The Tale of the Grow Walk ….Hunh? DCL Magic and WDW Review

jenseib · November 24, 2014

I was really disappointed that it was still dark outside.

I had really hoped to get some photos outdoors in the daylight, but it just wasn’t going to happen this trip.

I then headed back to the room and got showered and ready and Claire ready as well. Mom and Dad were in no rush and didn’t plan to head out till later. I, on the other hand wanted to get to the park at opening, or as close to it as I could. I also had to pick up my ticket beforehand, so I needed to get moving.

My boss did text me and told me she was finishing up some work, but they would be taking their bags out to their car soon and we could try to meet up then. I forget her timeframe, but if we could meet up during the earlier part it would work, otherwise we would be heading out.

In the meantime, Claire and I loaded our car up with our bags. We were leaving the car here all day and taking the bus over to Epcot, but we would be switching resorts today, so we needed to have everything out of the room. I made sure I had my voucher for my ticket in my backpack…I even double checked it…you know just in case……..

We never saw my boss and we just had to finally give up on that idea. Claire was anxious to get to her first park of the vacation….and who am I kidding…I was too.

jenseib · November 24, 2014

At least I was able to get a few shots on the way in the daylight.

jenseib · November 24, 2014

Off to the buses

This guy was handing out some Mardi Gras money. I wanted Claire to pose with him, but she wouldn’t.

jenseib · November 24, 2014

We plopped down on a bench and waited for our bus.

And waited…

I did see one of the new buses for the first time.

Katie, my co-worker, walked by and we said hello again and talked a bit. She was heading off the MK before she had to leave for home later.

Finally our bus arrived after some more waiting and we were on our way.

We soon arrived at Epcot and made our way towards the Guest Services.

I pulled my voucher out of my bag for my ticket….and my heart sunk. I brought the voucher for our Sea World Tickets for later in the week. OMG! How could I be so stinking stupid. I even looked at it twice.

I told Claire we would have to go back to the resort and get the right one…but then I thought about it and said let’s just try it out first. My voucher is in my name and I had all the ID info with me, so there was a good chance they could look it up.

BINGO! She found me. Whew! I was going to be so mad at myself if we had to bus it back to POFQ.

She takes my magic band and connects my ticket to it. No paper ticket is given. I asked if there would be a problem and she said no. OK…good!

So I then tell her I need all of Claire’s FP’s copied to my ticket as well. I was told by Disney CM’s this would not be a problem at all when I called. So she copies todays for me and that’s it. I told her the system allowed me to pick FP’s for the whole week, even though we were only staying onsite for one night (at this time offsite guests could not pick FP’s till they got to the park and went to the kiosks). She said she couldn’t as the system wouldn’t allow her to do it and in fact she could not see any of Claire’s other FP’s. I was NOT happy. I pulled up my app to show her Claire’s FP’s and noticed that some of hers were not showing up on the App either. Good lord…NOT a Fan of FP+.

She told me I could go in and see if the app would copy us, but that was the best she could suggest.

We then headed to the lines and I worked on copying Claire’s FP’s over to me. We got through the gates easily enough. And I took a few quick pictures as I walked….also working on the app and also texting my friend Deb and telling about the ordeal.

Sadly this picture turned out super blurry and is the only one I took of these the whole trip.

jenseib · November 24, 2014

We had one thing that was a must do first thing this morning…..Soarin’.

Because of the extremely stupid tiering of FP’s at Epcot, we could only pick either Soarin’ or Test Track. We chose Test Track because it has been many years since we have been on it. In 2012 it was down for refurbishment, so we had yet to see the new version. So our plan was to get to Soarin’ first thing before the lines got too long. It was a good plan too!

jenseib · November 24, 2014

In the meantime, my friend Deb said she would go into my MDE account and look to be sure everything copied. Of course once I got into the building I lost reception, so I was having issues getting her my password. The people we were standing by inline said they had full wifi, but my phone wasn’t. I found out if I went in and turned the wifi off and back on it would then reconnect. I had this issue a lot with Disney wifi over the whole trip.

I think we only waited about 15 minutes or so and then we were standing here.

Claire loves this ride…and so do I and we had a wonderful time on it. Sadly the screen does look pretty crappy these days, but we didn’t mind.

After that we were hungry. I hadn’t really eaten anything this morning. Claire was worried we would be wasting precious time by getting food, but I assured it was fine. She said I wasn’t allowed to get a full meal or I would be wasting time. So we decided on juice and strawberry shortcake. Claire said she would just want a bite, so we decided to share….Claire lied!

Claire started with the strawberry and then we fought forks the rest of the way through. I knew she was hungry and I knew we both enjoyed this cake….I should’ve gotten 2!

Time to make our way out.

A lot of the little water features were drained at Epcot…I am not sure why, but I took a few pictures of them here and there.

jenseib · November 24, 2014

The fountain was working though.

I was back in contact with my friend Deb. She said that not all my FP’s copied correctly. Some had overlapping times and the one …the most important one….did not copy at all. That was the new Festival of the Fantasy Parade. I about had a heart attack and this was something we really wanted to see….and more than once.

She did me a huge favor and contacted tech support…who could not fix it, but they told her to tell me to go to the FP entrance that day and tell them the situation and they would most likely let me in, as they weren’t going to let a child go in by herself. I was nervous, but I knew that it would work…..as I was not going to allow it to not work. They also gave us an extra FP for the viewing area of MSEP for that night as well (this would be for Monday), but I had no intentions of using it as we have seen the parade many times and it’s just not a favorite or a must do this trip.

With all that taken care…..thanks to Deb….we moved on.

Next stop…..Test Track……Time to use our FP+’s.

It was extremely busy and Claire and I were assigned a spot together in the waiting room. I am not sure if during slower times you can get your own or not…but I am thinking you do.

Once were allowed in, we had to make a car together….and I am pretty sure I have seen in other reports where people can make their own cars. That’s ok, it was still neat to see…and for the most part I wasn’t allowed to help. LOL.

Claire did most of the designing and I was only allowed to help when needed.

jenseib · November 24, 2014

Next we are scooted off to the loading area.

Claire’s band wouldn’t scan our car, but mine did. I think because I was the one who scanned when we designed it. I am not sure if we both were supposed to scan in or not. I did scan my band in her spot too as we entered the car though.

We loaded in and were ready to go. The guy next to me videoed the whole thing. I am sure he has my dorky laugh in the background.

jenseib · November 24, 2014

We came in 3rd for whatever test this was, but for the most part, we were 1st or 2nd through most of them…..Good job Claire.

In the end, our car was the best overall design. I guess Claire knew what she was doing.

Needless to say, we had a blast on the ride and loved it. It is still pretty similar to the old version in the way the ride works, but the new stuff is neat. I wouldn’t say better, but still really neat.

When we exited, we pulled up our car on a big screen and looked over the info.

jenseib · November 24, 2014

And then took a quick look around the show room.

I asked Claire if she would be interested in riding again using the single riders line, but she informed me she is too young to go by herself yet. UGH! Ok, I’ll work on her some more…..but hopefully in the future she will get over that fear.

jenseib · November 25, 2014

We checked out the Cool Wash area next.

It was already proving to be a VERY hot day.

We moved on and found the Cars topiary area, so we wandered around there for a bit.

jenseib · November 25, 2014

Such a cute area…but I was fighting the sun as I took the pictures.

jenseib · November 25, 2014

I often go in March and I always love all the flowers everywhere in Epcot.

Claire is obsessed with Spaceship Earth, so we had to go up and take a look at the wait time.

The wait was too long, but we did stop for some photopass pictures.

Pay no attention to the hoochy momma shorts I wore. Bad choice. I have gained more weight over the past year and for some reason I thought I would be fine in some of the shorts I packed…..I was wrong!

jenseib · November 25, 2014

jenseib · November 26, 2014

Next stop was the Seas with Nemo.

It’s not a good sign when the line is backed up to the lighthouse.

Luckily it is a fast loader and we didn’t have to wait too long…but still longer than I would’ve liked, but Claire really likes this ride.

jenseib · November 26, 2014

This area always plays with my eyes to much.

jenseib · November 26, 2014

After we got off we decided to explore the area a little bit. It really has been a long time since we have taken a look around in here.

jenseib · November 26, 2014

He’s hansom!

jenseib · November 26, 2014

We saw a few Seahorses and I wanted to try to get some shots of them, but so did everyone else apparently as it was very crowded around the area. There was a family there that would just not move. I was getting annoyed as the mom was holding the baby with her chest falling out of her top and a skirt so short her rear could practically be seen….and she kept going on and on to this baby about the seahorse…which he had no clue or interest in. And as soon as I would make to move around her she would move as well. And I sure didn’t want to knock her because I was sure she will spill out of her outfit at any moment.

Those were the best I could get, even though we did stand there for quite some time.

We moved on and I tried to convince Claire she should pose for some pictures.

She looks thrilled about it, doesn’t she?

I tried to convince her to pose inside of Bruce, but today was not that day for her. LOL. This picture cracked me up with the lady looking in his mouth.

We stopped off in the gift area and I looked at a few shirts and Claire tried to convince me she needed another stuffy and I told her no she didn’t.

jenseib · November 26, 2014

That strawberry shortcake was now a distant memory…especially since I only got a small portion of it…..so it was time for a snack.

Claire wanted a pretzel with cheese and I went for the Mickey Bar. Of course I forgot to order the cheese and had to order it after I paid since she reminded me she couldn’t eat it without it.

We then found a spot to sit and eat…and she pretty much ate that darn thing without the cheese till I insisted we were not wasting it.

While sitting there we saw Tiana and Naveen come walking towards us. What a surprise!

jenseib · November 26, 2014

And they walked right over next to us to have a meet and greet.

Claire didn’t want to meet them, but I said we were whether she liked it or not. LOL. I knew she was just being shy, so we finished up our snack and she plopped a nice big drop of cheese on her shirt. Oh Great! Oh well nothing we can do about it now. I told her I would photoshop the orange stain out of the pictures.

We got in line, which actually was filling fast, but still we weren’t too far back.

We had some teen girls in front of us and the one was crying with excitement about Naveen being there. I kept thinking she must have some disability because she was just so insanely excited over Naveen. But I don’t think she did and her friend was excited, but not near the same as this one. Claire even looked at me with a wondering look.

I mean, it’s neat to see Naveen, but to cry over him…..that is a little extreme. But glad it made her Disney dream come true then.

I thought Naveen’s shoes were super cute.

And while we waited I did take a few shots.

And then it was our turn.

jenseib · November 26, 2014

They really liked Claire’s skirt, which was Peter Pan themed…and I believe has a map on it too.

No he wasn’t pointing at her stain. LOL.

Claire looks a little unsure about taking his arm.

jenseib · November 26, 2014

Needless to say, Claire was very happy we went to the meet and she thought they were both a lot of fun. See mother know best!

Our next Fastpass Plus was now up. Let’s just say the choices at Epcot suck. I mean besides Test Track and Soarin’…we really don’t have other must dos that need a FP.

Claire loves Figment, so I chose that as one. Rumors were floating around for a while that they were going to close Figment, so I thought it best we were sure to get on it. I have now heard it will be staying for the time being…at least.

epcot109 by jenseib, on Flickr

epcot110 by jenseib, on Flickr

I had to take a picture of this….Skip’s real name is Dean…and I could use a Dean finder at times. He likes to disappear….and did it a lot while we were cruising.

epcot111 by jenseib, on Flickr

epcot112 by jenseib, on Flickr

epcot113 by jenseib, on Flickr