Tuesday
It was Tuesday and we were going back to Epcot to enjoy the day. We just made it to the park for our first fastpass, Spaceship Earth, literally with just about 15 minutes to spare. We got in line to begin our journey to the future.
We had some time before our next fastpass at Figment, so we went to drop off my medication at First Aid. We decided to go into the past and learn about energy and dinosaurs at Ellen's Universe of Energy. This 40 minutes takes you into the past where energy began and even though most of the animatronics don't work or Ellen and the Elasmosaurus are missing, I still enjoy this attraction. After being cooled off in Universe of Energy it was time for a quick bathroom break. My sister and I headed over to Figment. This is one of my favorite attractions as Figment is one of my favorite Disney characters.
It was time for lunch at the Electric Umbrella. Now the Electric Umbrella is probably one of my favorite counter services in Disney World. You probably think I am nuts with how busy it is all the time. This time they have this French Dip Burger. It a 1/3 pound Angus burger with beef brisket, crispy onion straws, and muenster cheese served with grapes or fries. It is quite good and I enjoyed it not once but twice on this trip. For dessert they now have a chocolate cupcake that reminded me of a bakery that we have here near my house.
It was then time to head over to The Land pavilion and experience Soarin' over California. An adventure like no other, I love this attraction as it is my favorite attraction in Epcot. Hang gliding over California where you can literally smell everything like you really are hang gliding over California. Disney Imagineers are really amazing. After soaring over the west coast it was time to take a stroll around the countries for the afternoon before our dinner reservation at Coral Reef.
We first headed through Canada to enjoy "O Canada!" a fourteen-minute show hosted by actor Martin Short. This 360 degree circle theater has no seats so you must stand to enjoy the show. It was interesting as I haven't seen the show in quite some time. It was time to stroll the rest of the countries.
Now this is all leading up to Norway which as we discussed this week is under major renovation with the new 'Frozen Ever After' attraction coming to the pavilion. I took some photos around Norway and of the walls that are surrounding what is to the come of the area.
It was almost time to head over to The Sea pavilion for dinner but first it was time to stop at First Aid to pick up my medication. It was just about time for our reservation at The Coral Reef so we headed over for dinner under the sea. This is another restaurant that I hadn't been in years. For dinner I had the Grilled New York Strip Steak that is served with cheddar mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and a bercy butter. It was delicious but that wasn't even the best part of the meal. The dessert was exceptional and simply the best dessert I had while there. I had the Turtle Cheesecake which is a caramel cheesecake in the shape of a turtle with hazelnut praline and chantilly cream. I raved about this dessert even when I came home.
After dinner we headed over to The Seas with Nemo & Friends. Another one of my favorite attractions in Epcot, you get to dive into the big blue world. The seas pavilion is amazing and the aquarium with all the fish makes it that much better. We took some pictures in The Sea pavilion before we headed off to Mouse Gear. We planned on staying for Illuminations that night so we still had time before we stopped to find our spot for that.
After a visit to Mouse Gear, it was time to head over to World Showcase to find our spot for Illuminations. I'm not going to go into great detail into this great show of fireworks and the reflections of Earth. I'm just going to let the pictures show how beautiful it is.
That ended our day at Epcot, the next day we were heading back to the Magic Kingdom.
Wednesday
This was going to be our last day in the Magic Kingdom so besides our fastpasses that we had it was going to be kind of a relaxing day to enjoy the beauty of it all. We arrived mid morning and just all around took it easy that day. I don't have many pictures until later in the day. We headed over to the Haunted Mansion for a ride with our favorite ghosts. That ride never gets old and is a classic attraction that has to be seen every trip. We had reservations for lunch at Be Our Guest. I'm not sure if I like lunch or dinner better as we just had lunch there this trip. Dinner is great I know because the steak is perfect at dinner but lunch the carved chuck roast beef sandwich was delicious as well.
After lunch we headed back over to the Mine Train for our first fastpass of the day. Again I say one of the best attractions imagineers have created. We then headed towards Tomorrowland for our fastpass with Buzz. I won again in this friendly competition of a ride. My family and I headed over to the Carousel of Progress for a mid-afternoon break. Before we headed to our last fastpass at Big Thunder Mountain. We headed over to Main Street to enjoy Festival of Fantasy parade one more time.
The parade once again was wonderful but we still had one last fastpass at Big Thunder Mountain. We headed over to Frontierland for the "wildest ride in the wilderness." The Magic Kingdom has so many great and classic rides. It is simply one of my favorite parks in Disney World. After our wild ride it was time to head to Main Street and the Emporium before we headed off to the Polynesian for dinner. At the Emporium we picked up some souvenirs for our family and ourselves. It was getting time to say goodbye to the Magic Kingdom and head off to dinner.
We headed to the monorail to get over to the Kona Cafe at the Polynesian, one of our favorite restaurants in all of Disney World. Now the Polynesian is one of my family's favorite resorts as we have stayed there multiple times when I was younger and most recently a few years ago as well. I knew about the renovations to the lobby are but I still miss the waterfall in the center. Maui, the Polynesian's official mascot has replaced it.
The Kona Cafe is amazing, the ginger-rubbed steak that has since been replaced on the menu was excellent. I have a new favorite dish though, the Pan-Asian noodles with chicken are quite delicious. My mother had the grilled New York strip steak with bacon molasses butter another very exquisite dish. My sister and father both had the grilled curry-crusted lamb chops. I was going to skip dessert but then I saw the Kilauea torte, my arm was twisted and I just had to have it. We decided to head around the resort and look around at all the new and exciting things at the Poly. A visit to Trader Sam's Grog Grotto was a must we couldn't get inside because of how busy it was. We decided to head outside to the Tiki Terrace out there. Another great job by imagineers on this bar/restaurant.
After our visit to Trader Sam's it was time to check out what else the Polynesian had to offer. So I took a quick stroll around the resort and snapped some photos of the new pool area and the bungalows. After that it was time to go back to the Art of Animation to enjoy the pool. Here are the photos of what I saw at the Poly.
It was off to the monorail to the Magic Kingdom to catch our bus back to Art of Animation. It was a bittersweet day all capped off by swimming at our hotel in the Big Blue Pool I have one last photo a view of the bungalows at the Poly as a boat makes its way to the park from the Magic Kingdom bus area. It is beautiful and serene as your looking over the water to end the day at the parks.
This ends part 2 of my trip report and we are now half way through the trip with 3 days left. Be on the lookout for part 3 it will be up soon.
