This is our second day at Disney World, where we visit EPCOT center for the first time.

July 19, Friday, EPCOT 

We got up at 6:30 as usual but the kids were a bit slower. I did a quick work check then started on my Magic Kingdom blog but didn’t get too far on that before we had to get the kids up and going. 

We were a bit slow out the door but hopped on the Skyline. We had to make one transfer to get to Epcot. This my first time to Epcot so I don’t know what to expect. We managed to get to the park at 8:35, just five minutes after early entrance started so not too bad! We got in line for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. The sign says we have a 55 minute wait – so not a long wait at all by Tokyo Disneyland standards. 

I hope we can grab breakfast stuff after this ride in the French area. Alan is super excited to get lunch at the Japanese pavilion. Dinner is a nice sit down meal at Space 220. 

Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure was fun – a 3D projection ride with the same platform as the Star Wars ride but it wasn’t as hard for me from a motion point of view. It did remind me I need to take some Dramamine. So I did when we got off. Which surprises me on reflection – that I didn’t have any trouble on the ride without it. It is a ride similar to the new Peter Pan ride in Fantasy Springs in Tokyo, a moving platform that goes up and down with large screens in rooms. I got very sick on Peter Pan, and ended up looking at the floor for 80% of it. This is the same thing, but I found it much easier to deal with – perhaps because there was no simulated flying, which really made me sick.

We got pictures from Greg who liked my Final Fantasy shirt then we started to talk about Japan and he said we should check out the Japan pavilion, then when I said we lived in Japan we had a long conversation (sorry line!) Lisa gave him a Fantasy Springs sticker. He pogfaced. 

After that we took a long walk to get to Soarin’ Around the World. I’ve done Soaring before and should be fine, especially since I took some Dramamine. 

Soaring was fine for me, even Momo was ok but she did say it was a bit scary.  It was the same as the one I have done before, but that’s fine, it’s a really nice ride. For some reason the flying in Soaring – more like a glider – is fine for me. Or at least that ride is anyway.

The next ride we did was The Land. The Land is a slow boat tour focused on agriculture, similar in design to It’s A Small World but with an educational soundtrack. They do hydroponics here apparently and use that in some of the restaurants here. 

After that we went to the character Meet and Greet at Epcot, which says a 20 minute wait. It would be much longer at Tokyo Disneyland. The wait was closer to ten minutes if anything. 

We will get lunch after the character meet and greet, but the place Alan wants to go is 15 minutes away – he really wants Japanese food. On the way there we saw Donald Duck taking pictures so we got in line for that – as we did so Donald left, but another character is supposed to appear in five minutes. 

It took a while but we got to the Japanese Pavilion for lunch. They didn’t have any noodles on the kids menu so sadly I had to get inferior Udon (compared to Chicken Katsu Curry) since Momo probably won’t eat the teriyaki that is on the kids meal. And I’m not going to waste a kids meal point. Lunch was good, and it was nice having rice for a change. 

We planned to go to the Three Amigos show at 13:30, so we started heading over that way. On the way we stopped at the American Pavilion and caught some acupella singers putting on a show. In an air conditioned room so we listened for a bit. 

We were going to get a snack, some gelato, and I waited then when another window opened up went there. Turns out that was the online order pickup. While I did that a massive line for ordering formed so I decided to order online. But the app didn’t let me – couldn’t find the shop. So I went back to the line but got glared at and people made a fuss so I got angry and left. Nobody got a snack. I tried to improve my attitude after that. The signage did suck though. 

We stopped at the Anna and Elsa meet and greet. We will likely miss the Three Amigos show because of that. It’s an air conditioned wait though. It said 20 minutes but was closer to ten. 

Due to timing we did a picture with Asha from Wish and then the Three Amigos boat ride. Gran Fiesta tour.  It was much like Small World, but with screens and a coherent story. It was a relief to sit for a while. 

We got some ice cream as a snack and then stopped outside near communicore to watch the singing or whatever thing they had set up for kids. They were teaching Spanish a bit with Encanto songs. 

A special guest – Mirabel – showed up and Momo joined the dance party. Momo really enjoyed the dancing and Mirabel.

We did Spaceship Earth after that. Lisa got us a lightning lane saving a few minutes. Spaceship Earth was nice – a slow dark ride that turned around and went through lots of different scenes. It does tilt and climb up for a long time, then does the same descent in reverse, like Haunted Mansion. I don’t have any trouble on rides like this.

Next was the Seas with Nemo and Friends. No wait for this one. It was a slow ride in a seashell type thing going through various scenes, very easy. When that was done, we hit up Turtle Talk since it is in the same complex. 

We had a Lightning Lane pass for Frozen Ever After starting from 16:25, which is around when Turtle Talk should end, so that was next. We did the Anna and Elsa ride in Tokyo’s Fantasy Springs which I think is the same thing. It was fine for me – a boat ride, with a drop similar to Pirate of the Caribbean (maybe a bit longer?) and a backwards drop which is shorter. Both of those are fine for me. The Tokyo line is themed nicer in my opinion, you walk through Anna and Elsa’s castle. Here in Orlando, you walk through a kind of town square or market.

In the way we stopped to get a picture with Moana. 

Frozen Ever After was indeed just like the one in Japan – the line experience was different though. Japan’s is nicer as you queue through Anna’s castle. The one here was more like a plaza or marketplace. Still nice. The ride was easy and great. Momo really didn’t like it though. 

Space 220 was nice, but I was shocked to learn that it doesn’t take the meal plan. Turns out the other two restaurants I reserved do, but require two tickets. That was not apparent when I made the reservations. It was clear for The Royal Table, but not the others (Brown Derby, Triffids). So I’ll probably waste some of the dinner plan. Oh well. 

I was interested in Space 220 because it sounds like a fun theme, and also because back when I was little – I must have been 9 or under – we went to Disneyland and we rode Mission to Mars. I completely fell for the story, and believed that we had flown into space. I was terrified, and anxious. I remember it fondly for some reason though.

That should have queued me in, because once Momo learned that we were going to outer space she really freaked out. I didn’t want to break the immersion, but I explained to her that we weren’t really going to space, and she calmed down. Once we were seated and during dinner she was happy again. Alan absolutely knew it was a gimmick, and kept asking me how they did it.

For dinner, I started with the Calamari since I knew everyone would enjoy a bite of it. Alan had the Tartare, and Lisa the beet salad. The cheese on the beet salad was surprisingly sweet, very nice. It was all good. The Mariana sauce for the calamari was pretty spicy, nice. 

Lisa, Alan, and I had the Filet Mignon for the main course. Momo had spaghetti. I also ordered a nice Merlot, and later a Black Hole Fashioned (Old Fashioned). Dinner was great all around. Alan and I both got the Blue Planet chocolate cheesecake, Lisa got the Strawberry Nebula cream cheese mousse. Momo got chocolate gelato. All very good. I drank like a quarter cup of decaf coffee and hope it doesn’t give me headaches tomorrow – I would think it wouldn’t but it definitely gave me some energy so some caffeine was in there. 

Alan wanted to do the Imagination ride with Figment so we headed that way. Lisa did some shopping on the way, and we took some pictures. We got to the Imagination Institute at 20:55. I think the park closes at 21:00? 

The ride was nice! I think that was Eric Idle. The park does close at 21:00, we were the only ones in our train. On the walk back we caught the fireworks and stopped to see the end. It was really nice! By 21:23 we were in line for the Skyliner back to the hotel and it was a heck of a line! Alan clocked it at 14 minutes 42 seconds, just beating 25 minutes. 

It was a nice day, definitely exhausting after a full day at the Magic Kingdom, but we got a lot done, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.