Finally - back at Disney! We haven't been to WDW since February last year. We held off when the parks reopened to give them time to work out the bugs. Today we went to Epcot to see what changes the terrible 2020 has wrought. We did have to wear masks but as annual passholderes we don't have to stay at the park 8 hours to get our money's worth; so it was OK for a few hours
When you pass the ticket counters into the actual park, you used to enter into a large spacious area with staggered monoliths containing the names of people who donated towards the creation of Epcot. It was a lovely, open area with Spaceship Earth's big "golf ball" looming over it. It gave it a wonderful feeling, like we were in an entirely different scenario than outside the park. We knew they were going to move the monoliths, and why not - they've been there a long time. But they have been replaced with a few decorative trees and some flower areas. It's kinda ordinary now...
Never mind, let's see what the rest of the park is like now. Since Spaceship Earth is slated to close sometime for renovations, we went there first. The line wasn't very long, which was great since it was really spread out - everyone 6 feet apart!
Inside I was tickled to see how Randy's mask and hat lit up, as under blacklight.
Even funnier was the "Welcome to your future" segment. They snap a photo at the beginning of the ride and use it later in the cartoon slideshow. My hat and mask completely covered my face but what was really weird was that Randy became the Invisible Man!After the ride we walked out past the closed-off lounge and past the closed-off playground. Well, that's different. We started walking around the World Showcase, meandering past Canada and England until we got to France, where we were so glad to find that our favorite Epcot restaurant, Boulangerie Patisserie, is still open!We got our usual baguette and cheese tray, and celebrated our return to Disney with a brioche roll with dark chocolate bits. All of it just as good as we remembered!Full of good food, we continued around the World Showcase. Along this area it was nearly deserted, which felt really strange. There were more people in the Mexico/China sections but not many. Disney put the empty space to use by means of a horse-drawn carriage full of Disney Princesses: Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, and Snow White. But I just had eyes for the horse - how pretty!
Time to head over to The Land and ride "Soarin", one of the best Epcot rides. Just a 15 minute wait to get on - sweet! In the same building an older theater show about taking care of the environment has been replaced with a newer theater show about taking care of the planet. At least this one has beautiful scenes.
We took a walk through The Seas, and then it felt like time to head home. I wish things had not changed as much, but it was still good to be back at Disney. I think we can make this work!
