12 Days at Disney Feb2018 Trip Report - Day Seven
Woke up to news that in our home town, schools had closed due to winter weather (lots of snow). Meanwhile in Orlando, it was the picture of pleasant with a projected high of 82 degrees. February was a great time to travel considering weather.
Somehow, I had also woken up and got showered well before anyone else was ready to move, so I went over to Polynesian's Quick Service, Captain Cook's,, and got some tonga toast and drinks to bring back to the room. We had a lovely little breakfast in the room and on the patio until everyone was ready to head to EPCOT at about 9:45. It was a later start for us, but that was okay. Sometimes you need to rest a bit.
We saw Turtle Talk. While my kid isn't so little anymore, and this show is for little kids, it is still amusing to all of us to watch it. Every time the kids ask the silliest questions. This time it was "Have you ever been to Australia?" and "Do you live in Australia?" right after Crush had just finished explaining how he was from Australia. Crush is so patient with the little dudes and dudettes.
After this, we wandered the Sea Pavilion for a little bit. Not a whole lot because we had a FastPass for Frozen Ever After, but enough. I could really spent much more time in there. It's always somewhat surprising that there is a legit aquarium just sort of hiding right in the middle of a theme park. I mean, that could be a destination in itself.
Anyway, the time to head to Frozen Ever After was approaching, so we began to hightail it over there only to be distracted by the mural painting for Festival of the Arts. This was really cool. You got a cup with a color and a brush and then were allowed to paint 5-6 squares in your color. When the mural was done, it was displayed over by where the Energy pavilion used to be. It was really fun. And somehow my 11-year-old got paint on her nose, and none of us know how that happened.
Painting the mural at the Festival of the Arts
My first impression of Frozen Ever After was that I don't need to spend a top tier FastPass (or Lightning Lane) on it, but it IS way better than Maelstrom was. After Frozen, we wandered Norway a little bit and popped into a really nice art store where I basically wanted everything.
We then headed to our 12:15 ADR at Via Napoli. I have quite the fondness for Via Napoli. I don't think I'll get to eat there next time I go as we want to reduce our ADRs and snack a little more instead. We're at that point where none of us requires the promise of a square meal anymore and can easily survive on quick service and snacks. But if I weren't reducing my ADRs, I guarantee Via Napoli and Rose and Crown make my short list for World Showcase. We already talked about Rose and Crown earlier in the trip report. What I love about Via Napoli is pizza is not too expensive, but the flavors are fantastic and the crust is amazing. It's basically really really really good pizza, with really good service, and really good drinks (gotta have my limoncello). We shared a pepperoni, a prosciutto e melone (my old favorite), and a capricciossa (my new favorite). All of it was really delicious.
My beloved limoncello at Via Napoli
After this, we stumbled over to the Japan pavilion so I could show my now-tween the Mitsukoshi department store. Matsuritza was playing - they are one of my favorite sounds of EPCOT with their taiko drumming. I was really sad when they were cut for a while during the pandemic, but now I hear as of September, THEY ARE BACK. YAYYYY! I could watch Matsuritza at the Japan pavilion forever. Family had to drag me away or I would've made them stand there for the whole show. We also strolled the garden, such a surprisingly beautiful place in the middle of a theme park.
We were getting kind of tired at this point, so we took the boat from the Morrocco pavilion back to the UK pavilion and Futureworld, thereby cutting out a good portion of the walking we might have had to do. We had a FastPass for Spaceship Earth which is a sentimental favorite of mine, and mom wanted to shop since it was her second to last day and she had not yet found The Perfect Shirt, so we split.
Gardens at the Japan pavilion
Now, here's some advice about splitting: Those of us experienced with Disney already know that if your party is going to split up, you need to name a very specific place where you will meet. I thought I had. I said we'd meet back at the Fountain of Nations. Here's what I learned - If you use a name for a place like that, make sure everyone is familiar with exactly what place you are naming as they might not know it by name. And make sure all parties agree to have their phones on. Not doing the latter two is how we managed to sit for an hour at two different fountains at EPCOT while calling a line that didn't answer. Don't be us.
Anyway, by the time we reunited after an hour in the hot sun (well, my husband, daughter, and I were in the sun at the FOUNTAIN OF NATIONS but my mother was in the shade, at least at the entrance plaza fountain), we were all a little bit cranky. So first stop back at the resort was to get Dole Whip floats with rum.
We took our afternoon rest, then headed back into the fray at around 5:30, heading to Animal Kingdom. First stop, Pandora at Night, and a little Satuli Canteen. This time we shared some things: a beef bowl on potatoes with creamy herb sauce, and cheeseburger bao, which we agreed was not quite as good as the curry bao, but the husband doesn't like curry. My kiddo had a wagyu hot dog which was fine, and mom had her blueberry mousse dessert again, though I believe my kiddo ate most of grandma's dessert.
After this, my mom wanted to shop some more, so we split again. This time she headed back to the Grand Floridian to shop and then back to the Polynesian via monorail to begin packing as she was leaving the next day. The rest of us went to go see Rivers of Light. Glad we decided to try it standby so that I could see how silly it was to FastPass it as my mom and I had tried a few days before. Standby was so easy. We walked right in about a half hour before the show, found a nice seat near the front, and didn't have to wait very long. Granted, it was a day with two shows and we were going to the final show of the day, so maybe there are days that it did sell out. The show was just ok, though. I wouldn't waste a FastPass or Lightning Lane or whatever on it.
Rivers of Light
After this, the crowd was a bit slow moving exiting, but that's normal. We exited via Dinoland and caught a Tree of Life Awakening on the way out, which was very neat. I wish I had seen more of those this trip. But again, because it was the last show of the day, the bus back to the resort wasn't even full, which was a surprise, so it was a pleasant evening.
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