BudgieMama
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2013
- Messages
- 2,724
So, as I mentioned in yesterday's report, we decided to give ourselves a little lie in this morning, as we were both pretty tired by this point in the week! We got up at 8am, and were on our way to Epcot by about 9.15am. Epcot is the nearest park to SSR (or at least the shortest bus ride) so it worked well- we were through bag check and in the park by 10am, so not too bad- we missed the RD crowd, and beat the crowds who rock up later in the day. 
We'd had to rearrange our Epcot plans slightly just a couple of weeks out, because we'd arranged to meet up with some exciting people later in the day, which meant we needed to move our ADR and jiggle our FP+ around a bit, but it all worked fine.
I was surprised how impressive Spaceship Earth is in person... very, very cool! I love the photo too!
We had a FP+ for Mission Space on arrival, but without much of a line, we just walked on. You may notice in the photo we are both wearing Doctor Who related t-shirts... the CM greeting us and giving out the cards (we opted for Green) stopped us and warned us we were going on a mission to Mars, and if we saw the Doctor, to do everything he told us and avoid all sources of water. I love Whovians. It made us smile, and really added to the experience for us. Good job, that man.
I was a bit nervous about Mission Space, but it was all fine! After that, we head back to Spaceship Earth (I think!) where the line had reduced- that's another cool ride in Epcot, although the people in the car in front of us took flash photos ALL WAY ROUND. So annoying... but after that, we checked the WDW Line app (we used that a LOT) and the Single Rider line for Test Track was looking good, so we hopped over there to ride TT.
We were really lucky that for our first ride, we were sat in the same car (me in front, DH behind) so we got to experience it "together"
We both enjoyed Test Track, and the single rider line is great. I love the way they organise it- well played, WDW!
Next up, we needed to head into World Showcase, as we had a FP+ for Maelstrom and then lunch at Akershus. We decided to look around in Mexico first- there was no line for the boat thing in there (I'm so glad we didn't wait for it, as it's a bit random). We also picked up a Duffy to get stamped as we made our way around the World. Next we head to Norway.. There was only a 5 minute wait at Malestrom, so we skipped the FP+ line and just walked on. We finished the ride, went to get Duffy stamped, and then went to check in at Akershus. For some reason, despite everywhere else checking us in 15 minutes before, they would only do it 5 minutes. We head into the Stave Church, looked at the exhibit (which I found pretty interesting), and cooled off in the AC (it was very hot- we still hadn't had any rain at this point!)
We didn't have long to wait outside in the heat once we'd checked in (again, I think being just two guest helped) before they called us in, and we joined the line for our photo with Belle. Belle had always been one of my favourite princesses since the film came out when I was a child, so that was very cool.
Our server, Knut, at Akershus was great. We'd heard mixed reviews about both the service and the food here, so I was a bit nervous... the starter buffet was AMAZING! I'm not sure if Brits just eat a more varied cuisine, but we didn't find anything weird or unusual on the buffet. To be honest, I would have been happy with just all you can eat on the buffet- it was LOVELY. I had the salmon for my main, and it was gorgeous! I'm not sure what it was flavoured with, but it was lovely.
Whilst we ate, we were visited by Snow White, Aurora, Ariel and Cinderella... here's the obligatory photos!
This was a great way for me to meet so many Princesses without DH needing to wait for me... He agreed that the food was great (he had the meatballs), the service was perfect and he enjoyed the Princess interaction. Cinderella asked if I had lost my shoe when we met, and I told her about losing my shoe the day before at the Jungle Cruise. She thought it was funny!
The desserts at Akershus were three to share- other than a cold rice pudding (which was yum!) I don't remember what we had, but they were all good!
After we'd finished eating, we decided to walk around the world to walk off the food, visiting the Kidcot stops along the way and generally having a little nose around the areas. We didn't see anywhere in detail, but got a feel for everything. We arrived at America about 5 minutes before Voices of Liberty were due to sing, so we stopped to hear them. They have an incredible sound, and sung Yankee Doodle (with a slightly weird anti-British intro), Let It Go (AMAZING!) and then I think the American National Anthem... I don't think the recognise very well that their audience isn't all American. We were all told to sing along, with no recognition that at least half the people there weren't American and wouldn't/couldn't join in. I've no problem with the choice of music, just how it was introduced.
We continued around the World, collecting our stamps on Duffy and enjoying the atmosphere. We caught the end of Off Kilter in Canada, who were cool, and then head back towards Future World as the time for our Soarin' had come round. We boarded fairly quickly ("Kronk" does the pre-flight video?!
) onto the second row, and really enjoyed it! Glad we didn't have the stupid long wait though! After Soarin', we checked out Living with the Land (LOVED it!) and then headed over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends... it wasn't quite what we expected- I thought we see more of the tanks there, which is what we really wanted to see, but we enjoyed touring afterwards.
To be continued...
We'd had to rearrange our Epcot plans slightly just a couple of weeks out, because we'd arranged to meet up with some exciting people later in the day, which meant we needed to move our ADR and jiggle our FP+ around a bit, but it all worked fine.
I was surprised how impressive Spaceship Earth is in person... very, very cool! I love the photo too!
We had a FP+ for Mission Space on arrival, but without much of a line, we just walked on. You may notice in the photo we are both wearing Doctor Who related t-shirts... the CM greeting us and giving out the cards (we opted for Green) stopped us and warned us we were going on a mission to Mars, and if we saw the Doctor, to do everything he told us and avoid all sources of water. I love Whovians. It made us smile, and really added to the experience for us. Good job, that man.
I was a bit nervous about Mission Space, but it was all fine! After that, we head back to Spaceship Earth (I think!) where the line had reduced- that's another cool ride in Epcot, although the people in the car in front of us took flash photos ALL WAY ROUND. So annoying... but after that, we checked the WDW Line app (we used that a LOT) and the Single Rider line for Test Track was looking good, so we hopped over there to ride TT.
We were really lucky that for our first ride, we were sat in the same car (me in front, DH behind) so we got to experience it "together"
We both enjoyed Test Track, and the single rider line is great. I love the way they organise it- well played, WDW!
Next up, we needed to head into World Showcase, as we had a FP+ for Maelstrom and then lunch at Akershus. We decided to look around in Mexico first- there was no line for the boat thing in there (I'm so glad we didn't wait for it, as it's a bit random). We also picked up a Duffy to get stamped as we made our way around the World. Next we head to Norway.. There was only a 5 minute wait at Malestrom, so we skipped the FP+ line and just walked on. We finished the ride, went to get Duffy stamped, and then went to check in at Akershus. For some reason, despite everywhere else checking us in 15 minutes before, they would only do it 5 minutes. We head into the Stave Church, looked at the exhibit (which I found pretty interesting), and cooled off in the AC (it was very hot- we still hadn't had any rain at this point!)
We didn't have long to wait outside in the heat once we'd checked in (again, I think being just two guest helped) before they called us in, and we joined the line for our photo with Belle. Belle had always been one of my favourite princesses since the film came out when I was a child, so that was very cool.
Our server, Knut, at Akershus was great. We'd heard mixed reviews about both the service and the food here, so I was a bit nervous... the starter buffet was AMAZING! I'm not sure if Brits just eat a more varied cuisine, but we didn't find anything weird or unusual on the buffet. To be honest, I would have been happy with just all you can eat on the buffet- it was LOVELY. I had the salmon for my main, and it was gorgeous! I'm not sure what it was flavoured with, but it was lovely.
Whilst we ate, we were visited by Snow White, Aurora, Ariel and Cinderella... here's the obligatory photos!
This was a great way for me to meet so many Princesses without DH needing to wait for me... He agreed that the food was great (he had the meatballs), the service was perfect and he enjoyed the Princess interaction. Cinderella asked if I had lost my shoe when we met, and I told her about losing my shoe the day before at the Jungle Cruise. She thought it was funny!
The desserts at Akershus were three to share- other than a cold rice pudding (which was yum!) I don't remember what we had, but they were all good!
After we'd finished eating, we decided to walk around the world to walk off the food, visiting the Kidcot stops along the way and generally having a little nose around the areas. We didn't see anywhere in detail, but got a feel for everything. We arrived at America about 5 minutes before Voices of Liberty were due to sing, so we stopped to hear them. They have an incredible sound, and sung Yankee Doodle (with a slightly weird anti-British intro), Let It Go (AMAZING!) and then I think the American National Anthem... I don't think the recognise very well that their audience isn't all American. We were all told to sing along, with no recognition that at least half the people there weren't American and wouldn't/couldn't join in. I've no problem with the choice of music, just how it was introduced.
We continued around the World, collecting our stamps on Duffy and enjoying the atmosphere. We caught the end of Off Kilter in Canada, who were cool, and then head back towards Future World as the time for our Soarin' had come round. We boarded fairly quickly ("Kronk" does the pre-flight video?!
) onto the second row, and really enjoyed it! Glad we didn't have the stupid long wait though! After Soarin', we checked out Living with the Land (LOVED it!) and then headed over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends... it wasn't quite what we expected- I thought we see more of the tanks there, which is what we really wanted to see, but we enjoyed touring afterwards. To be continued...
It was a pretty decent view, and not at all crowded, which was much appreciated.
