The Seas w/ Nemo, Turtle Talk, Soarin’, Living with the Land & Spaceship Earth
It was 10:15am by the time we finished up in the World Showcase – we only had 10 minutes left to make it to Nemo. I know there is a grace period, but we had a tight morning planned (trying to fit in all rides at the front of the park), and I didn’t want to be late for our other FPs. We tapped our magic bands right at 10:25am (just squeaking in without the grace period) and were on the ride just four minutes later. It’s a quick ride but the girls seemed to enjoy it. I love the real sea animals at the end.
I had Turtle Talk with Crush planned next, and a show was just about to start as we walked in, so the timing worked out well. DD4 sat up front with the other kids, but DD2 wanted to sit with the adults. I really enjoy this show and Monsters Inc. where there is a bit of improv with the audience.
After the show, our group split up. We had a 10:25am FP for Soarin'. DD2 is too short to ride and my dad gets motion sickness, so they stayed to check out the aquariums for a bit.
I was a little surprised that DD4 wanted to give Soarin’ a try. I showed her videos of how the seats worked and explained that we would go up high. She said she wanted to fly! She was so proud and excited to be going for the first time.
We chatted with a family ahead of us while we waited. They were visiting from Brazil. There was a funny moment where their son tried to talk to DD4 in Portuguese and I don’t think she understood he was speaking a different language at first. His mom helped to translate, which was sweet. I’m not exactly sure how long we waited, but it took about 25 minutes from the time we got in line until we were off the ride. The stand-by line at the time was 35 minutes.
I forgot which row to request for the best view on Soarin’, but I’ve never had a bad view before, so I figured it wasn’t a big deal. I should have done my research though, because it apparently makes a big difference to be on the top row and more centered. There were feet distracting from the view and the Eiffel Tower was definitely distorted. I’ll know for next time!
DD4 had been so excited for this ride. She buckled in and didn’t get scared when we were brought up into the air, which is what I was most concerned about. She seemed a little nervous when the movie started.
And then there was the whale. I had forgotten all about the whale – and all about how it splashes you with water when it lands right in front of you. DD4 FLIPPED OUT. She was so scared and was screaming to get off the ride. When the elephants came on, we convinced her to peak out, because she loves elephants. But then, of course, the elephants sprayed us with sand. It was a repeat of the whale and the water. So she stopped trusting our judgment at that point.
I felt so bad, but was proud of her for giving it a try. She ended up closing her eyes for most of it, but despite all the fuss on the ride, she told my dad she liked it!
My dad and DD2 were waiting in the Land food court when we got off the ride. It was 11:36am when we got in line for Living with the Land. The posted wait time was 20 minutes but we only waited for 7. The girls love to work in our little garden with Pat (I don’t do bugs, which means I don’t work in the garden), so they love seeing all the food growing at Disney.
DD4 asked if the Dragon Fruit is fruit being grown for the dragons
I always like looking for the hidden Mickeys on this ride. This first one was obvious (so not really hidden?):
But this one I didn’t see until I was looking through my pictures later:
The curves in the ceiling add to the black circle to make a hidden Mickey! They must have done that on purpose, right?
I liked how they had signs showing which F&W dishes each plant was being used in at Epcot. I was also fascinated with these snake gourds that really looked like snakes.
As we were walking to the Nemo ride earlier in the morning, DD4 saw people having their pictures taken with Nemo and Dory and asked if she could have a picture there too. There was a line and we were in a hurry, but I promised her we would come back for her picture. After Living with the Land, we had just enough time for a quick picture stop before our next FP, so we swung back for the PP stop.
Our Spaceship Earth FP window was 11:25am – 12:25pm and we showed up right at 12:23pm. Timing worked out almost perfectly this morning! We had just a four minute wait. I rode with DD4 and my parents and DD2 rode behind us. Instead of our own picture, we saw the head of the lady riding in front of us, and my parents said they got my picture.
With our tour of the front of the park and most rides complete, it was time to start our tour of the Food & Wine Festival. There was one item in particular I was most excited to try and it was not far from the start of the food booths…