FINAL DAY - EPCOT

I remember when I visited Epcot 25 years ago, I thought it looked so futuristic.  Well, it still looks the same, but now I think it looks like something stuck in the 70's trying to look futuristic.  I will say that there are a lot of really cool educational things for kids to do and participate in at Epcot.  The biggest thing you notice from all around the park is the BIG EARTH!

The very first ride we went to was called Test Track and it is sponsored by Chevrolet.  You start out by designing a car.  Then you get on the ride and you enter your car design in the ride.  It is a form of a roller coaster.  When you get off, you can enter your car design again and see how well your car design did on the "race track".  DIL's car did the best out of all of them.

Here's my car design

This was on display and I think this should be my next car. Don't you agree?

We did a ride that was Mission Space.  When you enter, you choose whether you want to do the "green" experience or the "orange" experience.  The green is less intense than the orange.  So, all of us decided to do the green first.  You enter a simulator and take a "trip to Mars".  Green - no problem.  OK, well let's do the orange.  We enter the simulator and start our trip to Mars.  In the instructions this time, he tells us that we should look straight ahead, especially if we start feeling disoriented.  What?  The spaceship (simulator) starts and this time the G force is REALLY strong and I start getting a headache.  Mr. W starts feeling nauseous and Son starts feeling "funny" like he can't breathe.  You notice the kids are all doing fine.  It's the adults that are having problems. I was glad when I got off the "orange" trip to Mars.

They have this really cool ride, Spaceship Earth.  It is an inside ride. You get on a chair lift that is sort of like a ferris wheel chair.  They tell you if you have on flip flops or loose fitting shoes to take them off and leave them on the floor. When the ride starts, you go up like you are in a ferris wheel.  We could see the people's feet dangling in the lift ahead of us.  Once we were up about 20 ft., we remained at that height and an I-Max type movie began.  You then feel like you are in a hand glider soaring over beautiful scenic places.  The cool thing is you smell your surroundings.  We went through/over an area that had pine tree and you could smell the pine.  We went through/over another area with orange trees and you could smell the orange.  Pretty cool.

Part of Epcot is also the showcase of the nations.  Many countries are showcased and most show a short movie about their country and highlights people, places, and things in their country.  Of course, there are characters here too and this time we saw Donald Duck.  Our day ended pretty early. I'm really glad that Epcot was our last day.  It made it easier to leave Disney.  Son and family went back to Magic Kingdom the next morning for a few hours before they left and it made it so much harder to leave from there. 

I will say that Disney has it going on with the way they do things.  Most of the lines for rides are inside.  There are things to look at or do or watch while you wait.  It occupies your time and keeps you entertained while you wait.  Their whole Fast Pass thing works really well.  They keep the crowds moving as quickly as possible.  We also stayed at Ft. Wilderness.  Mr. W complained the whole time before we went about how much we were paying to stay in a campground.  It is beautiful.  For as many sites as they have, you do feel like you have privacy.  They keep a lot of foliage around each site and the way each loop is designed, you don't feel like you are lined up side by side.  They had walking/running/riding trails throughout the park.  We had an issue with our electricity when we first got there and they sent someone out to fix it. It took them an hour to get there which I wasn't happy about.  But, we did get there on one of the busiest weekends they have so I will give them a break.  The bus transportation throughout the park and from the park to the theme parks was great.  You could literally park you driving vehicle when you got there and not start it again until you were ready to leave.  Good job Disney!

We met Donald in Mexico

I wanted to take this home to put with my other Christmas dishes.

Me with my favorite grandson! (He's my only grandson)

The whole kit and caboodle!  Pretty great looking group even if I do say so myself.

ANIMAL KINGDOM

The third park to visit was Animal Kingdom. 

Pretty much everything is centered around jungles and places that are home to lions, giraffes, and camels. I kept expecting the song The Circle of Life from The Lion King to start playing at any moment.  All of the souvenirs and t-shirts had something to do with wildlife or Yak and Yetti.  It rained quite a bit while we were there so then I started feeling like I was in the rain jungle!

Everything here was built around nature.  They had some beautiful animals and birds and they kept them in habitats that were natural to the animals.  There were a lot of quotes about the environment and the earth on all the walls and bare spaces around the park.  One of the things to do here is to go on a safari.  It is always fascinating to me to see these wild animals in their own environment and running loose as you drive through their home.

 

 

Do you know why hippos are usually seen in water?  They stay in the water a lot because they sunburn easily. Maybe I should work on inventing sunscreen for hippos?

We were on a bridge looking down at this.  This was just one side, there was the same thing on the other side.  I'm just glad we were on a STURDY bridge!

I love giraffes.

I don't think you can tell from the pic, but these birds have a pinkish tint.  They are white naturally but they eat a lot of shrimp which is high in carotene.  Thus, they turn pinkish.

This guy was not happy that we were there.  I was glad when we weren't there anymore!

Can you see the cheetahs?  Did you know that they are the only cats that hunt during the day because they can't see at night?

The stripes on the zebra cause an optical illusion to a lion when they are running.  It confuses the lion and makes it off balance.  That's how they survive sometimes.

After the safari, they suggested you see more animals at the Harambe Wildlife Reserve.  We walked through and did some monkeys and gorillas.  They had had 2 baby gorillas born recently.  One was 2 months old and the other was 5 months old. 

This is the 2 month old baby with its mother.

There was another area that had animals too.  We walked through there and saw tigers, a peacock, a macaw and fruit bats.  Fruit bats are the largest bats in the world.  These were all hanging upside down on tree limbs and vines.  You stood inside a "concrete room" that was off the walkway to look at the bats.  I got close to one of the windows to take a picture and realized that all the windows were open areas.  There was no glass or screen or anything to cover the opening.  I was a little concerned about that but then the man standing there giving information told us that the bats have no ankles so they can only hang upside down or fly.  Because they are so big, their wing span was too big for them to fit through the openings. I thought that was pretty interesting.

I forgot about this guy.  He is some kind of monster.

This tiger kept pacing and roaring because she wanted inside the 2 small doors on the left.  She thought her sister was in there.

Here's her sister.  She's taking a nap on the other side of the compound.

Daughter and SIL lived in India for 3 years.  Thank goodness they are back in the USA.  That's a whole different story.  But, while they were there one of their girls was born so I went over to stay for about 3 weeks.  While I was there I learned what a "wallah" was.  If you were a garbage collector, you were a "trash wallah".  There was a man who lived down from them that took in ironing to earn a living and he was the "press wallah".  So, when I saw the sign in the picture below, I had to take a picture of it for Daughter's sake.

I also thought about the rickshaws so Mr. W had to humor me and take a pic in the rickshaw.

Of course every park has characters and we got to see Daisy and get her autograph.

 

 

Of course it rained some this day too and even characters have to stay out of the rain.

Son had picked the ride Mt. Everest Express and since Squeaky wanted me to ride with her, I gave in.  She and I both were scared to death on this ride.  It was a roller coaster with high drops and it goes backward part of the way and it does some of this in the dark.  Does that sound fun to anyone? Amazingly, Squeaky and I survived! :)  Of course, she went back and rode it 2 more times later that day. Don't let this nice mountain fool you!

We had heard that the show, Finding Nemo, was a good one to go to.  So, during the rain, we went to see it.  It was very colorful.  I'm not sure if it was because everyone was so tired or if it really wasn't one that was a good one to see.  Girl-child took a nap during it and DIL tried to take a nap during it.

It really ended up being a short day in comparison to the first 2.  I left around 4:00 and Son's family left around 5:00.  Animal Kingdom was OK but not one that I would have to go back to.

Disney's version of the tree of life.

Me with 3 precious children!

 

 

 



DAY TWO OF DISNEY - MAGIC KINGDOM

This day started early and I knew it was going to run really late.  DIL had made a reservation for the girls to have breakfast with the princesses and she booked an appointment for them to have their hair and nails done at the Bippity Boppity Boo Salon.  What a very special day for them.  Their salon appointment was at 8:15 a.m. and breakfast was at 9:00.   Girl-child had been a little "too cool" for a lot of the Disney stuff, but I got a glimpse of the little girl left in her during this special time.  I didn't pay for this but I'm sure DIL felt like it was well worth every penny.

Two beautiful princesses ready for their breakfast with other princesses

I don't care what anyone says, there is nothing as magic as walking in and seeing Cinderella's castle. I think every little girl really believes that dreams do come true and that Prince Charming will come one day and take her to the castle to live happily ever after. Why not? It really could happen, right? It is really awesome.

For those of you that do not have kids or grandkids, Frozen has been the Disney show of the year.  Everything is related to Frozen. So, during this Christmas season, Disney freezes Cinderella's castle every evening.

Magic Kingdom is probably my favorite park.  Judging by the number of people there, it is the favorite park of most every one!  There are lots of characters that show up here. There are more rides here. There are more shows/programs here.  It is great. One of the rides that was here 25 years ago and is still here today is Pirates of the Caribbean. There are a few things that are different about the ride but Jack Sparrow wasn't around 25 years ago. But, most everything is still the same.

One of the main things you notice in any Disney park is how clean everything is.  Everything is very well maintained.  I had heard that the garbage is handled through an underground system.  Each garbage can sits on top of a door that is opened from an underground tunnel system.  The garbage cans can be emptied from this underground system and no one in the park will see anyone changing out the garbage bags.  It is said that Walt did not want people walking around throughout all of the parks and the public seeing them change out the garbage.

The kids wanted to go drive the cars.  So, I sat in the "Gallery" to watch and take pictures.

I love Boy-child's face as he watches Girl-child drive by.

One of my favorite rides 25 years ago was It's A Small World.  There are tons of mechanical figures from all over the world.  These little figures sing the song "It's A Small World."  There was some mechanical problem that happened while I was on the ride and we were stuck in one area for about 3-4 minutes.  Mr. W said that he was beginning to feel like he was in a horror movie and the little dolls were taking over and would be killing him soon.  I had to laugh but I sort of felt that way too!

We happened to be at the right place at the right time.  The Fantasy parade came right  by where we were.  People had lined the pathway an hour before the scheduled time to get their "perfect" spot to view the parade.

Ariel

Peter Pan and Wendy

Merida

Mickey and Minnie

One of the highlights of my trip was to have dinner at the Beast's castle, better known as the Be Our Guest restaurant.  They had 3 dining areas and each one looked like that room in the movie.  It felt like the Beauty and the Beast were hosting the dinner and you had been personally invited.  The food was excellent.  The atmosphere was perfect and the service was great.  Beast came in our room twice while were eating.

After you ate, you could go in the room and meet the Beast.

 



Just walking down main street is an experience.  That morning, a street car stopped and a group of musicians/dancers hopped off and began singing and dancing Christmas songs.

 

I could have spent another day at Magic Kingdom.  I arrived there when it opened and I left early at 9:30 pm.  Yes, I said early.  Son and DIL and kids stayed until 11:30.  There are a lot of people who stay until 2:00 am.  During the Christmas season, there are certain nights that Magic Kingdom closes at 7:00 and Mickey's Christmas party begins.  You have to had bought a separate ticket to the party.  But, they do make everyone else clear out of the park and only those with tickets get to stay. If you really hate long lines and crowds of people, the ticket to the party might be worth it to you. 

All I know is that I kept humming this the whole way back to the RV -

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you.

My own little princess

Me and Boy-child

Son and Squeaky

Cutest prisoner I've ever seen!

Three pretty cool kids with their 3D glasses on.