Verstehen
I break for the Nautilus
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2008
Day Trip Report: Epcot!, Part 1
Yes, I have some cool news. I finally went back! Because I had Labor Day off and my husband didn’t (that’s the TV news business for you), I decided about a week before to check to see if there were any park passes available for that day. Epcot was open, so I went ahead and snagged it. I contemplated changing it and checked for availability throughout the week. Animal Kingdom came up at one point, but when I realized that it closed much earlier than Epcot, I decided to keep what I had.
My husband and I discussed this before I made the final decision to go. Before we had April, I wouldn’t have really cared what he thought about what I do during my own time, but since my decisions affect our daughter, I feel he should have a say. He said he was comfortable with me taking her, and I have been watching carefully on social media and on news outlets to make sure Disney is still enforcing the rules (they are) and that no outbreaks have been linked back to the parks (they have not).
I’ll go through our day, and then give my thoughts at the end.
Because April is the World’s Best Baby, she sleeps until about 11 am most mornings. I woke up a little before her on Monday and took a nice shower, then I set about getting ready.
Going anywhere with a baby is always a fun adventure, but it’s even more fun if you’re taking her by yourself to Disney World, lol. And in a pandemic during the rainy season to boot. I washed all my masks the night before so I packed those (though ended up only using one, go figure, but it was good to be prepared). I had also purchased stroller toy attachments and a stroller fan in the week leading up to this visit. They both came in handy and were great purchases.
I got dressed and put on makeup, which I rarely do these days. I also dressed April in an outfit I’d bought on Amazon the week before. I made DH take a photo of both of us before I left, because I knew that once I got there, nice photos showing both of our faces would be impossible.
You can’t see it, but her shirt says, “I can’t walk, I’m a mermaid.” It also had a cute little bow, but she hates bows and tears them off her head every time. I still think she looks pretty cute!
And I’m wearing the Jungle Cruise dress from the Dress Shop. It was an online order so I’m really glad that it fit. It’s my fourth Dress Shop dress and I’m absolutely in love with it. I also love that it has a zipper in the front which made it easier to nurse April throughout the day.
We left the house at about 1:30, right about the time April was due for a nap, which was great, because she fell asleep almost right away and snoozed until I made it to property at about 2 pm.
Soon enough, I was making it through these gates for the first time since March.
And a few minutes later, through these.
The lady at the parking booth asked if I had a park reservation as I went through. I wonder how many people these days show up to the parks not realizing you need one!
Parking was interesting. As you might know, typically you have cast members directing you to a spot, right down to showing you what spot to pull into and how far to pull in. This time, there were cast members pointing to the row I needed to pull into, but not to the exact spot. The row I parked in already had a lot of cars in it (it was like when you arrive at the park late in the day and they have you pretty much parking yourself wherever you can find a spot) so maybe that was why, or maybe there were safety concerns to having a cast member stand so close to people walking from their cars. In any case, I parked behind a car that had pulled into the first slot, and got myself and April out of the car.
I snapped a picture of April for DH. Aren’t those sunglasses so cute? Sadly, she won’t keep them on anymore, and she was soon pulling them defiantly off her head. I can’t promise her eyes got much sun protection that day, but we did wear sunscreen!
The trams were not running, which was fine because we weren’t parked that far back anyway (we were in the second section back), so I walked us to the front of the park.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with the latest changes. First I went through a temperature check. It was very fast, not even a second with the little thermometer pointed at my forehead. I was surprised they didn’t check April’s temp, especially since she wouldn’t be wearing a mask, but I didn’t say anything.
Next we had bag check. It really wasn’t much of a check at all. The security guard just kind of glanced inside my bag with me holding it open and had me walk through the metal detector while holding it (after I took out my umbrella). There wasn’t a line for this either. After this, we were clear to enter the park!
The tapstiles didn’t have much of a line. I was behind one large family, and then it was our turn. The finger scanners were covered up, so you only had to tap your band to get in.
Once inside, I was almost overwhelmed with the decision of what to do first. I can’t remember the last time I just entered a park by myself (well, obviously I had April, but she couldn’t contribute much for ideas), with no Fastpasses, dining reservations, or other plans.
I decided Spaceship Earth was a good first stop, so I went to park the stroller by the bathrooms. On the way, I snapped the picture of the emerging and returning fountain pylons.
You can only see the tops of them right now. Mostly they’re still behind construction walls. But I am sooooooo excited for the full thing. I almost don’t care about any of the other Epcot updates. As far as I’m concerned, if this is the only update we end up getting, that’s good enough for me.
Now it was my first time to experience the new Disney social distanced queue system. And with a 20 lb baby, no less! The wait time was posted at 20 minutes, and it probably took close to that to get through. There weren’t a lot of people in line, but since they weren’t filling every car, I think that affected the wait time.
While we were in line, it began to rain. We got a bit wet on one of the switchbacks, but other than that it was fine and I was glad I made the decision to go on an attraction instead of walking around in the rain.
I tried to take a selfie with my favorite mural in the background (have I mentioned I have a giant poster of it in my home office? Because I do!). Meanwhile, April was pushing her anti-mask sentiment on me. You try to raise them right…
Side note: I love that mask. I bought it and a few others on RedBubble, which offers a discount if you order four or more. Just make sure you look at the sizing guides! The elastic loops were too big for my ears so I had to tie them in knots.
I snagged an actual picture of the mural before we entered the building.
Another unsuccessful selfie on the ride vehicle. Then we were plunged into darkness as the now here-to-stay-indefinitely Judy Densch narration began.
It was a nice ride. April mostly sat quietly and looked around. During the last portion, I decided to let her “pick” our path, by which I mean I held her in front of the screen and she swiped at it until we’d picked all the options.
First of all, she said the thing that was most important to her was work. Work!
Second of all, I didn’t get any pictures, but the camera wasn’t working well anyway. I think I had no eyes, and April didn’t even show up. It was rather unsettling.
After the ride, we were ushered into the post-show area, which was completely shut down. I don’t usually participate in any of the activities, but it was still really eerie to be walking through the silent area.
Luckily, once we exited the globe, the rain had stopped and didn’t return for the rest of the day! Success!
I put April back in her stroller, and decided to head over to Future World West by way of the crazy construction wall path. I didn’t end up taking us to the East side at all that day, as there aren’t any attractions I can do with a baby except for the Epcot Experience, which I didn’t feel the need to see again.
The path first took us past The Seas, so I decided to have us go in. I’m pretty sure we didn’t do this in February, so this would be April’s first time!
Once again, she sat quietly and stared on the ride. I was hoping she’d get excited during the EAC portion. She has a bunch of Finding Nemo toys for bathtime, and her favorite one is Squirt, the little turtle. She gets so excited whenever we hand him to her. But she didn’t seem to recognize him in ride form. Oh well.
Pretty much all the usual exhibits were open, with some social distancing markers to help people. The coral reef and ocean exhibits had dividers at the entrance so people entered on one side and exited on the other. So the coral reef exhibit wasn’t a wandering free for all like normal.
We walked around. It took a few tanks, but April started to show interest. I know it’s not really kosher for her to touch the glass. She just did it the one time, and it was unexpected while I was snapping the selfie.
We went up the stairs to the second floor next. First we looked at the manatee exhibit. The same two manatees as always were out, and thanks to the fact that the cast member’s spot is already social distanced, she was there to answer guests’ questions. We took a quick peek and then headed over to the ocean exhibit.
Here, there was also a cast member answering questions. She was standing in the center ring with a headset microphone so she wouldn’t have to shout or get close to people to be heard. I thought it was a really good setup. We looked at some of the fish, and then I tried again to get some selfies by the windows outside the exhibit.
Next we went to the little room off to the side. I was hoping they’d have some cuttlefish on display, but no luck. Downstairs, Turtle Talk wasn’t operating, but their lobby was open and did have sealife exhibits, which I didn’t know! I got this cool shot of some jellyfish.
Next update coming soon!
Yes, I have some cool news. I finally went back! Because I had Labor Day off and my husband didn’t (that’s the TV news business for you), I decided about a week before to check to see if there were any park passes available for that day. Epcot was open, so I went ahead and snagged it. I contemplated changing it and checked for availability throughout the week. Animal Kingdom came up at one point, but when I realized that it closed much earlier than Epcot, I decided to keep what I had.
My husband and I discussed this before I made the final decision to go. Before we had April, I wouldn’t have really cared what he thought about what I do during my own time, but since my decisions affect our daughter, I feel he should have a say. He said he was comfortable with me taking her, and I have been watching carefully on social media and on news outlets to make sure Disney is still enforcing the rules (they are) and that no outbreaks have been linked back to the parks (they have not).
I’ll go through our day, and then give my thoughts at the end.
Because April is the World’s Best Baby, she sleeps until about 11 am most mornings. I woke up a little before her on Monday and took a nice shower, then I set about getting ready.
Going anywhere with a baby is always a fun adventure, but it’s even more fun if you’re taking her by yourself to Disney World, lol. And in a pandemic during the rainy season to boot. I washed all my masks the night before so I packed those (though ended up only using one, go figure, but it was good to be prepared). I had also purchased stroller toy attachments and a stroller fan in the week leading up to this visit. They both came in handy and were great purchases.
I got dressed and put on makeup, which I rarely do these days. I also dressed April in an outfit I’d bought on Amazon the week before. I made DH take a photo of both of us before I left, because I knew that once I got there, nice photos showing both of our faces would be impossible.
You can’t see it, but her shirt says, “I can’t walk, I’m a mermaid.” It also had a cute little bow, but she hates bows and tears them off her head every time. I still think she looks pretty cute!
And I’m wearing the Jungle Cruise dress from the Dress Shop. It was an online order so I’m really glad that it fit. It’s my fourth Dress Shop dress and I’m absolutely in love with it. I also love that it has a zipper in the front which made it easier to nurse April throughout the day.
We left the house at about 1:30, right about the time April was due for a nap, which was great, because she fell asleep almost right away and snoozed until I made it to property at about 2 pm.
Soon enough, I was making it through these gates for the first time since March.
And a few minutes later, through these.
The lady at the parking booth asked if I had a park reservation as I went through. I wonder how many people these days show up to the parks not realizing you need one!
Parking was interesting. As you might know, typically you have cast members directing you to a spot, right down to showing you what spot to pull into and how far to pull in. This time, there were cast members pointing to the row I needed to pull into, but not to the exact spot. The row I parked in already had a lot of cars in it (it was like when you arrive at the park late in the day and they have you pretty much parking yourself wherever you can find a spot) so maybe that was why, or maybe there were safety concerns to having a cast member stand so close to people walking from their cars. In any case, I parked behind a car that had pulled into the first slot, and got myself and April out of the car.
I snapped a picture of April for DH. Aren’t those sunglasses so cute? Sadly, she won’t keep them on anymore, and she was soon pulling them defiantly off her head. I can’t promise her eyes got much sun protection that day, but we did wear sunscreen!
The trams were not running, which was fine because we weren’t parked that far back anyway (we were in the second section back), so I walked us to the front of the park.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with the latest changes. First I went through a temperature check. It was very fast, not even a second with the little thermometer pointed at my forehead. I was surprised they didn’t check April’s temp, especially since she wouldn’t be wearing a mask, but I didn’t say anything.
Next we had bag check. It really wasn’t much of a check at all. The security guard just kind of glanced inside my bag with me holding it open and had me walk through the metal detector while holding it (after I took out my umbrella). There wasn’t a line for this either. After this, we were clear to enter the park!
The tapstiles didn’t have much of a line. I was behind one large family, and then it was our turn. The finger scanners were covered up, so you only had to tap your band to get in.
Once inside, I was almost overwhelmed with the decision of what to do first. I can’t remember the last time I just entered a park by myself (well, obviously I had April, but she couldn’t contribute much for ideas), with no Fastpasses, dining reservations, or other plans.
I decided Spaceship Earth was a good first stop, so I went to park the stroller by the bathrooms. On the way, I snapped the picture of the emerging and returning fountain pylons.
You can only see the tops of them right now. Mostly they’re still behind construction walls. But I am sooooooo excited for the full thing. I almost don’t care about any of the other Epcot updates. As far as I’m concerned, if this is the only update we end up getting, that’s good enough for me.
Now it was my first time to experience the new Disney social distanced queue system. And with a 20 lb baby, no less! The wait time was posted at 20 minutes, and it probably took close to that to get through. There weren’t a lot of people in line, but since they weren’t filling every car, I think that affected the wait time.
While we were in line, it began to rain. We got a bit wet on one of the switchbacks, but other than that it was fine and I was glad I made the decision to go on an attraction instead of walking around in the rain.
I tried to take a selfie with my favorite mural in the background (have I mentioned I have a giant poster of it in my home office? Because I do!). Meanwhile, April was pushing her anti-mask sentiment on me. You try to raise them right…
Side note: I love that mask. I bought it and a few others on RedBubble, which offers a discount if you order four or more. Just make sure you look at the sizing guides! The elastic loops were too big for my ears so I had to tie them in knots.
I snagged an actual picture of the mural before we entered the building.
Another unsuccessful selfie on the ride vehicle. Then we were plunged into darkness as the now here-to-stay-indefinitely Judy Densch narration began.
It was a nice ride. April mostly sat quietly and looked around. During the last portion, I decided to let her “pick” our path, by which I mean I held her in front of the screen and she swiped at it until we’d picked all the options.
First of all, she said the thing that was most important to her was work. Work!
Second of all, I didn’t get any pictures, but the camera wasn’t working well anyway. I think I had no eyes, and April didn’t even show up. It was rather unsettling.
After the ride, we were ushered into the post-show area, which was completely shut down. I don’t usually participate in any of the activities, but it was still really eerie to be walking through the silent area.
Luckily, once we exited the globe, the rain had stopped and didn’t return for the rest of the day! Success!
I put April back in her stroller, and decided to head over to Future World West by way of the crazy construction wall path. I didn’t end up taking us to the East side at all that day, as there aren’t any attractions I can do with a baby except for the Epcot Experience, which I didn’t feel the need to see again.
The path first took us past The Seas, so I decided to have us go in. I’m pretty sure we didn’t do this in February, so this would be April’s first time!
Once again, she sat quietly and stared on the ride. I was hoping she’d get excited during the EAC portion. She has a bunch of Finding Nemo toys for bathtime, and her favorite one is Squirt, the little turtle. She gets so excited whenever we hand him to her. But she didn’t seem to recognize him in ride form. Oh well.
Pretty much all the usual exhibits were open, with some social distancing markers to help people. The coral reef and ocean exhibits had dividers at the entrance so people entered on one side and exited on the other. So the coral reef exhibit wasn’t a wandering free for all like normal.
We walked around. It took a few tanks, but April started to show interest. I know it’s not really kosher for her to touch the glass. She just did it the one time, and it was unexpected while I was snapping the selfie.
We went up the stairs to the second floor next. First we looked at the manatee exhibit. The same two manatees as always were out, and thanks to the fact that the cast member’s spot is already social distanced, she was there to answer guests’ questions. We took a quick peek and then headed over to the ocean exhibit.
Here, there was also a cast member answering questions. She was standing in the center ring with a headset microphone so she wouldn’t have to shout or get close to people to be heard. I thought it was a really good setup. We looked at some of the fish, and then I tried again to get some selfies by the windows outside the exhibit.
Next we went to the little room off to the side. I was hoping they’d have some cuttlefish on display, but no luck. Downstairs, Turtle Talk wasn’t operating, but their lobby was open and did have sealife exhibits, which I didn’t know! I got this cool shot of some jellyfish.
Next update coming soon!