Category Archives: Epcot
Florida 2017 – post 5
Sunday we started off at Hollywood Studios we thought that we would get gifts and have another walk round
Then in the afternoon we went to Epcot, Starship Staring Mickey Thomas was playing as part of the Garden Rocks Festival so we sat and watched them.
We went to the Nine Dragons for dinner which was very nice, we had a chicken dish and and ice-cream this was done just before going to Frozen Ever after. This is new ride, it used some of the new projection technology, you get taken along in a boat and see Olaf and Anna, you see Elsa and she does Let it Go which sends the boat speeding backwards.
Monday, we went to Animal Kingdom and rode Expedition Everest, which is a rollercoaster, partially in the dark and some going backwards, Simon, after trying to decide whether or not to go on it, went on it. He come off feeling rather sick, and unfortunately it only got worse. So after sitting around for about an hour we decided to go back to the Villa, Simon couldn’t cool down which was also not helping.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing in the Villa, Simon was still feeling iffy the following day so I think he must have been suffering from something else not just motion Sickness.
Florida 2017 post two
We have had a busy couple of days, we are currently on our third car, the first car passenger side mirror had an accident, so we had to change it, then a couple of miles down the road from picking it up the second car flagged up a problem with the traction control/four wheel drive so the nice Virgin rep lady arranged for us to get another one delivered to the magic kingdom instead of having to go back to the airport.
The nice Virgin rep lady has also arranged fo us to change Villas, instead of being at Highlands Reserve (which always makes me think of expensive whiskey) we are back in Providence where we have stayed the last two years. Which means good water pressure, fast internet and no plastic plants.
Monday after picking up the third car we went to Epcot, the ‘Topary’ is amazing, the Flower and Garden Festival is running again this year and they have moved the characters about since last year. We also had fast passes for spaceship earth and Soarin’, Spaceship Earth is in the big ‘golf ball’ at the entrance to Epcot, to be honest it isn’t something I would want to do again, it smelt funny and I assume it was just concentrating on communication as it starts off with cavemen working as a team and cave paintings, then papyrus and printing presses, it was narrated by Dame Judy Dench who as usual is easy to listen to .
Soarin’ was whole different thing it was a simulator ride, you get strapped onto a bench seat and it lifts you up then projected onto the screen in front of you is the various places around the world, it is very clever, because every time it changes scenes it sends something towards you to make you blink. The two problems with it is, we were in the second row so it is slightly off putting to have row of legs just in your eyeline, and because the screen is curved and we were sitting to one edge everything was curved, I would imagine that if you are in the front row and in the middle the illusion would be perfect.
While we were walking through the World Showcase it started raining, just after we left United Kingdom it started coming down quite hard, Simon had bought out ponchos so we were kept relatively dry.
While we were in the United Kingdom we had a glass of lager, one that I hadn’t heard of Samuel Smith pure brewed organic lager it was very nice, we had a walk round the Twinings Tea shop they had some great teapots and other tea related stuff.
Then into France where we had some delicious Ice-Cream and some Macarons which were alright but not a lot of flavour, the texture was amazing with the crisp outer shell and a soft gooey center.
While walking around Epcot we received an Email from the Virgin rep lady to say she had a new Villa for us to look at, so after leaving Epcot we stopped off at the current villa and packed our stuff up, because the new villa was in Providence we were confident that we would approve.
The new Villa is about 10 Villas away from where we were last year, the only problem with it is that it is the floor plan is reversed from the one we had last year which slightly freaks out Simon.
We went to Wendy’s for dinner which is a fast food restaurant.
Day 5 Animal Kingdom
We didn’t do Animal Kingdom last year, so we decided we should do it this year.
We did the African safari which was amazing and totally worth the car parking, it was running a little behind but as we had fast passed it we didn’t have long to wait.
The ‘safari’ takes you though a couple of different bits of habitat.
With the driver pointing out various sights and giving little pieces of information, once the safari is finished there are a couple of walks that you can take.
I rather stupidly didn’t make a note of which animal was which but here are a selection on photos taken on the walks
I think that the picture above is one of the best photos I have taken
After leaving animal kingdom we had a quick trip to Magic Kingdom and then on to Epcot to watch the fireworks
Epcot day 2
Just a quick post, as I appear to be getting very behind, we went to Epcot on the Monday.
I’d read and been told that we had missed a whole load of stuff at Epcot last year, and they were correct. We had just walked round the outside of the countries and not investigated into them.
The following pictures are just for Ann….
We also did quite a few meet and greets, also because the memory maker came as part of our holiday package we made the most of the on site photographers.
We had fast passes for a Mickey and pals for later in the day and for the Epcot fireworks.
Simon appears quite taken by Minnie…
Unfortunately once we came out of the Mickey and pals it quickly became apparent that the fireworks were going to be cancelled as it was tipping it down and we were right in the middle of a thunder storm.
We got soaked going back to the car but at least it wasn’t cold!
Disney, Epcot
Today, (Friday) we decided to go to Epcot in the morning and do some rides in hollywood studios.
The main thing that stands out in Epcot is the topiary
This is just a selection of what they have, it just seems that if it is a disney character they have cut a plant into the shape of it.
They also had a water/fountain feature.
They have an area around the back that has various country setups, London, Paris, and so on.
We then went back to Hollywood Studios to see the Indianna Jones Stunt spectacular, and movie history ride.
Sorry it is a bit blurry, the Stunt Spectacular wasn’t exactly what we were expecting, there were the stunts which were amazing, what we weren’t expcting was all the ‘show’ crap that went with it, I suppose that it does make it more of a show but it did get in way of our enjoyment. As far as I can work out they were pretending that they were at the actual filming of raiders. The stunts the were done were the boulder scene from the beginning, then the kidnapping scene from the bazaar and the one at the areodrome where Indy fights the Large man while Marion is trapped in the plane.
The Great Movie Ride experience was also not what we expected, what it was, was a ride through lots of sound stages with set up of certain famous scenes, such as Gene Kelly swing round a lamp post from Singing in the Rain and the farewell scene from Casablanca. Some of the Animatronics were quite similar to the actual actor and others not so much. I don’t know what Simon was expecting, but I was expecting a more interative experience with video and more of a walk through the history of the movies, instead of just one dodgy movie set after another.
We completed day three with takeaway Pizza.
Musings of a Craft Enthusiast 