MrPeetrie
10-15-2012, 01:07 PM
We had no plans for this morning and afternoon. No ADRs. No tickets for events. Nothing. We were going to decide what to do the night before.
A week before our trip, we all thought this would be the day we finally made it to Blizzard Beach. Before we had our children, my wife and I had been to Typhoon Lagoon several times. On this trip, both of our kids made their first trip to Typhoon Lagoon, as well. But none of us have ever been to Blizzard Beach. We all agreed if the day was nice, we'd give it a try.
But as trips start to wind down, priorities change. When we began to discuss what we had left, we realized we didn't have enough time.
"You mean we're not going back there again?"
To this point, we had spent only one day at Epcot and one at Hollywood Studios. We decided to go to Epcot in the morning, have an early dinner at the Boardwalk, then finish at DHS.
We decided to have breakfast in the park. It has been a while since we've eaten morning fare there and I thought we could try the Electric Umbrella. But first things first, though. We had to ride Spaceship Earth before anything else. (DD9 and I were going to choose Portuguese as our language, but we didn't.)
Electric Umbrella isn't open for breakfast anymore, so we went to the Land Pavillion. It was just before the change-over to lunch and the pickins were slim. Very slim. While there, we grabbed FastPasses for Soarin', ate, then rode Nemo a second time this trip. There was a line for the ride, which I've never seen, and I had a feeling the crowd was going to be heavy. It would start heavy, but thin out later.
We saw Turtle Talk with Crush, which I thought was going to be a huge hit with my son (it wasn't), then my DS2 and wife went to MouseGear. DD9 and I rode Journey into your Imagination then used our FastPasses for Soarin'. We joined up with them and went to World Showcase.
Talk about luck. It was a soft opening for the Food & Wine Festival. Almost every kiosk was open. I started at Mexico and worked my way around. The South Korean booth was open (hooray!), complete with the Lettuce Wrap Roast Pork and Kimchi Slaw. Yum!! It's our favorite of the whole festival! I HIGHLY recommend it!!!
Again, on the fly, we change our plans. Let's just take our time and circle the World Showcase. We dropped plans to eat at the Boardwalk. We dropped plans to finish day at DHS. We were staying at Epcot. (Another Hooray!)
We did an Agent P mission in China. That was fun. The girls shopped in Germany. We next tried the Papacelli Napoletani (Sweet Italian Sausage with Peppers and Onions on Ciaibatta Bread). It was good, too. My wife got a wine, but I accidentally spilled it while they shopped. Somewhere in between, we also got the cheese fondue and sourdough bread. It was just ok.
A sudden storm whipped up, and we had to go inside the Italian store for cover. Guys, if you want some advice: don't go into the Italian store for cover from the rain. Stay in the storm. You'll fare much better.
Purse, necklace, watch later, the storm was over and my pocket was lighter. It was hot and sunny again, but the 20-minute rain thinned out the crowd.
Next, the two girls got the spicy tuna hand roll.
When we got to the UK, I showed my DD9 I could make the middle red phone booth ring. When someone answered, she almost fell over. She thought that was so funny.
"Make it ring again!"
We took such time circling the World Showcase that we finally reached the Canadian Pavillion in time for Off Kilter's last set. And they played some of our favorite songs, too. (You gotta love that!) When they finished playing, we found a spot for Illuminations: Reflections of Earth.
I picked a horrible spot. For one, the fireworks were completely blocked by a tree. I misjudged where the center was. Secondly, during the pre-show, there was a couple there, feeding the ducks crackers or something. Once my DD9 saw frenzied ducks swarming near us, she freaked out. (I don't think people should feed ducks people food anyway.) We eventually walked away.
We missed the fireworks the first time in Epcot because Le Cellier was running late. This time, it was purely my fault. We did see some of them, but from an obstructed location.
We shopped at MouseGear again. I'm not sure why, though. Truthfully, the one thing we kept saying is that the selection of merchandise is THE SAME EVERYWHERE!!!!! It was really disappointing. I remember location-specific apparel in the past. Now, if you've shopped at one store, you've shopped at them all.
We discussed the rest of the trip as we readied for bed. It became clear, we wouldn't see Animal Kingdom or Disney's Hollywood Studios until next year. That was a sad moment. Tomorrow would be the Magic Kingdom, but because there would be an event that night, it would be a short day. That would leave an opportunity to do some other must-dos before the trip's end.
Brush teeth. Stacy. Stories. Bed. Another great day was over. The soft-opening, coupled with a quick storm, was truly a blessing as we got to sample nearly everything without the huge crowd. It was perfect.
A week before our trip, we all thought this would be the day we finally made it to Blizzard Beach. Before we had our children, my wife and I had been to Typhoon Lagoon several times. On this trip, both of our kids made their first trip to Typhoon Lagoon, as well. But none of us have ever been to Blizzard Beach. We all agreed if the day was nice, we'd give it a try.
But as trips start to wind down, priorities change. When we began to discuss what we had left, we realized we didn't have enough time.
"You mean we're not going back there again?"
To this point, we had spent only one day at Epcot and one at Hollywood Studios. We decided to go to Epcot in the morning, have an early dinner at the Boardwalk, then finish at DHS.
We decided to have breakfast in the park. It has been a while since we've eaten morning fare there and I thought we could try the Electric Umbrella. But first things first, though. We had to ride Spaceship Earth before anything else. (DD9 and I were going to choose Portuguese as our language, but we didn't.)
Electric Umbrella isn't open for breakfast anymore, so we went to the Land Pavillion. It was just before the change-over to lunch and the pickins were slim. Very slim. While there, we grabbed FastPasses for Soarin', ate, then rode Nemo a second time this trip. There was a line for the ride, which I've never seen, and I had a feeling the crowd was going to be heavy. It would start heavy, but thin out later.
We saw Turtle Talk with Crush, which I thought was going to be a huge hit with my son (it wasn't), then my DS2 and wife went to MouseGear. DD9 and I rode Journey into your Imagination then used our FastPasses for Soarin'. We joined up with them and went to World Showcase.
Talk about luck. It was a soft opening for the Food & Wine Festival. Almost every kiosk was open. I started at Mexico and worked my way around. The South Korean booth was open (hooray!), complete with the Lettuce Wrap Roast Pork and Kimchi Slaw. Yum!! It's our favorite of the whole festival! I HIGHLY recommend it!!!
Again, on the fly, we change our plans. Let's just take our time and circle the World Showcase. We dropped plans to eat at the Boardwalk. We dropped plans to finish day at DHS. We were staying at Epcot. (Another Hooray!)
We did an Agent P mission in China. That was fun. The girls shopped in Germany. We next tried the Papacelli Napoletani (Sweet Italian Sausage with Peppers and Onions on Ciaibatta Bread). It was good, too. My wife got a wine, but I accidentally spilled it while they shopped. Somewhere in between, we also got the cheese fondue and sourdough bread. It was just ok.
A sudden storm whipped up, and we had to go inside the Italian store for cover. Guys, if you want some advice: don't go into the Italian store for cover from the rain. Stay in the storm. You'll fare much better.
Purse, necklace, watch later, the storm was over and my pocket was lighter. It was hot and sunny again, but the 20-minute rain thinned out the crowd.
Next, the two girls got the spicy tuna hand roll.
When we got to the UK, I showed my DD9 I could make the middle red phone booth ring. When someone answered, she almost fell over. She thought that was so funny.
"Make it ring again!"
We took such time circling the World Showcase that we finally reached the Canadian Pavillion in time for Off Kilter's last set. And they played some of our favorite songs, too. (You gotta love that!) When they finished playing, we found a spot for Illuminations: Reflections of Earth.
I picked a horrible spot. For one, the fireworks were completely blocked by a tree. I misjudged where the center was. Secondly, during the pre-show, there was a couple there, feeding the ducks crackers or something. Once my DD9 saw frenzied ducks swarming near us, she freaked out. (I don't think people should feed ducks people food anyway.) We eventually walked away.
We missed the fireworks the first time in Epcot because Le Cellier was running late. This time, it was purely my fault. We did see some of them, but from an obstructed location.
We shopped at MouseGear again. I'm not sure why, though. Truthfully, the one thing we kept saying is that the selection of merchandise is THE SAME EVERYWHERE!!!!! It was really disappointing. I remember location-specific apparel in the past. Now, if you've shopped at one store, you've shopped at them all.
We discussed the rest of the trip as we readied for bed. It became clear, we wouldn't see Animal Kingdom or Disney's Hollywood Studios until next year. That was a sad moment. Tomorrow would be the Magic Kingdom, but because there would be an event that night, it would be a short day. That would leave an opportunity to do some other must-dos before the trip's end.
Brush teeth. Stacy. Stories. Bed. Another great day was over. The soft-opening, coupled with a quick storm, was truly a blessing as we got to sample nearly everything without the huge crowd. It was perfect.