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View Full Version : ~ Day 6 - January 21, 2022



Disney-4-Me
02-02-2022, 05:39 PM
Tilly (4), Adam (the daddy) & me (the granny)

This was our 2nd EPCOT day. We enjoyed the monorail ride over. I do have to say we miss the days of getting to ride in the 'nose' with the pilot. We have thought for years that it wasn't allowed anymore because of the monorail accident, but a pilot explained to us that it was because the DOT runs the monorail system. I don't know if that's an authentic explanation but it sounds good.

We had LLs for Spaceship Earth and Figment then Tilly spent quite a bit of time playing in the jumping fountains. I enjoyed watching her act just like her daddy did when he was her age.

We had lunch reservations for the Coral Reef. It's been years since we've eaten there. I never would have thought I'd be eating something other than seafood there but I had prime rib. The menu has changed quite a bit over the years. We were pleasantly surprised to be seated at a table right next to the tank. Over the course of our lunch the biggest stingray kept coming over to rest right next to Tilly. There were also four divers in the tank, some feeding the fish. They provided a lot of entertainment. I could watch the sea life for hours and never be bored.

As soon as we were seated Tilly said, "This is a fancy restaurant" and she proceeded to take her cloth napkin and lay it out like a mini tablecloth and set her silverware on it. We enjoyed watching her be 'fancy'! While we were splurging we had another couple of 50th Anniversary desserts. They are beautiful pieces of art. I think our lunch probably lasted 2 hours.

I looked at Frozen on my Genie+ app. The price was $11 for an individual LL. Those tickets were sold out and the standby line was 80 minutes. This is crazy to me! I do have to laugh at the 'Sold Out - Enjoy via Standby' note on Genie+. First of all I wouldn't pay $11 for one of us, much less $33 for the 3 of us to ride. Personally I loved Brave and Moana much more than Frozen. I actually enjoyed the Norway ride previously and always stayed to watch the movie too. Anyway...

We walked along and enjoyed the Festival of the Arts artwork. We popped in several tents to look closely at some amazing pieces of art. We really enjoyed the chalk work and watched one of the artists creating a new piece. It's amazing what can be done with chalk and a piece of sidewalk.

We walked around to see the American Adventure. Tilly stayed awake and alert throughout the show. Later that night we heard her in the bathtub singing, "One was gentle, one was kind..." right on tune. I guess it's never too early to start teaching history to our children.

Tilly spotted Snow White waving from the back of a garden spot. We also stopped and watched the little trains in miniature Wurzburg. We were heading next to Test Track. I didn't get a LL for this so it was about an hour wait. Since Tilly decided this was her favorite ride, she didn't complain at all about the wait. She entertained herself by talking about her car design.

We were just at the entrance fountain in time to watch the Rainbow Connection light show again. I really enjoyed it and think it's a positive change. I'm kind of a purist when it comes to Spaceship Earth and during the daylight you can't see any difference, but the light show after dark is magical.

We watched the MK fireworks from the Poly beach and that was another end to a perfect Disney day!

faline
02-06-2022, 12:25 PM
Another lovely day!!

Unfortunately, 80 minute+ wait times are pretty much the norm recently for standby lines to many attractions.

PopPhan
02-06-2022, 12:38 PM
Another lovely day!!

Unfortunately, 80 minute+ wait times are pretty much the norm recently for standby lines to many attractions.

I was wondering...Do you think this is because of Genie+ or are the parks just that busy right now? I had assumed (Yes, I know what that means! LOL) that mid-January, after Marathon Weekend, would be a bit 'slower' for the parks, but it really did not seem that way.

faline
02-08-2022, 12:12 PM
I was wondering...Do you think this is because of Genie+ or are the parks just that busy right now? I had assumed (Yes, I know what that means! LOL) that mid-January, after Marathon Weekend, would be a bit 'slower' for the parks, but it really did not seem that way.

I thinks it's a combination of factors. There seems to be more people in the parks. We were in Epcot yesterday and it felt like a weekend during the food & wine festival - lots of people everywhere. It also appears that the standby lines are longer under the new lightning lane system. We were in Animal Kingdom last week and saw lots of Lightning Lane people coming through that line which seemed to increase the stated 60 minute standby line quite a lot. I don't know how many lightning lane passes Disney is allowing per hour but it appears to be quite a lot.