Disney Day 2

5 March 2012

On Sunday, Jules got out of her conference for good at lunchtime so we headed for Epcot. Impressive sculpted character topiaries of even the Peter Pan clan! The Disney Mobile App actually worked to reserve lunch at the Biergarten but not until 2:30 so we went to Mexico first. Pirates here has no Blue Bayou restaurant, but inside the Mexico pavilion the scenic boat tour goes through the restaurant including a pyramid and erupting volcano. Cute market inside too. We arrived a little early to Germany so checked in, got our buzzer, and looked at the shops until we got inside. It’s always Oktoberfest in the Biergarten of course, with fall foliage on the trees and the moon in the sky. The authentic band was great, and we were seated with a prime view of the cowbell choir, precursor to the xylophone, and alpenhorns. It was a buffet so we filled up with nutrition to keep us going all day again.

Since so far we had gone to countries where I had actually been, we went to Norway next. I was disappointed that the only truly uniquely Norwegian food was lefse, but we were really full from lunch anyway. The line for the Maelstrom ride was long so we got a Fast Pass to come back. We rode Spaceship Earth “through time” inside the geodesic sphere and found a really cool ride inside Innovations. Sum of all Thrills looked like motion simulator so we got in line. it was actually design your own roller coaster on an interactive touchscreen that did the energy calculations if your ride was physically possible. You only had 4 minutes to build your ride with 4 segments then you rose your ride. Ours went upside down do much it said it was a Super Looper. Haha!

By then it was time for Maelstrom and with our Fast Pass we walked right on. It was very cute with lovely scenery and funny trolls but no way was it worth a 50 minute wait like we saw earlier! After the ride a cute young Norwegian shop clerk in traditional vest & breeches nicely took our photo with a huge Norwegian troll.

We kept strolling the World Showcase as the light was fading so I got some nice photos of Epcot at sunset. There were fantastic acrobats in the China pavilion, but the country movie in the round was a bit dated, like many other country movies here. Good thing the historical and natural wonders stay accurate, since anything showing technology or computers are definitely stuck in the 80s!

The Epcot night show is Illuminations, with a huge projection globe in the middle of fountains in the lake, and fireworks and flame pots too. Very impressive! However it was amazing the temperature difference from the day before! We were in shorts and tees riding Splash Mountain after dark on Saturday, but with the rain Sunday morning clearing the humidity, after dark it was downright chilly! I was in jeans, socks with my loafers, long sleeved shirt and my Jack scarf expecting it to be cooler, but we were both cold enough during the fireworks that we went to hour hotel for jackets since we wanted to stay until 2am at the Magic Kingdom. Too bad that took two whole hours for bus lines and transit. Everything is so far apart here there is no way to walk between parks or hotels even if you wanted to.

We only had a pumpkin spice funnel cake since our late lunch so we were hungry when we finally for back to the Magic Kingdom at 11pm. Nachos and corndog nuggets were secured on Main Street, and a wide-eyed cast member asked me where on earth I got my cool Jack scarf! Funny thing is we found it later in the Pirates shop! For extra magic hours you have to show your room card to get on rides since they’re trying to clear the park of everyone else, but the lines were almost non-existent! In only 150 minutes we rode 10 attractions, many of which had huge lines during the daytime…definitely worth it! Philarmagic had the short wait until showtime and Peter Pan had a 5 minute line, but the we just walked straight on for Small World, Peter Pan, Snow White, the teacups (super fast the way Jeff J showed me years ago!), Space Mountain, Pirates, then just enough time before closing to ride the Haunted Mansion twice in a row. Happy Haunted Mansion girls both dressed in Jack!

All today’s photos are below..Hollywood Studios today!

Ready for day 2 all dressed in Jack!

At Epcot today

Peter pan topiaries

Closest to Blue Bayou is the restaurant inside the Mexico pavilion

inside the Mexico pavilion

Good traditional German music inside the Germany Biergarten pavilion

inside the Germany Biergarten pavilion

Cowbell choir

Pre-xylophone

Alpenhorns

Late lunch of yummy nutritious food at the Biergarten

Moon inside the Germany Biergarten pavilion

Outside Germany

Norway

Sum of All Thrills ride was cooler than we expected!

Sum of All Thrills motion simulation ride – design your own roller coaster then ride it!

Jules & Britta with a Norwegian troll after Maelstrom

Lefse

China pavilion

Epcot at sunset

Italy pavilion at sunset

American Adventure at sunset

Moroccan pavilion at night

Beatles cover band at the UK pavilion

ready for the fireworks

fireworks

fireworks

fireworks

fireworks

fireworks

fireworks

Walt & Mickey at the castle

Cool aqua castle clock

Gargoyles a la Notre Dame

Mosaics inside the castle

Mosaics inside the castle

Mosaics inside the castle

Mosaics inside the castle

Mosaics inside the castle

Mice and slipper carved into the columns

Wish we could eat here for lunch!