Wed., August 30th
Idalia had arrived!
We watched the Weather Channel for a good bit that morning. I mean what's a hurricane without a little Jim Cantore?
There had been no closure announcements other than the waterparks and putt putt, so how would we spend the day as the outer bands of Idalia made it's way across Orlando? We were going to Epcot, baby!! At 7am, I joined the Guardians virtual Q and got boarding group 5! Would this be an indication of the crowd level?
As we were getting ready, I thought, hey let me check on what would have been our flight in that morning. Ya'll...it was currently boarding! How?? I'm still baffled by that.
We were switching resorts today, so we decided we wanted to bring our luggage over to Gran Destino. As we walked out of our room with all our luggage it was downpouring! We suited up in our rain gear and raced to the lobby, trying to stay under the overhangs as much as possible. We took an Uber over to Gran Destino and left our bags at Bell Services before getting on a bus to Epcot.
It was just us and another family of 3 on the bus with us. As we arrived, it was a ghost town. We walked straight in and got in the line that had formed near Spaceship Earth. There probably wasn't even 75 people. The castmembers were in such good moods and having a good time with the few guests. Of course, Test Track was not opening, so most people were going to be headed the same direction. We were walked to the breezeway next to Connections and gathered there until it was time for early entry.
At the time it was just drizzling, but almost as soon as early entry opened, the rain and wind started. We had decided to rope drop Frozen. Needless to say the walk back to Norway was interesting to say the least, but we made it! We walked straight to our boat and Josh and I had the boat to ourselves. I'm so annoyed because I had so many ride photos missing. I put in requests for them on the website, so if by some chance I get them, I will share them at the end of this report.
As we came out of Frozen, we walked back up to the front and got on Soarin. We were able to ride in B, front row, center! It makes such a huge difference. By the time we were walking out of there, we got the alert that our Boarding Group was called. We were both so excited to finally ride. There was no waiting, we zoomed all the way through.
We got "One Way or Another". I was really hoping for "September" because I was in fact born on the 21st night of September so it's always been one of my favorite songs because of that. But One Way wasn't bad.
As we were getting off, Josh didn't say a word. The small room was crowded when we got to the bottom of the stairs because everyone was trying to put on their raingear before walking outside. Once outside, he still didn't say anything. That's when I knew he wasn't feeling well. He didn't get sick or anything, but he was woozy for a bit. I loved the ride and didn't have an issues.
The ride photo for this one did show up and I laughed because his face looks like regret!
Josh needed a break so we went to Starbucks and got a coffee and pastry. We sat and enjoyed those for a bit. While waiting, I checked the app. Wait times were so low for everything in the park. After our break, we chose to make the trek back to ride Remy. But first, Jammitors! They were doing their show in the breezeway.
The rain had slowed down as we we walked back....briefly!
The closer we got to Remy, the more it started coming down again. As we got to France, I noticed a couple who were pushing a toddler in a stroller and none of them had raingear on. The toddler was getting drenched in the stroller. I saw many kids in fact getting drenched in their strollers. I felt so bad for them. Most of them were crying and not having a good time at all. We got to the overhang in front of Remy and had a hard time getting through because so many people were camped out to avoid the rain. As we get to the entrance of the ride, a lady RUNS out the door...RUNS on slippery wet ground holding a baby that couldn't have been more than 3 months old, no cover over the baby. I cringed and prayed she didn't face plant the pavement holding onto that sweet baby!
We walked right onto our mouse. I'm just not a big fan of this ride. This was the 2nd time I've ridden and it's ok. I'll probably do it again for Cam because he hasn't ridden it yet, but it's not a favorite. When we got out, it was still coming down!!! The water was starting to make big puddles. Up until then, our feet had stayed fairly dry, but they were now soaked. Well, we were already wet, so why not trek BACK up to the front again.
So a back story...I've always silently accused Josh of using too much laundry detergent when washing clothes, but I never say anything because...well hello he's doing laundry and I'm not about to make complaints over him helping with household chores! As we were walking in the monsoon SUDS start coming out of the top of his sneaker! I was DYING laughing. I thought I would fall over in the rain, I was laughing so hard. I took this opportunity to ask him how much soap he puts in the washer and sure enough he's been putting double the amount
just typing this has me laughing all over again. It was hilarious! I noticed other people looking down at his shoe, that's how sudsy it was! I wish I had taken a picture, but it was pouring big time.
J/K, we walked around a bit. I had to go to the Christmas store and get my ornament for the trip. Eventually we were ready for a nap and did head back to the resort. Since we had a later lunch, I was able to push our dinner reservation back, so rest and relaxation until then.
The bourbon collecting has become quite popular I think. Seems like all of my husbands coworkers do it and they are always picking up bottles for each other. My husband does the raffles and goes to special sales and waits in line to hopefully score an allocated bottle. He actually just recently won a bottle in a raffle. In fact, while we were waiting for a show in Disney he got an email for a raffle and made me get on and fill out an entry also. 
