We arose at 5:00 a.m. to make the drive through Tampa before the worst of the rush-hour traffic, and I have to admit that we had no trouble with highway congestion either going to Disney or coming home yesterday. Disney World is about an hour and 40 minute straight drive from Dunedin on I-4 through Florida. While we were not speeding along at normal highway limits every second of the day, we also never came to a complete stop on the highways either. Always moving is a good thing...
We arrived at Disney early, so we were able to park in the first non-handicapped reserved row of the lot. Epcot was our park of choice for the day as it was supposed to have the least number of visitors on this particular Wednesday. We exchanged our AAA plastic ticket vouchers for an official Disney season pass which, to our great disappointment, is a credit-card sized pass made of heavy paper. The ticket agent assured us that we could get it replaced if we started to wear out the cardboard one she gave us.
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| Donald Duck with some lucky little girl. |
After getting tickets, we entered our first line of the day. We were second in line after a family of five, and we stood in that line FREEZING in the 52 degree windy conditions. We both were in jeans and had fleece jackets. I really felt sorry for the idiots who were in short-sleeved shirts, shorts, and flip-flops. Didn't they check the weather reports for the day? It was predicted to only get to 72 yesterday, and sadly, the weathermen were incorrect. I don't believe it ever got even that warm, and we won't talk about the wind-chill factor that accompanied the temperatures. The good thing was that we had sunshine for most of the day, so that did help warm things up by late morning. (Yeah, I know. I should not complain since everyone in Wisconsin is dealing with sub-40 temperatures and tons of snow.)
After we entered the park, we were able to get onto most rides with little problem. The only truly long line we encountered was at Spaceship Earth which is the ride inside the iconic "golfball" geodesic dome of Epcot. That line added to our temperature discomfort since we were outside again for quite a while. The ride was interesting, however, and in the end the pictures that the ride took of us as we started were added to a computer program to show us how our personal lives would be in the future. That was a cute, fun addition to the ride.
Overall, I had a good time but Rick was disappointed. He felt that many of the attractions were outdated, especially since Disney's premiere showcase in Epcot was Futureworld. "Presentworld" might be a better name for it since much of the technology presented and many of the rides were definitely not cutting-edge presentations of the future.
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| The iconic image of Epcot, shot from within the park. |
We did enjoy the topiaries of the park, and that is what the majority of our pictures concern. The gardens, also, were spectacular. Each evening, an army of gardeners must toil through the night to keep the gardens in full bloom and weed-free.
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| Winnie the Pooh, sneaking into a back door. See, Lindsay, he is real! |
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| Tigger follows Winnie, closely guarded by Disney "cast members." |
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| The topiaries were great. Here Winnie the Pooh poses with his balloon. |
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| Piglet takes a ride on Eeyore who enjoys munching on the delicious flowers. |
Following the advice of the Unofficial Disney Guide Book, we purposely ate early and had no trouble finding tables at which to sit. We rejected many of the restaurants who were serving large, expensive, not-to-our-tastes meals. We settled both for lunch and for dinner at the same restaurant, and while we were served plenty of food that actually tasted very good, it should have been good for the price! Each meal cost us approximately $20.00, and that was without drinks of any kind.
The crowds were tolerable in my estimation, and since this was a weekday and we were at Epcot rather than the Magic Kingdom, we did not see a great many children. With the exception of one shop in the French area of the World Showcase, everyone was very polite. We had trouble getting waited on in the French pastry shop where we stopped for a mid-afternoon snack, and that just further enhanced Rick's opinion that the French are rude. That being said, when we finally did get our pastries, they tasted delicious.
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| Daisy Duck gets ready to serve the badminton shuttle to Donald... |
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| who poses ready for the return. |
Rick was questioning if the decision to buy season passes was the right decision. He actually ended up with a headache and not feeling well yesterday, so I think that may have soured his mood a bit. I enjoyed myself. The walk certainly was good for our health, and even with sore feet by the end of the day, I felt great getting out and seeing something new.
Our season passes are good for one year. We can go to any of the four parks, and although we are blacked out of weekends, most of the summer, and during the traditional Spring Break days, that is fine with us. We would not want to go during any of those times anyway as they are the peak attendance times of the year.
In April, we plan to go back to the parks for a couple of days, staying overnight in a nearby (not on the Disney grounds) hotel. We want to take some wildlife shots at Animal Kingdom and have a good time at Disney's Hollywood Studio park. Hopefully, the next time we go the weather will be a little warmer without being intolerably hot. But this is Florida, and like Wisconsin, the weather changes on an hourly basis.
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