Tiziminchac
<font color=blue>I always travel with my George Fo
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2004
- Messages
- 2,812
This is my first trip report...
Yesterday my friend, Dale, and I decided to take a daytrip up to Disney with the hopes of getting lucky and taking a ride on Soarin. So went set out early and made it to Epcot before 10 a.m. which is good for us because we normally never get there before lunch. As soon as we entered the park we hit guest relations and I made a 12:45 ps for Biergarten so that we could catch the first show there at 1:15 while we ate. Then we headed straight for Soarin. But surprise, surprise, it was closed. Reading other peoples posts about riding this had me hopeful for a little magic myself. So I found the nearby smoking hole (that's just what my friends and I always call them) and had a coupe of cigarettes while we waited. And waited. And waited. It seemed like hours, but in truth it was maybe a half an hour. Nothing happened. When I seen a cm nearby I asked her what our chances were and she wasn't very encouraging. She said that cms were getting chances to ride but that was mainly between 1 and 9 p.m. and my best bet was to hang around then! So after a couple of minutes trying to sweet talk her into getting us on we gave up. I'm so easily discouraged. So off we went to Journey Into Imagination.
The view of Imagination from the smoking hole.
Of course there wasn't a line for this and we walked right on. Usually I can't stand this ride and spend the whole time thinking about how I liked the old one better. But this time I got into it and the story. I must say that now I do like it. I've changed my mind! After the ride we checked out Imageworks. We waved our arms around and made music. Stepped on the pictures and made sounds, all that stuff. We spent a good hour inside here. It was fun playing with the photo things by Kodak. You know, where you take a picture and morph your face on some animal or twist the image around. It had been a long time since I've done any of this stuff. I still miss those big tables with the pins in them that you could push stuff up to and make the pins stick up. It's hard to explain but if you had seen them you know what I mean. Well after a while we decided to walk back by Soarin (you never know) and check out The Living Seas.
Inside the Living Seas we made a bee line straight for the aquarium. There was a cm giving a talk about dolphins and it was packed. You could hardly see the dolphin through all the people. I waited for everyone to notice me and to clear back so that I had the best view. No dice, after a minute or two we decided to move on. Well right around the corner we found you could see the dolphin and all his tricks perfectly. And only one person was standing there. Everyone else was over listening to the spiel, crowded in that one area. So we had a front row seat all to ourselves where we watched. It was really cool, the dolphin swam upside down, waved, stuff like that. The we checked out the sea cows, who I must say actually move pretty quick when they feel like it. Dale got a kick out of all the snook that seemed to congregate at the bottom of the sea cow tank. Well it was getting closer to our ps time so we took one last walk by Soarin and then we went and picked up a couple of fast passes for Test Track and started out for Germany.
This was a neat topiary we seen on the way.
When we got over to Showcase Plaza we decided to ride one of the friendship boats to Germany and save us some walking. It was nice but it through my timing all off and we arrived about 30 minutes early.
So we strolled over to Italy and we bought a couple pieces of candy as we checked out the shops. We hardly buy anything but we always like to look. And being a couple of grown up kids it's hard not to spray cologne (or perfume) on one another at one of these stores. I actually like the one (cologne) I got sprayed with and spent the next few hours occasionally sniffing my shoulder where I was hit as I ran away. People must have thought I was crazy. Finally our ps time rolled around and we made our way to the restaurant and were seated within minutes.
Germany.
We had a great seat right up next to the stage. We also had some nice people seated at our table with us, a couple from Wisconsin or somewhere like that and a mother, grandmother and two little girls. It's always nice when you are seated with sociable people. When the band came out they invited any of the guest who wanted to polka to just come on up and have a go at it. Before you know it the two girls from my table are out there going at it. It was pretty funny. Next thing you know there are a couple of guys, who looked about college age, out there mimicking the girls, dancing too. It was hilarious. After a couple of minutes a whole crowd of people were out there dancing. We all raised our cups and sang along and a good time was had by all. It was by far my best meal at the place. The food was good and the atmosphere totally disneyesque(sp). After gorging ourselves we rolled over to China and I dragged my friend into Reflections of China, which I love. China also has one of my favorite smoking holes in all of Epcot!
Me at my favorite smoking hole.
Topiary in China.
It's a great excuse for a break, smoking that is. Then we moved on to Norway and rode Maelstrom with no wait to get on worth mentioning. I still think the movie after the ride is just a little too loud in parts but we enjoyed it as usual.
This is a neat little sign you see as you leave Maelstrom.
Now it was time for our fast pass and we headed for Test Track. I love that ride!
Almost there!
By now it was getting on in the afternoon and we decided to head over to MK for a spin on Buzz Lightyear. Just as we made it inside of the main gate we were treated to the flag retreat ceremony. Of course Dale and I watched it from the smoking hole right next to Tony's Town Square Restaurant. It's a nice ceremony. I think they had a Marine helping them yesterday. At least that's what a nearby cm told me. This is where my "why didn't I have my camera out!" moment came. The band which played in the ceremony marched right in front of us as they went "backstage" and they were really putting on a show for us. I say us because only Dale and I were sitting there as they marched by. It was great. Well by now we were both feeling a bit lazy and wondering if we had made a mistake in leaving Epcot. The crowds at MK were much larger than at Epcot. Undaunted we caught one of those little old fashioned cars that run up and down Mainstreet and rode to the castle. I told the driver to met us back there in three hours to drive us back but noooooooo! He was no where to be seen later on. But that's another post all together.
Every report needs a castle shot!
The crowds were building for the upcoming Cinderella show that was about to take place so we headed over to Buzz and fast passed it. Then we made the fateful choice to wait and see Stitch's Great Escape. I had held out judgment until I had seen it myself. I thought the best part was the pre show when the robot said he "oiled himself". Other than that I didn't care for it at all. Neither did Dale. But I will say that on the way out of the theater I overheard a small boy telling his mother how much he liked it and would love to do it again. Well after another smoking break we did Buzz and I got a total butt-kicking from Dale. Which I had to hear about for a good 30 minutes afterwards! By now we both had the munchies and headed over to Sleepy Hollow to get a couple of root beer floats. I know everybody loves the dole whips but I prefer the floats. For $2.99 you get a pretty decent sized float and it always does the trick. After the floats we were both feeling tired and decided it was time to go. But first we had to try to find Dale a shirt he has been looking for for a while over at POTC. It's a Mickey shirt with Mickey dressed as a pirate with an eye patch and all. The problem is that he could never find a 2x size. They just never seemed to have it in that size. I guess only skinny people can buy shirts in the park! Dale and I both have a thing about buying souvenirs, if we can't get them in the park we won't buy them. Well this time they didn't have any of those shirts and a cm told us that she thinks they may have discontinued that particular style. Dale was disappointed but I told him that's what he gets for rubbing his BL score in. So with nothing but some sore feet we made the long trek back to the monorail. I talked Dale into getting on the resort line and going over to the Poly for maybe a quick bite before we left but when we got over there we just weren't hungry and decided we had wasted our time and it was time to go. But, like I said, it never hurts to ask. So I went up to the front desk and told the lady, nicely, that I had twenty bucks burning a hole in my pocket and I'd really appreciate a room. She started laughing like I was kidding! I was going to offer to have Dale clean some rooms the next morning, but I knew it was pointless.
This was in the lobby of the Poly as you come in from the monorail. I liked it.
Our final trip on the tram ended nicely though, it stopped only a few feet from where we were parked. That's always a plus. Overall we had a great time yesterday. The crowds were very manageable at Epcot (MK was pretty crowded in my eyes), the weather was great and we met a score of nice people. And I still can't wait for the upcoming sneak preview pass holders are going to get for Soarin!
Yesterday my friend, Dale, and I decided to take a daytrip up to Disney with the hopes of getting lucky and taking a ride on Soarin. So went set out early and made it to Epcot before 10 a.m. which is good for us because we normally never get there before lunch. As soon as we entered the park we hit guest relations and I made a 12:45 ps for Biergarten so that we could catch the first show there at 1:15 while we ate. Then we headed straight for Soarin. But surprise, surprise, it was closed. Reading other peoples posts about riding this had me hopeful for a little magic myself. So I found the nearby smoking hole (that's just what my friends and I always call them) and had a coupe of cigarettes while we waited. And waited. And waited. It seemed like hours, but in truth it was maybe a half an hour. Nothing happened. When I seen a cm nearby I asked her what our chances were and she wasn't very encouraging. She said that cms were getting chances to ride but that was mainly between 1 and 9 p.m. and my best bet was to hang around then! So after a couple of minutes trying to sweet talk her into getting us on we gave up. I'm so easily discouraged. So off we went to Journey Into Imagination.
The view of Imagination from the smoking hole.
Of course there wasn't a line for this and we walked right on. Usually I can't stand this ride and spend the whole time thinking about how I liked the old one better. But this time I got into it and the story. I must say that now I do like it. I've changed my mind! After the ride we checked out Imageworks. We waved our arms around and made music. Stepped on the pictures and made sounds, all that stuff. We spent a good hour inside here. It was fun playing with the photo things by Kodak. You know, where you take a picture and morph your face on some animal or twist the image around. It had been a long time since I've done any of this stuff. I still miss those big tables with the pins in them that you could push stuff up to and make the pins stick up. It's hard to explain but if you had seen them you know what I mean. Well after a while we decided to walk back by Soarin (you never know) and check out The Living Seas.
Inside the Living Seas we made a bee line straight for the aquarium. There was a cm giving a talk about dolphins and it was packed. You could hardly see the dolphin through all the people. I waited for everyone to notice me and to clear back so that I had the best view. No dice, after a minute or two we decided to move on. Well right around the corner we found you could see the dolphin and all his tricks perfectly. And only one person was standing there. Everyone else was over listening to the spiel, crowded in that one area. So we had a front row seat all to ourselves where we watched. It was really cool, the dolphin swam upside down, waved, stuff like that. The we checked out the sea cows, who I must say actually move pretty quick when they feel like it. Dale got a kick out of all the snook that seemed to congregate at the bottom of the sea cow tank. Well it was getting closer to our ps time so we took one last walk by Soarin and then we went and picked up a couple of fast passes for Test Track and started out for Germany.
This was a neat topiary we seen on the way.
When we got over to Showcase Plaza we decided to ride one of the friendship boats to Germany and save us some walking. It was nice but it through my timing all off and we arrived about 30 minutes early.
So we strolled over to Italy and we bought a couple pieces of candy as we checked out the shops. We hardly buy anything but we always like to look. And being a couple of grown up kids it's hard not to spray cologne (or perfume) on one another at one of these stores. I actually like the one (cologne) I got sprayed with and spent the next few hours occasionally sniffing my shoulder where I was hit as I ran away. People must have thought I was crazy. Finally our ps time rolled around and we made our way to the restaurant and were seated within minutes.
Germany.
We had a great seat right up next to the stage. We also had some nice people seated at our table with us, a couple from Wisconsin or somewhere like that and a mother, grandmother and two little girls. It's always nice when you are seated with sociable people. When the band came out they invited any of the guest who wanted to polka to just come on up and have a go at it. Before you know it the two girls from my table are out there going at it. It was pretty funny. Next thing you know there are a couple of guys, who looked about college age, out there mimicking the girls, dancing too. It was hilarious. After a couple of minutes a whole crowd of people were out there dancing. We all raised our cups and sang along and a good time was had by all. It was by far my best meal at the place. The food was good and the atmosphere totally disneyesque(sp). After gorging ourselves we rolled over to China and I dragged my friend into Reflections of China, which I love. China also has one of my favorite smoking holes in all of Epcot!
Me at my favorite smoking hole.
Topiary in China.
It's a great excuse for a break, smoking that is. Then we moved on to Norway and rode Maelstrom with no wait to get on worth mentioning. I still think the movie after the ride is just a little too loud in parts but we enjoyed it as usual.
This is a neat little sign you see as you leave Maelstrom.
Now it was time for our fast pass and we headed for Test Track. I love that ride!
Almost there!
By now it was getting on in the afternoon and we decided to head over to MK for a spin on Buzz Lightyear. Just as we made it inside of the main gate we were treated to the flag retreat ceremony. Of course Dale and I watched it from the smoking hole right next to Tony's Town Square Restaurant. It's a nice ceremony. I think they had a Marine helping them yesterday. At least that's what a nearby cm told me. This is where my "why didn't I have my camera out!" moment came. The band which played in the ceremony marched right in front of us as they went "backstage" and they were really putting on a show for us. I say us because only Dale and I were sitting there as they marched by. It was great. Well by now we were both feeling a bit lazy and wondering if we had made a mistake in leaving Epcot. The crowds at MK were much larger than at Epcot. Undaunted we caught one of those little old fashioned cars that run up and down Mainstreet and rode to the castle. I told the driver to met us back there in three hours to drive us back but noooooooo! He was no where to be seen later on. But that's another post all together.
Every report needs a castle shot!
The crowds were building for the upcoming Cinderella show that was about to take place so we headed over to Buzz and fast passed it. Then we made the fateful choice to wait and see Stitch's Great Escape. I had held out judgment until I had seen it myself. I thought the best part was the pre show when the robot said he "oiled himself". Other than that I didn't care for it at all. Neither did Dale. But I will say that on the way out of the theater I overheard a small boy telling his mother how much he liked it and would love to do it again. Well after another smoking break we did Buzz and I got a total butt-kicking from Dale. Which I had to hear about for a good 30 minutes afterwards! By now we both had the munchies and headed over to Sleepy Hollow to get a couple of root beer floats. I know everybody loves the dole whips but I prefer the floats. For $2.99 you get a pretty decent sized float and it always does the trick. After the floats we were both feeling tired and decided it was time to go. But first we had to try to find Dale a shirt he has been looking for for a while over at POTC. It's a Mickey shirt with Mickey dressed as a pirate with an eye patch and all. The problem is that he could never find a 2x size. They just never seemed to have it in that size. I guess only skinny people can buy shirts in the park! Dale and I both have a thing about buying souvenirs, if we can't get them in the park we won't buy them. Well this time they didn't have any of those shirts and a cm told us that she thinks they may have discontinued that particular style. Dale was disappointed but I told him that's what he gets for rubbing his BL score in. So with nothing but some sore feet we made the long trek back to the monorail. I talked Dale into getting on the resort line and going over to the Poly for maybe a quick bite before we left but when we got over there we just weren't hungry and decided we had wasted our time and it was time to go. But, like I said, it never hurts to ask. So I went up to the front desk and told the lady, nicely, that I had twenty bucks burning a hole in my pocket and I'd really appreciate a room. She started laughing like I was kidding! I was going to offer to have Dale clean some rooms the next morning, but I knew it was pointless.
This was in the lobby of the Poly as you come in from the monorail. I liked it.
Our final trip on the tram ended nicely though, it stopped only a few feet from where we were parked. That's always a plus. Overall we had a great time yesterday. The crowds were very manageable at Epcot (MK was pretty crowded in my eyes), the weather was great and we met a score of nice people. And I still can't wait for the upcoming sneak preview pass holders are going to get for Soarin!
The weather was great Kris, except when you stayed out in the sun too long, then it started to feel hot. Summer is coming quick!
