Epcot Trip Report: The One With The Evacuation

After we spent the morning in Animal Kingdom we went back to the hotel for a quick dip in the pool and then headed out to Epcot for the evening.

Check out the bumper sticker I spotted in the parking lot at AK…too cool, huh?  Do you think it follows that Democrats are for Dumbledore?

I got this great shot of the monorail in the beautiful blue sky on our way in to Epcot.  We just never tire of riding and or seeing the monorail.

Now our first stop in Epcot is traditionally Spaceship Earth, but before we got in line there, a young boy approached and offered me his family’s unused fastpasses for Soarin’.  They were leaving and would be unable to use them.  Wouldn’t you know he had 5 of them as well?  What luck.  :)  We high tailed it over to The Land pavilion to use the passes before they expired.

I love The Land pavilion.  It’s a pretty busy place but has such a calming and wonder-filled atmosphere.  Ds4 doesn’t like Soarin’ so he and I hung out at the exit and waited on the others.  There were plenty of other youngsters waiting with their mamas and daddies as well, and I had the privilege of being drooled on on the knee by one rather precocious little one as she toddled around.  Ds thought it was gross and rather presumptuous of the sweetie, but I kind of enjoyed it.  ;)

We were then able to hop right on to the Living With The Land ride.  It’s also one of our faves.

I could take pictures in that greenhouse all day!

Ah, what’s an Epcot post without a “golf ball” shot?

Or two?  This is outside of The Living Seas pavilion.  We walked right on to the Nemo ride and checked out some of the neat exhibits inside.

I’d always seen this tube in the pavilion but never when a diver was inside doing a demonstration.  My lucky day!

Can you find Nemo?

 

I thought the puffer fish was pretty cool.

Ah, the highlight of any trip to Disney World…Mickey Ice Cream!  Turns out this day was the only one actually warm enough to enjoy this special treat.

And enjoy it we did!

In Innovations there is a place where you can record images of yourself and get them put in your very own video game.  Ds4 was all over that lol!

Here he is playing the finished game.  We were able to email the game home and he has been playing it here ever since.

Another shot of Spaceship Earth.  This time we actually did get on the ride.

You may be wondering how I got such a close-up and bright picture of dh and ds3 while on the ride.  That’s because, for the first time ever for us, we got stuck on the ride and had to leave via the emergency exit.  I know!  It was too cool.  The ride suddenly lurched to a halt shortly after the fall of Rome.

We sat and watched this part continuously for about 15 minutes while the “please remain seated, the ride will resume shortly” speech played over and over.  But the ride did not resume and a real voice came over the speakers and announced that the ride could not go on and a cast member would be along shortly to escort us out.

Then the lights came on and the sound from the ride stopped.  I was very proud of my boys.  They didn’t panic or seem upset at all.  I think it was actually a good lesson for them, that these rides may seem unreal and scary but they are indeed just man made thrills.  Of course, every ride we went on after this incident they would look around and wonder how you evacuated lol.  Here’s a brief video I took with my little camera.

We were given special fastpasses with no time limit to some of the rides in Epcot as compensation.  I told dh we should have held out for a free dinner lol.  After we made the trek up the tiny stairs along the edges of the ride and exited out we called it a night and headed back to the hotel.  It was a pretty memorable and tiring first day of our Disney World adventure.  :)