I had conveniently not turned my alarm off on my phone, so I was awake plenty early. It’s a park day! I facebooked and such, reviewed our plans for the day, and then started getting ready.
I’d be lying if I told you I was anything but surprised when Nick said he wanted to do an Epcot day during this trip. We both consider Epcot to be the hottest park because of the lack of shade, and Nick hates the heat. It’s August. But…we’re doing it!
Just about 7, I scarfed a granola bar for a starter breakfast and we headed for the bus stop. We were ready for our park day!
A bus came along pretty quickly, and after a quick trip through the resort, we were on our way to Epcot. It was a fairly short and totally uneventful bus ride.
When we got to Epcot, I think we unloaded at the Coronado bus stop, so we found out exactly where that was. It was a quick walk to the entrance, and then we were through security and headed for the tapstyles. I was really surprised to find that they didn’t hold us long at the tapstyles at all. From timestamps, it looks like we were in the park, on our way to the next holding point, at 7:40.
This next holding point was off to the right, in the shade, which was great. They eventually put us into 3 lines so that they could divide and conquer scanning everyone to check that we were all hotel guests before we moved further into the park. This was a great system! No getting stuck behind the iPhone idiots! Yes, I do have a Google Pixel for a phone… Then about 8:00, they let us deeper into the park, to the next series of hold points. For us, this was near the new Communicore Hall, across from the entrance to Soarin.
We waited here until 8:30, and then it was off to the races. Except not really. While everyone else was racing to Frozen and Remy’s, we walked pretty leisurely onto Soarin.
After Soarin, it was time to make our way across the park for our Lightning Lane. We had perfect timing for our 9:15 Guardians Lightning Lane, so we scanned in (once I found the right tap point), and cruised right through the Lightning Lane line.
Now, if you remember our February 2023 trip, Nick referred to Guardians as “just a faster version of Spaceship Earth”, but when asked, he’d said he’d like to try it again, without as long a wait. So that’s what we were doing. We had no wait to get to the pre-show today (unlike our 40ish minute wait a year and a half ago). Once on the ride, we got another new to me song, “One Way or Another”, and Nick seemed to be enjoying himself. He still says, though, that the ride is not worth a very long wait. #jessieisabetterdisneybuddy
After Guardians, we worked our way back across Future World, or whatever Worlds they’re calling it today, doing some picture taking along the way.
Then it was time for a new attraction! We wandered through Moana’s Journey of Water. Now…I had been a real skeptic when this was first announced, and I wasn’t totally thrilled with adding an IP attraction in the middle of Future World. But…despite the IP seeming out of place at first glance, the attraction (and the IP as it relates to the attraction) DO in fact fit in Epcot. This is a great attraction. Although, it is a miserably humid area. But it’s super well done. We both had fun.
I then did a bit more picture taking as we worked our way back to the Land pavilion.
Once back at the Land, we settled on a bench and I checked in for breakfast on the app. Just a few minutes later, I got the text that our table was ready. We made our way to the hostess stand at Garden Grill and were led to a table in the outer circle.
Breakfast here was great. The service was great, the characters were really interactive, it was fun to see the Living with the Land ride from above, and the food really was delicious, especially for a family style character meal (with a special shout out going to the steak, the cheesy potatoes and the sticky bread). The barking dog from the ride got pretty annoying. But overall, we enjoyed this, and as we headed out, Nick (who had been most annoyed by the barking dog), surprised me with a “good call wifey” and also “next time we eat there we should just ask for no bacon and eggs and double steak and potatoes”. So…Garden Grill breakfast passed the Nick and Heather test! And we crossed another place off my “never been but want to and can’t justify during a festival” list!
Breakfast (brunch?) consumed, it was time to wander World Showcase. And wander we did. We explored the store (and the pop culture display) in Japan, listened to the Voices of Liberty in America, and watched the train and tried the butter bar (good, but why they hype?) in Germany.
Then it was time for a break. So we headed out of the park by way of the Creations shop, and we stumbled across my other favorite Epcot musical group: The Jammitors!
Once we’d watched The Jammitors, we really did leave the park. We were on a bus back to the hotel pretty quickly where Nick took a nap and I enjoyed the air conditioning and listened to the British guy in a neighboring room on the phone with some level of management claiming discrimination by the hotel. It was fascinating and I was bummed that I didn’t get the whole story, just what I could hear through the walls.
Around 4 we started getting ready to head back to Epcot. From the looks of time stamps, we were back in the park by quarter of 5.
The first order of business was food! We headed for the Mexico quick service (La Cantina?) where I got the cheese empanadas kids meal, because I’d heard this was an insane amount of food.
It was. For like $10, I got a kid sized soda, chips and queso, grapes, and 2 cheese empanadas. Nick and I shared it all, which worked perfectly on a really hot day in Epcot. Exciting food? Well no. Tasty food that was a solid value by Disney standards? Yes. Nick was shocked.
We then wandered World Showcase some more. We considered margaritas from La Cava but they have DRAMATICALLY decreased their menu so…meh. The line for Mexican Small World was also stupidly long so no. We eventually ended up at the ice cream shop in France. Nick got the brioche thing and I got the ice cream martini (coconut ice cream and gran marnier for mine). He enjoyed his. I didn’t didn’t dislike my treat, but it’s a one and done for me.
While enjoying our frozen treats, Nick informed me that if he ever suggests joining me in the parks again in August, I should slap him. Noted! We also decided that after ice cream, we’d work our way to the front of the park. We’d hit Living with the Land, and then he’d head back to the hotel and I’d stay in the park awhile longer. I wanted to see all the lights. He was done. Honestly, he’d held up a lot better than I’d anticipated.
When we got to Living with the Land, it was a walk-on. We didn’t pick any vegetables. We did enjoy sitting back and relaxing (although Nick did glare at the barking dog!).
From here we parted ways. Nick headed for the bus back to the resort. I headed for Nemo, because air conditioning.
After visiting Nemo (and some real life creatures), it was off to Spaceship Earth. This one had seemed like it was on the struggle bus today, but the line appeared to be moving, so I was hopeful. It did pause a couple times while I was in line, but nothing too crazy, so I was on the ride pretty soon. Its struggles continued though, and it paused numerous times while I was on the ride. It was a good opportunity to just chill though, and I got a good laugh out of the computer assigning me both spots on the spaceship thing on the trip back to Earth.
After Spaceship Earth, I wandered around the new area, taking it all in. I got a chicken and avocado stuffed arepa and coconut passion fruit smoothie from the Festival Favorites booth and settled in to watch what turned into an Elder Millennial dance party in the new plaza, when the band started playing the macarena. The smoothie should be a year round offering. The arepa was having a bit of an identity crisis, but the parts that weren’t fully loaded with cilantro were delicious.
Snack finished, I wandered Future World some more, enjoying the lights on Spaceship Earth and checking out Journey of Water after dark. This park is seriously awesome after dark with all of the lighting.
Once I’d gotten my fill of all things Epcot lights, I headed for the exit. I was on a bus fairly quickly. The bus ride itself was uneventful, but I spent the bus ride reading emergency alerts from home and texting with my MIL who was hiding from a thunderstorm in the basement with Gizmo. They’re both terrified of thunderstorms and lightning had struck a house just down the street from Kim and John, so they were having a major storm.
When I made it back to the room, I was greeted with a freshly filled mug of Sprite, since Nick had gone to the food court for a dinner of garlic knots and chicken tenders, and then after filling him in on the weather back home, I showered and we both crashed for the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment