Abby Visits Us in Orlando – EPCOT Days

OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2022

We love Thousand Trails Orlando! Our site for our two-week stay was awesome. Within an hour of arriving, we were set up and relaxing as we prepared for 10 days at DisneyWorld, and of course pickleball on our non-Disney time.

Monday, Barry and I began 5 straight days at Disney World with our Pixie Dust season pass for Florida residents which includes free parking each day! ABBY, our personal Queen of Disney, arrived the following Monday to spend 5 days with us. She was our first ADULT overnight guest in Vinny. 🙂

Be aware that many Disney attractions have small differences from one park location to another, but more importantly, a ride may be totally unique to a particular park, or may be a different type of attraction from one DisneyPark location to another. Guardians of the Galaxy here in EPCOT is an example of the later.

EPCOT – (3 days)

Epcot opened on October 1, 1982. It is currently celebrating 40 YEARS!

I will ALWAYS love Mary Poppins!! How perfect that I saw her right away! She, of course, was here in “England”.

From the Hundred Acre Woods:

The primary draw to Epcot is the idea of leisurely strolling from “one country” to another, appreciating the change of architecture, eating and shopping.

Remi’s Ratatouille Adventure is a really cute, newer attraction for a reasonable wait. You “become” the size of the mouse at Gusteaus. This attraction often had a two-hour wait time. Sometimes it was extended due to the ride breaking down a couple of times. It’s definitely worth riding, but not for a 120+ minute-wait–At least not to us. The Genie+ Lightning passes they offer at this time cost additional money each day, but for us, it was worth it!

Epcot now has our #1 top rated Disney ride! It is the newest ride, Guardians of the Galaxy!! What a thrill!! LOVED every aspect including the music that plays throughout the ride! Epcot went from “OK” to now my favorite park. This ride makes it a PRIORITY to visit! TOTALLY AWESOME!!!

Another fun and fast ride to do: TEST TRACK

SOARIN’ AROUND THE WORLD
We love this “flying” IMAX experience to capture unique aerial views of iconic landmarks around the world. Some of our favorite scenes were Monument Valley (since we’ve been there- on the ground), the approach to the Taj Mahal, the African savannah, and of course the breaching orca! Sitting right in the center gave the least distortion – especially on the Eiffel Tower, and the most direct experience of the whale breach and the animals on the savannah.

SeaBase AQUARIUM – This was unexpected to us. Here we got to see real West Indian manatees! These manatees are native here in Florida, Central and South Americas. This was a first for us.

Over the years Disney has taken in injured manatees for rehabilitation, and expert care. Most manatees brought here are returned to their natural, wild environment after receiving appropriate care. Some are taken in just to be stabilized after experiencing cold stress.

Sea cows are so graceful.

Aquarium Area:

Animal conservation/protection was extremely important to Walt Disney. This is why Animal Kingdom was developed. Click for Additional information on his animal and nature conservation. To know more about the manatees click this link.

The Epcot Icon: Really cool after dark!! Don’t miss this.

The “Luminous Symphony of Us” is another after dark must see! It is a dazzling show of water fountains, lights, and fireworks all set to music. It is meant to show that we are more alike than we are different. I hope we can continue progress with that not only in our country, but worldwide! Pictures and videos don’t do this show justice. It has to be experienced in person.

We were here during Epcot’s Wine & Dine Event, so our food (and drink) options were significantly more throughout Epcot! This is a big draw for adults to Epcot. The Brazilian cheese bread was really good! Most ranged $5-$7.