Trip Report The "we took a trip to Disney World just so we could write a trip report" trip report

Hello fellow Disney-folk! Early this year me (Scott) and my CDP (co-Disney-Phile) Lyn started hatching a spring trip to WDW. We've never done a real trip report before so we thought it would be fun. Lots of pictures too. Enjoy!

Our "incredible" vacation (er...long weekend, anyway) ended up during St Patrick's Day weekend. Planned in advance with reservations at Pop Century, snagging pretty decent rates too. Magic Bands customized, ordered, and received! Not really into planning things out very much but since FP+ was available, we used it (more on that later).

One day I got two(!) boxes in my mailbox from Davenport Florida. Magic Bands!

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Are we Disney-nerds? Yup. Hadn't done this before though: Mousekeeping tipping envelopes (available from WDW Prep School). This was kind of an experiment. Tipping at hotels has been a contentious point recently. Even though I travel quite a bit I'd never heard of leaving tips at hotels before reading about tipping "mousekeeping". I won't start a debate about the practice, but this was something we wanted to try in our (my?) own odd way.

More exciting news about that later on. Stay tuned!

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Epcot day. Not too crowded. We drove ourselves to the park today. See Donald waving? He's there


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Helpful hint #211: Yes we know, you're excited to go to a park. Yes we know, you're in a hurry so you'll get in quicker if you race everyone after you go through the toll booths. Right? Well...probably not. See, you're in a such a big rush to race everyone to the finish line that you didn't notice that usually being first means you go farther from the entrance than the people behind you. That's how it works at Epcot.
Occasionally being slow means you might have just missed being one of the first cars in one of the parking lanes, but that's pretty rare.

Just thought I'd mention it

 

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We're in!

Here's a topiary-Goofy trying to catch a topiary-Daisy.

What?

Oh. Apparently he's going after butterflies, not Daisy.

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Flowers-galore. Real and ...other...both!

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At SSE we got our F&G Festival maps from these two characters.

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We arrived mid-morning and made our way around to Club Cool. This has become my traditional way of visiting Epcot

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Which should we try first? Beverly? Yup. Always (seriously) my first. I'm getting used to it. It's really not that bad, and it seems to make the more pleasant flavors just a little better. The two Fantas are ok but I miss the Ginger Ale.

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...more club coolness.
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Innoventions and the IBM "Think" exhibit.
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Innoventions, The Great Piggy Bank Adventure. Haven't done more than look at this. Someone review it in another trip report though so...we might next time. I like to file-away things like this for when/if I go when it's boiling hot outside. On those days I kind of leapfrog from pavilion to pavilion to stay cool, these types of things are terrific for those days!

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[TinkandCrew]

I'm sure it's the bazillionth time you've heard this, but your pics are supercalifragilisticexpialadocious! Truly...I love them!

Loving your trip report and your "Helpful Hint". My husband is seriously one of "those" people. The one that has to zig and zag and race people to be first. He will literally leave us all in the dust if it means he gets ahead in line.

Keep it comin.....I love it!

 

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I'm sure it's the bazillionth time you've heard this, but your pics are supercalifragilisticexpialadocious! Truly...I love them!

THANKS!

Loving your trip report and your "Helpful Hint". My husband is seriously one of "those" people. The one that has to zig and zag and race people to be first. He will literally leave us all in the dust if it means he gets ahead in line.

Keep it comin.....I love it!

That's ok - just means I get a closer spot!

 

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Day Three Continues...we plant a tree?

Obligatory monorail shot. Yes, there's an unwritten rule that when it's convenient to take a break near the monorail you're supposed to wait for one to come by and take a picture. Didn't know that? Seriously? Well, now you do.

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I wish I could tell you this is one of Epcot's usually-hidden gems. I wish I could tell you that...and I can

Between Innoventions and The Land are a number of large planters and trees. We've all seen them. Summer-time visitors probably just see trees here, but when they're amazing when they're in bloom.

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Our visit coincided with the seed-pods on Epcot's "Floss Silk" Trees opening. The Floss Silk tree has beautiful bright pink flowers when it blooms.

Not sure if the previous image is a Floss Silk tree or not (it doesn't have the characteristic spiny trunk, but there are varieties that have smooth trunks), but that's what they look like. These two without the flowers are Floss Silks.

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The Floss Silk tree also produces large seed-pods that burst open to reveal a very fluffy silky white floss. The white floss breaks away and floats all over in a breeze. At Epcot a lot of the "floss" had blown into some of the water pools and looked like large masses of foam. The tree's seeds are embedded in the floss and so get spread when they float in a breeze.

A big wad of this "floss" floated on to me when I walking by...

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There were seeds embedded in that big wad of "floss" that floated on to me, so I kept it. After reading up on the tree I decided to plant it and see what happens. Some websites were very encouraging about even one seed germinating like this. Maybe by this time next year I'll have a little twig growing out of the pot.

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Day Three...we land at Soarin'

The Land!
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Soarin': our first Fastpass+ reservation at Epcot. Probably the only one we really needed, too. This is another "haven't done it in years" attraction that I usually skip because of the lines. Making a reservation ahead of time was really nice.

The guy on the right is obviously talking about the one that got away: "it was 'this big' I tell ya!"

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80 minute standby? Yikes. I've seen a lot worse though. Reason #1 I usually skip it. We had a 10:45 FP+.

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The two queue lanes for Soarin': Concourse 1 (left) is Fastpass, concourse 2 (right) is standby.

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Almost there! FP+ wait at to get to this point was just a few minutes

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Here's Patrick giving us our briefing. Amazing how many people still blurt out "Puddy!" when he comes on the screen.

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Soarin' time!

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Sneaking a quick picture from my lap. Look at the feet!

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After Soarin' we stopped at Sunshine Seasons in The Land. We were there, after all For lunch we split a sandwich another turkey sandwich. This time it's "Turkey, Monterey Jack, and Chipotle Mayonnaise on Ciabatta with Potato Salad" for $9.69. It was just a tiny bit spicy but my Maine-Princess liked it just fine.

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[gaga4disney]

Disney should compensate you for this trip report! makes me feel like i am there and so close to booking a spur-of-the-moment trip

 

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Disney should compensate you for this trip report!

I wish

Thanks!

 

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Multiple image panorama of "The Land"

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[WendyTinkerbell]

The "foggy" pirate picture is great! The best I have seen that scene in years!

 

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The "foggy" pirate picture is great! The best I have seen that scene in years!

Yay! Thanks!

 

[ShookieJones]

Love the Soarin' lap pic!

Freaking chuckled at the dude "watching TV" comment.

I can't wait to see what happens with the Floss Silk Tree...how sweet would it be to have an Epcot tree in your backyard dude??

 

[fractal]

Great report and awesome pics! Impressed with the shots in Pirates you got with an f/4 lens!

 

[photoflight]

Love the Soarin' lap pic!

Freaking chuckled at the dude "watching TV" comment.

I can't wait to see what happens with the Floss Silk Tree...how sweet would it be to have an Epcot tree in your backyard dude??

Fingers crossed! I've read that it can take from a couple of weeks to several months before the seeds do anything - if anything. Turns out they run about 10 for $3 so...sounds like they're kind of special. The neighbors ought to love the white fluffy stuff flying everywhere.

Great report and awesome pics! Impressed with the shots in Pirates you got with an f/4 lens!

Thanks...really need something faster for that stuff!

 

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Day Three Continues...after lunch, wandering the wilds of Epcot

How about "The Seas"? Actually no, we skipped it for some reason but went around to look. I wanted to see the seagulls saying "mike mike mike" (yeah...first time I saw them that's what I thought they said, then I saw the movie, Lyn isn't the only wacky-nunu).

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Mike Mike Mike er... Mine Mine Mine

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Moving right along to see our old pal Figment! Just can't miss Figment! I have a mini-Figment (which they no longer make, apparently, probably due to the magnets - I bought Lyn one awhile back and they lectured me: "Is this for a child?" Um... yeah actually it sort of is) that sits inside the roof of the car. There's another one that rides in the window of the airplane at work. They've driven and flown all over the eastern USA from Key West to Maine, all over the Caribbean, Central America, and even over the Panama Canal. Those guys get around!

Anyway - Journey into the Imagination with Figment

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Yikes. This is one of the few times I've seen such a long line for this!

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Car C-02 is all ours!

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Our hero!
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My favorite scene in one of my favorite attractions. Why oh why can't they make a figment doll with a flying helmet and goggles? Maybe one day...

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Tomorrow we start exploring the planty things and...ahhhhhh...sniff... yeah, like that.

 

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Couldn't resist... here's figgy riding around Maine

...and figgy sitting on the ramp in Belize. He gets around

 

[ShookieJones]

I have no idea what kind lens you used here but it should be called
the "makes sh*t look super interesting" lens.

Innoventions is in a sad state of affairs - I know that from actually being there...but darn it if these pics don't make me say, "I gotta give this area another shot!"

Innoventions and the IBM "Think" exhibit.
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Innoventions, The Great Piggy Bank Adventure. Haven't done more than look at this. Someone review it in another trip report though so...we might next time. I like to file-away things like this for when/if I go when it's boiling hot outside. On those days I kind of leapfrog from pavilion to pavilion to stay cool, these types of things are terrific for those days!

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