We arrived for park
opening as our first fast pass was at 9.15 for Spaceship Earth. Magic Kingdom has its cult rides & Epcot
is no different. This is top of the cult
ride list for Epcot – a journey through man’s evolution narrated by our very
own Dame Judi Dench (it’s the one in the ball too). The ride is due to close at the end of the
year for a 2-year refurbishment (Catherine is already wailing & wondering
how she’ll cope without it for that long!) but it does need an update as at the
moment the furthest they go is Bill Gates developing the PC in his garage with
a brief mention of the invention of the internet.
Next stop was Test
Track where you get to design your own car and then ‘test’ it for real on the
track. The boys loved designing their
vehicle and then were thrilled that we topped the speed test at the end. Girls, this is definitely a ride to tie your
hair back on!
The boys then wanted
to try Mission Space so they went to do this while Catherine went to get her
pass holder magnet for this year’s food & wine festival & then have a
look in Mouse Gear which is Epcot’s main merchandise location. Mission Space is a simulated ride about a
mission to Mars. You have 2 options to
ride, either the calmer green route or the vomit-inducing orange one (the boys
chose orange). They very much enjoyed it
though & said it didn’t make them feel ill at all.
By now our 2nd
fast pass window had opened up and we headed over to the Land pavilion to
complete it – Soarin’. This is a new
favourite for Catherine & she wanted to convert Andrew & Chris too. Another simulator ride, this is a gentle
flight over world landmarks such as Sydney Harbor, the Great Wall of China,
Fiji and of course, Epcot. The boys were
converted (thank goodness!).
Our 3rd fast pass was
booked for Living with the Land but we had half an hour to kill before our
fast pass window opened so we stopped in the Sunshine Seasons Café to get a
drink & re-apply sun cream. The time
ticked by quickly & we got on the ride (with Chris managing to book our
next fast pass for Nemo in the short time we had to queue). This is an informative water journey about
how man can work well with the land to produce the food it needs. It also wends its way through the greenhouses
and fish farm that Disney uses to produce the food for Epcot. At this time of year (Food & Wine time),
they link a lot of the produce to the dishes for the festival. Looking at all of these dishes started to
make us feel very peckish.
As we were then due to
ride Nemo we walked down to the Seas pavilion and got on the ride. It’s definitely one for the kids this one and
very similar in style to the Little Mermaid ride at Magic Kingdom (in that you
sit in a large clam shell while riding!).
The premise of the ride is that Nemo has got lost (again) and the other
characters are trying to find him. Did
they find him you ask? Well, we never
actually found out!
Both on Monday &
today we’ve had momentary pauses on the rides that move continuously. Not unusual as sometimes they have to do this
to allow wheelchair users to get on & off the ride. This happened with Nemo and we expected that
we’d get moving again in due course. We
waited, listening to the same 10 seconds of dialogue between Nemo, Crush and
Squirt about the ‘EAC’ (that’s the East Australian Current if you haven’t seen
the film) over and over and over again.
We contemplated whether drowning ourselves in the EAC might be more
preferable than this. Then, the audio
& graphics went off, the big lights went on & the emergency exits
opened. We were being evacuated from the
ride as they couldn’t resume it. Cast
members came to free us from our shells & then we had to walk our way back
through to the start of the ride. It was
weird to see the ride in full light & not really operating but very
interesting at the same time. The cast
members kept in character the whole time, telling us to ‘just keep swimming’ as
we walked back through. We were given an
additional fast pass for our troubles, but only for the tier 2 attractions (so
no opportunity to get one for Frozen Ever After which by now was an hour wait). We decided to use it on Journey into your
Imagination (with Figment), a new ride for everyone.
Definitely not a ride
to write home about, we thought, but pleasant enough. Our next stop was a break in the Magic Eye Theater to check out some of the films in the Disney & Pixar short film
festival. This allowed us to watch 3
short films from the various Disney animation studios & featured 3D visuals
& some 4DX technology which made you feel like you were moving. The films were all excellent and a little
tear-jerking for some (Catherine…).
After that it was back into the bright daylight & finally over to
World Showcase for some food. On the way
we stopped to purchase & fill up a gift card ready to spend on snacks. This is a tip Catherine had seen on Disney
forums & proved to be an easier way to buy stuff from the festival without
having to deal with cash. The cards can
be topped up at any of the food outlets rather than buying a new one each time.
We had our first food
at the ‘Eats’ section just before you go into World Showcase. Catherine picked the baked scallop &
shrimp scampi dip with toasted bread (yum) and the boys both picked an
Impossible burger. This is completely
vegan but the taste & texture is very like real beef. With our tummies slightly filled we headed
down to World Showcase.
Now with World
Showcase you’re either a Mexico person or a Canada person when starting with
the country that you visit first. Having
been a Canada person for most of her childhood Catherine is now firmly in the
Mexico first clan as it’s her favourite pavilion in the whole of the World
Showcase. It mimics a Mexican market at
night and also features another Epcot classic ride – The Three Caballeros. Similar to It’s a Small World in parts, the
premise of the ride is that Donald Duck has gone missing around Mexico and it’s
up to the other 2 caballeros to locate him ready for their performance at the
end of the ride. With the catchiest of
all catchy tunes at the end it’s a good one.
Rumour is that it will eventually be changed to a Coco themed attraction
(noooooooo, what about the song? – CBC), so get your fill while it lasts.
Next pavilion is
Norway, which used to be at the bottom of the list of interesting countries
here until Disney released the mega hit that is Frozen. When Andrew was last here in 2014 much of the
space here was taken up with lines of giddy children waiting for up to 6 hours
to meet the film’s famous sisters.
Luckily it’s calmed down a bit now & Anna & Elsa have their own
indoor meet & greet (with the option to fast pass). There is also a ride,
Frozen Ever After, which replaced the more mature ride about trolls &
Norway that came before the Frozen hysteria began. We had planned to visit this next but the
ride lines were still nearly an hour so we gave it a miss with the hope that we
might be able to ride it later on in the evening.
China was next and
time for another food stop. Catherine
& Chris both chose the black pepper shrimp with noodles and Andrew opted
for the chicken dumpling. Both options
were favourably reviewed and so we moved on to the next pavilion, Germany.
Now then, what’s in
Germany? Well, beer for one thing so the
boys tried the beer flight from here.
They liked the beer overall but the darker pomegranate beer was
described as being very similar to Vimto…
We had a quick trip through Italy but we could feel the humidity
increasing and hear the thunder in the background so pushed on to the America
pavilion to seek some cover & cool.
Another reason for
rushing over to America was that Catherine desperately wanted to see the last
performance for the day of Voices of Liberty.
This is a mixed acapella group which dress in traditional costume & sing
well-known American songs (sometimes with some Disney tunes thrown in). Fantastic to listen to, Catherine has missed
them on her last couple of trips so definitely wanted to see them this time. Outside the rain was falling happily so we
stayed inside and went to see the American Adventure show. Similar to the Hall of Presidents in Magic
Kingdom this is the story of the United States as told by an animatronic
Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain.
The rain had now
passed on which had made the humidity and temperature much more bearable for
the evening. We stayed in the American
pavilion to try some more food & drink offerings. Catherine chose the lobster roll (amazing)
and the boys both had a beer which they raved about. Chris also liked the look of the lobster roll
so got one for himself. The shop in
America is usually pretty good & Catherine purchased a spirit jersey (it’s
grey!!) that she took a fancy to.
Japan was next and we
managed to see the end of the drummers’ performance before going for a look in
Mitsukosi which is the shop in these parts.
Featuring Japan’s famous exports the boys loved looking through the Nintendo
merchandise & nearly bought an umbrella that looked like a samurai sword
but then decided against it! Catherine
also purchased the teriyaki chicken bun to eat as we moved on to the next
pavilion.
We walked through
Morocco next but the rain was threatening again so we kept moving on to France
and took shelter in the shop there while the shower passed. Then it was over the International Gateway
& back home to the UK pavilion.
Catherine was thirsty so nipped to the fish & chips stand to get some
free iced water (UK pavilion serves the largest iced waters in Epcot if you’re
thirsty).
All of the staff that work in
World Showcase are sourced from the country concerned and they each wear an ID
badge with their name and also where in that country they are from. Now usually the cast members in the UK have
badges that say things like London and Birmingham so imagine Catherine’s shock
when she realized that her server was from Worksop. After a quick scream of ‘oh my god you’re
from the same town as me!’ the server (Matt) decided to shut his station &
come & have a quick chat with us.
Not only was he from Worksop but he lived in Gateford very near to
Catherine & Andrew and also went to Portland School at the same time that
Andrew was also there. So there you have
it, it really is a ‘small world after all’.
Water consumed, we had a look around the UK shops so that we could see
what they believe are the things that tourists want to buy from Britain! With 2 beer lovers in tow, Catherine
suggested a quick peek in the Rose & Crown pub (which is normally heaving)
but we found a table with no problems & the boys had a Guinness each. (But that's Irish! - Ed)
By now it was getting
dark but we realized that the wait time for Frozen had gone down to around 30
minutes. With 1 pavilion left (Canada)
we decided to keep walking and go back round to Norway to ride it before the
fireworks started. Canada seemed to be
having a lot of work done to it & even in its normal state it isn’t the
largest or most exciting pavilion, so our stop here was short. We had a quick look at the menu for the steak
restaurant here but decided that $50 for a main meal was a bit much!
So back round the lake
to Norway via Mexico & we were in the queue for Frozen Ever After. The queue area for this ride is really pretty
(if a little dark) but we didn’t wait for too long. Another great ride, the animatronics are
fantastic and even Andrew declared it the best ride of the day (overtaking
their previous favourite Mission Space) despite the ‘annoying snowman who adds
nothing to the story’ (lies I tell you, all lies – CBC).
We were now within
half an hour of the fireworks so it was time to find a spot to watch
Illuminations – Reflections of Earth for the last time (& first time for
some). This show is nearly 20 years old
now and starting to look dated when compared with newer fireworks shows at the
other parks. It finishes at the end of
the month with an interim show prepared until the permanent replacement starts
at some point in 2020 or 2021. Before
the fireworks started Catherine disappeared off to get the food & wine
spirit jersey & also a pass holder merchandise mug for the collection. The show is shorter than the Magic Kingdom at
less than 15 minutes but the fireworks are large & loud & you can
generally get a good view of the show at any location around the central lake.
As the mass exodus
from the park started, we decided to come back to Epcot for an evening next
week to do much more eating & drinking.
Chris is now a true convert to Epcot’s laid back atmosphere.
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