For our second day at Walt Disney World, we visited Epcot. Since we had scheduled five days at the parks, we chose to visit Epcot for two days, back-to-back.
It was the very last day of their Spring & Flower Festival, so there were flowers and topiaries everywhere.
Our previously scheduled FastPass line-up was:
- 9:50-10:50: Test Track
- 10:50-11:50: Mission: Space
- 11:55-12:55 Spaceship Earth
I believe we arrived at the park close to an hour before the 9 a.m. opening. I had read that the security lines take the longest at Epcot, and that was definitely true for us!
We “rope-dropped” Soarin’ Over the World and ended up riding it twice in a row. (Love that ride!)
Next we rode Test Track.
The queue is fun for this ride because you design your own car using a touch screen computer.
The set up of this ride reminded us the Cars ride at California Adventure. n’s car ended up “winning”.
Next we used our FastPass for Mission: SPACE. There are two levels to this ride, and I debated back and forth about which one to go on. The fact that there are barf bags provided on the ride gives you some indication about the intensity of the ride. In the end I opted for the milder Green Mission around Earth while D and the kids went for the Orange Mission to Mars. They said it was not too bad but that they could definitely feel the G-forces during take-off. I was fine on Mission: EARTH and appreciated that there were two options and that we could use our FastPass for either one.
We ate an early lunch at the Electric Umbrella.
Since we knew that there would be a lot more eating options in the World Showcase later in the day, we split:
- Energy Salad With Roasted Chicken (Fresh greens topped with Roasted Chicken, Seasonal Fruit and Feta Cheese)
- Chicken Prosciutto Mozzarella Sandwich (topped with Sun-dried Tomato Aïoli and served with French Fries)
After our early lunch, we used our FastPass for Spaceship Earth. This is the ride inside the famed Epcot “ball”. I really enjoyed this slow-paced journey through time.
In the afternoon we made our way over to the World Showcase. This is where different countries have different pavilions around the lake. Our first stop was Canada.
We went up the stairs to watch the O Canada! movie. This turned out to be perfect timing because it started to rain while we were inside the pre-show area. A bunch of others came in sopping wet because they were looking for shelter. By the time was movie over, the rain had stopped!
Tip: If you buy the refillable popcorn bucket, be sure to stop in Canada for the maple popcorn. The refill still costs only $2, and it was one of our favorite flavors!
Our next stop was England, mainly to try the Yorkshire County Fish and Chips.
The fish was nice and crisp and popping hot. Only wish the serving size could have been a little bigger.
The next stop on our culinary journey was Japan for some refreshing Kakigori (shaved ice) from Kabuki Cafe.
Our next stop was France. We watched the Impressions de France movie. This was a nice theater and offered a welcome respite during our long day. n had a quick cat nap–ha!
The highlight of the France pavilion was definitely Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie.
So many tempting desserts!
We split two Croissant Jambon Fromage (Ham, Cheese and Béchamel in a Croissant) and a raspberry dessert (not sure name). The kids loved the ham and cheese croissant. Ask for it warmed up (I think the Bechamel sauce is what makes it!) I don’t think you could go wrong with any of the desserts.
By the way, my shirt looks wet in some of these pictures because I was often wearing my cooling towel around my neck and shoulders–oops.
We headed back toward the park entrance since I managed to schedule a FastPass for a character meet and greet.
We decided to also ride Nemo & Friends and see Turtle Talk With Crush since the lines were so short. (I did not think Nemo & Friends was worth it, so don’t feel bad if you have to skip it).
Even though we had been doing a lot of snacking throughout the day, we also ordered the Orange Chicken and Sichuan Chicken for “dinner” at Lotus Blossom Cafe in the China Pavilion. These dishes were OK (think Panda Express) but I wish they included some sort of vegetables. (I had packed us some baby carrots).
After dinner we found a spot to watch the Illuminations show and waited.
It is a good idea to ask a cast member where they think a good spot is and to make sure that you are allowed to stay there. I enjoyed the Illuminations show, but k and I agreed that the scale of the show seemed too small compared to the huge lake. I gave up trying to take a good picture with my camera phone, and tried to be in the moment and take it all in.
After the show ended, we followed the mass exodus back to the entrance of the park to wait for the bus to take us back to our hotel. It was a food-filled, fun, but exhausting day!