Trip Report Epcot & DHS - micro reports

Does the story of half a day at a park deserve a report? Well, I thought I'd give it a try... after being really busy for awhile (and with a busy schedule ahead) this past week I had the better part of a day to spare. It seemed like every day I went last year was really warm so the forecasted highs in the mid-50s were appealing. Note to northerners: radio station announcers will tell you the mid-50s is "bitter cold" here. Honestly!

First stop was Epcot. Uh, ok, the only stop was Epcot. Only had a few hours to spare today. Lots of ticket windows open and hardly any people there, got the new AP activated pretty fast. It was pretty obvious there wasn't a crushing crowd there, off-season and everything.

Lots of flowers planted in front of SSE
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When we got there it was about 51° and peaked out at 55°, at times with a stiff breeze. That's the kind of weather that will cause some locals to dress like they're getting ready to go snowmobile racing. Others wear shorts and flipflops. Tourists? No idea how they decide what to wear or even bring with them.

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Here's Mickey
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photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
With that I headed over to my favorite place: EPCOT! Pulling past the parking toll booths I looked at the parking lot and figured it was really crowded! Nope. Another Disney illusion. My timing was really good, they just started parking in one of the east-side lots. Actually my timing was almost perfect, I was just a few cars in from the tram stop (which I don't use anyway).

Epcot was naturally a lot more crowded than my last visit but still not that bad considering the beautiful weather on a Saturday.
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Since my last visit (all of what, 10 days ago?) they went 100% FP+. The first FP+ station you see after SSE is around the back of the pin-station. They had lots of signs and CM holding signs that simply said "FP+" on them. I'd imagine someone that had been visiting WDW for years buying regular tickets probably wouldn't have a clue what FP+ is - but that's been discussed before I guess. Later on I went by this same spot and there were a lot of people standing trying to do their FP+ thing. There wasn't really a huge "line" but I can see where this may get interesting.

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An obligatory stop at Club Cool was in order. I made a point of getting a taste of "Beverly" first, followed by a couple of other things. I'm starting to get a kick out of standing there drinking it like it's an awesome thing :)
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I laughed at some of blackthidot's pictures of people sleeping in the park(s) but really don't remember seeing it...until now. On Saturday I saw three people sprawled out on benches in different places. Not passing judgement, just noticing things :)
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photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The recent freezing temperatures didn't touch Victoria Gardens - or the plant minions have been hard at work.
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On my last report I mentioned the split between locals who acted like it was fridged and others like it was summer. They were still there on Saturday except it was 70° out. I can never decide whether I should feel cold or not but then everyone is different. The most interesting I saw was around 3pm someone had a heavy winter coat with a fur-lined hood up, with a scarf and gloves. That's Florida :)

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Over in America... didn't stick around for the show. Right when I tried to get a picture these people walked in and plopped themselves on the floor. Not sure why that was better than the benches but they seemed to know what they were doing.
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Nope, didn't buy anything but man that place is awesome. Karmel Kuche, Germany
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Ever look at the pickle tree up close? It's covered with pickle ornaments. I want one. Only problem, the pickles cost $12.50 a pop. Anyone want to count the pickles and see how much it would cost?
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More Germany
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Walking aimlessly I ended up in "Mexico".
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The dreaded tour group! They were happy :)
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More aimless walking. I really wanted to stay for sunset but was running out of steam
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Back over to SSE and there was a 15 minute line (it wound around the other side of this picture). I was going to get in line when I remembered this FP+ stuff. Mostly just to see if it would work I decided to make a reservation on my phone. Their app still needs to be streamlined (don't hold your breath), but I ended up with a reservation a few minutes into the future, cutting my wait time to less than half what was posted. I popped into the art store for a few minutes then went back to SSE. My pass worked on the FP+ gate through my wallet no problem - worked great. Fabulous, no need for a magicband then on my next visit :)
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Thats it for now, maybe a visit to MK sometime in February though!
 
Allym146

Allym146

Well-Known Member
Love your pics! Especially the ducks:happy:. That first day in Epcot looked wonderful. I would take 50 (or 70) degrees in Disney over 95 any day! It's all about dressing in layers:).
 
PigletIsMyCat

PigletIsMyCat

Well-Known Member
your. photos. are. amazing! i'm jealous. i have fun taking photos - i've used an olympus sp600 in the past. i love taking photos of the animals at AK with it. i barely know how to use it but i've always been happy with the photos i get.
 
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
The folks who plopped themselves on the floor in the American Adventure rotunda wanted front row center seats for the Voices of Liberty performance. Have done that myself numerous times!
 
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Another little addendum... silly me decided to go back to Epcot today. Low ceilings (means no work), fog (really means no work), and rain (really really means a day off for me) - so I had a fun day in the rain.

At first it didn't rain but lucky me, as soon as I started walking past the fountain it opened up. Poked around Mouse Gear and then it turned into a drizzle:

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Cheap hint for camera carriers: grab one of those plastic shopping bags from a grocery store, run your camera strap through the carry-handle holes in the bag, then pull the bag around the camera. The whole thing will come apart quick enough so you can use the camera, but it's good enough to keep things dry in a light rain. Best of all it'll wad up into a pocket when not in use (or toss it when you're done)...came in handy here, in the drizzle:

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Norway...surprisingly busy for an off-season Saturday. The line to see the "Frozen" characters was absurdly long (the people standing around the church are actually in line for the character meet and greet):
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Grabbed a FP+ on the cellphone for Maelstrom before I went to the park...big deal, only a 10 minute wait. Considering the massive line for the M&G 10 minutes was nothing. The FP line was empty. Literally empty. I walked on the ride.
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...then post-ride, the poor old legacy FP machines are sitting idle
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disney4life2008

disney4life2008

Well-Known Member
I have been to WDW several times during major cold fronts - in 2009 it was in the 30s. What I love about WDW is that the CMs still make an effort to ignore the cold and give the experience that it is a perfect 80 degree sunny day.
 
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It was 80 there today. I'd have loved for them to make me feel like it was in the 30s...well, 60s anyway :) A couple of them had hats on but that didn't really help!

I forgot to add a couple of pictures of the fastpass+ kiosks. I mentioned last week that they'd made the back side of the pin station into a big FP+ kiosk center. Last week there weren't all that many people using them. This week was different and there was definitely a line. There also weren't many CMs with the ipad-like devices - maybe because of the rain? Anyway, here's the line from today (and it really wasn't that busy). You can see two zig-zag queues:

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There are also FP+ kiosks in the outdoor walk-through areas of both Innoventions wings. I got photobombed and didn't notice until I got home! In my defense it was wicked dark in that corner :rolleyes: :D
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