Epcot and a few observations
Spent a lovely afternoon and evening at Epcot. We got there around 4:00 pm and went straight to Soarin'. The stand by line was 30 mins, and no fast pass was available anymore. So we stood in line. As I've said earlier after riding the original at DCA, the Epcot version of the queue line is the "sleek", modern version, whereas the DCA version feels more like fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type of setup. I like the Epcot version better. It gives it a more modern feel to it. Besides, Patrick looks better on flat panel widescreen monitors than the old standard CRT that they have at DCA.
We then did Figment (still don't like it and this hasn't changed my mind), and then we crossed over to the other side. Test Track was down when we walked in, but it was running by the time we got there, so we went on the single-rider line. Took barely 10 mins to get into the vehicle.
We then did Ellen's World of Energy. Haven't done this is quite a while, and it was OK, but nothing I would really recommend.
We then went into Innovations and did the quick intro to the Segway. It was fun! I didn't fall flat on my face, and it fact it was quite easy to use. We then went over and did the character greetings. Took pictures with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Chip N' Dale, and Goofy. Where's Donald, damn it?! Minnie spotted the "Stand Clear of the Doors" T-shirt and ran after us to point it out to other cast members around her (the t-shirt got a lot of attention elsewhere among other guests and cast members).
We ate at our favorite counter service in all of WDW - Sunshine Seasons at The Land Pavillion. Then we stake our place for Illuminations. This is the first time I'm seeing it with the Inferno barge in about a year. They still didn't have it working in early January. No matter how many times I see it, it still brings chills to me. I LOVE this show.
A few observations. First, someone must have dropped the ball. The men's washroom right next to Soarin' (right across from where you sign up for the Behind The Seed Tour) was not taken care of. There were 4 paper towel dispenser, and 3 of them were empty. The 4th was stuck full of paper towel, but none comes out when you cranked the handle. Highly annoying.
Secondly, and this has been an issue (at least with me) since forever. When you walk into the World Showcase Lagoon, to your right, the first restroom area you find (right behind the cart that sells popcorn) has got to be THE smallest restroom in all of WDW! It has 2 stalls and 1, ONE, urinal! This is INSANE! This is a very busy area, specially when people are leaving the Lagoon. Besides, how could anywhere in a Disney theme park can someone in their right mind design a men's washroom with just ONE urinal?! C'mon now!
Lastly, I wish the cast members who are monitoring the raised pavillion area right at the entrance to the world showcase would not congregate right in the middle of our viewing area while they wait for word to see if they'll let people sit down in that area. I was trying to get a direct snap shot of the American Pavillion across the lagoon, and for the life of me, these people just stood there, chatting away. I've seen this happened many times. I can understand if they're doing their job, but I think if they're just standing there having a conversation (there were at least 5 or 6 of them), the least they could do is consider that there could be people who are thinking of snapping pictures.
OK.. enough ranting for one evening. Illuminations was still spectacular. We didn't bother videotaping or trying to take pictures because we just wanted to enjoy it with any distractions.
Tomorrow, we will do the Magic Kingdom, which promises to be verrrrrrry interesting. It will be a long day since we will follow that up later in the evening with the party at Disney-MGM Studios.
Pictures to come soon.....
Zz.
P.S. Forgot to mention that during Illuminations, Morocco didn't light up when it was supposed to. Is it undergoing some renovations?
