Daddy/daughter trip – October 24 – 30, 2017 – day 2

Wednesday 10/25/17
We got to Epcot about 8:20 and there was already quite a group of people waiting to get in. As luck, or pixie dust, would have it, we got pulled to go through the breakfast line as AP holders! That was much shorter! The Jammitors entertained at Spaceship Earth while waiting for the park to fully open. We headed straight for Soarin’, our first time “around the world” and got row B-1. Oh my gosh, what an incredible ride! Regular Soarin’ was awesome, beautiful, and wonderful, but this was plussed! We both loved it and commented how we couldn’t wait to show Kathy and Ben in December! First phase of “scouting trip” complete! We went and rode with Nemo and Friends, and then tried for Figment. But that little purple dinosaur was being mischievous and wasn’t allowing his ride to open. No matter, we used our first FP for Mission Space Orange. Then we experienced the new Green via standby. A very cute different experience! We really liked how they are both different now, gives something else to experience. By this time it was time to use our FP for Test Track. If you look at my pictures you will see the success at creating one ugly vehicle! So fun! We had time to head to the chocolate center of Food & Wine in the Wonders of Life pavilion. I bought a wrist gift card for my portion of the purchases and we were able to try the drinking chocolate. Oh my gosh! That was heaven in a cup! I’m so glad we shared though, so rich!
Now we come to one of the many highlights of the trip. It was time to meet @starbee at Spaceship Earth! Woohooo! We saw her and gave her a big hug! Then we all hopped in the FP lane together and Lauren had her and I ride together! It was SO much fun! We made sure to very loudly thank the Phoenicians too! I only wish we could have had more time with her but her family was anxious to move on to different things. We got some pictures outside, which you can see in my album, and hugged our goodbyes. We definitely want to see her again and spend more time with her next time!
We saw the Muppet Mobile Lab for the first time ever. It was so cute! We really enjoyed the show and hope to catch it again. From there we moved to the Light Lab for liquid cotton candy. Oh wow, was that a sweet drink! It wasn’t sickeningly sweet though and we actually enjoyed it. We popped into Earth Eats for the ravioli and peanut butter mousse. Both were very delicious! I think I enjoyed the ravioli more than I thought I would! We landed a fourth FP for Buzz for later in day, knowing we were going to the Magic Kingdom that evening. We made our way through the rest of our planned eats and drinks for the day, partaking in the liquid nitro chocolate-almond truffle, which was delicious, the mojito. This was supposed to be frozen but their freezing machine was down so it was just a mojito. No matter, it was delicious! WE also enjoyed the yellow cake dipped in chocolate and coconut from Australia and the crispy chicken and cornbread from Farm Fresh. This was very good and something we thought was a good value for the dollar. Probably the best of the day though was the cheeseburger and cheddar cheese macaroni handwich in the Odyssey Center! Oh my gosh! It was huge and so delicious! I think we could eat this at least a couple times a week for lunch! So good, great value, high marks all the way around on this one! We enjoyed the Festival center a bit and did a little shopping before heading for the monorail and MK. This is where we LOVED no extra bag check! Since they moved the check out to the TTC, or at the buses, or each monorail resort, if you hop from Epcot to MK you never leave a secured area. No extra bag check! Good job on this Disney!
We got our first look at Cinderella Castle, our house per Heather, and rode the Peoplemover first. Then on to one of our absolute favorites, Carousel of Progress! We stopped into Sonny’s place for a quick dinner, even though we weren’t real hungry after Epcot, we knew we would be later while waiting for Happily Ever After. We then used our FP for Buzz and made our way to the Castle hub to wait for HEA. We knew we had to get there early but still couldn’t believe the number of people already waiting! Some of them must have waited three hours for this show! We scored a fifth FP for Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh while waiting. We knew we weren’t leaving right away. We didn’t want to be in the crush of the crowd and it was evening EMH. Oh, my, gosh, Happily Ever After is AMAZING! I loved Wishes. That’s no secret here on D-Cot. But holy cow, HEA just blows it out of the water! Worth the price of admission!
After seeing this incredible show we hopped on Big Thunder via standby. Not too much of a wait, probably 10 minutes. Oh my gosh, did you know Big Thunder goes so much faster at night?! At least it feels that way! So much fun! We then used our last FP for Pooh, noting that there was not a kid in the pot with us! The “fireworks crowd” now dispersed we made our way out and home.
Steps: 28,209
Miles: 12.73