Monday 29 October - What, you mean Britney Spears might get on our monorail?
Julie (38) - demented planner
Brian (40) - planning, whats that?
Michael (11) - quiet, clone of his Dad, hormones just starting to kick in
Andrew (5½) - not quiet, mummys boy, very fussy eater, favourite saying of the holiday Excuse me, is this ride scary?
The Plan - Seaworld
Awake 7.00 ish, had buffet breakfast at the hotel again and then for some reason that I cannot for the life of me remember decided to go to Epcot today instead of Seaworld. Think I gave the troops the choice of the two and thats what they voted for and who am I to argue, Ive only been agonising over this plan for the last 12 months !!!
We knew there was no rush as Future World was only opening at 10.00 and World Showcase only opening at 12.00 so we took our time and got there about 10 minutes after opening. No need for a tram today as we were parked very close to the entrance, and WOW, look at the size of that golf ball !!!
First stop was Test Track for a FP. Now you may have already realised from reading other peoples reports that FP is down on Test Track at the moment and not due to return until December. Great, 30 minute standby line already. This is the only ride for the whole two weeks that we had to queue more than 10 minutes for but we decided to stick with it because we knew that the wait was likely to get a lot longer rather than a lot shorter.
Persuaded a very reluctant Andrew that the cars whizzing round the track high above him were not really going as fast as they looked (yeah, right !!!) and slowly snaked our way to the front of the line. Well I really enjoyed this ride, but is that it? Whats all the fuss about? Glad Ive been on it but certainly wouldnt queue for it again without a FP. Needless to say Andrew wasnt very impressed - You said it didnt go very fast, Mummy. Brian was very impressed with some of the cars on the way out - sorry Brian, that 4 wheel drive wont fit in the suitcase.
Spaceship Earth next, and straight on with no queue. The very nice CM at the entrance reassured Andrew that yes, his Mummy was telling the truth this time and this ride wasnt fast, and there was nothing scary on it so he happily got on the ride As long as I can sit with Mum and we all really enjoyed it. Spent about 30 minutes playing in the AT&T Global Activity Centre at the end of the ride which the boys loved.
Next we went into Innoventions West. Felt quite sorry for the CMs in here, the place was absolutely deserted. Must have only been about 50 people in the whole building. Had three goes on the Networked Living Challenge racing car game and the boys thought this was brilliant. The CM there started to help Andrew but quickly realised that small as he is, as far as computer type games go he can run rings round his Mum and Dad. On one of the races he came first, which isnt bad considering he was only just tall enough to see the screen.
The boys spent a lot of time in here playing on the computer games and it was great because it was so quiet we could just let them wander round wherever they wanted while we looked at the boring stuff. Finally dragged them away with a promise of free Coca Cola and headed for Ice Station Cool for some welcome refreshment. Tried them all, and I dont think I need to tell you about the Beverley, do I?
By now it was 12.30 so decided to start our voyage around the world going clockwise and starting in Mexico. Oh look, theres our first Food and Wine stand. We all decided to try the Kids Quesadilla which was yummy and Michael wanted some Watermelon Juice which needless to say he took about 3 sips of and then handed to Mum to finish. Oh well, not too much of a hardship. Tummies satisfied - for now - we explored Mexico and walked straight onto the El Rio del Tiempo ride which we all enjoyed. Isnt the San Angel Inn dark, how do people see what they are eating? Very romantic though. As we came off the ride there were a group of I think 5 men playing violins who were very good so we stood and watched them for a while before moving on. The boys wanted to make a mask at the Kidcot stops on the way round World Showcase so now came the first of many 10 minute waits while they coloured their masks and had the bits and pieces attached. The first attachment was an 11 point star medallion which had to be stamped at each of the Kidcot Stations around the World Showcase. The Medallion has a pop out disc centre which is used later on for the Tapestry of Dreams Parade. The boys really enjoyed doing this, but I wonder who will get to carry them around World Showcase?
No prizes for guessing that the next stop was Norway but not before sampling the Dubliner Cheese & Celery Root Bisque from the Irish Food Stand and the Chocolate Dream Log from the Scandinavian Food Stand, both very yummy.
Straight onto the Maelstrom ride with no wait (where is everybody?) which was good. We were going to stay and watch the film, not wanting to appear rude, but we waited, and waited and waited and nothing happened so in the end we gave up and made our escape before the doors closed - sorry Norway. The boys enjoyed having a little play on the boat outside and then we were feeling a little peckish (!!) so couldnt resist a cookie from the Kringla Bakery, Kidcot stop found and we were on our way. Isnt it very easy to spend a long, long time in each of these countries, where is the day going?
Next stop China, and just in time for the start of the Chinese Acrobat show, those children are amazing. We had a wander round the shops while the boys did their masks and then carried on past the Chile and Argentina food stand where we had to sample the Beef Tenderloin.
Quick look round the shops in Germany while the boys did their masks and then Italy, just in time for the start of the mime artist show. He was really, really funny and had a great time with a little boy from the audience who had to catch footballs in a big butterfly catcher type net. Then it was time for Penne alla Carbonara and Pepperoni Pizza samples all round from the Italian Food cart while watching the barges being towed out onto the lake in readiness for the Illuminations fireworks later.
Must admit to only having a very quick look round America as we could hear some goings on from Japan next door where a very hunky Japanese warrior type man was banging a big gong type thing. I was well impressed. Looked round the shops while the boys did their masks - this mask thing was getting a bit tedious by now (for us, not the boys) but it did mean we had 10 minutes to look round the shops in peace.
Morocco next and just as we were wandering round outside Restaurant Marrakesh the Genie character appeared from nowhere and frightened us to death! We followed him into a little room opposite and managed to get a great picture of both him and Princess Jasmine and the boys were well pleased, these were the only characters we had seen all day !! Needless to say Brian was just as impressed with Princess Jasmine as I had been with the Japanese warrior !! Never did find Aladdin though to complete the set.
Onto France next, just as the Living Statue was walking through ready to start her act. Does she wear a mask over her face, it was very hard to tell, but she was very realistic. Spent a while wandering round but decided to skip the film for today as the World Showcase Players were due to start in the UK and very good they were too, then it was round the corner for a sit down with an ice cream watching the British Invasion. Couldnt help ourselves from singing along to all those Beatles hits. Michael sampled the Yummy Sushi from the Kids Marketplace Food stand which he declared delicious (it was a rice crispie type cake mix surrounded by some sort of green sheet with sweets in the middle made to look like genuine Sushi)
Walked into Canada just as Off Kilter were starting their performance. We really seemed to do well today, purely by accident, to time our arrival in a country just as a performance of some kind was starting. We finished off the last of the Kidcot stops for the boys to complete their masks in time for the Tapestry of Dreams parade and then trudged our way wearily round to the start of World Showcase again, as we all wanted another sample of the Kids Quesadilla from Mexico. We then carried on a little further (how many miles have we walked today ?!!!) and found a great spot in Norway just in time for the parade to start.
This was our first parade at any of the parks and dont know whether it was because of that or not but it was definitely my favourite of the three parades we ended up seeing. It was awesome. The boys had to remove the centre disc of their star attachment on the mask and place it in the net carried by characters from the Dream Catchers float called the Dream Spinners whilst making a Magic Dream Wish. This combined with the beautiful haunting music made this a very very emotional moment for me and I admit to having tears streaming down my face. It surely cant get any better than this ..
Anyway, after a very exhausting day we decided to leave the park, but what do we do now. We were all so full after stuffing ourselves all day that we didnt feel the need to eat anywhere else, but it was only 7.00 pm so didnt want to go back to the hotel either.
We decided that it would be a good idea to let the boys have a ride on the monorail while we rested our weary legs so after being asked a few questions by a lady with an electronic keypad on the way out we made our way to the monorail station. There was nobody waiting for the TTC monorail so we asked the CM if we could ride up front with the driver. Certainly Maam, just stand over there and when the monorail comes we will get you in the front cabin. Our driver was very chatty and informed us that he was really excited because he had been told that Britney Spears was staying at the Grand Floridian and that she was catching the monorail over to Epcot tonight to watch Illuminations before catching a flight to London. Couldnt understand why she wouldnt have a chauffeur driven limousine to take her to Epcot rather than catching the monorail with the riff-raff like us but there you go, he said he had it on good authority so who were we to disbelieve. We got off at the TTC and straight on the resort monorail to have a ride round the resorts in the dark (will have to come back in the daylight and do this so we can see something !!). Brian had one picture left on the film in the camera so there was no way he was going to use it on anything trivial like the stunning resorts when there was a chance of a close up of Britney. Needless to say we didnt see her but if anyone was at Epcot for Illuminations that night and did see her please let me know.
Very very tired but happy bunnies by now we got the monorail back to Epcot and straight back to the hotel. Pringles and chocolate for supper and straight off to the land of nod within 5 minutes.
Apologies for this being so long but there was a lot to say once I was in full flow !!!!
Tomorrow - Sea World
Julie (38) - demented planner
Brian (40) - planning, whats that?
Michael (11) - quiet, clone of his Dad, hormones just starting to kick in
Andrew (5½) - not quiet, mummys boy, very fussy eater, favourite saying of the holiday Excuse me, is this ride scary?
The Plan - Seaworld
Awake 7.00 ish, had buffet breakfast at the hotel again and then for some reason that I cannot for the life of me remember decided to go to Epcot today instead of Seaworld. Think I gave the troops the choice of the two and thats what they voted for and who am I to argue, Ive only been agonising over this plan for the last 12 months !!!
We knew there was no rush as Future World was only opening at 10.00 and World Showcase only opening at 12.00 so we took our time and got there about 10 minutes after opening. No need for a tram today as we were parked very close to the entrance, and WOW, look at the size of that golf ball !!!
First stop was Test Track for a FP. Now you may have already realised from reading other peoples reports that FP is down on Test Track at the moment and not due to return until December. Great, 30 minute standby line already. This is the only ride for the whole two weeks that we had to queue more than 10 minutes for but we decided to stick with it because we knew that the wait was likely to get a lot longer rather than a lot shorter.
Persuaded a very reluctant Andrew that the cars whizzing round the track high above him were not really going as fast as they looked (yeah, right !!!) and slowly snaked our way to the front of the line. Well I really enjoyed this ride, but is that it? Whats all the fuss about? Glad Ive been on it but certainly wouldnt queue for it again without a FP. Needless to say Andrew wasnt very impressed - You said it didnt go very fast, Mummy. Brian was very impressed with some of the cars on the way out - sorry Brian, that 4 wheel drive wont fit in the suitcase.
Spaceship Earth next, and straight on with no queue. The very nice CM at the entrance reassured Andrew that yes, his Mummy was telling the truth this time and this ride wasnt fast, and there was nothing scary on it so he happily got on the ride As long as I can sit with Mum and we all really enjoyed it. Spent about 30 minutes playing in the AT&T Global Activity Centre at the end of the ride which the boys loved.
Next we went into Innoventions West. Felt quite sorry for the CMs in here, the place was absolutely deserted. Must have only been about 50 people in the whole building. Had three goes on the Networked Living Challenge racing car game and the boys thought this was brilliant. The CM there started to help Andrew but quickly realised that small as he is, as far as computer type games go he can run rings round his Mum and Dad. On one of the races he came first, which isnt bad considering he was only just tall enough to see the screen.
The boys spent a lot of time in here playing on the computer games and it was great because it was so quiet we could just let them wander round wherever they wanted while we looked at the boring stuff. Finally dragged them away with a promise of free Coca Cola and headed for Ice Station Cool for some welcome refreshment. Tried them all, and I dont think I need to tell you about the Beverley, do I?
By now it was 12.30 so decided to start our voyage around the world going clockwise and starting in Mexico. Oh look, theres our first Food and Wine stand. We all decided to try the Kids Quesadilla which was yummy and Michael wanted some Watermelon Juice which needless to say he took about 3 sips of and then handed to Mum to finish. Oh well, not too much of a hardship. Tummies satisfied - for now - we explored Mexico and walked straight onto the El Rio del Tiempo ride which we all enjoyed. Isnt the San Angel Inn dark, how do people see what they are eating? Very romantic though. As we came off the ride there were a group of I think 5 men playing violins who were very good so we stood and watched them for a while before moving on. The boys wanted to make a mask at the Kidcot stops on the way round World Showcase so now came the first of many 10 minute waits while they coloured their masks and had the bits and pieces attached. The first attachment was an 11 point star medallion which had to be stamped at each of the Kidcot Stations around the World Showcase. The Medallion has a pop out disc centre which is used later on for the Tapestry of Dreams Parade. The boys really enjoyed doing this, but I wonder who will get to carry them around World Showcase?
No prizes for guessing that the next stop was Norway but not before sampling the Dubliner Cheese & Celery Root Bisque from the Irish Food Stand and the Chocolate Dream Log from the Scandinavian Food Stand, both very yummy.
Straight onto the Maelstrom ride with no wait (where is everybody?) which was good. We were going to stay and watch the film, not wanting to appear rude, but we waited, and waited and waited and nothing happened so in the end we gave up and made our escape before the doors closed - sorry Norway. The boys enjoyed having a little play on the boat outside and then we were feeling a little peckish (!!) so couldnt resist a cookie from the Kringla Bakery, Kidcot stop found and we were on our way. Isnt it very easy to spend a long, long time in each of these countries, where is the day going?
Next stop China, and just in time for the start of the Chinese Acrobat show, those children are amazing. We had a wander round the shops while the boys did their masks and then carried on past the Chile and Argentina food stand where we had to sample the Beef Tenderloin.
Quick look round the shops in Germany while the boys did their masks and then Italy, just in time for the start of the mime artist show. He was really, really funny and had a great time with a little boy from the audience who had to catch footballs in a big butterfly catcher type net. Then it was time for Penne alla Carbonara and Pepperoni Pizza samples all round from the Italian Food cart while watching the barges being towed out onto the lake in readiness for the Illuminations fireworks later.
Must admit to only having a very quick look round America as we could hear some goings on from Japan next door where a very hunky Japanese warrior type man was banging a big gong type thing. I was well impressed. Looked round the shops while the boys did their masks - this mask thing was getting a bit tedious by now (for us, not the boys) but it did mean we had 10 minutes to look round the shops in peace.
Morocco next and just as we were wandering round outside Restaurant Marrakesh the Genie character appeared from nowhere and frightened us to death! We followed him into a little room opposite and managed to get a great picture of both him and Princess Jasmine and the boys were well pleased, these were the only characters we had seen all day !! Needless to say Brian was just as impressed with Princess Jasmine as I had been with the Japanese warrior !! Never did find Aladdin though to complete the set.
Onto France next, just as the Living Statue was walking through ready to start her act. Does she wear a mask over her face, it was very hard to tell, but she was very realistic. Spent a while wandering round but decided to skip the film for today as the World Showcase Players were due to start in the UK and very good they were too, then it was round the corner for a sit down with an ice cream watching the British Invasion. Couldnt help ourselves from singing along to all those Beatles hits. Michael sampled the Yummy Sushi from the Kids Marketplace Food stand which he declared delicious (it was a rice crispie type cake mix surrounded by some sort of green sheet with sweets in the middle made to look like genuine Sushi)
Walked into Canada just as Off Kilter were starting their performance. We really seemed to do well today, purely by accident, to time our arrival in a country just as a performance of some kind was starting. We finished off the last of the Kidcot stops for the boys to complete their masks in time for the Tapestry of Dreams parade and then trudged our way wearily round to the start of World Showcase again, as we all wanted another sample of the Kids Quesadilla from Mexico. We then carried on a little further (how many miles have we walked today ?!!!) and found a great spot in Norway just in time for the parade to start.
This was our first parade at any of the parks and dont know whether it was because of that or not but it was definitely my favourite of the three parades we ended up seeing. It was awesome. The boys had to remove the centre disc of their star attachment on the mask and place it in the net carried by characters from the Dream Catchers float called the Dream Spinners whilst making a Magic Dream Wish. This combined with the beautiful haunting music made this a very very emotional moment for me and I admit to having tears streaming down my face. It surely cant get any better than this ..
Anyway, after a very exhausting day we decided to leave the park, but what do we do now. We were all so full after stuffing ourselves all day that we didnt feel the need to eat anywhere else, but it was only 7.00 pm so didnt want to go back to the hotel either.
We decided that it would be a good idea to let the boys have a ride on the monorail while we rested our weary legs so after being asked a few questions by a lady with an electronic keypad on the way out we made our way to the monorail station. There was nobody waiting for the TTC monorail so we asked the CM if we could ride up front with the driver. Certainly Maam, just stand over there and when the monorail comes we will get you in the front cabin. Our driver was very chatty and informed us that he was really excited because he had been told that Britney Spears was staying at the Grand Floridian and that she was catching the monorail over to Epcot tonight to watch Illuminations before catching a flight to London. Couldnt understand why she wouldnt have a chauffeur driven limousine to take her to Epcot rather than catching the monorail with the riff-raff like us but there you go, he said he had it on good authority so who were we to disbelieve. We got off at the TTC and straight on the resort monorail to have a ride round the resorts in the dark (will have to come back in the daylight and do this so we can see something !!). Brian had one picture left on the film in the camera so there was no way he was going to use it on anything trivial like the stunning resorts when there was a chance of a close up of Britney. Needless to say we didnt see her but if anyone was at Epcot for Illuminations that night and did see her please let me know.
Very very tired but happy bunnies by now we got the monorail back to Epcot and straight back to the hotel. Pringles and chocolate for supper and straight off to the land of nod within 5 minutes.
Apologies for this being so long but there was a lot to say once I was in full flow !!!!
Tomorrow - Sea World
