Up nice and early and armed with our four day park hoppers, we head over to Epcot via the Golden Corral at Lake Bryan. The breakfast buffet costs $6.49 but we had a voucher giving us .50cents off. I do feel embarrassed sometimes, when I use these vouchers but hey if I dont use them, someone else will. I thought the Corral was excellent. Massive choice of items both savoury and sweet. The quality was very good also. They also cook omelettes for you after you choose the ingredients. There is bacon, egg, beans, grits, sausages, potatoes etc etc etc. As for the desserts!! Well Im not used to having dessert items for breakfast so it was a real eye opener for me. You had pancakes, waffles, variety of sauces (strawberry, maple etc), cinnamon rolls, doughnuts, jelly, fruit cobblers, ice cream, whipped cream. I was shocked when I saw what some people had on their plates (Ice Cream and jelly topped with whipped cream at 7-45am !!!!). Later on in the holiday I did slowly indulge in some dessert at breakfast! Anyway on top of all that you had various salads and many types of fruit. And also the drinks are included in the price of the buffet. I had heard a lot of good things about Golden Corral and now I know why. It was also quiet (Never more than 20 to 30 people during our 2 week stay).
Well, both of us totally stuffed, we head off to Epcot slightly later than what I had intended (08:45am). Followed the signs to Epcot via Buena vista drive although I could have gone via I4 and Epcot drive which I did later on in the holiday (Its much quicker!!). Arrive at the Epcot car park just after 9am and was totally shocked at how many people were already there and heading towards the entrance. Caught the trolley train to the entrance and entered the park avoiding all the people queuing up that were paying at the gate. Wow!! Even after all the photos I had seen of Epcot it was nothing like I imagined. I was expecting nothing else but grey concrete structures and a park that needed a massive rehab. How wrong was I!! It looked very spectacular but in a true Disney style. Well time to do the rides: off we went to get fast passes for mission space (return time of 35 mins, standby was I think 15 mins). Then off to ride Spaceship earth. Took us 5 minutes queuing time to board the ride. Excellent ride I thought. One of Disneys best in my view. I like the burning smell at the Destruction of Rome scene. Now back to Mission Space with our fast passes. Skipped past the 30 minute wait standby queue (I do like these fast pass things you know!) and waited patiently for entry into the simulator. Sharon (my girlfriend) hates simulators and does suffer from motion sickness but she was very brave and didnt chicken out. In we go and before you know it are taking off with such a strong G force that my mouth went into convulsions (not really but youll see what I mean when you try it). That take off was amazing. The spin round the moon was good as was the sling shot to Mars. From then on it went a bit downhill I thought. But because of that take off and the zero gravity feeling just after I would still have to give this ride 10 out of 10. Shame Sharon absolutely hated it. She was fine on the take off but deteriorated badly after that. She kept her eyes open and dead straight but her body couldnt handle the simulator movement round the moon and to mars. So anyone who suffers from simulator induced motion sickness, beware! Well off for a slow walk and long sit down for Sharon to recover. Took her about 1 hour to recover fully. Quick bite to eat and a coke and we head to something quieter like Journey into Imagination with Figment. Walked straight in and boarded the train with no wait (behind us a whole hoard of people entered this is how our two weeks were like. No queue, we enter then after us hundreds descend and a queue forms. We did have a lot of good luck with the waiting time for rides). Anyway back to figment and yes I know its pretty tame and not really very educational but I really enjoyed it. Loved the catchy tune (been singing it in my head ever since It wont go away!!) and the character itself was very funny. Next stop was Honey I shrunk the Audience. Again walked straight in which really surprised me as I thought this was one of the more popular rides. I was impressed by the 3D and loved the other special effects. Next stop was The Land and our biggest queue of the day for the Living with the Land boat ride. Queued here for about 20-25 mins. Again I enjoyed this ride. The vegetables they had growing in the Greenhouse were amazing. Wish they would grow a giant peach or strawberry!! Upstairs we go to watch the film Circle of Life. Ten minute wait for the film to start. I know its a film but its a very good educational film that includes some funny parts. Probably appreciated more by adults than younger children. Skipped Food Rocks to head back and use my fast pass for Test Track. Sharon missed this one out due to the Mission Space Fiasco. Standby time was 45mins and it looked like it was moving slowly. The fast pass queue was also quite long although it was moving quicker than the standby one. People were certainly taking advantage of fast pass for this ride (And I think the return time for fast pass at around 1pm was 4-45pm). Anyway back to the ride and I really enjoyed it. Its certainly a ride I think Disney was brave to have attempted. It goes fast enough for my liking and was one of my favourites at Epcot. Off to Universe of Energy and Ellens adventure. No queues again although I could have done without the pre show film. Takes too long!! The ride itself was very good and very clever. The seats turning into trains certainly opened some eyes. The scenery and animatronics were first class. Disney at its best again!! Forty five minutes later we head to our final pavilion in future world Living Seas via Ice station Cool for some much needed refreshment. Sorry but none of the drinks I tried were nice. Certainly nowhere near as good as original coke (I skipped the Italian one). Living with the Seas!! Strange pavilion this one. I didnt dislike it but nothing really struck out at me here. We just walked through, had a look at the fish and then walked out. Not much comment on it from either of us really. Well by this time 15:30pm Future world had quietened down considerably. We missed the Wonders of Life pavilion as none of us really felt like going there. World showcase here we come. Walked round anti clockwise starting at Canada and turned back at Japan for our PS Meal at Le Cellier. I wont go through all the pavilions in detail. But everywhere was heaving. Lots of locals indulging in the food and alcohol (Food & Wine festival). I loved the Canada pavilion with all the rocks and that lovely garden. England also I thought was very well themed. Ok the Rose and Crown is very unlike an English pub (No smoking allowed? No swearing?) But who cares, from the outside it looked good and blended in well with the other buildings there. The other pavilion I liked up to Japan was the Moroccan one. Mainly due to the great band that played there. Time for our PS at Le Cellier. Very nice meal, great location and ambiance, could have done with a bit more food on the plate but overall worth the money. Good service as well. Next we went clockwise to Mexico and Norway. Mexico Wow absolutely brilliantly themed. I can see why people like to go to the restaurant here. Talk about Romantic! Walked straight onto the boat ride. No queue until we got on. When the ride ended there was a big queue. How we managed to get on with no queue Ill never know. Anyway the ride was good fun. Last stop for the night and Norway. Again great buildings and theming. Shame about the Maelstrom ride. Long queue (at least it moved quite quickly) and a disappointment!! One of the biggest let downs we had during our stay. I cant say anything good about the ride because I cant remember anything good. Time to stake out our place for Illuminations. We managed to find a seat but had to watch the show with a few branches in the way. This show is just something else. Never ever in my life seen anything like this. The fireworks, the effects, the lights on the pavilions, the globe!! Hard to describe in words and I wouldnt do it justice if I tried. So all I will say is if you have not seen it then make sure you do. Enough Said.
Overall Loved this park immensely. Lots of great rides, both thrill and educational. The world showcase pavilions are brilliantly designed and there is lots going on. Have to mention also that Future world looks even more impressive at night. This was our most favourite park of all.
Next Day 3 Rest/Shopping .
Well, both of us totally stuffed, we head off to Epcot slightly later than what I had intended (08:45am). Followed the signs to Epcot via Buena vista drive although I could have gone via I4 and Epcot drive which I did later on in the holiday (Its much quicker!!). Arrive at the Epcot car park just after 9am and was totally shocked at how many people were already there and heading towards the entrance. Caught the trolley train to the entrance and entered the park avoiding all the people queuing up that were paying at the gate. Wow!! Even after all the photos I had seen of Epcot it was nothing like I imagined. I was expecting nothing else but grey concrete structures and a park that needed a massive rehab. How wrong was I!! It looked very spectacular but in a true Disney style. Well time to do the rides: off we went to get fast passes for mission space (return time of 35 mins, standby was I think 15 mins). Then off to ride Spaceship earth. Took us 5 minutes queuing time to board the ride. Excellent ride I thought. One of Disneys best in my view. I like the burning smell at the Destruction of Rome scene. Now back to Mission Space with our fast passes. Skipped past the 30 minute wait standby queue (I do like these fast pass things you know!) and waited patiently for entry into the simulator. Sharon (my girlfriend) hates simulators and does suffer from motion sickness but she was very brave and didnt chicken out. In we go and before you know it are taking off with such a strong G force that my mouth went into convulsions (not really but youll see what I mean when you try it). That take off was amazing. The spin round the moon was good as was the sling shot to Mars. From then on it went a bit downhill I thought. But because of that take off and the zero gravity feeling just after I would still have to give this ride 10 out of 10. Shame Sharon absolutely hated it. She was fine on the take off but deteriorated badly after that. She kept her eyes open and dead straight but her body couldnt handle the simulator movement round the moon and to mars. So anyone who suffers from simulator induced motion sickness, beware! Well off for a slow walk and long sit down for Sharon to recover. Took her about 1 hour to recover fully. Quick bite to eat and a coke and we head to something quieter like Journey into Imagination with Figment. Walked straight in and boarded the train with no wait (behind us a whole hoard of people entered this is how our two weeks were like. No queue, we enter then after us hundreds descend and a queue forms. We did have a lot of good luck with the waiting time for rides). Anyway back to figment and yes I know its pretty tame and not really very educational but I really enjoyed it. Loved the catchy tune (been singing it in my head ever since It wont go away!!) and the character itself was very funny. Next stop was Honey I shrunk the Audience. Again walked straight in which really surprised me as I thought this was one of the more popular rides. I was impressed by the 3D and loved the other special effects. Next stop was The Land and our biggest queue of the day for the Living with the Land boat ride. Queued here for about 20-25 mins. Again I enjoyed this ride. The vegetables they had growing in the Greenhouse were amazing. Wish they would grow a giant peach or strawberry!! Upstairs we go to watch the film Circle of Life. Ten minute wait for the film to start. I know its a film but its a very good educational film that includes some funny parts. Probably appreciated more by adults than younger children. Skipped Food Rocks to head back and use my fast pass for Test Track. Sharon missed this one out due to the Mission Space Fiasco. Standby time was 45mins and it looked like it was moving slowly. The fast pass queue was also quite long although it was moving quicker than the standby one. People were certainly taking advantage of fast pass for this ride (And I think the return time for fast pass at around 1pm was 4-45pm). Anyway back to the ride and I really enjoyed it. Its certainly a ride I think Disney was brave to have attempted. It goes fast enough for my liking and was one of my favourites at Epcot. Off to Universe of Energy and Ellens adventure. No queues again although I could have done without the pre show film. Takes too long!! The ride itself was very good and very clever. The seats turning into trains certainly opened some eyes. The scenery and animatronics were first class. Disney at its best again!! Forty five minutes later we head to our final pavilion in future world Living Seas via Ice station Cool for some much needed refreshment. Sorry but none of the drinks I tried were nice. Certainly nowhere near as good as original coke (I skipped the Italian one). Living with the Seas!! Strange pavilion this one. I didnt dislike it but nothing really struck out at me here. We just walked through, had a look at the fish and then walked out. Not much comment on it from either of us really. Well by this time 15:30pm Future world had quietened down considerably. We missed the Wonders of Life pavilion as none of us really felt like going there. World showcase here we come. Walked round anti clockwise starting at Canada and turned back at Japan for our PS Meal at Le Cellier. I wont go through all the pavilions in detail. But everywhere was heaving. Lots of locals indulging in the food and alcohol (Food & Wine festival). I loved the Canada pavilion with all the rocks and that lovely garden. England also I thought was very well themed. Ok the Rose and Crown is very unlike an English pub (No smoking allowed? No swearing?) But who cares, from the outside it looked good and blended in well with the other buildings there. The other pavilion I liked up to Japan was the Moroccan one. Mainly due to the great band that played there. Time for our PS at Le Cellier. Very nice meal, great location and ambiance, could have done with a bit more food on the plate but overall worth the money. Good service as well. Next we went clockwise to Mexico and Norway. Mexico Wow absolutely brilliantly themed. I can see why people like to go to the restaurant here. Talk about Romantic! Walked straight onto the boat ride. No queue until we got on. When the ride ended there was a big queue. How we managed to get on with no queue Ill never know. Anyway the ride was good fun. Last stop for the night and Norway. Again great buildings and theming. Shame about the Maelstrom ride. Long queue (at least it moved quite quickly) and a disappointment!! One of the biggest let downs we had during our stay. I cant say anything good about the ride because I cant remember anything good. Time to stake out our place for Illuminations. We managed to find a seat but had to watch the show with a few branches in the way. This show is just something else. Never ever in my life seen anything like this. The fireworks, the effects, the lights on the pavilions, the globe!! Hard to describe in words and I wouldnt do it justice if I tried. So all I will say is if you have not seen it then make sure you do. Enough Said.
Overall Loved this park immensely. Lots of great rides, both thrill and educational. The world showcase pavilions are brilliantly designed and there is lots going on. Have to mention also that Future world looks even more impressive at night. This was our most favourite park of all.
Next Day 3 Rest/Shopping .
