I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: November 3, 2014] Epcot

For day two we planned to go to Epcot.  We figured there is a lot of walking (the World Showcase is apparently a one mile loop in and of itself).  And we figured we would go in the morning and do a few things, return to the hotel in the afternoon and then go back to the park at night.

And then T. threw up.  She had a stomach virus that started at 1AM.  We felt terrible.  But at he same time, we also knew that we had paid a lot of money for this trip.  So, we pressed on to Epcot anyway.  Clark was especially looking forward to seeing the big ball (not even sure if he knew what it was), so we made poor T. schlep out to Epcot.  And she repaid us by getting sick in the park twice.

We didn’t have a lot planned for Epcot.  We knew we wanted to do Soarin’ (which we had never done because the lines are always so long).  We had just read about the people dying and getting sick on Mission: Space, so we quickly nixed that.  We had a FastPass for the Nemo show, but opted against it.  So, it proved to be a pretty quiet day after all.

Spaceship Earth
C. was so excited to do this ride (which had a surprisingly long wait).  T. was sick on line for this ride, so she didn’t go on it, Rather, C. and I did, and his reaction–the wait was worth it–was very exciting to me.  He loved being in the giant ball, and was excited when we got to the top.  He also enjoyed all of the games and interactions that you get to see at the end.

Phineas and Ferb: Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure
We love Phineas and Ferb so it was an easy choice to do their interactive hunt.  You get a cell phone with messages from Perry’s secret agent team.  We decided to start in Norway–where we got some yummy bakery treats.  And amazingly T. quickly perked up (she had a lemonade ice) and felt great!  We were so happy that she was better.  But we decided to only do one country.  It was fun anyhow.

We knew we were going to head home for lunch anyhow, so we walked back and stopped in Mexico for

The Three Caballeros Ride
This is a weird slow boat ride that seems to show aspects of Mexico but is mostly just a weird showcase for Donald Duck.

And then just before we left the park, T. stomach reacted to too much ice.  Then we left.

She felt much better in the afternoon (thank you virus for being so short) and we returned to the park for dinner time.

T. felt good enough to go on Spaceship Earth, and she and S. enjoyed it quite a lot.

This week was part of the International Food and Wine Festival.  And that’s pretty cool–in addition to all of the usual “country” locations, there are temporary booths that pop up to serve food from other countries as well.  It’s pretty cool, and if we had a lot of money, we would have loved to do the Passport thing and to have tried food at every country.  But since we didn’t have a lot to spend, we wound up having a few random things–Lamb Meatballs from New Zealand (C.) a pork slider from Hawaii (S.) and South African bobotie with turkey and mushrooms (Paul).  T. wisely refrained from eating, even when we went to Belgium and shared Potato and leek waffle with beer-braised beef and a Belgian waffle with warm chocolate ganache and whipped cream.  For the complete menu of possibilities, check out their link.

Our vacation timing is usually very good–we tend to have good random luck at things, but tonight we were off.  We wound up just missing a bunch of things.

There’s a new lumberjack show that was going on in Canada, and we literally walked up as it ended.  And there were some acrobats in China who finished up their set just as we got there.  But we enjoyed looking in the shops in the UK and the Eiffel Tower always looks great.  By the time we got to Japan, T. was completely wiped out (she was a real trooper).  So we didn’t get to see the exhibit on anime which sounded really cool.  And when we passed The American Adventure, Boys II Men were playing a live show in the amphitheater (seriously, during this whole Festival there were a really strange assortment of past their prime bands playing–check out this fascinating line up).  We ran through that crowd as fast as we could.  And while I have never liked Boys II Men, I can say that their voices sounded really good all these years later.

Both kids were wiped out for Italy and Germany, which is a shame, as they are fun to look around. And Norway was a bummer because they had gotten rid of Maelstrom, one of our favorite Epcot rides.

We basically had to drag both kids to Soarin’ which, even with our Fast Pass, has a pretty long wait.

Soarin’
So with a fast Pass, we still waited easily 15 minutes to get into the show.  And  while I had heard people saying that they waited over an hour for it and that it was totally worth it, I have to disagree.  Nearly every Disney queue is known for its very cool things to look at or interact with on line.  For Soarin’ there is noting–you are in an airport terminal–what a major drag.  The ride itself is pretty cool.  I loved the way the seats all moved up to the screen, but I have to say that the similar ride (Europe in the Air) at Busch Gardens Virgina was actually a bit more exciting.  I did enjoy the smells that they piped in during the show, which I don’t think Europe in the Air did, but the angles and swoops were a bit more thrilling.  So while it was nice, and I’m glad we didn’t, I think the hype ruined it for me.

We got home pretty late and prepared for our busy next day at Magic Kingdom.

We also decided that even though we thought we loved Disney at night, we found it a little less fun–pushier crowds, busier crowds and, presumably because of the wine and beer, louder and less friendly crowds.  So even though we missed all of the nighttime spectaculars, we decided it was worth missing some fireworks, to not have to leave with 4,000 of our closest friends on the same monorail.

Do also check out S’s post for more information and pictures!