Park Hopping Part 2
Our plan for today' s park hopping day was to visit Epcot, Disney' s Hollywood Studios and the Magic Kingdom, we weren' t sure how much we would achieve as it was early June and half term for UK schools so there was the potential for everywhere to be quite busy.
First stop Epcot, Soarin is one of our favorite attractions so we needed to secure a fast pass.
Unlike the days when we used to visit with the children we weren' t knocking on the gates at 9am and a leisurely breakfast meant that it was nearer to 10. 15 when we strolled through the turnstiles. We bypassed the line for Spaceship Earth and made straight for Soarin only to find that the first fast passes were not available until 3. 50pm and the alternative was a ninety minute wait. We secured our fast passes and decided to remain in Epcot until we could ride Soarin, we wanted to finish with the fireworks and Spectro Magic in the Magic Kingdom so our time at Hollywood Studios was going to be limited. The lesson here is if you want to achieve loads, get an early start!
Whilst in The Land we decided to ride ' Living with the Land' , which as regular visitors to Walt Disney World will know is a boat tour through the greenhouses of Disney, not overly exciting but pleasant enough and a chance to stay out of the summers very hot sun.
Next we wandered over to Universe of Energy but were seduced by a drinks cart and an orange and mango smoothie which allowed us to sit on a bench for a few minutes and watch the world go by. The weather was glorious but very, very warm.
The Universe of Energy afforded a full forty five minute reprieve from the hot sun and a chance to watch Ellen' s Energy Adventure again - it' s always fun watching ' Stupid Judy' get her come uppance.
Mission Space and Test Track were not on our list of ' must do' s' so we strolled along to Journey into the Imagination ( Gene Wilder looks so young! ) followed by Captain EO in 3D, Michael Jackson also looked very young, a sure sign that these attractions are dated.
We carried on at a leisurely pace into The World Showcase and stopped off at O Canada in 360 degree circle vision. It evoked some happy memories of our Canadian vacation a few years ago with a note to self, must revisit Canada!
Time for some more refreshment and an ice cream was very welcome as we sat outside The Great American Adventure and watched the Fife and Drum Corps whilst waiting for the theaters next showing.
Into the pavilion and it was time to listen to The Liberty Singers and their beautiful acapello versions of popular American songs throughout history.
The film itself, one of our favorites, is moving and must evoke a feeling of fierce patriotism amongst US nationals, I would defy anyone not to be impressed by its performance.
We strolled around for the remainder of the World Showcase, the line for Maelsrom was lengthy so we passed and we didn' t have the energy to climb the steps into the Mexico pavilion to experience the river of time (I forget it' s Mexican equivalent title! )
We completed our circuit of world showcase and re-entered future world with just enough time to visit ' the ball' Spaceship Earth, and the opportunity to create our own future courtesy of Dame Judi Dench. The end results were hilarious! Finally, the ride we had been waiting for Soarin. The regular line was still 90 minutes long and it was great to breeze past everyone to almost the front of the queue. We just love this ride (and I previously written a full review of the experience) it' s great to be sat at the front and not to have everyone' s feet dangling in your Iine of vision!
Following Soarin we beat a hasty retreat from the park and moved onto Disney' s Hollywood studios.
Our plan for today' s park hopping day was to visit Epcot, Disney' s Hollywood Studios and the Magic Kingdom, we weren' t sure how much we would achieve as it was early June and half term for UK schools so there was the potential for everywhere to be quite busy.
First stop Epcot, Soarin is one of our favorite attractions so we needed to secure a fast pass.
Unlike the days when we used to visit with the children we weren' t knocking on the gates at 9am and a leisurely breakfast meant that it was nearer to 10. 15 when we strolled through the turnstiles. We bypassed the line for Spaceship Earth and made straight for Soarin only to find that the first fast passes were not available until 3. 50pm and the alternative was a ninety minute wait. We secured our fast passes and decided to remain in Epcot until we could ride Soarin, we wanted to finish with the fireworks and Spectro Magic in the Magic Kingdom so our time at Hollywood Studios was going to be limited. The lesson here is if you want to achieve loads, get an early start!
Whilst in The Land we decided to ride ' Living with the Land' , which as regular visitors to Walt Disney World will know is a boat tour through the greenhouses of Disney, not overly exciting but pleasant enough and a chance to stay out of the summers very hot sun.
Next we wandered over to Universe of Energy but were seduced by a drinks cart and an orange and mango smoothie which allowed us to sit on a bench for a few minutes and watch the world go by. The weather was glorious but very, very warm.
The Universe of Energy afforded a full forty five minute reprieve from the hot sun and a chance to watch Ellen' s Energy Adventure again - it' s always fun watching ' Stupid Judy' get her come uppance.
Mission Space and Test Track were not on our list of ' must do' s' so we strolled along to Journey into the Imagination ( Gene Wilder looks so young! ) followed by Captain EO in 3D, Michael Jackson also looked very young, a sure sign that these attractions are dated.
We carried on at a leisurely pace into The World Showcase and stopped off at O Canada in 360 degree circle vision. It evoked some happy memories of our Canadian vacation a few years ago with a note to self, must revisit Canada!
Time for some more refreshment and an ice cream was very welcome as we sat outside The Great American Adventure and watched the Fife and Drum Corps whilst waiting for the theaters next showing.
Into the pavilion and it was time to listen to The Liberty Singers and their beautiful acapello versions of popular American songs throughout history.
The film itself, one of our favorites, is moving and must evoke a feeling of fierce patriotism amongst US nationals, I would defy anyone not to be impressed by its performance.
We strolled around for the remainder of the World Showcase, the line for Maelsrom was lengthy so we passed and we didn' t have the energy to climb the steps into the Mexico pavilion to experience the river of time (I forget it' s Mexican equivalent title! )
We completed our circuit of world showcase and re-entered future world with just enough time to visit ' the ball' Spaceship Earth, and the opportunity to create our own future courtesy of Dame Judi Dench. The end results were hilarious! Finally, the ride we had been waiting for Soarin. The regular line was still 90 minutes long and it was great to breeze past everyone to almost the front of the queue. We just love this ride (and I previously written a full review of the experience) it' s great to be sat at the front and not to have everyone' s feet dangling in your Iine of vision!
Following Soarin we beat a hasty retreat from the park and moved onto Disney' s Hollywood studios.