Today was our first real Disney day and Id chosen Epcot because of the newbies in the group. I think its a great park but I feel it doesnt have the same kind of magic as the others and I was worried it would be a let down if we went to the MK first.
I was keen to get to all of the parks in time for opening so that we could ride the big rides first and avoid the lines. DH2b wasnt too keen we had gone the same period last trip and not left the hotel until at least 9am but then we were in hotel 2 minutes away from AKL and there were only two of us to worry about! And besides this year Id heard about Jersey Week and that had me quite worried
Luckily Dad was on the case and told everyone to meet at the truck at 8am (slightly early but he later told me he always planned to get away at 8.15 every day and he was actually allowing for us all to be a bit late!).
So by 8.10 we were all buckled in Id collected $1 off everyone for the parking wed checked everyone had their passes and we were off!
We parked up and everyone spent a few minutes applying sunscreen and taking pictures of spaceship earth (see I said to DH2b we didnt do this, hence we got to sleep later
) by 8.30 we were standing in the line for the turnstiles. This is quite a result for us for even in the years when we went as a family mum dad me and David we were never at the gates in time for opening although we did used to go peak times and parks open much earlier then
They opened the turnstiles at about 8.45 and we were allowed to go up to the entrance of Spaceship Earth where there was a rope. There was a CM with a megaphone trying to get the crowd excited
hang on were at WDW were already excited!! Then the bus came over with all the characters on which was cool I loved the tune that was playing I have it on a Disney album so I knew all the words and was singing it for a few hours afterwards!
When they finally dropped the rope we avoided all the people heading to meet the characters and walked as fast as we could to Soarin. We got split in two as we walked as mum and dad, David and Emma were dawdling but we decided to meet them at the exit and jumped in the queue I think the wait was 10 minutes. I rode Soarin at Disney Land a few years back so knew what to expect but thanks to the tip off from DISers I knew which row we wanted to be in so I quietly asked the CM and she waved us on! Hooray :0) The ride was just as good as I remembered.
Back outside we waited at the bottom of the escalators for an age for the others to come out at this point I decided that DH2b and I would be in charge of FPs and that we would go on ahead where necessary to pick them up. So when the others finally appeared we grabbed the park passes and hightailed it over to Mission Space telling the others to head to Test Track and get in line.
We only got 4 FPs for MS and then the other 4 for TT some of us just arent brave enough to ride that thing! We met the others at TT and stood in line for about 5 minutes. Both DH2b and I really love this ride especially the bit where you go outside and pick up some speed. Once it was over we jumped back in the FP line while David, Emma, Ian and Victoria went to do MS.
We met them in the exit as we wanted to play space race for those of you that havent been its a great simulation for kids and adults where you form two big teams and you have to hit various buttons to move things around on a ship and its a race between the two teams. You can get to it through the shop and then walk up the exit of the ride. Its great fun so even if youre not riding MS check it out.
I think by this time it was probably about 10.30 and I was a little stressed from trying to move people about the park so we decided to split up and go our separate ways aiming to meet at Spaceship Earth at 3pm.
DH2b and I teamed up with Ian and Victoria and went to see Honey I shrunk the Audience. I think that was it for FW so we headed to the World Showcase. The food and wine festival was in full swing so it was very busy with all the extra stands in place and people just enjoying the atmosphere.
It was really hot probably high 80s and we were getting tired from the walking.
I didnt really enjoy Epcot that day as much as usual I felt like we didnt even scrape the surface of it but then you cant please 8 people all at once besides DH2b isnt a big fan of this park well the WS in particular so he took advantage of the situation and whizzed us round. We didnt even get to see the American Adventure :0(
We rode Maelstrom which I think is cool although a little short I love going on it with new victims as you can tell them that were about to go down the falls backwards and the believe you! I did however get a bit of a soaking at the bottom by the oil rig wed landed and were just stopped there for a second when there was some sort of eruption and the water hit me on the way down!
We had to wait quite a while for the theatre doors to open and were getting quite chilly when they finally did we rushed through to the other side so we could exit without watching the film!
We did want to give Rio del Tempro {sp} another try as we heard it had been refurbished but we didnt have time.
We met up with the others and decided to go straight back to the villa missing out Spaceship Earth I cant remember why I think DH2b and David convinced the others it was rubbish so not worth the effort hmm I like that one too!
Back at the villa there was time for a very quick nap and then a shower before we headed out to IHOP. {As youll see as this report goes on I LOVE this place
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The boys were obsessed with the solitaire game and spent ages trying to figure out how to do it DH2b mastered it once but then wouldnt share the secret with anyone else!
As always the food was great as well as the waitress DH2b rated the fries about a 9 and we all managed some pancakes for desert.
Then it was back in the truck and over to the Magic Kingdom.
We had to split our day like this as it was the only night we could see Spectromagic. We got there at about 7pm so we went and staked out a spot in Frontierland to see the parade. We left DH2b and Ian and the rest of us went off to ride BTMR in the dark. The wait was only about 10 minutes so we rode it twice Ive never ridden this one in the dark before and it was amazing! So much faster than in the day time (its all in the mind I know).
People had started to really line up in Frontierland for the parade by the time we got back and I remembered I had left my glo sticks in the villa :0( (I bought them in a stationery shop back home and paid about £3 for 30 sticks much cheaper than the Disney ones!)
As always Spectro was just great I love the music and the floats as usual I tried to take photos but they didnt come out too well hopefully David's will be better as he had a tripod.
After the parade we headed over to Tomorrowland to watch Wishes. It was quite busy but we secured a good spot the Christmas tree was a bit of an obstruction though. I love Wishes more and more each time I see it its just so clever how they get the fireworks to co-ordinate with the music. Standing there in my shorts and t shirt I thought of all my friends and family back home who would also be watching fireworks on Guy Fawkes night huddled up in hats and gloves :0) And the only fireworks worth watching on Guy Fawkes night are Disney ones!
When the show was over we battled our way down Main Street (Dad just doesnt get the 'sit back and drink in the atmosphere while the crowds disappear' method) and headed back to the Villa for some much needed sleep.
Miles walked today: 6.8 (I forgot to mention that I wore a stepometer this trip - just out of interest...)