Family Reunion Day 1 (Dec. 22nd) Epcot

[indytraveler]

This day started out like any other WDW day for us. Got up early and to the park before rope drop. Actually we were 1/2 hr early before non resort guests could get in. So in our minds we were on time. Not everyone in our family does Disney like we do so we were the first one's in the park. We like to ride our favorites a couple of times but at least once we need to ride.

First off, Get FP for Soarin, while walking to Test Track. My fast walkers DD's 20, and 18 handle the FP's while the rest strolled to Test track to ride stand by. We all met up and did both rides and before 10:00 (Park opened at 9) and while we were in the Land we rode the Living with the Land as well.

Next off was back to get FP's for Test Track and ride Mission Space in Standby for Green. Once we rode that we started our walk thru The World Showcase. Starting in Canada and working our way around counter clockwise. We made it Teppan Edo in Japan for lunch and then headed out to finish our walk around the different nations. We stooped to watch some of the different street performances along the way and made to Norway for Maelstrom and then to Mexico for the Gran Fiesta Tour.

Side note, this was a bad time to be in Norway after 1:30 due to the Frozen movie and the line waiting to see the Princess there. They didn't feel they needed all that much space back in '82 when it was built but that is a log jam everytime we are there. Dining with Princesses, Mealstrom, and now the line to meet Anna and Elsa... Wow very congested.

Anyways, it was now time to ride TT with FP's and off to see Ellen and her Energy quest. By this time we met up with my brother and his daughter (5) so we rode Figment and the Seas with Nemo and friends. Spaceship Earth was next and so was Mission Space.

By this time the two teenage boys were getting hungry, so we headed off to the the Liberty Inn to get them some Chili Cheese Dogs. While we were there we listened in on Trace Adkins and the Candlelight Processional for a bit before we went back to ride Test Track yet again. This time the standby line was long enough so we decided it was single rider time. Only a small hiccup with that, glad it was me and not the boys and then off for Mission Space yet again. They rode twice, Green then Orange, while I just rode Green and took a seat and people watched.

Having whooped it up for awhile they were thirsty so we headed to Club Cool to sample some of Coke's finest products from around the world. My son asked me which one is the best and of course I told him Beverly and he and my nephew "swallowed" it all before realizing they had been had. Sorry it was too tempting to resist. Anyway it was getting close to Illumination time so we met up with the rest of the family near Norway to watch the show.

Recap:
My expectations that day were of long lines and lots of people. We had been to Epcot a few years earlier on the 28th of December and experienced a massive amount of people. We actually were pleasantly surprised by the amount of time we didn't wait in line. Longest wait time that day for us was 40 min. and that was the single rider line at TT. We utilized our FP's the best way we could, before they were used up and had an enjoyable day. Great start to our vacation.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Sounds like a good day at Epcot. Thanks for the report

[mickclub1955]

Sounds like a wonderful day. You do Disney like I do Disney. Commando style. Shame on you for the Beverly incident!!!!! I would have done the same thing. There is just something so tempting on doing that. Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.