First timers trip to the magic - Day 8

[MorningGlory]

Cast

Me. Paul. 34. Chief planner and taxi driver. Scared and excited at the thought of the big coasters.

DS9. Paul (now called junior for the sake of this report). Absolutely bursting at the thought of Disney. As scared as his dad of the coasters but isn't showing it (yet).

Dad. 60 something. Doesn't know how he is going to handle 9 hours without a cigarette!

Brother. John. 45. Possibly the most excited of us all. Definitely looking forward to meeting Mickey.

Day 8 - Thursday 21st June 2007


Bet you thought you had heard the last of me haha.

Seriously, it was getting so long since I had done my last trippie it seemed harder and harder to put my thoughts into words again. And for the odd <s>weirdo</s> kind person who had enjoyed my trippes so far, I had a deep sense of guilt that I hadn't exactly delivered on time. Anyway, time to swallow my pride and take the abuse for hiding for so long, and get on with this opus

Well, if you have read the previous instalments of my trip report (Day 1 and links to the rest here) then you will be aware that I had ended with an unplanned visit to the Magic Kingdom, on what was supposed to be an Epcot day. It was now time to correct that small oversight.

Dad had decided that he would like to spend the day down in Kissimmee to do some shopping and stuff. After some breakfast in the room, we headed out around 9 and down to the Irlo Bronson to drop off Dad and John, then followed it along to the entrance to Epcot. After parking up in 'Discovery' (I think...seems like such a long time ago ) we made our way into the park. Now, if it wasn't obvious before, I am quite a stickler for planning. I had looked at maps of the parks, the layouts, routes, etc, etc months beforehand. I have a keen sense of direction - I used to do orienteering when I was younger - and pride myself on being able to navigate even the most confusing surroundings. Hell, I even managed to find my way one time while lost in the Netherlands by the position of the Sun!

I don't sit comfortably with that 'lost' feeling, so I was a bit disconcerted for the first hour when, frankly, I didn't have a bloody clue where we were, or where we were going! We seemed to be trapped between Innoventions East and West, without a clue what we were actually wanting to do. Once we found our way out of our personal maze, we managed to find some of the rides just outside Innoventions, and were further disheartened by the crazy (!!!!!) wait times for the rides! We snapped up a fast pass for Test Track, which we decided was our must do. This was around 11 o'clock, and we couldn't get another fast pass until 20 mins before our TT FP was due, at 1:30pm.

At this point as you have no doubt sussed, I wasn't too impressed with Epcot. We had walked through the Nemo area (no chance of waiting for the ride....standby was an hour and a half);

We also took some photos of the Epcot ball;

And a nice couple offered to take a photo of me and junior together (we didn't get many unfortunately..)

We then decided to follow the signs (I had given up navigating by map) to the WS for a look around before our FP was up for Test Track. First up was Mexico;

Paul looking quizzical for some reason....

Some photos across the lagoon from between Mexico and Norway;

Then we hit Norway itself. Junior had great fun posing as a viking...

Before we hit China;

The terracotta soldiers were wonderful. I loved seeing this display and the history behind it. To think that so long ago we were able to hand-craft individual pieces on such a mass scale. Makes you think that in some ways, we have actually gone backwards in our progress.

Carrying on round the 'World', and mindful of our fastpass return for Test Track, and our desperation to grab a FP for Soarin (although we were far from hopeful - I figured at this point they were all gone), we made a quick stop at the Outpost for some drinks and photos;

Okay, have your laughs. I dont care! Haha.

cont..

 

[MorningGlory]

Anyway, as you can probably guess, the mood had definitely lightened by this point and we were really starting to have some fun. I also felt more comfortable now that, having had some shade and time to think and look at the map, that I eventually had my bearings and was ready for an assault on the FW area of the park.

We headed down first to Soarin, on the off chance we could get a fastpass for this evening. We had already decided on a break for today and junior had agreed that nothing was gonna sidetrack us from it (not even the hotel pool!!), so I was hopeful that we could get a shot on it. Getting to the machines to get the fastpass though was a different matter! The place was manic, and the fastpass returns were only 15 mins before they were to run out!! Eventually we got to the front of the queue with about 2 mins until the return time, and the fastpasses with it, ran out. I put in junior's ticket, and got the fastpass no problem. Put in my ticket.....and it spat it back out! Arghhhhh!! They had ran out! ((((( Feeling slightly lost as to what to do, and no doubt very dejected-looking, a CM walked up and asked 'How many do you need?'. I swear, you coulda knocked me over with a feather duster! Even junior let out a little squeal of delight!! We were saved! Fastpasses in hand, we beat a hasty retreat to the Sunshine Seasons cafe for a bite to eat before we hit Test Track. Not usually a good idea before a fast ride, but we were mighty famished by this point and had no fear we could handle it. Not to mention the fact we were buoyed by our acquisition of the golden FPs!

Stuffed by our 'eyes bigger than our bellies' lunch, we decided to take a slow walk through to Test Track, confident of our place with FPs in hand (again....gotta love FP when it's your time to ride attractions like TT). We bumped into these guys along the way....

Their show was great fun, and things were really looking up! Over to Test Track, and we done our quick waltz through the FP line (bit of a shame, the pre-show is fantastic on this ride! although as there was no one following us, we managed to do it quite slowly) until we came to the FP 'queue'....of which there wasn't one! We literally walked from the outside of the ride, straight through and on to a car without stopping except of our own volition!

The ride itself is fantastic!! We had got a great car with just me and junior in the front, and little did I know that this would be a great introduction to junior of the thrill of coaster rides. The hairpin turn near the end of the outside part is as wicked as any coaster, and junior loved it! I had high hopes after our spin on TT that I could get junior on a coaster before the end of the holiday!

After the ride, we had a look at some of the cars on display. Junior liked the hummer especially...

After we exited TT, we came across the frozen coke stand (is this the only place in the whole of Orlando that sells this?!). These were possibly the best drink we had during the whole holiday! I would go back to Epcot just for them (and TT, and Soarin, and WS, etc, etc! hehe). Refreshed, we headed back to the hotel for a couple of hours. Lunch was at Cici's Pizza, which yet again was thoroughly enjoyable!

Stuffed and watered for around $10, we dropped off some of the morning's purchases at the hotel, and headed back to Epcot, getting there around 5pm. After a wander around Innoventions again, junior decided he needed the toilet, so we headed to the little boy's room. On his exit, I captured a nice photo of him showing off his Matt Hardy entrance (he's a WWE wrestler lol). I really love this photo - Paul likes getting his photo taken the wee poser that he is.... but unless you can make him laugh or something, he usually stands stiff as a board as if at attention! This one however, he was caught completely unawares ...

We had a walk through France and UK;

Catching the end of an enjoyable (and fairly convincing) Beatles tribute band;

We were enjoying ourselves a bit too much, and it was a wrench to leave the WS, but we knew if we didn't leave now we would have trouble getting to Soarin on time, so we beat a hasty retreat through the WS again, and joined the FP queue for Soarin.

Although the FP queue was fairly lengthy (took about half an hour to 45 mins) the standby queue was obscene!! We reckoned on it being about 3 hours, at least! This at 8:45 at night.

Once we got on the ride though, any thoughts about the misfortunes of the waiting masses was dispelled though as we took to the skies in our communal hand-glider. Dipping our toes under the Golden Gate bridge, brushing our feet through the brush alongside galloping horses and racing the skiers on the slopes of some snow-covered peak, it is easy to become lost in this exhilirating journey through California.

Tired, happy and ever-so-slightly still 'Soarin' from our experience, we dawdled up to WS for the fireworks show. We weren't able to get a decent seats unfortunately for photographic purposes, but I did manage to get a nice shot of Epcot as night fell

Afterwards, we returned to the hotel for a nightcap with the crazy gang, that eventually turned into a 5 o'clock in the morning drinking session since it was Joe and Amy's last night!!! Hope the neighbours didn't mind....

 

[scottishsue]

Got your email Paul, and good to see that you have continued with the trip reports !!

Great pics ! Have you have read my trip reports ? Shame on you if you haven't !! LOL

 

[natalielongstaff]

A great report im glad you liked TT its one of my favourites

 

[irongirlof12]

Love the photo's , and glad that Epcot grew on you as the day went on.

 

[carolfoy]

welcome back hon, good to see you, so glad you enjoyed epcot, I must admit my first time I hated it, because I didn't have the wisdom of The DIs behind me and I think its a hard park to navigate. Its now my favourite just because of the diverse amount of things to see and do there.
lovely pics as well.

 

[mark&sue]

I had been wondering where the rest of your trip report was, and of course was worth the wait. so glad you enjoyed test track and soarin and by the end of the day Epcot as a whole.



susan

 

[florida sun]

Great to see you back and a great report and pictures of my favorite park

 

[MorningGlory]

Thanks everyone

I've made a start on Day 9 and am planning on having it up by Tuesday

Sue, i'll have a look at them now. Looking forward to hearing all about it when we have the meet.

Carol, it's great to be back! I really enjoyed writing this day up - time is a healer they say, and it does seem easier to write about it now without feeling depressed about missing the place so much!

Glad you all enjoyed it, it makes it very worthwhile

 

[luke]

Cast
I don't sit comfortably with that 'lost' feeling, so I was a bit disconcerted for the first hour when, frankly, I didn't have a bloody clue where we were, or where we were going! We seemed to be trapped between Innoventions East and West, without a clue what we were actually wanting to do. Once we found our way out of our personal maze, we managed to find some of the rides just outside Innoventions,..

Not just your personal maze, we felt the exact same thing when we went in July, and seemed to just end up wandering back and forth in Invenntions bit too!!!!

 

[arieljasmine]

A lovely day once you worked out how to get round. Wow, I have never walked on TT before - even in the fastpass queue we usually have to wait. I like the Hummer best too

Laur's

 

[Minniespal]

Fantastic photos

 

[cazzie]

I love Epcot, lovely photos again.