Florida Trip: Day 2 - Epcot & Hollywood Studios

Monday, November 21
Day 2
Sleeping in! Hibachi grill! Rain! Holiday light show! Mary arrives!

We were so exhausted from our early flight and staying at the Magic Kingdom late that we decided to sleep in until 10 am (9 am Central which is what we were used to). We needed to catch up on sleep so we weren't run down for the whole trip. It was glorious.

Monorail going through Epcot

We arrived at Epcot around noon. We went on a few rides before heading over to the World Showcase for a few more rides and our 2:30 lunch at Teppan Edo at Japan. We waited for a while before we were finally seated at 3 (they seemed to have forgotten about us). The experience was a lot of fun and my swordfish was really good. Our chef wasn't the best though, we think she was new. I was completely done eating by the time Caroline got her steak and my mom got her chicken. Then, her chicken wasn't even completely done; there was some red in the middle. I think hibachi grills around here are just as good if not better.

Hibachi grill at Teppan Edo

We did luck out because it rained almost the entire time we were at lunch, but was clear when we left.

Epcot Rides/Shows:

• Captain EO - 3D movie with Michael Jackson. I was NOT a fan. My mom liked it though.
• Journey into Imagination with Figment - They seemed to have redone it and now it's kind of cheesy.
• Grand Fiesta Tour at Mexico - They also redid this and made it cartoonish. I was not so much a fan of the new additions.

Mexico Pavilion

• Maelstrom at Norway- It was a 25 minute wait which was borderline worth it. We skipped the movie at the end because of our lunch reservation.

Next, we walked around the rest of the pavilions on the way over to the boat launch.

 We took the boat shuttle over to Hollywood Studios (with lots of hotel stops on the way...). When we arrived, all the Fast Passes were gone for the day. Bummer.

Christmas tree outside of Hollywood Studios

 We then headed over to the Streets of America to wait for the Osborne Lights to go on at dusk (around 6 pm). It was really neat to see them all go on at once. There we also met up with Mary who had just arrived.

There was even fake snow (the little white dots in the photo)

 The park was extra crowded because of the Magic Hours (9pm - 12:30 am), so we didn't really get on any extra rides or notice any short lines because of it. Oh well. Mom and I did get on Tower of Terror. So worth the wait!

Hollywood Studios Rides/Shows:

• Osborne Lights - Totally worth it to get there before the lights all went on. I loved it.

• Great Movie Ride - Silly but fun. Did smell a little musty though. Could definitely use some updates.
• Star Tours - Redone but still really jerky. I felt slightly nauseous after.
• Muppet Vision 3D - I actually liked it better than I remembered. The 2 old men are pretty amusing.
• Voyage of the Little Mermaid - Show with singing. I could have skipped it...
• Tower of Terror - One of my favorites! It scares me and I like it.