WWDW trip coming up!...And the follow-up trip report-Day 3

Day 3- Tues 11/22/2011

The night before, we planned on this being an Epcot day. Since it was
a morning EMH day, I half in jest told my wife that I would get up
early to get fast passes to Soarin' for us. Well, I did get up the
next day about 8am and felt like crap. Really wanted to sleep but I
couldn't go back to sleep. When I stay in bed too long, I get a
headache. I took a shower and felt better. My wife got up and reminded
me about the fast passes. She gave me everybody ticket and off I went.
I drove the van and they would take the bus when they were ready. I
walked through the turnstiles at 8:55am, just before regular park
opening. It was a beautiful day as I headed over to The Land and
Soarin'. Our fast pass return time was 11:50am already, almost 3hrs
hence. I got some fruit and juice from Sunshine Seasons then went to
see The Circle of Life. Since I had some time by myself, I was
determined to do some attractions that I had never done before, as if
this was my first visit to the park. It's a nice film about
conservation with Timon, Pumba and Simba telling a story for the kids.
For an adult without young kids in tow, it would be a great place to
sit down in the middle o a hot afternoon and maybe take a snooze!

Afterwords, I headed over to The Living Seas...oops..the park map says
The Seas wih Nemo and Friends. That's how long it's been since I've
been in this pavilion! I remember riding an elevator or something
they called Aqua-something or other up to the aquarium. Again, I
wasn't impressed to much with the first 2/3 of the ride but the last
1/3 was pretty cool. Getting out and looking at the aquarium was
awesome! So big with all kinds of different sea life. Sharks, fish,
coral, turtles, manatees, eels, starfish, etc. About 10am, I decided
to head out as I didn't know what the rest of the family was doing.
Then I started receiving texts from them that they were having
breakfast, Andy was joining them, Timmy wouldn't get up, they were
getting on the bus, almost there, etc. I realized I wasn't getting
cell phone reception inside the building. I had to meet them at the
front gate because I had the passes. I spent a few minutes in The Art
of Disney (I love t this place!) before heading to the front gate.
They were just trying to call be when I spotted them.

Once they got in, we headed over to Test Track and got in the single
rider line. Tyler thought he was going to be the only rider in his
car! He decided he would be ok for a few minutes sitting next to
someone he didn't know! He's a bit shy. The fast ride outside was so
nice to cool off a little bit. It seems that Disney is not keeping
the insides of the attractions as cool as they used to a few years
ago. They are probably saving a ton of money just by having the
temperature raised a couple of degrees. After Test Track, we headed
over to Mission:Space for a ride on the green team. How come I always
get to be engineer? Why doesn't the hyperspace deep sleep last longer?
I could have used it! My wife and I had ridden the orange side last
year. I couldn't tell any difference while I was on the ride but
afterwords I felt a little funny. Not dizzy or nauseous per say but a
little off balance. I would have ridden the orange with Andy, but we
all stuck together on this ride. After we got out of Test Track, we
got fast passes for a late afternoon return.

Next it was time for our fast pass return for Soarin' so on the way
over, we stopped at Club Cool for some refreshing Coca Cola drinks
from around the world. The watermelon soda from China, my favorite,
was out. The flavor from Mexico was good as were most of the others.
My wife still didn't remember that the Beverly was an acquired taste
that most people don't get the hang of. Neither do I although I
remembered it was very bitter but still had to taste it again to
remind me how bitter. It really is. Then on to Soarin' where we found
out that all the fast passes were gone. Good thing that we had ours!
We were in the second row and had a great flight. When we got out,
Timmy called us to tell us that he was on his way over! He got brave
enough to take the bus by himself. About time!

While we were waiting for him at the front gate, Andy & Tyler decided
that they were hungry and wanted egg rolls from China. So, of they
were on their trip to China. On their way, they decided to ride
Spaceship Earth. Timmy got there a few minutes later and we handed
him his pass. He did not have breakfast and wanted lunch. I suggested
Electric Umbrella as I knew that they had burgers. He is just like
me, not very adventurous when it domes to eating or trying new food. I
will at least try something that I like prepared in a different way.
He saw “Angus Burger” on the menu and it took me a few minutes that it
was just a fancy name for hamburger and yes he could get it plain.
When we sat down with Tim, the other two called to say they got to
China. We all headed over there. They were finishing up while my wife
and I both ordered the shrimp lo mein and egrolls. Their turn to wait
for us! I kind of wanted to eat at Nine Dragons as the last time we
ate there they had the most delicious raspberry iced tea. The Lo Mein
and egrolls were fine though. We headed back to Norway for a ride on
the Maelstrom. The standby time said 45 minutes which was longer
than the fast pass return time. I couldn't make them understand that
we could get fastpasses and be on the ride sooner than if we stood
standby! We could have also had some pastries from the bakery while
waiting for fast pass return. Nope, they wanted to wait and it was
almost an hour before we got on the ride. Well, after the ride, we did
sit on the curb for a few minutes in the shade and I went in and got a
cream puff. It promptly was split amongst 3 other people and I only
had 1 bite. They need to get their own next time!

It was almost time for our fast pass return for TT so we headed back
up front. Spaceship Earth said 30 minutes but the line wasn't too
convoluted and it was steadily moving. I think we were on in 20
minutes. This time I pressed English. Last time my wife pressed
Portuguese for the language and we couldn't change it or understand
it! We still laugh about that one! After the ride ended, I found out
that you could e-mail the future movie to yourself so I did. It's
pretty funny!

Finally time for Test Track again. Nothing really to say except that
I really like this and wish it were both longer and faster. On the
fast, smooth rides, my back feels better afterward. I can crack my
back by pushing my spine forward, but need help getting to push it
backwards. Test Track, Rock 'N Rollercoaster and Gravitar (at the
fair) does this and I feel so much better for a little while. Anyway,
It was about 6pm, the sun was going down, I was hungry again. Tim
wanted to go back to the room, Andy wanted to take the bus to the
Studios to ride Tower of Terror and Rock 'N Rollercoaster again Randi
just wanted to sit and have a Margarita. Tyler was agreeable to
anything as long as he could have food! Specifically, he wanted
popcorn. I had plenty of energy and want to walk around World
Showcase before watching Illuminations. I hadn't seen it the last few
too many visits and I was determined to see it that night! We weren't
going to let Andy go to another park so late by himself with so many
people around and not much time left before the park closed.

They all decided that they would stay in the park with me. They would
find a bench to sit and people watch while I strolled World Showcase
taking pictures and shopping. We went counter-clockwise starting
toward Canada. Tyler got some popcorn at the first popcorn stand that
he saw and I got an order of Fish and Chips in the United Kingdom.
They were delicious. First time that I had them here. Will remember it
for next visit. Of course I had to share with everyone and it didn't
last too long. Good thing. It left plenty of room for chocolate mousse
from the pastry shop in France! We ended up with three orders! Tim
didn't have any so the 4 of use ended up eating the three orders. I
finished mine and the other two leftovers. Very yummy! Well, they
found a bend outside between France and Morocco to sit. Off I went in
search of interesting photos. It was then that I noticed that
although there is adequate lighting to see and walk by, there isn't a
lot of additional lighting like at the Magic Kingdom or the Studios.
Also, except for a Christmas Tree outside the American Adventure,
there really wasn't much as far as Christmas lighting goes. I'm hoping
that it is because it was before Thanksgiving and more Christmas
lights and decorations will be put up.

I strolled through the shops of Morocco and Japan, not really spending
a lot of time looking at every little thing, just mostly glancing at
items and stopping for a minute or two to look a little closer at a
few things that caught my eye. Didn't really have a lot of extra cash
for spending on extras but I did get myself a Christmas CD of the
Voices of Liberty. It has a selection of songs that some are familiar
and some not. I walked through Italy and then to Germany where I
bought some Werthers chocolate caramel corm with pecans. I overheard
one woman comment to her husband “There's so much more to Germany than
Werther's. We can get this anywhere.” I'm sure there is more to
Germany but it appears that Werther's is sponsoring the part of the
building that they are in!

Upon exiting, I stopped at the outside railroad. I love this! I'd love
to do this at home but I know that that track is expensive and I'm
sure the only plants that I could grow are weeds! It takes a lot of
upkeep to run a garden railroad like that, but it sure is neat! When
I got back to the family, they immediately wanted to know what was in
the bag and the popcorn cor opened immediately. Timmy doesn't like
chocolate. He either must not have know or seen it,. When I told him
there was chocolate on some of the popcorn, he said he avoided it! I
wish he didn't open it as there was really nothing to keep the bag
closed and prevent everything from spilling out and I was concerned
with the humidity that the popcorn would get stale and soggy pretty
rapidly. I also found out that Tyler found elephant ears while I was
gone! That kids likes to eat! He's not fat or heavy either. Kinda
small and skinny for his age.

We had about half an hour until Illuminations. We just sat, talked
and people watched. I was very happy just to be there with my wife and
kids and nobody was fighting! At the beginning of Illuminations, the
barge looked like it was on fire and about to explode. My wife thought
that it would, I thought that was part of the show. I also didn't see
any laser figures on Spaceship Earth. Have they been done away with?
I'll have to watch the video when I can. Also, I can't understand
people taking pictures of fireworks using flash! I noticed it with
Wishes, The Main Street Electrical Parade and at the Osborn lights.
Don't they know that the flash really won't do anything for them,
especially fireworks?

On the way out, the kids wanted to take the bus again so we let them.
I wanted to stop in Mousegear for a few minutes while the majority of
the crowd left. The boys said they had to wait for 3 busses before
they got on. I was parked in the first section of the parking lot, on
the left. Not really worth it to take the tram so we walked. I guess
driving out, I didn't pay attention to the signs and next thing I
know, I can either get on i4 toward Tampa or 192 toward Disney World.
Naturally I followed the signs to 192 and Disney world and eventually
got back to Pop the long way. The kids soundly beat us back to the
room! This was the earliest we were back in the room this trip Good
thing to. I was tired. My walk-o-meter said that I walked 25,177
steps. Getting a good workout! I really should keep it up. In bed and
fast asleep by 11pm.

Tomorrow-packup, ride home, conclusion and photos! Thanks for reading.