DAY 3
December 6th, 2015 - Sunday
Epcot, and Hollywood Studios!
I think I overslept just a tad this morning. I remember rushing around, to the extent that later I realized I forgot to pack something important in my park bag. Uh oh!
We boarded our bus, and I can't remember why, but we were running a bit late for our breakfast ADR. I think we had to wait forever for an Epcot bus, but I could be wrong. I can't for the life of me remember why we were running late, though! I just remember trying to keep panic at bay, and even calling Disney Dining from the bus to find out just how late we could be before we lost our ADR. (The answer, by the way, is 15 minutes.) It would be cutting it close, but I felt reassured that we could make it!
On the way, I also got a text from a friend. See, a good friend of mine from high school, Bruce, and his wife Amie, and their new baby were all in WDW, too! I hadn't seen Bruce in maaaaaany years, and had only ever talked with Amie via Facebook. We knew we wanted to get together, but different plans and schedules were making it hard. They were just staying across the bridge over at Pop Century, and they wanted to come over to AoA and check it out anyhow, so we agreed to meet up there at some point during the week. Amie was texting me that morning to make sure that day was okay, and I told her what time we planned on being back at the resort for our afternoon break, and that I would text her when we made it back. Hooray!
So we got to the park, cleared bag check, and made our way through the turnstiles, we made a sharp left and headed over to the ECV/
Scooter rentals. Why? After the pain of the last two days, Debby decided to try giving a scooter a try today. Hooray! (This made me a very happy girl!) So we got her all saddled up, and off we went!
It turns out mine went faster than hers, so they sent me on ahead to get us checked-in before we ran out of time, and they came up behind me shortly after. We parked our rides, and then patiently waited for my name to be called so that we could head into...
Even thought this was my first time here, I'd already read what the deal was, and knew that we would get thrown into a meet & greet... and photo op... with Belle (my favorite!) that couldn't be escaped! Bahahaha! Picture time FINALLY!
Finally, ya'll get to meet Uncle Mark and Aunt Debby! Aren't they adorable?! And yep, I'm rockin' that tiara for my royal conference with the princesses, of course!
We were sat at our table, which was literally right across from Belle's spot! So we were able to sit and watch others coming in and interacting with her. It was really neat!
Apparently the princesses had just started their rounds in another room, which was fine by us, it gave us plenty of time to hit the cold bar and get whatever noms we wanted from there. Our hot platter arrived shortly after, complete with Mickey waffles (at my request!).
I forgot to take photos of ANY food here, even half-eaten food photos. Sorry! To Google we go!
To hear more of my thoughts on the food and service, visit my Dining Report (with more Googled pictures)
HERE!
And then of course, the ladies started making their way around to visit each of us!
They were all super sweet! Sadly, it was so loud in there, we couldn't hear half of what they were saying to us.
They they all put in the effort anyhow, God love them!
After our delicious royal breakfast, we headed back down to Future World for our first FP+ of the day, and made our way into Spaceship Earth. From there it was over to the Seas pavilion, starting with a FP+ ride on Nemo & Friends, then touring the aquariums. In a fashion unlike myself (again), I took ZERO pictures in here. Not even of my beloved manatees (whom I visited with for quite some time).
Then we headed over to the Land pavilion. I was hoping to sneak in a ride on Living With the Land before our 3rd and final FP, but the line was 45 minutes long. WHAT?
Nope! So we just found a place to sit and rest a bit over near the entrance for our next destination... Soarin'!
Now anybody who followed my PTR for this trip might remember that I was putting quite a bit of thought into how to get Debby on this ride. She heeded my advice that I gathered here, and bought and brought with her the SeaBands to wear to help keep her motion sickness at bay. I passed on all the advice that you all were so kind to provide, including the tip about closing her eyes for a moment during the golf course scene, or any other time she started to feel woozy. So what did she decide? Did she or didn't she take a chance?
SHE DID!!! And she loved it!!!
She did have to close her eyes at parts, but not for too long. I was soooooo proud of her!
From there, we made our way up into World Showcase, and did a bit of exploring. I had a goal for us to get from Canada through America done this day. They weren't all that interested in Canada, but we did spend a bit of time browsing in the U.K. I have quite a number of people in my nerdy circle of friends who are massive fans of Dr. Who. I don't watch it myself, but I couldn't help snapping this pic in one of the shops and posting it to my Facebook just to taunt them...
Also as we left the UK area, I thought this was cute so I took a picture (too bad the lighting it terribad)...
We continued on into France, and murmurs about lunch arose, so we went to check out Boulangerie Patisserie les Halles. This was a bucket list item for me, and so I was happy that Mark and Debby were able to find something they could eat!
Looks good, right? It was some sort of cheesey hammy croissant. It was crazy tasty, as was the frozen coffee and the mousse dessert thingy thing. I'll do my research and go into more detail on my Dining Report over
HERE!
I will say it was craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy busy. Is it always like this? I wish I had taken a photo, it would have been a perfect opportunity to show just how ridiculously crowded the parks were while we were there. We had to stalk down a table, and came very close to just having to eat standing up. I finally spotted one outside, and literally had to bellow across the noisy interior of the restaurant to get Mark & Debby's attention (which I don't think they loved, but I think they were thankful to get to sit and enjoy lunch).
After lunch, as we made our way out, a circle started to form around a couple of fellas, carrying tables and chairs. Sure enough, it was France's street performers. It was very funny, and pretty amazing. I had a great view, so I grabbed my phone to do a video, and... 3% battery. No problem! Reach into my bag for my portable battery charger... And the pocket was empty. And that's when it dawned on me that it was sitting on the nightstand in my hotel room. DOH!
So I decided to try and use that 3% wisely, and wait until a really cool moment in the show to try snap a couple pics. And that moment came, and I snapped... and the phone went black. Dead. Finished. Oh well, I tried!
When the show wrapped up, we made our way over to Morocco, which I just looooove walking around in and checking out all the neat stuff and smells. I adore the way this pavilion is designed, especially once you get deeper into the back of it. We wandered a bit, but didn't buy anything.
Up next was Japan, where I had goals! Again, if you were following my PTR, you know that I had bought and brought with me a couple of pearl cages so that I could do the Pick-A-Pearl but not have to pay for a setting. I took Mark and Debby over to the counter and told them about it, and got Debby to help me pick an ugly hairy gnarly clam. Then they went off to shop, but didn't make it back in time for my turn. So... no photos.
But I did get my pearl, and it was soooooo... unremarkable.
Seriously. Average color, average size. lol. I've done it twice now, and both times got boring pearls. Oh well! I had fun, and it looks cute in the rose-shaped pearl cage that I brought. I wear it every day now (which in this close-up photo I just took today, I can see that it needs to be cleaned up, it's looking bad!):
By this time they were done shopping, where as I hadn't even gotten started, so I didn't get to spend near as much time in here as I like to. I tore off to the very back of the store to the snack foods section, because I always like picking up a few things here. I quickly grabbed two old favorites...
On my way back up front to the counter, I spotted a cute little knick-knack for my desk at work. I love pink, and I love owls, so I brought this little guy home with me...
(The part that looks like brown speckles didn't photograph well... That's actually a very fine gold glitter paint.)
We headed over to the American Adventure next, but I could tell they were pooped and ready for a break, and I'm not enough of a patriotic person to really get excited for this pavilion, so we bypassed it and just made our was around World Showcase, heading back towards the front of the park for a much-deserved break before our evening plans.
As we made our way around, my battery problems continued on. At this point we'd been in the park for about 8 hours, our longest outing with yet. And this poor pink princess scooter from Walker Mobility was strugggggling. I was shocked, because the ones I'm used to renting from
Buena Vista Scooters always carried me through the night. It was creeping along so slowly that Mark was actually pushing me along. I got to thinking about it, and realized that it may not have enough power to get up the ramp onto the bus, much less from the bus stop at AoA allllll the way back to my room in the LM section.
So a plan had to be formed. I told Mark & Debby that I would go to the ECV rental station at the front of the park (where we had to go to return Debby's scooter anyhow), because I knew they would let me plug in for as long as I needed to. They could go on back to the room, and I would hang around and put 20 minutes or so worth of juice into my scooter, then make my own way back to the resort. They were apprehensive, but eventually agreed, insisting that I take Debby's phone that way I could call them if I needed to. No worries, I got this!
As usual, the CMs at the ECV rental station were very understanding and accommodating, and let me pull right into their bay and plug in for as long as I needed to. Since I couldn't walk very far on my own from there without hurting, and my phone was dead... What's a girl to do to pass the time?
SLEEP.
Took me a quick scooter nap while sitting there letting it charge a bit! I woke up from my snooze after the desired 20 minutes, unplugged, and was on my way to the bus! Everything was going swimmingly until I got back to the resort... when it slowwwwwwed down again... Creeeeepin'... I'm moseying along through the Lion King section, praying it makes it alllll the way back to my room! I'm trudging along, slowly but surely, and grumbling to myself, trying to figure out what to tell Amie when I got back to the room to explain my lateness and lack of communication, and bummed that all of it meant I probably wouldn't be seeing them.
I reach the round courtyard thingy between the Lion King and Little Mermaid sections, and I look off in the distance, exiting the Little Mermaid area, and I see a young couple pushing a baby stroller. I stop. I squint. I peer.
Then the guy raises both arms, flailing them at me. IT WAS BRUCE AND AMIE!
When we reach each other, I jumped up and hugged them both fiercely, apologizing profusely for dropping off the face of the earth like that, and explaining what had happened. Turns out that Amie had tried messaging me a few times, but when she didn't get a reply, they decided to go ahead and head over to AoA and walk around, and hope maybe they would run into me. And they DID! I was soooo ecstatic... that I totally forgot to take a picture. Again. Fail.
I couldn't stay and visit too long though, unfortunately. I needed to get that sad scooter of mine back to the room and plugged in, because we had more park touring ahead of us that night. Plus I was POOPED and needed to lay my head down and catch a real nap if I was going to make it. So we said our goodbyes, with hopes to meet back up before the week was over.
By the grace Mickey, my poor scooter did manage to limp all the way back to my room. I got her all plugged in for a couple hours of charging, and popped next door to Mark and Debby's room quickly to return their phone and let them know I made it safely. Then I was back in my own room and CRASHED!
After quite possibly the BEST.NAP.EVER., I got up and freshened up, saddled my scooter back up and asked it nicely to pleeeease get me through the night. The three of us boarded our bus to Hollywood Studios, and upon arrival grabbed a scooter for Debby, then went in search of food. I took us over to the Sunset Boulevard market thingy, since it has such a variety of quick-service options. Strangely, only a couple of them were open, despite the place being packed! So we ended up at Fairfax Fare. But were NOT disappointed!
Can't ever go wrong with chicken & ribs! NOM! (You know what to do... Dining Report
HERE!)
After dinner, we beelined it for the Great Movie Ride, which had a surprisingly short wait. Debby liked the idea of a nice long seated chill-out ride, and this made her very happy! I know it's pretty dated, but I love it anyhow. And the new pre-show film and the new film and the very end (both installed as part of TCM's relatively new sponsorship of the attraction) were really good!
Next we headed over to Toy Story Midway Mania, as I was hoping this late into the evening and Extra Magic Hours was happening now, that the wait would have died down... No such luck. It was at an hour or so.
NOPE! No thanks! Onward!
Originally I had planned on us doing Muppets 3-D next, but we didn't. As much as I love it, Debby let it slip earlier in the day that they don't much care for the Muppets, and I didn't want to make them sit through it. So I skipped it. I realize it'll probably be gone forever before I make this year's trip down, but oh well!
And besides... By this point, I could already see a glow in the sky that was calling to me. That's right, I was headed for the Osborne Lights! Soooo pretttttty! I was really excited, but my companions didn't seem too interested in them. I felt like I was dragging them through, so I didn't stay long. Just enough to snap a few pics...
I love the bikes. I want a bike that that!
As we made our way out of the park and passed by the new Star Wars Launch Bay (in the old Animation Courtyard area), I saw a small crowd, and these guys walking along "policing" the area. I wish I could have gotten a better picture of them!
After our very long day, we returned Debby's scooter, and headed back to the bus. My own wheels did managed to hold out until I got back to my room, which was a blessing! After a quick shower, I snuggled into my clam shell bed for some sleepytime. Tomorrow would be a "rest" day, so I was looking forward to sleeping in a bit!
Up Next... Shopping, More AoA, and Disney Springs!
And it's not her fault that she wasn't feeling well right before we left, either. It took several days to get through that, plus the amount of walking and wear & tear on her feets was understandably overwhelming. But it did cause me to have alter the plans, which was a bummer at the time, but I also understood. 
I couldn't get my iPad to copy this photo of you in front of the white Christmas tree but I wanted to tell you I think it's beautiful! Love the lighting, it's like you're glowing!
Very awesome getting picked for the wand ceremony! The line was always SO long when we were there in Aug. even though the park wasn't crowded, we didn't get a chance to go in 
