Carpe Diem Feb 09 - Sunday 8th - Epcot

[Skywatcher]

Well despite the fact we had passed out only a few hours before we were awoken by our resident epileptic octopus again at 5 am and we were all fully awake by 5.30. As breakfast apparently wouldn't be ready until 7 am ( flowing a phone call to a sleepy front desk we occupied our time watching Phineas and Ferb on the Disney channel , doing the YMCA on the loo and avoiding looking at our bodies in the hideous mirror.

Breakfast consisted of a breakfast platter for me , Marmite and toast for Thomas, pancakes for Matthew and Mummy lamented the lack of Raisin Bran cereal but consoled herself with a bagel. Dash back to the room to drop the mugs off then its out to the bus stop; a quick lookette in the shop on the way by 'oo oo oo we haven't even been in our shop yet'

Reasonable amount of people milling about outside the busses but they all empty onto the Animal Kingdom bus ( more on that later) and we pretty much get onto the EPCOT one alone

Kids are doing the usual silly bickering thing so to try and outwit them we say that whoever is the 'best' gets to choose the first ride. Matthew wants to do Nemo and Thomas want to do Test Track.

This works for about 30 seconds until after a particularly successful game of ' who can make the other squeal the loudest so that we get lots of people on the bus to give us dissaproving looks' the boys decide amongst each other that they would both rather start the day on Soarin' thereby completely disarming Lisa and I

Layout of Epcot has changed a little since last time and security is in a different place and was to be honest 'cursory' .

Straight through the gates ( why everyone seems to queue at the one turnstile whilst there are empty ones is beyond me) and we had our first lok at the ball sans hand



And it looked lovely and 'as it should' well , if it wasn't for the awful war memorial style monoliths infront of it that is.

Despite my drive to 'run' to Soarin to beat the queues the boys get waylaid by a couple of chipmonks. As they line up the character CM starts chatting to me

'ooo are you from England'
'yes'
'oooooooo we're going there at Easter'
'Great I hope the weather hold out for you'
'We are going to do everything'
'Well there is more to England than London you know, try and get out of there for a day or so if you can'
' No we're going to do everything in England'
'erm......ok.......er......Its....its not as small as you might think you know....'
'Oh sure it is and my daughter is a fast driver! '


Boys are finished now so we walk around to Soarin which is clearly where everyone else is heading as well. The queue has changed a little and they no longer ave the photos up on the wall it is artwork now which is nice.

Despite Matthew having the last minute wobbles as Joe from Family Guy does the pre flight checks we have a fantastic time, we are on the top and so have 'no feet' 3 seconds after it starts Matthew is full of ooo's and aaahs and that music is just fabulous .

One tiny gripe would be the frankly huge bits of crud in the projector which are more than a little dstracting as they sail accross the screen and kind of ruin the illusion somewhat. Anyway these are clearly invisble to a 6 year ld who now dubs Soarin 'his best'

After this we decide to go to the Living Seas to catch a ride on Nemodisapproving. I love the Seagulls outside



I also love the queue for Nemo which kind of tells the story of you moving from the beach under the water and into the clam shells, the fish tank with them singing in at the end is just fantastic.

Once we get off we are all confused as Turtle talk isn't where it was before clearly we were looking lost as a cast member comes over and points us in the right direction, the waiting area is now much better , it was justa roped off area last time we went , now there is a kind of holiing area with fish tanks and computers to play on. Matthew is desparate to talk with Crush and we have to rell him he only talks to a couple of people.

So in we go and deposit the little chap up the front and we go and grab a bench. Crush is as always fantastic, this really is a briliantly clever show. Anyway he does his bit where he shows us how fast he can swim by going off into the distance and asking us to count, the second we start to count he appears at the front and then starts to take questions.

'This little dude down the front wants to ask a question, whats your name little dude?'
'Matthew'

Now instead of 'ooo cute ' or 'oh thats fantastic' both mine and lisas initial reaction was 'oh please god let it be an actual question and make some sort of cohesive sense'

'Matthew , cool, whats your question little dude?'

'how, how how did you DO that

much laughter, Lisa and I relax and Crush explains its all to do with his hydrodynamic shell

Matthew comes out dead chuffed that he has gotten to talk with an actual Turtle and as a reward he gets to go to the place of his dreams 'Club cool'

free fizzy and lots to choose from

No we didn't make him try Beverley.

We then met up with some very dear friends for a cup of coffee and while we had a chat the boys did their very best to massage chocolate icecram into every orifice in their body other than their mouths.

After too short a time it was time to move on and Thomas was givng me his 'Mission Space eyes' 30 minute queue for orange ( they now have 2 rooms green and 2 orange) Needless to say I love this nearly as much as the boy and wonder for the upteenth time if this is what it feels like to have a heart attack.

Thomas skips off the ride and is now a happy boy . Matthew is very very excited about the Kim Possible adventures as we are here we grab a FP for Test track and I go back to put all our coats in a locker whilst Lisa takes the boys to see the characters.



Time for Test Track now and Matthew has another attack of the wobbles, tis is made worse as the bleedin thing breaks down whilst we are in the holding pen to go just through to the 'test room' he is getting more and more anxious and we are getting the odd glance from the people around for 'making him' go on. At one point he even makes a break for a door that is open, and that inspires much tutting from the people around us

Needless to say he loves it when he has been on and whoops and hollers his way down the exit ramp much to the amusement of those who saw hi before. Tomas loves this and thinks its one of his favorite rides.

See I don't really get Test Track at all. I think the queue is dull, the 'music' sounds like the Jammitors falling down stairs. The ride is like a 70's safety video and I feel like I'm on a scalextric track without the excitement of the car coming off the track, maybe thats just me though.

Anyway, its time for lunch...

[Britchick]

tuurterly awesome dude

i love test track, i think it's because i don't do the gairy rides - that is about the right level for me

[Tink]

Isn't Crush the best?! We laughed ourselves silly (from under the bench! ) when Seth was chosen.

"What's your name little dude?" SEFFNICHOLASXXXXX!!!! "What?" (Louder) SEFFFFFNIIICHOOOOLAASSSSSXXXXXXX!!!!! "What do they call you for short, little dude?" (Louder yet) SEEEEEFFFFFFFFNIKKKOOOOOOOOLAAASSSSSXXXXX!!!!!

The way Crush can express feeling with his eyes is priceless.

We totally agree about the entrance to EPCOT. I have no idea who thought granite slabs would look like anything other than grave markers. I really dislike those things and hope they move them (as was once rumored) or take them down. I know they have the tiles on them, but that only adds to the cemetery feel of the whole thing.

It was a wonderful, albeit short visit. Thank you for sharing your precious holiday time with us.

[Johnie]

If Matthew loves Club Cool then you need to take him to the Coke Museum in Atlanta They have 64 Cokes from around the world!!

[ieuanr]

Sounds like a great trip!

Really enjoying the story!

[MystikPiglit]

Excellent, thank you!

the boys decide amongst each other that they would both rather start the day on Soarin' thereby completely disarming Lisa and I

Uh-oh....If they've reached that stage you're in trouble.

[Jodie]

Scaletrix track!

[tb2830]

Isn't Crush the best?! We laughed ourselves silly (from under the bench! ) when Seth was chosen.

"What's your name little dude?" SEFFNICHOLASXXXXX!!!! "What?" (Louder) SEFFFFFNIIICHOOOOLAASSSSSXXXXXXX!!!!! "What do they call you for short, little dude?" (Louder yet) SEEEEEFFFFFFFFNIKKKOOOOOOOOLAAASSSSSXXXXX!!!!!

The way Crush can express feeling with his eyes is priceless.

We totally agree about the entrance to EPCOT. I have no idea who thought granite slabs would look like anything other than grave markers. I really dislike those things and hope they move them (as was once rumored) or take them down. I know they have the tiles on them, but that only adds to the cemetery feel of the whole thing.

It was a wonderful, albeit short visit. Thank you for sharing your precious holiday time with us.

i hope they dont take them down completely i dont mind them moving them because im on one those tiles

[Deb]

Brilliant! See, I haven't been for a while and there are all these new things you're describing...

I couldn't work out whether your dear boys were massaging ice cream onto themselves or your lovely coffee companions As your companions seemed to have enjoyed the encounter I'd say it was the former

I'm totally with you on Test Track. I really don't get it at all, especially after all the hype before it opened. It's not as exciting as driving my car round the country lanes. But even if you forget about the thrill-factor, there isn't enough interesting interactive stuff for adults as on other Disney rides. But great for your boys!!!

[Beccaberry]

Awesome shots, doc....another good report