Trip Log:

Started off again with a 7am wakeup call then off to breakfast and then EPCOT. Reached the park around 8am. Got to the tour checkin about 20 after(5 minutes late). Went on the Segway tour. Then grabbed lunch at the Electric Umbrella. Toured Ice Station Cool then out to World Showcase. Walked by Mexico and Norway. Others ate lunch at the Lotus Blosom in China. Wathed the Reflections of China film then on to Germany to regroup. Continued our loop around World Showcase, stopping in the American Adventure. Back to the Ice Station for some more cool air before heading over to Journey into Imagination. Next up the Land and the Listen to the Land boat ride. After exiting the Land it was time for Innoventions West then over to the East side. Next up Test Track. Then back through Innoventions and a spin on Spaceship Earth and then out of the park. Took the monorail to the TTC, then the express monorail to the Magic Kingdom. Jumped on the train to Frontierland. Splash Mountain was closed so we wandered back through Frontierland and Adventureland, down Main Street and to the bus stops and back to Pop Century. Headed back to EPCOT via bus. Walked through FutureWorld and onto World Showcase, heading by Canada, UK, France, Japan on our way to the American Adventure. Watched the show, then caught the end of Kool and the Gang. After the set walked down by Italy and Germany then back to catch the last set of the night. Walked back toward Mexico and found a spot for Illuminations. After the show headed for the busses then back to Pop Century to call it a night.

Thoughts & Observations:

• First thing to re-enforce.. the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971 and EPCOT in 1982 on this date. It was our first visit in October ever. We were sort of disappointed that there was no real mention except for some CM buttons. And since it was the anniversary we made it a point to visit both parks.
  
  
• We started our day on the Around the World tour at EPCOT, the Segway experience. This was our second go around. Everyone really enjoyed the first one and wanted to spent the money and time to take it a second time. Some things have changed, but most has not (you can read a full review in the tours section of the website). This was also the opening day for the Food & Wine Festival so there was a lot of work going on around the World Showcase
  
  
• The Food & Wine Festival: Overall I have to say I was not that impressed with it. I think the main reaason is I am not a wine person and food is not a top priority either. We still gave it a go to check out and see what was set up and available around the park. There was a wide selection of food and drink ranging from a couple bucks up to several hundred. Also surprising there was a range of guests visiting the park and enjoying the event. I am sure if I was into wines I would have been impressed with the variety and availability throughout the park. The food samples did seem to offer a great variety too.
  
  We were absolutely shocked by the number of guests who had too much to drink and were drunk. We had to share the bus with several on every trip from EPCOT back to Pop Century the rest of our stay. I could not beleive the number of adults with children who were clearly drunk staggering onto the bus with a three year old. This leead to some quite annoying and loud individuals around and some long rides. While wandering around EPCOT we seemed to encounter quite a few too, but they all appeared to be staying at Pop Century.. or so it felt.
  
  I was a little disappointed in the festival overall. I was expecting more than booths selling food. I was hoping for more exhibits on the food, cultures, wines of the nations involved, but instead it was a mass marketing event only. The booths were all run by EPCOT event CMs in generic EPCOT outfits. Also the booths and their queues really did seem to make World Showcase look cluttered and more congested, especially in the evenings when things really got going.
  
  
• It was great to see more new things going up and ready to open in Innoventions. We did not spend too much time there in May and noticed several things we had not seen before. Ranging from the World of Plastics to the changes to the House of Innoventions.
  
  
• The Magic Kingdom seemed quite crowded compared to the other day when we were there, guessing that was becuase of the after hours Halloween party that was coming up and it being a weekend day. The goal of the trip was to get on Splash Mountain and a couple other attractions. Splash was down, an omen of trips to come, and the park seemed crowded, plus it was a hot steamy afternoon so we did not stay long.
  
  
• We spent the evening at EPCOT walking around World Showcase taking in the Food & Wine Festival some more then Illuminations. The festival still did not strike a chord with us. We did enjoy the two sets from Kool and the Gang that we saw. They had the audience much more engaged than the groups we saw at the Flower Power series in the Spring. For those who don't know the two big his of Kool and the Gang were Celebration and Ladies Night.

Pedometer Information for the day:

Enough with the text.. onto the pictures

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