Day 3, Happy Birthday Jeff! April 18th in EPCOT

For us, 9:00 is a late start to the morning. After a liesurely morning, we are ready for the International Gateway entrance, from the EPCOT resorts, to rope drop. We know that many of the guests planning to visit EPCOT today are right on schedule with us. Despite our early morning routine, we are not at the front of the line. This is further concerning as it approaches 9:00AM and the cast members are not allowing us into the park for the internal rope drop, as we understood it was usually done through this entrance. Instead. we enter at park opening. We are behind, (time wise), the front entrance crowds into EPCOT's Future World. Jeff and the boys head for Test Track and I head for Soarin'.

Soarin' was uneventful as I obtain fast passes for all four of us, and enter the stand-by queue. I love this attraction,...the wind, the smell of oranges....(side note:If I could be any animal, I would definitely want to be an American Eagle) This ride, definitely, takes me, momentarily, out of reality! As I am disembarking, I notice my phone ringing. Jeff informs me that Test Track is not operating properly, and the three of them are in line still for the first ride. It has not moved. I line up in the single rider lane as there are several people between my guys in the regular line and any new comers. The single riders line has only a few people ahead of me. We wait. After another 20 minutes or so, Jeff is given four fast passes for this ride by a cast member with encouragement to come back later, as it is still not running properly.  We had viewed several empty cars go by on the track above during our wait.

We head to Ellen's Energy Adventure. Although I am not much of an Ellen fan, I love her delivery for this attraction. Bill Nye, the Science guy and her do a great job, taking us through the writer's version of the history of energy. I pay little attention to the theories that are presented as facts and just enjoy the show/ride. So fun!

We ride Soarin', ride Test Track and proceed to World Showcase. We are running a little behind and I want to beat the Maelstrom ride line that will begin to form soon. So, we ignore our beginning hunger and go on the ride in Norway. All of us, then, watch the film about its' people. I feel a sense of belonging to these Nordic people, and enjoy hearing about some characteristics of my ancestry. :)

The younger folks whom I am with, however, are not as impressed and getting cranky quickly. We get a counter service lunch in Norway, immediately! The cashier tells Jeff, "Happy Birthday" in Norwegian. As we are leaving, I point out the long line from which we were spared to Maelstrom. It is hot and it has not been a smooth morning. The boys plea for the pool and win. China will have to wait for another day. (sidenote: I do not ever want to come to Disney in a hotter season than this!)  Here is a shot of Norway from across the lagoon.

The boys swim and later are dropped off at The Beach Club's Sandcastle Club for a children's recreation night, while Mom and Dad go out for Jeff's birthday. Jeff and I head to Morocco for dinner at Restaurant Marrakesh.

We both chose the same entree.  It included alot prunes. I do not recognize it on the online menu. Despite the fact that it was over abudant with prunes, it was very tasty. The music and atmosphere were enjoyable; and, our seating was alright, even though it was close to the kitchen. (We are not getting very good seating karma this trip.) The servers sang "Happy Birthday" to Jeff in Arabic. We conclude our stay in Morocco with a brief tour on our own. We are tired. Here is the birthday boy in Morocco:
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Credit Where Due

I am grateful for all of the wonderful Disney information in cyberspace. The resources from where I pooled travel and park information is great. You can be find it all through google searches. One little help can be found through YouTube videos. They are great in determining if a ride suits you and your travel companions. However, my strongest recommendation is TourGuideMike.com. Although he does not maintain his site with the diligence that he used to, you still can get terrific guidance if you dig through the site. But, please don't get upset that much of the information is outdated. It won't help to complain. But, all the same, the value is in the fact that Mike shares his philosophies in his advice. When you apply that, his advice cannot be beat. But, to make the most use of his site, one should get comfortable on the member forum. There are several great contributers who will answer your questions and give you the best advice.