An Unexpected Journey - Chapter 6

[davealsop]

An Unexpected Journey –Chapter 6

Sunday September 2nd

We decided to do a half ‘n’ half day today. We were going to Epcot and knew we wanted to be there for the Illuminations show so decided to chill out in the pool for a few hours in the morning.

We grabbed some lunch and headed to Epcot for about 2pm. On arrival we did the Spaceship Earth ride which we all love and then headed over to Soarin'. We missed it last time as the queue was ridiculous but were dismayed a little this time round to find it has a 65 minute wait…

Well, none of us had done it so we decided to stick it out. Time dragged and I think it was more like 75 mins before we reached the front of the line – 'it had better be worth it' was the mood in the camp…

I think we maybe judged it a bit unfairly as the long wait possibly skewed our judgement. It was good but we all agreed it was no better than any other simulator and not worth over an hour wait.

Honey I Shrunk the Audience had been replaced by Captain EO – which the kids hadn’t seen before but I think I did in 2000 (or maybe it was in 1989?!). It was very Never Ending Story crossed with a typical Michael Jackson video but I honestly enjoyed it in a cheesy sort of way – a real blast form the past!

I would have loved to have done Test Track as it was one of my favourites but unfortunately it is currently undergoing a re-vamp so we did Mission Space next which was a first for Jack and he loved it.

As the sun started to set we started making our way round World Showcase. Through Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, USA and Italy we ended up in good ol’ Blighty and the kids fancied fish ‘n’ chips. Two average size fish bites and half a dozen chips for $9 didn’t quite live up to my local chippy but it ‘filled a hole’ and we carried on round past Japan, France and Canada and back round to grab our place before the fireworks.

The Illuminations show was as impressive as ever as we all ‘ooooh’d’ and ‘aaaaaah’d’ at the extraordinary amount of fireworks that lit up the night sky – how much must that cost to do it every night of the year?

By 9.30 we were on our way back to the villa and finished off the night by watching ET which we had recorded whilst out at Epcot. A great film which certainly brought back some memories for me.

[davealsop]

Monday September 3rd

Today was Labour Day. I didn’t know what it was so I googled it. Apparently it is “an annual holiday to celebrate the achievements of workers. Labour Day has its origins in the labour union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest” (courtesy of Wikipedia).

I certainly wasn’t working today as it was another pool day and I had my Geordie Shore style tan to work on! We only had THREE full days left!!!!!

After a hard day slogging by the pool we decided to pick up at Downtown Disney where we had left off on Saturday and headed for Disney Quest.

We arrive about 6.30pm and when to the ticket booth. The very kind fella told us that if we were to go for a walk for half an hour then the tickets would be half price when we got back – pretty decent and honest of him I thought so that’s what we did.

Once inside we were sent up to the 3rd floor and went to the Buzz Lightyear dodgem type things first. After queueing for about 20 mins (there seemed to be some issue with two of the cars breaking)we eventually got on and spent about 5 mins getting blasted and bumped.

We then hit the arcades. I was trying to explain to the kids how cool Donkey Kong, Galaxian and Asteroids were but they just looked at me funny and headed for the more up to date machines. We spent a good deal of time car and bike racing, did 4-way air hockey and Pac Man and onto guitar hero and other well-known arcade favorites.

Before we knew it the time was 10.30pm and Disney Quest was closing - I couldn’t believe we had done nearly 4 hours in there and still not managed to see floors 1 or 2….

We all enjoyed it and I’m glad we went but I don’t think I would do it again.

Back in the Jeep we headed back home ready for some shut eye but not before I had managed to get us lost again on the way back (dunno why it only happened on leaving Downtown Disney) and I honestly thought that at one point we were heading up a road the wrong way. But we found our way back to the 192 and were back at Glenbrook in time to sink a well-earned beer before bed…

[DisneyPrincess]

Great reports, sounds like an amazing holiday!

[LiesaAnna]

feel like im there with ya, love it x

[SDJ]

Oh dear, I don't want you to go back to UK......the reports are great! Thank you for taking the time to write them.

[Segdude]

I'm loving the reports, especially regarding some of the places I've not been to before, giving a great insight.

Nick

[canarypam]

Your reports are great I am really enjoying reading them. Thank you !

[Ian Mcc]

Illuminations is a brill show,
Epcot was very busy on our visit so didn't get to do much but the ones we did were excellent inc Mission Space and a show featuring the turtle Dude from Finding Nemo
Later in our trip I Realised I could see the fireworks from the villa at Lake Davenport ( or at least the high ones )