I got a whopping zero comments yesterday. Clearly you’re all VERY excited about my vacation play-by-play. Oh well, sorry Charlies. This is the important part of blogging… documenting the things you’re going to want to look back on one day.
Tuesd
ay was Epcot day. I was really excited about Epcot. Now that I’m a grown up (I suppose), I felt like I’d get much more out of it.
I feel like we were a bit robbed. It rains in Florida, that is no secret. But I’m pretty sure we were caught in a spontaneous hurricane that day. Do those exist? Spontaneous hurricanes? Someone do some research please.
Attractions:
-Soarin’ – This was neat. It was as if you’re flying on a hang-glider type thing. We flew across the country, over water, through mountains, and into Disney. The simulator was in front of a giant screen and you’re lifted about 40 feet up so it really feels real.
-Living with the Land – Parts of this were boring, but parts were very interesting. It’s a boat ride through some photos and dumb stuff, but it also take you through Disney’s green house and shows you the innovative ways they grow plants. It’s really neat. The only downside is that it’s located in the back of a VERY VERY busy building that is loud and swarming with kids. This was the beginning of my sore throat and the first thing we did at Epcot, I got cranky.
-Nemo & Friends – Skip this. Skip this please. Y’all, this was my lowest point of the week. We did this right after the Living with the Land ride. It is dreadfully boring, slow moving, and swarming with kids. Also, it’s possible I didn’t get enough sleep the night before.
-Mission: Space – Fun fun fun! We did this ride twice, I wouldn’t recommend doing it any more than that. You’re put in (another) simulator that basically spins so incredibly fast that your cheeks are plastered against the wall behind you and you feel like you’re in space. It’s incredibly fun. However, after the second time, we both felt a bit like our brains had been scrambled.
-Journey Into Imagination with Figment – This was a cute little ride that celebrates imagination. I feel like it could have been done a little better though. There were some brain-teaser type images hanging throughout the ride and I wish Figment would have challenged the kids to try them. Regardless, it was cute and had some neat activities afterward.
-Ellen’s Energy Adventure – I love Ellen, so I loved this. It begins in an auditorium and then the seats move you through a story. It’s not incredibly stimulating but it’s not all bad. Most of Epcot is pretty low key so don’t expect thrills and chills from any of the rides.
Food:
Breakfast was at our hotel, as usual. If you aren’t familiar with Epcot, there is a part of the park that has miniature countries. You can visit Japan or Norway or Canada. It’s really pretty neat. Some countries have small rides, some have shows, some have restaurants, etc. I decided I wanted to eat in France. That’s reasonable, right? Epcot’s France may be the closest I ever get to Julia Child. I’m not kidding. We cam out of the Figment ride and looked outside. HURRICANE. We had two options: We could wait it out or we could press on! Since every ride and attraction ends with a gift shop, we decided to spend $18 on two Mickey Mouse ponchos and head out into the storm.
It wasn’t so bad at first. Only our legs and feet were getting wet. Then the storm picked up. We tucked our arms into our ponchos and bent our heads down to shield us from the water. We made our way toward France but somewhere around the UK, I about lost my freaking mind. My feet were cold and wet, I couldn’t even bring myself to walk another ten feet. We ran into the closest restaurant which ended up being a nice pub. We had some beer until a table was available.
We spent the rest of the day walking around with squishy shoes. No toes were freezing and I was extremely uncomfortable. (Remember the sore throat too?) We had dinner at a counter service place in Morocco where I had the Shwarma plate and Stephen has a gyro combo plate. Both were good. I wasn’t a big fan of the side dishes (minus the humus), but I still had my fill. Then we headed back to the hotel where I sat in a steaming hot bath tub until my toes regained feeling.
I look forward to repeating Epcot one day. I’d like to visit each country. I remember seeing amazing Chinese acrobats when I went in high school. I’d love to see that again! We ended up still having a wonderful day, it just wasn’t as great as it could have been.
There aren’t many photos from that day… just a few of my cute husband. Oh, and one of the closed counter in Mexico where they are supposed to have churros.
It was a crazy day yesterday so I missed the post. Besides, I think you might just roll your eyes and think, “Wow. Here she is again,” when you see my name on your comments.
One day if ever I visit Disney ever, ever again, I’d like to know these things.
It rained really hard when we went to Disney when I was a kid. We ended up riding this boring tram over and and over and over again all afternoon… I think it was called the Segway People Mover or something like that. It was a mini-monsoon. I guess that happens in Florida?
As a resident of Orlando, I can promise you what you experienced was not a spontaneous hurricane lol. It was our typical summer showers. We get that monsoon pretty much daily from about…. April/May until Sept/Oct. If we don’t get it.. the weather ppl start to get frantic and talks of ‘droughts’ and limited sprinkler use is all you hear. Florida summers consist of horrible humidity and tons of rain. You’d think the rain would help, but nope.. it’s even more humid AFTER it rains. It sucks and this is just 1 reason why I can’t stand living in Florida.
Personally, I can’t stand Disney or anything Disney related. Though, that could be because I’ve lived 20 min away from Disney for the past 26 years and when I was young, my parents tortured us with Disney every. single. weekend. for 2 yrs. As a 7 yr old, you would think I loved it. And I did.. for the 1st 6 months. After that, my brother and I would beg NOT to go.
To me, Epcot is kinda cool. It’s more educational than anything really. Oh and Universal.. yea.. they aren’t as ‘chipper’ as Disney employees. I think 1 reason is b/c Universal doesn’t stress it as much as Disney. I had a friend get fired from Disney because he didn’t ‘smile’ enough. They seriously are like the Smile Nazi’s. No matter WHAT happens, you smile and make the guests feel like they’re having a magical time.. even if there is a serial killer running around killing everyone. YOU. MUST. SMILE. It’s pretty crazy…
I still haven’t made it over to Harry Potter though. I hear it’s pretty cool… maybe 1 day.. before I die.. I’ll go. lol
As a native Floridian (though not from Orlando), I concur that it wasn’t a hurricane. My rule of thumb for Florida weather is that a) It usually rains really hard for 20minutes-1hour and then stops abruptly every day in the summer and b) Florida weather doesn’t like to follow rules-of-thumb and will do whatever the heck it wants to.
Soarin’ is by far my favorite Epcot ride! I could go on it a million times if the line wasn’t so dang long! The Nemo thing is awful, it replaced a really awesome under-water (10 thousand leagues, perhaps….can’t remember) ride/attraction that I used to love as a kid. Or maybe I just grew up and it really wasn’t wonderful either.
The countries are neat! It’s the best food Disney offers (which still isn’t terribly authentic, sadly) but some countries tend to be randomly closed. There is no rhyme or reason to it, it just is.
Epcot is my favorite of all the parks! I think I could go daily for 3 weeks and still not have seen it all there. Sorry you had a bummer time. Hopefully, you’ll get back some (dry) day and have a great time!