Jen's January 2003 World Tour

Tuesday, January 28 - Day Four

It was back to Epcot again this morning.

We hit Spaceship Earth again. I was tickled to have found the hidden Mickey in the Renaissance section, so Keith wanted to ride again so he could see it, too. We asked if we could just ride around again and were told yes we could, but that if we were intending to beat the record, we would need to go more than 13 times (or over three hours of SE!) We weren’t intending to break any records that day, though! Until we did that ridethrough, we hadn’t realized that there isn’t all that much distance between the loading area and the disembarking point.

We planned lunch for the Garden Grill, another of our favorites. Right when we walked up, we saw that Lynn and her family were there, too. Since it was on the late side for lunch, we saw the characters go by a number of times. Just before dessert, we had an extended visit with Mickey, Pluto, and Chip n Dale. I can’t remember which chipmunk it was, but one of them was sliding on a tray and soon I was "sledding", too!

After lunch, I thought it might be nice to have a different appreciation for our fresh meal by visting the land. It’s been a while since I’ve done this ride, but I remembered seeing the catfish tanks and some of the veggies being grown there. In the queue area, we were tickled to find a quote from an elementary school in our home town, clear across the country. As for the boat ride itself, it was neat to see all of the interesting technology being experimented with.

Soon it was time to head to Magic Kingdom to find a spot for Spectromagic. By the time we arrived, most of the curb spots had been claimed so we sat behind another family on the sidewalk. It sure got crowded fast! By the time the parade actually began, I had small children crowding me in (and, with me sitting, they’re taller than me), however the man in the family in front of us was very nice about trying to make sure that I had a clear view of the parade. I wish other guests could be more courteous in not jamming in against those guests who arrived earlier. (I saw a lot of people crush their way in into places that initially weren’t meant to be viewing places.) Though this was the second time I’ve seen the parade, I noticed new things this time. (For example, I hadn’t realized that the last float - and the characters that walk alongside it - change between all white lights and full color.)

We then had just enough time to catch some of the Tomorrowland attractions before finding a viewing spot for the fireworks and "goodnight kiss". With that, it was time to call it a night.

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