Disney World: Epcot
There were a couple reasons why we chose Epcot for our first day at Disney World.
1. The Unofficial Guide to Disney World suggests you start with Epcot. It's more of an educational park and if you started with some of the other more 'kid friendly' parks, they don't really want to go to Epcot after that.
2. We asked my Mom what park she wanted to go to on her birthday (day 2) and she chose Magic Kingdom. This just fit in well with the recommendation of the book.
Because we had 2 days to spend at Epcot, we only needed to view 1/2 of Epcot. Here was our itinerary for day 1 (my favorites are bolded and linked to the Disney website).
1. Arrive 40 minutes before the official opening time. Pick up a park map and daily entertainment schedule when entering the park. 2. At the Land Pavilion, ride Soarin'. 3. Ride Living with the Land. If you want to ride Soarin' again, get FASTPASSes now. 4. See The Circle of Life. 5. See The Seas with Nemo and Friends and Turtle Talk with Crush. 6. Ride Journey into Imagination. 7. See Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. 8. Start a counterclockwise tour of Wold Showcase with the film O Canada! at Canada. 9. Explore the United Kingdom. 10. See Impressions de France. 11. Continue around the lagoon, or visit the exhibits in Innoventions West.
Supper at The San Angel Inn @ 6 p.m.
Each day we went back to Pop Century Resort to relax in the afternoon. This really helped us to not get burnt out or worn down while on this "vacation." It would be really easy to stay at the park and try and cram everything in 1 day, but I am glad we took time to relax by the pool every day.
An added bonus for taking a break in the middle of the afternoon is that you can go back to the park for the night activities fresh. The first night at Epcot we got to see IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, a show of pyrotechnics, lasers, fire, and fountains accompanied by dazzling lighting effects. This is 4th of July on steroids.
We were completely amazed at this show. The first day I really started to believe that Disney World is the most magical place on earth.
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