Day 2: More of the Magic Kingdom
Today was the start of Disney's Marathon Weekend. That meant traffic getting to any of the resorts and one of those days where we don't arrive at opening. Rather than following the crowd to EPCOT, I used my phone to follow an alternate route to get there. It was practically hard to miss runners everywhere. If you are on the west coast visiting Disneyland during any running event, be prepared for a long wait getting to the parks. A 10 minute ART ride ended up taking nearly an hour as we were rerouted throughout the city of Anaheim and missed a few turns due to the unfamiliar route. So at DLR, just do as the runners do and walk to the parks.
As soon as we got into EPCOT, we saw how short of a line there was for Spaceship Earth. It was nice to finally find out what resided in this sphere that resembles a golf ball. Basically, it was a dark ride through advancements of mankind and technology. At the very end, you fill out a small survey about your personality and preferences and you are presented with an animation depicting you in your custom future based off of your selections.
Surprisingly, Spaceship Earth's exit did not lead into a gift shop. Instead, it lead to a large area where you can email the rendered video to yourself while giving Disney your email address.
There were also several stations where you can play 3D games. We played a game where we put together a body together with organs arriving from a conveyor belt.
By the time we were exiting Spaceship Earth, the half marathon crowd was making their way through EPCOT. This forced guests to be coralled and directed by castmembers. In order to pass through the horde of runners, you would wait until the runners were rerouted to another path further in front of you, allowing you to cross. Then the runners would be rerouted back to the original path, which is now behind you, opening up the path that is now in front of you. Cast members switched between the two paths at roughly five minute intervals. So guests tend to build up at these intersections.
Last time we were at EPCOT, we couldn't go on Test Track due to rain. Like Radiator Springs Racers, Test Track will close down for the slightest droplets of water due to having an exterior portion of track. The original version of Test Track was themed to a car testing facility. While appropriate, I didn't find the theme stretching the imagination in any way. In the updated version, Test Track was outfitted with a Tron Legacy vibe. While I prefer Tron over Tron Legacy, the refresh provides for a unique experience, even though the track layout appears to be unchanged.
Exiting the ride, we passed through what looked like a car dealership, where you can touch and feel a few Chevrolet cars that are not as impressive as the ones you have just designed. By the time we left Test Track, the runners have cleared out of EPCOT. So that made the crossing over to Future World East a breeze.
Instead of typically going straight into The Land, we veered to the right and headed towards The Seas with Nemo and Friends. On the dark ride, Nemo unsurprisingly goes missing, again. It looks like Merlin forgot to put Nemo on one of those leases, I mean safety harnesses, some parents use on their kids. I think a Finding Nemo themed "safety harness" would be most appropriate here. The ride was somewhat similar to Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage at Disneyland, except it's missing the clausterphobic subs.
We exited the attraction in the Sea Base, which is what they called the aquarium. That makes for 2 out of 3 attractions today that didn't try to sell us stuff.
When it was time for our Soarin' Fastpass window, we made the short walk to The Land.
I honestly believe there is no blander queue than Soarin', especially the version at EPCOT. Soarin' in California Adventure at least had pictures along the walls of the queue. What made up for it was that we were seated at the coveted section of B1. Why you ask? It is because you are situated in the center and at the top most row, giving you an unobstructed view of the screen without feet dangling in your peripheral vision.
With pretty much all of the major attractions completed (we missed Mission Space), we went around the World Showcase to find a meal. We passed by Spice Road Table, which was a sit down restaurant that we did not notice before (it wasn't until after our trip that we learned that the restaurant had a soft opening that day).
After much walking, we settled on Via Napoli for an authentic Italian meal. After a short wait and with no reservations, we were called to be seated. We ordered the prosciutto e melone and a margherita pizza, which is much harder to pronounce when your waiter is from Italy.
To prep for the next day, we planned to stop by the ESPN Wide World of Sports to check out what they offered for spectators. Too full to walk all the way to the park exit, we took a Friendship Boat to at least get from Germany to Mexico.
A visit to EPCOT isn't complete without a trip to Club Cool and several samples of soda.
At the Wide World of Sports, we picked up some information packets and made a few signs of encouragement for the marathon the next day.
I had asked a colleague of mine if she wanted anything while I was visiting WDW and she had request several vinylmations. So I dropped by D Street and came out with quite a few of them.
After we left Downtown Disney, we had plans to have dinner with Michelle's classmates who were running the next day. So we met them at Brio Tuscan Grille at the Mall at Millenia. Since everyone had early morning plans, we called it a night around 8 PM.
Next up, the actual marathon!
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