We started our day early by catching 8:30 am shuttle to Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC) from hotel and then took the monorail to Epcot at 9 am. The first view you get of Epcot is a big giant Golf Ball. But it is a magnificent view :).
This was one day that we had not really planned so we kind of had to rely on the map and attractions guide to start the day. We first headed to Soarin' which is said to be the 2nd most popular ride in the entire Disney World. The wait time was about 40 minutes, so we picked up the fastpass for it and headed to Space Pavilion. We went to Mission Space simulation ride which just had 10 minutes wait time. This ride has two versions: 1) where it's just the regular simulation ride and 2) where the simulation actually spins continuously. It was kind of early in the day and I didn't want to ruin the day by having a headache from the spinning simulation, so I told my brother to just go with the regular ride. The ride itself was ok. You can feel the movements of the simulation but it was pretty short.
Next we headed to Test Track car ride. The wait time for this was actually 30 minutes but my brother and I decided to go in single riders line where the wait was only 10 minutes. Luckily we both ended up on the same car. The ride is ok until the last 30 seconds when the car speeds from 30 mph to 70 mph tilted on one side. Right after this ride, I had to go back to the hotel. I realized that I forgot something very important back at the room and had to return back. Thankfully our hotel shuttle dropped off people at Epcot twice at 10:50 am and 11:50 am, so I went to the parking lot to wait for the shuttle. The driver was so nice and he took me back to my hotel even though it wasn't one of his stops on the way back. I took care of the matter and was ready to head back to Epcot in the 11:50 am bus. Unfortunately this entire process took about 2 hours which I couldn't spend at the park. In the meantime while I was gone, my brother went back to Mission Space ride to experience how it feels with the spin. He also attended turtle talk with crush, and then waited for me so we both could go together for Soarin' ride.
Finally I get back to Epcot, we went to the Soarin' ride. The ride actually makes you feel like you're flying but that's about it. I don't know how this ride is 2nd most popular in Disney world. Now, after this ride, we had to sit down and decide what we wanted to do for the rest of the day. It was so hard because each pavilion had their own show/movie at different times where the pavilions were completely on the opposite sides :(. We also ate lunch while planning and jot down some of the performances we wanted to see.
First we went to United Kingdom Pavilion and saw The World Showcase Players where they involve the audience in some sort of gig and perform the play. It's really funny and entertaining. Next we headed to the France Pavilion where we watched an 18-minute film called Impressions de France. This was very nice since it was shown on 5 huge screens giving an IMAX experience. We also got a glimpse of one of the performances Serveur Amusant - a very nice show, don't miss it! There was one show which I did not want to miss, Jammitors. For this we had to go back out all the way close to the entrance to see it. On the way back we decided to stop by Canada Pavilion and check out its buildings and architecture. We were able to catch the Jammitors show just in time and it was fantastic with really good performances.
The afternoon was heating up and sun was right on our heads. We were getting so tired with the sun and heat that we didn't want to see the pavilions and not be able to enjoy them because of the heat and sweat. We decided to cover the pavilions in the evening around 6 pm when the sun starts going down and the weather cools off a little. Until then, we thought of going to all the indoor activities even if it meant standing in line for 35 minutes to take pictures with Mickey and Mini :D. To start off this brilliant idea of indoor activities, first stop was The Seas with Nemo and Friends pavilion. There is a nemo ride which takes you inside a cove creating an under the sea experience. It's a really fun ride for 2 reasons: 1) you can sit and relax in AC ;) and 2) you can see the great under water creation of finding nemo on this ride. Right as you come out of this ride, there is a short presentation of turtle talk with crush which is mainly designed for kids but it's great fun for all ages. They have an interactive presentation by Crush (from finding nemo) where Crush interacts and talks to the kids. It's really fun.
Next we headed to Spaceship Earth. This ride is actually built inside the giant golf ball of Epcot and the ride actually represents the journey from beginning till now. Very nice ride, don't miss it! The ride had long wait time in the morning but later in the day it kind of got shorter. Thankfully when we got done with this it was already 6 pm and sun was also setting down, so it was time for us to check out the rest of the countries pavilions. This time we started with Mexico pavilion and went clockwise. We covered Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, American Adventure, Japan, and Morocco pavilions. From all these pavilions, my top 5 favorite pavilions were Mexico, China, Italy, Japan, and Morocco pavilions. Just loved their architectures!! We took one last ride which was in Norway called Maelstrom which was a nice ride also.
I felt this was by far the longest day and hottest as well. We were dead tired and didn't really want to move around. We got to the first bench that we saw available for fireworks. It was right outside of China pavilion. Unfortunately, it was little bit out of the way of the fireworks because there was an island in its way. If you want to get the best view of the fireworks, United Kingdom has the best view but you need to be there at least 2 hours before the show starts otherwise you won't find a single bench available and no place to stand either. The Reflections of Earth was a really nice fireworks show and different from the ones seen in Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.
All in all, I loved the world showcases but it was the longest day of all. The park is huge and there is hardly any shade, so the sun made it really hard. We took the shuttle from Epcot at 9:45 pm to get back to hotel. I couldn't wait to get some sleep!!! Really hoping for a chilled out day the following day at Sea World....Bbye :)
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