Living the Disney Life: One Jump Ahead (12/31/06)
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Living the Disney Life
One Jump Ahead
December 31, 2006
I'll keep this one short, because that's what my time in the parks has been lately - short! The week between Christmas and New Year's is the busiest week of the year for Disney so for the most part I've steered clear. Back in the day spending New Year's Eve at a Disney park was a regular occurrence. But I've aged since then and now New Year's Eve usually finds me asleep by 10:00p.m. And that was the case this past Sunday ... but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Sunday morning, December 31st, was the day we were going to head to Epcot to take one last ride on El Rio del Tiempo. This original Epcot attraction closed earlier this week for an extensive refurbishment that will have it reopen with the addition of the Three Caballeros. And while this ride is anything but a favorite of mine, it still saddens me to see another Epcot attraction have characters come to it. I'm hoping the attraction is very good and brings many more people to it and the unique Mexico pavilion, but it still personally saddens me.
We arrived at a very busy Epcot around 10a. Cars were being parked anywhere they could find including on the grass. Once inside it didn't yet feel too busy. World Showcase was opened up at 9:30a so we were able to go right to Mexico. There was no wait so we got right now and enjoyed our ride (with cameras glued to our eyes, of course - you can see the results on LP Lotion). By now it was around 11a and we noticed San Angel Inn, the restaurant in the pavilion, was opening. Given the expected crowds that day this made a lot of sense. We thought about eating there then thought "if this is opening, maybe other places are, too." So we headed off to my favorite World Showcase restaurant, Alfredo's in Italy. They weren't open yet, but they would be opening at Noon and if we waited, we could be seated at that time in the outdoor dining area. 45 minutes later we were enjoying a yummy, unexpected lunch at Alfredo's (Fetuccini Alfredo, Baked Ziti and Gnocci - all really good). Our task complete and our bellies full we decided enough was enough and we headed for the exit.
We stopped by Test Track and saw the crowds building....
At Test Track
... and by Spaceship Earth where we saw a couple of WDW execs working the busy day - head of WDW operations Eric Wallace and head of Epcot Brad Rex - who were kind enough to pose for a picture.
Once outside the park we had hoped to ride the Epcot Monorail in a loop just to get a look at things. But those plans quickly changed when we stepped outside the gates. The area was completely packed almost back to the parking lot, and the only people being allowed on the Monorail were Disney Resort guests. So with that news, we went home.
Outside the Epcot turnstiles
Which brings me back to where I started - 10:00p.m. on New Year's Eve when I happily fell asleep. Unfortunately, about 90 minutes later I was awaken by the barks of my dog, Happy, who didn't like the firecrackers going off in the area. But this is actually a good thing, because around 11:50p.m. the fireworks started at WDW and we were able to see the tops of them from our living room window. We watched Epcot, the Magic Kingdom, Downtown Disney and most amazing of all, Disney-MGM Studios which seemed to last forever. It was quite a sight for us and no crowds to fight when it was over. A relaxing New Year's Eve Disney day!
Discuss It
-- Doobie Moseley
-- Posted January 5, 2007