So...the holidays are over, I have recovered from a horrendous bout with both the actual flu and a stomach flu, and I have a goal of getting this blog series at least somewhat done before the new year. Ambitious, considering that I'm still only on Tuesday, but we'll try.
Tuesday began like most days for the Johnson family. Up by 6 AM, out the door by 7 AM, for an 8 AM opening of the park. We chose to go to the park that opened early for extra magic hours-this is a controversial decision. Most sites recommend against it, as that park is ineveitably more crowded that day. However, as I mentioned, going in early October, there was no one there. And so, even if it was a slightly more full park, it was still worth getting up early and beating what crowd there was.
So, we drove to Epcot, parked in the front row (this always made Nick happy, to park in the front row), and got in the line to enter the park. This is where Joy's intinerary became invaluable. When the park opened, my husband wanted to go to Spaceship Earth-because it was right there in front of us. Let me assure you, you need never, ever worry about a line at Spaceship Earth. If you walk up to Spaceship Earth and there is a line, leave and come back later. You should never, ever stand in a line for Spaceship Earth.
No, when the park opened, we made a mad dash over to the Land, hurried down the stairs and into Soarin'. We were among the first people to ride this incredibly popular ride. Basically you are strapped into a seat and lifted up-the rest of the ride is a feeling that you are soaring over the most beautiful scenery but you aren't actually moving. It was a wonderful ride and the girls (especially Felicity) loved it. Felicity was scared of a lot of rides, but this one was just pure fun.
After that, we rode Living With The Land. It is a boat ride and we were the only people on it. Still amazes me. It was really interesting to see how they grow the food there, especially since we later ate at the Land for lunch. But more about that later.
Then I made what in hindsight was a tactical error. We should have gone to one of the other pavillions that was open early-but we chose to wait around 15 minutes to watch the "Circle of Life" movie about conservation. It is a cute movie, but still, we wasted 15 minutes waiting.
We walked over to the Living Seas next. The thing about Epcot is that things can take as long as you want. We rode the short ride in, then took in Turtle Talk with Crush-which is so very cute, I highly recommend it-and then we watched the fish for a while. They were feeding the fish at that time, so it's an interesting time to go.
We had fastpasses for Mission: Space and Test Track, so we had to walk over to the other side of Future World (another important caveat for Epcot-it is large and walking places takes a lot of time). Betsy and I rode Mission: Space and chose to do the tamer version. I love thrill rides, but I didn't get much out of it. Betsy liked it more than I did.
Test Track we all four rode. You are in teams of 2 and 2, so Nick went with Betsy and I went with Felicity. You get to design your own car and then test it out and compare your scores. Of course, Nick and Betsy won (Felicity was mostly concerned with the color of our car, which was pink). It was a lot of fun.
Next, I wanted to fit in the Universe of Energy. However, it was just a hair past 11 AM, and we would have had to wait 15 minutes for another show to start and then it takes 45 minutes total to view the whole thing. This was just too much time to fit anything else in, and try as I might, we never did make it back.
Instead, we walked over to Innovations and went in Club Cool, where you can sample different kinds of Coke from around the world. We enjoyed it very much, as we were quite thirsty. Then we went to Journey Into Imagination and rode it. (We were told later that it is being closed in 2014 for extensive renovations.) We did a lot of the fun, try it yourself things at the end (being there when no one is there really helps with getting to do hands on stuff at Epcot), but did not have time to see Captain EO (I'm not sure that would have meant much to the girls, as they really don't know too much about Michael Jackson-my bad).
We had a fastpass to meet the Disney Characters available at the Character Spot, who turned out to be Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy. We played a game about saving money next, which was really cute for the girls. Then we headed back up to the Land for lunch. The Land is the best place to lunch at Epcot, I think, especially on the quick dining plan. There are lots of different options (it's like a food court) and very healthy ones at that. Our food was really delicious.
We then had just enough time to squeeze in that Spaceship Earth ride before we had to leave, to get to the Grand Floridian for the girls Alice in Wonderland tea party. This cost $40 per kid, which in the world of Disney is relatively cheap. It was a really nice time for the girls-it was only them and Mallory and two other girls-for one hour having a tea party with Alice and the Mad Hatter. They had tea and cookies, and made a craft, and just basically had a grand time (I will upload the pictures to my Facebook page, and just watch how much fun they are having). April, Jeremy, Nick, Mom, Dad, Natalie, and I hung out in the lobby for an hour, talking, while they were enjoying.
Now, again in hindsight, I should have let the girls bring their bathing suits and go swimming afterwards. The Grand Floridian has really nice pools, including a very cute Mad Hatter themed pool that Felicity wanted to swim in all week. But instead, we hurried over to Hollywood Studios in order to catch Lights! Motor! Action! This is a long show about stunt work, which I thought would be really cool for Nick. Which it probably was-but the girls would have had more fun swimming.
However, very cooly, we came out of that show and quite near a side street where they were having a practice for character greetings. This was a cool way to meet a lot of characters at once, and not common ones. We met Mulan, Pinnochio, Genie-and more that I'm having touble remembering-good thing we took pictures.
We rode the Great Movie Ride and Star Tours (Felicity was chosen as the rebel spy and the girls love that). We saw Muppets 4-D. We chose to go to the second showing of Fantasmic!, so we were able to ride Toy Story Mania with no line (which never, ever happens) and it is indeed the best ride at Disney World. Then we went to see Walt Disney: One Man's Dream, which is touching and made me cry. Then we went over to watch the second Fantasmic! It is fabulous and not to be missed.
It was a lot to crowd into one day, but again, the no lines thing was so cool. In the end, yes, I would have planned some things in a different order, but mostly, it was tons of fun.
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