Thursday, July 20, 2017

First Day at Epcot, Walt Disney World: Thoughts from a First-Timer

June 8th, 2016. (Yes, I procrastinated writing this blog post.)

Epcot!

From what I've heard it seems this park is a love or hate for some people.  You either love it or you're totally "meh" about it.  I loved it!

My Mom and I only had 6 days to visit Walt Disney World, so two parks were visited twice: Epcot and the Magic Kingdom.  In hindsight we wish we spent 3 days at Epcot and only 1 at the Magic Kingdom.

Even with the two days we allotted for Epcot we didn't see everything.  Part of this is due to the fact that we slept in super late on the 8th.  We both slept about 10 hours straight.  The all-nighter the day before zapped all our energy, so we didn't leave for Epcot till about noon.

Epcot has split personality disorder, but I'm totally cool with it.  The front part of the park is Future World, where Spaceship Earth, aka the giant golf ball, sits.  There you have all the attractions that deal with our Earth, the future, space travel, innovation, environmental stuff, etc.  This is where Soarin' Around the World, Test Track, and Mission Space are found.  The back part of the park is the World Showcase where you can visit 11 countries.



Spaceship Earth:

It's a slow moving ride with human animatronics going into the history of invention and innovation.  It's a history lesson/educational ride.  Slow moving.  I didn't know what to expect, and I didn't really research the attractions before heading to Epcot to allow for a certain element of surprise.  I honestly really like the ride, but I think learning is fun.  Learning is awesome!  It needs some updating, but I liked it.

We did this ride first thing, because the line was short, and it's right at the entrance of the park, so really convenient, hard to miss.

After we went to Sunshine Seasons to eat, a quick service place (actually, all our eating on the trip was quick service), we went on the Living with the Land ride, which is right next to the cafeteria like eatery inside a nicely air conditioned building.

Living with the Land:

The ride I keep forgetting I went on.  It's another educational ride, like Spaceship Earth, only this goes into basic geology, horticulture, and goes into the problems with farming with pesticides.  It's a long ride, about 15 minutes, and the second half is boating through the green house, seeing how the Mouse grows food.  The gardening solutions Walt Disney World works with is interesting.

Soarin':

We were debating on whether to wait to ride Soarin', to see if the ride's line would shorten at some point, as the wait was averaging between 90-120 minutes.  We were there a couple weeks before Soarin' Around the World debuted, so it was Soarin' Over California.  The ride was closed back in November 2015 at California Adventure, so it had been quite sometime since we rode it, and Soarin' Over California is my most favorite ride.  (I have since ridden Soarin' Around the World, and as I do like it, I miss and prefer Soarin' Over California.)

We decided to hop in line and waited over an hour.  (We didn't do a single fast pass at Disney World, which I'll talk about in a later post).  It was worth it!!  I love that ride.  And I'm glad I got to ride it before it was gone forever, or whenever, maybe they'll bring it back at some point?

Test Track:

Okay, so I was so disenchanted with this ride I didn't take a picture.

If you can, do single rider. Single rider is the way to go, always.  The line was super long, and we got on in about 15 minutes.  The bit at the end is fun, but the ride feels like a prototype for Radiator Springs Racers in California Adventure, which is a ride I love.  Test Track pales in comparison.



Mission Space:

There's two different missions for Mission Space, an Orange one and the Green one.  They're essentially the same, only one spins (orange) producing 2.5G's of gravitational force.  The green version doesn't spin.  Other than that, no difference.  So, I went on green.  My Mom and I really debated, and went with the safe option.  She gets motion sickness.  And over a decade ago I got Labyrinthitis, which gave me 6 weeks of mild vertigo, and because of that I'm now sensitive to roller coasters.  California Screamin' made me sick for 2 hours.  Kinda stinks.

So the Green mission we went, and we loved it.  I would like to go on the orange version if I'm ever able to make it back to Epcot, but only if I wear that acupressure bracelet and take less drowsy Dramamine.



It was getting dark and we were getting hungry, so we decided to take a peek at the World showcase and get something to eat in France.  Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie has sandwiches and desserts.  Really yummy.





By the time we were done eating IllumiNations was starting.

It looks like the other side of the lake got a better view, but it was still a good show, and less crowded where we were.




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