Day 3 at Disney - Epcot
By traveltripz on Jul 14, 2007 in Disney World, USA
Filled up the hire car on the way to Epcot. Couldn’t find the button to open the fuel tank so had to ask another customer where the tank button is usually placed in American cars. He found it rather amusing as he informed me that you open it with your finger. Sure enough there is a lip on the lid that you just pull open. I haven’t had to do that for years in Australia.
Meanwhile Paula was operating the bowser. After putting in the credit card we couldn’t work out how to operate the fuel line. So once again we asked another customer and it appears you pull out a lever for the octane you want.
So at last the tank is full for when we return the car tomorrow morning before heading off to New York.
On our way to Epcot we just followed the Disney bus until we found where we were heading.
Okay, onto the security gates for the customary bag search and finger print scan. This is a requirement for every entry into Disneyworld.
As soon as we got into the park we headed straight for the Test Track. This is one of the most popular rides in the park so we knew the queue would be long but instead of waiting we picked up a fastpass ticket so we could come back at another time.
We then made our way over to Mission: Space. The wait was only 10 minutes because we chose the less intense ride as we both don’t like spinning rides. We were teamed up with a lady and her son, the idea being that each of you is part of a team on a mission to Mars. This is a simulation ride and is of a medium intensity. It was a lot of fun and well worth the wait.After the ride we headed back to the Test Track ride. Even though we had the fastpass ticket we still had to wait for a while and then just as we were about to get on the ride it malfunctioned and we all had to exit as they suspended the ride until further notice. Apparently this happens often with this ride because of the complexity involved, and the staff did give us a fastpass ticket to enable us to get back in later.
Our next stop was the Nemo ride. This is a nice little ride where you sit in a clam shell while winding around a track through animated scenes from the movie, and it is great for the little ones but we found it a little timid for our liking. It was great to rest our feet though.
After the ride we took a walk through the enormous aquarium to look at the dolphin, groper and the other fish. We also saw some Manatee, which are herbivores that are on the edge of extinction because the sea grass that they feed on is being destroyed in the wild.
Disney have permission to have a couple of these gentle creatures as part of their reseach program.
We then made our way up to the ‘Soarin’ ride. This is extremely popular and we can see why. The wait was 50 minutes but we used our Disney Vacation fastpass on this one so we got in immediately.
Once inside we were seated intp the seats and lifted up so that our feet were dangling over in the air. A film was played on the large screen in front of us as we proceeded to ‘fly’ to Los Angeles. It was like being in a hang glider, and it was amusing to see people lift their feet as we soared over trees and water
After lunch we headed back to the Test Track and this time we managed to get in. This is one brilliant ride. You are seated in a test car with 5 other people and the car goes around a winding, twisting track where it is put through a series of breaking, swerving and speed tests. The final race around the track at high speed is definitely the highlight.
As you can see the kid next to me wasn’t gonna show any emotion or fear. Gotta luv them teenagers. No way he was going to enjoy something that old people thought was fun.
The day was very hot and it pays to drink heaps of water, we were grateful that we had purchased one of the plastic bottles that is a fan and water spray combined.
There a lots of cooling off stations around the park where you can stand and have a fine mist of water spray over you.
Next stop was the 3D presentation “Honey I Shrunk the Audience”. This was another interactive fun presentation
Towards the end of the park is the walk around the World stage area. This section is huge and contains features from about 8 counties including England, Italy, Morocco and France. It is set up to resemble the real thing so you can walk past the Eiffel Tower, watch Romeo and Juliet in Venice and have real fish and chips in England.
Although we had not long had lunch we decided to have some English/Australian style chips. While we wew eating a couple of cute squirrels arrived to look for scraps and although they were fairly timid to start with, one eventually hopped up onto Paula’s lap to take a chip.
On the way through we passed a stage and noticed a sign that mentioned that the ABBA covers band Bjorn Again was playing there in about 30 minutes. We couldn’t miss this so sat down with the other few hundred people to watch them perform. It was brilliant as we were in the second row just to the right of center stage.
Once the show was over we headed over to the shuttle boat to take us to MGM Studios.
3 Comment(s)
By Random Magus on Jul 22, 2007 | Reply
I really like the concept of your blog - will be sure to visit again!
By dani on Jul 24, 2007 | Reply
Only time I went to Disney World was to runthe marathon. Should definitely go back so that I can actaully ride some of the rides :). Found you through the . You haven’t added a brag badge! Codes on the same page as you can go to vote for this site! Cheers!
By Paula on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
I loved Disney World - more than I thought I would. It is definitely not just for the kiddies.