Family Disney Trip 2017: Day 5 – Epcot Again

I know I said we went back to Epcot, but hubby and I actually started the day with breakfast at Be Our Guest in the Magic Kingdom! Since we realized we had an extra quick service meal, we figured we may as well.

On our very first trip together, we had dinner at Be Our Guest and I just had to sit in the ballroom. I promised my husband (then boyfriend) we could eat in the West Wing the next time we ate there. Well, the next time was my birthday, so I swore we really could on this trip. Sadly, there weren’t any empty tables in the West Wing, so ballroom it was again! I was totally fine with this, but I did feel bad.

After breakfast, we strolled on over through Fantasyland to find the Neverland wall (where Peter Pan does meet-and-greets) to take a picture with my think of Christmas Peter Pan shirt from boh & company and my black sequin ears with interchangeable bow from my Etsy shop.

Then we headed for the monorail for the trek over to Epcot. 🙂 We wandered through the Art of Disney store, snagged some coffee, then met up with my family to ride Test Track (our first FastPass of the day)!! Our little princess was so excited to see us, which always melts our hearts. She had a blast designing her car and even more fun riding. I always knew she’d be a thrill seeker like her Auntie. 😉

Next up was Journey Into Imagination with Figment, which I have always loved and always makes my husband roll his eyes. Our niece wanted to sit with us on the ride, tho, so he didn’t argue. Afterwards, we took the few steps over to the Disney Visa Character Experience again. We were hoping for different characters but I can’t say we were terribly disappointed that we got to meet Minnie and Pluto again. I just adore them so much and even got a fabulous hug from Pluto when we were leaving. 😀

At that point, we parted from my family and the two of us went in to see the Disney Pixar shorts, which were absolutely fantastic!! I totally didn’t know what to expect but we loved them!! Just, beware, the wait time outside is a complete lie. There’s a sort-of pre-show while you’re waiting to enter the theater and you’re totally allowed to sit on the floor or on the little riser at the front of the room, but the wait time outside seems to always say 10 minutes and it’s longer.

Next was time for our Spaceship Earth FastPass!! I love this ride but I also do not understand how and why the wait is so long sometimes. I don’t know that I consider it a ride worth a FastPass, but I also can’t imagine skipping it and I’m not waiting 45 minutes for it. Dame Judy Dench just kicks ass at narrating and I love everything about it. Plus, it’s a nice cool, dark break from the bright Florida sun.

We finally wandered back to the World Showcase and had a totally random lunch. Hubby wanted fish & chips again from the UK pavilion but I wanted more of the delicious cheese fondue from the Germany pavilion, which was from the Festival of the Holidays kiosk. So we both got what we wanted and hung out in the shade by the fountain in Germany to enjoy our mini feast.

Our dinner that night was on the Boardwalk, so after a bit more wandering through the World Showcase, we picked up the boat at the International Gateway and made our way to the Boardwalk. We sat and people watched, strolled, and rocked in rocking chairs before heading to the AbracadaBAR for some drinks before dinner. They have outdoor seating and, while it was cooling down a bit, we couldn’t resist the beautiful views. I don’t even remember what my husband had but I had The Poinsettia and it was delicious!

Dinner was at Trattoria al Forno and, I have to confess, I didn’t love it. I really liked the atmosphere and my husband’s meal was pretty good, but mine was really just mediocre. I don’t even remember what it was, at this point, which probably speaks volumes. I’m pretty sure it was the Pasta alla Carbonara, which is one of my favorite dishes, especially when prepared in the more classic fashion like this one, but it was just ok. I know for sure I got the Affogato al Caffe with vanilla gelato for dessert and that was fabulous.

We were hoping to catch Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! at Hollywood Studios after dinner, but as we got on the boat to head in that direction, we saw the final fireworks on our way. I will admit I was a little bummed because we also missed the Sunset Season’s Greetings on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood Studios and I heard so many amazing things about all the Christmas celebrations there this year, but we had a great day and night and great trip all around, so I can’t complain. We were pretty tired by that point, anyway, so we caught the bus from HS back to Animal Kingdom Lodge.