Mickey Mouse, Here We Come!!

After a long and exciting day at Epcot, I wrongly scheduled the three of us to go to the Magic Kingdom the very next day.  My intuition told me that Tuesday might be a good day of the week with shorter lines, but the rationale side reminded me that we hadn't exactly had a chance to recuperate from all the walking we did the previous day.

Oh well!  FastPass+ attractions were already scheduled and so was our breakfast at Be Our Guest Restaurant, located right inside the enchanted Beauty and the Beast castle.  Our breakfast was scheduled for 9:15 a.m., but we arrived late, not realizing it would take some time to get through the long entrance lines along with the monorail ride from our parking lot to Disney.  Thankfully, our reservations were still honored, and we were quickly led to a table in the Grand Ballroom.  I tried to make-believe I was a princess eating among royalty, but my two boys were out of sorts.  "This is the meal?" my husband complained; he chose the Beast's Assorted Charcuterie, a very skimpy platter of assorted cured meats and cheese.  "I don't have any butter," my son whined, refusing to eat a bite of his French Toast until someone brought it.

Unfortunately, the restaurant is/was so popular that there were hundreds of patrons walking in and out at any given moment.  The staff appeared to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume and so the butter arrived 20 minutes later--that is to say, 20 minutes after hearing my husband and son complain about the service and how they couldn't believe the breakfast was costing over $100 for the three of us.  "Well excuse me for thinking it might be cool to eat inside a Disney castle," I retorted.  It was obvious I was the only one excited about being there.  I made Lewie walk around with me, so I could get some photos, but he wasn't impressed either.  They would have been happier if I brought them to a food stand.

After breakfast, we headed out to go on some attractions before our FastPass+ reservations.  Having downloaded the Disney App, I could see the wait-times for the rides.  Attractions like Space Mountain, Peter Pan's Flight, and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train were either not running or had 90+ minute wait-times all day long, so we headed on the less popular ones that, of course, were still fun.

Our first one, It's a Small World, was right in Fantasyland.  I remembered this ride back in 1986, and I insisted that the boys had to come with me because it was a classic.  My husband and Lewie chose to make jokes during the entire 10 minute ride, but I was just as entertained as I was at age 11.  I took dozens of pictures.

Right after It's a Small World, we headed to Tomorrowland.   There, Lewie and I chose to go on the Tomorrowland Speedway and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover.  The speedway reminded me of many other speedways we've been to at regular amusement parks, but the Peoplemover was cool. On board, we tranquilly glided above the Tomorrowland part of the park, which gave us outdoor views and even a brief indoor view as we passed through Space Mountain.  As we moved along the outdoor track, Lewie and I used the opportunity to scout out a place that sold popcorn.  Score!  We took mental note of its location and found it once our feet touched the ground again.

In Adventureland, it was time to go on our first FastPass+ ride, Pirates of the Caribbean.  I LOVED this part of the park!  We moved pretty briskly as we didn't want to lose our reservation, but still, I took mental note that I wanted to come back to look at food choices and to explore the Swiss Family Treehouse.  Pirates of the Caribbean was fun and probably my favorite ride inside the Magic Kingdom.  I was bummed that my pictures didn't take, but I have a great one of Lew pretending to bite Lewie with a plastic snake in the gift shop.  "Annette, can I have money to buy this snake?" my husband begged.

"No," I answered, envisioning it positioned under one of my bed pillows.  There was no way I was going to set myself up for years upon years of snake pranks.

Liberty Square was next followed by Frontierland.  First, it was our FastPass+ ride in the Haunted Mansion and then the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  While on the Haunted Mansion ride, there were a few technical difficulties, and twice we were stopped along the track with ghosts and ghouls around us.  It was not the type of creepy that would give me nightmares, but it was the type of creepy that made me want to jump out of my seat when we were stuck in these rooms for twenty+ minutes.  I didn't now how many more eerie creaks, moans, laughs, and whispers I could take!!

Being afraid of roller coasters, I bypassed the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride.  I knew the reviews said it wasn't particularly scary, but I decided better to be safe than sorry.  I used the time to go back to Aventureland to explore the Swiss Family Treehouse and then to get myself a Rockyroad shake!  I even had a chance to watch some of the brave souls go down Splash Mountain before reuniting with my boys.  It was a 60 degree day in the Magic Kingdom, so we opted to stay away from water rides.

At 4 p.m., I was outvoted to leave the park.  Big Lew and Little Lewie were pretty tired and sore from our almost 12 hour day at Epcot, and we all knew that the Magic Kingdom would be closing down at 5 p.m. anyways.  I made us take a few more iconic pictures of Main Street and the Cinderella Castle, and then we called it a night.  Visiting the Magic Kingdom was amazing, but we all agreed it was much busier than any of the other parks.  We would rest up for the rest of the night and get ready for Hollywood Studios and then Universal Studios for the next two consecutive days.

Epcot: A Celebration of Space, Culture, Imagination, and the Human Spirit

I LOVE Epcot.  It was my favorite back in 1986, and while I hate to spoil the ending of this blog post, it's still my favorite!  This may be why I chose it to be the first park on our five day itinerary.

Since the park would be open until 10 p.m., we decided to arrive around 11ish.  Our FastPass+ choices for the day (Soarin' around the World, Spaceship Earth, and Mission: SPACE) didn't begin until the afternoon, so we had some time to go on other attractions and have lunch at a leisurely pace before our true schedule began.  Our very first attraction was Test Track.  It was the first one we saw as we entered Epcot, and I knew (based on reading reviews of all the rides) that Lewie would love it.  There was a 60 minute wait, but we arrived bright-eyed, motivated, and ready to conquer the world.

In the line, we had fun looking at futuristic cars and pictures of what cities are expected to look like in the future.  To be honest, I winced at the industrial looking cities that seemed to smother Mother Nature.  I wasn't alone; Lewie took one look at one of the pictures and said, "I hope they don't really end up looking like that!"  That's my National Park, nature loving boy!!

When our wait was up, we were lead into a sci-fi looking lab where the three of us had a computer to design our own car.  Did we want to design the car for efficiency, power, responsiveness, or capability?  My vote for efficiency lost out.  Both my "boys," chose speed over efficiency, and when the car was complete, it was a gas guzzling, high powered, sporty race car (totally designed by Lewie).

Once we were satisfied with our car design, we were lead to the "test track" where we could "test drive" our car and later receive a review of how it performed.  Never being on this ride before, I was a little intimidated.  Was it going to feel like a roller coaster?  How fast were we going to go?  Swerving around in the darkness with quick stops certainly built up the feeling of intensity.  Then, the next thing we knew, we were out in the open air going at top speed (65 mph), which certainly felt faster!  It was a quick 4 minute ride, but it certainly delivered.  As we exited through the gift shop (what a surprise), Lewie found a machine that allowed him to create a plastic card keepsake of his special car design.  It was probably the best $5 I ever spent.  Lewie was so excited to get it, and now, (almost a month later) he's still so eager to show everyone his car design.

Our next attraction was a 13.5 minute boat ride called Living with the Land.  The ride took us through different landscapes and then opened up to a greenhouse where researchers are developing efficient ways to grow crops using minimal resources.  The goal, of course, is to create a sustainable way to feed our 7.7 billion people on Earth and counting.  (This ride was recommended as one of the top attractions at Epcot by multiple Disney bloggers.)

After Living with the Land, it was time for lunch.  We headed to the World Showcase and decided to go to Mexico.  Unadventurous Lewie settled on some mac and cheese, but Lew and I sampled some Mexican cuisine along with a Margarita for him and a Sangria for me.  One drink was all it took for me.  The next ride, The Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros, was a bit more cheery and fun with a buzz.  There was no wait for the ride at all, and I was amazed at how beautifully Epcot was able to recreate the Mayan Temple, Chichen Itza.  (This was definitely a ride I went on back in 1986; of course, now it felt more amazing than I remembered.)

Unfortunately, time didn't permit us to spend a lot of time at the World Showcase, but we did get a chance to walk around and see most of the elegant structures (pavilions) such as Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, and Norway.  There were funny street performers in France climbing a tall stack of dining chairs along with juggling wine bottles; a fun "drum station" near Morocco; and some good German beer (Big Lew could tell you more about that).

We did wait 15 minutes for The American Adventure Show, which was a 26 minute historical attraction with life-like animatronics of Ben Franklin, Mark Twain, and others.  I loved how it captured our nation's history--both good and bad.  We saw famous and obscure American heroes like Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King, Jr., and John Muir (to name a few).  In all honesty, it was awesome!  Plus, during our wait, we had the privilege of listening to a choir (dressed in vintage colonial attire) singing Christmas carols.  It definitely put us into the holiday mood!

Finally, the time had come to enjoy our three FastPass+ attractions all right in a row.  The first was Soarin' around the World, followed by Spaceship Earth, and then Mission: Space.  My favorites were in that order, too.  Soarin' around the World was AMAZING.  We were suspended 45 feet in the air by a hang-glider type contraption in front of a giant IMAX screen. Just like the name suggests, we felt like we were flying over all sorts of beautiful landscapes, such as The Great Wall of China, the plains of Africa, the oceans of Fiji, and the Grand Canyon.  If there wasn't such a long wait, I would have gone on it again.  The six minute ride went by way too fast!!!

Spaceship Earth was around in 1986 and just as I remembered it.  The attraction, inside the famous iconic Epcot structure, explores the human quest...from our first days on Earth all the way to current times and current inventions.  The show has multiple animatronics, showing people achieving amazing feats--both physically and mentally.  The best scene is the end where we are placed in outer space looking admiringly at our beautiful blue planet.  To my surprise, this was Lewie's favorite ride.  I had no idea until he told me at the end of the day.  For me, it was probably my second, right after Soarin'.

The final FastPass+ ride, Mission: Space, has two options.  You can choose either the high intensity Orange Mission to Mars ride or the calmer Green Mission around Earth.  At 7:30 p.m., the wait-times weren't that long, so I suggested we start with the Green Mission and then move to the Orange Mission.  The Green Mission made us feel like we were in a spaceship ready for take off.  It simulates an actual launch and made us feel like we were in space viewing Earth.  The feeling from the launch, in my mind, was pretty intense, but my two Lews told me the feeling was nothing like that of the Orange Mission.  Both were amazed by this simulation, which actually made them feel weightless during the launch, and both came out looking a bit ragged.  They didn't vomit, but their stomachs didn't feel well either.

Our final hour was spent waiting for the great laser light display that was to start at 10 p.m.  Rides were easy to get onto now, so we went to the Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival (I highly recommend it), Turtle Talk with Crush, and then The Seas with Nemo & Friends Attraction.  We enjoyed it all, but we had run out of steam.  Every step was somewhat painful now, and it was past Little Lewie's bedtime--the yawning never stopped.  In hindsight, I realized that this was a really long day for all of us, and we would be smart not to repeat it at other parks.  The light show, of course, was spectacular, complete with fireworks, lasers, and Christmas lights.  (There were even people in small boats dragging beautifully colored kites,which lit up the sky behind them.)  There were no regrets staying to see the majestic show, but oh how the complaining continued as we walked to the car--my back, my feet, my knees!  (You didn't hear this complaining from me--just sayin'--but I was tired, too.)

Epcot was just the beginning of a magical trip for us, but I have to say, it's still my favorite after all these years.  There's something about the celebration of human achievement.  I definitely want to come back when they have their famous International Food and Wine Festival, which runs from late August/September into mid November.  This is definitely worthy of a bucket list item.