Disney: Day 4, Part 1

Thursday, January 15th
Day 4, Part 1 - The most magical moment of our trip

Today’s Plans:
Morning: Epcot- Future World
Lunch: Le Cellier Steakhouse @ 11:30
Naptime at resort
Afternoon/Evening: Hollywood Studios-Try to see a few shows, Fantasmic @ 7; Adults go to Jellyrolls

Here’s What Happened:
Once again I got up at 6:00 and got in the shower. My sister, Amanda was up a little after me and Bethany was awake this morning at 6:50. That was a little earlier than she needed to be, but once she wakes up, she’s not going back to sleep.

We ate our usual breakfast in the room and we left on time this morning. When we left the room it was only 43°, and the high that day was supposed to be 63. Things were still a little on the cool side, but not as bad as home. Logan had found out that they canceled school the day before because the weather was so cold. They were having like -20° weather, so it was nice to miss that even if it was a little cool for Florida.

We must have caught a bus fairly quickly because my notes say that we made it to Epcot at 8:35. At this point, they were letting people go through the turnstiles, so we went through. Our plan for today had Shane and I running ahead of everyone else to get FPs for Soarin’. I could tell that my grandpa’s knee had really been bothering him the day before so we told them how this morning we wouldn’t be rushing and they could all take a nice leisurely stroll over to The Land and find Shane and I. We took everyone’s ticket and set off for a nice quick stroll.

We were one of the first over by the rope, so we had a spot right up against the rope. After a little bit the Cast Members from Soarin came out and were waiting around. We started talking to a nice CM named Robin. I told her about our group and how this was my grandparents first visit. I said we were starting them out right this morning, by beginning the day with Soarin, which I think is the best ride at Epcot. She went away for a minute and we saw the rest of our group come into view.

Then Robin came back and asked us if we’d like to be their first family of the day to ride Soarin. We would get to ride it all by ourselves. We were just hoping to get the first row, so everyone would get the best ride experience. This way exceeded my expectations. So I thought about it for about half a second and said, “Oh yeah, we’d love that.” She told me that when they drop the rope to just follow her and another CM onto the ride. By this time my family was there and we told them about the change of plans. At this point, I don’t think they realized how cool it was going to be.

Shane and I understood, though, because the first time we rode Soarin back in 2006 was with our friends that we were traveling with. We were towards the end of the people that they were assigning into rows and they were going to have to split us up, so we asked if we could just wait for the next ride. They said sure and we just stood over to the side. The ride was having issues getting started and it was right at park closing. So the rest of the people being held back in the hallway were sent to other side. Finally they got the ride going, and the CMs came out and told us we would get the unique experience of riding by ourselves. It was awesome. I never thought we’d get to do something like that again.

So now back to the present day, my dad was going to stay with Bethany while the rest of us went on it. I gave him our tickets so he could get FPs for us. Some of the characters came out to say hello to everyone.


Then the rope dropped and we started following our Fairy Godmother CMs. We were trying to beat the crowd, so we were walking along at a pretty good clip. So much for telling my grandparents it would be a nice easy morning. When we got to the pavilion, everyone was ushered to the right, but we were going up on the left. The CM sitting there tried to tell us that guests needed to go to the right, but Robin said, “They’re with us.” Never have I felt so important. ;) So we kept on following them.


I was trying to take as many photos as I could to document this awesome experience.


When we got inside we went left again while everyone else had to go to the right.

Then we entered the ride through the FP line. When we got up to actually boarding the ride, some other CMs had picked someone else to ride first, but it was only two girls, so we all went on it together.

It was just as cool as I remembered. At one point my grandpa said, “I’ve always wanted to go hand gliding, now I don’t have to.” We all raved about it when we got off, and we went to find my dad and Bethany. We found them waiting on a bench and I asked Dad if he got us FPs. He gave me a look like, “Was I supposed to?” Whoops. I guess we had a little lack of communication there. No big deal. I just went and got some then. We got a child swap pass and Dad, Logan, and Grandpa went again.

We then went over to Living with the Land, and we actually had to wait in line. They didn’t have any boats there, so we had to wait while the people in front of us all filled up a boat, and then we got on a second boat. I knew with my family’s farming background that they would really enjoy this ride. However, this is a dangerous ride to take Shane on because it gives him ideas.

I gave Shane the camera on this one because I had Bethany on my lap.
I always wonder how much lemonade a nine pound lemon would make.

I told Shane to take this picture too, because for some reason I just can’t pass up that photo op. We’ll probably have one from every vacation we take.


I love this hidden Mickey.


So here’s what makes it so dangerous. The tomato tree.
Every time we see it, Shane says, “I could grow one of those. Wouldn’t that be cool?” But when I told somebody that when we got home he took offense to that statement. Of course we couldn’t grow one here, we don’t have the right climate. They have to grow for like 10 months out of the year. So I told Shane that when we have our dream house in the country, we’ll build a greenhouse for his tomato tree.

I guess Shane was missing the camera because I had been taking most of the pictures so far. He took 50 pictures on that ride! Aren’t you glad I didn’t show you all of them?

After we got done with Living with the Land, our FPs were ripe for Soarin. Dad said he would wait with Bethany, so the rest of us went again. We were in row 3 this time, so everyone understood how awesome our first ride was. We still enjoyed it, though.

It was getting close to 10:30, and we had lunch reservations at 11:30. I really wanted to try to get The Seas done this morning, but I knew we would be crunched for time. We walked over there and had to get our picture taken with some of the characters from one of Bethany’s favorite movies.
“Finding Nemo” was the first movie that Bethany liked. She would request to watch it everyday. I’m glad that it’s a cute movie, because otherwise I might have gone insane. I knew that this pavilion would really be a hit with her, so it definitely went in the plans.

This was our first experience with the Nemo ride since on our last trip in 2006, they were still transitioning the whole pavilion over to the Nemo stuff. I was really impressed with queue area. It was very creative, with the floor changing from boards to sand, and all of the line dividers looking like driftwood or something. It was a very long walk because there wasn’t really any waiting. We just had to wait a little bit when we got to the front of the line for them to load someone in a wheelchair. It was a really cool design too. The whole clam-mobile opened up and a ramp came out. Everyone watching was really impressed. The CM loading people even tried to take credit for designing it. Somehow, I doubt he’d be working there if that was the case.

So we set off looking for Nemo. Shane, Bethany, and I all rode in one clam.


Bethany enjoyed it and she recognized the characters. When it was done she wanted, “More.” I was kind of disappointed in the ride. I guess I thought there would be a little bit more of a story line. It was pretty short too. Maybe I just need to go on it again.

Sadly, we didn’t really have time to go look in any of the tanks. We really wanted to see Turtle Talk with Crush. Shane especially enjoyed this on the last trip, and he said this was one of the things he was looking forward to. We were one of the first people in the waiting area, so Shane and Bethany sat down to watch the rays.


One came right up against the glass behind Bethany, and she caught sight of it just coming over her shoulder. That made her a little nervous.

I took one of the kids’ quizzes and did horribly. I did learn that clownfish only travel some small distance from their homes. Now that makes sense why they would have Marlin be a clownfish.

When it became apparent that they would start letting people into the show, we waited closer to the doors. However, some other people had come, so we weren’t towards to front anymore. I knew that Bethany wouldn’t sit up front with the other kids, so I wanted to try to get a close seat. When they opened the doors, I took off pretty quickly with Bethany. We were walking down the first row to get our seats, but when I sat down and turned to the person next to me, they weren’t in my family. No, my family was several people behind, and heading into the second row. So when I stood up to walk around to the second row, I hit my shin on the end of the bench. Wow! That really hurt. Those benches are really solid.

We got settled on the end of the row right on the middle aisle. So Bethany still had a pretty good view of the screen. The show was cute, as usual. It wasn’t as good as the first time we had seen it. Of course, so much depends upon the audience and what questions get asked and stuff. Bethany wasn’t really that into it. I believe she took the goldfish that Logan was eating, and that held her interest more. I don’t think she realized that Crush was interacting with us. She just thought it was like a big movie. I’m sure the next time we see it, she’ll be able to understand how it works.

Up Next: Our lunch at Le Cellier and will housekeeping come today?