Return to Epcot for some Seat Jounce and Squirm, Turtle Talk, Segway and Shopping.
First on the agenda today....a lie in. Doesn't matter what my vacation planner said, we needed a lie in, I don't think a hurricane would have woken us!
We eventually got to Epcot, some time late morning. I think we hit Soarin' first (at least, that's what I would have done given the choice) but not having kept my journal up and relying only on photos (of which there are none of Soarin') it's difficult to say.
We definitely rode Test Track again, a firm family favourite.
Today we decided to make use of the Single Rider lines. Katie was a bit worried that we might all get separated into different cars, she didnt mind riding in front of behind in the same car, but didn't want to be in a car without any of us, but she knew it was worth a try given the length of the normal line. It turned out to be Sam that got separated from Lee but he didn't mind.
Freshening up on the way out, yep, hot again today!
Next up...
...for a ride in a shell. Jump in kids, quick, I want a photo before I get told to put my camera away!
The other highlight of the day was.....drum roll....Turtle Talk with Crush.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about have a watch of this clip from Youtube:
Oh I do so love Crush and his bikini top! I wanted to bring him home with me! What a totally awesome dude :-) The show was so cute, it was fab to see the reactions of the little ones down the front by Crush's tank. Despite being 12 and 16 Katie and Sam weren't too cool for this. Katie spent some time referring to her 'parental unit' after seeing the show and we had some great fun for days mimicking Crush's words.
We spent quite some time afterwards looking out for the dolphins but my photographs were pretty poor as you can see
Time for some lunch. Sunshine Seasons looked good. We all had different things I think. Can't remember what the family had, but here's my dish, and very tasty it was too, apart from the beef. I think it was around this holiday that I started to like meat less and less, (remember what I thought of Animal Kingdom's chicken salad! Blurgh!) and to this day I'd rather have a big pile of veggies and some kind of potato).
Refuelled, we spent some time in and out of Innoventions East and West, Club Cool and did a few attractions that we'd not done at the beginning of our holiday: Journey into Imagination and Honey I Shrunk the Audience.
Hub and Sam had a go on a Segway. Hub found it really difficult to balance, Sam was ok on it, but they enjoyed trying.
So glad I didn't do what I'd thought about doing back at home...booking a Segway tour around Celebration town for hub's 41st birthday - hub didn't think he would have managed it without falling off!
We had one more turn on Spaceship Earth, and we hung around afterwards to see our photos come up and try, for the second time, to email them home (we never did get them!)
A quick nip into the shops, and although we didn't spend much here's what I would have liked to have taken home:
So that was it, our last visit to Epcot for this holiday. We'd kinda decided that we wouldn't do Illuminations because we were always so pooped by early evenings, but we will see it this year, I am determined!
Goodbye Epcot, let's have a few last photos to remember our visit by:
We left not a moment too soon, for the heavens were about to open for the afternoon again!
We spent the rest of the day at the villa, lounging around. I can't remember where we ate, or if we even ate a meal!
Day 11 already!
Writing up today's journal required a bit of detective work! In my Passporter I had written that we visited Islands of Adventure and Blizzard Beach, but on close inspection of my photos it appears we also revisited Universal Studios (I have photos of us in the same clothes at both parks, aaa-ha!). I'm guessing we did US first because we all got soaked at IofA and hub left the park with a rather sexy ruffled hair look which isn't there in the Universal Studios photos . Double aaa-ha! Perhaps we did both together, to free up a day later on.
So....it seems we went to US first. There aren't alot of photos to show from our time in US, I guess it was a 'mop up' visit, cathcing any rides we didn't catch last time. Most of the photos are kooky photos, so we must all have been very happy and relaxed :-)
Took a piccie of the kids next to the Delorean from Back to the Future (hub and I went to the movies when we were dating in the 80s, sometimes twice a week, and I remember seeing BTTF really well, wow, makes me feel old now!)
I remember rushing off to sing along with the Blues Brothers shortly after taking the photo of the Delorean and the train. Hub had already run off, following their police car, to see where they were going to perform! We'd both been quite taken by the Blues Brothers at US on our honeymoon in 1992 and had one of their CDs in our collection.
So... Islands of Adventure, Loads of photos for this park, it's so colourful!!
I think we whizzed around this park quite quickly. It was another very hot day, and not being keen on more queuing or big looping coasters we spent more time walking than on rides.
I remember, very clearly, moving swiftly on past the Hulk coaster, listening to the whoooosh noises it made, and Katie being very disgruntled that a) the line time was about 50minutes and b) no-one felt as brave as her and wanted to ride with her!
Took some photos instead!
After 11 days of touring all the parks, this sign kinda says it all!
We moved swiftly through Marvel Superhero Island into Toon Lagoon to ride Bluto's Bilge Barge Rats. Oh, how we all thought this one was hilarious and put all other water rides to shame! The queue was really long, but we didn't mind waiting for this one because we were so very hot!
We all got off the ride feeling very giggly, with lots to say about how wonderful it was. Who cares that we were absolutely soaked through from tip to toe! I've never seen hub laugh so much. He wrung his vest top out and just look at it, it stretched!!
Katie's socks got dyed the same colour as her shoes!
Big smiles!
Definitely one of those moments I won't be forgetting :-)
Dudley Do-right's Ripshaw Falls had an even bigger queue that the Bilge Barge Rats ride and none of us felt like waiting (guess you can tell we're getting theme-parked out by now!).
On into Jurassic Park with something yummy from a nearby refreshements cart. We queued for the River park Adventure...what a lovely gentle ride with lovely music..... so why hadn't I heard about the sudden appearance of T-Rex right in front of me, and the even more sudden and unexpected drop?! No time for a deep breath in preparation for the drop because I was laughing, gob wide open, at T-Rex as we made the plunge! Oh but it was fun! I'm getting quite brave at these drops now!
Another Youtube clip for you:
After all the excitement I forgot that I wanted to visit the Visitor's Centre and we took off over the bridge near the Flying Unicorn (I could handle that one, so was disappointed it was closed). A bit of anticipation about the Harry Potter Land followed (Katie is the only HP fan in our house and was quite disappointed that it wasn't open, and, of course, is really looking forward to going back this year!), of which there was, at that time, no sign other than some buidling work noise and some high wooden fences. A photo opportunity across the lake:
oh yes, look, there's Doctor Dooms Fear Fall ride...how strange that we've only just noticed it...too late to go back and ride now (phew!!)
We skipped all rides in the Lost Continent, we must have been exhausted. We did get another snack though...we tried a Churro...we all found it overated...chewy and dry! Despite the sugar it had about as much taste as the paper napkin it was stuck to
Here's one tired girlie and hub trying to get his teeth into the Churro!
That appear to be it for this park...no further photos.
Goodbye IofA, we must definitely come back because we missed some fine rides and didn't even step foot into a shop!
On the way back we stopped off to laze about at Blizzard Beach. This time, after catching our breath in the lazy river, we did actually hit some of the slides. Gosh that walk up to the top was a killer and to think we did it three or four times! I did take my camera but only took shots of us eating (again!), the ski lift and a gheko, nothing worth uploading.
Talking of ski lift....that terrified me more than some of the big rides at the other parks! It felt so unsafe dangling in mid air, I rode with Sam and a stranger who wound me up terribly by trying to swing the seat! If I could have dismounted onto Mount Gushmore as soon as we climbed the steep part I really would have! I was absolutely desperate to get off and onto terra firma! Me and ski lifts just aren't good together. I'd never go on a skiing holiday!
Our best memory is of riding the family ride, Teamboat Springs, it was a laugh-a minute as our botties got bumped around and we hung on tight! Unfortunately I've misplaced the Photopass wristband that was thrust into my hand at the end of the ride. I would have liked to have seen our happy faces in the photo.
We also tried the Runoff Rapids. That was exhilarating! I rode with Katie and managed to finish in the most unlady-like upside-down position when the rubber thingy up-ended at the bottom of the ride, whilst Katie landed neatly on her feet! And I'd braved it and worn a bikini this time! I think I managed to put everything back in its correct place before I resurfaced. Buy an all-in-one swimsuit next time, definitely!!
We were all exhausted again so spent some time bobbing around with some inner tubes in Melt-Away Bay before getting another snack and something to drink before heading back to the villa.
Later that night we popped out to Golden Corral for something more substantial than all the rubbish snacks we'd been eating throughout the day!
Day Twelve sees us head for Busch Gardens and we certainly picked a good day for it! To follow....
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