyed our dry trip back in time with Ellen, Bill Nye and Alex Trebek.
It was still pouring down rain when we left, so we ducked in to the Innoventions building where DD did some bowling and participated in a game of Toontown Tag. We got to spend more time than usual there and really had fun with the exhibits that they had set up.
Rain was still coming down. Test Track was still closed .we had done Soarin we thought it would not be fun to walk around any countries in the rain, so we decided to head over to MK where we could ride Space Mountain & Buzz and escape the showers.
We did manage one more ride on Spaceship: Earth before we left. DD mentioned as we were boarding that she was curious about the Hidden Mickeys that she saw on the title of a book in one of the shops. I explained them to her and we agreed to look for them going forward. It was something we had never done before, so we had no clue where any were located. We did find one on the left hand side of the ride, where three white paint circles combined to form the hidden Mickey. We agreed to not look in the gift shop book and try and find them on our own throughout the rest of our trip it became a pretty addicting thing to do!
After SE, we hopped aboard the monorail. I remembered someone posting about getting to ride up front with the pilot, but someone had already claimed it. Once we got to the Transportation and Ticket Center, we asked the CM at the entrance to the MK Express monorail if we could sit up front. He pointed us to a small empty queue were we waited for the monorail. It came and we were escorted into the front. The pilot entered and handed us two Co-pilot licenses Pretty cool! The view up there was awesome nothing but track in front of you & you get a whole new perspective. Moments later, we arrived at MK.
The rain had let up and became an off and on light drizzle. We rode Buzz, Space Mountain & the Haunted Mansion without any waits. We walked over to Splash Mountain and it was now running! We rode it two times in a row. I absolutely love this ride because of the theming and looong ride time! Ive never timed it, but you have to be on that thing for at least 5 minutes. I did note the animal dropping down from the ceiling shouting FSU The splashdowns into the briar patch were awesome and we found another hidden Mickey when entering the final zip-a-dee-do-dah scene. He is in the clouds on the right & looks like he is lying down. Pretty cool!
From there, we took the train back to Main Street and decided to grab a hot dog at Caseys and find a seat for the Spectromagic parade. We grabbed our food (which was awesome!) and strategically sat down on the curb right in front of the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor. Before we plopped down on the wet pavement, I finally found a good use for one of the .88 Wal-Mart ponchos. Yep, we spread it out on the curb and sat our butts down on a nice dry surface. We ate and people watched for a little while. Since we magically ended up in front of a great ice cream parlor, we indulged in some delicious Edys ice cream.
The parade started shortly after we finished our last bites. Let me say that I was not planning on seeing this parade until a few DISers (thanks vettechick99) convinced me that this was one to not miss. After seeing the nighttime spectacle, I have to agree with them .you cannot miss this parade!! So many lights on the floats and characters. I loved the ones that change from complete white into a magical array of color. I videotaped the entire thing and will definitely watch from time to time when I need that Disney fix. It was magical seeing the parade wander off towards the beautifully lit castle and a fantastic way to end the day.
DD was a little tired and did not want to stay for Wishes, so we headed back to the resorts, beating the park closing rush to the buses.
It was another awesome day in WDW and the rain did not slow us down at all, but did complicate one small detail when we got back to the room & took our shoes & socks off we realized that our leather tennis shoes were soaked! With no real way to dry them off (other than using a hairdryer for who knows how long, which I was not going to do) I scrambled through DDs luggage hoping that we brought an alternate pair. Sure enough, DD brought her flip flops which I had never been so glad to see. We planned a huge walk around the World Showcase for the next day & I was concerned that her feet would hurt. We decided that wed just deal with it & pack band-aids and call the day short if necessary. Note to self: Post pack an extra pair of shoes on the Disney Tips board!
Our World Showcase visit was scheduled for the afternoon and our morning was wide open. We discussed going back to Animal Kingdom and MGM. DD decided that wed go to MGM so she could ride Rock N Rollercoaster a few more times & wed go to AK on Saturday morning before we departed for home.
We checked the weather and the hurricane and related rain had moved close enough to Texas to no longer be a factor. Looks like we were in for a nice, partly cloudy day.
We set the appropriate alarms and got a good night sleep. Our plan was set MGM in the morning and the World Showcase in the evening, including an ADR at Akershus to dine with the princesses.
The Cast:
Me Disney obsessed 34 year old IT Manager from Canton, GA
DD7 7 year old Disney lover with 5 trips to the world already under her belt
Links to the entire report & photos:
POP Century Review
Dining Reviews
Pre-trip Report
Day 1: Wishes & Princesses
Day 2: AK & 48"
Day 3: MGM
Day 4: Incredible MK
Day 5: Epcot & Spectromagic
Day 6: MGM & World Showcase
Day 7: ToT & DTD
Post-trip Report
Photopass
300 Pictures that I took!
Day Five (9-22)
Alarm clock went off at 7am, followed by the wake up call that started off with the Playhouse Disney theme song. I quickly handed the phone to DD, but she didnt recognize who it was. Oh well, we were up and awake now since being caught off guard by the mysterious new caller. We took our time getting ready since we had Epcot scheduled for the morning and a hop over to MK to catch Spectromagic in the evening. Wed taken care of riding Soarin so there was just no rush. It was nice to relax for an extra 30 min or so & we soon found our way to the bus stop yet again with a big fresh chocolate chip breakfast cookie in DDs hand.
Upon entering the park (did I mention that I hate that biometric thingamajig?), we headed over to the Land so that we could sign up for a Behind the Seeds tour. Our Disney Visa provided a nice discount and we signed up for the 10:30 tour. Since Soarin was right there, we grabbed a fastpass to use after the tour and went in the regular line to get a ride in before the tour started. We only had to wait approximately 10 minutes.
When we rode it on Monday, we were the first (top) row right in the middle. This time, we were on the end, middle row. The experience was noticeably different. We could see the edge of the screen to our left and below our feet & we could see the feet of others above us. The ride is still awesome, but it definitely lost some of its effect of you being in the movie. DD even noticed it and made the comment that it wasnt as good as when we first rode back on Monday. Keep in mind that a bad Soarin is still head and shoulders above most rides Ive been on.
We still had some time before the tour and decided to try and see the 1st showing of Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. It started at 10:00, but the CM there informed me that the whole thing lasts 25 minutes, making it too close to our tour time. So, I suggested that we Journey Into Imagination and hang out with Figment for a while. Neither of us had ever ridden it before so we agreed to do it instead.
Figment was a total walk on with absolutely nobody in line or waiting to ride. I think we were the first people on the ride for the whole day! It was a pretty neat ride and I couldnt get that silly song out of my head Imaaaaaaaginaaaaaation ..imaaaaaaaaginaaaation . We stopped by some of the exhibits in the Kodak center afterwards and soon it was time to get back to the Land for our tour.
We met up with our tour guide, Mary Beth who then took us through some doors over by the Soarin Fastpass machines. The first stop was behind those doors where we learned how they deal with pest control and plant diseases. It was interesting learning how they use certain insects to control other insects who then control the diseases (sound confusing? I recommend the tour so you can get a proper explanation!). DD was then given one of three vials containing ladybugs and told she could release them into the greenhouse a little later (cool!) We then walked through the greenhouse, learning about the different methods they use to grow their plants & how we could even reproduce what they are doing at home. We got an up close look at the Guinness World Record breaking tomato tree and even got to sample some fresh tomatoes taken from it. We were also given some pumpkin seeds, cotton and a small plastic bag so we could start growing our own pumpkins (they sprouted in a day cant wait to plant them!) We then went into the red animal room and got an up-close look at the alligators, eels and sturgeon. DD got to feed the fish which made her pretty happy. From there, we went into the other greenhouse and DD got to release the ladybugs. It was funny when she opened the vial and tried to dump them out, they all ended up on her arm! She took each one off and placed them on the banana plant. She earned her first and only Magical Moments certificate for it! All in all, it was a pretty interesting hour romp through the greenhouses that I can recommend to anyone even remotely interested in it.
Upon exiting the tour and saying goodbye to Mary Beth, we used our fastpass to get another Soarin ride. This time we were first row again, but over on the side and could see the edge of the screen again, but not as bad as the last time. Still an absolutely amazing experience.
We were getting hungry and went to see if we could check in and eat a little early at Le Cellier where we had a 12:40 ADR. We checked in at 12:20 and were seated about 10 minutes later. This was a great meal and is detailed on my dining review.
We followed lunch by going back to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. We had both seen it before, but it was still neat to see DD close her eyes during the snake part.
The skies opened up when we left the theater, so we decided to go do the Ellen Ride otherwise known as Ellens Energy Adventure. On the way & outside of Innoventions, we caught a performance by the Jammitors. They were awesome! They take those big round grey garbage cans, turn them upside down and use bathroom plungers for legs. They then use the bottoms of the cans for drums. It was some of the best drum soloing I had ever seen. I cant believe we hadnt seen them before.
Nothing had changed over at the Universe of Energy & we both enjoyed our dry trip back in time with Ellen, Bill Nye and Alex Trebek.
It was still pouring down rain when we left, so we ducked in to the Innoventions building where DD did some bowling and participated in a game of Toontown Tag. We got to spend more time than usual there and really had fun with the exhibits that they had set up.
Rain was still coming down. Test Track was still closed .we had done Soarin we thought it would not be fun to walk around any countries in the rain, so we decided to head over to MK where we could ride Space Mountain & Buzz and escape the showers.
We did manage one more ride on Spaceship: Earth before we left. DD mentioned as we were boarding that she was curious about the Hidden Mickeys that she saw on the title of a book in one of the shops. I explained them to her and we agreed to look for them going forward. It was something we had never done before, so we had no clue where any were located. We did find one on the left hand side of the ride, where three white paint circles combined to form the hidden Mickey. We agreed to not look in the gift shop book and try and find them on our own throughout the rest of our trip it became a pretty addicting thing to do!
After SE, we hopped aboard the monorail. I remembered someone posting about getting to ride up front with the pilot, but someone had already claimed it. Once we got to the Transportation and Ticket Center, we asked the CM at the entrance to the MK Express monorail if we could sit up front. He pointed us to a small empty queue were we waited for the monorail. It came and we were escorted into the front. The pilot entered and handed us two Co-pilot licenses Pretty cool! The view up there was awesome nothing but track in front of you & you get a whole new perspective. Moments later, we arrived at MK.
The rain had let up and became an off and on light drizzle. We rode Buzz, Space Mountain & the Haunted Mansion without any waits. We walked over to Splash Mountain and it was now running! We rode it two times in a row. I absolutely love this ride because of the theming and looong ride time! Ive never timed it, but you have to be on that thing for at least 5 minutes. I did note the animal dropping down from the ceiling shouting FSU The splashdowns into the briar patch were awesome and we found another hidden Mickey when entering the final zip-a-dee-do-dah scene. He is in the clouds on the right & looks like he is lying down. Pretty cool!
From there, we took the train back to Main Street and decided to grab a hot dog at Caseys and find a seat for the Spectromagic parade. We grabbed our food (which was awesome!) and strategically sat down on the curb right in front of the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor. Before we plopped down on the wet pavement, I finally found a good use for one of the .88 Wal-Mart ponchos. Yep, we spread it out on the curb and sat our butts down on a nice dry surface. We ate and people watched for a little while. Since we magically ended up in front of a great ice cream parlor, we indulged in some delicious Edys ice cream.
The parade started shortly after we finished our last bites. Let me say that I was not planning on seeing this parade until a few DISers (thanks vettechick99) convinced me that this was one to not miss. After seeing the nighttime spectacle, I have to agree with them .you cannot miss this parade!! So many lights on the floats and characters. I loved the ones that change from complete white into a magical array of color. I videotaped the entire thing and will definitely watch from time to time when I need that Disney fix. It was magical seeing the parade wander off towards the beautifully lit castle and a fantastic way to end the day.
DD was a little tired and did not want to stay for Wishes, so we headed back to the resorts, beating the park closing rush to the buses.
It was another awesome day in WDW and the rain did not slow us down at all, but did complicate one small detail when we got back to the room & took our shoes & socks off we realized that our leather tennis shoes were soaked! With no real way to dry them off (other than using a hairdryer for who knows how long, which I was not going to do) I scrambled through DDs luggage hoping that we brought an alternate pair. Sure enough, DD brought her flip flops which I had never been so glad to see. We planned a huge walk around the World Showcase for the next day & I was concerned that her feet would hurt. We decided that wed just deal with it & pack band-aids and call the day short if necessary. Note to self: Post pack an extra pair of shoes on the Disney Tips board!
Our World Showcase visit was scheduled for the afternoon and our morning was wide open. We discussed going back to Animal Kingdom and MGM. DD decided that wed go to MGM so she could ride Rock N Rollercoaster a few more times & wed go to AK on Saturday morning before we departed for home.
We checked the weather and the hurricane and related rain had moved close enough to Texas to no longer be a factor. Looks like we were in for a nice, partly cloudy day.
We set the appropriate alarms and got a good night sleep. Our plan was set MGM in the morning and the World Showcase in the evening, including an ADR at Akershus to dine with the princesses.
