Because I'd had such a small dinner I knew I was going to wake up starving in the middle of the night. And I did. The only food we had in the room was some potato chips I'd picked up at Publix yesterday. So ate those in the bathroom (to try not to disturb David too much).
Breakfast in the hotel was going to be something like $22 each so we were like, nope. Not that we would have had time anyway - we got up at 7:00 to make the 8:00 shuttle.
So shuttle to Epcot. These are run by Fabulous Buses, and would normally cost $14, but that comes out of the $34/day resort fee we pay. Did I mention I was sick? And starving. This is fun.
Geodesic ball at Epcot
We got to the park and went to see about the new Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster. But there's no "standby" queue, you can only join a "virtual queue". And they only open twice a day - 7:00 and 13:00 (and 18:00 if you're staying in an eligible hotel). It was around 8:30 and they said we could try the 13:00 opening (you load it in the app).
So we went and did Test Track first. It said it would be a twenty minute wait, which was probably about right. Although you do start off in a room customising your car for performance, speed, economy etc etc which is all a little ridiculous (you can compete with other people you join in the actual ride). Bit silly really. The inside part of the ride is a bit silly, but the outside part is a bit of fun.
Test Track ride
Vehicle we designed in Test Track
Next up was Mission Space (we took the Orange/Mars line). This is a simulator ride which was pretty cool because they do actually spin you around to simulate the G-forces in a rocket launch, and throw you around a bit as you make your way to Mars and crash land.
Buzz Lightyear topiary
Still no breakfast at this point.
Next we did Spaceship Earth, which goes all around inside the big geodesic ball. You just sit in a little train thing that takes you past scenes of earth and human history. It said twenty five minute wait but can't remember how long it actually was.
Close up of the geodesic ball
Then we did The Seas, with Nemo and Friends. This is a clamshell style ride and you go around and see scenes from Finding Nemo projected on screens. "Starfish can turn their stomachs inside out, I can amuse your friends!" - Peach.
Mine! Mine! Mine! Seagulls outside the Finding Nemo ride
We also had a look around the aquarium area there.
Jellyfish in the aquarium
Oh the huge manatee!
Fish in the aquarium
Clownfish in the aquarium
Seahorses in the aquarium
I can't see, Flo!
Fish in the aquarium
In The Land area we first saw the Awesome Planet show, which is in a big theatre.
Finally we got something to eat! (it was 11:30 by now, and I had some mongolian beef and rice). Even though I was starving it felt like a really big serving and I knew straight away I was going to struggle. So David helped me finish it :)
Disposable cutlery dispensing stations (and no hand sanitiser in sight)
After lunch we went on he Living with the Land boat ride. Which was all a bit of a wank-fest with them spouting on about how they're "living with the land" and growing food and recycling water and crap, but we'd just had lunch in a food court where literally everything was disposable (and it's like this EVERYWHERE in America). If Disney were actually serious about "living with the land" they'd use proper cutlery and crockery in their food courts instead of generating mountains of waste from plastic cutlery and cardboard bowls.
Mickey-shaped hose laid out in The Land
Gourds hanging in The Land
Then we did Soarin' Around The World which was a nice flight motion simulator ride that showed vision of scenes around the world. Somehow we lost Hayley. I swear I saw her behind us as we headed for the queue, but then didn't see her. Turns out she was in front of us and then lost us. Whoops.
Soarin' finished at 13:02. By which time the wait on the virtual queue for Guardians of the Galaxy was about six hours. WTF?? David booked it anyway but I knew already there was no way I was going to be able to hang around that late.
Monorail and fountains
Met up with Hayley again and watched Disney and Pixar Shorts - which had three Disney shorts in 3D - Get A Horse, Feast, and Piper. I'd seen Piper before but not the other two. Get a Horse was a bit of fun because they had the original short, but broke it out into a modern version with interaction between the two.
Pond and waterfall
The Lion King topiary
Then we watched Canada Far and Wide 360 screen show. That was all quite nice, although you have to stand for the whole thing. Because otherwise it'd be too hard to turn around to see stuff behind you. Silly thing is they open the doors and people leave, but it goes on for another few minutes with some of the nicest footage of the show (so stay til the end!).
Then it was walking through the different country areas of the park.
Building, mountain and pond in the Canada section
United Kingdom pavilion
World Showcase Lagoon
The boat and cable car to some of the Disney resorts and Hollywood Studios
Buildings in the Morocco section
Japanese castle building
David and Hayley in front of the Japanese tori
Five-storey pagoda in the Japanese section
Japanese tori and the Epcot ball
The American Adventure pavilion
Doge's Palace (on the wrong side), The Columns of San Marco and San Todaro, and St Mark's Bell Tower in the Italy section
Fountain in the Italy section
St Mark's bell tower in the Italy section
When we got to Germany we stopped for a pitstop. I was after a beer, but the "beer" I got was virtually a softdrink - very sweet and only like 3%. I was not impressed. I mean it was nice and all, but not what I was after. Waste of money.
Miniature train in the Germany section
Germany Pavilion
Statue in the Germany section
A seagull and the Epcot ball
In the China area we watched the China 360 show, which was much like the Canada one, only in China.
Building in the China section
Fancy gate in the China section
Building in the Norway section
Elsa and Anna topiary
In Mexico we took the Gran Fiesta Tour boat ride.
Building in the Mexico section
The Three Caballeros
The Three Caballeros topiary
At that point Hayley and I had had enough. We all took the 17:40 bus back to the hotel and got back around 18:00.
Epcot and the monorail
Woody and Bo Peep topiary
Monorail and the Epcot ball
We jumped in the pool and spa which was all very refreshing. While were in the pool a bunch of girls were squealing at something and we had no idea what until a minute or two later David noticed the contrail of a rocket! There was a SpaceX launch!! I jumped out and got a snap of it on my phone. Very cool!!!
SpaceX launch
Sunset from our hotel
David went back to Epcot, and I tried backing up all my photos but didn't finish. I went with Hayley to go the nearest Publix to get some supplies for the week. It doesn't look that far on a map but everything is further than you think in Orlando and it took us forever to get there in a Lyft. Shopping was miserable because I'd only had one meal all day and I was so hungry was in danger of throwing up. But food is stressing me out because I get hungry but then can't eat everything because my stomach is not happy which means I'm not finishing things but then I have to pay a fortune for more food later. And being in the parks means not carrying bags, so is a pain in the butt to carry food around. Sigh. It was after 21:00 before we got into a Lyft back. Hayley very sweetly made us ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner (which I struggled to finish) (David returned from Epcot around 22:00 after getting onto the Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster which he said was awesome (although they must have had some problem because he ended up having to wait in an actual queue for two hours :( )). Finally collapsed into bed around 22:30 :(
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