8/17 - I am communal
I woke up very sore this morning. My legs and back, especially, were on fire. I downed a package of BC powder (the real life pixie dust) and took a blazing hot shower. While it helped a little, I spent the majority of the day dealing with dull throbbing in my muscles.
Mental note: you're out of shape. Thanks pal.
I planned this day around eating lunch at Biergarten. Really, that was the focus. I picked the meal first and planned the fast pass selections around that meal. So, with a noon-forty-five reservation, and a destination of Epcot, Soarin' was first on the list. Prior to this day, I've done all of one ride in Epcot: Nemo. That's all, and even that was an afterthought. Epcot is food land. It's where I go when I want to stuff my face with various foods and claim to do it for the sake of cultural expansion. Nevermind that I've actually been to German, France, and England and have eaten the authentic stuff. It's a cultural experience.
Back to Soarin'.
I arrived at Epcot about 45 minutes before my FP+ time, so I wandered over to the Test Track and hopped in the single rider line. The posted time was 15 minutes, though it may have taken longer. There were an awful lot of full parties on that go, so the single riders didn't seem to need to fill as many spaces. This was my first time on test track. I skipped the car design stuff. It was turning into the same choke point as the games on 7DMT and I just wanted to get to the ride. Overall, it wasn't bad. It also wasn't great. Everything that happens inside the building is tame and forgettable. Once you're outside the building and the speed picks up, it's a far more exciting ride. As mentioned in the live report, this ride would be awesome with a little more speed, and if all of the inside stuff was replaced with more of the outside stuff. That would be exciting.
I made my way from Test Track over to Soarin'. Well, kinda. I made my way in circles for about ten minutes before I realized that I actually had no idea where Soarin' even was. I thought I knew, but my previous trips to Epcot have been a straight line to the World Showcase. Thankfully, a quick look at the map on
MDE gave me an idea of where to go and I found it without much problem afterwards. The posted wait time for Soarin' was 160 minutes. That's absurd. There are about a million other things that I would much rather do than stand in line for over two and a half hours to ride a ten minute ride. Unless they're handing freshly polished bars of gold at the end, no ride is worth that wait time. Luckily, I had booked a fast pass. 15 minutes later, and I'm Soarin'.
Motion rides make me sick. It's the way it's shot. There's too much blur and fuzzy action that I can't focus on. Some rides are better than others for me. Some rides make me so sick that I feel like I need to lay down for an hour (I'm talking to you Simpson's Ride and Spider-Man). Soarin' wasn't so bad. I felt a little twinge of stomach discomfort on the quick cuts, but I managed most of the way through. The various scents were nice. I love the pine scent and would love to have it in my apartment. I've read people rave about the citrus scent, but it smelled like a bathroom cleaner to me. During orange harvesting season, there's a distinctly different citrus scent that comes from the groves that I really love. Perhaps it's because I live in Florida and smell that scent yearly, but whatever it was that was being sprayed for the ride seemed like it would be right at home in a men's bathroom.
Once again, my ride/food combo planning was a little off. I had a bit of stomach muck that needed to settle quickly before Biergarten. I had time to burn, so I went over to Nemo. At 25 minutes, the wait time was short enough to be manageable, but long enough to take me close to my ADR time. So on to Nemo I went, and 15 minutes later, I was sitting in a clam.
After Nemo, I began the walk towards the World Showcase. Maybe a little extra looking would clear my head and stomach. I wandered through Canada, then headed towards the back alleyway of England to peek around. Mary Poppins was doing a meet and greet in the back. Not my thing. I just don't have any kind of emotional connection or attachment to Mary Poppins. It's a movie I've seen maybe twice. Oh well. I walked back around front to see Alice doing a meet and greet as well. Alice! I missed a picture opportunity the day prior at MK, so to see a second opportunity at Epcot, and with a shorter line, seemed like fate. Fate did not smile upon me though. The CM at the back of the line was turning people away. Alice was about to take a break, but would be back, conveniently when I would be at Biergarten. Another day, perhaps. I hit Germany and walked through the stores.
The store with the clocks brought back a bunch of memories. When we lived in Germany, may parents bought a coo coo clock, one which resembled one of the clocks hanging on the wall in the store. I stared at it for a minute or five and took a small nostalgia trip to the past. I don't know what happened to that clock, come to think of it, nor the beautiful grandfather clock we also had. I didn't appreciate it when I was much younger, but now, I'd kill to have both of them in my apartment. That thought stuck with me as I stared at the selection of clocks and pondered which one I would buy. Surely one of the larger ones, similar to the one from my youth. Can't be more than $200, right? I think that's what my parents paid. I was close. I just left off a number. But it's a big number. Let's add that one to the mix, shall we?
1......................200
1........200
1...200
1..200
$1,200
In my mind I'm singing the yodeler tune from the Price is Right Spelunking game as that one marches into position. Seems appropriate. My guy fell right over that cliff.
Nope, not going to be getting one of those any time soon. Speaking of time, it's food time.
I got to Biergarten 5 minutes early, and unlike Kona Cafe, there was no waiting those precious 5 minutes. I was escorted to my seat with a pleasant older couple from St. Louis. They were great. Very nice, pleasant, and I could detect a similar sense of humor to my own. That was a little comforting. The idea of community seating isn't something I'm overly fond of. Surprise! I'd prefer solitude to forced interactions, but I wanted some German food, so I'll play the community seating game. Which, by the way, I don't recall ever doing while living in Germany. Strange.
We were soon joined by a very sweet girl from Australia. I enjoy foreigners. Their manners are beautiful. I'm so used to how we doing things in America that it's almost poetic to watch foreigners interact with us, especially Australians and the British. The actions are more subtle, and subdued and seem more fluid. It makes me super aware of how much I miss that kind of stuff. She was very nice, and a pretty girl as well. I'm not one to hit on people, especially when they're on holiday. It seems... crass. Still, I appreciate how pretty she was. I'm going to assume she has a lucky boyfriend and tip my hat to his good fortune. Well done, sir.
So, since the food was covered in the other report, let's go with atmosphere. The stadium style seating was a bit unexpected. I'm not sure what I had in mind, but this setup wasn't it. The German details scattered throughout the building were nice. It was darker than I expected. We were seated while the band was doing its thing, so it was a bit on the loud side, but when they finished, it was much more manageable. The buffet selection was smaller than I expected. Again, I'm not sure what my expectations were, but that wasn't it. I saw another buffet bar in an unlit area that looked like it was set up for the dinner menu. I couldn't help but wonder if there were other things added at dinner time. To me, it wasn't worth the additional $20 to find out. I ate well. I stuffed myself on meats and cheeses and didn't leave room for dessert. I also didn't really plan on eating desserts there. France and Norway have my dessert heart, though I ended up not getting anything.
After a tasty lunch with wonderful people (anxiety: am I not talking enough? Am I looking creepy? aaaaaahhh), I left the Biergarten and walked towards England again. I had no room for food, nor any real desire to eat anything. Also, it was hot, again. Really hot. That kind of heat obliterates any appetite. I walked towards a shaded area and found Belle doing a meet and greet. The line was suitably short and the area was shaded. I'll take it. The wait was short, but I was sweating uncomfortably. Handy dandy hanky to the rescue! I dabbed off all of the sweat that I could in a semi-demure kind of way, and just held on to the hanky. In fact, in the picture I took with Belle (on the other trip report), I can see a bit of it peeking out of my left hand. I can't help but laugh at the immediate thought of Linus and his literal security blanket. All I was missing was me sucking my thumb. Belle was a true professional. Seriously. Bravo to her. I mentioned earlier that I don't have much of a frame of reference to her because I've seen the movie once, maybe twice. I wasn't very amped about seeing her, to be honest. She was fantastic though. Incredibly polite, very calming, and seemed to pick up on the nerves. She helped position my arm for the picture and was very soothing to interact with. I'm 100% a fan of hers now due to that interaction with an incredibly professional cast member. Really, fantastic work, and thank you!
With that done, I continued on, coming upon Alice doing another meet, but the line was much too long, and the heat was overwhelming. I made to to Mouse Gears and sat out in the shade for about 15 minutes. It was painfully hot and I was not feeling all that great. I decided to bail on Epcot. I was becoming aware that I may be suffering from early stages of heat exhaustion. Time to take a break. I cancelled the rest of my fast passes. I didn't feel like I'd be missing anything from Mission Space and Spaceship Earth that I couldn't catch some other time. I needed fluids, and lots of them. I took a calculated risk to bypass the monorail and try my hand at the bus. I didn't want to be boxed in with a bunch of people on the monorail on a herky jerky ride. Maybe the bus would be less crowded.
Score one for the home team. The bus was indeed less crowded. I could count the number of people on that bus on two fingers: bus driver, and me. And that's it. An entire bus to myself. Exactly what I needed at that moment. The ride back to the hotel was quick. I got to my room, removed clothing, and hopped in a cold shower. Not enough fluids in me for that kind of heat. My mistake. Two gatorades and a water later, and I was feeling tremendously better. Just when I was feeling kinda crappy about wasting the day in my room, the sky opened up.
I've never been so relieved to see heavy rain.
How's that for answering a question that wasn't asked?
. Poly really is a beautiful resort, and the access to Magic Kingdom cannot be beat. It is literally within walking distance of the Ticket and Transportation center, if you were so inclined. I did the walk to try it out and it might have taken 5 minutes to get to the ferry. Club level looks awesome! Have fun!
