bengunn
Pirate Member
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2001
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Day 6 Epcot
Previous episodes:
Prequel
Day 1 The trip to Orlando
Day 2 Animal Kingdom
Day 3 Magic Kingdom
Day 4 Typhoon Lagoon, Shopping and Illuminations Cruise
Day 5 - Islands of Adventure
The Cast:
Richard (bengunn): Chief planner
Kathy : DW, just wants to go on holiday
Josie : DD 20, at Reading University, Assistant Planner, not very good at getting up
Sam : DS 17, just done AS exams, can get up very quickly when he wants to
Wednesday 21st August
From the last time we came to Florida, 10 years ago, we knew that Epcot needed two days so the plan had us at Epcot today and on Saturday, with Saturday evening at MK for Spectromagic and the fireworks. Well we somehow managed to stick to the plan for the entire first two weeks of this holiday so Epcot it was.
Even later today, we did not leave the villa until 08:50 but still managed to get to Epcot at 09:15 and parked in Journey 7 which meant that we could easily walk and did not have to wait for the tram.
Guest Services was the first port of call, where I made a PS for La Cellier at 17:30 and also managed to book a Fantasmic Dinner Package for Hoolywood and Vine at MGM for the next Tuesday; the CM did not think that her computer would let her do it and then wanted a contact phone number which I could not remember but it did not seem to matter in the end
.
Next stop was to get Fast Passes for Test Track which had a 45 minute standby wait. Having done that, we went into the Wonders of Life pavilion and saw Body Wars (fun but a bit dated), The Meaning of Me (what exactly is supposed to be embarrassing about this?) and Cranium Command; all of these were walk-ons. We played with the various exhibits in the pavilion and then it was time for our FP return to Test Track.
Test Track lived up to its reputation by breaking down just before the barrier test! It was good fun otherwise and we only had to wait for a few minutes when it did break down. After this we made a major mistake and waited 20 minutes for Dream Chasers just outside the Test Track exit. DO NOT bother with this ride it has very poor graphics and is totally pointless it is not even an advert for GM.
Next we went to Ice Station Cool and all enjoyed the delicious drink that is Beverley aniseed flavoured tonic water - delicious and highly recommended to all. The bitter lemon drink from Israel is pretty good as well.
The morning seemed to have flown by and we now wanted lunch. Three of us went to the Fountain View Espresso and Bakery in Inventions West consuming a muffin, a fruit croissant, a cheese pastry and a choc chip cookie for $18.20; Josie went to the McDonalds on Showcase Plaza and joined us at Fountain View with $7.14 of chicken nuggets and fries.
After lunch we walked straight onto Spaceship Earth; enjoyable but, according to Josie who is doing a degree in history, not entirely accurate about the Dark Ages. Next it was the Universe of Energy and we walked onto Ellens Energy Adventure with Bill Nye science guy (whoever he is). This is clever in the way that the theatre seats move off but otherwise a bit tedious and I admit to dozing off a one point.
Imagination! Next and Honey I Shrunk the Audience which had a 5 minute wait. This must have the worst pre-show anywhere; it is just a very boring Kodak advert. The real show is good though a little predictable and worth waiting for (apart from the bit where the dog sneezes).
A walk onto Journey into Your Imagination with Figment next; oh dear, I know some of you love Figment but this ride is embarrassingly awful, especially the singing. I hope that they paid Eric Idle a lot of money for it. The exhibits after the ride are interesting though and just about make up for the ride.
It was now pouring with rain; we had brought two ponchos from 10 years ago (the childrens ones were too small) and so we bought two more and put them on, by which time it had stopped raining :cross:. We went to the Living Seas next; loved the seahorses and thought that this was one of the best parts of Future World. We had to cut the Living Seas a little short as it was 17:25 and we had a PS in Canada at 17:30. It was now pouring with rain and there was a major thunderstorm in progress so on with the ponchos again and of to Canada. We noticed that the main chateau building in Canada was covered in sheeting and scaffolding which rather spoilt it.
We entered Le Cellier looking like drowned rats but dry under the ponchos and were given a pager which lit up some two minutes later (not that we had gone outside back into the rain anyway)! Excellent food here if a little pricey; two prime ribs, a New York strip steak and a tenderloin stroganoff, two deserts plus drinks cost $115.85. Last time we came it was an average counter service restaurant so it has come up in the world. The staff were friendly as well; it turned out that the greeter was visiting Portsmouth later this year so she was very interested in what there was to see.
It was still raining a bit so we walked into the UK. British Invasion were starting soon so we sat and watched their 19:10 set, which was a pretty good Beatles tribute. It had now stopped raining so off with the ponchos and on to France where we watched the female statue tormenting people for a while (we found our there are at least two a male and a female). Annoyingly we only caught the end of her act as she was better that the male statue that I videoed on our next visit to Epcot.
It was now nearly time for the 19:45 Tapestry of Dreams parade which we watched between Morocco and the USA; we found a good spot and only waited 2 minutes until the parade started. Did you know that there are actually two parades at the same time? One goes from Morocco to Germany and the other goes from Germany to Mexico; they then go in the opposite direction for the later parade. Yet again, we really enjoyed this parade with its simple effective costumes and excellent music.
I was quite keen to stay on to watch Illuminations again but we were not sure how to kill the 55 minutes until it started; we were quite tired and did not feel like walking far or going into any pavilions. I suddenly realised that we were standing near the American Gardens Theatre and the Blast II Shockwave show was starting in 10 minutes. We all agreed to sit down and see what this was like. It was absolutely amazing; if you like music, dancing and a little comedy see it; even Sam who is 17 and easily unimpressed, really enjoyed this. Their performance of Bohemian Rhapsody is incredible, complete with a man dressed as a Viking woman with fireworks in the horns of his helmet! They performers waited after the show and you could shake their hands and talk to them as you left the theatre; a nice touch we thought.
It was now not too long until Illuminations so we bagged a spot to the left of the American Gardens Theatre where we could see the globe waiting to move out onto the lake. Josie went to look at a pin stall, as she wanted a Jane (from Tarzan) pin which she found there having failed to find one earlier in the day. Unfortunately, the man serving was very slow and she had to abandon it to watch Illuminations. The show was as good as the previous time and it was nice to see it from a different perspective; we certainly had a better view of the globe, as it was closer than when we were in the boat.
After Illuminations, Josie went back to the stall and bought her Jane pin and then we joined the teaming masses and walked around the east side of the lake; we stopped off in Mousegear so that Josie could buy herself a baseball cap; this let the crowds die down a bit and then we walked back to the car and drove back to the villa.
We had managed to see all of Future World except for Innovations and the Land and had also seen the UK in World Showcase.
Tomorrow: Seaworld
Previous episodes:
Prequel
Day 1 The trip to Orlando
Day 2 Animal Kingdom
Day 3 Magic Kingdom
Day 4 Typhoon Lagoon, Shopping and Illuminations Cruise
Day 5 - Islands of Adventure
The Cast:
Richard (bengunn): Chief planner
Kathy : DW, just wants to go on holiday
Josie : DD 20, at Reading University, Assistant Planner, not very good at getting up
Sam : DS 17, just done AS exams, can get up very quickly when he wants to
Wednesday 21st August
From the last time we came to Florida, 10 years ago, we knew that Epcot needed two days so the plan had us at Epcot today and on Saturday, with Saturday evening at MK for Spectromagic and the fireworks. Well we somehow managed to stick to the plan for the entire first two weeks of this holiday so Epcot it was.
Even later today, we did not leave the villa until 08:50 but still managed to get to Epcot at 09:15 and parked in Journey 7 which meant that we could easily walk and did not have to wait for the tram.
Guest Services was the first port of call, where I made a PS for La Cellier at 17:30 and also managed to book a Fantasmic Dinner Package for Hoolywood and Vine at MGM for the next Tuesday; the CM did not think that her computer would let her do it and then wanted a contact phone number which I could not remember but it did not seem to matter in the end
.Next stop was to get Fast Passes for Test Track which had a 45 minute standby wait. Having done that, we went into the Wonders of Life pavilion and saw Body Wars (fun but a bit dated), The Meaning of Me (what exactly is supposed to be embarrassing about this?) and Cranium Command; all of these were walk-ons. We played with the various exhibits in the pavilion and then it was time for our FP return to Test Track.
Test Track lived up to its reputation by breaking down just before the barrier test! It was good fun otherwise and we only had to wait for a few minutes when it did break down. After this we made a major mistake and waited 20 minutes for Dream Chasers just outside the Test Track exit. DO NOT bother with this ride it has very poor graphics and is totally pointless it is not even an advert for GM.
Next we went to Ice Station Cool and all enjoyed the delicious drink that is Beverley aniseed flavoured tonic water - delicious and highly recommended to all. The bitter lemon drink from Israel is pretty good as well.
The morning seemed to have flown by and we now wanted lunch. Three of us went to the Fountain View Espresso and Bakery in Inventions West consuming a muffin, a fruit croissant, a cheese pastry and a choc chip cookie for $18.20; Josie went to the McDonalds on Showcase Plaza and joined us at Fountain View with $7.14 of chicken nuggets and fries.
After lunch we walked straight onto Spaceship Earth; enjoyable but, according to Josie who is doing a degree in history, not entirely accurate about the Dark Ages. Next it was the Universe of Energy and we walked onto Ellens Energy Adventure with Bill Nye science guy (whoever he is). This is clever in the way that the theatre seats move off but otherwise a bit tedious and I admit to dozing off a one point.
Imagination! Next and Honey I Shrunk the Audience which had a 5 minute wait. This must have the worst pre-show anywhere; it is just a very boring Kodak advert. The real show is good though a little predictable and worth waiting for (apart from the bit where the dog sneezes).
A walk onto Journey into Your Imagination with Figment next; oh dear, I know some of you love Figment but this ride is embarrassingly awful, especially the singing. I hope that they paid Eric Idle a lot of money for it. The exhibits after the ride are interesting though and just about make up for the ride.
It was now pouring with rain; we had brought two ponchos from 10 years ago (the childrens ones were too small) and so we bought two more and put them on, by which time it had stopped raining :cross:. We went to the Living Seas next; loved the seahorses and thought that this was one of the best parts of Future World. We had to cut the Living Seas a little short as it was 17:25 and we had a PS in Canada at 17:30. It was now pouring with rain and there was a major thunderstorm in progress so on with the ponchos again and of to Canada. We noticed that the main chateau building in Canada was covered in sheeting and scaffolding which rather spoilt it.
We entered Le Cellier looking like drowned rats but dry under the ponchos and were given a pager which lit up some two minutes later (not that we had gone outside back into the rain anyway)! Excellent food here if a little pricey; two prime ribs, a New York strip steak and a tenderloin stroganoff, two deserts plus drinks cost $115.85. Last time we came it was an average counter service restaurant so it has come up in the world. The staff were friendly as well; it turned out that the greeter was visiting Portsmouth later this year so she was very interested in what there was to see.
It was still raining a bit so we walked into the UK. British Invasion were starting soon so we sat and watched their 19:10 set, which was a pretty good Beatles tribute. It had now stopped raining so off with the ponchos and on to France where we watched the female statue tormenting people for a while (we found our there are at least two a male and a female). Annoyingly we only caught the end of her act as she was better that the male statue that I videoed on our next visit to Epcot.
It was now nearly time for the 19:45 Tapestry of Dreams parade which we watched between Morocco and the USA; we found a good spot and only waited 2 minutes until the parade started. Did you know that there are actually two parades at the same time? One goes from Morocco to Germany and the other goes from Germany to Mexico; they then go in the opposite direction for the later parade. Yet again, we really enjoyed this parade with its simple effective costumes and excellent music.
I was quite keen to stay on to watch Illuminations again but we were not sure how to kill the 55 minutes until it started; we were quite tired and did not feel like walking far or going into any pavilions. I suddenly realised that we were standing near the American Gardens Theatre and the Blast II Shockwave show was starting in 10 minutes. We all agreed to sit down and see what this was like. It was absolutely amazing; if you like music, dancing and a little comedy see it; even Sam who is 17 and easily unimpressed, really enjoyed this. Their performance of Bohemian Rhapsody is incredible, complete with a man dressed as a Viking woman with fireworks in the horns of his helmet! They performers waited after the show and you could shake their hands and talk to them as you left the theatre; a nice touch we thought.
It was now not too long until Illuminations so we bagged a spot to the left of the American Gardens Theatre where we could see the globe waiting to move out onto the lake. Josie went to look at a pin stall, as she wanted a Jane (from Tarzan) pin which she found there having failed to find one earlier in the day. Unfortunately, the man serving was very slow and she had to abandon it to watch Illuminations. The show was as good as the previous time and it was nice to see it from a different perspective; we certainly had a better view of the globe, as it was closer than when we were in the boat.
After Illuminations, Josie went back to the stall and bought her Jane pin and then we joined the teaming masses and walked around the east side of the lake; we stopped off in Mousegear so that Josie could buy herself a baseball cap; this let the crowds die down a bit and then we walked back to the car and drove back to the villa.
We had managed to see all of Future World except for Innovations and the Land and had also seen the UK in World Showcase.
Tomorrow: Seaworld
Still , caused huge amusement for the family and rest of the audience
Ah well, there's always hope it'll be restored to it's full glory.
