YukiPhnx
The Minnie to my Mickey
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2009
- Messages
- 3,108
Chapter 6. Day 2 pt.1- Let the step-by-step touring BEGIN!
Our first full day at a park. Park of choice? EPCOT! I think I touched on this topic in my PTR, but let me explain to you further why Epcot was chosen as our first park.
Everybody has a tradition for starting their trip at WDW. Some folks go to DTD on their first night. Some must be at Magic Kingdom on their first day. I'm part of the crowd that goes to Epcot first. I've only ever been to WDW once EVER, so it's not much of a tradition, so it's the start of one! On my last trip, Epcot was our first taste of a Disney park. The order we went in was Epcot, HS, AK, and MK. Our reasoning for this is because we wanted to go from the least Disney-fied, to the most Disney-ish thing. Or the least to most exciting I think? Ofcourse, I learned they are ALL filled with their own Disney magic and that I should've done more research before that trip.
So because of this simple (and VERY bad) reasoning, I've decided that all my WDW trips should start with Epcot. It just seems right. Also, there are practically no lines for M:S and TT after 5pm.
This is also my first time experiencing rope drop at Epcot. On my last trip, I only attended AK's rope drop because we stayed off site and the earliest shuttle buses to the parks often missed rope drop. Tragic, I know.
Oh! One more thing before I start the day. I am one of the many people here that own at least one copy of the Unofficial Guide to WDW. And like all the others, I LOVE MINE. It's my BIBLE, dudes. I bought mine during the Fall of 2009, reading it from cover to cover. I kid you not, I even read the part about going with kids and offsite hotels.
So, this being my first copy and my first ORGANIZED trip to the World, I decided to give the itinerary guides a try. For science! I thought it would be a cake to stick to it and not deviate but......that's pretty much what happened.
Here's what you REALLY need to know about those touring guides. Even though they're a guide for the whole day, the only part you really need to follow is everything before lunch. All the biggest rides are packed into the morning time, leaving you plenty of time the rest of the day to go on the ones that don't have a long wait. That's pretty much what I learned from the guide. I'm extremely thankful for everything I learned in this book. I was able to go on the biggest rides multiple times with little to no wait. I'll definitely be getting one in 2013.
SOOO, let's get Day 2 started already!
We woke up bright and early with a wake-up call at 8am. Ok, another tangent. How do I set up a character wake-up call? I thought they would have a button for it on the phone, or it would be an option, but I couldn't find it. I also forgot to ask about it every time I was down at concierge. So, will someone please tell me how to do it. I REALLY wanted Stitch to wake me up on this trip.
I laid everything out the night before, had my water bottles filled up and everything ready to go so the morning was very easy. Got up, got ready, grabbed my energy bar for breakfast, filled our mug up with POWERADE and was at the bus stop by 8:20am.
Oh yes, today was also ANDREW'S BIRTHDAY
So he wore his birthday button on the day bag I packed for him. He got MANY well wishes today. It really took him by surprise, but I think he liked it. There's a funny story about this later in the day.
Andrew's a fan of shadow pictures, so here's the ONLY one of the trip that he took.
Pretty cute huh?
The day before, I really wanted a photo of us in our ears, but never got around to it. So after getting off the bus, we took this.
This is also a photo shout-out to my dear friend Jordan (jordanyosh) with his trademark, tongue-picture.
After a typical bag check, we go through the turnstiles cause we're just in time for the in-park rope drop. This is our surroundings, waiting on the right side of the entrance to get our first FP's for the trip. Take a wild guess what ride it's for.
So many peoples!
At this point, I was videotaping Andrew and saying how it's HIS BIRTHDAY!! Then I ask him, "How does it feel to be 23?" He says, "I'm 22." AHAHAHAH. Oops, my bad! So I go, "OH YEAAAAH!!! I guess I was thinking of Scott Pilgrim." If you don't know Scott Pilgrim, he's the star of a comic book series by the same name, written and drawn by a CANADIAN artist. There are only 6 volumes in the series and it's super awesome.
You might know it from the movie of the same name starring Micheal Cera(ugh) who in my opinion is TOTALLY inappropriate for the role, but the movie kicked SO MUCH A$$ that I don't really care. The director did a LOT to please us comic fans and non-fans still enjoyed it. KUDOS Mr.Director. Kudos. Best comic-to-live-action movie adaptation EVER MADE. For reals.
Oh, where was I? Oh yes, Epcot rope drop. I've heard there isn't much of a show here compared to the other parks, and they're right. A couple of minutes before the park opened, Goofy showed up with some ride-operating CMs and led a countdown to park opening. "5! 4! 3! 2! 1!" *cheers* I told Andrew to stay close as we moved with the hoards towards The Land pavilion. We tried to move as fast as we could without moving very fast at all. After lining up for my first FP of the trip, we got ours without much trouble at all. I was so scared we might be stuck behind a broken machine, but we weren't!
Armed with FPs for Soarin', we headed straight across Future World to Test Track, as the UG told us to.
The stand-by time was 20 mins, but as I have learned from numerous TRs, the actual standby line is always shorter than the posted time. We hopped right into it and it was practically a walk-on! There was no stopping until we reached the briefing room. Here are some photos of the line. I really LOVED this queue. There was SO MUCH to look at, and so many Hidden Mickeys to look for!
The great thing about this queue is that even in the FP/single rider line, there is something new and different to look at. You need to go through both to see everything.
I couldn't help myself here.
A hidden mickey in the briefing room!
This is both our first times on this ride, so we were really excited about it. WE LOVED IT!!! It was SOOOO MUCH FUN! Sure, my hair got in my mouth and it was almost too bright to see anything, but I had a blast. I love how fast the ride is and the tight corners we took.
Here are some photos of the area after we get off the ride.
I just LOVE that Disney continues the theming after the ride has ended. All these extra little things is why we love coming back so much.
I'm super pumped after my ride, so I temporarily forget that the touring guide tells me I should head to M:S next and we decide to jump into the single riders line on TT for a 2nd go around.
WOOHOO!!!! So much fun again! This time, we tried to look for the hidden Mickeys during the ride and was able to find a couple. But what will this deviation mean for my touring plans???
Up next: What? Our ride ACTUALLY had a sum?
Our first full day at a park. Park of choice? EPCOT! I think I touched on this topic in my PTR, but let me explain to you further why Epcot was chosen as our first park.
Everybody has a tradition for starting their trip at WDW. Some folks go to DTD on their first night. Some must be at Magic Kingdom on their first day. I'm part of the crowd that goes to Epcot first. I've only ever been to WDW once EVER, so it's not much of a tradition, so it's the start of one! On my last trip, Epcot was our first taste of a Disney park. The order we went in was Epcot, HS, AK, and MK. Our reasoning for this is because we wanted to go from the least Disney-fied, to the most Disney-ish thing. Or the least to most exciting I think? Ofcourse, I learned they are ALL filled with their own Disney magic and that I should've done more research before that trip.
So because of this simple (and VERY bad) reasoning, I've decided that all my WDW trips should start with Epcot. It just seems right. Also, there are practically no lines for M:S and TT after 5pm.
This is also my first time experiencing rope drop at Epcot. On my last trip, I only attended AK's rope drop because we stayed off site and the earliest shuttle buses to the parks often missed rope drop. Tragic, I know.
Oh! One more thing before I start the day. I am one of the many people here that own at least one copy of the Unofficial Guide to WDW. And like all the others, I LOVE MINE. It's my BIBLE, dudes. I bought mine during the Fall of 2009, reading it from cover to cover. I kid you not, I even read the part about going with kids and offsite hotels.
So, this being my first copy and my first ORGANIZED trip to the World, I decided to give the itinerary guides a try. For science! I thought it would be a cake to stick to it and not deviate but......that's pretty much what happened.
Here's what you REALLY need to know about those touring guides. Even though they're a guide for the whole day, the only part you really need to follow is everything before lunch. All the biggest rides are packed into the morning time, leaving you plenty of time the rest of the day to go on the ones that don't have a long wait. That's pretty much what I learned from the guide. I'm extremely thankful for everything I learned in this book. I was able to go on the biggest rides multiple times with little to no wait. I'll definitely be getting one in 2013.
SOOO, let's get Day 2 started already!
We woke up bright and early with a wake-up call at 8am. Ok, another tangent. How do I set up a character wake-up call? I thought they would have a button for it on the phone, or it would be an option, but I couldn't find it. I also forgot to ask about it every time I was down at concierge. So, will someone please tell me how to do it. I REALLY wanted Stitch to wake me up on this trip.
I laid everything out the night before, had my water bottles filled up and everything ready to go so the morning was very easy. Got up, got ready, grabbed my energy bar for breakfast, filled our mug up with POWERADE and was at the bus stop by 8:20am.
Oh yes, today was also ANDREW'S BIRTHDAY
So he wore his birthday button on the day bag I packed for him. He got MANY well wishes today. It really took him by surprise, but I think he liked it. There's a funny story about this later in the day.Andrew's a fan of shadow pictures, so here's the ONLY one of the trip that he took.
Pretty cute huh?
The day before, I really wanted a photo of us in our ears, but never got around to it. So after getting off the bus, we took this.
This is also a photo shout-out to my dear friend Jordan (jordanyosh) with his trademark, tongue-picture.
After a typical bag check, we go through the turnstiles cause we're just in time for the in-park rope drop. This is our surroundings, waiting on the right side of the entrance to get our first FP's for the trip. Take a wild guess what ride it's for.
So many peoples!
At this point, I was videotaping Andrew and saying how it's HIS BIRTHDAY!! Then I ask him, "How does it feel to be 23?" He says, "I'm 22." AHAHAHAH. Oops, my bad! So I go, "OH YEAAAAH!!! I guess I was thinking of Scott Pilgrim." If you don't know Scott Pilgrim, he's the star of a comic book series by the same name, written and drawn by a CANADIAN artist. There are only 6 volumes in the series and it's super awesome.
You might know it from the movie of the same name starring Micheal Cera(ugh) who in my opinion is TOTALLY inappropriate for the role, but the movie kicked SO MUCH A$$ that I don't really care. The director did a LOT to please us comic fans and non-fans still enjoyed it. KUDOS Mr.Director. Kudos. Best comic-to-live-action movie adaptation EVER MADE. For reals.
Oh, where was I? Oh yes, Epcot rope drop. I've heard there isn't much of a show here compared to the other parks, and they're right. A couple of minutes before the park opened, Goofy showed up with some ride-operating CMs and led a countdown to park opening. "5! 4! 3! 2! 1!" *cheers* I told Andrew to stay close as we moved with the hoards towards The Land pavilion. We tried to move as fast as we could without moving very fast at all. After lining up for my first FP of the trip, we got ours without much trouble at all. I was so scared we might be stuck behind a broken machine, but we weren't!
Armed with FPs for Soarin', we headed straight across Future World to Test Track, as the UG told us to.
The stand-by time was 20 mins, but as I have learned from numerous TRs, the actual standby line is always shorter than the posted time. We hopped right into it and it was practically a walk-on! There was no stopping until we reached the briefing room. Here are some photos of the line. I really LOVED this queue. There was SO MUCH to look at, and so many Hidden Mickeys to look for!
The great thing about this queue is that even in the FP/single rider line, there is something new and different to look at. You need to go through both to see everything.
I couldn't help myself here.
A hidden mickey in the briefing room!
This is both our first times on this ride, so we were really excited about it. WE LOVED IT!!! It was SOOOO MUCH FUN! Sure, my hair got in my mouth and it was almost too bright to see anything, but I had a blast. I love how fast the ride is and the tight corners we took.
Here are some photos of the area after we get off the ride.
I just LOVE that Disney continues the theming after the ride has ended. All these extra little things is why we love coming back so much.
I'm super pumped after my ride, so I temporarily forget that the touring guide tells me I should head to M:S next and we decide to jump into the single riders line on TT for a 2nd go around.
WOOHOO!!!! So much fun again! This time, we tried to look for the hidden Mickeys during the ride and was able to find a couple. But what will this deviation mean for my touring plans???
Up next: What? Our ride ACTUALLY had a sum?
I love Epcot. For some reason completely unknown to me, it always seems to be the last park I visit on every trip. Not planned. Not a tradition. It just... happens. I guess you could call it a tradition now! I had never noticed that hidden mickey in the briefing room before. I'll keep an eye out for it next time. The ears are adorable 
Maybe in 2012. 
