An evening at Epcot

After 3 Disney parks in 3 days, we decided to take it a bit easier on the Thursday.  It was the 4th July, so we knew every park would have fireworks, it was just a case as to which park we wanted to go back to.  We thought we had done every park the best we could, and did not have one we really wanted to go back to.  We decided to try Epcot in the evening.  I had read it is generally the quieter park, so thought it would be the best to visit on the evening of one of the busiest holidays in the States.

We kicked around the house in the morning.  It was nice to not have to rush out the door.  We relaxed around the pool, and enjoyed the house.  This enabled Seb to have a good nap.  We ended up leaving the house about 4.30, and headed to Epcot.  As we drove in, we noticed that the Magic Kingdom was signposted as being full.  We parked up, after paying the usual $15 for parking.  Isaac had fallen asleep on the way, so we put him into the buggy, and let Seb walk down to the entrance of the park.  It was busy going in.  The park was very busy.  We walked into FutureWorld, and headed straight to Test Track.  This was a ride we had scoped out on the app.  It looked good for Oliver.  Unfortunately, it had a 120 minute wait, with no fast passes left.  We obviously decided to leave it.  We headed into a couple of the Innovations buildings.  Oliver got to play some Disney games on the Playstation, and Isaac eventually woke up.  There was not much for the us in FutureWorld.  Let me rephrase that- there were too many people to even contemplate trying to go on any rides or see any shows.

We headed down to the World Showcase.  We started in Canada, and made our way around the countries.  We stopped in the United Kingdom for some food. Fish and chips x3, 2 Harp lagers in commemorative steins, and a diet coke, possibly the most expensive fish and chips ever.  Very tasty though.  The boys needed a bathroom break, so I took them off, while paul waited with Seb.  The heavens opened again, but not too badly.  We then headed on to France, Japan, Morocco, Italy, Germany (the boys loved the model trains) , China, Norway and Mexico. 

         

One thing we noted about the World Showcase.  It is a drinking game.  Have a drink from each country in each country.  There was beer in Canada and the UK.  Wine in France, sake in Japan, more beer in Germany and Norway, sake again in China, and margaritas in Mexico.  I hope to go back to Epcot in about 10 years time.  The boys can go and do the rides, while Paul and I get steadily drunk....

Any who, by the time we got to Mexico, it was 8pm.  We still had 2 hours till the fireworks,but people were already starting to claim their spots on the side of the lake in preparation. As much as we didn't want to, we felt it necessary to go and find a spot.  We hunkered down near the Showcase Plaza and waited.  We got a good spot.  We were near to the restrooms, but far from beer.  It's times like this I am grateful to Apple for iPods and iPhones.  The boys were happy playing, while we waited.  We had a nice Floridian couple settle in next to us.  She was happy to chat away which helped.  Her husband worked at AK driving the trams.  

10pm the fireworks started. They were good, but not as good as I thought they would be on Americas birthday.

       

The display finished about 10.15.  We had also been able to spot some other fireworks going off at the other parks.  We headed out with the crowds, back to the car.  We walked back, rather than wait for the tram.  We were not too far which was good.  

We loaded the boys, and headed out of the car park by the directed route.  Unfortunately, as we were so near the front of the park, it took ages for our line of cars to move.  So long in fact that the boys all fell asleep before we had moved 3 foot.  I noticed that the cars at the back of the car park were going out a different way, and people retuning to their cars were choosing to go across the car park to a feeder lane further back in the car park.  We sat in the row, not moving for about 30 minutes, before we decided to drive across the car park and go through the feeder lane.  We were out in seconds, though still got stuck on the interstates going out.  There was an accident further up the road, but an hour and a half to get from the car in the car park to the house (usually takes 20 minutes), was completely unacceptable. There was not a cast member to be seen directing traffic or even assisting people on leaving the park.  I know this is a public holiday, even still, procedures should have been implemented to allow the good people spending their hard earned cash to celebrate 4th July at Epcot. It left a slightly sour taste in our mouths regarding Disney, and I wrote some strongly worded criticisms on their twitter feed, and a nasty message on Facebook.

Yesterday was spent relaxing around the pool.  We went to Five Guys for lunch (review to follow), and spent more time around the pool, feeling like a proper holiday.

  

Disney Hollywood Studios

We awoke early on Wednesday.  Our delightful children had decided that 6.30 was a good time to get up.  Given that they had done 2 days of theme parks and were pretty tired, it did not take long for the bickering to start.  So we had to get up and deal with them.  This enabled us to be out the door just after 8, the earliest so far.

We drove the usual distance to Disney, paid the usual $15, and parked up.  The tram was just arriving as we were about to start walking down to the park entrance, so we hopped on it.  We were in the park by 9.10, and went for one of the most popular rides that we all could do, Toy Story Midway Mania. we passed Pluto on the way.    In my research I had discovered that the fast passes for this ride often run out by 10am.  We got there, discovered that the wait time was 30 minutes, so joined the queue, while watching Buzz and Woody in the window over the way doing character meet and greets.  We moved through the queue, and got into a carriage quicker than the 30 minutes advertised.  We had our 3d glasses on, Paul rode with Oliver and Seb, I took Isaac.  Our seats backed on to each other, so photos  were difficult

                                      

Midway Mania is a lot of arcade games, where you have to shoot things.  It was perfect for our boys.  We all really enjoyed it.  We exited the ride to find a wait time of 60 minutes!  We got ourselves together and headed towards Disney Junior Live on Stage.

It was not due to start for another 30 minutes, but we queued up, just as they extended the queue lanes.  We ended up being about 20th in the queue.  This worked out much in our favor.  The boys were amused by the TV screens showing snippets of Disney Junior, and they waited very well, for over 30 minutes.  We entered the theater, and were seated 2 rows back on the floors (man that hurt our legs), right in the centre.  We did well to get these seats, there were many people behind us.  The girl comparing the show was very good.  The boys were able to see a lot of their favorite characters.  Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Pluto, and Goofy all made appearances.  These were followed by Doc McStuffins, Sofia the First and Jake with his crew from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  Our boys really enjoyed this, even Oliver, which I was most surprised about.  A really good show, with puppets, perfect for a 'junior' audience

         

We headed from this to find food.  We arrived at the Backlot Express eatery to find it not open yet, at 11.10.  We had spotted on the way in the Jedi Training Academy, right. The Star Wars ride.  This is where young Padawans get to master their skills with the help of Darth Vader, and some Storm Troopers.  Oliver was ever so keen to do this.  It looked awesome, he was old enough,  so maybe next time.  About 10 minutes before the eatery opened, we headed back in.  Paul was one of the first served, so we were able to have an early lunch in relative peace and quiet (a rarity in Disney), but as we were finishing the hawks were circling, awaiting our table.  

We went out, along the Streets of America.  This is a fake film set, where nothing is as it seems.  We stopped, so the boys could have their photos taken with McQueen and Mater.  We had decided to go and see. 'Lights, Movies, action-Extreme stunt show'.  We got there in plenty of time, so were able to get good seats.  Think we waited about 30 minutes.  The boys were happy though, playing iPods.  Unfortunately, this show was not for Seb.  He lasted about 10 minutes, before I had to take him out as he was crying his eyes out due to the noise.  Just as we were walking down the stairs, they announced Lightning McQueen on the set, so we ducked through to the front so we could see him.  It still did not interest Seb.  He was too tired and spooked by the noise to care

I walked around with Seb in the buggie for a bit.  The place was packed.  I had just found somewhere to sit, when the heavens opened.  I got a text from Paul to say the show had stopped, so we headed over to where the show was kicking out.  We all sheltered for a bit, while we waited for the rain to stop.  

We had seen that Ralph from Wreck it Ralph were due to make an appearance in The Magic of Animation.  So we took a slow walk through Pixar Place, then up Mickey avenue, stopping for ice lollies and drinks on the way.  Oh, and a quick hello with some army men.

                                     

   

We got to the Magic of Animation just after Ralph and Venelope appeared, and the queue to meet them was already 30 minutes long.  So we watched them from a distance.  We don't do queueing, particularly when the boys are tired.

                                   

We also saw Sourcerer Mickey, again he had a massive queue.  We left the Magic of Animation, and decided to head home.  It only took us about 30 minutes to get from the middle of the park to the car, via the tram.

 The boys had managed 6 hours in a park, yet again.

The Animal Kingdom

So we had every intention of being up early on the Tuesday.  We hoped to be able to do Animal Kingdom (AK) in half a day.  Typically we woke a little late, and after paying the parking, (goodbye $15,) we arrived at the park about 9.20am.  We were able to park near enough to the park to walk from the car to the gate.

As usual, with Disney, the place was heaving.  We had already decided the night before, to head straight for the Safari in the Africa area, right at the back of the park.  I reckon half the people had the same idea.  It was quite a walk, but the boys did good.  When we arrived, there was a half hour wait.  We decided to join the queue.  The line moved fast, and I think we got on our Safari truck in under 30 minutes.

We managed to get the back row of the Safari truck.  This enabled us to get some good photos, looking out the back.  Quite possibly the best ride on the truck.  We passed through many animals.

                                   

We saw black and white rhino, 2 different types of giraffe, hippos, crocodile, lions, ostrich (they even had a nest, right near the road), various antelope, pelican, vultures and wart hogs.  It was well worth the queuing, the ride lasted a good 30 minutes, and was a lot of fun.  A bit like our honeymoon in Kenya, but on a much smaller scale!

After this we decided to take a little break, and headed through the crowds exiting the ride, back into the Africa area.  We came across Kusifari coffee shop and bakery.  Paul and I both had a Danish, Isaac and Seb shared a muffin, while Oliver had a croissant followed by coffee and apple juice.  Just the little pick me up that was needed.  We decided to stay in Africa a bit longer, and headed to Pangani Forest Exploration trail.  

This was a walking trail, with loads of animals and artifacts laid out along the way.  Isaac loved looking at the replica skulls of the animals on display, over looking at the animals themselves.  Again there were plenty of animals on display.  The main attraction was probably the gorillas, though there was a working bug house that Isaac liked.  My boys also loved the fish.  We decided not to do the wildlife express train to Rafikinis planet watch, as I had read mixed reviews.  Besides, we did a few train journeys the day before.  

So we left Africa, and headed to Asia.  Amazing how a 10 minute walk can allow you to skip continents.  We had read the night before that the Kali River Rapids, one of the biggest attractions in Asia, Isaac and therefore Seb were too small for, so we bypassed these.  Good job, as queuing was over an hour, and the fast passes available weren't till much later in the day.  We went to Maharajah Jungle Trek.  Again, this was another walk through area, which had plenty of birds and fish, and a few tigers thrown in for good measure. It also had some awesome looking fruit bats.

        

  The clouds were starting to look quite ominous, and the crowds just kept on growing.

We headed on anyways into Dinoland.  My boys had been so looking forward to this.  Dinoland is like a fun fair area, based on dinosaurs.  We joined the queue for Triceratops Spin, a spinning  fair ground ride not dissimilar to the Dumbo ride at Magic Kingdom.  It only had a 20 minute wait.  While we were waiting we heard the first crash of thunder, and saw the first strike of lightning.  The ride was then closed for about 40 minutes, while they waited for the storm to pass.  Luckily we were in the queueing are of Triceratops Spin, which was covered, so we hunkered down.  The boys had some snacks, then played iPods.  We rescued the buggy from outside, luckily it had been under a poncho, and put Seb in it.  This is where we realized Seb can sleep in theme parks.  

The rain and thunder eventually stopped, so I was able to take the boys on the Triceratops ride.  As we had been sheltering in the general vicinity, we were able to get on it very quickly after it reopened. They loved it, though Isaac had hold of the control which sets the height of the ride, and held it on low the whole time!  Seb was still asleep when it had finished, so I decided to take Oliver on the Primeval Whirl.  This was a spinning roller coaster.  As the rain had only just stopped, the queue was under 30 minutes.  Paul and Isaac were happy to go and look in some shops and generally amuse themselves in Dinoland while we rode.  This was a cool ride.  As it was just Oliver and I, we were able to hop in a carriage with another 2 riders, this shortened our time in the queue by about 4 carriages, not much, but it helped.  By the time we got on the ride it was raining again.  We finished up, and head back to Paul, Isaac and a now awake Seb.  They had been shopping, and bought the only souvenir from all the Disney parks we visited.  A foam dinosaur for Isaac, costing $13.  The rain kept up, thank goodness for raincoats and ponchos. 

There was other things we could have done in Dinoland, but the weather was really off putting.  It was gone 1pm by now, so we decided to brave the rain, and try to find some lunch.  We headed through the Discovery area, which if there had not been so much rain, we would have stopped and spent some time in it.

We had already noted that there was a Rainforest Cafe in AK.  We headed there for lunch ( please see http://feedinggoslings.com for a review, coming soon).  We finished up at about 3.45. And the sun was shining. I was ever so keen for the boys to be able to see a parade while we are here.  There is only one in AK, it starts at 3.45.  So we raced back through the gates, and headed up to the parade route.  We caught the last 15 minutes of it.  This was perfect for us, they may not have done a full one.  Also where we were standing was a main thoroughfare, so fairly busy, but we were able to stand far enough back to enjoy it.

       

There was not much more we wanted to rush to do in AK.  We headed out, caught a tram back to the car.  It took us about 30 minutes to get from the inners of the park to the car

I thoroughly enjoyed our time in AK.  This is the one park neither Paul or I had been too.  It is an amazing concept, and I am led to believe they do a lot for conservation too. 

 

The Magic Kingdom

We didn't end up leaving at 8.  We woke up at 7.30, but managed to get out the door by 8.30.  We drove the 20 minute drive to the Magic Kingdom, paid for parking ($15, ouch), and drove to the Heroes parking lot.  As we were not too far from the ticket area, we decided to walk it.  It did not take long.  We found a ticket pick up machine, and collected out paper tickets.

From the ticket area, we had a choice wether to get the monorail or the boat to the Magic Kingdom.  We opted for the monorail.  It was busy, to be expected, but the queues moved quickly, and within 5 minutes we found ourselves on the train.  Riding into the Magic Kingdom was amazing.  We arrived at the same time as the steam train.  By now it was about 9.15.  We went through the gates, and began heading down Main Street.  We were quickly asked to move on to the sidewalk, as there was a parade coming through by the people of Main Street.  We watched a little bit of this, before moving on down towards the circle, where all the areas branch from.  We had already decided to head to Tomorrow Land, as we thought there were some things in there that might interest the boys.

The first ride we went on was the Tommorowland Transit Authority People Mover.  This was a ride that all of us could go on, a theme for the holiday.  We all enjoyed this ride.  It basically took you through all the rides in Tommorland.  So we were able to ride in a car through Space Mountain, Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin.  This was a good ride for us.  Nice and gentle, and it enabled the boys to see what they wanted to do next.

As soon as they saw the Tommorowland Speedway, they wanted to go on it.  Luckily, they were all tall enough, even Seb.  Even better, there was only a 20 minute wait.  We queued up, and decided who was riding with who.  I rode with Isaac, Paul took Oliver and Seb.  We went in the last car of the ride, Paul and co took the first of the next row round.  I so shouldn't have let Isaac drive, he steered from side to side.  Luckily, I was in charge of the gas.  All the boys really enjoyed this one, and wanted to go again, but by the time we had finished the wait time was up to 40 minutes.

We stopped for a quick snack, before walking on to Fantasyland, and the next ride, the Mad Tea Party. This is a spinning teacup ride.  Not my favorite, but the wait time was only 20 minutes again, and the boys really enjoyed this.  Again, this was a ride we could all go on in the same teacup.  We then headed further into Fantasyland.  This is a new area of Magic Kingdom (I will put some links up when I get home, I need to do a bit of research.....). 

We were gong to go on the Dumbo flying elephants ride, but decided the queue was too long.  I had heard that the Barnstormer was a good roller coaster for kids, and was a Goofy inspired ride.  I was mightily surprised that Seb was tall enough at 35 inched to ride the roller coaster.  I think the people working it were also a bit surprised, given he seems so small.  The wait was only 20 minutes, so we went for it.  We got into a carriage, 3 rows of seats per carriage, Isaac and Paul up front, Oliver on his own in the middle, the Seb and I at the back.

                                      

  This was a surprisingly fast roller coaster, that really threw you round the corners.  I had a good hold of Seb, thank goodness, as Paul did of Isaac. From their faces you could not tell if they liked it or not, but the all said it was awesome afterwards. It is not too long,or high.  It is quite fast, and has high speed corners.  Even Seb tried to tell us how awesome it was.  From here, the boys had a quick splash in  Casey Jr Splash and Soak centre.  The weather though, was not playing ball.  Isaac wanted to go into Pete's Silly Sideshow.  We did not realize it, but this gave us a good opportunity to meet some characters.  The wait time was only 20 minutes, and it seemed to go a lot quicker. Seb got a bit freaked by Goofy in his costume, but this could be because he was about 7 foot tall.  Isaac was not too keen either.  Oliver loved it.  Both Isaac and Oliver were happy to go and meet Donald Duck though.

                                       

We then headed further into Fantasyland.  Under the Sea-the journey of the Little Mermaid was calling our name.  The sign said the queue was about 30 minutes, so we decided to go for it.  There were a few bits and pieces to keep the boys amused mid queue, but not much.  It took a good 30 minutes to get to the front.  Paul and Oliver boarded one clam shell, I took the others in the next one.  It is basically a ride to tell the story of the Little Mermaid, but without all the nasty, boring, sloppy bits.  Good animatronics, makes me glad I have 3 boys.  

Next we attempted to go and get some lunch.  Unfortunately the one place we wanted for a sit down meal was full to bursting, queuing  out the door in fact.  So we ended up getting some quick food from Friar Tucks Nook in Fantasyland.  Hot dogs and chips (that's crisps to those in the UK) for Paul and I, and nuggets and chips for the chimps.  We ate outside, not the best food, but we were hungry.  After lunch we headed through the castle.  I swear last time you came here you could not walk through it,  but I may be wrong.  

                                    

   

We headed towards Liberty Square, over the bridge, towards Frontierland.  This is when we hit the crowds.  Man, it was busy round near Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain.  The weather also started turning a bit nasty.  As we had every intention of retutning in the evening, we decided to cut our losses and head for home.  We boarded the train, which only runs one way, and headed for the entrance to the park.  From here we took the monorail back to the ticket office, then a tram back to the car park.  It took a full hour to get from Frontierland to the car.

We were all absolutely shattered.  Isaac and Seb both fell asleep on the way home, though Isaac woke up when we got back and Seb slept for an hour or so.  Not long after we got home, the heavens well and truly opened, and it thundered and rained for most of the time we were home.  

It was just stopping raining when we headed back to the park.  We caught the tram from the car park. By now, everywhere was soaked.  Our intention was to try and stay for the the electrical light parade at 9pm.  We decided get the boat to the park.  This was a nice old fashioned boat, with hardly anyone on it.  Very pleasurable.  Once we reached the park, we got on the train back to Frontierland, meaning we had done a full lap of the park by train.  Frontierland was just as busy.  We got fast passes for Splash Mountain, just in case we decided to go on it later.  We headed to Tom Sawyers Island by raft.  We had just finished doing the Fort on the Island, when the cast members said we had to leave, and head back to the raft port.  We got there just as the heavens opened.  There were many people waiting for a raft, and we boarded a fully loaded raft in the pouring rain, while thunder and lightening happened all around us.  

We went into the Hall of Presidents to escape the rain, but decided not to stay for the show.  We thought we would escape the rain by heading for some dinner.  We ended up back in Fantasyland, after getting through more rain.  We ate at Pinnochio Village Haus, where the boys shared pizza and nuggets, and Paul and I had a pizza each.  

By the time we had finished, it was still raining, the boys were soaked, and it didn't feel like there was much more we could achieve.  By now it was 7.45pm.  We headed down to the parade route.  It was packed. Everyone was already taking their spots on the side of the road.  We did not think the boys would last over an hour sitting in the rain.  We decided to cut our losses and head home.  Again, it took nearly an hour to get from Main Street by the castle to the car.  

         

Seb fell asleep in the car on the way home, and barely stirred when we got him ready and put him into bed.  Isaac also went very happily.  Oliver went not long after.

We really enjoyed the Magic Kingdom, but the weather was so against us.....

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This is just my account on how our day went.  When I get home, I shall be doing a 'hints and tips' post to give my opinion on how to do Disney and Orlando theme parks in general.  We did it at our convenience, though I have read many things on how to do it cheaply, quickly and with kids of all ages....

Watch this space

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