Day 5 – August 25th/00
GROAN! These 5:30 am mornings have got to stop! I’ll have a word with Mickey tonight! We did the usual morning thing, and arrived at Epcot around 7:30 for early entry.
EVERYONE headed straight for Test Track. I tried to get my guys to run, but Gary is Gary. So, we eventually got to Test Track, but it was only a 5-10 minute wait. We all enjoyed TT very much. We all wished it was a bit longer (especially the fast part!)
We did HISTA, which was ok I guess. I expected better here too. (I guess maybe I set myself up too much for some of the attractions that they left me a bit disappointed).
We did SE, and I hope I don’t offend anyone by saying this. It’s MY PERSONAL OPINION (and that of my family) but this was the MOST boring ride we’ve ever been on in our lives! We didn’t like it at all.
We then did JIYI. I never got to see the original, but with all the grumbling about this one on RADP, and after just coming off the most boring ride, I was all ready for a snooze! But, although it wasn’t fireworks in the sky, it was definitely better than SE!
By now, it was probably 8:30/9:00ish, and as we wandered, we heard someone say the standby line at TT was 60 minutes already! The park wasn’t even open to the public yet! (You guys come through for me again!)
Next, we headed for Ellen’s Universe of Energy. The best part was going through “Dino-land”, but another boring ride overall. We finished up at Innovations. I had, on my to do list, still The Land, and The Living Seas, and Wonders of Life to check out, but we just sort of lost interest in Future World. I know lots (if not most) of you love Epcot, and say you need 2 days at least to really enjoy it, but it just wasn’t my family’s cup of tea. (Please don’t flame me for stating an honest opinion).
We went back to the resort for our rest around 10:30ish. Rather than having a snooze, or going swimming, we decided to check out the Belz Outlet Mall. It was pretty cool! I got a Disney T-shirt with all the main characters on it for about 14.00 (including tax). It was a bit of a deal. But then, I found a Dopey t-shirt for 5.99 (plus tax)! Now THAT’s a deal! Krystal found a beautiful green t-shirt with Tigger on it (her favourite character) for 4.99 (plus tax)! An even better deal! My other “best” deal was an AK magnet originally 5.99, marked down to 1.99 (plus tax). We bought other souvenirs here, and really enjoyed this mall.
On the way back to the resort, we stopped at McDonalds for lunch (14.00 including tax). Gary didn’t eat with us. He’d had enough “McPuke’s” (as he calls it) for probably the rest of his life!
By the time we got back to the resort, it was almost 6:30! We quickly dumped our stuff, and headed over to the MK, to catch MSEP and Fantasy in the Sky.
The first thing we did was got our wristbands for tonight at City Hall. Then we bought the girls each one of those fibre-optic light up things (12.00 including tax). Krystal chose a Mickey head, and Jess chose Sorcerer Mickey. We weren’t going to buy the girls anything really this trip (as they had saved up almost $200 each U.S. to spend on stuff), but I had bought them each a glow-in-the-dark necklace back in Canada with the intention of using it tonight. Well, I (DUH!) forgot them at the resort. So I felt a bit guilty, and got them these thing-a-ma-bobs instead. Which is fine. They are beautiful souvenirs. (I almost bought one for me!) <g>
We then found an awesome spot to sit for the parade. It was in Frontierland, pretty much right across from the steamboat. The streets were roped off, and we sat on a curb right behind the rope, so no one was able to jump in front of us! We had an excellent viewing of the parade.
Now that we had staked out our spot, Gary wanted to go see if he could find anything to eat. So off he went. He came back with a burger (5.78 including tax) he found at some restaurant. He thought it was pretty good, but couldn’t remember the name of the restaurant. It turned out it was Pecos Bill’s he found.
What a great parade MSEP is! The funniest part was when the dwarves came by, Grumpy went to shake Jessica’s hand, and then wouldn’t let go! He seemed to be trying to yank her into the parade. Jessica kept trying to pull her hand back, and telling him to let go (but she was laughing), and he finally did. I told her she should have let him yank her into the parade and see what happened. Oh well, it’s just amazing all the afterthoughts that come to mind when it’s too late!
After the parade was over, we headed toward the Adventureland Bridge to watch FitS. Now, because I’m not that familiar with the MK, and it was night, we ended up on the Frontierland Liberty Square Bridge. Which would have given us a wonderful view if the trees weren’t in the way! I kept my camcorder trained on the wire coming from the castle (figuring that would be where Tinkerbell would come from), but all my patience did not pay off. Tink did not fly that night. :o(
The fireworks were great (what we could see of them). A lot of them were high enough that they were over the trees.
When the fireworks were over, we headed to the Haunted Mansion. I have to say, I felt pretty important heading INTO the park, while most people were heading OUT of the park. We had to wait at the Haunted Mansion for maybe 5 minutes or so. I don’t know if they were waiting for the park to clear a little or what.
Jessica was a little leery about the HM, so I told her about the stories I’ve heard on RADP, where some of you have tried to make the CM’s crack a smile. Well, this intrigued her, so she started to try and make them smile. None of them did (sourpuss she called one particular guy), but she had fun trying, and it seemed to ease her a lot. At the end of the ride, she said “I was afraid of that?!?” She really enjoyed it. Lots of firsts for Jessica on this vacation!
We then made our way to Main Street to find lockers. We didn’t want to lug ANYTHING around with us tonight!
Then we went to Big Thunder Mountain Run. It was a very charming ride.
From there we went to Splash Mountain. This one Jess dreaded (remember her “thing” with wet rides), but she had been so brave, and discovered so many things she enjoyed that she thought she would hate, that she agreed to give it a try. SHE HATED IT! They were having problems, so the boat kept being stopped and we were told to stand by. Meanwhile, Jess was moaning and groaning about wanting to get off. I told her it was a bit late for that, and she should just try to enjoy the ride, and not think about the drop. When the drop came, I put my arm across Jessica’s chest to try and keep her feeling as secure as possible, but the drop was as bad as she thought it would be. She was sorry she went on SM, and announced she was never going on it again. The rest of us enjoyed it, but once was enough. We didn’t have a burning desire to do it again.
After SM, we headed over to Tomorrowland. The first thing we came across was AE. Well, Jess definitely didn’t want to do this one, and even if she had wanted to, I don’t think I’d have allowed her to. So, Gary opted to wait with her.
Krystal and I went, and although I don’t like to be scared, I had to see it after hearing so much about it on RADP. So, I went on, but sat as forward in my seat as I possibly could to avoid most of the “effects”. It worked. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I’m a wimp!) Krystal on the other hand loved it. I prepared her well for it, but she is no scaredy-cat, that’s for sure!
We then did Buzz Lightyear, which was really cool (but Men in Black is MUCH better in my opinion). I, of course, got creamed (as I did on MIB). I suck at aiming and shooting, what can I say? As we headed over towards Space Mountain, we happened to come across the Astro Orbitor. What the heck. There’s no line, so why not? What a cool ride! It’s so high up in the air, you could see everything! I’m glad we made time for it (originally, it wasn’t on my list of “must-do’s”). We then headed to Space Mountain. I cautiously glanced at Jessica, who wasn’t making any sort of fuss. So, I asked her. “Are you sure you want to go on?” She did, and she really enjoyed it! I think she’s discovered roller coasters on this trip! I have NEVER seen Jess as adventurous as she’s been on this vacation.
That was pretty much it for tonight. We covered everything (and then some) of what I wanted to cover. And it was about 12:30ish anyway.
So we headed back for the lockers. On the way, we passed a bunch of characters on Main Street. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip & Dale, and even Donald were there!!! Jessica was SOOOO disappointed that she’d left her autograph book back at the resort. I was too, kinda. What an opportunity she’d have had! Oh well, you can bet she never left her autograph book behind after that!
Tomorrow is Saturday, and in my plans, the weekend was to be no parks. Sleep-in and relaxation, and fun of course! So, I made a point of calling Mickey when we got back to the resort (not really-my finger kept the phone hung up), and explained to him that we did NOT want to hear from him for the next 2 days, and if he dared call, I would personally come find him and wring his neck! The girls got a chuckle out of this. Then we went to bed. I think we all fell asleep BEFORE our heads even touched the pillows.
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