Quick Whirlwind Shades of Green and Epcot Day (part 2)
So before we went to bed I double checked (as in briefly glanced) at the SOG transport times for Epcot and it said 8:30 was the first bus. Hmm now to me (being a serious rope drop kinda gal) that is just not enough time to take the bus, get there, walk to gate, go through security etc. So our other options were Uber or walk to Poly and monorail x2 or walk to TTC and monorail once. We went to bed still pondering our choices.
Woke up and it was COLD. Not the coldest I've ever been to Epcot but maybe second coldest. We layered up and headed to the lobby. Uber was going to be $20 and a wait and it was only 8am so we ended up walking to the TTC. As a brief note I knew today was going to be a "step heavy" kind of day and had warned hubby. Who has been known to refer to days like these as "death march" days. But with only a 1 day ticket we weren't coming back to take a break.
So off we went. (Btw it's around 3,000 steps to the TTC.) We were layered up knowing we'd probably have to peel layers off later but surprisingly we never did.
We went through security at the TTC which I was happy about (thinking we wouldn't have to do it again at the gates-I was wrong.) But we were still happily freezing under Spaceship Earth at about 8:40. At rope drop we headed straight to Soarin and did it twice (hubby who has only rode it a few times mentioned the skewed Eiffel Tower. I was a little surprised he noticed but it just shows how bad it is. Still a favorite though.) We also rode Livin with the Land before walking over to Test Track for the last couple minutes on our early FP. Next up was a FP for Mission Space (hubby said what happened to Gary Sinese?) Then it was actually 11:15 and since we were up early and hadn't had breakfast we ducked into an early lunch at Electric Umbrella. Not my favorite but it was fast and the brisket sandwich with the fake gooey cheese sauce was yummy. Still sandwich and fries and burger and fries, no drinks-$25+. Finally we had a FP for Spaceship Earth and we thanked the Phonecians for all of you. I snagged a quick FP for Nemo and we headed there next (no need for the FP.)
We check FP again and there was a Frozen one at 4pm but there was also an Illuminations Viewing spot one available and knowing that was the main reason we came we snagged it. Hubby isn't a huge Frozen fan (but I was a little sad knowing we'd probably have to skip it now.)
We said hi to Figment over at Imagination and walked out to World Showcase. We strolled around Canada but skipped the movie due to the whole tired feet already thing. I wish that wasn't a standing room only thing. We did catch Impressions de France (a favorite for me and hubby's first viewing (he thought it was really cool.) Next we continued our stoll, slowly, checking out a few things along the way and ended up at America about 10 mins before Voices of Liberty so we snagged a coveted bench and checked work email (it was a Thursday after all.) We enjoyed the show (they sang some Disney movie tunes, that was a first) and then watched American Adventure. I have it memorized but hubby has only seen it a couple times.
By now it was 4ish? and we had 6:45 dinner reservations at Germany so we continued our walk around. I stopped to finally do some decent pin trading in Norway and since I just visited there in Sept I really enjoyed talking to some of the CMs who were from the cities I had visited (they were surprised as most were small towns.) We ended up at Mexico and with only a 10 or so minute wait got a table at La Cava for some liquid refreshment and chips. I really wanted queso and guac but we held back to just salsa with dinner around the corner. A couple of maragritas later (and a nice rest to the feet) and we were re-energized for a ride on the mexico boat ride. I'm sorry but I love that ride. I guess I'm just super nostalgic.
We actually hightailed it back for a quick walk on the green side of Mission Space (hubby's first time with the new "tour") and then it was a brisk (both cold and fast) walk back to Germany for our ADR. We were seated fairly far back at a table with strangers (of course) but by the end of dinner we were fast friends with the doctor who was running the Dopey challenge and his friend along with another couple. The food was ok, I mean it was tasty I guess but they closed one side of the buffet about 1/2 way through our dinner and then there was a long line. We probably should have just pigged out on guac :) We did linger awhile chatting with our new buddies and then realized it was getting late and we needed to walk back out front for our FP viewing spot.
Illuminations was great, as always. I will miss it A LOT. I didn't even do any filming or photos with my phone because I just wanted to enjoy the moment.
Of course that moment came to a quick end after the show when all of creation started heading to the front gates to leave. I figured we would just hop on a SOG bus back to the resort. Well we get over by the busses and I can't find a spot for the SOG bus at all. We finally asked someone and they said there was no direct bus to Epcot that we needed to bus or monorail to the TTC. DOH!
The monorail lines were super long and a TTC bus was right next to us so we hopped on for a private ride back to the TTC. Of course the bus from TTC to SOG was just pulling out as we pulled in so we walked back. So 26,000 steps later we were back safe and sound and fell into bed :)
I'm glad we only had one day like that, we are used to a bit of slower pace at WDW.
We slept in a bit and re-packed for check out. I was going to eat my leftover Ohana noodles but realized I didn't have a fork :) I ate a few anyway and a dumpling...cold. They kind of "stayed with me" all morning ha ha. We checked out and headed to the parking garage for easy exit and a quick drive over to Port Canaveral.
I'd love to stay at SOG again but will remember to study the transport options a little better next time ;)
