We are out of the Hotel by 8am and on the way to the I4 we stop at the Shell to refuel the car, well putting $20 of gas in it, after failing to have a Zip code that goes with our credit car, I have to walk into the shop to prepay before being able to refuel. Which is a bit different from here. We are then on our way and a quick call to Danielle to warn her, we reach the I4. Celia tries the mobile again but again can't get through, We are on and off the I4 and by 8:15 we are at the Waldorf Astoria, As we are still struggling to get through to Celia's Mum, we think about trying to get some more numbers set up via Skype to go via the Business Centre, but Danielle is also a gadget gal so we just grab her Ipad and head off to Epcot whilst I use that to add some more credit to the AT&T account and set up Celia's Brothers and Sister in law's numbers in Skype.
We arrive at Epcot and park in Imagine 61 and walk to the front of the park, whilst we walk Celia starts trying numbers and finally get through to her sister-in-law who says that everyone if fine but Celia' mum's mobile has a fault. Relived we get through the bag check and queue up at the turnstiles.
We notice again the baubles at the entrance are Globes so get a photo this time.
After the turnstiles are opened we walk a bit more slowly this time to central plaza, knowing that we will be held by the rope when we get there. If fact we have time to grab a snap with Topiary stitch.
We get to the Plaza, and the same routine of the characters and the car, but this time I am off to the Right with Celia, Scott & Danielle over on the left. Once the rope is dropped I head off to the Land to get Fast passes for us all for Soarin' will Celia leads Scott & Danielle for their first attaction, Mission Space, After deciding to go on the full spining version Scott and Danielle head off to ride, I join the route march to Soarin' peeling off at the last moment to get in the queues for the Fast Passes, I get them for 9:50 helped slightly by a machine failing causing a slight delay for some of the other waiting guests. Passes grabbed I start the jog back across the park, meeting back up with Celia just outside Mission Space, We then both go into the gift shop to wait for the other 2.
After a quick wander in the shop we head to the Arcade section and play with the video machines whilst we wait for anyone to come out the ride, finally after 10 mins or so of waiting the 1st ride must have come to an end and they all troop past, Scott and Danielle must have been in the 2nd Centrifuge as they are in the next batch to come into the arcade. and they had loved the ride, i think them both being adrenaline junkies and a love of space and NASA this was definitely the best ride to start them on.
After another wander round the gift shop and the purchase of a Spinning R2D2 we head off to Test Track, which is showing a 20 min wait, we get in line as we would still have about the same till we could get a fast pass. The queue moves quickly and we are soon boarding our car, being joined by a mother and daughter from the single rider line. Test Track is good until we get to the increasing lateral forces when our car slows to a crawl and just as I am starting to think that ride is going 101 and we will be walked off, it starts to speed up again, and by the time of the speedo we are doing 60+ miles an Hour.
As we leave I try to tell a cast member of the slowness but he seems not to care.
We then walk over to the Land, and as we get down to the lower level we have decided to get some food and drink before soarin' and the queue for Living with the Land is HUGE showing 30 mins, so a tactical grab of 4 fastpasses for 30mins later seems a logical thing to do.
We get some food from Seasons, Me and Celia have some fruit, Scott and Daniellle had ignored the suggestion to have eaten by the time we arrived so get a full breakfast. Which looked and they said tasted good.
After the food break we head to Soarin' and find ourselves in the same row as the previous time. Still love Soarin and it is a success with the newbies. Its then time for our Living with the Land FP's so we cross the floor and although the queue has died down it was still showing 20min. We get the front row of the boat and head off into the greenhouses. During this journey we see a group on the Behind the Seeds tour but this is not mentioned as its a recorded spiel rather than a Cast Member. We also notice that since last week they have decorated the Rosemary bush for the holidays.
We leave the Land and head for the Seas's but the queue for the Nemo clams is 30 mins and we decide that that is not worth it, but we do go in via the back door and go to see Crush, we are just to late and have to wait for an entire show, but as I watch Danielle and Scott whilst they watch the show, the dawning on them that Crush is actually talking to the audience and not just a recorded film is a great moment and I understood real joy of taking someone new to Disney as you get to experience the park for the 1st time again.
We start to realise that the park is busier today than expected and the ride queues are getting long, as the day also starts to warm up. We head to Spaceship Earth walking through Innoventions and find the queue is up the side of the globe and intro a roped section, but Celia really wants them to see this ride and we should just have enough time before we need to be in Germany for lunch at Biergarten.
We enjoy the ride up and actually we also really like the silly cartoon on the way back down.
Unfortunality we didn't have time to have a good look round the exit area as our Lunch ADR is due in 10 mins and it is a good walk to Germany from here.
But a quick walk round World Showcase and we make it in time, We check in and are given a pager and after checking where you can go with it we wander round the stores of Germany.
We are called in and seated to the side and the waiter lets us know that the Chef will be out to walk Celia through the buffet selection. and most of it is OK and all of it is delicious. This is a gem in Epcot and the lunch buffet is full of meat and veg with very little Carbs to load up and bloat up which makes a good change.
As we sit down with our starter and drinks I was on antibiotics but Celia loved her Wine and the beers got some great comments from the other 2, the Oompah band came on.
They came on and did a short set, went off and then came back, it seemed like 15-20 min sets on the hour and half-hour.
I can't say how much we enjoyed this meal. and it will definitely be on the list for next visit.
After we finished the meal, Danielle wanted some caramel and seemed to buy most of the shop, I remember Popcorn, a caramel apple, some chocolates and some chews for Scott.
We leave Germany and head to American Adventure. The Museum bit to the right of the Rotunda was interesting and I did see a purple heart.
The Show is a bit silly and Danielle and Scott seemed apologetic for being American by the end.
We left America and headed back the way we had come from so we started in Italy and wandered the shops. We almost skipped Germany but the Gluwine was calling so with that in hand we continued round to the Outpost where I grabbed a Hot chocolate as the temperature was dropping again.
and bought a jade buddha for Celia's Mum who collects them.
We went on to Norway but the queue for Maelstrom was 40 mins so we just had a walk through the shops and headed to Mexico.
Now in Mexico there are somethings that just have to done, like pose in the Sombreros
As the sun had gone down it was getting cold, so we walked back out to the car to get coats and jumpers (and I got the tripod ready for illuminations). We head back into the park and head to the United Kingdom as Danielle really wanted to see it having lived in the UK for years when she was younger.
The Shops are interesting but a bit expensive when you come from the UK, however out the back of the shops the British Invasion were playing I always thought that they just played Beatles songs but it was just sounds of the sixties. with some Kinks, Manfred Mann included.
We also found that Pooh and Tigger were at the back of the toy shop so had to go and say hello.
Its getting near the time (7:30) for our ADR at Le Cellier and due to booking before Danielle confirmed they were coming it was only for 4 but I had seen lots of comments on being able to change a reservation at the desk. So I rushed back to Canada, leaving Scott and Danielle to get a few more UK items, and Celia walked slowly. And meeting Dad & Shelley at the entrance, we went in and I spoke to the cast member on the desk and just said that it was a party of 6. They stated that they only had 4 on the reservation, but I was adamant that it should show 6. The Manager was called and was only able to offer a table for 6 much later (expecting it to be near 9pm) as this would clash with Illuminations we confirmed what would happen, and was told that we could leave watch the show and then return to finish the meal. But obviously this would need us to wait. Danielle and Scott having arrived offered to drop out, and finally thats what we decided to do. They went off to Japan to have Sushi, and Me, Celia, Dad and Shelley went into the dining room to see plenty of empty tables (which stayed empty during the meal) including tables for 4 that could be split to make a table for 6 and one for 2.
So don't believe that you can change reservations. Next time I might try calling as soon as I was aware that we could be a 6.
The Chef came out to deal with Celia's issues with the menu and was just not that interested, and it took a while to get some compromises on what she could eat.
The meal was a disapointment it was cooked ok, but we just didn't enjoy it, possibly the fight to get a 6 seater, and then seeing all the empty spaces. But I think we will give Le Cellier a miss next time.
We paid and left, Dad & shelley had seen Illuminations last week so headed home as Shelley had work in the morning, and we went to the top of the stairs in Canada to watch Illuminations, which was brilliant, but the end Holiday tag was something else and made the night sky like daytime.
And so along with the rest of the crowd, we left Epcot and agreed to take Danielle and Scott to breakfast tomorrow before they head of to Cape Canaveral.
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