Disney Without Kids? Part 3: Epcot

I went on a short trip to Disney World without my husband and kids. In case you missed the beginning:

Part 1: Kidani Village
Part 2: Sanaa
Part 3: Epcot

Sunday morning came, and we were well-rested.  I woke up at 6 a.m. (5 a.m. Dallas time!) because I had gone to bed so early the night before. We wanted to be on a bus to Epcot by 8:30 a.m.

We both brought some stuff from home to eat for breakfast in our room (oatmeal, nutri-grain bar) and I supplemented with a cheese stick I bought from the mini-mart in the lobby.

This is the two of us on our balcony before we left for the day:

We made the trek downstairs to the bus stop and a bus for Epcot was pulling up just as we were walking up. We made it to Epcot by 8:50 a.m. and the gates were already open. I should mention that the weather was beautiful for all 3 of our days here...sunny and in the low '70s.

We had 3 Fast Pass + reservations: Spaceship Earth 9:10-10:10, Disney character photos 11:20-12:20, and Test Track 2:15-3:15 p.m. For more info on Fast Pass +, see this blog post.

Since we had some time to spare before our Spaceship Earth time, we headed straight for Test Track and walked right on in the single-rider line. I hadn't been on that ride since it was refurbished in 2012.

Next, we headed to The Seas with Nemo and Friends ride and looked around the aquarium. After that, we did the Living with the Land boat ride and then Journey into Imagination. No lines for any of these! Soon it was time for our character photo op, then back to Spaceship Earth, then Ellen's Energy Adventure. We had accomplished all of the rides we wanted to hit before lunch with virtually no lines! (We chose not to ride Mission Space and Soarin'....I vow to never ever ride Mission Space again since I got really sick on it, and I've been on Soarin' a lot and it was the only ride with a sizable line).

As we moved into the World Showcase area, we passed by these cadets from The Citadel:

And we stopped by Club Cool to sample some free coca-cola drinks from around the world:

Our photo with Mickey:

Some garbage-can drummers in Future World:

We had a lunch reservation at Chefs de France in the France pavilion in the World Showcase section. I've eaten there twice before, and it is delicious. I had a quiche and salad, and Beth had a crepe filled with ham/cheese/potatoes. But the best part was the dessert!

We had a really nice leisurely lunch. It lasted 2-3 hours! Then we started to explore the countries, one by one. This is the section of Epcot that I feel like I haven't enjoyed as much since I've had kids because they just don't have the attention span or the reading ability to enjoy all of the entertainment and education available in each country.

We watched the movie in France, Impressions de France. Since Beth and I had both been to France, it was cool seeing the places we've been that were featured, and drool over some places we'd like to visit again.

We also watched these jugglers/gymnasts in France:

And in Morocco, we listened to this Moroccan band play while some guests danced along:

We spent quite a bit of time in Morocco looking through the shops and viewing a small museum with necklaces and body adornments.

We spent some time in Japan looking at a folklore vs. anime museum display. By the time we got to Italy, we were starting to get tired.


But we couldn't throw in the towel without listening to the Voices of Liberty in the U.S.A.:

And then we went upstairs to see the theater show:

We stopped to get a quick drink and snack, and I snapped this photo of Future World and the remaining countries:

Mexico is my favorite Epcot country, so we went inside and waited for the Gran Fiesta Tour boat ride. That was our longest line of the entire day, but it was only 10-15 minutes.

Inside Mexico

We decided to head back to Kidani Village and skip the fireworks. It's hard to tell from this photo, but there are stars that light up on the ground at night:

And one last shot of Spaceship Earth as we left, around 6:00 p.m.:

We had a fabulous day at Epcot! I spent time at places I wouldn't normally linger on with my kids. That said, I did miss my kids terribly, and I would often see something that I'd call out that my kids would have loved.

We were exhausted from standing and walking most of the day. We ate back at our resort (Beth ordered room service, I picked up something from the mini-mart). We saw a lot of wildlife in the savannah that evening.

The next day was our departure day already! Beth had to get on the airport bus at 10:30 a.m., but I had an evening flight that had me catching a 4:30 p.m. bus. So I took a different bus to Downtown Disney first.

I ate at Earl of Sandwich (I actually had a coupon for a free sandwich there that you can get if you join their club. The coupon is good for a month--thanks to a tip I read on the Disboards.)

I really wanted to ride in this balloon called Characters in Flight. I hear the views from the top are spectacular! I've tried to ride this during 3 separate trips, and each time it has been closed due to high winds like it was on this day. As I left on the airport bus later that day, I saw it had started running. There's always next time!

After I returned from Downtown Disney, I still had a few hours to kill. So I read a really good book at the pool. And I took one last look at the savannah before getting on my bus. (One last selfie on the savannah, because I love the way the sun looks in this photo).

So that was my quick trip to Disney without my husband and kids. I am looking forward to returning there this summer with my family to a new (to us) resort and meeting up with a large group of people for an organized reunion. We also plan on visiting some places outside of Disney World on our next trip for a change. Adventure awaits!

Have you taken a trip to Disney without your kids? Would you do it again?