Stu's Birthday: Visiting Disney's Epcot

We knew we were going to be Florida for at least a month in order to 1) go on our 10 day cruise and 2) utilize the special 15+5 rate at the Escapees park here in Bushnell. That meant we would be here for Stu's birthday (Dec 17th). Since I hadn't been to Disney since they were BUILDING Epcot, we decided to use his free day and go there. (PS. This is a LONG blog with LOTS of photos. Read or not, or just check out all the pics at SmugMug.)

We loaded up the bikes the night before and headed off in a slight drizzle. We stopped for breakfast about half way there and saw the clouds breaking a bit. Ah, a little sunshine to cheer us on our way...LOL!

We got to Disney's Epcot parking only to discover that a motorhome with 20 people could park for $15 but two motorcycles with one person each had to pay $14 each. Jeesh!! Not much we could do about it since we'd lose over an hour to head to our hotel, check our bags and then ride back on one bike. So we sucked it up and headed in. Second snafu, a van cut to the left of us as we followed the waving parking attendants. The first man told us we needed to go to the motorcycle parking by going to the end of the lot and then going left. The second man told us we couldn't do that because it was one way traffic. Humph! We looked at each other after he parked us....a LONG walk to get on or a short drive where there was NO traffic, park properly and have a SHORT walk. Yup...we chose the drive, carefully watching for oncoming traffic.

We changed shoes, covered our bikes, found spots to put our parking passes (although I didn't see the need for them...there was no way to get in without paying....LOL!), and headed into pay. Stu got his souvenir pass and I got my paper ticket.






The first exhibit we entered was Spaceship Earth...the line moved quickly and I don't think we waiting anywhere near the 20 minutes that was posted. I grabbed a few fun shots of our "perfect" future vacation. They took a photo of us (I managed to get one of them getting us....LOL!) and then cropped out head shots.






We wandered a couple of other displays, discovering a neat firefighting display put on by an insurance company. They had a "find the hazard" game and we played. Fun and educational. We hope it will still be there when we take the grandkids in 2011. I snagged a shot of Stu beside the fire truck as well as some patches of interest.






Next was "Imagination" where we had fun with Figment. Another fun ride, one the grandkids would love. We had to stop in the store afterwards and get a little stuffed Figment as well as a couple of pins. Both Stu's Lin and I love the funny little dragon. LOL!






From there we headed into the World Showcase where we could visit foreign countries. Here are a few snapshots. We spent time in Canada watching a 360 degree movie as well as in America (where we grabbed a quick but good lunch), listening to music and then watching a movie/animatron combo. Very well done.






The rain finally hit and we were glad we had picked up some lightweight, 99 cent ponchos and brought them along. Never hard enough to stop us from continuing it, it did thin the already not heavy crowds. We headed for The Land and took a ride that showcased the research of new and better agriculture and showed us foods being grown that were beyond our imagination. Many of the produce is used in the restaurant in that pavilion.






Stu had hoped to eat dinner at The Seas restaurant but when we tried to make reservations, there wasn't a seat to be found in ANY of the restaurants. The Seas is now Nemo themed and we headed in to check it out. Another fun ride for the grandkids and some nice aquarium views. Most of the photos are in the SmugMug album but here are a couple.






We visited the Energy exhibit which included a movie, moving seats and more animatrons (dinosaurs). Then we took our final ride...the Test Track. Oh my!! Known as the shortest but fastest ride with the longest wait, we were lucky to hit it at the end of the day. No long wait and what a ride. I am SO not a roller coaster fan although Stu is, so he assured me that this wouldn't be like that. Well, let's say that I did a lot of the ride with my eyes closed - one hand on the chest seatbelt strap - the other hand clutching Stu's pant leg - and laughing all the way! We just HAD to buy the company photo (we don't do that too often). Yes, I'd do it again!!!!






We grabbed a bite to eat as we waited for the fireworks which didn't start until 9:30pm. Well worth the wait, I didn't try to take any photos but suffice it to say, we both really enjoyed it. The rain was pretty well stopped....until we got to the bikes when it started up again. We changed shoes, put on rain gear and headed off to our hotel. All in all, a twelve hour day that was worth every second!!

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu