Part 16: Epcot - Friday 5/27 (Day 7)
Biergarten, Illuminations, and More Rides
I was getting slightly anxious spending so much time in Future World because I wanted to spend more time in the World Showcase before the day was out. WS is my favorite part of Epcot, and we hadn't really spent much time there at that point. After we watched Captain EO, it was time to head over to Biergarten for our dining reservation anyway, so we made our way back to World Showcase.
We ducked into Mexico real quick and went on the Three Caballeros ride. I love the Mexico pavilion, but didn't realize they had a new (new to me) ride. There was a boat ride in there before, I think...but this one seemed new (which I later confirmed online). I think they did a nice job with it. After Mexico, we walked pretty quickly through Norway and China. One of my favorite things about World Showcase is the gift shops, which I quickly learned was not high on my SO's to do list.
Once we got to Germany, it was just packed.
The walk-up wait was 40 min., I'm so glad we had dining reservations. Our reservation was at 8:00 p.m., and we were seated within 5 minutes.
I was honestly a little hesitant about Biergarten. The idea of eating with others didn't seem very fun, I generally dislike buffets, and I'm not that familiar with German food.
Well...I loved it! It was one of my favorite meals of the entire trip. The food was great, I shouldn't have doubted Disney. We were seated with another adult couple, and then a family of four (mom, dad, two adorable kids). This was the view from our table:
The ambiance was great. I think we both walked out 10 lbs. heavier. I'll have to try more of the buffets at WDW, I pretty much ignored them until we went to Biergarten.
We left Biergarten and walked out to...rain. I actually love the rain (I grew up in Seattle), even at Disney. On my first trip to
Disneyland in '91, it poured and I have happy memories of running around the park in our yellow Disney ponchos.
We decided to buy ponchos, and found a spot for Illuminations. It wasn't hard to find a viewing spot, as most people were huddling undercover far away from the lake. I managed to get some semi-decent pictures.
After Illuminations, our plan was to go back to Future World to try to ride Soarin' and Test Track. I had to stop in France first, though (it's my favorite area in Epcot). I wanted to hit the bakery, even though I was stuffed
but the line was (as always) super long. I settled for the gift shop. I was so tempted to buy one of these, but the last thing I need is more soap.
I bought these rose and violet flavored candies instead. I bought them during at least one past trip to Epcot, but I think I buy them every time I go, so it's sort of a tradition I guess.
We finished up in World Showcase, and walked back to Soarin'. Extra Magic Hours (9 p.m. to 12 a.m.) had just started. The posted wait for Soarin' was 55 minutes, which was the shortest we saw all day so we got in line. The line for Soarin' is so boring, imo. They have a game but it's still a pretty generic ride line. The actual line only took about 45 minutes, thankfully. I love Soarin' so much, it fits in nicely at Epcot.
After Soarin, we wandered into Mouse Gears. My SO was looking for a Mickey Mouse watch. The one he ended up buying was a little snug (because it was so humid), but now that were home it fits him perfectly.
I bought this t-shirt (which, by the way, is super soft).
It was almost midnight, and I wanted to make sure we rode Test Track so we had to pull ourselves away from the gift shop. At about 11:55 p.m., we got in line for Test Track. The sign said 30 minutes but we walked on in less than 5 minutes (which was nice, because the line was up to 110-120 min. earlier that day). When we got to the front of the line, the CM was trying to enforce the single rider line (so a dad and his daughter couldn't sit by one another). I'm not sure the dad understood what was going on, but it was a little weird for the CM to enforce that when there was *no* line for anyone. My SO and I volunteered to sit separate, that poor little girl looked a little afraid to ride without her dad.
After Test Track, we had to leave because the park was closed
This fountain was in Future World.
We had to leave via International Gateway, so we walked by the France area all lit up at night. It was beautiful at night.
While the boat was super slow taking us to Epcot, it was nice to take back at the end of the day when we just wanted to sit.
All in all, we had a great day at Epcot. It was nice to be able to spend more than 4 hours in a Disney park in one day.
I wish I had more time to look at the selections, I felt rushed making such an important decision! 
It was very impressive. 
Including your own.
! Can't wait to hear about your second day there. We used one day for both parks which wasn't too bad but I could have used another day.
. Didn't buy any ride photos this trip, hehe. 
, definitely one of the better ones we had during the trip (the server at CG was pretty awesome, too). I added my SO's birthday to most of our dining reservations, so they brought him this: 
