Ft. Wilderness - Nov 1-8 - part 1
It's been quite a while since we've visited. Son's not wanted to go for a long time, but don't tell him we snuck down, okay? (Besides, he was busy at college.)
We arrived right around 11 - and hadn't had a site assigned yet. The cast member at the gate found one for us, and it wasn't long before we were passing a VERY long line of RVs trying to get out the gate. We couldn't believe how many folks were trying to get out, and how many had trailers/toads in the overflow parking. Our loop had a LOT of people breaking down their Halloween displays and loading them up - we'd seen a few Youtube videos about the elaborate site decorations, and recognized quite a few.
Once on-site we set up quickly and then headed over to Epcot... or tried to. First bus we got on was going the wrong way (rookie mistake, lol) and we ended up at the Wilderness Lodge. After taking interior shots and hitting the gift store for masks (it's a state law, lol) we caught the bus to Epcot, and my lovely bride's favorite attraction - Spaceship Earth. Then mine - Mission Space.
Then we wandered for a bit - Test Track didn't have much of a line, so we got onto that. I'm not much of a fan of the new (to us) theming on the attraction - I preferred the more industrial look of the previous version. This just seems too... slick? Yeah, that's the way to describe it. But the ride itself was just as much fun as always, even if the after-ride areas are rather dull in this time of Covid. (Had the same feeling after Spaceship Earth, too.)
Then down to check on the Frozen ride - which we had expected to miss since we'd originally been booked from Nov 2nd to Nov 8th, but were able to slide in a day early. Frozen had been scheduled to close for a refurb on the 2nd, so we weren't at all surprised to find that there was a long line on that. But we had a dinner reservation at La Haceinda de San Angel - so we figured we'd go through the Pyramid instead. That had a line also - but it moved quickly and it wasn't long until we were in. The Gran Fiesta Tour was fun - but I'll admit I miss the old El Rio del Tiempo ride.
Then it was dinnertime - and we had a great meal seated where we would have had a wonderful view of anything going on out on the lake - except nothing was going on. Ah, well. It was STILL a great meal.
Of course, the heavens had opened by the time the meal was over - but I'd planned ahead and had some disposable ponchos in the backpack. We squished over and got in line for Frozen - and I've really got to feel for the cast members who were managing the line's twists and turns. It was REALLY coming down, and I was amused by the folks who were complaining about all the rain. It's Florida - it's going to rain.
The ride itself was great - getting in out of the rain was a treat on it's own, lol. The theming's amazing, the sauna window was hilarious, the ride itself was... sigh. It was nice. Technically a whole lot of fun. But the sound effects and music really overwhelmed the dialog for me, and I couldn't understand the vocals.
We stopped and got Schoolbread for the next morning's breakfast, and headed out of the park... where I made a mistake around Spaceship Earth. We'd gone on it again, and coming out I stopped at the Pin Trading store.
And I got hooked on pins. Dang it! There was this one, and that one, and then there was another - and of course I'm going to need another lanyard, and... oh, look at THIS ONE! Before my lovely bride pried me away I had a sackful...
Well, as souvenirs go, it could have been a lot worse. We hoofed it back to the busses, caught the bus back to Ft. Wilderness, caught the bus to our loop, and collapsed. It'd been a LONG day...
