Never Mind The Clever Title, Here's My Trip Report! December 2014 Solo Trip (Completed)

[darrenf67]

I loved the CP, when we were there the narrator was Dennis Haysbert (24) who was excellent. Beautiful voices filled the night.

 

[PrincePluto]

Coming up next: My second day at EPCOT, and also my last park day... I just have to load enough pictures to my webhosting service to get started.

 

[CQuinn]

Oh those tiaras! That store is so pretty to look around in, until I look at the price tags haha

 

[PrincePluto]

Thursday, December 11, was my second EPCOT day, and also, alas, my last theme park day.

I got up bright and early, and arrived at the park and parked in the first row of non-handicapped parking.

I walked towards the entrance, and was greeted with this sight:

I was at the front of the line, and before long, the crowds were allowed in. I was not in a hurry, as I had already been on Soarin' a couple of times the day before, so I took pictures of the holiday topiaries:

I saw a Photopass photographer, so of course I had to get my picture taken in front of Spaceship Earth:

I tried to take a picture of Spaceship Earth, "cropping" out the crowds and centering the ball in the center of the shot, and I think it came out fairly well.

I thought the moon looked particularly large in the sky, so I decided to take a picture of it; for some reason, the moon always looks bigger to the naked eye, than in a photo:

I decided to ride Test Track first, and chose to ride single rider, as that is the option I always choose for this ride. There was no wait, but I paused to take a picture of the room where the people on the regular line design the model of car they will be testing.

I rode the ride, and enjoyed it as always, but I was not happy with how my pose for the ride photo came out, so I resolved to ride it again so I could perfect my pose. After getting off the ride, I took some pictures of the display models of cars on the floor.

I exited Test Track, and took some pictures of the ride entrance. Stand-by wait time was already up to 25 minutes, but when I rode single-rider in about 45 minutes, the wait couldn't have been much more than 5 minutes :

 

[PrincePluto]

I passed the Liquid Layer on my way to my next destination:

It scares me that people would need to be reminded not to swallow the water... not to mention to have to be reminded not to use it if they have diarrhea!

My next destination? Mission Space, as there was a 5 minute wait. I rode the Green side again. I know I could handle the Orange side, but I figured, I'm on a solo trip to Disney, so who'm I trying to impress?

It was a fun ride, as always, and after "returning", I took some pictures of the interactive exhibits.

At this point, I realized that I had to visit an ATM to "re-stock" my wallet. I went to the ATM in Future World, but it was out of order. The nearest ATM in the park was way over on the other side of World Showcase, so to get to a nearer ATM, I actually had to exit the park, go to the ATM, then re-swipe my ticket at the entrance again.

I then decided to ride Test Track single-rider again, to get another chance at the ride photo. I was more satisfied with the photo this time. (Coming up at the end of my report, when I post all my Photopass pictures by day! )

I took a whole LOT of pictures in the dump shop of Test Track, this time:

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[PrincePluto]

More photos from the Test Track dump shop:

Disney fuzzy dice:

I headed back out into the heart of Future World:

I saw another photographer, so decided to get my picture taken:

I took some photos of the holiday-themed topiaries:

Random merchandise kiosks:

Here is where I was headed next:

 

[PrincePluto]

When I got to the signup kiosk for an "unpaid internship" with Agent P's World Showcase Adventure, it was not yet open. I waited for a few minutes for it to open, then I signed up for an adventure in Mexico, as I wanted to explore that pavilion a little more than I had done in the past.

I took a couple of pictures in the general area around the kiosk, before heading over to Mexico:

When I arrived at the Mexico pavilion, I decided to take a picture of the menu at La Cantina de San Angel before going into the pavilion:

Getting to go inside the "pyramid":

I had fun helping Agent P outwit Dr. Doof, as usual, and when the adventure was over, I proceeded to take more pictures in this pavilion than I have ever taken before:

I then decided to go on the Grand Fiesta Tour, where I proceeded to take way too many pictures, which will be the contents of my next several entries.

 

[PrincePluto]

I got on line for the Grand Fiesta Tour, and there was no line, so when I paused to take the below picture of the queue, the person behind me had to go around me:

I said "Buenos Dias" to the CM who was boarding us on the boats, and proceeded on my Grand Fiesta Tour with the Three Amigos:

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[PrincePluto]

Grand Fiesta Tour continued:

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[PrincePluto]

More of my trip on the Grand Fiesta Tour:

Finally, my trip on "El Rio Del Tiempo" (Former ride tltle) ended, and I disembarked, and went on to take lots of shopping photos (Next entry).

 

[PrincePluto]

Shopping around the Mexico pavilion:

At that point, I left Mexico, and headed over to La Cantina de San Angel, the outdoor counter-service place, and ordered a Lime Margarita on the Rocks, and an order of nachos without jalapenos. I sat down at a table along the railing by the water, and proceeded to enjoy my meal, sharing some of the nachos with the ibises and seagulls, I'm sure much to the dismay of my fellow diners...

After I finished my nachos and drink, I headed over to Norway.

 

[andiepie]

I haven't been on the boards in ages, and yours is the first I found! Great solo report! Hoping to go on one of my own one of these days. Thanks for the tips.

 

[PrincePluto]

I haven't been on the boards in ages, and yours is the first I found! Great solo report! Hoping to go on one of my own one of these days. Thanks for the tips.

Glad you're enjoying my report!

 

[PrincePluto]

So I arrived at Norway, and decided to continue my (mini) drinking around the World Showcase trip, with a shot of Akvavit:

I then entered the Stave Church to check out its display on the Norsk Kultur that inspired the movie Frozen:

I decided at this point to head over to the Kringla Bakerei and try the vaunted School Bread.

 

[PrincePluto]

This was the view that met my eyes when I emerged from the stave church:

I approached Kringla Bakeri og Kafe with the intention of getting their delicious school bread:

I bought the school bread and took a picture of it before taking a bite:

And one more for good measure:

I then proceeded to take a bite. Heavenly! I savored the school bread while sitting by the edge of the lagoon.

After I finished the school bread, I decided to take a few more pictures of Norway:

I decided to go into The Puffin's Roost and look around.

Lots of Frozen merchandise, of course...

Norwegian snacks:

Pippi Longstocking books:

 

[darrenf67]

Great pics again - what is this school bread? Can you describe it a little more?

 

[rmom50]

I'll have the lime margherita and nachos....a month from Saturday. I can't wait. Your pictures are awesome. I especially like that you take pics of signs that I don't take the time to read while I'm there. I just saw that Norwegian banjo on the Antiques Roadshow this week! It's quite valuable. Thanks for report.

 

[PrincePluto]

Great pics again - what is this school bread? Can you describe it a little more?

Well, think of a Boston cream donut, only the cream is a little more buttery, there is no chocolate, and there is shredded coconut on top, and the dough is a lot lighter... OK, nothing like a Boston cream donut! Suffice to say, it's delicious, but only if you like coconut.

 

[PrincePluto]

OK, time to set expectations, here... I don't expect to have the time to upload pictures to my cloud account until after Easter, so I probably won't be able to post any updates till then... Unless I get lucky (or motivated) and post a bunch of photos on Monday or Tuesday evening (3/30 or 3/31), but no promises...

 

[PrincePluto]

OK, I was able to load photos earlier this evening, so on with the trip report!

When I last left off, I was "shopping" in the Puffin's Roost (OK, I was really just snapping photos, as I did not see anything that I felt the need to buy.)

And, of course, lots of Helly Hansen clothing, as I pointed out on my 2013 trip report. I did not go quite so crazy taking pictures of this clothing this time, however:

Mini-troll dolls:

And of course, their great giant pappy:

Various Nordic-themed books:

Coming out of the Puffin's Roost, I decided to take another picture of the area where Maelstrom used to be and presumably where they will be putting in the Frozen-themed ride:

Appropriately enough, the little girl by the railing appears to be dressed as Elsa!

I continued on, towards China. I saw that the holiday traditions had just concluded, and the Dragon was still there, so I hustled and got my picture taken with him.

This scroll told all about Chinese New Year:

Continuing my drinking around the world, I got a plum wine slush from the China kiosk: