WDW Sisters' Trip II -- Day 3

Today (4 November 2013), Shannon and I planned to spend our entire day at EPCOT, exploring the Food and Wine Festival with fewer crowds than we encountered on our first afternoon there. We headed out of Coronado Springs around 8 am and promptly caught a bus to EPCOT, arriving before the turnstiles open at 9 am. Luckily, they let us in early (around 8:45) and we headed straight for the Land to ride Soarin’ and pick up fast passes to ride again later in the morning. After gliding over the beautiful lands of California, we walked across Future World to ride Test Track. This ride has been revamped since our last trip (2 years ago) and while it is still very fun and a great ride, I think I like the old version better (where they put your car through the rigors of safety/environmental testing).

We stopped by Sunshine Seasons for some breakfast (a slice of pumpkin cheesecake and milk for me) before riding Living with the Land. From there we took an obligatory ride on Journey Into Imagination (neither of us really like this ride, but we have to see Figment - the little purple dragon). We recovered by riding Soarin’ again (with our fast passes). Next, we rode the Seas with Nemo and Friends and looked around the marine animal tanks afterwards. We saw Big Lou the manatee and tried to find my favorite cuttlefish exhibit, but it was nowhere to be found.

 

 

After thoroughly exploring Future World, we made our way to the World Showcase to sample the Food and Wine Festival. Our first stop was the Refreshment Port, where we sampled a Dragonberry Colada. Despite its small size, this turned out to be one of our favorite snacks of the trip! We also tried a little cup of cheddar cheese soup at the Canada booth and it was OK, but very salty. We headed towards Mexico to find more substantial food in lunch at the Cantina de San Angel (I had a cheese empanada and paleta de coco).

One of our goals this trip was to ride the Universe of Energy (also known as Ellen’s Energy Adventure)--a 45-minute theater ride through the time of the dinosaurs. We didn’t catch this on our last trip and decided to try it, thinking that it might be gone by the time we visit again in the future (it is one of the older, less popular rides in Future World). Well, after our tasty Mexican lunch, we attempted visit this ride and made it through the pre-show film and got into our mobile theater seats (which you cannot exit during the ride because they move along a track). We were ready to go and some punk got out of the ride, causing it to shut down and malfunction. We had to exit and the ride was closed for the rest of the day!

After that adventure, we visited the nearby Food and Wine Festival Center followed by a little trip to Innoventions. From there, we rode Spaceship Earth (another classic and favorite!). At this point in the day (around 2:30 pm), Shannon and I were feeling a little tired so we took a bus back to the hotel for a little mid-day break.

After a refreshing break, we took a bus back to EPCOT around 5 pm. We rode Spaceship Earth (again!) and wandered the World Showcase for a bit (Canada -- UK -- France) before ending up in France for our dinner reservation at Les Chefs de France. We ate a delicious dinner here (onion soup, salmon, mashed potatoes, and sorbet/gelato for me) and resumed our wanderings around the world (France -- Morocco -- Japan), visiting the shops and sights at each country.

We left EPCOT around 9:15 pm and rode the bus to El Centro (the main entrance of our hotel) where we got off to visit the resort gift shop (Panchito’s). After a fun, full day we finally ended up back at our room around 10:30 and got ready for bed. Tomorrow we will visit Hollywood Studios!