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| I guess we were really enjoying the day. We didn't realize until just now that we had only taken three pictures all day! |
WE DID IT! It wasn't exactly like climbing Mt. Everest in a t-shirt, shorts and crocs. Nor was it like crossing the Pacific Ocean on an inner tube. However, covering four Disney theme parks in four days was somewhat of an accomplishment. Especially for two people who don't necessarily have a lot of theme park and large crowd material in their DNA. Not only did we do it, but thanks to mostly smaller crowds (by Disney standards) and pleasant weather we really enjoyed it. Who knows we may even do it again sometime down the line. Especially if James and Emma Joy are involved.
Yesterdays park was EPCOT, which in many ways is more suitable to us than the other parks. There's plenty of roaming around room and it just has a more relaxed atmosphere. EPCOT is divided into two sections. The front section is where most of the rides and attractions can be found. These include Mission Space, which has a virtual reality ride, that after experiencing Avatar Flight of Passage the day before, we avoided like the coronavirus. It is also where "The Seas", "The Land" and "Imagination" are located. All of these have some really nice attractions and rides. The center piece of the front section of EPCOT is Spaceship Earth, which is inside the huge round ball that is the image you often see in pictures. All of these areas are worth visiting. Some were new to us, while others have been around since the opening of the park back in 1982.
The back section of EPCOT is the World Showcase, which is somewhat like a mini and permanent World's Fair surrounding a man made lake. There are exhibits from Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, USA, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom and Canada. Every country features exhibits, shops, food and beverages from the respective countries. Additionally, to enhance the experience they are staffed by friendly folks who are also from the respective countries. This adds to the ambiance, since you won't be hearing a deep south accent spoken by someone working in the France, China or Germany areas. We really liked the casual stroll around the lake, reminiscing about time we had spent in the genuine various countries.
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| In the Canada area.....modeled after Victoria Gardens |
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| Guess which country this was in...…. |
Through February 24, the EPCOT International Festival of the Arts is going on around the world showcase. There are concerts, art displays, food samplings (for a fee) and special markets.
Currently, Norway is where the biggest EPCOT attraction is located. It is home to Frozen Ever After, a boat ride on a small Viking ship through the world created in the Frozen movies. Beth saw the first frozen movie. I've seen neither one, but we "let ourselves go" and followed the opening herd straight back to see what was going on with Anna and Elsa. Even without the Fastpass we only waited about twenty minutes so I guess it paid off to trample all those small children who were blocking our way. The ride itself was pretty cool, no pun intended. Beth took a few short videos that James really enjoyed seeing, so it was worth the short wait.
A few closing thoughts as well as some helpful hints. Some that have been covered in other blogs and a few that are new.
Fastpass is really very helpful. It is most helpful in the Magic Kingdom but also comes in handy in the other three parks. Download the Disney Experience App and become familiar with it.
Try to catch Star Wars Rise of the Resistance (Hollywood Studios). Even if you're like us, and not necessarily a Star Wars fan, you'll enjoy it for the cutting edge technology.
Lines. Yep, you're going to stand in them. Especially for the more popular attractions. We were calculating that our total wait time for all four days was probably around five hours. Not bad, especially considering that about half of that was for two rides in Animal Kingdom (Avatar Flight of Passage and Na'vi River Journey). We certainly won't be doing Avatar Flight of Passage again, for reasons that can be found in the Animal Kingdom blog. Na'vi River Journey was good and we'd do it again if the line was in the 20-30 minute range.
A favorite pass time of mine while standing in lines was reading t-shirts. Some of my favorite were as follows:
In the Disney themed category:
"Bippity, Boppity, Broke!"
"#Most Expensive Day Ever"
In the General Category:
"You can't spell Sausage without USA"
"I'd agree with you but then we'd both be wrong"
"In my defense I was left unsupervised"
Parking. The Disney Corporation reported revenues of over 60 billion dollars in 2019. It's fair to say, a decent amount of that came from parking fees. Currently the parking fee is $25 per day. If you are at a hotel on Disney property you will most likely be able to get complimentary transportation. Bus service is provided at many hotels off property for a fee of around $10 per person round trip.
Hotels. For another week or two it's "value season" around here. Hotel rates are as good as you will find them at anytime during the year. As we often do, we used Hotwire and were very pleased with what we got and what we paid for it.
Taking Food and Beverage into the Parks. Thankfully Disney has a very liberal policy on taking food and beverage into the parks. You should check for specifics but sandwiches, snacks and drinks are allowed. Purchasing food inside the park is very expensive.
Is Disney the "Happiest Place on Earth"? To a lot of folks it is. To us, it was a great four day adventure that we enjoyed tremendously.
