Day 3 brought Epcot.... it's a sort of tradition in our family that that's the first park we head to first... now I know what you're thinking, why not MK, well I think it's something to do with the fact that the very first time we went to WDW that was the very first park that we ever went to, it makes it kind of special don't you agree, for that reason Epcot has always had a soft spot in our family and I see no reason to change that!!
Yet again I rallied the troops... yes by now I had
firmly established who was in charge of what time we got up and when we left the hotel/condo... we drove into Epcot around about 8:30 again which left plenty of time for a slow walk up to the park, the expected jaw dropping moment when you first see the 'golf ball' and of course the liberal application of sunscreen in the rope drop queue!
Bringing the characters out to 'warm up' the crowd was amazing, although my one gripe was that we were too far back to see as much as I had liked, although this was quickly countered by the fact that the little girl infront of my got all the attention which was 1. an awesome thing to see, her smile was as wide as her face, and 2. allowed me to snap this pictures...
We, along with the rest of the crowd, headed straight for Soarin', after all we had had such luck with TSM why should we hit a snag here? (On a little side note I did hear a funny... a man went up to a CM mid surge and asks him which way to Soarin', to which the reply was... honestly Sir, I don't think you have much chance of going anywhere else!!)
We were greeted in the Season's cafe by a whole host of CM's clapping, banging drums and generally singing and dancing, it was fantastic, and a very good, 'welcome back to Disney'. This is the best photo I got..
It seems we weren't wrong in the luck stakes either, we departed from the throngs making a bee-line for the fast pass and instead made our way down to the front of the ride, all I can say is my oh my is that queing system long, it seemed to go on forever and ever, and we were taken through all the short cuts!!!
It seemed our luck had not departed from us and no sooner had we joined the queue we were on the ride, indeed as the CM proudly told us, we were the first rider of the 30th June 2008... hell yes!!!
I had read quite a lot about Soarin' and honestly wasn't all that impressed by the write ups, but now I can see they just don't do it justice, and in many ways I don't think they will ever be able to. The ride took my breath away, the realism of it all was amazing, and I joined the many others breathing a sih of relief when we made a close call with the trees, and ducking as the golf ball flew out to hit us, the smells were fantastic and the whole ride just brilliant!
After Soarin' we decided to try our luck and see how bad the FP times has gotten for TT, which it turns out weren't bad at all, we had about an hour and a half's wait so decided to pick some up and head over to MS (the orange kind!) and ride that. Now I love this ride, my family however do not. I love feeling the G's, my family do not. The one thing they do like doing however is pressing the buttons, and on that alone I was able to convince them, just this once, to ride orange with me.
I thought it was brilliant... my family, especially my dad, replied with "green next time Laura!!"
Next went moved on to Ellen's Universe of Energy... 90% of the reason to escape the sun which our English bodies still hadn't got used to!! It's not a bad ride, just goes on for a long time, but we try to ride every ride at least once, so we found ourselves sat on the ride for best part of an hour learning the numerous different dinosaurs and climate control techniques!!
After that came TT, now I love this ride, and I mean really love it, it's a lot tamer than I remember it being, so far as it is a lot slower round the track, I don't know whether that's because being a driver myself now I know how quick things are, or whether it was because the last time I rode was when I was 14, that speed isn't quite so exciting now! None the less I still loved it! We were aware that this was the only ride we could pick up a photopass ride photo for, so we prepared ourselves with the faces we were going to pull. Unfortunately things did not go as according to plan as we had hoped and we ended up with 2 extra people in our car, who we obviously didn't want in our photo with us, and who weren't open to discussing the various faces we pull. Infact I don't think we could have gotten 2 more serious people, they were obviously a couple, but I think they were slightly annoyed at the fact that they were split up between the front and the back of the car, well if you do get in the single riders lane what do you expect?! The photo came out as my family pulling the most outragous faces we could, their faces... as straight as anything, not even a hint of a smile! Still it gave us an excuse to go back on again later!!!!
From there we made our way in to World Show case as by now it had opened and we were quite up for a leisurely stroll around the various countries, we were a bit ride-d out for the time being.
Stopping for a few photo's...
However no sooner had we all agreed this we found ourselves in Norway, queing for Malestrom. The very first time I went on this ride, as I think it the same for many, I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the waterfall and proceeded to yell at my parents at how they had promised me it was just a boat ride, no chance of getting wet... I had water rides with an absolute passion, don't know what it is about them, I just don't like getting wet with clothes on, bazar aren't I? Makes my job choice slightly hypocritical, being a lifeguard and all that!! My parents just laughed at me, they had seen that bit from the outside and realised it didn't go down the waterfall, it merely turned round!! It still makes me heart leap out of my chest everytime I go on that ride now, even though I know what will happen there is always the vague possibility Disney has changed the ride for some reason!!! Upon getting off the boat we made our way into the theatre, only to follow the age old trick of following the last group out again, we were not in the mood to sit and learn about Norway!! I feel for sure the CM saw us, but I was sheepishly avoiding her glance, so I can't tell you for definate!!
As has been the case in many of my installments I shall end (and begin) on food... stay tuned!!!
After the Little Mermaid we went to use our FP for RnR, still love that ride, even though the one in Paris is better... has an extra loop at the end!
)
rotfl
(I don't know why I felt like putting him there!)
Enjoying your report! The pix are great, too!!
:
