First time doing Disney in December! Day 5

[Ropachs]

Epcot day

Cast
Me 38
DH 37
DS 8
DD 4
In-laws

In our usual fashion, it was going to be hard to get to Epcot early on. So DH and DS went ahead of the rest of us and went on Soarin' and got fp's and then rode TT and Mission Space before we all joined up again. We all did Soarin' and somehow wound up with 2 extra fp's so MIL and I got to ride one more time, love DS but it was great to ride without him talking the whole time! As always, love the orange smell, but how is it that I don't remember the pine smell? Did I notice it more because it's Christmas time? Don't know, just really enjoyed it.

Then it was lunchtime already due to our late start. We were near Electric Umbrella so we just ate there, had a great spot to eat upstairs with a view outside to people watch. All headed over to see Nemo, first time to see it with Nemo and friends. Thought it was cute. I think we went on SSE and then split up. In-laws took DS and Dh and I took DD for a stroll around the showcase hoping she'd nap. No luck there. Wanted something from the CS in France (can't you tell I don't know how to spell it?) but the line was crazy. I love baklava so I grabbed a piece in Morocco, wish that would be a snack on the DDP. Shopped and did pressed pennies in Germany and rejoined the group.

Time to head over to dinner at Chef Mickey's. Something was wrong with the monorails that day and it took forever, we were 15 mins late for our ADR but were fortunately seated right away. Not thrilled with the buffet, but the characters were great. Time to meet our fellow WNYers who flew in that day to watch Wishes. Watched from the Contemporary, loved it. Then went to bed. I wish!

This is our miserable transportation story. We thought the best plan would be to take the monorail from the contemporary to the TTC back to OKW. Live and learn! We waited absolutely forever for the monorail to arrive at the contemporary. When it finally came it was, of course, full. And there were a ton of us waiting. We squeezed on and prayed that it wouldn't get stuck because it was highly uncomfortable! Got off at the TTC. This is when I learned that resort buses do not come to the TTC. I was not alone. It was a mess. Loads of confused people trying to ask bus drivers and other guests how to get wherever they were going. There was no CM to ask, only at the window where there was a huge line. We were finally told to go to Animal Kingdom. Finally got to AK to get an OKW bus. One was starting to pull away as we were running for it. I just about threw myself on it. The bus driver was very nice as we told him how it was taking hours to get back. So....next time....walk to MK and get a resort bus from there. Or we'll get a cab! Fortunately, we were all able to laugh about it later than night and fall asleep!

Up next: More at MK and dinner at LeCellier

[KylesMom]

Wow, lots accomplished by DH & DS before you arrived at Epcot today!

Watched from the Contemporary, loved it.

Did you watch from the observation deck on the same floor as Chef Mickey's? If so, do they still pipe "Wishes" in so it's synched to the music? It's been a long time since we watched it from there!

Ugh, what a nightmare to get back to OKW! Hoping this is the only big transportation snafu during the trip. I bet you slept well this night. Thanks for sharing yet another busy & fun day!

[faline]

Wow! Tough transportation day! Wonder if that's the day the Epcot monorail shut down for a while when someone ran into one of the support beams for the monorail line?

The park part of the day sounded like it was really nice and fun!

[RockinRobin]

We were staying at the GF that day saw the big line in the lobby ask what was going on and when we heard this we took a cab to HS it really didn't cost that much even with the tip but it sure was much easier.

[Ropachs]

Faline, yes, I believe it was the same day.

KylesMom, yes, that's exactly where we were. I thought we stumbled upon a great spot, but there were seats there and the music was piped out there...yet there were only our 2 parties and maybe 8-10 other folks. I'm guessing it was just another perk of a cold week...I'll take it!

RockinRobin, oh, how I wish we'd taken a cab! As we were standing in line at the Contemporary, I was quietly begging DH to do just that. No one else wanted to give up though.

[vizsla]

Thanks for the report.

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the Report!