travelswithallieblog

Bob and Allie go back to the Future (World)

Orlando, FL


Had a brilliant day today. We decided to use one of our old Parkhopper tickets to visit some of the Disney attractions we missed when the girls were with us in June. We spent the morning in Epcot because crowds were predicted to be reasonably low at level 7. In fact it felt very quiet and I would have put it at lower than this. In addition, although it was sunny the temperature felt cooler than when we were in the parks before or at least it did till about midday.
Anyway, we were there for 830 . The park was due to open at 9 but in fact they let us in to the centre area at 845 and dropped the rope from there at 9. We headed straight to Test Track for which we did not have a Fastpass. We more or less walked straight onto it and had a fun ride. Then we headed to the other side of the park for a last flight over California in Soarin for which we did have a fastpass. We were a bit peckish when we came out so we had a snack in the Land Food Court. We both had children’s meals!!!! Bob had French toast, sausage and potatoes with a bottle of water for $4.99 and I had the Bircher Muesli, a bag of grapes and a bottle of water for the same price. Just right. We often have the children’s meals, its a bargain and the portions are better suited to us.
Anyway, after that we had a fastpass on Under the Seas with Nemo which we quite like. You ride round the aquarium in a scallop shell car following Nemo.
As we passed back through the central plaza we noticed that the character greet area only had a 5 minute wait rather than the usual very long line. I asked the cast member who was in there and they said it was Mickey, Minnie and Pluto. Well…. we had to go and say hello so in we went and had our photos taken with Mickey and Minnie. They are really good at interacting with you. It’s quite bizarre because no words are actually spoken by them but you know what they are saying to you.
We walked across into the World Showcase area and passed through Canada, UK and France on our way to Japan.. It was so quiet. Really nice. In Japan we had a look around the department store which is always very interesting. Then we went to the USA area and saw the Voices of America a capello show They are always excellent. Following this we watched the American Adventure show which is a film/animatronics account of the history of the US. Its a bit of a whitewash in parts to be honest but we do enjoy it especially the war of Independence and the Civil War sections.
Took one of the Friendshp boats back to the Future world area as it was hot and we couldn’t face walking the circuit around the lake again. By now it was 1230 and we had a fastpass for Spaceship Earth which we decided to make our last attraction. Judy Dench took us on a time travel journey of human communication driven technical development from cavemen drawing on walls to the internet. Such a good ride.
We drove back to the condo and had a good rest in the cool. Spoke to both girls briefly. Lucy had managed to get her sofa in by the men hauling it up through her bedroom window. Thank heavens for that. The glazer is coming tomorrow to put the panes back. Daisy got the bus up to London to stay overnight with Lu as she has an assessment centre for the Tiger graduate scheme tomorrow. What a bit of awful timing with the damn tube strike on. She can travel by bus and overground train but it will be extra busy. Just what you don’t need.
We had an early dinner at a sushi restaurant and then went to Hollywood Studios for the evening. As we arrived most people were already in the amphitheatre for the first showing of Phantasmic so we joined in the Frozen Dance Party out in the plaza. We were quite surprised to find Mickey, Minnie and Pluto there again dancing with the crowd and really “gettin down”!!!! LOL They must have been pretty hot by the end of it. Kids were really made up by them though. It was nice.
We found a good spot to watch the Frozen fireworks show. There is a bit of interaction between actors playing out the plot of the movie on a stage (also shown on giant screens) and then long bursts of fireworks to the music. Of course it ends with Let it Go to a massive finale of white fireworks exploding and also snowfall over the whole central area. It was really really lovely and I have a movie of it below.
We then went to the second showing of Phantasmic. Phantasmic is the big nighttime show in Hollywood Studios and it is a real extravaganza using actors, floats, multimedia images projected onto huge screens of water vapour, lasers and fireworks and floats. It is pretty amazing. The theme is Mickey’s Imagination which starts off very benignly and then goes very wrong when he has a nightmare and the Wicked Queen from Snow White materialises and calls all the Villains to wreak havoc. There is a massive dragon and a snake. Quite frightening in parts. Of course all ends well with ……more fireworks. It was a great show and a fitting end to such a lovely day. We were fortunate to get very good seats. The second show is always much less crowded.
got back to the condo to find that the pork ribs I’d been slow roasting while we were resting this afternoon were still…err….slow roasting!!!! They were like blackened bones by now of course and made a horrible smell in our small apartment. Threw them out and will get more tomorrow. Put the oven tin in the dishwasher and fingers crossed it manages to get all the burnt on debris out. Bit of a mess! What an idiot. Lucky the place didn’t burn down….