Disney World Epcot - Experience and Advice

 

 

Have you visited a place where dreams come true? We did! My husband, youngest daughter, two grandsons and I flew to Florida for a trip we will never forget. We chose to visit Epcot first. We adults were amazed with the colorful and attractive sights of Canada, United Kingdom, France and Morocco. The countries’ vibrant shops and restaurants tucked in around the lake were an absolute delight to visit, at least for some of us. The boys were not “feeling it”. They wanted fast rides and water slides galore but instead got stuck with us oldsters, who were quite content with Kodak moments, listening to accents from sales people originally from those countries they represented, and walking slowly along as each area unfolded into the next.  We didn’t visit every country that first night. It had already been a long day and we didn’t want to tax our youthful charge’s patience!  

A Word of Advice: First impressions are so very hard to conquer if they are negative.  So, if you’re bringing your children or grandchildren, consider stopping in at the “fun” side of Epcot first. Even though our fourteen and nine year old companions did enjoy Spaceship Earth, Mission :SPACE, and other entertainment they continued to think negatively of Epcot. Epcot and the countries were synonymous! We weren’t able to visit The Sum of All Thrills or Test Track, which I’m sure would have made a great hit. June 16^th, our arrival day, was our daughter’s birthday as well as Father’s Day. We ate at Nine Dragons Restaurant. The atmosphere was nice and the service friendly. We were okay with the food. We did notice that most of the restaurants offered limited choices for their dinners.

On the whole it was very hot and humid. We oldsters were from Wisconsin where the temperature hadn’t popped out of the 60’s and our humidity hardly competed with those Florida numbers. We found it very helpful to use battery operated fans to help us tolerate the temperatures. Vanessa, our daughter, bought me a fan which became community property belonging to anyone who asked for it first! I found the heat to be a grace-tester, which unfortunately exposed many people who were not “passing the test” so to speak. Remember any vacation is supposed to foster great memories and funny moments shared in love. Prepare yourself to make kind and loving comments when your flesh would rather rail. Determine how you will win over negativity and grouchiness! You will be so glad you did. And so will everyone who would have otherwise had to listen to you. We did purchase a couple of fans with a squirt bottle attached. I believe they were around $17.00 or so. Also, rain slickers are more expensive there, but they do have the Disney Logo on it. You alone must decide what is most important. I heard someone complaining in the crowd about Wal-Mart’s rain-slickers were $3.00 when one of the Disney stores offered them for $8.00. Keep hydrated, drink water. Oh, water is $2.50 or $3.50 per bottle. My husband wanted to stay for thirteen days, which we did. Disney’s Hopper (better prices to get into all the parks.) is designed for a ten day trip. If I were to plan this again I would urge my husband to stay for the ten days and leave on the eleventh day instead of staying for thirteen. All in all the service was friendly, considerate, and provided abundantly. If you want to be well taken care of and spoiled – Disney is the trip for you….and it isn’t just for young kids. Us old kids had a great time too!

More bits and pieces about our Disney experience to come….in a few days or so!