We Visit Epcot

Friday 12/23

We awake, have breakfast, and shower, and head over to Epcot to spend the day, getting into the park at about 11 a.m. The park is VERY busy, and we make a beeline for “The Land” exhibit so we can get a Fast Pass to “Soarin’” Our ride time is between 6:30 and d 7:30 p.m., and soon after that, all Fast Passes for the ride are distributed for the day. We head over to the World Showcase, starting with Canada, and make our way around, getting as far as Germany (where we buy a couple of milk-chocolate covered caramels) before heading back to the United Kingdom, where we have 1:15 p.m. lunch reservations. We split an order of fish and chips, which is very good, and I have a Harp lager which is lovely. It is quite warm today, so the cold beer tastes very good. We later learn the Orlando in fact broke a record for warm temperature today at 85 degrees, surpassing the previous record high for this date of 84 degrees.

We have a charming waiter named Alan from Belfast Northern Island, and I am tempted to ask him how that Catholic-Protestant thing is working out back home, but I resist the temptation, especially since Dawn has fallen in love with him. We finish our meal with the caramels we each bought for ourselves, and they are quite good.

Next, we went back to the front of the park and went through Spaceship Earth, which is very much fun. Our Fast Passes still have a time to go, so we decide to exit the park and ride the monorail to the Magic Kingdom and its associated resorts, especially to see the Christmas atrium spectacular at the Grand Floridian. We arrive there to find the resort has scaled way back on the Christmas Village, instead of doing the whole atrium, they have done just one corner with a large Santa Cottage made entirely of gingerbread. It is very lovely, but the downsized Christmas decorations are yet another sign that economic times are affecting everyone, including Disney.. We also take the next monorail hop to the Contemporary Resort, and check out that place, too. Then, back via the monorail to Epcot. We head over to China in the World Showcase and check in for our dinner reservation, and they let us in a bit early which is a good thing. The bad thing is they’ve taken those lovely chicken/shrimp eggrolls off the  menu and substituted vegetable spring rolls. Damn. So we get some potstickers instead for appetizers. Thankfully, the sweet/sour pork over green noodles is still available, so we order that for our entrée and while it is good, it’s not as good as we remember it the first time … the portion was a little “downsized” and we noticed quite a bit of oil floating on the bottom… they must have had the “B” team on in the kitchen that evening. Still, a delicious meal.

From there we made a beeline over to “Soarin’” where we had Fast Passes. We asked to sit in the front row (to avoid legs in front of us) and the ride continues to be awesome. Dawn and I agreed it is the best ride at Epcot. From there, back to the World Showcase and the “American Experience” to hear the tail-end of the Candlelight Processional performance, which tonight is narrated by Susan Lucci. We got to hear several  hymns, but of the course the finale was the Hallelujah Chorus, which brought the crowd to its feet. From there, we scoped out a place between the United Kingdom and Canada to watch the Illuminations pyrotechnics extravaganza, and even though I’ve seen it about a dozen times, it never fails to bring a lump to my throat. They added an encore to the end, with more fireworks choreographed to “Let There be Peace on Earth.” We exit the park and get back to the condo at about 10:30, and we are both exhausted. It’s been quite a day. Expenses today are all about food, and I’m going to estimate about $35 apiece, or $70 for the two of us. And Dawn bought a two-day park pass for around $165 including tax.

Bruce