19 Years Later- Disney October 2017- Day 8- Hollywood Studios and Epcot

[xAimeex]

Hi! Sorry I'm a little later than planned in posting this! We had such an amazing trip to Paris that I decided I wanted to write a report for that too! I haven't started posting it yet as I want to get a little further ahead in the writing and don't want to fall behind with this report.

Today was another busy day! I hope you enjoy reading about it

Day 8- Sunday 22nd October 2017- Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Teppan Edo Dinner and Illuminations

The alarm was set for 6:45 today but we really struggled to get up! I don't know if it was all the drama of the night before but we both wanted to stay in our beds a bit longer! So we did!


After a brief discussion we decided we would go halves on a taxi and have a little while longer in bed.


Thankfully I was suffering no ill affect from the night before but took the second Dramamine just in case!


We got up just after 7 in the end and got ready. Mum and Dad were meeting us later again so we left them in bed.

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Storm Trooper outfit today! The dress was from Emp


We eventually left at 7:40 and jumped into a taxi at precisely 7:47.


We didn't ask how much it would be and the taxi driver turned off the meter before we got there. He charged us $20 but I don't think the meter would have reached that if it had been left on as the journey didn't seem that long.


I said that seemed a little steep for a fairly short journey but he just insisted that was how much it was so we each paid $10 each.


If we'd left a little earlier we'd probably have used uber but as it was an extra Magic hours morning we didn't want to arrive too much past 8am.


The taxi dropped us off at 7:55 and we headed to bag check.


The lines here were really long so it took a little while.


We eventually made it through the tapstiles around 8:07.


We headed straight to Toy Story Mania as we didn't have a fastpass for it today.

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It was listed as a 15 minute wait on MDE but had jumped to 20 just as we got in line.


It's always nice to ride this standby as the line is full of detail and they play Toy Story music while you wait!


Mr Potato Head was completely gone now although I think he's been reinstated again now Toy Story Land is open! It will be interesting to see if the line is any different now you enter from the opposite side of the building!

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As always Lauren beat me by loads hehe we always enjoy this ride though!

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We finished just after 8:30.


We wanted to go to Star Tours next but because of all the construction walls we had to go around the long way. It will be great when everything is finally open properly at HS! Although imagine what it will be like trying to select fastpasses!

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I hope I love this as much as Great Movie Ride!

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Star Tours was listed as a 10 minute wait but we pretty much walked on up to the pre-ride video!

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This is definitely one of our favourite rides as we love Star Wars and simulator rides!


The person next to me not so much though as she spent most of the ride saying "oh god, oh god" over and over!


We had a brief look in the shop after before heading back to Hollywood Boulevard to get a photopass picture taken and have a look in the shops.

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As we passed the drained Echo Lake where Gertie the Dinosaur is there was a really strong smell where they were repainting it.

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The shops here had the Christmas stock in too which was exciting!


They also had the cutest new range of Ariel homeware! It was new in and we hadn’t seen it in any of the other shops before today!

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I literally wanted all of it! I decided I'd come back later and have a proper look and pick 1 thing I wanted as I already had so many heavy plates etc to bring home!


At around 9:10 we headed over to Sweet Spells to get some breakfast!

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I'm so sad that they've changed this shop/bakery in to a Toy Story gift shop. After the loss of Writer's Stop (which I know is now Baseline Tap but it doesn't sell cakes anymore) and Starring Rolls (which was our old favourite breakfast location) this just feels really disappointing.


It basically forces you to go to Starbucks for the well known treats such as the carrot cake cookie and butterfingers cupcake (if this is even still on sale there).


I like Starbucks don't get me wrong but I don't feel like it has the same character as the other places.


Sweet Spells was really only a counter that sold treats on one side of a store but it was nicely themed with the villains.


I do feel sad that so much of the kind of old school Hollywood theming seems to be disappearing from HS as I love how glamorous it makes it feel!

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How cute are these! They weren’t even filled with popcorn but I still wanted one!


I digress today I had a carrot cake cookie and Lauren had a blue raspberry goofy glacier slush!


We used 2 snack credits but it would have cost $9.36 OOP.


We both enjoyed our sugary breakfast treats! I've seen the carrot cake cookie has changed slightly so I hope it's still as yummy as it always has been!

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We wandered over towards Rock 'n' Rollercoaster as we were due to meet Mum and Dad here for our fastpass at 9:25!

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They arrived a couple of minutes before. Mum had stopped for a vanilla ice latte. She used a snack credit but it would have cost $5.75 OOP!


We headed over to scan our magic bands!


Mum and I only rode this for the first time on our 2016 trip so we were still new to it and we both felt a little nervous!


The same kind of nerves I still feel when riding Expedition Everest for the first time each trip. Even though I know I've done it before the thought of the big drop (or going upside down in R 'n' R's case) puts definite butterflies in my stomach!


After watching the pre-ride video we headed through to the last bit of line. When we reached the front they sent us to the back 2 rows which made me a bit nervous as often rollercoasters are faster in the back.


I can't say I noticed a difference though on this ride, it didn't seem any scarier at the back! Having said that though, in Paris the other week we rode in the front row and I actually found that it wasn't as bad at the start where it goes so fast all of a sudden.


I'm really glad Mum and I go on this now as although we find the start a bit much and the loops a bit nerve wracking it is a really good coaster! I like that it has no big sudden drops in it!

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The ride photo was another winner hehe


We finished here at 9:40 and decided to head over to the Launch Bay as our next fastpass wasn't until 10:35.


I love walking along Sunset Boulevard listening to the old Hollywood music! Especially with all the shops fronts too and the old Hollywood Tower Hotel looming over you at the end of it! It feels like being in a Hollywood movie! We had a look in a couple of the shops along the way where Lauren bought a purse!

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Lauren’s purse. I’m not sure how much this cost though sorry.
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[xAimeex]

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We stopped for a quick photopass picture with Launch Bay in the background before heading inside.

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I had a Storm Trooper bow to match my dress!

We were planning to meet Chewie but his line had jumped to 45 minutes!


Kylo Ren only had a 20 minute queue so we decided to meet him instead.


We got in line at 10 and met him at 10:15 so it was slightly less than 20.


We had met him as a family before and it had been a laugh as he really is quite intimidating!


He was creepy as ever today too hehe. He was happy about my Storm Trooper themed outfit though and thanked me for supporting the First Order!

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Honestly could we be any more awkward haha

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We finished here at 10:20 and Chewie’s line had now jumped up to 50 minute wait so we decided not to bother.


There was a photopass photographer taking photos by the Cantina bar with no line so we stopped for a photo.

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As we still had a little time until our next fastpass we popped in to the shop next door to Launch Bay. Lauren wanted to change in to another Star Wars top so went to the restrooms nearby to put that on. This time she had a reversible sequin Storm Trooper t-shirt, you could have it silver or swipe the sequins to make them black like the Death Troopers from Rogue One!

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Every now and again the Death Troopers patrol rather than the Storm Troopers!


I was still on the lookout for something to go with the melamine Disney plates I'd bought for the children I nanny for.


In here they had Shellie-may cuddlies!

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Shellie-May is basically the girl version of Duffy bear. She has the Mickey shaped face and paws just like her male counterpart.


You can buy them unclothed and then purchase the outfits to go with them a bit like Build-a-Bear.


You can also buy slightly smaller versions that come in outfits already.


They had a really cute smaller one with a Disney tourist outfit on complete with cute quote t-shirt and a pin trading bag (just like the one I have!)


The children are still cuddly toy fans and these just screamed Disney!

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They were $25 each or 2 for $40 so I even saved a bit of money by getting one for each of them!


They came to $42.60 after tax.


I still regret not buying one of these for myself as they're so cute haha.


We still had 10 minutes to kill and saw the storm troopers heading inside to patrol the Launch Bay! We had some really funny interaction with them last trip so went back inside.



We'd missed the Storm Troopers but by a lucky coincidence Boba Fett was meeting out by the Cantina Bar!


We figured this must have been why the photographer had been there earlier practising!


There was no line, just a crowd of people around him and he was basically randomly selecting the people he would meet.

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This felt a bit stressful and unordered hehe but we decided to hang around anyway.


After 10 minutes of waiting we were finally at the front of the crowd and he walked over to us and gestured at us to come with him!


He asked us if we were harbouring any fugitives haha.

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We were really glad we'd gone back in as Boba Fett doesn't meet very often these days since the end of Star Wars Weekends although I wonder if it will become a permanent meet once Galaxy's Edge opens!


We finished at 10:45 so headed over to meet Mum and Dad as they had popped to the shops along Hollywood Boulevard while we waited.

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The march of the first order was due to go past at 11 so we decided to hang around.


They had changed this a little since our last trip and the Storm Troopers and Captain Phasma now line up in front of the stage and then walk forward and stand right in front of the crowds so if you can get a spot at the front of the taped off area opposite the stage you can get some pretty awesome photos.


Unfortunately what we didn't know was that while the stage was down they weren't doing this for the time being.


Instead they simply walked down in a straight line.


The tape on the ground was laid out as though it would be taking place as normal so we staked out a great spot right at the very front!


Unfortunately though this meant that from where we were standing we could only see Captain Phasma as the Storm Troopers were hidden by the crowd behind us.

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This was a bit disappointing as we'd waited in what would normally be a great place but today it had meant we basically didn't see the Storm Troopers at all. Again it was just one of those things that couldn't be helped.


Dad and Lauren headed off after to use their Tower of Terror fastpass while the wimpier half of the family, AKA Mum and me, headed off towards Muppet Vision 3D which is what we'd picked as one of our tier 2 choices instead!

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It was listed as a 15 minute wait but we walked straight in to the pre-ride waiting area with our fastpass.


Using a fastpass on shows like this can be a bit of a waste as although we got in to the room quickly we then had to wait for it to fill up! There wasn’t a lot to choose from in tier 2 before Toy Story Land opened though!

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We eventually made it into the theatre at 11:30!


We ended up in the front row which was nice as you don't get anybody's head in your view! We also sat near the end of the row so we could make a quick exit after! The only thing with sitting so close was that I thought some of the 3D elements weren't quite as pronounced.

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I love Muppet Vision! I know it's a bit cheesy and maybe a little old fashioned now but to me it's a classic!

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We walked through the shop nearby after and I do wanted to buy this sign but it was $150 and I really didn’t think I’d have the space to get it home


We finished here at 11:45 and headed over to the ABC Commissary to meet Lauren and Dad for lunch!

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They didn't arrive until 11:50 as there was only 1 lift working on Tower of Terror so they'd had to wait a little while even in the fastpass line.

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It looked as though it might have rained a bit while we were inside as we could see people carrying ponchos but thankfully it had passed now!


We headed inside to go and order our food.

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They had a CoCo themed cupcake on the menu! If desserts still came with counter service credits I’d definitely have got one!

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There was a cast member at the door who was very impressed with Lauren's reversible sequin top!


It was nearly 11:55 by the time we headed in. Dad and Lauren ordered chicken strips while Mum and I ordered bacon cheeseburgers (minus the bacon for Mum). I was quite tempted by the chicken and rib combo but decided to play it safe with the burger instead!

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Dad and Lauren had sprite to drink, Mum had a bottle of water and I went for a strawberry lemonade slush as I love these!

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We used 4 CS credits but it would have cost $60.44!


Mum and Lauren went to get a table while Dad and I waited for the food.


They had left the bacon off of both burgers so I sent mine back to have it added.


The food was all really good! The burgers were delicious and a lot better than the ones we'd had here the year before!


Dad and Lauren both really enjoyed their chicken strips too!


ABC Commissary will never win any awards for theming and although in our experience the food has generally been good I know it does sometimes have its off days but if you catch it on a good day it's one of our favourite counter service restaurants at Hollywood Studios (granted there aren't many to pick from and this one holds nostalgia for us having eaten there as children.)


We left at 12:20 and headed over for our last fastpass of the morning for Star Tours!

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I really wanted to go in and get a picture of the Writers Stop letters but we never got round to it

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After we'd scanned our bands and were waiting to be sent to the lines to watch the pre-ride video Lauren went on My Disney Experience to try and book us a 4th fastpass for this evening in Epcot and managed to get us one for the Illuminations Viewing area! This was a result as it’s a tier 1 option but we'd never pick it over Soarin', Test Track or Frozen Ever After!


Talking of Frozen, we also had anytime fastpasses for that tonight as it had gone down on our last visit and we hadn't been able to use our pre-booked fastpasses so guest services had moved them for us! It was already shaping up to be a great evening!


As it was a Sunday we were expecting Epcot to be busy with Food and Wine Crowds so it was nice to know that we'd be able to get a decent spot for Illuminations!


We made it on to Star Tours at 12:30. One woman had to move as her seat belt wouldn't fasten properly.


As I said before this is one of our favourite rides and now each video is slightly different, riding it never gets boring!


We finished at 12:40 and decided to head out of the park as it was quite hot now and between the 4 of us we'd been on all the rides.


We stopped for a look in the shops on Hollywood Boulevard again so we could have a proper look at all the Christmas stuff!

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[xAimeex]

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Lauren spotted the cutest Disney Christmas jumper that we both knew we had to have!


It was cream with a tartan Minnie Bow on! They are such cute jumpers!

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They cost $42.59 each after tax. We were very pleased with our purchases!


I also popped into the shop where I'd seen the Ariel homeware as I wanted to buy something from it!

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I loved all of it and was very tempted by the vase but I was worried about having the space to get it home.


Instead I picked a cute little bowl! It cost $15.42 and is just so pretty!

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Excuse the chipped nail varnish!

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The CM serving wrapped it well!


We left after and got to the bus stops at 1.


We were granted some bus luck and one turned up at 1:02! That rarely happens to us in the afternoons at Hollywood Studios so it was nice to have a bit of bus luck today!


After dropping at Kidani Village first we eventually made it back to Jambo House at 1:20.


When we got back to the room the others all had a nap. I decided rather than lying awake in the room and going on my phone I would sit out on the balcony today and watch the animals!


The giraffe were over our way so I happily sat watching them, mesmerised like a child! I could have sat there all afternoon!


This was another bonus of being able to come later in the year for this trip, it would have been too hot and humid to sit out for this long in August.


It started to absolutely pour down at 3:10! Proper Florida rain which we hadn't seen for a while as our August 2016 trip was so dry!

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As the balcony is covered I felt nice and safe on there and moved my chair into the corner so I didn't get splashed but could sit and watch the rain passing over!


By 3:20 it was time to go in and wake the others so that we could get ready to go out again.

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I had an Alice in Wonderland themed outfit on tonight! The ears are made by Modern Mouse Boutique on Etsy

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My Alice dress was from Hot Topic


In my notes it says that they didn't appreciate my singing hehe no idea what I was singing but that is an ongoing theme in our family. I love to sing and it used to drive my family mad at times when I lived at home hehe although my Mum did recently tell me that she misses it now haha.


We left the room at 3:45 to go down to the bus stops. We were having dinner at Teppan Edo tonight which is one of our favourite restaurants!


The Epcot bus was listed to arrive at 4:02 but turned up a couple of minutes after at 4:04. The rain had passed now but it still felt very grey out.


We were pulling in to Epcot at 4:20 but we stopped at about the furthest bus stop you could possibly be dropped at so by the time we'd walked to the entrance and gone through bag check etc if was 4:30 by the time we actually got in to the park.

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As I mentioned It was a Sunday and we'd read that Food and Wine was particularly busy on the weekends with locals coming and it certainly felt pretty busy! Spaceship Earth had a 35 minute wait and World Showcase felt rammed so we were glad we had a table service meal tonight and weren't planning to go to the booths!

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We reached Teppan Edo at 4:45 and checked in. We were given a buzzer for when our table was ready.


As we walked up the steps there was a photopass photographer on the balcony.


We'd never seen a photographer up here before so Lauren and I decided to stop for a couple of pictures!


The photographer was amazing though and took loads of photos and orchestrated a mini photoshoot hehe it started to rain and she was very excited to be able to use one of her props for a magic shot of us shading Remy from Ratatouille from the rain with a tiny umbrella!

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Lauren’s retro Epcot top was from Red Bubble and her ears were made by Bibbidi Bobbidi Brooke!

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Remy was missing from this one unfortunately! It always makes for a funny picture when the magic isn’t added to a magic shot though as it looks like we’re staring adoringly at Lauren’s hand while I hold up a little umbrella for it hehe


Just as we finished taking photos our buzzer went off which was good timing so we headed inside and up to Teppan Edo!

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The restaurant is communal dining with stations that seat 8 around a grill. This means that unless you're a large party you will be sat with strangers. This isn't something we mind and we've always been lucky to be sat with very nice people!


Thankfully today was no different! We were sat with an older couple who mostly kept themselves to themselves and a gay couple who were lovely and chatted to us for most of the meal about Disney and all our various jobs etc.


We were seated at 4:50. The staff are always so nice here and as always we had the loveliest server.

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After she had taken our orders she kindly joined our chopsticks together with an elastic band! We'd love to be skilled enough to eat with separate chopsticks but we aren't and they don't bat an eyelid if you're a grown up and ask for them to be joined!


The meal is served in parts with your main dish cooked in front of you on the grill!


You start with salad, followed by sticky rice (which used to be amazing, I think it was beef flavoured, but now is just plain rice and really not worth eating anymore unless plain dry rice is something you enjoy) before they serve you noodles cooked fresh on the grill!

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Sauces- the white sauce is yum yum sauce which is kind of like a mayonnaise or ranch dressing and the other is ginger

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You then have your meat/fish option (they do have vegetarian options too). One thing we have found with Teppan Edo is that because of the way the food is cooked you often get your noodles much earlier than the meat.

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This means you either eat your main in 2 separate halves or you wait but then the noodles are going cold.


We usually just eat it separately but this might not be for everyone.


Today Lauren ordered the steak and chicken, Mum just shrimp, Dad went for chicken and shrimp and I picked the fillet minion cooked medium rare!


Our chef was amazing and so lovely! She was called Matsumi.


The show she put on was fantastic although some of the timings were a little off in terms of the food.


My steak went on last which meant I was waiting quite a while for mine and Mum who's shrimp had been cooked first had completely finished before I even got mine. Dad also had a really long wait between being served his shrimp before the chicken was ready.

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I do get though that it must be really difficult trying to keep track of what's cooking and how long everything has had though.

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Shrimp

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Chicken. There was more of it but I forgot to take a photo at first



The other thing we found was that Lauren and I were served our noodles last and had considerably less that the side of the table that had been served first.


These were very small negatives though and the overall meal and quality of the food was fantastic as always! My steak was cooked to perfection!

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In fact our chef was probably one of the best we've had in terms of the show factor of the meal. She sang the Mickey Mouse song as she made a hidden Mickey in the oil! As she was building the onion volcano she said it was Japanese Jenga. She threw the pepper grinder up in the air and caught it behind her back and did a dab as she was so pleased she'd caught it haha. They also do a trick where they throw the shrimp tails up and catch them in their hat, she missed a couple and told us all it was because it was windy hehe.

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…Continued


After we'd finished eating our main courses our server brought round the dessert menus.

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I had really enjoyed the mango mousse cake when we'd eaten here the year before so I went for that again as it was such a light cake and I love mango flavoured anything. Mum took my recommendation and went for the same!

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Thankfully it didn't disappoint again!


Lauren and Dad had soft serve vanilla ice cream. I haven't taken a picture of it though sorry.


The meal came to $182.87 but we used 4 table service credits and left a $34 tip.


We said goodbye to our table mates and thanked our server.


We finished here just after 6 and headed down for a visit to Mitsukoshi.

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The squirrels here are so tame! Probably because there are some guests who feed them


This is the gift shop in the Japan pavilion and probably the best store in the whole of World Showcase!


It has had a makeover since the last time we visited and is now much brighter and better laid out. The pick a pearl counter now has its own separate area rather than being stuck out in the middle like it was before.


It still sells just as many weird and wonderful products as before including the food section where you can pick up some more unique treats to take home.

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A dog face mask (for humans I assume but it was hard to tell haha)

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I feel like the man in green posed for this photo hehe

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Last year I bought my boyfriend back some hi-chew sweets (they're not chewing gum) and we both loved them so I picked up three packets to share.

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One of my Disney traditions is buying a fan from Japan (well the Japan pavilion at least) and having my name written on it in Japanese. They do this here at no extra cost, you simply ask the cast member at the register when you pay.


As we were moving in together I decided to pick up a fan for my boyfriend as well with his name written in Japanese on it so he could be part of my tradition too

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The cast member at the till was so lovely. When I asked her to write mine and Stuart's names on the fans she said she loved my accent and that I sounded like an elegant princess! I've never been told I sound like a princess before so that made my night hehe.


The fans and the hi chew sweets came to $17.65.


After I'd finished paying we left the Japan pavilion and walked over towards Norway. As mentioned above we had an anytime fastpass for Frozen Ever After!

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The globe was out ready for Illuminations tonight!

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It was so lovely to walk around there and not feel like we were melting. The rain had made it much cooler but it wasn't chilly!


We reached Norway at 6:30 and went to scan our fastpasses!

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It was a 75 minute standby wait and even the wait in the fastpass line was quite long.

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While we were waiting the little girl behind me got really excited when she spotted the Wendy button (badge) on my backpack. It was a custom one from Lost Princess Park Pins. Her mum asked me where I had bought it as her daughter was a huge fan of Peter Pan and Wendy. The little girl was really sweet so I let her have the button!


I felt like that was my good deed done for the day!


We waited around 15 minutes but eventually made it on to the ride.


As much as we loved Maelstrom, this ride is very cute and the animatronics are fantastic! I love how sparkly it is too!

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We got off the ride at 6:50 and stopped for a look in the gift shop after.


They had some really cute merchandise for the Christmas short that was about to be released. I love Anna and Elsa's dresses in this film and was secretly quite gutted that the Elsa costume didn't come in adult sizes haha.

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How cute is this!

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After we'd passed through all the Frozen merchandise and into the Norway gift shop Dad spotted a shirt he liked but unfortunately they didn't have it in his size.

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My favourite chocolate miniatures!

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They’re cheaper at Gatwick though!

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These sounded amazing and I liked the name too!

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This wasn’t the jumper Dad was after haha the one he liked was a bit less jazzy than this


We left here at 7 and decided to calling at the next pavilion Mexico for a ride on the Gran Fiesta Tour with the 3 Caballeros!

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Unsurprisingly it was a walk on but we love this ride!

Continued below…

[xAimeex]

…Continued

When we finished here we decided to walk over to the Odyssey building which used to house a restaurant but these days is another mostly un-used space in Epcot.


It was open for the Food and Wine festival as the Craft Beer stop was in here and also an Epcot 35 exhibit!

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They had lots of beautiful concept art and models from the planning stages of Epcot including all the different countries around World Showcase!

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Continued below…

[xAimeex]

…Continued

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Sorry for the photo overload! There was lots of interesting information and it was a really lovely walk round seeing all the pictures. I'm so glad we got to visit while this was on. I'm not sure if they’ve kept it open but in my mind it should be open for everybody to see all the time. I love learning about the history of the parks!


We left at 7:30 and decided to go and ride Nemo but stopped along the way at Club Cool for a refreshment.

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The drinks station we were using had the sticker missing for the Beverly. This is the famously disgusting drink from Italy.


We thought it would be funny to get Dad to try some without knowing what it was. Disappointingly though he didn't mind it and actually said it didn't really taste of anything!


We carried on over towards Nemo. Again no surprises here it was a walk on.


This is another ride that we really enjoy. We appreciate the small rides as much as the thrilling ones!


Next up we decided to pop over to the Light Lab! Another food and wine stop. This one is inside one the old Innoventions building behind club cool. It's inside because it's an ultraviolet bar!

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The Epcot timeline that had been down on our last trip was back up!

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We had read that this sometimes built up lines to get in but at this time, 8pm, it was mostly empty.


The theming is fantastic! It looks like a chemistry lab in there with test tubes and black boards on the wall! Very well thought out!

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They mostly sold drinks here (all glow in the dark) but we wanted to try the Glownut!


Yes a glow in the dark donut. A fun novelty but really just a standard donut with white icing that glowed underneath the ultraviolet lights hehe.

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It was very yummy though! It cost $3 so we didn't use a snack credit as it wasn't very good value.


We shared one between the four of us as we were still really full from dinner and as I said it really is just an average donut that you can get anywhere. A nice sweet treat though!


When we finished here we went to find the line for the Illuminations fastpass area.

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These days the viewing area is opposite the American Adventure pavilion in the area between the 2 port of entry shops.


We got there at 8:10 and it was already impossible to work out where the line ended. There was already people saving spots who didn't have fastpasses in the area where people who did were waiting so it was hard to tell who was in the line and who wasn't.


We eventually managed to trace back to the end though.


They opened the entrance at 8:20 and again it was really confusing as to who was moving and who wasn't but we eventually made it in!


The fastpass area is pretty big so we still managed to get a spot along the front row!


There is a small fence that lines the lagoon but it was a pretty fantastic view still! We were really pleased we'd managed to pick these fastpasses up on the day!

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This also just so happened to be the first spot we ever watched Illuminations from, nearly 20 years ago now! We still remember that Dad had tried to film it and accidentally forgot to press record so had watched the entire thing through the tiny view finder (old school camcorder days!) and barely seen it and then didn't even have the footage to watch it back when we got home hehe. Poor Dad!


It was quite nice to sit and chill for half an hour without feeling like you had to guard your spot from people turning up last minute and trying to squeeze in.


Illuminations started at 9 and was perfect as always! I think it's pretty likely that the rumours of its days being numbered are true now although I don't think Disney have officially said it yet (correct me if I'm wrong- ETA- oddly they literally just announced it today, sad times, we will really miss it!) but we'll be devastated to see it go. It has always been one of our favourite night time spectaculars and the music still gives me goosebumps and makes me teary every time!

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We headed out as soon as it finished. One bonus to watching from this side of World Showcase is that it does give you the advantage of getting ahead of the crowds walking towards the bus stops!


This definitely worked in our favour as when we reached the AKL bus stop there was only a few people ahead of us and a bus just pulling in! Hooray for bus luck!


We left at 9:25 after the bus had filled up and were back at Jambo House at 9:45 after dropping at Kidani Village!


Mum and Dad stopped off in the shop for a packet of trail mix. They used 1 snack credit but it would have cost $5.79. I don't have a picture of it though sorry.


We didn't go down to the hot tub tonight as Lauren and I wanted to wash and dry our hair. It was nice to have a bit of time chilling in the room! Especially after how eventful our 2 previous nights had been hehe.


We eventually went to bed at 11. We'd all had such a lovely night (and day overall but Epcot just felt very relaxed despite the crowds! we definitely went to bed with smiles on our faces again!


Thanks for reading x

[collybird]

I am pleased to hear you’re doing a Paris trip report, I don’t normally read DLP reports (because they’ll only make me want to go!), but I’ll make an exception for yours.

I’ve never seen that Ariel range before, it’s beautiful.

Thank you for the tip about RnRC not feeling as fast at the front, and saying it doesn’t have any big drops.

I didn’t know that Duffy and Shellie-May’s faces were Mickey-shaped, how can I not have noticed that!? My mind is blown!

ABC Commissary looks really good!

I love the Christmas sequin ears, if I see them anywhere this year I’m definitely picking up a pair.

That was very sweet of you to give the little girl your button.

I didn’t know about that Epcot 35 exhibit, I am gutted we missed that, it looks incredible.

That’s an amazing Illuminations spot, I didn’t even realise it had moved. We are going to pop to Epcot just for Illuminations one day so hopefully I’ll be able to snag a FP+ too.

P.S. I think it’s really sweet your mum said she misses you singing at home.

[summersun]

great day and fab pics x

[mick]

A busy but good day and some lovely photos

Joan

[Goldia]

I'm not surprised you wanted a little more time in bed this morning you've been going for it all holiday. Still, you made it to HS for EMH.

I totally agree with you about the lack of breakfast options there, it was the same for us this summer. Also, we love star tours as well, I know it's a simulator, but it's really well done and as you say it's a different story every time.

The Alice dress is really cute. I liked the photo shoot photos at Teppan Edo, the one without Remy is pretty funny. We haven't been to Teppan Edo for a few years, although last year we went to Kobe steakhouse on I drive which is the same thing, I think we might have to try and save a spot for TE for next year.

I'm gutted about illuminations going. It's a fab show that we like watching it from all over world showcase. I like the music, I like the sentiment, I like it all. I'm really going to miss it. I read that it's going summer 2019, I hope we get to see it one more time, but I think we might miss out as I feel maybe they will want the new show to premiere at the start of summer and we don't go until August. Fingers crossed this is another Disney delayed opening like Rivers of Light which kept getting put back.