You're going back to Disney? Again?!? A July, 2018 TR - Updated 11-15 - THE END

[Ruthie5671]

July 6th - Animal Kingdom continued . . .

One of the amazing things about a Disney vacation is that even if you aren't riding a ride or seeing an attraction, there are always things to see. This is especially true in AK, as every nook and cranny gives you yet another immersion in whichever continent you happen to be standing in. When our morning plans got disrupted, I had to adjust our FP for Festival of the Lion King, so we had a bit of time to just wander around. Fortunately, I had a stand-in for Indiana Jones to keep me company.



He never really smiles in pictures, but I do get a look/smoulder.



We browsed around some shops and I was specifically looking for something to bring home to my work peeps. I like to try and bring them back presents for holding down the fort and not setting fire to the building. Oh, and protecting the vulnerable children. In one of the shops I found small ceramic animals that were just screaming to come home with me. I had to buy 7 of them so when I went to check out the nice lady asked me if I worked in a zoo.

Close - really close!!!

Our next FP was for Festival of the Lion King show. We were pretty early so we ended up being at the front of the FP line. We had to wait probably 20 minutes, but it was in the shade and we were chatting up the people next to us. Because their ECV had a charging port built into it for their cell phone, which was pretty cool and I was jealous that my ECV didn't have such a fancy feature.

But let me digress for just a minute. I love to sing, but I am an awful singer. Like stop making the cats scream kind of singer. But this does not stop me from my concerts that I throw - usually during my shower or long drives to Florida. I also like to pretend that I win Grammy's for best new artist or Tony Awards for leading female in - well any cool play.

So when the doors opened for Lion King, I was the very first person to enter the auditorium. The cast member had us go across the floor to the opposite side seating. Here was my chance. For five seconds I was by myself under the spotlight in the middle of the room for Festival of the Lion King. I stopped. I looked around. I saw only Tony and the poor cast member who was leading us in. And hell, I went for it.

I sang.

Okay, I really only got out the beginning of the chorus of "Circle of Life", but it was my moment and I shined.

And then about 100 of my new friends started coming in and the moment was over. Tony was horrified (okay not really - he just laughed at me) but I was pretty pleased with myself. We honestly had probably some of the best seats for what is my most favorite show. And while I was not personally asked to sing a solo during the performance (I mean I could have killed it) the show was amazing. I'll let the pictures sing for themselves.















Such an awesome show. I could watch it over and over again.

Up next - dinner and a sunset safari.

 

[Ruthie5671]

Ruthie- your selfie i adorable! You look like a couple of teenagers!!

Oh thank you so much. That is so sweet.

Oh my goodness that margarita sounds amazing!

It was the best thing ever to drink on a hot day. Or a cold day. Or really any day!!!

 

[Bama Mom]

Finally caught up. Girl I bet you get the same looks from your hubby as I do from my hubby when I bust out singing. I know I am a terrible singer, but I do love singing certain songs.

You weren't kidding about the great seats for Lion King. For the pictures it looks like they were amazing!

 

[Ruthie5671]

July 6th - More Animal Kingdom . . .

After I was done basking in the glow of my Broadway debut and we left the theater, it was time to head over for our dinner reservations. We decided that our only repeat meal on this trip would be going back to Yak and Yeti. It was a delicious dinner last time, so it warranted another visit.



Not my picture. Imagine it not as dark (just yet) and ridiculously crowded. We parked our ECV's outside kind of to the left under the trees and checked in. It was pretty crowded and the air conditioning once we walked in was so refreshing. I gave the cast member our name and we got a buzzer and only had to wait about 10 minutes before we were buzzed back to our table. The place was hopping busy and we were seated next to several large tables so our waiters attention was pulled in a bunch of different directions. Fortunately, Tony and I are pretty low maintenance, but it made dinner go slower than it should have. After a long look at the menu, we ordered and received yummy and piping hot food.

Tony got crispy honey chicken - tempura chicken, sugar snap peas, carrots, honey sauce with jasmine or brown rice. I believe he opted for fried rice.



The portions here are huge - this Google picture doesn't even come close to showing how much food there was.

I ordered the shrimp and chicken combo lo mein - Lo Mein noodles, carrots, cabbage, green onions, bean sprouts



Again - food for days. We learned last time there was no need for an appetizer here! Both meals were delicious. They could have seriously just brought me out a bowl of shrimp and veggies and I would have been happy. They were that good.

We somehow managed to save room for dessert.

Tony repeated from last year and got the fried wontons - Skewers of fresh pineapple and cream cheese wontons, vanilla ice cream, honey vanilla drizzle



Tony once again raved about this. I made a scrunchy face because there were pineapples in my sight line. Yuck.

I felt that chocolate was a necessity in my life, so I went with chocolate pudding cake with raspberry sauce



There, much better!!! Can't go wrong with chocolate. We settled the bill and waddled out of the restaurant. It was seriously so much food. It had rained some while we were eating and even though our ECV's were parked right next to each other, my seat was soaking wet and Tony's was not. Like he planned that somehow?!?!?!?!?

Our final fast pass that day was for the Kilimanjaro Safari and I purposefully planned it for as late as possible because I wanted to see the savannah during sunset. But it had rained, so it was pretty cloudy. On our way over there I thought it would be fun to take the train over to Rafiki's, but guess what - it had already closed for the night. Even the walking paths had already closed down for the evening. These were things we also missed last time, so just another reason to plan a future trip. Right???

So even though we were a little early for our FP window we went over to the safari and surprisingly got the green light to go on in. The rain had made the crowds practically non-existent, so we zipped thru the pathway in no time and waited for our jeep. Even though it was cloudy, it had cooled down some and the animals were out and about. But I either took very few pictures or most of them came out poorly, because only a few made the final cut to my photos to upload.





I still want a giraffe to take home. I'm still being told no. I haven't given up!





Our safari guide was very informative and the ride was fun. I would do this ride again at sunset.

After the safari, we made our way out of the park. We stopped to see the tree of life change colors, but I don't have any pictures of that either. So I'm thinking that my phone and/or camera must have died at that point. Considering all the pictures I had taken that day, I'm not at all surprised I lost power. Back to the bus, back to the resort, refilled our mugs and into bed. It was a long day but so much fun. Animal Kingdom is still my favorite park.

And I want a giraffe.

Up next - relaxing and swimming!

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

I love that AK has become your favorite park! It's a tie between that and MK for me. You're making me rethink our dining plans for our AK day. So far, I have Satuli Canteen for lunch and maybe a stop at Nomad Lounge for a snack. We were thinking about waiting until after park close to eat at the Turf Club at our resort. Now I'm craving another go at Yak and Yeti. We really like that place, but the Turf Club is new to us. What to do, what to do? So little time and stomach space; so many dining options.

That chocolate pudding cake, though!!!! Yes, please!

 

[Ruthie5671]

July 7th - chillaxin' . . .

Our trip was half way over at this point, which just bummed me out significantly. Which I know in my head is just silly. This was our second trip in six months. We were having so much fun and I was in my happy place. But in my Disney loving heart, I knew that in a few short days we would be heading home. Back to work and back to reality. But I pushed those thoughts far away and embraced what would be our chillaxin' and relaxin' non-park day.

I really enjoy non-park days, especially right in the middle of the trip. It was a chance to sleep in late and enjoy some pool time without trying to catch a bus to make a fast pass window. We did manage to sleep in a little bit later than normal and I organized the suitcases and got the laundry packed up and taken to the van to make the last morning loading of the suitcases a little bit easier. We were blessed with another bright sunshine filled day and decided to take a stroll around the resort and see what the other buildings had to offer.





This building was where the other pool was. I assume it was considered the more "quiet pool" as it was not at all crowded and the music was more tamed than the main pool.



You can barely see Tony next to the Louisville Slugger bat. And FYI, if you're ever in Louisville, go to the Slugger Museum. I am most certainly not a baseball fan, but it is a really cool place to see.









This is where we spent the next several hours. It was just blissful. Although it was loud and busy, the pool was huge so it didn't feel crowded. Now quite honestly I can spend hours upon hours just floating around a pool. But my dear Tony begins to get restless after a while, so he goes off to explore. I just tell him to have fun and he knows where to find me if/when he misses me. And while I'm not sure exactly where he went, he came back with refilled mugs and snacks, so he spent some time at the awful food court and probably the gift shop. I was getting my tan on, so I think at some point he completely bugged out and went back to the room for an afternoon siesta. Once my fingers were completely wrinkled and my skin was lobster red I decided to head back to the room to get cleaned up for an evening at Disney Springs. I did find Tony snoring away when I got back to the room, so I made just enough noise to wake him up so that it appeared to be "an accident". Don't all wives pull this trick???

After showers were taken and Aveeno lotion was applied to my crispy skin, we grabbed a bus to Disney Springs.



Our plan for the evening was more of the chillaxin' and relaxin' we had been doing all day. Other than a dining reservation, we had no plans whatsoever. We took this opportunity to browse thru all the stores and just enjoy being with each other.



Really honey, just once can we have a nice smile? Geesh.

Continued in next post - I have more pictures!!!

 

[Ruthie5671]

July 7th - relaxin' . . .

We stopped at the Art of Disney store, or as I would like to call this place "you break it - you buy it". With strict instructions to my accident prone hubby to not touch anything, we roamed around. Let me just say that having an unlimited budget in this store would be heavenly.











Thankfully we didn't break anything. But I wanted to buy everything!

I cannot remember exactly which stores we went into, but our purchases were non-existent. This really surprised me because we did have a spending budget but really didn't use it. I know that I wanted a pair of earrings, but just couldn't find any that I really wanted to buy. But we browsed and took more pictures.









Up next - drinkin'!!!!

 

[Ruthie5671]

Finally caught up. Girl I bet you get the same looks from your hubby as I do from my hubby when I bust out singing. I know I am a terrible singer, but I do love singing certain songs.

You weren't kidding about the great seats for Lion King. For the pictures it looks like they were amazing!

Not only do I like to sing, but I like to make up songs, which just irritates him more. Which is fun for me!!!

We had the best seats for the show. Right on the main floor with nobody in front of us. Perfect for singing!!

I love that AK has become your favorite park! It's a tie between that and MK for me. You're making me rethink our dining plans for our AK day. So far, I have Satuli Canteen for lunch and maybe a stop at Nomad Lounge for a snack. We were thinking about waiting until after park close to eat at the Turf Club at our resort. Now I'm craving another go at Yak and Yeti. We really like that place, but the Turf Club is new to us. What to do, what to do? So little time and stomach space; so many dining options.

That chocolate pudding cake, though!!!! Yes, please!

Magic Kingdom is my sentimental favorite. But I'm finding more and more that AK and EPCOT just have more interesting things to do for my taste anyway. But my heart will always skip a beat at the first sighting of the castle.

The dining options are almost insane. You can go 10 times and never repeat anything. Too many choices!!!

 

[pattyw]

Love your pictures!
We ate at Yak & Yeti a few years ago and really enjoyed it! It's always so hot at AK- it's nice to have a TS meal to cool off!
Tony has a sweet smile! Yours is a full out beaming smile, but his is that masculine, understated style! You are a cute couple!

Drinking? I'm in!!

 

[Ruthie5671]

July 7th - end of the day . . .

When we last left off we had just about wrapped up all of the shopping/browsing/looking at stuff that I could possibly handle. The stores were all starting to blur together and I had pretty much reached my limit. And the rain had also started coming down again. It would go back and forth between irritating sprinkles to full out downpour in a matter of minutes. Thankfully we had our ponchos (best Wal-Mart purchase ever) but at one point we had to seek some shelter under a covered area because it was raining that hard.

Once the rain finally let up, we made our way to dinner - Bongos Cuban Café.



This was a definite new to us place to eat. We had never eaten Cuban food, but with a little adventure in our hearts, we pushed forward.

The place was CROWDED. Like streaming lines out the door crowded. And it seemed like every table was full along with the bar. Add it the loud (but fabulous) music and walking in the first time was a bit shocking. We had to park our ECV's in the lobby to the side since there was nowhere outside for them to be without getting drenched from the rain. Despite the crowded look, we were seated pretty quickly. We had a nice window view of the rain continuing to come down.

No picture of that of course, because I just think about these kinds of pictures two months after I get home.

But anyway . . . .

Our waiter - who was so stinkin' cute but I forgot his name - came over to get us situated and review the menu. We confessed this was our first time eating Cuban food and he pointed out a few items that were his favorite. Since we were being brave eating here, I decided to start with a drink I've never had before.



A mojitos! This was yummy. And different tasting. I originally thought the mint would be overpowering, but it wasn't and I was very happy with my choice. Tony got a beer. Boring.

For my entrée, I got grilled seafood combo - char-grilled lobster tail, shrimp, scallops, black mussels, littleneck clams, calamari and fish in our homemade Estefan Kitchen criolla sauce served with white rice and black beans.



Food for days. There was just enough spice to notice that it was spicy but your mouth wasn't on fire. This was a million times delicious.

Tony had shrimp with garlic sauce - Shrimp sauteed in homemade Cuban garlic sauce with white rice and black beans.



He got probably twice as much shrimp and the black beans were on the side. He loved it, but I thought it was kind of garlicy (is that a word?).

During dinner there was a live band and professional dancers doing their thing. From the location of our table, we couldn't see any of it. But it was plenty loud and enjoyable. We took a hard pass on dessert. There was no way any more food was going into our tummies. After settling the bill, we waddled back up to the front to get our ECV's. Upon getting there, we found children climbing all over them with no parents around to manage the situation. Now we had the keys with us, so they couldn't be driven. But these ECV's were rented to us and we were responsible. I realize that normally they wouldn't be inside the restaurant, but I didn't want to leave them out in the rain. I sternly told the little darlings to get off the ECV and gave the devil eye to who I assumed were the parents, and we were out the door. By the time we left, the rain had stopped, but it was really cloudy and threatening to rain again. While I wanted to partake in some bar hopping (we were on vacay), Tony was ready to head back to the hotel. We made our way back to the busses and had a pretty long wait since everyone was trying to avoid the weather. Back to the resort and we fell asleep fairly quickly.

July 8th - EPCOT again . .

The next day brought us bright sunny skies and a warm summer Florida day. This was our second day at EPCOT. We were going to do a few things in Future World, finish up the countries and enjoy Illuminations. We had a good plan and shockingly, it went down pretty close to the original plan. With the exception of me having a bit of a bratty moment.

But we'll get there.

We started our day with some photo pass pictures in front of Spaceship Earth. Because I'm obsessed with the big golf ball. And I looked super cute in my pigtails today.





Look - a smile from Tony!!! The frame was surprisingly heavy. But I really wanted that picture. Okay, maybe I had a couple of bratty moments on this day. We then headed over to see Nemo and friends.



I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me to take off my sunglasses.

This is another ride where if you ask the cast member, they will stop the moving sidewalk for easier entrance and exiting. We asked and they did. I always worry about Tony losing his balance and hurting himself, so just asking is no big deal. There are a few rides that the walkway will not stop (Peter Pan and People Mover off the top of my head), but more often than not the cast members go above and beyond to help.

We then had to check out the fishies!





I still want a sea horse. And a giraffe.



That's all the pictures allowed for this post. More to come tomorrow!

 

[cyndiloveswalt]

I’ll have to check out Bongos after your review, looked really yummy!
You totally look adorable in your pigtails!
And Tony is a big meany not letting you have a sea horse and a giraffe!

 

[pattyw]

Bongo's looks good- we've never tried it. Not believing you about being bratty!

A giraffe and a seahorse- why not? Me, I always want to give the lions on the safari a great big hug! DH tells me it probably wouldn't end well for me though!

Like the EPCOT frame photopass picture!

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Your dish at Bongo's looks crazy good! And I LOVE a good Mojito! You were definitely rockin' the pigtails. Cute pics, as always.

 

[Ruthie5671]

July 8th - More EPCOT . . .

We continued wandering around looking at the fishies, and I saw this sign which I really thought was fitting for Tony and I. Although I give him a really hard time and make his life miserable with my non-stop chatter and horrible singing, he is my forever seahorse.

Which I still don't have, but that's just a whole other story.



After leaving Nemo, we went over for another ride with Figment to explore our imagination and a quick zip in Spaceship Earth. There weren't any other rides in Future World that we wanted to do, so we caught the boat to ride across the lagoon. Our first stop was the American Adventure to hear the Voices of Liberty.







I always get the goose bumps when I hear them sing. If you haven't made time to hear them, you absolutely must do it. The show lasts about 20 minutes and it is just so amazing. We did not go into the theater for the movie, although I think it has been updated since the last time we were there. Something to put on the list for the 2019 trip (yes, I've started to plan it).

After hearing the singing, we went to the gift shop (of course) and refilled our water bottles. It was a really warm day, so keeping hydrated was a must. And as a side note, the nicest bathrooms in EPCOT are at the American Adventure. Just a little something special you get from a Ruthie trip report.



We back tracked a bit over to Germany, because I had to have some caramel treats. And Tony had to have a beer. Priorities.







I love watching this train. We spent a lot of time this day just wandering and exploring. This was the plan of two EPCOT days so that we could take the time to see each country and everything they had to offer. It was turning out to be a really nice day.





Yes friends, I am a queen.

Up next - the rest of the countries and dinner.

 

[Ruthie5671]

Love your pictures!
We ate at Yak & Yeti a few years ago and really enjoyed it! It's always so hot at AK- it's nice to have a TS meal to cool off!
Tony has a sweet smile! Yours is a full out beaming smile, but his is that masculine, understated style! You are a cute couple!

Drinking? I'm in!!

Tony never smiles fully, which bugs me. If I can get half a smirk, I have won the battle.

We did drink quite a bit during this trip. That's what happens when they added alcohol to the dining plan!

I’ll have to check out Bongos after your review, looked really yummy!
You totally look adorable in your pigtails!
And Tony is a big meany not letting you have a sea horse and a giraffe!

Bongos was really good. I like trying new things and there are plenty of options to choose from!

Yes, he is a big meanie for not letting me have the giraffe and sea horse. I have shown him the giraffe Pandora charm and said that would be an acceptable replacement option!

Bongo's looks good- we've never tried it. Not believing you about being bratty!

A giraffe and a seahorse- why not? Me, I always want to give the lions on the safari a great big hug! DH tells me it probably wouldn't end well for me though!

Like the EPCOT frame photopass picture!

I did have a couple of bratty moments. Mostly when it had to do with taking pictures, which Tony hates and my not yet disclosed moment later on in EPCOT. And I do think a couple of animals would be fabulous! Everyone has dogs and cats - why not a giraffe and sea horse???

Your dish at Bongo's looks crazy good! And I LOVE a good Mojito! You were definitely rockin' the pigtails. Cute pics, as always.

Thank you!!!

 

[Ruthie5671]

July 8th . . . still more EPCOT . . .

We continued our stroll around the World Showcase. We were taking our time and browsing thru all the stores because it was blazing hot that afternoon. Now I know you're probably thinking "ummm, Florida in July - of course it's hot". Still even with the best preparing, the sun and heat can be a lot to deal with. Even though we used the ECV's, I wore tennis shoes each day instead of flip-flops (my preferred footware for the summer). If it rained, I didn't want to have wet and slippery feet and with the little walking we did, it is just better to wear tennis shoes. My point of this story is that my feet were just hot. And it was uncomfortably hot, which was negatively impacting my mood. I was trying to remain upbeat, but the struggle was real. Nonetheless, we continued our world tour.



Just a little off center. I'm clearly obsessed with pictures of Spaceship Earth.







So because I took literally no notes during the trip, I am having a hard time remembering where the two pictures of us were taken, along with these next pictures of Christmas decorations. Maybe back in Germany? I'm honestly not sure, but I just loved all of these decorated trees and of course the case of beautiful, but very breakable trinkets.





This one was my favorite - love the pinks and purples. Sorry it's blurry. The store was crowded!





Yes, I'll take one of everything.

Our final country we visited this day was Italy, since this was where our dinner reservation was scheduled for. But before dinner, we caught a bit of the show.



More in the next post . . . .

 

[Ruthie5671]

July 8th . . . more EPCOT . . . again . . .

Dinner that evening was Tutto Italia Ristorante.



We had an early reservation, which was fine because it was not crowded and there was little to no wait.

And the air conditioning was blissfully chugging.

It is (for us anyway) always so challenging to choose a restaurant in EPCOT. We actually had a reservation at Rose and Crown for the same evening, but ultimately decided to go with Italian. The food was delicious, so this was a good choice. Again, another thing to do for our 2019 trip.

BTW - did you see the changes in ticket prices for next year based upon the dates you go? I'm very interested to hear how that is going to go. We haven't decided on our 2019 dates yet. Chime in if you have thoughts or heard anything!!

After being seated, we both got water for our beverages. It was just too uncomfortably hot to drink anything else. Our waiter brought us the menus along with olives and bread.



I liked the breadsticks better than the bread. The crust was really dry, even after dipping it into the oil. And the olives were good, but had pits inside. We decided to share a Caesar salad - Romaine, olive crostini, pomodorini, shaved parmesan.

For some reason, I cannot get a picture of the salad to upload, but it was a Caesar salad and it was fresh and yummy.

Tony got lasagna - beef ragu, bechamel, parmesan cheese



This was so good. It was piping hot and had cheese everywhere. Tony was happy with his choice.

I got Pollo alla Parmigiana con Spaghetti alla Chitarra - chicken alla parmigiana, fresh spaghetti and tomato sauce



This was the chef's special and could have easily fed a small country. There was so much food and after the bread, olives and salad, I only ate about half. I could have probably eaten some more, but we were saving room for dessert!!!

Tony and I both got cannoli - Crisp pastry filled with sweet Ricotta, chocolate, candied orange



This was probably the best dessert we had the entire trip. If I could have licked the plate clean, it would have happened. But I have some manners. Or some restraint. I'm not sure which. But the filling was light and the fried crust part was flaky. It was just a perfect combination of yumminess.

We settled up the bill and headed back outside and it was still just miserably hot. This my friends was where my bratty moment happened. We still had a fast pass for Frozen and wanted to see Illuminations, but I was having none of it. I was hot and full and uncomfortable and decided to go back to the hotel. I couldn't imagine another minute being outside and started heading back towards the front of World Showcase. I didn't even give poor Tony a vote. He had started to tell me he would stay and find his way back to the hotel later, but I had visions of him getting on the wrong bus and somehow end up at the Wilderness Lodge with a dead cell phone and no idea where he was supposed to be. So I got even more bratty and told him absolutely not, he was coming with me.

Not my best moment. I really lost some wife points right there.

Imagine the most quiet and uncomfortable journey back to the busses. That was us right then. There was really no line and a bus came quickly (it was only about 6:30 at that point). We got on and rode back to the hotel.

But here is where the story gets better. You know how most busses are so freezing cold that you cannot wait to get out of there? Well for me, it was exactly what I needed to finally feel better. By the time we got back to the hotel, I felt as though I had taken a shower and had a good nap. I just needed to get out of those awful shoes and life would be perfect. We got off the bus and went into the lobby (still completely in silence). I pulled Tony aside and apologized for being a brat. I then told him that I had a great idea. I would zippy zip back to the room and change my shoes and get some cold water on my face and we would jump on the next bus and go back to EPCOT. Yes, we would miss Frozen (that was not a bad thing in his mind) but we would still see Illuminations. And I would buy him a present.

Got back some of those lost wife points.

Up next - so glad we went back.

 

[rdkeim]

Enjoying your TR! We all have the bratty moments.....glad you went back! Anxious to hear how your evening went.

 

[kclark9830]

Aw, I'm glad it all worked out. I'm enjoying your TR!

 

[Ruthie5671]

July 8th . . . the end of EPCOT . . .

When we last left off, I had my biggest and brattiest Disney moment. But I was determined to bounce back from my moodiness with a promise of the best fireworks show in all of the parks and a present that he had been eyeballing for a couple of days. Tony stayed in the lobby while I went back to the room and took off those nasty tennis shoes, put on flip-flops, splashed some cold water on my face and got back to him feeling even better and ready to get back to the fun and merriment. Tony was still a little bit grumbly, but I knew that would pass.

Eventually.

We didn't have to wait long for a bus, as it was not peak time for going back to the parks (it was about 7:30 at this point) and we were back at EPCOT with plenty of time to spare before Illuminations. The gift that Tony really wanted was back at Italy. My no nonsense country boy husband absolutely loves nice cologne. It is his thing (along with Polo shirts and a ridiculous amount of fishing crap) and who am I to argue with a nice smelling hubby? So we went back over to the Italy pavilion and Tony got a very nice - and expensive - bottle of cologne. I don't know the name of it, but it came in a really pretty blue bottle and they had a thing that day where if you bought a certain size they would engrave the bottle. So that is what we got.

I then had a happier husband. Put a few more points in the "good wife" column.

We decided to watch Illuminations in the designated spot for wheelchairs and ECV's. This was right next to Rose and Crown.



It was a perfect evening. Now that the sun had gone down, the humidity had also gone down and there was a decent breeze happening. It was a perfect view. I explained to Tony that the show was not just fireworks and that the entire lagoon would be part of the show.

We waited about 30 minutes for the show to start. And it was so worth the wait and I was so incredibly glad we decided to come back. It had been a long time since I had seen Illuminations and Tony had never seen it. I wish that I had thought to take a picture of Tony's face while we were watching. He was absolutely mesmerized by the show. And I may have cried. Just a little bit.





There's a hidden Mickey in the above picture. Can you spot it?









And it was at this point that I stopped taking pictures because my camera died and I only had a tiny bit of juice on my phone. Tony was using his phone to video, so I just watched the rest of the show. Now I know that there are a lot of people who are glad this is being updated, and I'm sure the new show will be fabulous. But there is a part of my heart that will miss Illuminations.

After the show was over, we waited a bit to let the crowd get out. I was hoping for one more spin on Spaceship Earth on the way out, but the ride was closed. So I settled for a few more pictures.







And that was a wrap for EPCOT.

Up next - how many last minute dining reservations can I get???