Disney World/Disney Cruise Day 2- Epcot

I know it’s taking me a long time to get these out. I’m working on a few things that got in the way and the pictures are all disorganized so it’s taking me a long time to get them done.  Anyway, I finally got the second day’s photos organized and down to 280 (so bear with me this is a long one!) uploaded to Flikr so on with day two!

I decided to Disneybound our first day in the parks as Merida.  Well, as best as I could do anyway.

I have reddish hair and added gold and orange accessories to go along with my dark green tank.

Once we were all ready to go, we headed off onto the boardwalk and down the right to Epcot.

It was cloudy out and you can’t tell by the pictures but it was super hot and humid! It never did cool off at night our whole trip so being indoors was a Godsend whenever we got the chance. But still, I was in Disney World, it was a very small price to pay. Oh and when we were out on the Boardwalk we would see people jogging every now and then, they are crazy people!

Over the bridge getting closer to Epcot! It was only about a 5 minute walk.

The Swan and Dolphin and Yacht Club Hotels are nearby as well.

We finally got to the side entrance to Epcot! My very first time checking in to the park with my Magic Band.  First you scan your band.

Then when the Mickey turns green on the gold ball, you scan your fingerprint. I believe the first time you do this is when they grab your fingerprint for the remainder of your stay.

Up next was my aunt’s turn.

And we’re in! We took a couple of quick pictures just inside of the entrance.  Here is the “scooter brigade” as they called themselves. My aunt is on the left, cousin Georgette in the middle, and her husband Harry on the right.

The World Showcase portion of Epcot didn’t open until around 11 so everything was closed. It was kind of cool to have it so quiet and undisturbed as we walked through to Future World.  We first walked through the UK Pavillion.

I loved the architecture!

Georgette leading the way.

The World Showcase surrounds a lagoon (I guess that’s what you’d call it) and you can see pretty other countries from where you are. Below you can see Germany, and Italy.

Mexico and Norway.

Next to the UK is Canada.

This is the restaurant we went to later in the evening and it was fabulous!

The bridge to Future world is right by Canada and off we went to explore!

Imagination! Building… Never got a chance to go into…

Upside Down Waterfall

Monorail! It looks just like Disneyland’s but no color and they are a little bigger as you can stand in them. They really are just used for transportation and Disneyland’s you can treat as a ride which we will do.

Beautiful grounds.  Just past the trees is The Land building which we headed to first.

Home of Soarin’, Living with the Land, and the Circle of Life show.

Ahh air conditioning!!!

They had a restaurant in there so we grabbed a quick bite to eat for breakfast.

Soarin’! This was my aunt’s first ride on Soarin’ because she has never been to DCA and it is by far my favorite ride there so I had no problem with making that our first ride of the day.

But first, breakfast.

Decent bagel and the worst apple I have ever eaten! Only took one bite!

Then off to Soarin’!

The lines for Soarin are no different in California where you just stand for long lengths of time because the ride is several minutes long.  But this queue was more interactive.  At first they just had changing artwork on the screens down the first hall.

My aunt and I were seeing if there were any hidden Mickey’s in some of the artwork.  I think we found some…

MAYBE some more.

None here from what I could tell.

Then the screen changed and you could see an imprint of yourself and these colored bubbles popped up and you would punch your fist towards the screen to pop the bubbles. Good way to pass the time.  Unfortunately that only showed up in the last couple of minutes of this part of the queue.

When you turn the corner you get to a shorter hall way right before they split you off to the two theatres.

After about a 45 minute wait, we were in line to head to our seats!

My home town!

My second home!

My home in August!

Up next we went on Living with the Land which is a slow boat ride.

The boats totally remind me of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory… Am I the only one?

You start off the ride in the dark with a history of agriculture.

Then you go out into the green house where you see how they are making advances on growing crops in climates and soil they wouldn’t normally grow in. And ways to grow more crops in smaller spaces with vertical plants due to our growing population.

They have larger gardens not unlike this on WDW property that they use for a lot of the restaurants on park property.

Don’t ask me what these are, I don’t know.  And if they mentioned it or there was a sign, I don’t remember what it said…

They had a small room you went through to show how they are farming sustainable fish as well.

Wouldn’t be Disney without a little bit peak of Mickey and Minnie!

These contraptions were twirling around and I think it helped the lettuces grow but I can’t remember exactly what they said.

Vertical planting.

Lots of vertical planting.

This shows how you can grow crops above fish farming tanks and the water from the fish tanks feed the crops.

We decided to take in a showing of the Circle of Life: An Environmental Fable. It’s about how we should really recognize how our actions affect other living beings around us and the importance of lowering your carbon footprint.

After tackling the Land Pavilion, we headed towards the big ball to go on Spaceship Earth!

It’s huge!

Freaking huge and magnificent!

We went through the handicap entrance with the scooters and you wait inside this area for your turn to get in line for the ride itself.

This is another slow moving ride but it was really cool.

Your screen is interactive.

On Spaceship Earth, you learn a brief the history of the world, what got us to the present, and what we can do to lower our carbon footprint in the future.

After the history segment you go through some black tunnels and answer some questions see how your future self would live.

Hello!

Self driving cars

Apparently my future self has a green thumb.

A literal living room.

A window that changes the scene to your preferences. We’re apparently channeling our excitement for our upcoming cruise.

After you see your little video you enter a big room (probably the center of the ball) and see the world from space.

It was a great ride, but after that we were pretty hungry for lunch.

We decided to go to the Electric Umbrella because it was close to where we were.  We passed a Starbucks on our way over to the restaurant and Georgette wanted to grab something there so my aunt and looked at a kiosk while we waited.  I wanted to get a hat for the shade but there’s something about hats on me that I don’t like… I sent this picture to Gina she said it was cute but wouldn’t be productive for shade purposes.  Didn’t end up getting it. It looks small on me… I don’t know if I have a big head or what.

Finally off to get some grub!

The food is the typical burgers and chicken strips type stuff you find at less themed restaurants if you get what I mean.  Chicken strips were pretty decent.  I’m a sucker for chicken strips and nuggets. Brings out my inner 5 year old. They had a few different sauces too including ranch and BBQ and I like to have multiple sauces to dip my foods in so that made me even happier.  Sometimes it’s the little things!

Can you guess why it’s called the Electric Umbrella?

Reminded me just a little bit like the Pizza Port in Tomorrow Land in Disneyland.

After lunch we were off to the World Showcase! We do regret not doing more in Future World but with reservations in Canada coming in a few hours we just didn’t have the time to finish.

The American Pavilion across the lagoon.

The UK Pavilion.

Obviously this is China…. Right? Okay seriously, this is the France Pavilion if you couldn’t tell by the Eiffel Tower.

Japan Pavilion

German Pavilion

Norway and China Pavilions

Italy Pavilion

We started in the Mexico Pavilion and worked our way clockwise. Each country has cast member working there from that country.

There’s a lot more to the building than it looks from the outside.  And it’s nice and cold in there too!

When you first go inside there is a small museum of Mexican history.

Beyond the gallery is a shopping area that looks like night time in Mexico.

It reminds me a bit of Pirates of the Caribbean and the Bleu Bayou.

There is a board ride inside featuring the Three Caballeros.

The boat goes by the restaurant inside the shopping area before going through the tour of Mexico.

Just like the Bleu Bayou.

After the ride and browsing a bit we headed to the next country, Norway.

I love the idea of having a living roof like this.

There is a small gallery inside of the church.

After a quick walk through we just kind of glanced at the China Pavilion because it was getting closer to our reservations so we wanted to get to the countries we wanted to see the most.

I would have loved to take a look around but we were in a rush.  We did get to it later in the trip but I’l talk about that when we get to that day.

Taking a quick break in the shade.

They have water taxis to get you to several places in the World Showcase quicker than walking.

Between China and Germany is a small African Outpost with some outdoor shops.

Up next the German Pavilion which is definitely one of my favorite if not my most favorite country in the World Showcase, Mexico is close too as is the UK.

They have an adorable miniature town called The Romantic Road.

We first went into the Caramel shop.  It smelled heavenly in there.

Their caramel corn was one of the more popular items.  Which is what we got.

It was pretty good a little too hard for my taste but still good.

After that I walked around a bit while my aunt and cousins sat for a while. So I journeyed through the Christmas store.  I believe Christmas is big in Germany.

From what a friend told me, there is a German tradition to hide a pickle in the Christmas tree and whoever finds it gets a prize or something like that.

Then into the toy shop.

After that I decided to get a pretzel and waited in a long line for it.  Most people were getting beer and they had a grapefruit beer I believe the name is Schofferhofer if you want to look for it. My brother found it in a liquor store. Since the line was slow I took some pictures of the surrounding area.

The clock struck 4 while I was in line and the clock tower the little dolls came out and clanged on the bell.

I hate beer but the grapefruit beer sounded too interesting to pass up so I got one too and I loved it! It probably helped that it was hotter than hell and the beer was cold but it was somewhat sweet and not too strong. The pretzel was okay.  Kind of dry. I was expecting more of a german pretzel.

Next up is Italy. Which was designed after Venice and I was a little disappointed. I thought they could do a lot more with Italy.  I am a little biased because I’m 1/2 Italian and feel most connected with the Italian culture.

I mean it was beautiful but I felt like they needed more plant life, I don’t know maybe I’m wrong.

It feels a shame we didn’t eat here but I grew up on Italian food so…

After a quick walk through we went to the America Pavilion.

This cast member, Lonnie, saw our cousins’ Anniversary buttons and Harry very proudly told him they’ve been married for 60 years so he got them both on the phone with a message from Micky and Minnie congratulating them on their anniversary.  Then he got them a certificate that I didn’t see.

Took a couple of pictures while they listened to their message.

Then he led all of us to the restaurant next door since the show we were seeing wasn’t going to start for 15-20 minutes.

He announced to the restaurant and I’m paraphrasing here, Here ye, Here ye, please join me in congratulating Mr. and Mrs. Walsh on their 60th Wedding Anniversary!” and everyone hooted and hollered. It was really cool!

He then proceeded to get them each a dessert.

Harry got a brownie and Georgette an apple pie I think.

After they ate we went back and took the waiting room for the show and got to go up the elevators to the handicap seating area.

We ran out of time to see the American gallery.

We got in before everyone else did.

As soon as the theatre filled up, Lonnie introduced the show and had everyone congratulate Harry and Georgette on their 60th and everyone was cheering for them and they were both waving from above the seats.  They looked like the King and Queen of Disney World.  It was easily one of the greatest moments of our trip.

The show was really neat.

After the show a Journey cover band was just finishing up so we listen for a minute then passed the Japan Pavilion.

Another one I wish I could have seen.

Then walked by the Morocco Pavilion.

Up next the France Pavilion which takes up another 1/4 of my heritage.

The France Pavilion is beautiful!

We had just enough time to see the Impressions de France show.

By that time we needed to get over to Canada for our reservations at Le Cellier.

I had two of the pretzel rolls sticks and they were 1,000% better than the pretzel I had in Germany, oh my God were they amazing!

I got cheese soup as an appetizer. It was good.

My aunt got their salad which was really good.

My aunt and I split a side of creamed spinach which was runny…

On my friend’s request, I had the filet which was AMAZING! I love filet mignon and it came with mushroom risotto which was also amazing.

We skipped desert because Georgette wanted a funnel cake. The maple creme brûlée sounded interesting so I may try making that some time.

Epcot was closed by the time we were done with dinner.

Wo we walked by the UK pavilion and back to the boardwalk.

We got funnel cakes by our hotel on the boardwalk.  My aunt and I split one and didn’t even eat 1/4 of it they were so rich.

Back to our hotel to drop off our things.

My aunt and I needed to grab a couple of things at the general store on the boardwalk so we headed over there for a minute. Tried on another couple of hats and almost got the white one but decided against it…

This one was too heavy.

Then we were off to bed. It was an absolutely amazing first day at in Epcot and I’m glad that was my first park in Disney World.  It is easily my favorite park in Disney World. I hope you enjoyed the almost 300 pictures and anticipating more long posts but it was my first time and they are trip reports! 🙂 I’ll work on my next day and get it up as soon as I can!

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