Disney 2011: Epcot

22 weeks, 5 days

This one's a doozy.....You're welcome.



I mentioned in the Day 1 recap that Allyson and I had done a bunch of research to determine which week and days we would like to visit based on crowds. The site that seemed to be most helpful was www.touringplans.com. Anyone can browse the site itself and see some of the statistics but if you want full access, you need to pay a subscription fee. (Allyson did all that so I don't know the total cost but I would guess maybe $10/yr for access.) This website introduced us to Touring Plans. The name is pretty self explanatory....a plan that is created to make the most out of your day of touring the parks. The creators of the site have full-time researchers within the parks who develop statistics and data based on certain time periods and days throughout the year. With that data, they developed specific touring plans that allow the follower to wait in line for a minimum number of minutes. Each plan is labeled with different criteria depending on what type of park day he/she would like to have. Some examples are the Touring plans for Adults, Touring plans with Small Children, Touring plans for Seniors, etc. and then each of those are broken down into subcategories that feature different types of attractions for different people. There is also an Ultimate Touring Plan which incorporates all the attractions into a single day. There are ultimate challenges that people can partake in where they try to complete all 75+ attractions (which includes all the character meets, rides, shows, parades, etc) in a single days time. It sounds pretty hard core and, I can imagine, incredibly exhausting.

Our option of touring plans was to create our own custom plan. We took all the data we could find and devised a plan with specific times and stops for each attraction that we wanted to complete. (Allyson and I may have spent an entire Saturday afternoon going through books and websites typing up the exact itinerary. My mom joked with us that our days were so jammed packed that we were going to need to add in bathroom breaks.) It sounds like too much work for some people but really it was the best thing we could have done to get the most out of the two full days we had at Disney.

Allyson was really interested in doing her own type of Ultimate tour so we constructed a plan that incorporated (almost) every ride, show and parade in the park. We left out any character meets because that wasn't something any of us were interested in.





So, after a pretty good night sleep (for me anyways), the four of us were ready for Day 2 at Epcot which was ranked a 2.3 out of 10 on the "busy" scale. We made sure we all had our own printed copy of the touring plan (in case anyone strayed from the group or got lost, they would know where to find the others), plenty of sunscreen and charged cameras when we took the easy walk up the boardwalk to the International Gateway entrance to Epcot. The International Gateway is basically the back entrance to the park which is located within the World Showcase or the countries.

With me being pregnant, there were a few rides that I wasn't able to do out of safety. We decided that the other three would go do Test Track, Mission Space and Sum of all Thrills (all rides I couldn't do) first thing while I went to the opposite side of the park to get FastPasses for Soarin. This way, they could get those rides out of the way and not have to deal with the crowds later on.

Now, I knew that Soarin would be a madhouse first thing in the morning but what I found coming up towards The Land Pavilion was like something out of a movie. In the distance, I could see a mob of people walking in a very calm fashion in my general direction. I skipped through some lawns and was able to approach the crowd just as we were beginning to enter the building. The shear amount of people was incredible and since I came up the back way, I was able to wiggle into the front 1/3 of the crowd.



Everyone who gets to Soarin then has a decision to make. Either get on the ride or get a FastPass. The FastPass is a ticket that you can get only at specific rides and it basically sends you to the front of the line at a designated time for later in the day. Soarin is notorious for it's 2 hour long lines and there was no way any of us were going through that so I used all four of our day tickets (that I collected from the other three when they went to the other rides) and got FPs for each of us with a return time for 10:00 that morning (it was just now after 9am.) This worked out perfectly and it gave me plenty of time to walk around and take pictures while the others finished the rides I couldn't.



I had Allyson write me an excerpt of her experience while I was away at Soarin.

After we split up to head to Test track, we ended up a bit behind the pack. Wait time said 20 minutes but we waited maybe 10 minutes. The ride was much more exhilarating then I had initially expected, but I enjoyed it. Next, we took the short walk to Mission Space, all choosing the "easier" green side. We walked through the queue to find only 2 people in front of us! We got through the pre-show, was given our jobs (I was the navigator) and took our seats. I'm not gonna lie, I spent most of the ride with my eyes squinted because I was slightly freaked, but I really am excited to try it again since I know I can handle it now. Next up was Sum of All Thrills so we headed over to Innovations. I was excited to see what this was all about because I couldn't quite invision how it worked. Rachel and I got in line (Mom decided to skip this one) and waited less than 5 minutes. We were given 2 plastic cards and a number for a monitor. When it was our turn, we swiped our cards and began to design our own roller coaster. Rachel agreed not to go overboard so we chose the milder bobsled track. Eventually, we were able to decide upon 4 different sections of the track. They included mostly circles, nothing that required going upside down or large drops. We even had to test it to make sure it was engineerically possible. Next, we walked up the stairs to put our bags in a locker and got ready to sit in the simulator. As we were getting buckled in the cast member commented on the vibrams I was wearing (5 finger shoes that look like toe socks). He had never seen any before, which I took as a compliment since your feet dangle outside the machine and he probably sees lots of shoes in a day. The ride ended up being really neat and despite the mildness, Rachel got a little queezy. Still an awesome use of technology! We met back up with Mom and headed over to The Land to meet Taryn.


The parks are notorious for being "empty" that first hour that it's open, so Mom, Rachel and Allyson were able to finish all 3 of the most popular rides within an hour. On average, any one of those rides will have an hour long wait, but since they got there early, they were "walk-ons" and met up with me shortly to use our FastPasses for Soarin. I was really excited for this ride because all the reviews were great. The concept is that you are in a seat that lifts you up and the simulator makes it as if you are hang gliding through California. My favorite rides at theme parks are the ones where you sit in the swings and turn in a circle and I loved parasailing so this was crazy cool for me. We were lucky to get top row which I highly recommend if you can. It's a different experience. All four of us loved it so much that we stopped to pick up 4 more FastPasses to use later in the day.





Since we were already in The Land Pavilion, we hopped on Living with the Land which is a boat ride that goes through the greenhouses on property. This was another favorite for us and since we were so far ahead of schedule (at this point we had waited an average of 5 minutes at each place), we decided to sign up for an extra Behind the Seeds tour of the greenhouses for later in the afternoon. While still in the land, we saw the Circle of Life movie with Timon and Pumba about well...the circle of life and being good to the environment.







It was about time for lunch, so we stayed to eat at Sunshine Seasons which is the food court that gets a large majority of it's food from the greenhouses on property. It was super yummy. I'd highly recommend it for a quick but healthy lunch option. As we sat down to enjoy our food, we had a family of 6-8, all over the age of 18, sit next to us. As I'm eating, I see a guy walking in our direction with a family size bag of Doritos. I catch a glimpse but don't really think anything of it until he finds a seat at the table with the family next to us. He sits down and puts an entire loaf of bread on the table along with the Doritos. It was smushed beyond belief. Again, I notice it but move on to more people watching.

After a bit, I can see that the family are all passing out sandwiches that came out of the bag of bread and it appears that someone has pre-made peanut butter and jelly to have for lunch and put them all back into the same big bag. This is when I got judgy. For real, people? Why not put each sandwich into an individual baggy at the very least? And, I realize that this is a very economic way to have lunch for a family of 8 but we sat watching them scarf down the most disgusting looking sandwiches ever while each sticking their nasty hands into the family size bag of Doritos. And it wasn't like a family of kids. They were all adults. So yeah, I judged them and quickly cleaned up my stuff.







After refueling, we headed over to the Nemo pavilion to check out the aquarium. We had originally put this earlier in our touring plans but adjusted some things to make for less walking. That decision wasn't the best because we ended up waiting here for close to 20 minutes. By far, the longest line of the day. I was kinda disappointed in the ride but it was okay. We had plans to do Talk Time with Crush after the ride but it was closed down for maintenance and none of us wanted to wait it out till it started working again so onward and upward.

Next up, we checked out Innovations for the Piggy Bank Challenge which was a must-do for me. You get a real piggy bank that you insert into a bunch of machines and play games to save money in your piggy bank. There are also obstacles that take away your money that you want to avoid. Granted, we were the only people above the age of 10 but we kicked butt and saved all our moneys. It was a really fun exhibit even for us and I think it is a great learning tool for kids too.

We also made sure to make a quick stop by Club Cool which is a beverage station sponsored by Coca Cola. It showcases all the various sodas from throughout the world. I passed on this (still going strong with no caffeine this pregnancy) but it was unanimously decided that the Beverly flavor was awful. Don't say I didn't warn you!







We took a ride on Spaceship Earth (and I about peed my pants laughing so hard at the computer pictures) and then headed to Guest Relations to get Rachel a special birthday pin. Her actual birthday wasn't for a week after we got home but if you are celebrating anything special, I highly suggest getting a pin. It's quick and easy and all the cast members make it extra special. Rachel got so many Happy Birthday wishes that day.

Next up was Imagination Pavilion (lame!) and back to The Land to use our FPs for Soarin and to do the Behind the Seeds tour. The tour is an extra cost where you get to go back into the greenhouses and find out all the methods of which they grow the insane amount of produce. My mom is a gardening freak so she was all over doing this. Honestly, it was just okay. I'm sure if I were a gardener it would be interesting but it wasn't my favorite. It was pretty hot in there and we were with another family with two young daughters who were annoying as hell. I took zero pictures so that speaks volumes of my boredom.



By evening, we were all starting to wear down a bit. My feet were killing but we made the trek to World Showcase to check out the countries.







I'm not much of a World Showcase fan. I know I have much more exploring to do but it's really just okay for me. The entertainment is fun but you have to time that right to see each act. All the food is supposed be great but it's not like I can eat my way through all the countries. (I wish!) We did have dinner in Italy at Via Napoli and it was really yummy. They are known for their wood burning stoves and pizza. I needed carbs so I got pasta which was fantastic. The funny story here is that some of the tables are set up family style so there will be other families sitting with you. Well, our table (sat probably 30 people) was pretty much empty and some kid just comes and sits right next to my mom. We order and the waitress takes his order with ours because she thought we were all together. It was extra awkward for my sisters and I but my mom was talkative and found out his whole life story. He was 21, from Houston, was there with his girlfriend who happened to be scubadiving in the middle of the lagoon, while he got dinner alone. So.weird. And if you know the Eckhoff daughters, you know we don't do well in situations with strangers. Ha!

Luckily, the food hit the spot so it was still a good experience.





We did a bit more exploring around the worlds but after stuffing our faces we were pretty tired and it was getting about time to stake out a spot for the fireworks show, Illuminations. Allyson really wanted to do the Kim Possible mission (You get a walky talky that gives you clues throughout the worlds and you have to solve the case a la old Carmen Sandiego style.) so she and Rachel went off to do that while my mom and I just relaxed in France. People watching was at an all time high before the fireworks and we questioned the fashion sense of a large majority of patrons.





I lucked out with a pretty good viewing spot for Illuminations and even though my tripod would not stand tall enough to reach the ledge, I was able to balance on the wall in front of us to get some good shots.









After the show, we were right by the entrance to International Gateway and whisked through the walkway back to our room before 10. Fortunately, we were going to need that early bedtime as we were planning 16 hours at Magic Kingdom the next day!

To Recap: We hit all attractions in Future World and World Showcase except for three in a total of 12 hours. Successful day at Epcot!