disney recap : epcot.

Future World

I need to reemphasize how strange it is to not spend hours and hours and hours at a Disney park after exhaustion was a better part of childhood trips there. That being said, when naps all of a sudden become a vacation afternoon routine, it is a disaster to try to power through an entire day in one place.

We went to the first half of Epcot and hit all the “big” rides (I use quotation marks because there really are only two). We hustled to Soarin’ Over California, which is only referred to as “Soarin'” while at WDW instead of Disneyland, where we were given a fast pass by the line attendant because we didn’t look happy enough. It’s little things like that which help make guests really feel the extra Disney magic, and it always amazes me how much cast members care about making quality experiences.

We rode Soarin’ twice in a row, which was great because we didn’t have to stall to wait for our own fast pass to be ready. After that was finished, we walked over to a new/old attraction called Captain EO. My mom told me I was going to love it, but I didn’t really have much more information than that… until my dad ruined it and said “Oh, is Michael Jackson still in that?” Cue my excitement.

MICHAEL JACKSON AND DISNEY ALL IN ONE ROOM?! I THINK I’M GOING TO DIE.

Maybe not quite that dramatic, but I was pretty psyched. Once we sat down and discovered that this Captain EO situation was the exact same as it was in 1986, we knew we were in for a treat. I say this because it was a 3D movie “experience.” Anyone ever seen 3D from the 80s? Holy smokes did it give me a headache. Let’s just say technology has made even more progress than I realized in the last 25 years.

I obviously appreciated a good MJ jam sesh, as bizarre as the movie was, and was dancing on the way out along with a number of moms and dads whose little kids really had no idea what just happened and were very unimpressed by the movie they just saw.

The exact center of WDW.

My brother and I made our way to Mission to Mars, where we got a fast pass for the “more intense training” and hopped right on to the “less intense training.” We figured it was a good way to compare the two and decide if there was really a difference, and also to attempt to get my dad to go on the ride he had such horrible memories of.

The less intense training was really fun, and we thought it was enough to simulate an actual trip to Mars. I know I went into the more intense training figuring there couldn’t be that much of a difference between the two if the easier one seemed so realistic. Oh my gosh I wanted to die about 3/4 of the way through the more intense training. The pressurizing of the little cabin space is on point, and the g-forces are unbelievable. I understood why my dad didn’t want to go back on it again this trip.

After these few ride stops, we made our way to the World Showcase.

World Showcase

We ate lunch in Mexico because it was the first country we encountered and we were all starving. We then rode the little boat ride in this country because I still felt like death and wanted to be able to sit in the air conditioning for a while.

We continued to make our way to Norway, where we rode what my brother, dad, and I remembered as “the viking ship ride.” Of course, my mom kept saying “The Maelstrom” in response to try to help our terminology, but I just always responded with “yeah that.”

After hopping on our second little boat ride of the day, we continued walking (forever) to the area dedicated to colonial America. We watched some drummers perform on the street, and then made our way inside to watch show about how far America’s come in the last 200 years. I am more embarrassed than possibly ever to admit that I fell asleep during this. I love American history, and typically I would have been so into it. But remember how I said that skipping a nap when you’ve trained your body to only make it through half a vacation day is a horrible idea? I really realized this was true here.

We kept walking and taking pictures, until we stopped in Canada to watch a 360 degree film about the “real” Canada….. Can you tell that everyone got to pick what we were doing this day? Shout out to Dad for making us stand in a theater to watch a movie about snow and water after walking for a solid 9 hours.

Characters

Most of our focus was not on getting pictures with characters this time around, but because Epcot has a Character Greeting area where the Fab Five hang out, we knew we needed to stop there to get our staples. My mom and I were the only ones that motivated, so while we did this the boys went to find us a good spot for Epcot’s night show, Illuminations.

This wasn’t on the same day as the rest of our Epcot experience. It had rained for the rest of the night, so Illuminations was cancelled then. Instead we went back the next day (after I had found out I had a job!) and used the time between dinner and the show to get our character on.