After a magical day at the Magic Kingdom, I woke up at 5:30AM to get ready to be on the 7:30AM bus to Epcot, as it was Extra Magic Hours that day. I dont know if I mentioned this earlier, but the Hilton Orlando-Lake Buena Vista is the only DDRA hotel that gets EMH. After asking the manager later in my trip, I found out the Hilton gets EMH due to the fact that they were grandfathered into this program back in the 80s when Disney had less of their own properties. But I digress. Once again, I got ready and had Three-Pepper Colby Jack, gluten-free bread, a banana, and orange juice for breakfast. At 7:00AM, I left my room to get a poncho at the gift shop as it was overcast with a 60% chance of rain and made my way to the bus stop. At the bus stop, I met Kenny, a Chinese-American man in his 30s from Flushing, Queens (I learned this when we were talking on the bus) and his girlfriend Victoria visiting from Atlanta. I first met them in the hallway of my hotel, as their room was across from mine. While we were chatting on the bus, my mom called to check up on me.
Unfortunately, she was slightly disgruntled, as I did not answer my phone earlier (even though I did not hear it). Thankfully, when I told her I was in the middle of getting ready and did not hear my phone, she was fine with that. I told her how I was excited about my day and she wished me a good day. As I chatted further with Kenny and Victoria, they mentioned that they were doing Epcot until closing and having dinner at Nine Dragons. I told them that I would be also staying the whole day and having dinner at Teppan Edo. With similar itineraries, they invited me to join them in their day of touring, which was an offer I could not refuse. We arrived at Epcot at 7:45AM, but the plans to tour with Kenny and Victoria did not pan out, as they had an issue with their tickets not scanning ☹ . Their tickets were legitimate; as I saw them on the bus back to the hotel later that night and they had a great day. They told me to go on without them, as they were going to be a few minutes and I felt out of this world entering Epcot again!
Wasting no time, I made my way over to Soarin, where I waited less than five minutes and had a wonderful time being whisked over the various landscapes of California.
Next, I went over to the reimagined Test Track.
Originally, I had planned to use the Singles Line, but it was not available, so I joined the masses and waited a mere 20 minutes. Once inside, I had the pleasure of building my own car. Since I like sporty cars, I decided to make a prototype of a coupe emphasizing power and agility.
After designing my car, I was on Test Track a few minutes later and put to my paces as a mock test dummy haha. Since I am into cars, I decided to check out the rest of the Test Track pavilion. Here are some pictures:
-Camaro Z28
The brand new Corvette Stingray caught my eye and a young female GM cast member asked me if I had any questions on the car. I told her I could not think of anything at the time, but she mentioned that it delivers performance comparable to a Porsche 911 Carrera or a Ferrari, but at a starting cost of $50,000 compared to $100,000 or more for the competition.
I decided to check out some other Chevrolets on the showroom floor and I received a text from my dad, who wanted to know how my trip was? I told him that I was having an excellent time and that I was at Epcot as of 8:00AM that morning. He complimented me and told me that I was wasting no time. He wished me a great time for the rest of my trip and I continued to explore the Chevrolets.
As I was passing through the souvenir shop in the Test Track pavilion, I saw a Corvette t-shirt with the tagline America still builds rocketships and a red Corvette on the back of the shirt. During my browsing, Mike, a middle-age cast member from Long Island, NY helped me. I asked him where he was from and he told me that he was from Massapequa, which is 20 minutes southeast of where I live. He knew exactly where I lived by mentioning that using the Long Island Expressway (I-495), you would use Exit 40. While we were reminicisng about Long Island, he got me the Corvette t-shirt I just saw in a large size. He had to help another customer afterwards, so he wished me a good trip and a sweet young Black cast member from New York, NY checked me out and prepared the t-shirt to be shipped to my hotel.
Next, it was time to go on Mission Space:Green, where I had a five minute wait.
Tim, the father of two children named Spencer and Charlotte, joined me for the ride. I could not help but notice that Charlotte was wearing a Princess Anna dress, which was very cute! Tim told me that he was touring with his children while his wife was waiting in Norway so his children could meet Anna and Elsa. We chatted for a little bit and he mentioned that if I met Anna and Elsa early enough, the wait would not be too long. While I wanted to meet them, I was not sure if I could do it as I learned the waits were very long! I considered, but went on Mission Space, where I got the position of Navigator. While Charlotte was a little scared, we all enjoyed the exhilirating ride to space in the end. As they headed back to Norway, I decided to attempt to meet Anna and Elsa and hotfoot it to Norway, but not without taking this picture in the Mission Space pavilion:
In Norway, I found out the wait would be about an hour from Wayne, a cast member working the line as of 10:30AM. Since I had completed my headliner attractions, I decided to wait and got in line. In back of me, I met a family from Ohio, who was travelling with their 5 and 7 year old girls, named Ava and Bella respectively. Ava was dressed up as Princess Anna and Bella was dressed up as Queen Elsa, so they were definitely ready for the occasion ☺. We had a pleasurable time chatting about our lives and I also met a family from Seattle, who wanted to know more about New York as they had not been there in a while . I told them that it is a great city and that there is something for everyone. The family from Seattle said that it is a very nice city as it is interesting, the people are tolerant, and it does not rain as much as you think it would. While I was waiting, Ava sang a nice rendition of Let It Go (the Idina Menzel version) as she held her mothers iPhone to her ear. I dont know why she did it a very low volume as she sounded good ☺. Since I could tell how much Ava and Bella wanted to meet Anna and Elsa and they were very patient, I offered to let them go ahead, but they declined. While we were waiting, it rained for about 30 minutes, but the sky cleared up afterwards. At about 12:10PM, I finally met Anna and Elsa.
Let me just say that this interaction was definitely worth the wait! First off, Anna and Elsa were gorgeous and were perfect for their parts. They were very happy to see me and they were both grateful to receive a warm hug from me. I found both princesses to be warm. However, Anna was very bubbly and talkative while Elsa was a little more reserved and regal. They asked me if I saw Olaf, Kristoff, or Sven, so I told them I did not ☹ . I asked them if they wanted to build a snowman and they happily agreed. After this interaction, I bid them farewell and was definitely lovestruck after interacting with them!
I went into the souvenir shop, where I took this cool picture:
Since I was feeling hungry, I decided to grab lunch at Kringla Bakeri og Cafe, as it was nearby and well-regarded by the Unoffical Guide. I found the Norweigian cast members there to be friendly and accomodating and I ordered the Smoked Salmon sandwich with no egg or bread along with a salad and a Diet Coke.
Before I ate, mom called to check up on me. I told her that I was about to eat a lunch of Smoked Salmon with goat cheese, onion, a salad, and a Diet Coke. While she was happy with that lunch for the most part, she was worried as it did not have a carbohydrate with it. I was a little flustered as I feel that she should not tell me what to/not to eat as I am an adult. Thankfully, I reassured her that I had Snyders Gluten-Free Pretzels to eat afterwards and was planning on getting a midday snack afterwards. She commended me for sticking to my diet to combat High Triglycerides and wished me a good lunch. Finally, I had the chance to dig in and found the Smoked Salmon, which was like a Gravalax, to be smooth, buttery, and peppery, the goat cheese spread to be tangy, and the salad to be fresh and crisp. I was definitely pleased with this lunch as it was something different and I hope to eat there again! After lunch, I rode Maelstrom, which only had a five minute wait.
After Maelstrom, I took in the scenery at the bustling Mexico pavilion.
Since I did not ride them earlier, I rode Spaceship Earth and Living with the Land, which were also fun. At about 2:00PM, I made my way to the rest of the World Showcase starting with Canada.
at LIU-Post in Brookville, NY and I am interested in travel (including WDW of course!), swimming, classic rock, automobiles, history, and politics. For the first time, I went by myself to Disney World from Sunday, January 12th, 2014 to Saturday, January 18th, 2014. I just wanted to note that I had attempted a previous trip report, but time was not on my side as school got in my way. I look forward to completing this trip report and I hope everyone enjoys it. Here's a picture of me in Epcot below:
. As Mauro was driving, we had an interesting discussion on our lives. He mentioned that he was from Brazil and then immigrated to the U.S., moving to Miami. I mentioned that I know Miami somewhat as I used to visit that area when both sets of my grandparents lived in South Florida. He knew the areas that I visited as well, which included Davie (a suburb of Fort Lauderdale) and Highland Beach (a small town about halfway between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach). He mentioned that he then moved to Orlando, where he worked for Westgate and even knew David Siegel (this interested me as I watched a documentary on him in one of my Sociology classes) and said that he was a good guy (I could tell 
). Finally, he mentioned that he went on to work as a driver for Tiffany and how he enjoys it very much. I mentioned about my life as a Sociology student and talked about my interests, including automobiles, which impressed him. After a smooth ride down the Beachline Expressway westbound (FL-528) and Interstate 4, we arrived about 30 minutes later at the Regency Village Publix.
), which is roomy, powerful, and stylish, but lacks the Towncar's trunk space. About 15 minutes later, we turned left onto Hotel Plaza Boulevard and I finally arrived at the Hilton!
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. Ah well I am still a kid at heart. Ten minutes later, I was soaring to the skies on my very on Dumbo 
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. Thank you everyone and have a magical weekend! 
