Our Second
day in the parks was a totally busy one! We hit Epcot at rope drop. This was the day before the Frozen ride opened
and a few days after the new show started at Soarin. The two teens headed for Mission Space (oh
my!) while the Grand Princess and I headed to Soarin to grab a DAS Fast
Pass. To keep from being gobbled up by
the masses heading to Soarin, we stopped to watch a performance by the
Jamminators (garbage can drummers). They
were pretty great! I was going to try
and get a video, but once the crowd had passed, they packed up and left! Boo.
We arrived
at Soarin by five minutes after park opening (so we took 20 minutes to get
there). The DAS fast passes were already
at an hour and 30 minutes out. Meaning
there was a 90 minute wait in the stand by line.
We quickly
found out that with most people at Soarin the rest of the park was pretty
empty! The four of us headed to Test
Track for our first ride of the day as a group.
We went stand by, which was only 10 minutes. After this we rode again with our Fast
Pass.
 |
| Panoramic view across the lagoon. |
After an
hour at Mouse Gears doing what girls do best…SHOPPING! By this time the worlds had opened up and the
girls wanted to grab an early lunch at the Cantina. I opted to wait because we had reservations
at Beaches and Cream for a Kitchen Sink.
 |
| Teen's haul from Epcot! |
After a
quick lunch we moseyed over to Soarin for our DAS Fast Pass, where the stand by
wait had mellowed to a 45 minute wait. We
were able to see it in the new theater!
They didn’t have the whole theater opened. Unfortunately we rode on the left side…all
the way to the left! This was a real eye
opener! The previous film did not have a
lot of straight up heights…it was more an over all wonderment. The first thing I noticed was Neuschwanstein Castle
seemed to lean a bit more than I remembered.
Soon, it was all too obvious that Monument Valley, Eiffel Tower, and the
Taj Mahal had suffered the same malady.
Not only that, the CGI animals and people seemed…off. For instance the people wandering around and
enjoying Taj Mahal had to be at least 8 feet tall and thin as rails! Or maybe a basketball team was visiting while
they filmed. I can’t wait to go back and
see it from the center. I’m sure some of
the issues I had with it would be corrected by a more center seat.
 |
| A brief stop to view some pretty fish in the aquarium! |
Afterwards a
leisurely walk over to the International Gate and headed to Beaches and
Cream. The Kitchen Sink did not
disappoint, but the four of us were not able to eat it all. I do wish they kept the Kitchen Sink bowls in
the freezer. A nice cold metal bowl
would have helped keep the ice cream from melting…but one fresh from the
dishwasher had zero chance! Last year we
tried a regular one, this year we opted for the chocolate lovers. I think I liked the regular one better. The Chocolate Lovers seemed to have more
brownie and cake than ice cream.
 |
| Kitchen Sink Chocolate Lovers Version |
By this
time, the four of us are barely able to move! We entertained taking the boat
back over to the International gate, but we missed it by seconds! We did wait about four minutes before I
decided that waiting wasn’t something I wanted to do so the Grand Princess and
I started to walk back toward Epcot. The
teens let us get about ten yards in front of them before they decided they
would walk.
We noticed
the workers putting up a fence by the beach area. The area was roped off. There were Cast Members manning the
rope. NO one was getting onto the beach. No ONE! A little boy had a beach ball he had
collected autographs on. It went out of
his hands and just under the rope. Nope…the
CM would not let him retrieve it!
Back in
Epcot, we rode Figment (another one of our Fast Passes). This ride remains a bad use of a Fast Pass,
but with little options in tier two, what could you do?
At this time
I have to mention something the teens may not appreciate. I am walking with a cane. The Grand Princess is in a Special Needs
wheel chair/stroller. The two teenaged
girls are both physically fit and healthy.
By this time in our day they were both complaining about their feet
hurting! Both we warned to bring good
walking shoes. Both were warned we would
be walking about 10 miles a day. This is
only our second day in the park. While it was one teen’s first visit, the other
one has been over ten times! No excuses!
The aforementioned
sore feet came into play the remainder of the trip!
The
remainder of the day we walked around world showcase shopping! And Shopping.
And Shopping. Until it was time
for dinner at Tutto Italia.
As usual,
Tutto Italia did not disappoint! For the
second time that day we had to waddle out of a restaurant! I have heard some people compare it to a high
priced Olive Garden. I have to
disagree! I would give that designation
to Mama Melrose and Tony’s, well it is more like a Fazzoli’s with real
plates. But Tutto Italia? We LOVE it!
Remember
those sore feet I mentioned earlier? The
girls decided to leave before fireworks.
By the time fireworks had started we were back in our room with the
girls ready for bed. My girls are real
party animals!
For
entertainment, we did go by the food court and grab a hot chocolate before
bed!
No comments:
Post a Comment