Today was our last day at Disney World. We were up at the crack of dawn, on the bus by 0800, and patiently waiting outside the gates of EPCOT center by 0830. It was a perfect day--clear, blue skies, temperatures were in the low 70's, and the crowd was minimal. Here's an obligatory picture of Bode with the giant golf ball in the background. Evidently he was excited.
We initially intended to head straight for the soaring ride. Ashley's pre-park research informed us this was one of the hottest rides, with exceedingly long wait times. We didn't want to miss it. However, on the way there, we saw this woman waving people into the "Meet the Characters" area. There was NO wait. We walked in, and who other than Mickey Mouse comes over to greet Bode with a high-five and a hug. It was awesome. We proceeded to get a bunch of autographs and pictures--Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Stitch, Pluto, and Goofy. What a great start to the day.
Later, we realized how lucky we were, because when we walked by the Meet the Characters exhibit, the wait was 45 minutes. Chaching! After our quick detour, we were back on task and headed to the soaring ride. The wait time was only 10 minutes, which was about the length of time it took us to walk to the start of the ride. The experience was very cool--you really did feel like you were soaring through the air. Afterwards, we did a little boat ride, which was interesting. We went through the Nemo aquarium, and then we all went to the talking sea turtle show with Crush. The Imagination exhibit was a lot of fun, and afterwards, we went old school and watched Michael Jackson's Captain Eo. It must have been something back in 1986, but nowadays, those outfits and dance moves look a little dated :-) Outside were some cool fountains with jumping water. Bode could have spent all day there.
At some point in the morning, Ashley grabbed a Fast Pass for the test track. Our arrival window was 1155 - 1255. We got there promptly at 1158. The stand-by line was on the order of 40 minutes. We waited under 10--those Fast Passes sure work. The test track was great. You drive up a steep hill, go over some bumps, go into a "controlled" slide, and then finish up with a super fast spin around the track. We got up to 64.7 mph. Bode was going, "Weeeeeeee!!!" the whole time, so it's nice that he wasn't scared.
We ate a late lunch in Mexico. Once again, Ashley's preplanning activities paid off. We had a reservation at 1:10. When we checked in, someone was inquiring about a stand-by table. The response: "We aren't taking any stand-by sittings today." Chaching again! There was an erupting volcano on the wall, which Bode loved, although he might have expected a little more from it. But at the end of the day, he did say the volcano was his favorite part of the day.
We spent the rest of the day walking around the world. Bode was a bit tired and kept wanting me to carry him. The dude is over 40 pounds, which is a lot to lug around. We stopped often in shade to rest, and he even snapped a picture of Mommy and part of me.
That about wraps up our park summaries. I think I'll have one more DW post, but not for a few days. We plan on ordering a CD with all our Disney Photopass pictures. I'll post the best ones. For now, I will simply say we had an outstanding time and look forward to going back...but maybe not for a few years. Pleasant day to all.
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