Post by broganmc on Mar 26, 2023 7:40:10 GMT -5
Day 7: A Near Perfect Day in EPCOT
Good morning gents and gentesses! I hope your weekend is going well. There at the land of dreams and magic the Florida summer heat has arrived with a vengeance. Highs of 90 midday and scorching bright sun. W we have to wear layers of sunscreen and drink buckets of water. Comfy shoes and socks are the order of the day.
Now I woke up at my normal 6am. Normal for Disney. At home, that's time to rollover and go back t to sleep. But t today we had a mission. GET IN THE VIRTUAL QUEUE FOR GUARDIANS!
Yes all caps because it was a moral imperative. All the kids had arrived and all wanted to go on it. S some had never been in the last 3 trips. And I promised to buy anyone a second lightning Lane if they would go on it twice with me.
So we had a group of 11. 10 resort guests and one local. My brother, nephew and I set alarms and we're on our phones at 6:30am. But there was a complication. The day first was not connected to m me, so I couldn't select her, only my brother could. He wanted me to ee sit out him from my group so he booked us, but I was determined to stick to my method. Ww watch time.gov, restart app at 6:58am, confirm p party a and refresh r refresh refresh. No edits. No c complications. Didn't m matter if you wanted to go, I was getting you a VQ.
So when the time came I clicked make and got it for all 10. My brother missed his cue and then availability was gone. Damn! Thus ensured 20 minutes of bickering over who did what and how to fix it. Meanwhile I'm buying 6 lightning Lanes for the second ride tonight. Finally we figured out we could just swap bands with those who DIDN'T want to ride. Remember the old days of 3 FPs per person? Yeah we swapped ALL THE TIME! Why does Disney have to make it sooooooo complicated?
And yes the plan worked even better. Guest Relations did the swapping for us.
Brother and the kids rope dropped EPCOT was soon as the local friend was here. I took a long hot shower to eat away the drama of the morning. Had a leisurely breakfast and finally set of for the park with my sister. Decided to take the bus so I could have even less stress. Buses have been running just fine for me, especially in the morning. I'm getting them every 10-15 minutes. (Now that I know the marquis doesn't change until they park.)
We all met up at Guardians around noon. Only my sister declined. She did it once. The Land is more her style. It was busy but smooth. The newbies loved it. And we got my favorite song "One Way Or Another".
I had booked a Return for Ratatouille because the kids wanted to do it. And since I was maxed out on my DAS first list, I had to leave my siblings on most rides. But when we finished Guardians and split I noticed Ratatouille was down. My return converted to a n all day lightning Lane for the ride. That allowed me to book a return for Frozen. Even better. We would do the 3 main rides I and the kids wanted.
They split off to go on Soarin, which was not a long wait. I headed to the Odyssey Center for my F&G merchandise. On the way, I got lost and cut off by conduction same found the Fresh Eats booth. Chilled potato leek soup and grilled bison ribeye was too tempting to resist. And totally worth eating in boiling hot sun.
Now they're was one more problem of the day. Cousin J woke up sick. First I heard it was a cold, then exhaustion. Either way, he was out for the count and sending his brother and father alone to EPCOT. Yikes!
Now they have been doing well going around the parks just the 3 of them the last couple days, but without Cousin J to lead them? I had concerns. Fortunately it was EPCOT and they planned to visit countries. My uncle insisted they were fine solo yet he asked for help setting up a DAS for Ratatouille. So I volunteered to hang around the entrance to get them started.
Now they were at the bus stop and I thought that would take maybe 45 minutes of my time. Turns out the buses ran very very slow after 1pm. They waited almost an hour for a bus. And my dept took me 2 hours.
But I did take time to go to the Odyssey Center and get my merch. A Figment shirt, hat and pin. And I spent time at the camera center getting out ride photos linked. They never do automatically.
Meanwhile the kids started walking round the world getting their passport stickers. My sibs met up in Mexico for Tequila.
By the time my uncle arrived it was after 2:30 and over 90F. They set off for Canada. I made a beeline for Norway. I swear I was dying by the time I made it. Had a disappear to the bathroom just to regroup. Even with one of those orange slushies in the cute little orange bird cup, I was dripping with sweat.
Now when I got in Norway I lost two of the kids. They went on a detour. So I ended up with my siblings instead. And the way the DAS works It's exactly the same as a virtual boarding you or genie plus. You don't have to assign who gets on the pass. Which is annoying if you're going to swap two people out to put in another two people. But the cast members were kind. We told him about the problem and they just let my siblings take the place of the kids.
Fozen is a cute ride. Yes I do miss the traditional Norwegian ride but the themeing inside is beautiful. My only complaint is the very last animatronic of Anna and Elsa in the celebration room. If you look at their faces, they are too brightly illuminated for the rest of their bodies. It doesn't look right. I really wish Disney would fix that. It's done much better in other parks. Even the seven dwarfs are better in the mine train.
Getting on Frozen is not an easy thing for me. It is a hard to person lift. I walk to the boat with my cane and I'm lifted under my arms and by my feet into and out of the boat. It's not easy for my helpers either. It's hard and it's slippery and it's dark. So I only do this right when I'm with a group and they all want to do it. Usually once or twice a year at most. That's why I'm really glad there is a ride photo and I set up front so I'm seen.
There other boat rides in Disney that have the same difficult lift. Pirates of the Caribbean, whose boats are way too narrow and don't have enough legroom for me anymore. Navi River ride which is an incredibly short and waste of energy ride. Giving up going on both of them but I will still do frozen from time to time. I am very glad to report that jungle cruise has an actual wheelchair boat. Same as Mexico and it's a small world. Those I do at least once per trip or more.
It's okay. Not every place I will go is accessible. That just makes me appreciate the accessible ones even more.
And like I said I'm happy to use my DAS to help my family cut down on some of those long waits. I can go on probably about 75% of the attractions in Disney. I like to go on about 70%. And that's enough for me.
When we finished Frozen, we decided to meet up for Ratatouille in about 2 hours. Just to give his time to finish walking around the country and get out of the heat.
My sister and I made her way to the bakery in Norway and a table in the shade. Got a really nice vanilla sponge cake and a tall glass of ice water. My brother and the kids kept going to China. Inside they found shelter and air conditioning. My nephew in law ended up on the floor. Man down man down!
I think we trailed them by about 30 minutes. My sister and I both ended up at China as well. I took a little tour around the museum waiting for the next show. Love the Duffy bear display. Oh how I miss those little creatures. And I'm told by one of the cast members that they are currently selling the frog friend of Duffy bear over the Polynesian. I'm going to have to check that out on Tuesday.
I saw a photo pass photographer waiting for Mulan to come back out. Oh chance to meet a character! Ask my sister if she wouldn't mind if I just stay behind and she went on to the movie. That meant we split up. Which is not something I wanted to do but I also wanted to see Mulan.
In the meantime, I meant a very nice Chinese family who spoke broken English. They were trying to understand how the magic shots work. The cast member had a hard time understanding them so I jumped in to help. Show them some of the magic shots we had done that day and how they were staged. So the mom started explain to all of her family for future shots. I'm at the little kids. I'm at the uncle and the aunt. I'm at the grandmother. Like I said it was a big family.
Mulan seem to take forever. And the dad was getting anxious when suddenly Mulan appeared. She was a huge hit. Mostly because she spoke Chinese. Oh how that family loved that. Made them feel welcome. And Mulan was staging martial arts poses with the kids. Their parents had to join in. They made a fun group photo.
Next came my turn. Mulan told me all about her bad hair day. She woke up late and mushu insisted he could do her hair. Of course he did lopsided. He really has to lay off the sake if he's going to be a hairdresser. I told Mulan she did a very good job with that family before me. And they were very happy that she spoke Chinese. I wished her a happy day and went on to see the Chinese movie.
Lost my sister in the process but I knew she was on the walk to America. Did my best to catch up. So I'll sign for Moscato at the Italy booth, unfortunately they were all out. And I was getting hot again.
But now it was a little after 5:00 p.m. and Berlin was about to start up their concert in the American amphitheater. I found a spot in the shade with a nice bench beside me. Send pictures to my family and invited them to join me. First my brother showed up. Then my sister. She was the good one. She brought food and drinks.
Berlin was on fire! Great group. Really brings back my teenage hood. And they were so happy to see a live audience all together again. You hear that a lot from bands these days. Covid was really hard on them. It was sad to be a performer and not have anyone to perform to because we all hid in our little shelters. May we learn from that experience and never ever ever do it again! (You know except for those who have extremely fragile health and have to hide from people. You have my sympathies. Remember, my mom's meant her last 4 years that like cancer with extremely fragile health. Been there done that. It's not easy.)
The kids were waiting for me in France so I jetted out with the last song. Even skipped my bathroom break so they didn't have to wait any longer. And we went right in. this time it was just the kids and I. Siblings were voted off the island. Sorry DAS rules. I can only take five of you with me.
After Ratatouille, which was flawless, not bad for a day when they were down most of it., We split up again. I sent the kids all their way to go finish getting their stamps around the world. And I took my bathroom break. Nice regrouping after a sweaty afternoon.
But when I got out of the bathroom, there was a huge crowd. It started raining. One of those tropical pop-up storms. And I needed to get over to the theater to see the first showing of Impressions de France. I moved as fast as I could, politely as I could calling out excuse me, and cutting through the arcade to get to the theater. My sister was somewhere inside lost in the crowd. You couldn't move. Everybody was stuck.
Show started a little after 7:00. My sister finally found me and we were in a nice middle row towards the back. The wheelchair row. Beautiful movie. Incredible music. the sound system in there is just stunning.
I will add only one complaint of the experience. The people next to me decided they didn't want to watch it. One of them thought it would make the motion sick so they wanted to leave. Right in the beginning of the show in a very crowded wheelchair row with lots of scooters with a wheelchair in their party! Oh for the love of God! One of them told the family member to just close their eyes, but they refused. So right in the middle of show we had to deal with finding a cast member moving 15 chairs out of the way so that these three people could exit.
Okay if you're prone to motion sickness, please don't go see any of the movies in the countries! They are surround movies. They give you experience of being there. And the last thing you want to do is disturb other guests because you can't take it.
My sister and I disagreed on our opinion of this guest behavior. Frankly I thought it was rude. Yes I have been in situations where I've been in trouble but I didn't want to disturb the people around me. If I can handle it some other way, like closing my eyes, I would. Unfortunately not all guests are like that.
I don't think it helped that when I was in the bathroom half an hour earlier, some adult woman decided to celebrate something by screaming at the top of her lungs. Twice! In a small crowded bathroom that echoed. Everybody was annoyed.
It makes you understand why cast members say the job is great except for some of the guests. It also makes you understand why cast members are really enthusiastic when you're a nice guest and they meet you. It's a good change of pace for them.
I'll let you all render your opinion. Feel free to disagree with me. No I wasn't rude to the guest back. I just had my opinion.
After the movie let out, the rain has stopped. Which is a good thing because it really rained. Hard! It was wet everywhere. People were still in the rain ponchos. And it added the layer of humidity to the air. Still warm with a cooler breeze. The burning heat of the day had finally ended.
I told the kids to meet me at Guardians at 7:45 p.m. it was 7:30. So I split off my sister to head back to future world. Then I got a text from the kids saying they were comfortable in connections Cafe recharging their phones. So instead of racing I can take a leisurely walk.
The sun was setting and the sky was gorgeous! I just had to stop and take photos. Of the scenery. Photos of me. You know just enjoy the view.
When I got to Canada and the band was playing, I stopped to take video. That's when my sister caught up with me. And we just walked the rest of the way. Got some beef tips at Canada. Very delicious and hot. A little well done though. So a little extra chewy. And I didn't really have time to eat all my vegetables. But still it made a nice dinner. She also got the maple milkshake with whiskey. Which was a little bit too strong for her. now that's saying something.
Oh and backtrack a little bit I did see my uncle and cousin out and about. And cousin J did make it to the park. Apparently he wasn't sick. He just needed rest. He came out later in the afternoon and I think they went on Ratatouille together. But they were going to make it an early night and leave before fireworks. I'm not sure but I think they jetted out as soon as the rain started.
I finally made it over to Guardians around 8:00. The kids and I assembled and I requested one thing after the ride, a photo in front of the guardians' ship. My niece said there was no line so we might as well go now. Which was a good decision because our hair looked much better. And the photos came out great!
Everything was working. We were all excited. We got to go twice in a day! Yes it cost me $17 per person but it was worth it. The only thing that had me concerned was what I looked at my watch and it read 8: 34pm in the pre-show room. Didn't I also tell my siblings I would meet them at the handicap spot for fireworks at 9:00? And doesn't that's not also fill up 45 minutes before fireworks? Oh I hope that I hadn't screwed myself out of a good view.
But like I said, second ride on Guardians in a day with your family? WORTH IT!
We all had different ideas as to what our favorite song was going to be. Personally I wanted one way or another. The girls wanted September. The guys wanted I Ran. We all wanted everybody wants to rule the world. None of us have heard that song yet. It ended up with September. Girls win.
As I'm being flung around on this ride, the thought strikes me again that if I saw this in the daylight I wouldn't touch it with a 10-ft hole. But when I'm being hurled backwards sideways and forwards up and down hanging on for dear life wondering if I've gone just a little bit too far, I hear that music and start singing and laughing. I hope I'm never too old to go on this ride. And no I do not get motion sick. I have plenty of other problems but that's not one of them. And I have never ever ever even lost contact with the seat. There is no possibility I'm getting flung to my death.
By the time we got out it was 8:44 p.m. almost 15 minutes to fireworks. I had to make a beeline. Lost my nephew when he stopped to go to the bathroom. I just kept going. Followed a scooter right to the handicap row and told the cast member I was on my own. And little white lie but technically I was on my own. I ended up in a single spot right in the center front. Honestly I couldn't have gotten that position if I tried. Certainly not if I'd gone with a group of four five scooters.
I tried to get my pedestrian family to follow me in and at least stand in the back, but they were lost too. It was okay. We still ended up with good views just in our respective places.
To be absolutely a glutton for enjoyment, I realize that resort TV wine was doing a live stream from Magic Kingdom and they were set up to watch the fireworks on main Street. So I pulled out my phone and started watching the stream. Then when harmonious started I switched to camera mode and was photographing and videoing that fireworks while watching Magic Kingdom fireworks. It was very meta. Incredibly enjoyable.
I will say comparing the two shows at the same time, the fireworks on main Street in Magic Kingdom are really beautiful. The projections are wonderful but I know that crowd is huge and the only way that stream looked decent is because the vloggers held their phone cameras high above their heads on a tripod. Me and a max of 5'4 I'm going to be looking through heads to see fireworks. But it Epcot, I'm right up against the fence. And I can raise my chair up to look over the fence. A completely unobstructed view. Maybe that's why I like Epcot so much more.
I do think the music for harmonious is better. And I think the pyrotechnics are better. Protections are okay. But having rocket launchers fire off rounds around the lake in front of you? Oh come on there's no contest. And the crowd was so into it last night. Ooohing and aahhhing. A huge round of applause at the end. It's good to be with a crowd that appreciates Disney Magic. And everything worked in the show. The holograms. The fireworks. The projections. Everything was absolutely perfection.
I communicated with my family by text. They all shared their views. And I just waited until the crowd cleared. Most of the family left. But my sister found me. She and I will be so sad when this show ends. And I'm very glad she's staying here until Tuesday. So we're going to go back to Epcot on Monday. And there's a lot of stuff I want to do with her. I still have a whole egg It's scavenger hunt to do.
We took our time walking out. My sister wanted to browse through the shop. I needed my bathroom break again. And we met up to see the last light show on spaceship Earth. I wanted to take one more photo past picture, but it had been hot and humid day. Not really favorable to hair.
On the bright side, there was a bus waiting for us at the stop. So again my had no wait. Talk to a family who are staying at one of the hotels on hotel Plaza boulevard. Got into a big conversation about how to get into Virtual Queues.
We came home to find everyone tired but happy. So I would say it was a near perfect day and Epcot. When were you got to do everything you wanted. You survived the heat and the rain. And you ended with a beautiful firework show.
And while I've been writing this, I've been watching Resort TV one's live stream Magic Kingdom from last night. It's good to be in Disney.
Good morning gents and gentesses! I hope your weekend is going well. There at the land of dreams and magic the Florida summer heat has arrived with a vengeance. Highs of 90 midday and scorching bright sun. W we have to wear layers of sunscreen and drink buckets of water. Comfy shoes and socks are the order of the day.
Now I woke up at my normal 6am. Normal for Disney. At home, that's time to rollover and go back t to sleep. But t today we had a mission. GET IN THE VIRTUAL QUEUE FOR GUARDIANS!
Yes all caps because it was a moral imperative. All the kids had arrived and all wanted to go on it. S some had never been in the last 3 trips. And I promised to buy anyone a second lightning Lane if they would go on it twice with me.
So we had a group of 11. 10 resort guests and one local. My brother, nephew and I set alarms and we're on our phones at 6:30am. But there was a complication. The day first was not connected to m me, so I couldn't select her, only my brother could. He wanted me to ee sit out him from my group so he booked us, but I was determined to stick to my method. Ww watch time.gov, restart app at 6:58am, confirm p party a and refresh r refresh refresh. No edits. No c complications. Didn't m matter if you wanted to go, I was getting you a VQ.
So when the time came I clicked make and got it for all 10. My brother missed his cue and then availability was gone. Damn! Thus ensured 20 minutes of bickering over who did what and how to fix it. Meanwhile I'm buying 6 lightning Lanes for the second ride tonight. Finally we figured out we could just swap bands with those who DIDN'T want to ride. Remember the old days of 3 FPs per person? Yeah we swapped ALL THE TIME! Why does Disney have to make it sooooooo complicated?
And yes the plan worked even better. Guest Relations did the swapping for us.
Brother and the kids rope dropped EPCOT was soon as the local friend was here. I took a long hot shower to eat away the drama of the morning. Had a leisurely breakfast and finally set of for the park with my sister. Decided to take the bus so I could have even less stress. Buses have been running just fine for me, especially in the morning. I'm getting them every 10-15 minutes. (Now that I know the marquis doesn't change until they park.)
We all met up at Guardians around noon. Only my sister declined. She did it once. The Land is more her style. It was busy but smooth. The newbies loved it. And we got my favorite song "One Way Or Another".
I had booked a Return for Ratatouille because the kids wanted to do it. And since I was maxed out on my DAS first list, I had to leave my siblings on most rides. But when we finished Guardians and split I noticed Ratatouille was down. My return converted to a n all day lightning Lane for the ride. That allowed me to book a return for Frozen. Even better. We would do the 3 main rides I and the kids wanted.
They split off to go on Soarin, which was not a long wait. I headed to the Odyssey Center for my F&G merchandise. On the way, I got lost and cut off by conduction same found the Fresh Eats booth. Chilled potato leek soup and grilled bison ribeye was too tempting to resist. And totally worth eating in boiling hot sun.
Now they're was one more problem of the day. Cousin J woke up sick. First I heard it was a cold, then exhaustion. Either way, he was out for the count and sending his brother and father alone to EPCOT. Yikes!
Now they have been doing well going around the parks just the 3 of them the last couple days, but without Cousin J to lead them? I had concerns. Fortunately it was EPCOT and they planned to visit countries. My uncle insisted they were fine solo yet he asked for help setting up a DAS for Ratatouille. So I volunteered to hang around the entrance to get them started.
Now they were at the bus stop and I thought that would take maybe 45 minutes of my time. Turns out the buses ran very very slow after 1pm. They waited almost an hour for a bus. And my dept took me 2 hours.
But I did take time to go to the Odyssey Center and get my merch. A Figment shirt, hat and pin. And I spent time at the camera center getting out ride photos linked. They never do automatically.
Meanwhile the kids started walking round the world getting their passport stickers. My sibs met up in Mexico for Tequila.
By the time my uncle arrived it was after 2:30 and over 90F. They set off for Canada. I made a beeline for Norway. I swear I was dying by the time I made it. Had a disappear to the bathroom just to regroup. Even with one of those orange slushies in the cute little orange bird cup, I was dripping with sweat.
Now when I got in Norway I lost two of the kids. They went on a detour. So I ended up with my siblings instead. And the way the DAS works It's exactly the same as a virtual boarding you or genie plus. You don't have to assign who gets on the pass. Which is annoying if you're going to swap two people out to put in another two people. But the cast members were kind. We told him about the problem and they just let my siblings take the place of the kids.
Fozen is a cute ride. Yes I do miss the traditional Norwegian ride but the themeing inside is beautiful. My only complaint is the very last animatronic of Anna and Elsa in the celebration room. If you look at their faces, they are too brightly illuminated for the rest of their bodies. It doesn't look right. I really wish Disney would fix that. It's done much better in other parks. Even the seven dwarfs are better in the mine train.
Getting on Frozen is not an easy thing for me. It is a hard to person lift. I walk to the boat with my cane and I'm lifted under my arms and by my feet into and out of the boat. It's not easy for my helpers either. It's hard and it's slippery and it's dark. So I only do this right when I'm with a group and they all want to do it. Usually once or twice a year at most. That's why I'm really glad there is a ride photo and I set up front so I'm seen.
There other boat rides in Disney that have the same difficult lift. Pirates of the Caribbean, whose boats are way too narrow and don't have enough legroom for me anymore. Navi River ride which is an incredibly short and waste of energy ride. Giving up going on both of them but I will still do frozen from time to time. I am very glad to report that jungle cruise has an actual wheelchair boat. Same as Mexico and it's a small world. Those I do at least once per trip or more.
It's okay. Not every place I will go is accessible. That just makes me appreciate the accessible ones even more.
And like I said I'm happy to use my DAS to help my family cut down on some of those long waits. I can go on probably about 75% of the attractions in Disney. I like to go on about 70%. And that's enough for me.
When we finished Frozen, we decided to meet up for Ratatouille in about 2 hours. Just to give his time to finish walking around the country and get out of the heat.
My sister and I made her way to the bakery in Norway and a table in the shade. Got a really nice vanilla sponge cake and a tall glass of ice water. My brother and the kids kept going to China. Inside they found shelter and air conditioning. My nephew in law ended up on the floor. Man down man down!
I think we trailed them by about 30 minutes. My sister and I both ended up at China as well. I took a little tour around the museum waiting for the next show. Love the Duffy bear display. Oh how I miss those little creatures. And I'm told by one of the cast members that they are currently selling the frog friend of Duffy bear over the Polynesian. I'm going to have to check that out on Tuesday.
I saw a photo pass photographer waiting for Mulan to come back out. Oh chance to meet a character! Ask my sister if she wouldn't mind if I just stay behind and she went on to the movie. That meant we split up. Which is not something I wanted to do but I also wanted to see Mulan.
In the meantime, I meant a very nice Chinese family who spoke broken English. They were trying to understand how the magic shots work. The cast member had a hard time understanding them so I jumped in to help. Show them some of the magic shots we had done that day and how they were staged. So the mom started explain to all of her family for future shots. I'm at the little kids. I'm at the uncle and the aunt. I'm at the grandmother. Like I said it was a big family.
Mulan seem to take forever. And the dad was getting anxious when suddenly Mulan appeared. She was a huge hit. Mostly because she spoke Chinese. Oh how that family loved that. Made them feel welcome. And Mulan was staging martial arts poses with the kids. Their parents had to join in. They made a fun group photo.
Next came my turn. Mulan told me all about her bad hair day. She woke up late and mushu insisted he could do her hair. Of course he did lopsided. He really has to lay off the sake if he's going to be a hairdresser. I told Mulan she did a very good job with that family before me. And they were very happy that she spoke Chinese. I wished her a happy day and went on to see the Chinese movie.
Lost my sister in the process but I knew she was on the walk to America. Did my best to catch up. So I'll sign for Moscato at the Italy booth, unfortunately they were all out. And I was getting hot again.
But now it was a little after 5:00 p.m. and Berlin was about to start up their concert in the American amphitheater. I found a spot in the shade with a nice bench beside me. Send pictures to my family and invited them to join me. First my brother showed up. Then my sister. She was the good one. She brought food and drinks.
Berlin was on fire! Great group. Really brings back my teenage hood. And they were so happy to see a live audience all together again. You hear that a lot from bands these days. Covid was really hard on them. It was sad to be a performer and not have anyone to perform to because we all hid in our little shelters. May we learn from that experience and never ever ever do it again! (You know except for those who have extremely fragile health and have to hide from people. You have my sympathies. Remember, my mom's meant her last 4 years that like cancer with extremely fragile health. Been there done that. It's not easy.)
The kids were waiting for me in France so I jetted out with the last song. Even skipped my bathroom break so they didn't have to wait any longer. And we went right in. this time it was just the kids and I. Siblings were voted off the island. Sorry DAS rules. I can only take five of you with me.
After Ratatouille, which was flawless, not bad for a day when they were down most of it., We split up again. I sent the kids all their way to go finish getting their stamps around the world. And I took my bathroom break. Nice regrouping after a sweaty afternoon.
But when I got out of the bathroom, there was a huge crowd. It started raining. One of those tropical pop-up storms. And I needed to get over to the theater to see the first showing of Impressions de France. I moved as fast as I could, politely as I could calling out excuse me, and cutting through the arcade to get to the theater. My sister was somewhere inside lost in the crowd. You couldn't move. Everybody was stuck.
Show started a little after 7:00. My sister finally found me and we were in a nice middle row towards the back. The wheelchair row. Beautiful movie. Incredible music. the sound system in there is just stunning.
I will add only one complaint of the experience. The people next to me decided they didn't want to watch it. One of them thought it would make the motion sick so they wanted to leave. Right in the beginning of the show in a very crowded wheelchair row with lots of scooters with a wheelchair in their party! Oh for the love of God! One of them told the family member to just close their eyes, but they refused. So right in the middle of show we had to deal with finding a cast member moving 15 chairs out of the way so that these three people could exit.
Okay if you're prone to motion sickness, please don't go see any of the movies in the countries! They are surround movies. They give you experience of being there. And the last thing you want to do is disturb other guests because you can't take it.
My sister and I disagreed on our opinion of this guest behavior. Frankly I thought it was rude. Yes I have been in situations where I've been in trouble but I didn't want to disturb the people around me. If I can handle it some other way, like closing my eyes, I would. Unfortunately not all guests are like that.
I don't think it helped that when I was in the bathroom half an hour earlier, some adult woman decided to celebrate something by screaming at the top of her lungs. Twice! In a small crowded bathroom that echoed. Everybody was annoyed.
It makes you understand why cast members say the job is great except for some of the guests. It also makes you understand why cast members are really enthusiastic when you're a nice guest and they meet you. It's a good change of pace for them.
I'll let you all render your opinion. Feel free to disagree with me. No I wasn't rude to the guest back. I just had my opinion.
After the movie let out, the rain has stopped. Which is a good thing because it really rained. Hard! It was wet everywhere. People were still in the rain ponchos. And it added the layer of humidity to the air. Still warm with a cooler breeze. The burning heat of the day had finally ended.
I told the kids to meet me at Guardians at 7:45 p.m. it was 7:30. So I split off my sister to head back to future world. Then I got a text from the kids saying they were comfortable in connections Cafe recharging their phones. So instead of racing I can take a leisurely walk.
The sun was setting and the sky was gorgeous! I just had to stop and take photos. Of the scenery. Photos of me. You know just enjoy the view.
When I got to Canada and the band was playing, I stopped to take video. That's when my sister caught up with me. And we just walked the rest of the way. Got some beef tips at Canada. Very delicious and hot. A little well done though. So a little extra chewy. And I didn't really have time to eat all my vegetables. But still it made a nice dinner. She also got the maple milkshake with whiskey. Which was a little bit too strong for her. now that's saying something.
Oh and backtrack a little bit I did see my uncle and cousin out and about. And cousin J did make it to the park. Apparently he wasn't sick. He just needed rest. He came out later in the afternoon and I think they went on Ratatouille together. But they were going to make it an early night and leave before fireworks. I'm not sure but I think they jetted out as soon as the rain started.
I finally made it over to Guardians around 8:00. The kids and I assembled and I requested one thing after the ride, a photo in front of the guardians' ship. My niece said there was no line so we might as well go now. Which was a good decision because our hair looked much better. And the photos came out great!
Everything was working. We were all excited. We got to go twice in a day! Yes it cost me $17 per person but it was worth it. The only thing that had me concerned was what I looked at my watch and it read 8: 34pm in the pre-show room. Didn't I also tell my siblings I would meet them at the handicap spot for fireworks at 9:00? And doesn't that's not also fill up 45 minutes before fireworks? Oh I hope that I hadn't screwed myself out of a good view.
But like I said, second ride on Guardians in a day with your family? WORTH IT!
We all had different ideas as to what our favorite song was going to be. Personally I wanted one way or another. The girls wanted September. The guys wanted I Ran. We all wanted everybody wants to rule the world. None of us have heard that song yet. It ended up with September. Girls win.
As I'm being flung around on this ride, the thought strikes me again that if I saw this in the daylight I wouldn't touch it with a 10-ft hole. But when I'm being hurled backwards sideways and forwards up and down hanging on for dear life wondering if I've gone just a little bit too far, I hear that music and start singing and laughing. I hope I'm never too old to go on this ride. And no I do not get motion sick. I have plenty of other problems but that's not one of them. And I have never ever ever even lost contact with the seat. There is no possibility I'm getting flung to my death.
By the time we got out it was 8:44 p.m. almost 15 minutes to fireworks. I had to make a beeline. Lost my nephew when he stopped to go to the bathroom. I just kept going. Followed a scooter right to the handicap row and told the cast member I was on my own. And little white lie but technically I was on my own. I ended up in a single spot right in the center front. Honestly I couldn't have gotten that position if I tried. Certainly not if I'd gone with a group of four five scooters.
I tried to get my pedestrian family to follow me in and at least stand in the back, but they were lost too. It was okay. We still ended up with good views just in our respective places.
To be absolutely a glutton for enjoyment, I realize that resort TV wine was doing a live stream from Magic Kingdom and they were set up to watch the fireworks on main Street. So I pulled out my phone and started watching the stream. Then when harmonious started I switched to camera mode and was photographing and videoing that fireworks while watching Magic Kingdom fireworks. It was very meta. Incredibly enjoyable.
I will say comparing the two shows at the same time, the fireworks on main Street in Magic Kingdom are really beautiful. The projections are wonderful but I know that crowd is huge and the only way that stream looked decent is because the vloggers held their phone cameras high above their heads on a tripod. Me and a max of 5'4 I'm going to be looking through heads to see fireworks. But it Epcot, I'm right up against the fence. And I can raise my chair up to look over the fence. A completely unobstructed view. Maybe that's why I like Epcot so much more.
I do think the music for harmonious is better. And I think the pyrotechnics are better. Protections are okay. But having rocket launchers fire off rounds around the lake in front of you? Oh come on there's no contest. And the crowd was so into it last night. Ooohing and aahhhing. A huge round of applause at the end. It's good to be with a crowd that appreciates Disney Magic. And everything worked in the show. The holograms. The fireworks. The projections. Everything was absolutely perfection.
I communicated with my family by text. They all shared their views. And I just waited until the crowd cleared. Most of the family left. But my sister found me. She and I will be so sad when this show ends. And I'm very glad she's staying here until Tuesday. So we're going to go back to Epcot on Monday. And there's a lot of stuff I want to do with her. I still have a whole egg It's scavenger hunt to do.
We took our time walking out. My sister wanted to browse through the shop. I needed my bathroom break again. And we met up to see the last light show on spaceship Earth. I wanted to take one more photo past picture, but it had been hot and humid day. Not really favorable to hair.
On the bright side, there was a bus waiting for us at the stop. So again my had no wait. Talk to a family who are staying at one of the hotels on hotel Plaza boulevard. Got into a big conversation about how to get into Virtual Queues.
We came home to find everyone tired but happy. So I would say it was a near perfect day and Epcot. When were you got to do everything you wanted. You survived the heat and the rain. And you ended with a beautiful firework show.
And while I've been writing this, I've been watching Resort TV one's live stream Magic Kingdom from last night. It's good to be in Disney.
