As the titles suggests, this was our second time visiting Epcot. We really enjoyed it last time as it suited both of us, with a firework show in the evening, so this was a natural choice for my BF’s birthday in Orlando.
The aim for this time was to spend more time in the world showcase, as we rushed that last time, as well as revisiting our fave rides – Test Track, and Soarin’.
World Showcase.. what can I say? Mocking up mini versions of different parts of the world doesn’t hold much interest for me. Possibly as I have been lucky enough to go to many of the places in the world showcase (China, Japan, Germany, UK, USA, France, Italy), or possibly as I hate “themed” stuff. Call a Spade a “Spade”. I’m more concerned with how good the food is, not whether it’s served from a fake Chichin-Itza or the Eiffel Tower.
Anyhow, the fake countries do look very representative of the countries they represent – see below.
So how was the food from the World Showcase? For lunch, my BF had Chinese, which he enjoyed. I had lunch in “France” which I really enjoyed – french bread, roquefort, and salad. I have loved blue cheese since I was a small child so I really appreciated this!
For my BF’s Birthday Dinner he chose to eat in the Japanese restaurant (not the posh one). It was raining by this time, but we still enjoyed the pretty garden, illuminated by lots of coloured lanterns. But my food wasn’t great – Chicken Teriyakki – nice apart from the chicken was fatty.
As for the rides, we were dismayed to find the queues really long, and no Fast Pass tickets available. I was gutted – we had travelled all they way from the UK, just to fail to go on our fave rides – particularly Test Track (our absolute favourite from last time!). But the “Single Rider Queue” was our saving grace. We realised that Test Track has 3 seats, and most people arrive in couples or families of 4 (ie. 2 and 2), so there are spare seats on almost every car. The single rider queue moved really fast, so we were able to ride several times, walking past the massive queue every time! 🙂
This time we managed to try two more things we missed last time – the Malestrom ride in fake Norway (good fun and not too extreme) and Club Cool. This is a drinks station with lots of different unusual dizzy drinks from all over the world which you can try free in small cups. The “Beverly” from Italy was just horrible! I liked Fanta pineapple, which is apparently from Greece.
To end the night we got a good spot to watch the Fireworks over the lake, which were lovely (ahem-much better than Universals in my opinion-ahem). Afterwards we decided not to compete with the masses to leave, so we stayed by the lake for a while. To our surprise, the rides seemed to be open, so we managed to ride the 3 Amigos ride in fake Mexico, and then Soarin’, which we both agreed was even better than we remembered. This rounded off a really fun day!
Travel Tips:
- Get Fast Passes for your fave rides ASAP. If none available and long queues, try the Single Rider queue!
- If you are interested in other parks, consider where you want to go before you leave home, and buy the ticket for all the parks together. We bought a day pass on the door and I nearly fainted when she read out the price (around $200 for both of us!!). Parking is on top of this at around $14 per car which is taking the Mickey (pun intended) 😦
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