kirkharrod
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2004
- Messages
- 292
Day Two, Thur, Feb 12: Extra Magic Hour Magic Kingdom, Crystal Palace Character Lunch Buffet, Epcot, Tangerine Café Dinner- pedometer mileage 13.5 miles. Partly cloudy 82 degrees.
Breakfast was pastries from the convenient store in the CSR hotel lobby.We got out of the room early and got in for the Extra Magic Hour at the MK. It was a little more crowded than I expected, but we did all the Fantasyland rides, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, etc. Space Mountain was a walk on, and my 6 yr old even rode it. My 8 yr old would not ride it. At 11:40 am, we had Priority Seatings for the Crystal Palace Lunch Buffet with Characters (5 out of 5 stars). The Crystal Palace is the best kept secret in the MK. The lunch buffet is excellent and Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet circulate around the room for pictures and autographs. Every few minutes, the characters start a parade for the kids to join in on. The buffet consists of: Peanut butter and jelly, bananas, ham, turkey , roast beef, tossed salads, Caesar salads, cole slaws, fruit salads, carved flank steak, chicken with pasta, salmon, green curry chicken, curry tofu, cinnamon infused rice, mélange of vegetables with balsamic vinegar, soups, carved turkey breast, rolls, dessert bar with apple crisp, brownies, cookies, ice cream, boston cream pie, carrot cake and more. Lunch was $19.95 for the adults and $9.95 for the kids. The best deal in the MK.
After lunch, we hopped the Monorail to Epcot Center (5 stars out of 5). We rode Mission Space, ( 4 out of 5 stars) which I thought was fun, but not scary. My wife was terrified. The ride encloses 4 people in a small capsule which is on the end of a spoke connected to a hub. The sensation of gravity pulling on you, like a space rocket take off is achieved by spinning the capsules and leaning the individual ride units back. By using video screen and this process, the ride gives a very intense feeling off taking off in a rocket. Once was enough for my wife, but I rode it again since there was no line. I heard there are alternate endings to the ride, but I got the same ending. We also rode Test Track (2 out of 5 stars). Test Track is more of a learning ride than a thrill ride. It simulates a car factory and the testing grounds for a new car model. Most of the ride is very slow, focusing on how a car is tested. At the end, the car goes around a track at about 60 mph. My wife drove much faster down to Orlando. We rode Spaceship Earth (4 out of 5 stars), a slow ride that features the history of man. I like it and my 8 yr old son loved it. We watched Ellens Energy Adventure (1 out of 5 stars) which has always been there but did not have Ellen Degeneres. I find Ellen very funny so the Ellen part was enjoyable to me, but I do not believe in the rides message. Lines like Global warming is still a controversial topic and the sponsorship of Exxon Mobil make this little more than a commercial for oil companies. The theater opens up, and the movie theater seats lineup to be a slow track ride through time focusing on fossil fuels. Yuck. A favorite spot was the Coca Cola Ice Station Cool (5 out of 5). It is a gift shop that offers free samples of Coke brand soft drinks from around the world. Try them all, Lemon lime from Israel, Watermelon from China, and more. We bought a giant coke bottle bank. My kids loved Innoventions (2 out of 5 stars). It is a very interactive area with video games and different experiments. It is much like your local Childrens Science Museums. I thought the games were boring. Many did not work. Oh well, the kids liked it. After dark, we went up to the Epcot World Showcase (5 out of 5). We ate dinner at the Tangerine Café (3 out of 5) in the Morocco exhibit. We ate outside in a courtyard under a real tangerine tree. We ordered the Vegetarian Platter and the Chicken Shawarma. I asked the woman working the register, who was from Morocco, if the food was authentic. She said yes, but in Morocco, we would serve pita bread. What!, I thought, and looked down at the plate of food they handed me. The bread was a sandwich roll. I had expected pita. At least the roll was good, but pita would have been much better. The chicken was breast meat shredded with spices, served with some tabouleh and olive salad. It was good. My wife really enjoyed her Vegetarian Platter, which had several different kinds of vegetarian salads. My kids ate some of each and liked it. I am a food traveler, and I wanted to check out the restaurants in the French pavilion. The restaurants have glass windows, so I walked down the sidewalk and looked at peoples plates! The plates did not look good enough to warrant the high prices, in my opinion. The Boulangerie Patisserie had a huge line out of it so we could not try it. We wanted to stay for the fireworks but after 13.5 miles walking, we were ready to go back to Coronado Springs for a dip in the hot tub.
Breakfast was pastries from the convenient store in the CSR hotel lobby.We got out of the room early and got in for the Extra Magic Hour at the MK. It was a little more crowded than I expected, but we did all the Fantasyland rides, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, etc. Space Mountain was a walk on, and my 6 yr old even rode it. My 8 yr old would not ride it. At 11:40 am, we had Priority Seatings for the Crystal Palace Lunch Buffet with Characters (5 out of 5 stars). The Crystal Palace is the best kept secret in the MK. The lunch buffet is excellent and Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet circulate around the room for pictures and autographs. Every few minutes, the characters start a parade for the kids to join in on. The buffet consists of: Peanut butter and jelly, bananas, ham, turkey , roast beef, tossed salads, Caesar salads, cole slaws, fruit salads, carved flank steak, chicken with pasta, salmon, green curry chicken, curry tofu, cinnamon infused rice, mélange of vegetables with balsamic vinegar, soups, carved turkey breast, rolls, dessert bar with apple crisp, brownies, cookies, ice cream, boston cream pie, carrot cake and more. Lunch was $19.95 for the adults and $9.95 for the kids. The best deal in the MK.
After lunch, we hopped the Monorail to Epcot Center (5 stars out of 5). We rode Mission Space, ( 4 out of 5 stars) which I thought was fun, but not scary. My wife was terrified. The ride encloses 4 people in a small capsule which is on the end of a spoke connected to a hub. The sensation of gravity pulling on you, like a space rocket take off is achieved by spinning the capsules and leaning the individual ride units back. By using video screen and this process, the ride gives a very intense feeling off taking off in a rocket. Once was enough for my wife, but I rode it again since there was no line. I heard there are alternate endings to the ride, but I got the same ending. We also rode Test Track (2 out of 5 stars). Test Track is more of a learning ride than a thrill ride. It simulates a car factory and the testing grounds for a new car model. Most of the ride is very slow, focusing on how a car is tested. At the end, the car goes around a track at about 60 mph. My wife drove much faster down to Orlando. We rode Spaceship Earth (4 out of 5 stars), a slow ride that features the history of man. I like it and my 8 yr old son loved it. We watched Ellens Energy Adventure (1 out of 5 stars) which has always been there but did not have Ellen Degeneres. I find Ellen very funny so the Ellen part was enjoyable to me, but I do not believe in the rides message. Lines like Global warming is still a controversial topic and the sponsorship of Exxon Mobil make this little more than a commercial for oil companies. The theater opens up, and the movie theater seats lineup to be a slow track ride through time focusing on fossil fuels. Yuck. A favorite spot was the Coca Cola Ice Station Cool (5 out of 5). It is a gift shop that offers free samples of Coke brand soft drinks from around the world. Try them all, Lemon lime from Israel, Watermelon from China, and more. We bought a giant coke bottle bank. My kids loved Innoventions (2 out of 5 stars). It is a very interactive area with video games and different experiments. It is much like your local Childrens Science Museums. I thought the games were boring. Many did not work. Oh well, the kids liked it. After dark, we went up to the Epcot World Showcase (5 out of 5). We ate dinner at the Tangerine Café (3 out of 5) in the Morocco exhibit. We ate outside in a courtyard under a real tangerine tree. We ordered the Vegetarian Platter and the Chicken Shawarma. I asked the woman working the register, who was from Morocco, if the food was authentic. She said yes, but in Morocco, we would serve pita bread. What!, I thought, and looked down at the plate of food they handed me. The bread was a sandwich roll. I had expected pita. At least the roll was good, but pita would have been much better. The chicken was breast meat shredded with spices, served with some tabouleh and olive salad. It was good. My wife really enjoyed her Vegetarian Platter, which had several different kinds of vegetarian salads. My kids ate some of each and liked it. I am a food traveler, and I wanted to check out the restaurants in the French pavilion. The restaurants have glass windows, so I walked down the sidewalk and looked at peoples plates! The plates did not look good enough to warrant the high prices, in my opinion. The Boulangerie Patisserie had a huge line out of it so we could not try it. We wanted to stay for the fireworks but after 13.5 miles walking, we were ready to go back to Coronado Springs for a dip in the hot tub.
