Day 14: Sunday, May 9: Relax and then Epcot
Weather: I am pretty sure we will never get this much good weather again. It was in the mid 80s all day and dipped into the 70s at night.
We were going to go to MK for EMH, body our bodies said, no way. So we slept in and then hit Ohana for breakfast. We were joined by Mickey, Goofy, Chip and Dale. It was typical family style fare. Not the best on our trip, but not bad. The character interaction was very good. Grade: "B".
We kind of vegged after breakfast. Now, I would have vegged all day. It was a scheduled down day and there wasn't much on our list we hadn't done. With a 3 and a 5 year old, options are a little more limited on down days. Kids are not going to grab a hammock a read a book; they are not going to shop at DTD; they are not going to resort hop and look around. They would probably do those kind of things for about an hour. But after that, they would be bored (so would I). They would swim all day. But, because of their age, swimming is a lot of work for Mom and Dad. So we asked the kids what they wanted to do and they wanted to go to a park.
We were already planning on having dinner at Epcot, so around 12:00, we walked over to the TTC and caught the monorail to Epcot. It was not too crowded. We were going to meet by brother and SIL around 2:00, so we grabbed FPs for Test Track (we only needed four since I knew DW and DD would be sitting out). Although it wasnt busy, the FP return time wasnt until 3:15 to 4:15 (It was not even 1:00).
We had about an hour before meeting my bro, so we went over to the Imagination pavillion. I don't want to ruffle any feathers, but I wish they would have put M:S here. I miss Horizons, and Imagination has never been a big hit with me. There was only a ten minute wait for HISTA. After that we walked onto JII. It was my first time on this since the original. It has been so long since I rode the original, I cant remember how much I liked it. I know I didnt like this version though (C-). However, my kids loved both attractions at Imagination. I also was not a big fan of the What If Labs. It wasnt that busy. It just didnt do it for me.
My brother and SIL met us outside of Illuminations around 2:15, and then we headed over to Innoventions West and East. Maybe I wasnt in a hands-on mood, but nothing did it for me there either. (The home theater demo did make me want to put one in. I actually got an estimate since we got back to finish my basement, which will house my new 60 LCD rear projection in a few weeks hopefully
). It was pushing 4:00 and we had 4:30 PS for Le Cellier, so we high tailed it to TT to use our FPs. Since we in a rush, of course there was a break down, though thankfully not while we were on it. We waited about 35 minutes to board, and that was with our FPs. Loved the ride again, but by the time we got off, we were late. I know they hold PS for 15 minutes so everyone double-timed it to Canada. I, however, went to Norway to get FPs for Maelstrom. There were plenty of FPs, as the return window I got was 5:50 to 6:50. I caught up with everyone just as they were getting seated. No one seemed appreciative that I had just traveled half way across the World and back to get them FPs. 
Dinner was awesome. If there is a knock on Le Cellier, it is that it is a little pricey for the serving size. But I have certainly paid far more for far less. I got the prime rib and mashed potatoes. DW got the NY Strip. Both were perfect. As always, we gave Le Cellier an A. Its one of our favorites, especially on a hot, crowded day.
After dinner, we toured the World Showcase, moving clockwise from Mexico. Of course, we hit Maelstrom in Norway. This was a first for my kids. They loved it, even DD, who tends to get a little freaked out by those kinds of attractions. There was still a fair amount of live entertainment going on. We caught shows in China, the American Adventure, Japan and France. The acrobats in China are really incredible and worth working them into your schedule. Germanys chocolates have always eluded me. I am always too full to sample them when I get there and they will not send them back to your room. So I didnt try a morsel.
I made up for it in France though. We bought $60 worth of desserts there; it took up two full trays and then some.
After our "Americans are Gluttons" demonstration, we grabbed a spot on the Bridge between France and UK to watch IllumiNations. We got a great spot and then realized that there was a wedding reception going on on the first level. At first, I felt like we should move and keep the railing free. We didnt. I have to imagine when they planned their reception in Epcot, they realized that they would not be the only ones in the park. We tried not to stare. IllumiNations was fantastic. This was the first time we had seen in since 1998 (pre-torch). In think I like this version better. After Illuminations, getting back to the resort was not nearly as bad as I imagined it would be. Even so, next trip we decided to try a fireworks cruise. We were in our beds by10:00.
Weather: I am pretty sure we will never get this much good weather again. It was in the mid 80s all day and dipped into the 70s at night.
We were going to go to MK for EMH, body our bodies said, no way. So we slept in and then hit Ohana for breakfast. We were joined by Mickey, Goofy, Chip and Dale. It was typical family style fare. Not the best on our trip, but not bad. The character interaction was very good. Grade: "B".
We kind of vegged after breakfast. Now, I would have vegged all day. It was a scheduled down day and there wasn't much on our list we hadn't done. With a 3 and a 5 year old, options are a little more limited on down days. Kids are not going to grab a hammock a read a book; they are not going to shop at DTD; they are not going to resort hop and look around. They would probably do those kind of things for about an hour. But after that, they would be bored (so would I). They would swim all day. But, because of their age, swimming is a lot of work for Mom and Dad. So we asked the kids what they wanted to do and they wanted to go to a park.
We were already planning on having dinner at Epcot, so around 12:00, we walked over to the TTC and caught the monorail to Epcot. It was not too crowded. We were going to meet by brother and SIL around 2:00, so we grabbed FPs for Test Track (we only needed four since I knew DW and DD would be sitting out). Although it wasnt busy, the FP return time wasnt until 3:15 to 4:15 (It was not even 1:00).
We had about an hour before meeting my bro, so we went over to the Imagination pavillion. I don't want to ruffle any feathers, but I wish they would have put M:S here. I miss Horizons, and Imagination has never been a big hit with me. There was only a ten minute wait for HISTA. After that we walked onto JII. It was my first time on this since the original. It has been so long since I rode the original, I cant remember how much I liked it. I know I didnt like this version though (C-). However, my kids loved both attractions at Imagination. I also was not a big fan of the What If Labs. It wasnt that busy. It just didnt do it for me.
My brother and SIL met us outside of Illuminations around 2:15, and then we headed over to Innoventions West and East. Maybe I wasnt in a hands-on mood, but nothing did it for me there either. (The home theater demo did make me want to put one in. I actually got an estimate since we got back to finish my basement, which will house my new 60 LCD rear projection in a few weeks hopefully
). It was pushing 4:00 and we had 4:30 PS for Le Cellier, so we high tailed it to TT to use our FPs. Since we in a rush, of course there was a break down, though thankfully not while we were on it. We waited about 35 minutes to board, and that was with our FPs. Loved the ride again, but by the time we got off, we were late. I know they hold PS for 15 minutes so everyone double-timed it to Canada. I, however, went to Norway to get FPs for Maelstrom. There were plenty of FPs, as the return window I got was 5:50 to 6:50. I caught up with everyone just as they were getting seated. No one seemed appreciative that I had just traveled half way across the World and back to get them FPs. Dinner was awesome. If there is a knock on Le Cellier, it is that it is a little pricey for the serving size. But I have certainly paid far more for far less. I got the prime rib and mashed potatoes. DW got the NY Strip. Both were perfect. As always, we gave Le Cellier an A. Its one of our favorites, especially on a hot, crowded day. After dinner, we toured the World Showcase, moving clockwise from Mexico. Of course, we hit Maelstrom in Norway. This was a first for my kids. They loved it, even DD, who tends to get a little freaked out by those kinds of attractions. There was still a fair amount of live entertainment going on. We caught shows in China, the American Adventure, Japan and France. The acrobats in China are really incredible and worth working them into your schedule. Germanys chocolates have always eluded me. I am always too full to sample them when I get there and they will not send them back to your room. So I didnt try a morsel.
I made up for it in France though. We bought $60 worth of desserts there; it took up two full trays and then some. After our "Americans are Gluttons" demonstration, we grabbed a spot on the Bridge between France and UK to watch IllumiNations. We got a great spot and then realized that there was a wedding reception going on on the first level. At first, I felt like we should move and keep the railing free. We didnt. I have to imagine when they planned their reception in Epcot, they realized that they would not be the only ones in the park. We tried not to stare. IllumiNations was fantastic. This was the first time we had seen in since 1998 (pre-torch). In think I like this version better. After Illuminations, getting back to the resort was not nearly as bad as I imagined it would be. Even so, next trip we decided to try a fireworks cruise. We were in our beds by10:00.
