We braved the 4th!!! AND the rain...and the crowds??? 7/1-7/8 BOOKED NEXT TRIP!!!!

[brookelizabeth]

The pic on Test Track made me laugh out loud! I can't ever figure out where the picture taking is on that ride! Clue me in por favor!

Loving those crowds! And those "fighting the crowds" pictures... It had to be due to the rain, right? Was everyone at MK? Where, oh where? But all well - makes for a more enjoyable day!

I'm looking forward to how you spent the next 4 hours! Perhaps sitting on a bench, counting the people that passed by?

 

[Soopafly]

Looks like you guys were having fun in spite of the rain which is great

I think Stefy wants to try a funnel cake, i take it you would recommend this to others?

I can sense huge crowds in the next update.......

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Yea! drinking in Epcot. can't wait to hear what else was consumed that evening.

Haha, drinking in Epcot is a favorite pasttime of mine! Unfortunately, wearing a rain jacket makes it harder to enjoy so we didn't really do much more of it that night....but don't worry! Once the sun comes out later in the week.....

I'm so glad the rain stopped! I absolutely LOVE your awesome 4th of July outfit! I am in complete shock at the lack of crowds though, where was everyone?! NOT that you were complaining!

Crazy, right?

I wonder if it was just the rain that kept everyone away? Amazing! We were at the MK on the 4th back in 1996. It was so incredibly crowded. The park had closed to capacity, we were on Main St waiting for the fireworks...they began, and Mother Nature decided to put on a little show of her own!! It poured for the next hour. We spent it hanging out in the Emporium. After the rain stopped though, the park was completely empty and we walked on every ride! Including Space Mountain!!

I just don't get it. I guess people are afraid of the rain but jeez! To keep that many people away when it wasn't even really raining that much.

Great update! I love the pic with Ben Franklin! I can't wait to hear how you spend the next four hours.

You'll seeeee.....

SO jealous. I want to do that. But ill have to wait till my kids are big enough to go off on their own... or crash some DIS MOMS party LOL

Food looked yummy and I love crepes i missed them when we went.. 2 times in epcot and didnt get it once.. darn it oh well NEXT TIME.. lol

I wonder if people were more at the Magic Kingdom since thats like the "main" park and thought the fireworks were there? either way glad you were able to miss them all!

Cant wait to see what you do with the 4hours..

Definitely try the crepes next time. They don't have as much flavor as you'd think they would. They were kind of plain but I liked that.

I bet MK wasn't as crowded as usual too. It had to have been because of all the rain we'd ben having.

The pic on Test Track made me laugh out loud! I can't ever figure out where the picture taking is on that ride! Clue me in por favor!

Loving those crowds! And those "fighting the crowds" pictures... It had to be due to the rain, right? Was everyone at MK? Where, oh where? But all well - makes for a more enjoyable day!

I'm looking forward to how you spent the next 4 hours! Perhaps sitting on a bench, counting the people that passed by?

Haha! There's another TT pic or two coming! They take the pic right before the "wall" doors open and you zip outside!

I'm guessing it had to have been the rain that kept the crowds away. There really is NO other logical explanation.

Looks like you guys were having fun in spite of the rain which is great

I think Stefy wants to try a funnel cake, i take it you would recommend this to others?

I can sense huge crowds in the next update.......

Oh funnel cake is the best! You've never had it before?!??! It's so popular where I live at street fairs and down the shore (JERSEY!) You should DEF try it! It's so delicious! Tom loves it with the ice cream but if you've never had it before, get it without. It's crispy and delicious but the ice cream makes it a little soggy.

 

[tinkerbell60]

Did you somehow miss the rain around 4pm that day? We were in France around that time and it was absolutely pouring - it was dripping in my Grand Marnier Slushie!! That was when I realized my poncho had ripped badly. Maybe it was not raining up in future world then......

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Did you somehow miss the rain around 4pm that day? We were in France around that time and it was absolutely pouring - it was dripping in my Grand Marnier Slushie!! That was when I realized my poncho had ripped badly. Maybe it was not raining up in future world then......

Hmmm, I don't really remember that rain specifically! (I feel like it was raining the whole trip!) It's possible we were in MouseGear at that point.....

 

[tinkerbell60]

Hmmm, I don't really remember that rain specifically! (I feel like it was raining the whole trip!) It's possible we were in MouseGear at that point.....

The only reason I remember that particular rain, was that was supposed to be the Dismeet in France......I assumed that the rain kept people away.....there was no place to sit and wait either.....

Also, it is really funny when it rains in one part of a park and not another. We saw that at the CR - it was raining on the MK side but not the Bay Lake side one night.

 

[trinaweena]

Great update as always! I'm jealous of your drinking around the world, i miss it haha!

i'm very interested to know what you did for four hours! its sounds like you were exhasuted!

 

[heaven2dc]

Finally I get all caught up on page 26!! I can't believe I didn't even see your TR until you posted your video on another thread - shame on me!!

The rain seems to be relentless for the start of your trip - I hope this is the end of it. It is weird to see no crowds at Epcot on July 4th - now if I had gone, you wouldn't have been able to walk 2 feet without bumping into someone

Love your videos - esp the 4th of July fireworks at MK

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

The only reason I remember that particular rain, was that was supposed to be the Dismeet in France......I assumed that the rain kept people away.....there was no place to sit and wait either.....

Also, it is really funny when it rains in one part of a park and not another. We saw that at the CR - it was raining on the MK side but not the Bay Lake side one night.

It's possible it just didn't rain in FW!!I know that was around the time of our TT ride and I don't remember rain during that...

Great update as always! I'm jealous of your drinking around the world, i miss it haha!

i'm very interested to know what you did for four hours! its sounds like you were exhasuted!

Drinking around the world is the best and we haven't even BEGUN! For some reason, the rain was kind of a downer with that but don't worry...once the sun comes out, the drinks start flowing!!

Finally I get all caught up on page 26!! I can't believe I didn't even see your TR until you posted your video on another thread - shame on me!!

The rain seems to be relentless for the start of your trip - I hope this is the end of it. It is weird to see no crowds at Epcot on July 4th - now if I had gone, you wouldn't have been able to walk 2 feet without bumping into someone

Love your videos - esp the 4th of July fireworks at MK

So glad you made it! Glad you were able to find me, although now you've had the spoiler!

Oh trust me...this is NOT the end of the rain!!

 

[podsnel]

OMG, you are such a DORK!!! I love your ride pics better than anyone else's- you ALWAYS crack me up!!

Glad you liked the crepe- I thought it was yummy, too!!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Day 4, Epcot cont.
July 4, 2010​

Forgot to add this to the last update. Just a short video of Voices of Liberty.
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QctnDFo2bsmJf


Okay, so we had our funnel cake, we're totally exhausted, it's now like 6:30 and we've got plenty of time to kill before the fireworks? The other night we let our exhaustion keep us from staying for SummerNightastic fireworks and MSEP at MK but were we going to let that happen again today??

HELL NO!!! This is what we've been waiting for!

So are you ready for our GENIUS idea to kill the time????



Ready?




Can you handle the brilliance??







Are you sure???







It's really the smartest thing anyone's ever done.......







WE SAT! That's right people! We sat.....and it was WONDERFUL!

We didn't really have a plan for watching Illuminations, I guess I thought we'd just kind of watch from wherever we were at that time but now that we had so much time to kill, we got to thinking......what if we find a really good spot and just sit there?! It was absolutely brilliant!

Tom wanted to get a Bass so we thought we'd sit at one of the tables near the Fish and Chips stand in England. Well all the tables were occupied and I actually would have felt weird sitting there when people were actually trying to find a place to sit and EAT. So we looked around and spotted the lovely area down by the water! There were 3 benches down there and there was room for 2 on one of them. We asked if anyone was sitting there and took our place!! We got a spot on the far right bench, on the far right side.

In just a few minutes, our benchmates got up and left so we moved closer to the center and actually PULLED our bench closer to the railing so that no one would think they could sit/stand in front of us! We chatted a little with the people on the other bench, who were doing the same thing as us.

Here we are sitting on our bench!

Now because I just can't sit still, I got up first to go to the bathroom and get an empanada! I saw them on the allears menu at "Promenade Refreshments" which is all the way on the other side of Canada but hey....we had time to kill!

NOW it was started to get more crowded!!!!

I was gone for probably 1/2 hour! But when I came back with my empanada, I was so excited to eat it!

Unfortunately, it was really gross!!! Oh well....

Pics from our seats....

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QctnDFo2bsmJs

We took turns getting up and down, going to the bathroom, getting drinks....the few hours just before the show, it was REAAAALLY crowded around England! The line at the fish and chips stand literally went up to the bridge to France and cutting through it to go to the bathroom was no fun! It was also not fun when I stood in that line for a good 20 mins to get Tom a beer and ESPECIALLY not fun once I realized that there was a stand just 15 feet away with NO line that sold JUST beer. DUH!


Around 9, more people started filling in the little area.

So, I told you that we moved our bench up to the railing but I wish that we had also moved our bench closer to the bench next to use because at the last minute, two guys actually did come up to the railing in between the benches and that kind of pissed me off! There were also these giant bugs crawling under the railing (where my feet were!) and that was really distracting because I HATE bugs and I was afraid they were "going to get me!"

I'm so sorry but I did not take any pictures or video of the show that night. It was a conscious decision because I knew how special it would be and I really wanted to see it with my own eyes and not through a video screen. Sorry, but I just couldn't. I will try to describe it to you the best I can, though....

So promptly at 10, Illuminations started. Let me tell you, I've seen Illuminations probably 25 times in my life and this was the BEST view I've ever had! It was like they designed the show for the people sitting in this spot! I was able to see everything on the globe so clearly.

When the regular Illuminations was over, I was practically jumping out of my skin, I was so excited! The creepy announcer voice came on and said that we will hear music from famous American composers. I was hoping for a little more traditional "patriotic" music but it was still great. They kept the globe out and were projecting images of America and famous Americans and lots of red, white and blue. THEN they started with the traditional patriotic music and started shooting off fireworks from the back of the American Adventure pavilion!!! It was sooo awesome! I'm not exactly sure how long this "patriotic tag" went on because I honestly felt like I was in a dream. It was so amazing.

Then when they did the finale......oh...my..god...it was the most unbelievable thing I'd ever seen in my whole life! First of all, they were shooting off full-sized fireworks, which they don't usually do in Epcot because it's done on the lagoon. They looked like they were directly over our heads. Do you know how, if you look very closely, you can see a little streak of light going up before the firework explodes in the air? When the finale started, all I remember is seeing just TONS of little streaks going up in the air and my mouth dropped and my eyes nearly popped out of my head with the amount of fireworks that were going off and the amount that just kept coming and coming! It was so bright, it looked like it could have been the middle of a sunny afternoon and it was so loud, I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest. I could cry just thinking about it because I honestly can't think of a more beautiful moment!

When it was over, we kind of just sat there stunned while everyone started getting up and leaving. We decided we'd sit for a few minutes while the crowds made their way out because it was EMH!!! And although at one point during the day, we didn't even know if we'd make it until 10:00, we had just sat for 3 and a half hours so we were good to go!!!!

Now this is the best part! World Showcase all but cleared out BUT they continued playing my favorite patriotic music and they kept the globe spinning around the lagoon. They also had words projected onto Spaceship Earth, saying things like, Happy Birthday America, 234 Years of Freedom and stuff like that. I waved my flag around so much AND my light up red, white and blue two I had brought! We also each had light up necklaces.

Here are some pics and video from that walk around World Showcase!!

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QctnDFo2bsmJ9

I swear, this is what I looked like the whole walk around! But this is one of my favorite patriotic songs! 2 years ago when my niece was born, the summer Olympics were going on. Since her husband works nights and I have off in the summers, I slept over a lot and there were many nights that we were up all hours of the night watching medal ceremonies and we were always soooo exhausted, we'd end up singing "Glory, glory hallelujah!"

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QctnDFo2bsmKC

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QctnDFo2bsmKT



Remember that bruise I posted a while back??? The GIANT bruise?

Well, remember this picture and I will explain how I got the bruise later!!

America was lit up red, white and blue!!

We kind of just wandered!! It was sooo wonderful waving my flag around WS to the patriotic music. I just loved it! Tom got a Sam Adams...and we went and hung out inside Mexico for a little while.

Finally, around 12, we decided to head to FW to see if we could ride Test Track. We'd staying in Epcot for PM EMH before but the lines were always too long to ever ride anything. Well, TT said 30 mins but I reeeeally wanted to ride it at night so we got in line and guess what?!?!? There was actually NO wait at all! We walked RIGHT into the holding room. Makes me think that maybe they post longer wait times during PM EMH on purpose.

We were obviously feeling QUITE patriotic on this TT ride!!

After our ride, we just wandered around and took some pics.

When we got back to our room, we had the BEST surprise!! Our wonderful mousekeeper, Georgina, had made some towel animal friends and gave them my extra flags to hold and added them to my patriotic window!! How cool is Georgina!?!

Up Next: Sleep In and MGM!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

OMG, you are such a DORK!!! I love your ride pics better than anyone else's- you ALWAYS crack me up!!

Glad you liked the crepe- I thought it was yummy, too!!

You definitely inspired the crepe!

And I will proudly own the "dork" label! Just wait until the TT pic from later that night!

 

[UncleOrville]

Despite the rain (or maybe because of it since it probably contributed a lot to the low crowds), it looks like you had an awesome 4th of July! So cool that you got to meet Ben Franklin!! Although I always imagined him to be a bit more portly! Did he speak/ was he in character?

The patriotic ending to Illuminations sounds AMAZING! We were in Disney on the 4th a few years ago and we went to the Magic Kingdom fireworks that night (we arrived that evening and went straight to the MK) - I'm kicking myself for not even researching to see if Epcot had anything special. Although maybe this isn't something they've done in the past. Anyway, so cool that you got to see it!

 

[onelilspark]

Sometimes, my favorite thing to do at WDW is to just sit and watch the world go by

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

I love that you found the perfect spot, but I love more that you just enjoyed the show without worrying about filming! I do hate when I am totally happy with my spot and others come and disrupt it (even in the littlest way.)

 

[brookelizabeth]

Oh my word! That TT pic is even better than the last!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are hilarious!

I teared up at your description of Illuminations. I get teary eyed over the patriotic part of the EWP, so that would have had me bawling like a baby!

What a very fun night - except the two people who squeezed into your awesome spot at the last minute. Seriously. That kind of stuff drives me bOnkers!

Your Mouskeeper rules!

And thank you for the info on the TT pic. I think I recall someone else mentioning that now that you say it....I just have to remember this trip!

 

[KYCruiseCrazy]

USA USA USA

The TR is getting better.

 

[podsnel]

You definitely inspired the crepe!

And I will proudly own the "dork" label! Just wait until the TT pic from later that night!

I mean "DORK" in the best way!! You crack me up every time- the video of you doing the Glory Hallelujahdance was some of your best, most Dorky stuff ever!!! Can't wait to see what you did on TOT!!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Despite the rain (or maybe because of it since it probably contributed a lot to the low crowds), it looks like you had an awesome 4th of July! So cool that you got to meet Ben Franklin!! Although I always imagined him to be a bit more portly! Did he speak/ was he in character?

The patriotic ending to Illuminations sounds AMAZING! We were in Disney on the 4th a few years ago and we went to the Magic Kingdom fireworks that night (we arrived that evening and went straight to the MK) - I'm kicking myself for not even researching to see if Epcot had anything special. Although maybe this isn't something they've done in the past. Anyway, so cool that you got to see it!

Ben was a little bit in character...he didn't really talk much but he made some (over the top, imo) faces. Yeah, I didn't think he was the best guy to play Ben either but I was still happy to meet him.

Oh, btw, Lonnie was out in full force that day! We saw him a little later in the afternoon when we walked by again. He was outside ringing a bell and calling people to the American Gardens Theater for the Voices of Liberty concert.

If you ever do the 4th again, you MUST go to Epcot! With the special fireworks also on the 3rd in the MK, there's just no reason NOT to be there!

Sometimes, my favorite thing to do at WDW is to just sit and watch the world go by

It was nice....

I love that you found the perfect spot, but I love more that you just enjoyed the show without worrying about filming! I do hate when I am totally happy with my spot and others come and disrupt it (even in the littlest way.)

The two guys were a little annoying (and I admit, I had my leg out on the railing but I was stretching it waaaaaay to the left so they didn't have that much room) but once the show started, I didn't even notice them!

Oh my word! That TT pic is even better than the last!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are hilarious!

I teared up at your description of Illuminations. I get teary eyed over the patriotic part of the EWP, so that would have had me bawling like a baby!

What a very fun night - except the two people who squeezed into your awesome spot at the last minute. Seriously. That kind of stuff drives me bOnkers!

Your Mouskeeper rules!

And thank you for the info on the TT pic. I think I recall someone else mentioning that now that you say it....I just have to remember this trip!

Haha! Well the first TT pic, we were totally exhausted, now we were all excited about America!

Georgina totally rocked! She wasn't done either.....

USA USA USA

The TR is getting better.

Thanks! Just wait until the sun comes out!

I mean "DORK" in the best way!! You crack me up every time- the video of you doing the Glory Hallelujahdance was some of your best, most Dorky stuff ever!!! Can't wait to see what you did on TOT!!

Haha! I know, I know. I was e-mailing with one of my student's moms (I had the BEST parents last year) and she and her husband both used to work in DL when they were younger. (That's how they met! ) Anyway, she took the kids there this summer and sent me pics so I sent her the video I made and she was like, "You really are a huge Disney Nerd, aren't you!"

I'm usually too busy clapping and going "Wooooooo! Woooooo! Woooooo!" to do any sort of pose on TOT!

BTW, when's lunch?!?!

 

[Stefy]

Oh did you like the movie? Glad you were finally able to see it!!

TS3 was amazing, I loved it so much and the ending was just perfect. Provided they don't make a fourth, that was the perfect way to end it

Loving the updates, WS was eerily empty that day, love it

I love your idea to just sit and take it all in, Dave does too and wants to adopt that approach one day this year