A day at Epcot

Back in the later 1980’s, my dad and mom took us to WDW, which at that time consisted of Magic Kingdom and EPCOT Center.  EPCOT had been a long-time dream of Walt Disney and stood for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.  Disney envisioned a bright future filled with all the delights of modern technology.  EPCOT Center featured both real and imagined technological accomplishments, and offered an immersive look at some of the most cutting edge treats of modern inventors within the part of the park called Future World. In Future World, Disney partnered with corporate sponsors to highlight their products and their role in scientific advancements.

One of the pavilions was sponsored by Kodak and my dad was quite proud of that.  He was tickled to tinker with the all the hands-on technological treats and enjoyed investigating what all the pavilions had to offer.  He brought his camera and we still have many of the pictures and memories of that day.

Today we spent 12 hours touring the park.  This is not my father’s EPCOT.

My morning started at 5 A.M. again.  I still haven’t found a mug I like, so I continue to drink my morning hot chocolate in measuring cup.  If it ain’t broke…

We had 8:05 A.M. ADR for Akershus Princess Storybook Dining in the Norway pavilion in World Showcase.  We had originally planned this ADR in the hopes that the new Frozen Ever After ride would be open and we could easily get a ride on this new attraction; it is not open yet.  Johanna and Tabitha wore their princess dresses, but Katriel was having none of it.  We brought her dress just in case she changed her mind. 

Although we left the house right on time, we seemed to arrive later than we should have. 

Nan got picked for an enhanced security check.

It took us a while to check in our reservation as we were behind a large school group.  We also had not taken into consideration just how long a walk back it would be from the main tapstiles to the Norway Pavilion.  And our feet hurt.  A lot.  A whole lot. 

 

We were late to the castle, and had to wait a long while. 

This is the boys hamming it up after they were reminded this was a princess breakfast.  Since they were not interested in the princesses, and we had paid a great deal for the meal, we asked them to eat like it was their job.

We were called in as the Royal Butler family and were greeted by Belle.

We were finally seated and service was slow.  The food was mediocre.  Our server was polite, but that’s all.  And there were only three circulating princesses.  It wasn’t bad.  It just wasn’t great.

Breakfast is part buffet, part family style.  And, as always, WDW did a great job providing for food safe for Stewart.

I will say that although we only got to meet Ariel, Aurora, and Snow White, they were all fabulously chatty and did not make us feel rushed at all.  They interacted with the girls and my girls loved to play it up. 

We finished our “pre park opening” breakfast at 9:33 A.M.  So much for using PPO ADR to gain early access to park.

Tab had just gotten her ears pierced 4/23 and the earring had fallen out the night we arrived in Florida.  I had one post earring in my suitcase that I put in until we could buy her better ones at Animal Kingdom.  Well… her ear is infected.  So she and I went to First Aid for anapestic and bacitracin.  John and the kids headed over to The Living Seas pavilion.  We caught up to them after stopping for a magic shot, and rode the Nemo ride.  We next caught Turtle Talk with Crush and then the kids played in the Nemo inspired attractions before I encouraged everyone to move along.  We rode Journey Into the Imagination in the Imagination Pavilion, completely skipping over the lame The Land Pavilion.  Soarin’ is currently closed for refurbishment. 

After this ride it was painfully late.  John, Kelly, Stewart,and Nigel went to do… stuff? while Nan, the girls, and I headed to World Showcase to try to meet some princesses.  We had a brief stop at Club Cool and sampled some Coca~Cola products from around the world.


Nan decided to stop off at First Aid while the girls and I proceeded on to China to meet Mulan.  We got there just as she was heading back in.  Ugh.  It was high 80’s by this point and FW is massive.  Jasmine and Aladdin were scheduled to meet in Morocco in about 25 minutes so the girls and I hauled it over there to meet them.   This was the longest wait thus far and it was hot.  Have I mentioned it was hot?  And our feet hurt.  I have NEVER EVER had  my feet hurt in a park.  Ever. I always wondered what people were going on and on about “good shoes” for WDW.  I’ve only ever worn my Walmart sandals with no problem.  Well, now they hurt.  And what is more, the kids were reporting their feet hurt as well.  And, as I may have suggested, it was hot.

We made it through that meet and greet and Nan texted that she was in line for Mulan  Really?  So, we turned around and walked BACK around to the complete opposite side and met Mulan. 



At this point we ladies were all dying.  It was hot and those of us not in the stroller were all ready to call it a day at noon.  We thought about watching the China movie to get some A/C, but remembered it was a show you watch standing and said something like, “As if,” and headed for a food cart to buy drinks.  I saw the sign for Gran Fiesta in Mexico and remembered the ride.  I headed my family in there just as I received a text from John askng where to meet us.  My group rode the slow moving boat ride in the cool darkness.  We were the only people there.. Then we found a bench and sat in the beautifully cool darkness.  Then the girls all re-rode the ride with John and the boys as my mom and I sat in the beautifully cool darkness.  It was a good thing. 


We headed to the America Pavilion and listened to part of the Voices of Liberty ensemble and then watched the American Experience show.  Katriel fell asleep in my arms in yet more cool darkness.  All that sitting (and some Ibuprofen) helped out many sore feet and we got a second wind for the rest of the day.

We unanimously decided a “junk lunch” was in order and we sought out Mickey bars.  But we found none in World Showcase and had to make our way back to Future World to make it happen.

We found an ice cream vendor and as John waited in line to order, Johanna played a few minutes in a playground I failed to take photos in…

Kelly, and the four oldest rode Mission Space while Johanna played in the play area set up near the Mission Space exit.  Katriel was still asleep from way back at Voices of Liberty.  She woke up VERY hungry so we grabbed her something to eat.

We headed over to Test Track to find it down.  We decided to go ahead and visit the upstairs lounge for GM employees as a family.  John, the boys, and Kelly had had a chance to ride earlier using John’s GM badge and also visited the upper layer.

We all enjoyed the complimentary refreshments. 
Some of us enjoyed them even more than others.

We then all went in to visit mystery characters at Epcot Disney Pals meet and greet.  We got to meet Mickey, Minnie and Goofy.  They were so great.

We rode Spaceship Earth which had nicely been updated since our visit in 2011.

We decided to go the Sunshine Seasons in the Land Pavilion for dinner.  We’ve long enjoyed this food court-styled restaurant and had yummy expectations.

What a stinking disappointment. 
If a single meal had to stand out as a great big fail it would be this one.
Despite WDW offering us assistance in every other restaurant in the parks the folks here basically told us “too bad” about Stewart’s food allergies.  He had a brownie for dinner.  The rest of us shelled out a crazy amounts of money for the nastiest food we have ever eaten.  I don’t even know where to start.

Soggy, nasty, over-cooked pasta, with cold chewy meat. 
And a brownie…

Whatever.  I’m sort of over Epcot.

We had nothing left to do until Test Track (if Test Track) came back on line.
We had anytime FastPasses to use for missing our TT window.  My kids asked to go on Living with the Land.  Whah-say-whah?  You WANT to go on that?  Ok.  Cool lightness and darkness.
They saw plants and I sent up Instagram pics. 

We headed back to Test Track which WAS online.  Woo Hoo.  And we had a blast riding it a few times.  Once with our anytime FP+ and then some with John’s GM pass.

Here’s something interesting about that GM display.  John was talking with some of the CM there and learned that 6% of US sales are generated in Epcot.  That’s 6%!  Crazy.  Who goes on vacation, stops in a theme park, and buys a car?  Crazy!!!

Funny!

We did something??? until it was time to go set up seats for Illuminations.  We passed out glow sticks again, and just waited until 9PM show.  It isn’t my favorite show, but it was nice.  The crowds were definitely light and it was easy to get out of the park with our sore feet.  We had the kids in bed by 10PM.  It was a good day, but we are ready for a day off.