angelmav
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2006
- Messages
- 2,118
Tick, tick, tick, ........No Im not Jack Baur, but this was a trip that nearly had to be canceled, had ups, downs, twists, turns and has me back after a 30 hr drive from Orlando to Colorado contemplating when we can go again! This was a trip that I was in dire need of. The stress that had been my life for the last couple of years had me ready to crack and not in a good omellete making sort of way! The one thing that kept me going, was planning this vacation!
The trip was originally meant to be spread out over two weeks and what we wound up with veered drastically off from the plan, but thats alright since it beat the alternaitve, staying home and cancelling at the last minute! On arrival day we had hoped to go to downtown disney, maybe do some shopping, get a sandwich from the Earl, etc, none of that would transpire however as our trip down took about 4 hrs longer than planned (Dont ever buy a transonic or Navigone brand GPS, I dont want to call it junk, since I like Like and respect Fred Sanford too much for that).
We arrived at our new home for the week, the Shades Of Green located very near the Polynesian resort. On first inspection its a fabulous resort and a great deal as far as the rooms go, I wont go into a full blown resort review here, however we were pleased to be able to relax and unwind, having a more expensive meal than planned at the garden gallery buffet. The meal was also less enjoyable than I had expected. Ending the evening watching the wishes fireworks from the comforts of our hot tub however was a fantastic way to while away the evening and prepare us for.
Day 1, Our Epcot adventure!
I have always loved Epcot, I found the countries fascinating when last we went to the world 17 yrs ago, but this is a park that has changed dramatically in that time! We started our day heading for Soarin, all 13 of us, and were mildly dissapointed to find out there were no FP's available, why this is I never did find out, it was only 10 min after rope drop, but we jumped in line and proceeded to wait about 20 min for the ride, and none of us were dissapointed, I cant begin to tell you how amazing an experience this was. My BIL, said it was the best thing he had ever done in his life and was worth coming to WDW for and justified the expense right there, gee this from the first ride!
We jumped over to ride Nemo then do turtle talk, which was cute but not as good as I had hoped as it got a bit repetitive and we were ready to move on. Headed to Test Track and grabbed FP's, found out that in the first hr we were in the park 3 of our tickets had gotten demagnatized and wouldnt work in the FP machine, made 2 treks to guest relations, finally securing FP's while the 2 yr old in our party met a slew of characters! I know some dont care for this meet N greet at Epcot, but it was sure nice for the wee one to get out of the gate with that kind of interaction. We were off and running, then the first curveball hit, since we had skipped out w/o bfast and been on the go for about 2 1/2hrs at this point, we were fading in the florida sun, I should mention that my bright idea to head us into club cool and its many nasty but free concoctions, why oh why did I have to see for myself how bad the beverly was? Where in the world could they charge money for that drink? Yes, fellow disers, I am the proverbial child that must burn my hands on the stove to see for myself that it was hot, save yourself the agony and avoid the beverly, you have fair warning! Given that we were not going to last until our Coral reef ADR, and that some in our party were ready to get ugly, we headed to the first place in walking distance, the Electric Umbrella.
It sufficed and diffused that nasty situation, tragedy averted. We decided to hit Mission Space, somehow we got confused or the lady at the front (my vote) got confused, but all of us wimps who didnt want to spin wound up in the FP line without knowing it, boy were they pushy about it too! we didnt realize our error until we were within view of the ticket takers and there was nowhere to go, we would have left to get back in line, afterall the adventurers in our group were waiting on the orange side, but instead they chewed us out for cutting in line and let us in anyway. Now my BIL who loved, loved, loved Soarin got claustrophobic on Mission Space and went into panic mode once the console came down, which didnt matter because 1, everyone thought he was joking and 2, no CM came to his aid anyway! I myself got a little panicky, so let this be your 2nd warning, if you dont like tight enclosed spaces, avoid mission space! I thought it was a good ride and enjoyed it but wouldnt race back to it. We had a good 45 min to wait for the rest of the party so we do what you do in a ride dump shop, we shopped! Of course the one thing we asked about took 20 min to get a price, and I only bought it once I learned what the mouse was charging because I needed something to justify waiting 25 min to learn that a mickey foam uncle sam heads atop a headband were 8 bucks and not on sale after all.
We were all a bit beat since everyone drove in, so we decided to take a resort break after riding Epcots Spaceship Earth, which we just now realized was closed for a rehab, so it was off to the resort for a break which lasted longer than planned! We wound up having dinner at the resort instead of snacking around the world and made it back around 6pm. However we did get a suprise when 4 of the kids got to ride upfront on the monorail, a cool experience from the way they tell it! First, we headed for test track, which was an amazing ride, for one, I didnt expect to be impressed, and 2, it was a ton of fun, perhaps my favorite ride on the trip. At one point, you go off track and my 8 yr old asked me 'was that supposed to happen' and for a moment I wasnt sure! What a blast! We finally headed for the countries, making our way to mexico, watching the glass blowers work fascinated much of our group, and I finally shewed everyone onto El Rio De Tiempo. Now I dont really remember this ride from before the 3 caballeros, but while its amusing for the kids, theres not much here about mexico any longer. We aquired some pretty average 8 dollar frozen margaritas and I stopped in Norway for some Schoolbread, another mild Dissapointment for me as I was expecting something else, the custard tasted more like butter than anything else so it was soon pawned off on the kids and my mom who devoured it (I realized at this point she must have skipped dinner at the resort, ooops!) A snack From the lotus blossum was soon to follow and as we headed deeper into foreign territory, an announcement that Illuminations would be starting in 15 min came across the loudspeaker, Doh! The park would be closing at 9pm, not 10 as we had mistakingly thought, must grab times guide, must grab times guide was all I could think from that point on anytime we entered a park!, so with no time for anything else, we found a spot near china and watched illuminations! In all it was an up and down first day, really you need 2 days for Epcot IMO, at least to have any fun in the countries, but for most of our group, we did the only things in the park that mattered so it was a success. We averted disaster along the way this day, went wildly off track as far as the places we had wanted to try, and wound up back at the resort much earlier than we had planned. In all a good start to our vacation and a day that I wish had lasted longer.
The trip was originally meant to be spread out over two weeks and what we wound up with veered drastically off from the plan, but thats alright since it beat the alternaitve, staying home and cancelling at the last minute! On arrival day we had hoped to go to downtown disney, maybe do some shopping, get a sandwich from the Earl, etc, none of that would transpire however as our trip down took about 4 hrs longer than planned (Dont ever buy a transonic or Navigone brand GPS, I dont want to call it junk, since I like Like and respect Fred Sanford too much for that).
We arrived at our new home for the week, the Shades Of Green located very near the Polynesian resort. On first inspection its a fabulous resort and a great deal as far as the rooms go, I wont go into a full blown resort review here, however we were pleased to be able to relax and unwind, having a more expensive meal than planned at the garden gallery buffet. The meal was also less enjoyable than I had expected. Ending the evening watching the wishes fireworks from the comforts of our hot tub however was a fantastic way to while away the evening and prepare us for.
Day 1, Our Epcot adventure!
I have always loved Epcot, I found the countries fascinating when last we went to the world 17 yrs ago, but this is a park that has changed dramatically in that time! We started our day heading for Soarin, all 13 of us, and were mildly dissapointed to find out there were no FP's available, why this is I never did find out, it was only 10 min after rope drop, but we jumped in line and proceeded to wait about 20 min for the ride, and none of us were dissapointed, I cant begin to tell you how amazing an experience this was. My BIL, said it was the best thing he had ever done in his life and was worth coming to WDW for and justified the expense right there, gee this from the first ride!
We jumped over to ride Nemo then do turtle talk, which was cute but not as good as I had hoped as it got a bit repetitive and we were ready to move on. Headed to Test Track and grabbed FP's, found out that in the first hr we were in the park 3 of our tickets had gotten demagnatized and wouldnt work in the FP machine, made 2 treks to guest relations, finally securing FP's while the 2 yr old in our party met a slew of characters! I know some dont care for this meet N greet at Epcot, but it was sure nice for the wee one to get out of the gate with that kind of interaction. We were off and running, then the first curveball hit, since we had skipped out w/o bfast and been on the go for about 2 1/2hrs at this point, we were fading in the florida sun, I should mention that my bright idea to head us into club cool and its many nasty but free concoctions, why oh why did I have to see for myself how bad the beverly was? Where in the world could they charge money for that drink? Yes, fellow disers, I am the proverbial child that must burn my hands on the stove to see for myself that it was hot, save yourself the agony and avoid the beverly, you have fair warning! Given that we were not going to last until our Coral reef ADR, and that some in our party were ready to get ugly, we headed to the first place in walking distance, the Electric Umbrella.
It sufficed and diffused that nasty situation, tragedy averted. We decided to hit Mission Space, somehow we got confused or the lady at the front (my vote) got confused, but all of us wimps who didnt want to spin wound up in the FP line without knowing it, boy were they pushy about it too! we didnt realize our error until we were within view of the ticket takers and there was nowhere to go, we would have left to get back in line, afterall the adventurers in our group were waiting on the orange side, but instead they chewed us out for cutting in line and let us in anyway. Now my BIL who loved, loved, loved Soarin got claustrophobic on Mission Space and went into panic mode once the console came down, which didnt matter because 1, everyone thought he was joking and 2, no CM came to his aid anyway! I myself got a little panicky, so let this be your 2nd warning, if you dont like tight enclosed spaces, avoid mission space! I thought it was a good ride and enjoyed it but wouldnt race back to it. We had a good 45 min to wait for the rest of the party so we do what you do in a ride dump shop, we shopped! Of course the one thing we asked about took 20 min to get a price, and I only bought it once I learned what the mouse was charging because I needed something to justify waiting 25 min to learn that a mickey foam uncle sam heads atop a headband were 8 bucks and not on sale after all.
We were all a bit beat since everyone drove in, so we decided to take a resort break after riding Epcots Spaceship Earth, which we just now realized was closed for a rehab, so it was off to the resort for a break which lasted longer than planned! We wound up having dinner at the resort instead of snacking around the world and made it back around 6pm. However we did get a suprise when 4 of the kids got to ride upfront on the monorail, a cool experience from the way they tell it! First, we headed for test track, which was an amazing ride, for one, I didnt expect to be impressed, and 2, it was a ton of fun, perhaps my favorite ride on the trip. At one point, you go off track and my 8 yr old asked me 'was that supposed to happen' and for a moment I wasnt sure! What a blast! We finally headed for the countries, making our way to mexico, watching the glass blowers work fascinated much of our group, and I finally shewed everyone onto El Rio De Tiempo. Now I dont really remember this ride from before the 3 caballeros, but while its amusing for the kids, theres not much here about mexico any longer. We aquired some pretty average 8 dollar frozen margaritas and I stopped in Norway for some Schoolbread, another mild Dissapointment for me as I was expecting something else, the custard tasted more like butter than anything else so it was soon pawned off on the kids and my mom who devoured it (I realized at this point she must have skipped dinner at the resort, ooops!) A snack From the lotus blossum was soon to follow and as we headed deeper into foreign territory, an announcement that Illuminations would be starting in 15 min came across the loudspeaker, Doh! The park would be closing at 9pm, not 10 as we had mistakingly thought, must grab times guide, must grab times guide was all I could think from that point on anytime we entered a park!, so with no time for anything else, we found a spot near china and watched illuminations! In all it was an up and down first day, really you need 2 days for Epcot IMO, at least to have any fun in the countries, but for most of our group, we did the only things in the park that mattered so it was a success. We averted disaster along the way this day, went wildly off track as far as the places we had wanted to try, and wound up back at the resort much earlier than we had planned. In all a good start to our vacation and a day that I wish had lasted longer.
I am barely keeping up to speed with my own TR but am hopping around the TR board reading others.
Keep it comin 
