Trip Report "Dreams Really Can Come True" 6/1/09-6/8/09 - COMPLETED 7/19 About This Page:

[goofyboysmama]

Ah Epcot. Being a teacher, this is really my favorite park. Magic Kingdom is all "that" and a bag of chips, but honestly, I could spend 2 or 3 days at Epcot, all by myself.

The Plan: Get to Epcot 30 min early for opening ceremony, fp Soarin’, Test Track, Mission Space, Living with the Land, The Seas with Nemo/Crush, Journey/Imagination, The Circle of Life, Soarin’, lunch, back to AKL to rest, back to Epcot, Spaceship Earth, Innoventions, Gran Fiesta boat ride in Mexico, China, Italy, Morocco, France, Back to Japan for ADR Tokyo Dining @5:30, visit Japan, UK, see Illuminations.
Ambitious – yes. Realistic – sadly no.

What really happened:
We actually made it in time for the opening ceremony on accident. My plans for this week were long thrown out the window, but we found ourselves in line to get in right before 9am. It was a gorgeous day – clear skies and warm.



The CMs let us in a little early – wow there was a lot of people! We walked along en masse and some stopped off at Spaceship Earth. We made it as far as the front of the fountain when we stopped. Oh right – the rope! We got to see a lucky family being greeted by the Fab Five.



They turned to greet us and at 9:05am, then the rope dropped and I heard the William Tell Overture finale (just kidding!) as people took off, practically running to the Land for Soarin’. I held onto DS7’s hand so he wouldn’t get lost in the current of people. I looked back and saw DH and DS4 way back there in the herd. I didn’t even know where I was going, but I knew to follow the crowd. I thought everyone was headed for the fp machines, but most folks went right to Soarin’. We got the fastpasses (3rd in line) and my other boys showed up. Man, it can get decidedly “un-magical” at those fp machines. I even rolled my eyes a few times – newbies, sheesh!
The bottom right corner of the fp was stamped 9:07am. It took us 2 minutes (?!) to get there from the rope drop, not unless my camera time is off (possibly). Probably more like 4 min. Ahh, we could relax. But wait, the touring plan says we should head over to Test Track next. So at a moderate jog this time, instead of a sprint, we crossed over to the east side. (My little one just barely hung in there that morning until we got the stroller. ) I can’t remember, but I think the wait time for Test Track’s stand-by line was only 20 minutes. It was only 18 min from the time stamp on the Soarin’ fp to the first pic I took at TT’s ‘briefing room”.


(I had been wanting to get more pics of the awesome queues, but we were just moving too fast.)

DS7 had been looking forward to Epcot because of the “big 3”. Some of the rides made him nervous at MK and it was starting to show and even become an issue later that day and in days to come. He began worrying about the safety restraints on the rides and on TT, he wanted to know where the lap bar was. We had to explain that it was a “car”, and it didn’t have any, just the seat belts. We had the car to ourselves and DH sat in the back with him. Our soon-to-be known as “daredevil” 4 year old was up in the front with me. It was a great ride, of course, but DS7 had to be reassured throughout. He said it was fun when it was over, but in a sort of “heh heh” kind of way. DS4: "Disney rocks!" (I’ll post the ride pic when I get it off photopass.)

Next was Mission Space.



This ride made me a little nervous because of the rumors, the warnings, etc. I had some Dramamine on me and I was willing to give the orange side a try. The kids had been gung-ho about it, but when we got in the queue, that all changed.



At first, I thought it was the darkness that was making DS7 worried on the rides. As we got closer and closer to the “holding area”, he was looking down-right scared. It was all the warning signs. There are warning signs everywhere and my little concrete thinker’s eyes grew bigger by the moment. It didn’t help that it was so realistic. By the time we got to the door to enter the “holding area”, he was done. “Mom, I don’t want to do this.” “Are you sure? It’s okay.” He nodded yes, and we caught the attention of the CM. We got out of the orange side and stood by the door to the green side. (I was secretly relieved!) He was in tears by then, but you could tell he was trying his best to “man up”. He was able to calm down and enjoy the ride (especially when we choose him to be Commander ). Mr. Sinise’s calming voice, I imagine, helped a lot, plus pushing cool buttons. We went to Mars and made it back to Earth in fine style.
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