October 9, 2016 - Tanya's Trip to Florida and Bahamas Cruise - Day 16 - All About Epcot!

Elisa's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: NOT SURE YET

Epcot Fun Facts

Hey there!  Well, I'm writing to you as a very proud mommy today.

Yesterday was a big day for us here as Gianna competed in her very first horse show competition.

GIANNA MAKING A JUMP AT HER FIRST-EVER HORSE RIDING COMPETITION (c)travelincousins.com

Our day began extremely early as we piled in the car at 4:30am.  The group included Punkin, who I might add, was pleased as punch to be sitting in the back seat on her new (waterproof) seat cover.

The ride out east was just fine, but I will tell you, it's amazing how differently everything looks in the pitch black.

By 5:30am, the barn was alive with activity as Vito (owner and founder of Dream Come True Farm) was working away, and the horses were being led into the pasture for their morning grazing.

The girls were thrilled to see their friends there so early and they all tacked away to get their equine riding companions ready for the show.

Kelsey was not competing in this show, but was an incredibly big help to all the girls, particularly, assisting them with memorizing the courses they had to ride - three in total.

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Gianna was very nervous at first, but once she did her practice run of the course, she said her anxiety had completely gone away and her confidence was boosted.  That's my girl!!

The girls will be putting up a number of videos on the Dream Come True Farm YouTube Channel in the next few days.

It was really a memorable day for me and my little girls and the other first-time "Jumpers" from Dream Come True Farm.


Well, I"m still not really over the fact that we are not in Disney World this week.  But, Tanya's gang is having one helluva time there!

Yesterday, they enjoyed Epcot!

Have I mentioned how much I love Epcot? Only about a gazillion times on this blog!

And as you can tell from Tanya's scoop, this park at Disney World is her favorite too!

I especially love it in October and during the Food & Wine Festival. (so angry we are not there - have I said that more than once?)

But, how much do you know about EPCOT?

The theme park opened on October 1, 1982 after three years of construction and was the second theme park in Disney World.
 
Epcot has entertained tens of millions of guests since its debuted thirty-four years ago. Let's take a closer look...

16 FUN FACTS ABOUT EPCOT, DISNEY WORLD 

(c) travelincousins.com

1. Walt Disney's original vision was to create an Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow - a real, working futuristic city.

2. The park is split into two parts, the Future World Pavilions and the World Showcase. 

3. Epcot is almost three times as large as the Magic Kingdom, spanning 300 acres.

4. Fifty-four million cubic feet of dirt were excavated to build Epcot. Roads run around the perimeter of the park for cast members, unlike at the Magic Kingdom, where there is an extensive network of underground tunnels.   

5. The Eiffel Tower in the France Pavilion was built at approximately 1/10 scale of the original in Paris, France and stretches 103 feet into the air. The tower is wider at the bottom and narrower at the top, to make it look taller than it actually is.

6. The plants in The Land Pavilion are not just for show. More than 30 tons of fruits and vegetables grown in the pavilion are served at Walt Disney World restaurants every year.

7. The sprawling World Showcase lagoon spans some 40 acres.

​8. The annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival sees more than 33,000 bottles of wine and champagne being uncorked, 1.2 million hors d'oeuvre plates being served and 100,000 miniature desserts being devoured.

(c) Disney

9. EPCOT Center, although often referred to as a permanent world's fair, because of having pavilions devoted to new technology and world cultures, was never sanctioned as a world's fair by the agency that does such things, the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE) in Paris.

10. Statues that look like marble in the Italy pavilion are hollow. Since they were so lightweight and liable to blow away during the slightest breeze, they were held in place with rods running from their base through the hollow center.

11. The Walt Disney World Monorail network was extended 7.5 miles to connect to EPCOT Center.
​A special casting process was developed for the 60 ton pre-stressed, steel-reinforced beams. In total, the construction crews cast and erected 3,325 piers and 405 beams.

12. In the USA Pavilion, the building looks like it’s only a few stories tall, like traditional Colonial buildings are, but it is actually 5 stories!  The doors may look normal, but are 12 feet tall.

(c)travelincousins.com

13.The 180-foot-tall Spaceship Earth at the entrance to Epcot weighs approximately 16 million pounds.

14.  At Spaceship Earth, Mickey Mouse is hidden in his own constellation just beyond the attraction's loading area.​

15.Rainwater never falls off the spaceship earth. It’s channeled into the ball and funneled away.

​16. ​Epcot is the world’s fifth most-popular theme park—right behind the Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland, and Tokyo DisneySea.


TODAY, I need to figure out when we will reschedule our trip to Disney World.  The customer care representative that I spoke with the other day told me NOT to even bother calling over the weekend. So, I'll give them a holler tomorrow.

It started raining last night and the sound of the rain coming down was just so peaceful.  I'm very happy that it's supposed to be a rainy kinda day today!

Catch up on Tanya's side for all the details of her epic day in Epcot yesterday!!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop
CURRENTLY TRAVELING IN: FLORIDA

Epcot All the Way!!

Happy Sunday! 

While we are here in Orlando, I do enjoy going to all of the parks and I have a great time...
But my very favorite is EPCOT. I just love it there!

If you've ever been then you'd completely understand why.

Let me start at the beginning of our day...
First off Dave B took the Red-Eye on Friday night from LAX to MCO.
The original time that he was landing was 10:32am - so being that Kennedy Space Center is a shorter day than any of the theme parks, the original plan was to head on out there.

However due to clean-up efforts (not damage) from Hurricane Matthew the Center remained closed yesterday and will reopen today.

So a bit of flexibility came into play and we opted to go to EPCOT. And even thought I wasn't getting there as the gates would open, it would still be a long day and let's keep in mind that I'm going back there again on Tuesday!!

But then I received a text from DB explaining that the flight was now going to be coming in late. UGH
When I checked the flight tracker it had his flight coming in 2.5-3hrs LATE! 

This was because of ALL the in air traffic taking the route that is called the 'Jacksonville Central' and everyone who's flight was cancelled on Friday was trying to get out to a destination on that same route. Basically with all that air traffic the pilots were just gonna have to go extra slow and cruise up there in the skies.

Luckily the pilot on Dave's flight wasn't too happy with this plan, so he asked for permission to reroute and fly them over the Gulf of Mexico, which would only result in a 10m delay. I was happy about that!!

While the kids went off to the park with Andrea, Robin and Jayson.

Excited to be at Epcot (c)travelincousins.com

​Off I went to go pick up Dave at the airport and then us too would be headed to the park and meet up with the rest of the gang.

Dave looks happy to be here! (c)travelincousins.com

Disney's own highway (c)travelincousins.com

Entering the parking lot (c)travelincousins.com

Once there I could feel the excitement ready to burst inside and I was totally rearing to go!

The only thing missing was having Elisa and the girls there with us.

Now learning from my lessons of the past, we headed to the main gift shop before meeting up with the rest of our party.

I've had a habit of doing my theme park souvenir shopping at the end of the day since the kids were wee little ones. It gave them something to look forward to once the park and rides had closed.

This always worked for the kids, but never really worked out for me...
Once the park closes the crowds in the stores can get kinda ridiculous. I'd go in and find so many items that I wanted to bring home, just pulling item after item off of the racks and shelves.
I was always a real sucker for EPCOT themed souvenirs.
But then I'd look up and notice how packed the store was - get a bit of claustrophobia and have to abort mission completely!

I swore this wouldn't be the case on this visit, for I was going to do my shopping early and check these long awaited items off of my shopping list!!

However, although the store wasn't crowded I found that there was a real LACK of EPCOT themed souvenirs. Literally now only a tiny section in a huge store that use to be filled with all the lovely and colorful international flagged items. Now the majority of the store is filled with character based items instead - wth?!

I wasn't a very happy camper and felt like I really lost my opportunity (4 years ago - on our last visit).

I scoured the small section and did find an item or two...but my plan was to walk out of the store with several. And that wasn't happening. BOO.

I was in the store for so long that kids actually came and found me! LOL
We then made our way to the rides, exhibits, and finally to have lunch - I was famished! 

Mission to Mars (c)travelincousins.com

Festival Center (c)travelincousins.com

Festival Center interior (c)travelincousins.com

The Seas (c)travelincousins.com

Lunch at Coral Reef was DELICIOUS!!!! (c)travelincousins.com

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Ahhhh the World showcase - I LOVE this part! (c)travelincousins.com

In Canada (c)travelincousins.com

Still in Canada (c)travelincousins.com

Now we are in the UK! (c)travelincousins.com

France (c)travelincousins.com

the Iconic ball of EPCOT (c)travelincousins.com

Visiting Morocco (c)travelincousins.com

How to wear a FEZ (c)travelincousins.com

Carrying Cosette around the world (c)travelincousins.com

Digging into some bites from the Food and Wine Festival (c)travelincousins.com

Night shot over the lake (c)travelincousins.com

Illuminations (c)travelincousins.com

End of the day/night - time to head back to the hotel (c)travelincousins.com

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On the shuttle to the parking lot (c)travelincousins.com

Then you'll never believe what we did after leaving the park???

​We went to have midnight hotdogs at a Vegan Hot Dog Stand!!

The Vegan Hot Dog Cart (c)travelincousins.com

Happy with our hot dogs (c)travelincousins.com

Now please tell me that you read all the fun facts about EPCOT that Elisa has posted today..
They are awesome!

I've gotta head on out now. Have a good one. Catch ya tomorrow!
​-T