We continue our Summer 2019 Disney World Live Blogs. Our day was spent touring the World Showcase at Epcot before having a last-minute ride on Soarin without any other riders! Before that, we had dinner at La Hacienda de San Angel in Mexico.
Currently, Epcot is in a state of change. There have been several closed attractions, and we await the opening of several new attractions. Unfortunately, so far in 2019, there has been little new to see at Epcot. Also, during July we have one of the few periods during the year when there is no festival at Epcot. The result is that crowds are quieter in Epcot in comparison to the other parks at this time.
Completing World Showcase today was relatively easy helped by the low crowds. Epcot certainly appears empty when there is no festival on.
La Hacienda de San Angel is somewhere we have wanted to try for several years. There are two restaurants at the Epcot pavilion, and reports from La Hacienda de San Angel are usually better.
The restaurant is located on the Epcot waterfront and served authentic Mexican cuisine. Excellent views of the Epcot fireworks can be obtained from most tables. The food was fantastic, well spiced and portions generous. We certainly intend to visit again.
We finished dinner just before 20:50. The park was due to close at 21:00 when IllumiNations would be shown. We weighed up whether to watch the fireworks from the restaurant or attempt to ride Soarin, which was only showing a 10 minutes wait.
We decided to go for Soarin and raced against the clock to get to the Land Pavilion. We arrived at the Soarin gate at 21:02, 2 minutes after the park closed. To our surprise, instead of being denied access, we were waved on to the attraction.
We walked down the concourse expecting to find other guests, but instead only found one couple also waiting to ride. No additional guests joined us, and after the obligatory safety briefing, just six guests boarded Soarin. We were allowed to take our pick of the seats on the ride, which incidentally Row 1 Gate B provide the best views.
A fantastic end to the day riding one of the park’s most popular attractions with no other guests.
Tomorrow we are off to Hollywood Studios before visiting Walt Disney World’s newest restaurant Toledo – Tapas, Steak & Seafood.
Remember, you can catch up with all our daily Disney World Live Blogs for 2019 by clicking the link.
