steve_rob
Mine? Mine? Mine? Mine?
- Joined
- May 23, 2002
- Messages
- 1,460
# Day 9 - 11th October (Well it's been a long day...) #
The Saturday of the Columbus Day weekend was always going to be busy, so we decided the best course of action was to do Epcot as given the size of it, the crowds would be better dispersed around the park. However, the large crowds weren't completely a bad thing as we found when the park hours were released just before we left - tonight, Magic Kingdom would be open until 11pm, with TWO performances of Spectromagic. Now if that wasn't worth park hopping for, then what was?!
So it's up bright and early at 7am so that we can be first in the queue for Epcot's opening at 9. Like 99% of the other guests, it was straight to the left for the NEW Mission:Space and my favourite from last time, Test Track. We decided to FP MS and SR TT (I love acronyms, me!)
Single rider line meant it took only 15 minutes to do TT twice and the ride was as much fun as I remembered it being. By the time we were done, the FP had rolled around to go straight onto Mission Space.
I'm not going to go into a great load of detail here, you can find descriptions of the ride everywhere, all I will say is that I thought it was wonderful. Don't pay any attention to all the scare stories unless you REALLY can't cope with ANY simulators - it's worth trying just for the experience, even if just once. We both rode it three times during our trip (I snuck in one more on my own) and each time came off it going "WOW!". Just feel the G-Forces (especially if you try moving your arms to the control panel while doing the sling shot - it feels like you've got weights attached to them!)
There are bugs to be ironed out - much like in the months directly after Test Track's launch. It broke down twice out of my four rides, once while we were in the queue, once while actually in the pod itself. Okay, so they've got four different loading areas, so all they have to do is close one down and move everyone to one of the others, but it will be better once they've got everything running 100%.
Even if you don't ride, make sure you do the astronaut training area in the exit bit - that really is a lot of fun (c'mon Team Orion!)
The other thing to note is that, maybe due to the scare stories, queues were not that long for the ride. Even on this, a very busy day, the queue was rarely longer than 45 minutes and Fastpasses were available for about an hour and a half in advance. Compare that to Test Track next door - 90 minutes standby, 60 mins single rider and 8pm Fastpasses being doled out at 1pm!
Most of the rest of the day was fairly straightforward - did about half the attractions in Future World (leaving the rest for our second Epcot day) : Universe of Energy, Wonders Of Life, The Land (food court for lunch - was busy but we had FP's for the boat ride, so we were in no hurry) then Spaceship Earth before heading for World Showcase.
Unfortunately our two favourite bands, Off Kilter and British Invasion, weren't playing today, so we headed round the 'other' way starting with Mexico and calling it a day by the time we'd reached Morrocco - lots of shopping in between those two!
By the time we'd exited the park and driven to Magic Kingdom, storm clouds were brewing overhead. The plan was to skip the 9pm Spectromagic (too crowded) and see the new Wishes fireworks at 10pm before the 11pm Spectro re-run. But when we got to the TTC, the plan was ditched, because the hours had changed since we had arrived. Wishes was now at 8pm, with the old Fantasy In The Sky at 10pm. The time now was 7:56!!!! We're going to miss it!
Well, not quite. As everyone else hurried to the monorail, we strolled onto the ferry and got a good spot right at the front. The fireworks started just as we left the dock. Okay, so we didn't get to hear the music, but we did get to see it all, and didn't have to battle with tons of other people for a good view, so I would say it was the best Magic Kingdom fireworks I'd ever got to see. The only thing you could hear for those ten minutes was the boat's engine, bangs and whistles and the occasional "Ooooh!" and "Aaaah!". Truly magical. To think that those people who went on the monorail probably missed all this.
As we arrived at the park, the heavens opened. Those of you who've been a few times will know what I mean, but if you've never seen it rain in Florida before, imagine getting two days of rain in just two hours and then just as suddenly as it started, it stops. While everyone else was huddling in shop entrances for shelter, Erika and I decided we didn't mind getting soaked and ran down the middle of Main Street on our own. In fact, we didn't think we were wet enough! Let's do Splash Mountain!!!
Ran through Adventureland in which, I kid you not, the pavements were ankle deep in water already, only to find they had closed all outdoor rides in case of lightning strikes. So the nearest we'd get to a water ride was Pirates. Of course, we went straight on (four people in the whole queue) and then headed for Country Bears and then Haunted Mansion which were also both deserted. I'd never seen MK so crowded and yet so empty at the same time.
By now the rain had let up a bit and they started opening the outdoor stuff again, so we did Splash twice. The first Spectro had been cancelled, but with the rain almost stopped, we were hopeful that 11pm would still be on. The second fireworks went ahead as planned, so it was looking good and we decided to stake out a seat early. Main Street was already filling up, so we decided to play it safe and chose a low brick wall just outside the Hall Of Presidents.
And I'm glad we did, as it worked out to be an excellent spot to watch it from. Although the parade started at 11:00, it reached us at 11:15 and was finished by 11:35. However, it took ages to exit the park and so we reached our car at 12:30 and got back to our hotel at 1:15am having been up at 7am! No wonder we were sleepy the next morning...
The Saturday of the Columbus Day weekend was always going to be busy, so we decided the best course of action was to do Epcot as given the size of it, the crowds would be better dispersed around the park. However, the large crowds weren't completely a bad thing as we found when the park hours were released just before we left - tonight, Magic Kingdom would be open until 11pm, with TWO performances of Spectromagic. Now if that wasn't worth park hopping for, then what was?!
So it's up bright and early at 7am so that we can be first in the queue for Epcot's opening at 9. Like 99% of the other guests, it was straight to the left for the NEW Mission:Space and my favourite from last time, Test Track. We decided to FP MS and SR TT (I love acronyms, me!)
Single rider line meant it took only 15 minutes to do TT twice and the ride was as much fun as I remembered it being. By the time we were done, the FP had rolled around to go straight onto Mission Space.
I'm not going to go into a great load of detail here, you can find descriptions of the ride everywhere, all I will say is that I thought it was wonderful. Don't pay any attention to all the scare stories unless you REALLY can't cope with ANY simulators - it's worth trying just for the experience, even if just once. We both rode it three times during our trip (I snuck in one more on my own) and each time came off it going "WOW!". Just feel the G-Forces (especially if you try moving your arms to the control panel while doing the sling shot - it feels like you've got weights attached to them!)
There are bugs to be ironed out - much like in the months directly after Test Track's launch. It broke down twice out of my four rides, once while we were in the queue, once while actually in the pod itself. Okay, so they've got four different loading areas, so all they have to do is close one down and move everyone to one of the others, but it will be better once they've got everything running 100%.
Even if you don't ride, make sure you do the astronaut training area in the exit bit - that really is a lot of fun (c'mon Team Orion!)
The other thing to note is that, maybe due to the scare stories, queues were not that long for the ride. Even on this, a very busy day, the queue was rarely longer than 45 minutes and Fastpasses were available for about an hour and a half in advance. Compare that to Test Track next door - 90 minutes standby, 60 mins single rider and 8pm Fastpasses being doled out at 1pm!
Most of the rest of the day was fairly straightforward - did about half the attractions in Future World (leaving the rest for our second Epcot day) : Universe of Energy, Wonders Of Life, The Land (food court for lunch - was busy but we had FP's for the boat ride, so we were in no hurry) then Spaceship Earth before heading for World Showcase.
Unfortunately our two favourite bands, Off Kilter and British Invasion, weren't playing today, so we headed round the 'other' way starting with Mexico and calling it a day by the time we'd reached Morrocco - lots of shopping in between those two!
By the time we'd exited the park and driven to Magic Kingdom, storm clouds were brewing overhead. The plan was to skip the 9pm Spectromagic (too crowded) and see the new Wishes fireworks at 10pm before the 11pm Spectro re-run. But when we got to the TTC, the plan was ditched, because the hours had changed since we had arrived. Wishes was now at 8pm, with the old Fantasy In The Sky at 10pm. The time now was 7:56!!!! We're going to miss it!
Well, not quite. As everyone else hurried to the monorail, we strolled onto the ferry and got a good spot right at the front. The fireworks started just as we left the dock. Okay, so we didn't get to hear the music, but we did get to see it all, and didn't have to battle with tons of other people for a good view, so I would say it was the best Magic Kingdom fireworks I'd ever got to see. The only thing you could hear for those ten minutes was the boat's engine, bangs and whistles and the occasional "Ooooh!" and "Aaaah!". Truly magical. To think that those people who went on the monorail probably missed all this.
As we arrived at the park, the heavens opened. Those of you who've been a few times will know what I mean, but if you've never seen it rain in Florida before, imagine getting two days of rain in just two hours and then just as suddenly as it started, it stops. While everyone else was huddling in shop entrances for shelter, Erika and I decided we didn't mind getting soaked and ran down the middle of Main Street on our own. In fact, we didn't think we were wet enough! Let's do Splash Mountain!!!
Ran through Adventureland in which, I kid you not, the pavements were ankle deep in water already, only to find they had closed all outdoor rides in case of lightning strikes. So the nearest we'd get to a water ride was Pirates. Of course, we went straight on (four people in the whole queue) and then headed for Country Bears and then Haunted Mansion which were also both deserted. I'd never seen MK so crowded and yet so empty at the same time.
By now the rain had let up a bit and they started opening the outdoor stuff again, so we did Splash twice. The first Spectro had been cancelled, but with the rain almost stopped, we were hopeful that 11pm would still be on. The second fireworks went ahead as planned, so it was looking good and we decided to stake out a seat early. Main Street was already filling up, so we decided to play it safe and chose a low brick wall just outside the Hall Of Presidents.
And I'm glad we did, as it worked out to be an excellent spot to watch it from. Although the parade started at 11:00, it reached us at 11:15 and was finished by 11:35. However, it took ages to exit the park and so we reached our car at 12:30 and got back to our hotel at 1:15am having been up at 7am! No wonder we were sleepy the next morning...
