Ive finally got around to posting my trip reports from earlier in the month! Like my previous ones, Ive included some photos I took while on the trip since I know how much many of us love seeing pictures of WDW. However, because the DIS will only allow a certain amount of photos per post, I'll be seperating each day into two parts. Here's part one of my first day. Hope you enjoy them.
Once again, it was time for yet another wonderful WDW Vacation. Due to a variety of circumstances, this trip would have to be shorter than I've gotten use to (only essentially 3 1/2 days instead of 5 or 6) but I was determined that this trip would be just as fun as the others. My first day started fairly early, arriving at Port Orleans Riverside at 8am. Because it was so early, my room was not yet ready, so I took a quick look into the Fulton's gift shop and headed to the bus stop for EPCOT. The whole resort looked much busier that I've seen a WDW resort in years. The crowds defiantly looked like they were up from last year.
After a quick bus ride, I found myself at the front gate to EPCOT. After making it through security and meandering through the Leave a Legacy area, it was time to make a choice. When I was planning this trip, I wasn't sure how much time I would have in Future World since I wasn't sure at what time I would be able to get to WDW and that I wanted to be in World Showcase when it opened so I could see some of the countries before my noon lunch reservation in Japan. With plenty of time and nothing in particular I wanted to do, I checked the tip board to see how the waits were. Besides Test Track (which already had a 35-minute wait), most everything was a walk-on. I decided to head to Future World West and see the Land.
The main reason I decided to do the Land was that the pavilion has one of few WDW attractions I have never done- Food Rocks. I decided to hit this first, but on my way to the escalator which takes you downstairs, I noticed that the Circle of Life movie was about to start. I hadn't seen it in about 8 years so I decided to give it a try. I thought it was pretty good. Next it was on to Food Rocks. The show was actually pretty cute. The whole rock concert theming was very well-done and the parodies were great.
I had some time to spend before World Showcase opened, but not really enough to do another attraction. I took a little time to go over to MouseGears and quickly look around for a minute. After that, I went back to the tip board. I had heard on the boards that EPCOT was a good place to find Mulan, so I asked the CM working there could find out where she would be appearing. She relied to me that she would probably be at Morocco with the other Aladdin characters. I didn't have the heart to tell her that Mulan was not an Aladdin character, so I just smiled and nodded. She then added that there was a possibility that she would be in the Storytelling area of Innoventions West. I thanked her for the tip and headed on to World Showcase
As I was on my way to World Showcase, I decided to quickly duck into Ice Station Cool- another thing in EPCOT I had never done before. I had been to the Coca-Cola tour in Atlanta earlier this year, which also has the Drinks from Around the World exhibit like they have here, which gave me an added bonus of knowing what to try and what to avoid. Tried to give Bevery another try, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that knowing exactly what would happen if I did.
By this time, World Showcase was open, so it was over to Canada. My first stop was the gardens that lead to Le Cellier. It was very beautiful, but not quite as peaceful as the last time I was there. There was the clear sound of some sort of construction or something happening behind the garden. Not sure what was going on, but it sure sounded like something was happening. Next was the United Kingdom Pavilion, which was very quiet and peaceful. I looked around some of the shops and gardens and headed off to France.
Not too much was happening in France either, but I managed to check out some of the shops and gardens. Very nice and peaceful. Morocco was next, but it was getting close to noon and it seemed like a good idea to skip Morocco and go straight to Japan.
I had a little time to take a look in the Mitusaki Department Store before my PS time came up. I had heard on line that it had been rehabbed to make it more fung shuai, but to me it just looked like they put all the toys in the front of the store to get the kids' attention. All in all, it did seem a tad less claustrophobic than before, which was nice. Next, it was upstairs to the Teppanyaki Dining Room. I had never eaten here before, so I really wasn't sure what to expect. It was great. The food was very good and having the waiter prepare it right at the table was really a unique sort of experience. After lunch, I went back to Morocco to see some of the shops there.
The next stop was Italy, where the Living Statue was doing his act. It's always fun to see how the guests react to him and this performance was no exception. After checking out some of the shops and scenery, I headed on to Germany. The railway garden was my first stop, followed by the shops in the courtyard of the pavilion. While I was there, the clock tower in the middle fo the courtyard began to chime. I watched it to see if the little figures or coo-coo bird would come out of the clock, but it didn't seem to be working. I noticed there were a few wires hanging out of it and it seemed like there must be some work going on there. Oh, well. After touring Germany, it was onto the Friendship boat and over to Future World. Usually, they run two boats- one that goes from Showcase Plaza to Morocco and one that goes from Showcase Plaza to Germany. For some reason, they only had one boat running that day which stopped at Showcase Plaza, Germany, and Morocco. Didn't hear if this was a permanent thing, but it seemed strange to only have one running since the park was fairly busy. After disembarking the boat, it was over to Mission: SPACE. I had heard that this ride might be doing previews in the afternoon, so I thought I'd at least give it a try and see if it was open.
