Thursday - Second to last day

 

The family wanted to see Epcot's World Showcase during the daytime.   So we went there in the morning.  It was to be an exploring day, so during the morning I got HS Genie reservations.   We started out in the Aquarium building since we hadn't been there before.   We all enjoyed that.   It increased my resolve to get them to sit down and do the scuba certification so the next planned trip will be to scuba dive.  I miss that.   We'll start off with easy dives.  We did the Nemo ride.   Disney needs more rides like that.  Then we went to the World Showcase.   We went counterclockwise doing the countries we hadn't done before.   I'd brought My Precious (Kindle) because I knew I wouldn't be as interested.  One thing I liked is that we went into the restaurants that looked interesting.    Some of them were very impressive inside.   I even took a photo of the entry ceiling in a restaurant in China.  They bought a few varieties of some Pocky candy in a Japanese store.   Scotland was impressed that they were the same price as at Aldi.   They bought three, one of every flavor that they couldn't get at Aldi.  They ooh'ed and ahh'ed about that candy.   The Mexican ride was the last thing we did.   We got the second row and Tatiana missed some things.   Since the line was super short, we did it again and asked for the front.   That was so cute with Donald running amok.    Scotland pointed out the pool where Donald was snorkeling.    That  building was brilliant.   To get to the restaurant or ride you had to walk by a bar and through shopping.   It is probably nice and cool during a hot summer day.  We were pooped at that point and we'd done everything we wanted to do at Epcot so we said goodbye to it.   On the way out I got behind an annoying large slow-walking group while crossing the narrow bridge, so I totally lost them.   That slowed me down because I had to get out the map.   It was about 3pm that we were leaving, but fortunately our first G+ at HS was at 7pm.   There had been an annoying app problem "We are adding more magical touches" when I tried for the SDD at 7am.   So, I had to retry 10 seconds later and I got 8pm.   But, that meant we still got a nice nap in.   Both of the sodastream canisters are empty.   So we are drinking flat soda.  I think Walmart refills those, but we haven't felt like bothering.   

We had a nice nap and went back to the parks at 5:30pm.   The plan had originally been to go straight to Rise and just wait in line since we hadn't been able to do it Tuesday.   But we didn't feel like starting the park with a long line, plus we got there later than we'd planned.    So, we went to Star Tours first.   We all love that ride, and we love that everyone else is bored with it and the line is short.   We still had a little time to kill so we to went to Alien Swirling Saucers.  That is a cute ride.   I'd tried to get a G+ for that on our way in, but by the time I went through it was gone.  I'd really really had to go to the bathroom while we were in line.   I said something to the lightening lane guy on the way out and they let me join the family at the front of the line.   Unfortunately they let a million people in front of them while they were waiting for me.  It is so loud in line it had to talk on the phone.   We had fun on it.   Also nice that the three of us can get on the same vehicle.   At this point I was stressed that we wouldn't get to Rise since it took longer than I thought it would.   We did Toy Story Mania.   There was a problem with logging her in and I didn't see that since I was first and I was trying to get to the front.  We got separated.  This time when they should have waited for me, they got on the ride.   So, I just had to get in line by myself.   I was so stressed finding them that I forgot to get the glasses, so I had to do the ride without them.  There were two of everything and I couldn't read the numbers.   That was a bust for me.  But they had fun doing it together.    Plus, we'd ridden that a lot already and had fun then.   

We rushed to Millennium Falcon.  Somehow I knew we wouldn't be pilot again so I prepared the family for that idea.   Good thing because we rode with a couple that was.   They prefer Engineer to Gunner, so Scotland said she could be Engineer.   I like Gunner.   I can do stuff and still watch the screen since mostly I just hold down the button.   They didn't do as good at flying at Scotland and Tatiana, but we still got money.   

Then was time for our SDD reservation, so we rushed over there.   That is such a darn cute ride!   It really is like one a boy would design.   

Rise went down while we were going to SDD.   I was VERY disappointed and worried that it would stay down the rest of the day.   But, we decided to go ahead and wait there.   One thing nice, since it was down, I was able to just sit on the ground in front of the standby rope.   I was able to make the touring plan for our last day at MK.     Earlier while at HS, the family had looked at a map and circled what they wanted to do again.    So, I used that make a touring plan.   At 15 minutes to close they made a very pessimistic announcement about Rise not coming up again and many people left.   Scotland wanted to stay and I was happy sitting and planning.   Two days before when we'd been doing the same thing at the same time, we were soooo tired.    But, it was cold and wet then, and that really drained us.  At 3 minutes to park close, they opened Rise!      We were about 10th in the standby line.  Of course there was already people that had been waiting inside, but we still got through the line in about 20 minutes.  We loved all of that ride I noticed stuff that I's completely missed the first time through.   Except Tatiana hates the very end it makes you think there is a drop as you escape the ship.   Even though it is all in her head, that terrifies her.    We walked straight to the car and to bed.