Day 8 - A visit to Boardwalk and then Drunkytown aka Epcot

[DizneyFreak2002]

Sunday October 28 – Epcot…. A park I once loved… A park I once would have rather spent two days in… A park that had a theme, a purpose… Now?? It is a shell of its former glory… But enough of that, on to the day!!!!

We started bright and early… I booked the Bon Voyage Breakfast at Trattoria al Forno at the Boardwalk Resort at 8:45 AM… Only time I could get… For those who aren’t familiar, this is a character meal featuring Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Prince Eric, and Ariel… The breakfast menu items are a bit different than the normal meals… They have a little added flair… I had the Tangled Eggs which came with pasta sauce… My father just ordered two poached eggs which aren’t on the menu but they had no issue making them for him… We both has breakfast sausage, but I ate the breakfast potatoes, he didn’t eat his… They also serve you pastry and a fruit cup to start before main breakfast course… We had good character interaction again… Flynn Rider was the champ, spending time at the table, talking and posing for pictures… Prince Eric did as well… We had finished breakfast, my father went to use the restroom when Ariel came by… I took a picture or two with her, and again, great interaction… I left disappointed though because Rapunzel walked right by my table, never stopped, just walked right by… She was following the same rotation the other characters did, so maybe because I was by myself, she skipped me??? No idea…

We left Boardwalk and drove back to Saratoga Springs… We freshened up, and went to the bus stop to go to Epcot… We were in no rush cause I figured we would finish with this park fast… I don’t mind slowing down and taking my time at all…
Upon entering Epcot, we rode Spaceship Earth first… I told my father how there are rumors the attraction was closing for two years soon… He said good it needs it… And it does… I just am not a fan of this version, and Judy Dench can put me to sleep…

After SSE we made our way to The Seas with Nemo… We walked right on this ride… I had a FP for Living with the Land, but it wasn’t time yet, so we walked over to Imagination…. Hopped on that ride and thought to myself please green light a remake!!! No waits for either attraction, or at least a very minimal… We then entered the Land pavilion… We used our fast pass for living with the Land, which is my all time favorite guilty pleasure of WDW… There is a charm to that attraction, I just don’t know what it is that makes me love it so… I then managed to get onto Soarin without waiting lol.. Don’t ask me how, I will not tell… My father saw this version for the first time, and he liked it… I still love Soarin, and I can say I love both versions, the original and this one…

We then walked over to Universe of Energy… I told my father what they were doing to the ride… He was in shock… He used to work for Exxon, so we would get to sit in the Exxon Employee lounge, we were walked down and never had to wait on line… He couldn’t believe the entire front of the show building is gone, and how large the Guardians of the Galaxy show building is…

While there we decided to take a break… We got a pretzel and bottle of water each and just kicked back people watching… After finishing our snacks, we took a walk to Test Track.. We skipped the stand by and got on the ride within 10 minutes… Our car bombed out during the test phase of the ride… I dunno if I enjoy test track anymore… I mean I do and I don’t… I can give the whole inside portion and just skip to the outside… That’s the best part!!!

Since I don’t do Mission Space, we were finished with FutureWorld… I decided to start World Showcase with Canada this time and work my way around, opposite of how I usually tour World Showcase.. Mainly, I wanted to handle it this way since I had a Frozen FP for 6:30… Not much doing in Canada, and we didn’t want to stand for the 360 film, so we snapped some scenic pictures and moved on… We handled the U.K. pavilion the same way, taking some pictures and moving on…

France was different though… We went to watch Impression de France… I saw this film for the first time in April, and I wondered why I never seen it before… This was also the first time my father watched the film too, and he loved it… Impressions has to be a must do for now on…

Morocco and Japan got the same treatment as Canada and U.K. no stopping in the pavilions only for pictures… After passing Japan, we saw the billboard for America Gardens Theater concert for the evening… Starship was that evening’s performance… My father showed a little excitement about Starship being here in Epcot, so I knew he wanted to see them.. But with the way I had things booked, we wouldn’t be able to... But let’s remember this is WDW where magic happens, and I was about to create some magic…

My father went to use the restroom at American Adventure pavilion, so I called Disney Dining… I told them I was trying to cancel one dining to make plans for a different dining… Originally I booked Garden Grill for 7:15… Plan was to use the FP for Frozen, hit Mexico, then work our way back to The Land for dinner, then watch Illuminations from Showcase Plaza… But plans were about to change… The lady on the other end booked me Biergarten for 5:30 and used some pixie dust to make the cancellation fee disappear into the void…

When my father came out of the restroom I told him what I did, and I could tell he was happy… He tries to play it off but he couldn’t hide it from me… So we continued on our World Showcase tour by catching the tail end of Voices of Liberty and then The American Adventure show… Before this show they made an announcement that they were celebrating our vets, which my father is, so when he stood up it proud a sense of honor and pride to my heart knowing my father is a vet and hero….

We then moved on to Italy, walking into the shops as my father took a few pictures of the pavilion… He loves the country, being there several times, so he wanted to compare the originals in Italy to their counterparts in Epcot… We then stopped in German to check in and eat... I checked in at 5:00, 30 minutes before my time, and once again they sat us quickly… We enjoyed some German food, a buffet my father even enjoys, and one I feel I have to do every trip, even though original plans didn’t call for it this time…

We finished dinner and made our way to Norway… We skipped right by China and used our FP for Frozen… What can I say about an attraction I was not happy about going in this location??? I like it, I do… I still hate the toonification of World Showcase, but I enjoy the ride… Still think its own land in MK or MGM would have been the better option but it is what it is… The attraction is well done, the AA’s are amazing… Again, I just think Frozen deserved bigger and Norway history and folklore needed to be kept with any attraction…

The Mexican pavilion was next.. We hopped on Gran Fiesta Tour, which, pleased, Disney, MAKE THIS COCO… But yea I know, you aren’t… Time for that has come and gone and plans are shelved.. I get it… We took some pictures of the Coco display and exited this pavilion…

We walked around to the boat dock by Canada to take the boat ride across the lagoon to the other side of World Showcase… Once there we got in stand by line for the next Starship show.. Now, the only song I remember from Starship is We Built this City on Rock N Roll… That is, until they played Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now, the theme song from Mannequin… That song I knew too... They put on a great show…
Now, since this show was at 8:00 PM, and ended at 8:30 PM, we had 30 minutes to make it over to Showcase Plaza… I scored a FP for Illuminations, and I was determined to use it… We made our way around World Showcase and into the FP area in plenty of time…

And Illuminations, I’m going to miss you… You are my favorite night time fireworks show… I wanted to record it but I decided against it this time.. I wanted to take the show in, enjoy the fireworks, music… I may record it in May…

This night was an Extra Magic Hours night… But I was pretty tired, so was my father… We already had a long day and just wanted to get back to the room… But we couldn’t help ourselves… Before leaving Epcot we took one more ride on Spaceship Earth… And a good choice it was.. By time the ride was over a lot of people had cleared the park… And we had no one on line waiting for the Saratoga Springs bus…

We arrived at Saratoga Springs for our last night… We packed up, only leaving our breakfast items out as well as snacks and bottles of water in the fridge… They would go in our cooler in the morning… We watched a little TV then called it a night…
I went into my bedroom and put on my TV for the last night… I let myself fall asleep to Stacey’s Top 7 Must Do’s… thinking about the drive home and how much I hate leaving…

Day 9 and 10 – Long Drive Home coming up

[Cinderelley]

I love how you pay attention to making your father happy and tell him thank you for his service.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

I am so confused at why the characters keep skipping you! Isn't that, like the whole purpose of a character meal, to meet ALL of the characters?

Still, what a wonderful last day, and I'm thrilled the Disney Magic came through for the new/improved evening plans.

[DizneyFreak2002]

I am so confused at why the characters keep skipping you! Isn't that, like the whole purpose of a character meal, to meet ALL of the characters?

Still, what a wonderful last day, and I'm thrilled the Disney Magic came through for the new/improved evening plans.

It could be their rotation... I don't know... I mean, over all the character interaction was fine... I just kind of wanted to get a picture with Rapunzel, I don't know why LOL... And when she skipped my table and went to the next, I was like WHAT??? But it's all good... Might just have to go back in May... But I won't go to character meals alone...

[faline]

Well, Epcot was a wonderful way to spend your last Disney vacation day!!

[DizneyFreak2002]

Well, Epcot was a wonderful way to spend your last Disney vacation day!!

I had to end it with Illuminations... And I may have to see Illuminations several times in May since I know it will be gone before I go back to WDW after this upcoming trip...