Whoa there, I apparently pressed a button and posted my preview entry before I wanted to. I tried to edit it, but it kept freezing on me. So, bear with me, please...
After we snapped our pics, we moved past this:
I don't see how people were standing so close to the water. It was FREEZING out. Just looking at the water raised goosebumps on my arms.
There happened to be a nice CM standing nearby who began shouting,
"Soarin' is closing in ten minutes until opening, so please head there now!"
Our ears perked up.
Soarin'?
We want to ride Soarin'
Actually, we'd planned on riding on Soarin' first.
The CM saw us (actually, we were the only ones around) and told us to follow him. He continued to yell that Soarin' was about to close, and all I could think was, "Hush! We don't need a longer wait!"
At some point we lost the CM. I'm not sure where. One minute he was in front of us, the next DBF was leading the way.
I don't know how DBF did it. He hadn't been to Epcot in years, yet he somehow led us right to the Soarin' building.
We walked inside and were oggling everything, but the "closing soon" statement was on the forefront of our minds so we were rushing along.
We'd never been on Soarin' before, and seeing the empty waiting area, the queue felt horrendously long.
We kept walking.
And walking.
And walking.
We thought we'd made it to the ride, but nope.
It was just the main entrance for the standby line.
Oh well. We needed a morning jog.
There we go. Around a corner and past five dozen metal partions.
We hit the line right at the spot they begin sheparding you into the different "hang gliders."
Very first thing we do at Disney World and it's walk on during Christmas season?!?! Surely it couldn't get better?
Soarin' with no line. I doubt I'll ever see it this way again, so I had to memorialize the image.
A CM ushered us through and asked DBF and I how many were in a group.
Two.
"Okay, go to row 1, please."
I felt momentarily guilty because this young girl behind us let out this huge groan and proclaimed, "Awwwww, I wanted to be in the first row."
Oops
I could not believe it. I
never have such luck. I'm normally the most unlucky person I know, but this trip turned the tables for me. Next time, I need to remember to buy a lotto ticket when I'm in the area.
The ride was nice. I forgot to put on my glasses, though (I HATE wearing my glasses) so a lot of the things were blurry.
I especially loved gliding over the water. It brought back fond memories of parasailing and made me pretend I was somewhere warm and sunny.
When the ride ended we followed the crowd out to the exit and stumbled upon a small cluster of people.
Hermmm.
What's going on?
I checked my phone.
8:55.
OH!
People were gathering in wait for fastpasses.
Not a bad idea.
DBF and I got in one line and were waiting, when all of a sudden DBF looked to the very far left of the fastpass kiosks and saw an empty station.
No line!
Wow, good luck struck us three times in fifteen minutes.
We skipped on over and got our fastpasses right at 9 am when the tickets distribution began. The times were for 9:45 and 10:45, I believe?
On our way out of the attraction, we saw the mob pour in:
A passing CM giggled at our expressions. "Get outta here before you get trampled."
I will say, though, seeing that huge flock prepared me for TSM.
We stepped outside and BAM!
The rain had arrived.
"Time to get the ponchos out."
DBF insisted on getting a locker, because he was worried about messing up his camera and his phone. I swear, that boy treats his phone like it's his child.
We went and got the locker situation sorted out and headed over to the MissionSpace/Test Track area.
Well, DBF led and I followed.
You know the drill by now...
Test Track had a 30 minute wait and MissionSpace had a 5 minute wait.
We chose MissionSpace and walked right on. We did the orange side, and I didn't have a problem with it, but I think DBF would rather do the green side from now on.
By the time we came out of the ride, the rain was pouring down so steadily that they had to shut Test Track down.
I wish I'd taken more pictures during this time, but I had to treasure our camera batteries for dear life.
TT was a little bit of a bummer, but I had to use the restroom and DBF needed something in the locker so we headed back towards the exit.
While I was using the bathroom DBF managed to break a part of the wallet we'd brought along.
We'd used the thing for a day and DBF had already destroyed it.
Sigh.
We stood by the locker area for awhile, checking the weather radar on DBF's phone. We figured if the weather was supposed to take a turn for the better, we'd go back to our room and rest up until then.
In addition, we were worried the cameras wouldn't last all day and we both really wanted to give them another chance to charge.
Unfortunately, the map showed a constant downpour for the next several hours.
We figured since we were already wet and the park was completely empty, we'd tough it out.
The only bad thing about the rain was how cold it made us. Our ponchos kept my bag and all our important items dry, we were just freezing! My shoes were canvas and I swear I lost feeling in my toes after stepping in half a dozen puddles.
Thankfully, we saw Spaceship Earth nearby, which is a nice warm,
dry attraction. Besides, I LOVE Spaceship Earth and was dying to see what the revamped version was like.
But wait!
Our Soarin' fastpasses!
I thought about it for awhile and debated if it was worth another go. Take into account, I was tired, cold, and had no caffeine in my system. I wasn't grouchy, in fact I was taking everything much better than DBF.
He was not exactly dazzled on his first day.
Yet... I still had a whole day to change his attitude.
So I thought it through and decided I wasn't really up for riding Soarin' again. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but I felt like there were better attractions to ride while the crowd levels were so low.
DBF hunted down a couple and offered them our fastpasses. We explained to them what they were and how to use them, but I'm not sure they understood the process completely. Actually, I think they were really wary of two strangers handing out tickets to them.
My DBF would pick the two people in the park who don't have a clue what or how fastpasses work.
Up next...DBF picks the wrong lunch line and I pick the right time to ride Maelstorm!