Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend Trip Day 4

[brownie]

Thursday, January 7, 2016, was 5K day. We were all up by 3:45am and at the West Depot at Port Orleans Riverside around 4:15am. A 5K bus at the bus waited for us, so we didn't have to wait for a bus. We rode the bus to the Epcot Marathon weekend area. We met up with part of the runICOT group at the information tent for the group photo. I walked Sharon and Mark to the start corral area and then joined the cheerICOT group at the 5K finish line area to cheer on everyone participating in the 5K. We saw some great costumes. I really like the group dressed up as the monorail. After Sharon and Mark finished the 5K, I joined them in the reunion area. We took the bus back to Riverside.

I went for a run while Sharon and Mark rested. After my run, we got ready and drove over to the main building to grab breakfast at Riverside Mill. After breakfast, we drove to Epcot, arriving there about 10:45am. I was randomly selected a second time for additional screening (walk through the metal detector).

We headed over to Future World East. Mark and I rode Mission:Space (orange). We didn't have a long wait. There was some sort of problem after we were loaded on the ride. They made 5-6 technical difficulty announcements. I was getting to the point where I was starting to feel like I needed to get out when the ride finally started.

After Mission: Space we used our Fastpasses for Test Track. I still enjoy this attraction. We're still waiting for the ride photo to be added to our Photopass account; we ended up with a photo we weren't in (I did submit a request to have them look for it).

Next we used our Fastpasses for Spaceship Earth. Mark was in a car by himself, so he made a hand puppet for the picture. It was funny to see it on the screen in the area after you unload.

After Spaceship Earth, we headed into World Showcase for lunch. We stopped at the Rose & Crown Pub, but the English Bulldog was no longer on the menu. Sharon and Mark got fish & chips from Yorkshire County Fish Shop. Mark got bombed by a seagull while we were sitting at a table along the lagoon. Luckily he had a light sweatshirt he was able to change into after he ate. The family at the table next to us lived about 4 miles from us at home; sometimes it's a small world!

After Sharon and Mark ate lunch, they headed to Mouse Gear to get Mark a clean t-shirt. I went to grab a burger from the Electric Umbrella, except they no longer had just a plain old ordinary hamburger. I ended up getting a panini from Sunshine Seasons in the Land. After I ate lunch, we used our last Fastpasses for The Seas with Nemo and Friends, just to ride the clam shells.

After the Seas, we returned to the Land pavilion and rode Living with the Land. Next we rode Journey Into Your Imagination with Figment. After that we went over to Future World East to watch the Jammitors perform.

We grabbed some Starbucks and sat by the Fountain of Nations. It must have been too windy; there were no fountain shows.

We returned to Future World West and went to the Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival. The Disney short, Get a Horse, makes this worthwhile. The 3D effects are great. The two Pixar shorts are sort of a letdown after seeing Get a Horse.

We returned to World Showcase and browsed the shops until our 6:20pm reservation at Via Napoli. Pizza was good there as it has been every time we've eaten there.

Sharon went back to Riverside after dinner. Mark and I rode Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros and then went back to Future World to browse through Mouse Gear. We returned to World Showcase for Illuminations: Reflections of Earth. Our tradition is to grab hot pretzels from the cart in Germany and watch Illuminations from the Germany pavilion area, and that is what we did.

After Illuminations, we headed out of Epcot and drove back to Riverside. We stopped at Riverside Mill to fill up our mugs before heading back to our room. Sharon was asleep when we got back to the room. Mark and I called it sometime after 10pm; Friday was going to be another early day for us.

[faline]

That was an early start to a very busy day!