Epcot Recap

This is likely the last in a series of posts detailing our trip to
Walt Disney World.

Just so you know, recaps of our visits to the other Disney World parks
can be found on the following pages:
Magic Kingdom , MGM , Animal Kingdom.

During our time at Walt Disney World, we stayed with Bro and his awesome family in the Beach Club Villas, just a short walk from the back gate at Epcot. We had planned all along to spend most of our time at the Magic Kingdom, so we really did not investigate Epcot very closely. The Boss Lady and I assumed it would be good for a quick half-day visit and we would be done. Turns out we were wrong. Walt and Mickey made sure we had a good time.

We tried a couple of different days to get Fast Passes for Soarin', but we always seemed to arrive too late. Fast Passes go quickly on this ride. Thursday I decided to drive over right at opening time and get the fast passes with our tickets. Then the family would walk over to the back gate and I would walk around to meet them, Fast Passes in hand. That way the kids could sleep a few minutes later and would not have to mess with the crush of people right at opening time.

I will never see another Segway Tour without hearing Bro singing
White and Nerdy...

There was one huge problem with our plan. turns out EVERYONE who gets a Fast Pass must have entered the park already. No leaving the kids and wife in the hotel room so that you can get an earlier time in line.

So I waited 15 minutes at the front gate, when they let you walk in 15 minutes before opening time, just to stand in line again 1000 feet inside the park. Then I waited 15 more minutes halfway into the park, for the official opening time. Then I waited about 10 minutes in the Fast Pass Line, all before 9:15 in the morning. Only to be issued only 1 of the 3 fast passes we needed, since the rest of the family had not yet entered the park. AtHomeDaddy was not a very happy camper as I was walking to the back gate to meet the family.



Once we were all together, The Boss Lady took off for the fast pass line and the kids and I strolled around in the park for a while. When she got to the front of the line, she could not get passes either. The computer still thought we were not all in the park. After she dealt with some of the line staff, she got passes and we were assured a chance to ride Soarin', a couple of hours later.


We were out killing the wait time, strolling through one of the Innoventions exhibits, checking out the robots and computer displays, when I ran across the Dream Team in their white vests. These guys were handing out Dream Fast Passes as part of the Year of a Million Dreams promotion.

These passes let us go to the front of the line for all of the best shows and rides at Epcot! Plus, they were on a a lanyard, so we got to walk around looking like super-stars, wearing our Dream Fast Passes, since no one else had them!

Thanks to our neighbor's suggestion, we wanted to walk over to the Norway exhibit. The kids had fun and we rode the Maelstrom a couple of times. All with no wait, because the mouse said we could.


We walked past the rest of the international exhibits, but we did not spend any time inside. The kids were pretty well wiped out on Thursday, so we took the time we saved by not waiting in line and headed for a late lunch at Downtown Disney, which just in case you haven't heard, sucked ass.

Anyways, we hit all of the stuff that the kids would like at Epcot. And there is still a lot for us to explore on our next trip, but the next trip to Epcot might be a little bit of a downer, since we will have to wait in line with all of you other commoners.