How to ruin an Epcot day

Doug McCoy

Mouseketeer
Joined
Dec 29, 2017
This is a trip report from 1 day of a 7 day Disney World trip in August.

Also when I refer to Group A I am talking about me, my sister and my mom. When I say the group I am talking about the whole group


My travel party consisted of me, my sister and my mother. But, my grandparents, cousins and aunt/uncles were traveling simultaneously. Me, my sister and mother had explicitly told the rest of the group that we won’t do everything together and will only plan one day together in Epcot. Luckily this worked I, my sister and my mom stayed at OKW and the others stayed in Bay Lake. None of our park days overlapped nor did any dining reservations, it was as if they were not there at all. But, as mentioned before the whole group were going to Epcot. We arrived at Epcot around 10:00 (park opened at 9:00) and went to the Sea’s. This was where the first problem started it was early in the morning and all the E ticket rides had short waits (Soarin’ had ~20 min wait and Test Track had ~30 min wait) we rode the Sea’s. The second problem that arose was my grandmother got a ECV mobility scooter. And she did not know how to do drive it. She was driving at the top speed through a crowded theme park. The third problem was the group booked a “private tour guide” without our knowledge. This guide was not sanctioned by Disney, probably because they basically got scammed the guide promised no waits for rides but all she did was link to our My Disney Experience account and book fastpasses. Something group A would have done gladly for free. Since we thought we were getting on all the E tickets we didn’t book any fastpasses for the day. Also since we were making fastpasses on the spot we could not get any of the big rides like Test Track and Soarin’ and needed to settle with Journey into Imagination and the Land. Another downside of the same day fastpass booking was we could not make coherent plan meaning we would book a fastpass for Journey into Imagination then Mission: Space then after that the Land making us walk back and Fourth through future world. Once we rode most of the rides. Our group moved on to world showcase where the only dining reservation we could get was San Angel Inn in Mexico and if you’ve ever listened to the Dis Unplugged review of the restaurant you will know when you see that restaurant run the other direction. But we there anyway and obviously after eating Mexican food you get a stomach ache so we walked world showcase until we got to the American Adventure where about half of the group and tour guide left leaving Group A Andy grandma in the ECV and my uncle and his girl friend a pretty reasonable group we watched the American Adventure which helped us relax and walked a little more at this point it was getting dark so we went into the UK pavilion where My grandma thought it would be ok to drive her ECV though the narrow shops in the UK nearly hitting people. After that group A left the rest of the group behind and went back to the room at around 8:00 and ate at Olivia in OKW.

This Experience was not the worst thing that could happen but it did waste a day since group A had already went to Epcot and rode all the rides in the park. Also don’t get me wrong my family is great but, great in small groups when everyone gathers you usally won’t have a good time.
 
Family! At least you had only that one day together. They could have leached onto the whole vacation. Bummer on fp+.
 
I would have been tearing my hair out (or possibility someone elses). Sounds like you are a much calmer soul that me.

Not terribly relevant to the issues here, but for us the best extended family trip is a cruise. Each sub group does their own thing during the day and then meet up for a group dinner where we all have fun new stories about what we did that day. Perfect. Together without too much together if you know what I mean.
 
I would have been tearing my hair out (or possibility someone elses). Sounds like you are a much calmer soul that me.

Not terribly relevant to the issues here, but for us the best extended family trip is a cruise. Each sub group does their own thing during the day and then meet up for a group dinner where we all have fun new stories about what we did that day. Perfect. Together without too much together if you know what I mean.

Not a bad suggestion, but there is one member of my extended family I would like to throw over the edge of the boat. pirate: (If Mrs. Ally didn't beat me to it)
 


Also don’t get me wrong my family is great but, great in small groups when everyone gathers you usally won’t have a good time.

I totally agree. I learnt my lesson last time. I genuinely think that groups containing more than 4 adults are a nightmare especially when all from the same family.
 
Ooh, man, that sounds so frustrating and irritating!
Sorry you had a not-so-stellar day!
 



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