Monday September 6th.
We had set a wake up call for 6:30AM and of course I was up around 6AM, way before the call was due. I decided to get up, shower and all that good stuff, trying to be quiet so I wouldn't wake up Marc.
We left the room pretty early, I would say it was around 8AM but I'm not 100% sure. Our bus to Epcot came pretty quickly. I think it's key to get buses about an hour before rope drop. They seem to be less crowded, at least at Pop.
We arrived at the park, did the bag check thing and stood in line at the turnstiles, in the blazin sun. There was ZERO shade that morning and I felt like I was cooking on a BBQ. It was awful. Before we even got into the park we were both miserable. I don't think I've mentioned the heat yet on our trip. It was HOTTTTTTT. Yes, with more than one T. The heat index was 105 most days. It was miserable. In 2008 it was not as warm, even the CMs all week were commenting on hot it was. I've been to Disney in July and I don't remember being that hot.
So yeah...it was Hot.
Finally, they let us into the park. I just wanted some shade. While we were roasting at the turnstiles, we had decided that Marc would get fastpasses for Soarin. I was worried to do the mad dash in my flip flops, I can't move as fast in them, so Marc offered. Once we were let in I just wanted shade but I saw Ms. Daisy Duck. So we went over there and got our picture taken. Apparently, we just did photopass and not our camera so you will have to wait for that photo.
Then Marc had to stop at the bathroom. I sat in the shade hoping that we wouldn't miss the rope dropping. Not that it would have been a huge deal if we missed it but I had a plan to ride Soarin stand by.
Marc finished and we headed to the rope.
Not a bad crowd at all. Before too long, the rope dropped and we headed out. Marc was letting people pass him! I joked at him and said, "Dodge & Weave!"
He started to move a little faster.
Here comes the rule breaking...
So he gets ahead of me and like a worried DISer, I keep my eyes on him, I need those fastpasses.
I get into The Land Building and I see Marc turning the corner where the escalators are. I keep walking and when I look up again...MARC IS GOING DOWN THE WRONG WAY. You know how they keep people all in one line either walking down the stairs or taking the escalators? Well, Marc goes right by the CMs standing there and walks down the stairs.
I'm horrified. I'm hoping that no DISers just saw my husband break the rules. I have horrific thoughts of CMs pulling him out of line and holding them like I've seen them do at Toy Story Mania. As I have a minor heart attack, I watch in amazement as NO ONE stops him. I can't believe it. Of course I feel guilty but what am I going to do?
So I get downstairs and I'm laughing to myself that of course Marc would go down the wrong stairs instead of follow the 100's of people going down the one way. Of course!
I meet up with him, he has our fastpasses and go in the standby line. I smack his shoulder and tell him he broke a rule! He has no idea what I'm talking about so I fill him in. He laughs. He says, "I thought everyone was just waiting for the escalator so I took the stairs to be faster."
Marc, Marc, Marc. I will never let him forget his silly rule breaking!
We had maybe a 10 minute wait for Soarin. It was fabulous, as always, except for whoever was taking flash pictures through the whole ride. Finally a CM came over the loud speaker and told them to stop.
After our ride, we decided to hit up Living with the Land while we waited for our FPs to come due.
Has this pond always been there? I think it's new since my last trip.
After Living with the Land, we hit up Soarin since our FPs were ready. Another great ride, front row middle without even asking!
At this point my feet were bothering me. You know how I get, panicky! So I had to do something. We sat on a bench outside and I dug through the bag to get my bandaids out. I had none! NONE. I forget to transfer them to the new park bag. Fail. Marc offered to head over to Mousegears to buy me some, I sat down and drank some water.
I drank it too fast, which bothers my band. When you do that, there is nothing to do but to get that water OUT. So I'm sitting there, hoping that the feeling passes and that I won't have to be sick. No luck. I finally get up and head to the bathroom. I see Marc coming back so I point to the bathroom and hurry in. I'm out in less than 5 minutes and I feel fine afterwards. That is one good thing about the band, most of the time after you "take care of business" you feel fine afterwards.
Marc bought me a little bandaid kit and I put one on. I think what happened is that I put too much body glide on my feet. It was making my feet slip TOO much in flip flops. Silly Leslie.
Bandaged and ready to go, we headed to Captain EO. As we walked over, I was still feeling friction so when we got in, I sat down on the floor and took out another bandaid. Another lady next to me was sitting down as well. A CM came through and YELLED at us to stand up. It was a little ridiculous, she was so rude. I understand it's a safety hazard but there were maybe 10 people in the waiting area. I had a bandaged out, already unwrapped, my flip flop off and everything so I quickly tried to put it on. The CM stood there with her hand on her hip and yelled again. I was so mad. FUMING mad. Obviously I was trying to put a bandage on. She didn't care. I finally was so flustered I stood up and just waited until we got into the theater.
After what seemed an eternity we were let into the theater. Let me just say Captain EO was interesting. It's so 80's and I kept expecting Thriller I guess. It was very loud, a few mothers had to take their little ones out. It was worth seeing but I probably wouldn't see it again unless I was going with someone who wanted to see it. The AC was lovely and I had time to put my bandaid on without getting yelled at.
After Captain EO, we decided to split up. Marc wanted to ride Mission Space and I headed to Test Track to get fastpasses then to head to Mousegears. It was miserably hot out. I just felt gross in the head. And at Epcot you have all that concrete glaring up at you. I was a little cranky because of the heat.
In Mousegears, I did find these lovely pouches that were a bag.
It had a strap and they all clipped onto it, so you could use one pouch or all three. Well, I decided that I could just unclip them from the strap and use them in the park bag. I used the smallest one to put my vera wallet in, along with our money and park tickets. The medium sized one I used for my pins for trading. They worked out awesome. Well worth the $20 to make our park bag a little more organized!
After a sucessful shopping trip, I headed outside towards the walkway that leads to World Showcase. We had called earlier for a Rose & Crown ADR. I will be honest, I lost count how many times I called the ADR line. We made A LOT of changes on our trip.
Who did I see while I was walking....
Great character meet. I looked in some of the outside shops that line the path, stood in front of their fans and finally admitted defeat and sat on a bench in the shade. Marc texted me and he was headed towards me. I saw him walk out and circle the fountain, he had no idea where I told him I was. I texted him again and said, "turn around"...he spotted me then.
He told me about Mission Space, he rode the orange side and loved it. He had a 10 minute wait or so. He said he rode with a lady and her daughters and the lady had a barf bag.
We headed to World Showcase, it was about 11:30. I thought we could check in to R&C early for our 12PM ADR. No such luck, they didn't open until 12PM. So we looked around the UK pavilion for a bit, no characters were out and then the heat got to us and we just sat on a bench. I was a bit disappointed in the Toy Shop in UK. It hardly had any toys, it just seemed like they took merchandise out of the other shops and put it in there, it was a little sad.
At a little before 12PM, we were able to check in and get a buzzer. After a few minutes we were seated in a lovely INDOOR table with the AC. Thank goodness.
I wanted to order the cheese plate but Marc wanted to try a new appetizer, "Yorkshire Pudding with Toad in the Hole." I agreed. It sounded good. We then ordered fish n' chips to share and a side order of bubble & squeak.
The appetizer was two yorkshire puddings, one had gravy with sausages (toad in the hole) and the other had a creamy mushroom bluecheese sauce, both were EXCELLENT.
I took maybe 3 bites and got stuck on the yorkshire pudding. UGH. I knew I shouldn't have had a bread product so I went to the bathroom. Trip #1.
I came out and pushed the food towards Marc and told him to finish the appetizer. He ate most of it, but not all. I ignored the bread basket that the CM had brought out.
Then our fish & chips arrived.
And our bubble & squeak (mashed potatoes with shreddad cabbage)
I ignored the french fries and cut myself a tiny piece of fish. I also had a bit of the bubble & squeak. After a few bites, Trip #2 to the bathroom to be sick. UGH UGH UGH. This was an awful trip, there was a woman coming out of the larger bathroom and I went to go in, she stopped me saying her daughter was in there. No biggie, I waited for the next one to open up. Next thing I know the lady tell her daughter she'll be out at their table. So here I am, in the bathroom being sick with a little girl in the next stall who proceeds to say, "You are making gross noises, you are rude, what are you doing? I'm going to tell my mom."
So.
Not.
Helpful.
I'm practically in tears. I can't eat, I'm hot, hungry and frustrated. I finish my business and book it out of the bathroom. When I get back to the table, I can tell Marc is stuck on what he had been eating so he goes to the bathroom. I don't eat anything else because I don't want to be stuck again. I ask the CM to bring me a pomengrante lemonade to go and she does. Marc finishes eating. His band doesn't seem to get as irritated as mine when I have to be sick so he was able to finish.
I'll be honest, I was so embarassed. I had barely eaten anything, having to go to the bathroom twice, I felt like everyone was looking at me. The CM kept asking me if the food was right and I just told her I wasn't feeling well. With everything that happened at lunch I was just ready to go back to the room.
Coming Up....
Epcot Overload...again?
Thankfully you and Marc get to decide when you are ready!!!!
to Marc's rule violation. He was probably feeling pretty smart taking a short cut! Too cute. The man was on a mission for his wife and wasn't going to let anyone/thing stop him. 
I knew what Toad in the Hole was from watching an episode of Chopped. I liked that I could order something that I learned about on the Food Network and it was really good, just little sausages on top of Yorkshire Pudding, I just wish I had been able to enjoy more of the food. I hated wasting the food and the money.
My friend had to leave the table 3x at The Wave and I knew she felt uncomfortable and needed to. I hope the day got better from there 
to me...the little girl butting in like that. 
I hope that things get better. 
