Darth Macho's 2012 Dream Trip: Day 8 of 14

**darthmacho** · 09-18-2012, 02:57 PM

Darth Macho’s Dream Trip, Day 8
The Land We All Love

The Cast:
DM: Darth Macho (41yo)
DW: Darth Wife (41yo)
DD1: Darth Daughter 1 (11yo)
DD2: Darth Daughter 2 (8yo)

The Stage:
Epcot, Future World

The Report:

After a couple of long days, the family was having trouble getting going this morning, so I was getting concerned about long line on Soarin’, especially since Test Track was down for a refurb/makeover. My only hope was that the “crowd planner” site I’ve been following promised some of the lowest crowds for any park during the trip. That, combined with Isaac threatening, seemed to keep the crowds at bay. It was a rather gloomy weather day with wind and threatening rain. When we got to Epcot well past 9, I decided to not bother running to Soarin’ and started with Spaceship Earth before heading to the Land for Soarin’. My crowd fears were relieved when there was just a 20 minute wait for Soarin’ posted. It didn’t even take that long really, as we were on in less than 10. We decided to grab a FP for later after we rode, and moved on to Living With the Land, which ironically we waited for longer than Soarin’. Go figure.

We decided to head over to the Living Seas to ride the shells and visit Crush, which we missed last time, so I was making it a priority. The kids were getting hungry, so we skipped the aquarium (a decision I’d later regret, because we never got back to see the manatees) to make sure we got to Sunshine Seasons for an early lunch. Apparently it had just turned over because there was a pretty big crowd there partaking in breakfast or lunch. We grabbed a delicious lunch, confirming that this is one of my favorite quick service places in the parks.

With lunch over, we used our Soarin’ FP, and it took longer than when we rode it earlier to get on in the stand-by. Go figure. The kids wanted to do Mission: Space, and DW opted out, even though we had all agreed to do the toned down green version. DD1 was adamant about being the commander, DD2 agreed to be the pilot, and I was the engineer. We had to rely on the computer to be our navigator. Regardless, we crashed on Mars anyway.

Afterwards, we went over to the front of the park to get photos with Epcot’s odd couple, Stitch and Daisy Duck, who have a spot near Spaceship Earth, which we then rode again. The kids played in the arcade there for a while as it was raining a bit, but when it let up, DD1 wanted ice cream, so we went over to Imagination, but stopped at Fountain View first. Apparently due to the weather, the fountain was in “B’ mode, and wasn’t much of a view. We also had to thoroughly wipe down the seats outside in order to sit, because they were soaked with rainwater, but it was a nice relaxing snack. I got an iced coffee to give me some pep. DW wanted to see Captain EO, but she decided not to when none of us would go with her. Instead we all crossed over to the Energy Pavilion for Energy Adventure, which I hadn’t seen since 2003.

It was back to the Land Pavilion for our ADR at Garden Grill, which we loved. The characters were awesome here, and the revolving restaurant was a real treat. It’s a very underrated gem. I’ll write a review.

We decided to call it a day and with Isaac skirting the area overnight, we went back to Pop and got some swimming and laundry in before the heavy rains arrived. The big disappointment of the day was that Petals was closed, so I was relegated to free coffee instead of a delicious Captain’s Mai Tai while I was doing the laundry. Oh well. I called my dad at home because it was his birthday, and talked to my mom too. Around 11, we hit the hay just as the rains came. It was a pretty long day, but a good one.

More to come!

**January-2007** · 09-18-2012, 03:51 PM

Thanks for reporting. We went to Garden Grill in January and really enjoyed it.

**Dopey's Girl** · 09-18-2012, 04:18 PM

Garden Grill is a fun meal. Haven't done it in a while, but have always enjoyed it.

Kind of a soggy day, but you still got lots done!

**SBETigg** · 09-18-2012, 07:06 PM

Sounds like a great day! Wow, on the Soarin' wait. And so much done before the big rain came.

**faline** · 09-18-2012, 08:41 PM

The only time I've ever been on Soarin' as a walk-on (essentially) was when we were in California where Soarin' always seemed to be a walk-on!! How lucky for you!!

Nice day despite the imminent storm threat.

**DisneyorBust** · 09-19-2012, 09:21 AM

Another great day in Epcot! Great luck with Soarin' too.

**amorillo** · 09-19-2012, 09:39 PM

Sounds like another great day. My family loves Garden Grill... although we haven't eaten there in years. The last time we were there those mischievous chipmunks tried to steal my son!