You didn’t have to wait in suspense for as long as we found time to write the updates. Now there’s just one more day of pictures to edit… We are glad you found it and joined in.Wow! I got here just in time to read about your trip home! Better late than never
Beautiful photo of the Epcot ball in the distance outside the Japan pavilion at night!We got to the bus stop at 4:08, and the bus came at 4:17.
We sat in the back of the bus by a cute family with two young girls and chatted with the older one, who was about 2. It reminded us of Allie's early Disney trips.
It was fun meeting new people and the kids were so cute.
That was one thing we do enjoy about using the bus transportation, sometimes you meet the nicest people. We made it to the park by 4:30, then went and picked up a stroller. Spaceship Earth had ony a 5 min wait, so we got on it at 4:47.
After we profusely thanked the Phoenicians we went over to the Land Pavillon to ride Soarin’.
It showed a 30 min standby wait, but we had Lightning Lanes from earlier in the day. In line Alllie talked with another little girl who got a pearl necklace on her first trip today. We even got Allie to ride Soaring with us, which is rare since she does not like the "jump scares" and 3D effects on it. She survived though, and since Living with the Land was a walk on we did it and got on a boat at 5:52.
Neither kid particularly likes Soarin’. Marshall calls it a thrill ride which I think is so funny.
Allie used to like it when it was the original version, and she was little. When they switched to the Soaring over the World version the jump scares got to her and she considers it to be scary now. Living with the land was a crowd pleaser though.
After Living with the land we had to visit our favorite purple dragon friend.
It wouldn’t be a Disney trip without seeing Figment.
It was fun, and we walked right on. The DVC lounge was closed by then, so after the ride we went in search of a snack (since we had delayed dinner to 8:30).
We wanted a cream cheese pretzel, and the website said they were at the Odyssey pavilion so we headed that way.
Allie wanted Starbucks so she split and went there by herself. When we got to the Odyssey Pavilion the counter was closed and looked like it hadn’t been open for a while.
It was pretty disappointing.
While we waited to meet back up with Allie, Marshall and I walked back by Test Track to get us a regular pretzel and some Cokes. We sat and enjoyed our snack in the Odysssey pavilion before we went into World Showcase.
When we did go into World Showcase, we walked around and took pictures as we made our way towards Japan. We didn't go into Mexico, figuring we would just have to wait and see what happened with the missing camera. Allie liked posing in different countries and taking pictures with her replacement camera, it saved the trip for her.
It was nice to have plenty of time, we are always late to this reservation but this time we did so well.
We strolled along and got to enjoy another loop through World Showcase. We stopped and looked at art again in the America pavilion, then made our way to Japan.
Since we were actually early, Allie and I continued on towards Morocco and France to get some more pictures there before dark.
Then we met back up with Melissa and Marshall and signed in for our reservation.
It didn’t take very long at all to get the text that it was time to head upstairs. We decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator on the way up.
We didn't want to risk getting stuck and missing out on a great dinner. We were seated with a group of three young people from Orlando. It was another great visit to one of my very favorite restaurants anywhere.
We ordered a volcano roll, which is fun and delicious.
I went with the filet mignon which is my favorite steak anywhere, despite not being a “real” steak since they serve it all cut up with dipping sauce. Mmmm it was so good.
I ordered scallops and generally they are very good but this time, for the first time ever, I think our chef forgot about them and cooked them a little long.
They weren’t the best I’ve had but they were still better than mediocre. Everything else was of course delicious.
By the time we were done with dinner it was 9:50 and the park was closed. We had an eerily quiet walk towards International Gateway, and I took advantage of the opportunity to take lots of empty park pictures.
We dropped off the stroller at the closed rental place and headed out towards Beach Club.
Fortunately their store was open till 11, so we had time to shop there a bit and grabbed some desserts to enjoy in the Solarium.
We really enjoyed the Oreo mousse dessert, both of us got the same thing.
The kids got dessert too but we don’t have any pictures or notes on what they got. I promise they weren’t left out.
We always enjoy taking a break at Beach Club, even if it was late at night. Our transportation plan was to get a Minnie Van from here to save us the long walk back through Epcot, so once we were done with dessert we scheduled our ride.
I think it was a brilliant plan and it worked out perfectly. We weren’t expecting the construction in front of the hotel even though we had heard that the whole Porte cochere was closed we had forgotten so we were surprised at the construction walls when we went in search of our Minnie van.
We had to ask where the Minnie Vans picked up, but saw that it was out beyond the construction fence.
Right on time our Minnie Van arrived at 11:08 PM and was driven by Brandon, a nice young man who showed us all of the different radio channels they have to match the different potential destinations.
They even had Disney cartoons on the seat back screens. It was so nice.
It was a nice quick ride in a new Suburban with Disney themed music, what a great way to end a park day.
When we got back to the lodge the kids stopped at the front desk to check out the pin trading board before we headed upstairs and I noticed something that I hadn’t ever noticed before in all of the time I’ve spent at the front desk in the 100 nights we’ve stayed.
Yes, we had never noticed the animals on the pillars under the registration desk. There are quite a few different ones, just another cool subtle detail of the lodge.
The cast member at the front desk said they all have names but she didn’t know what they were. They are all very cute.
After we went up to the room Marshall and I went down for one more round of mug refills, and we stopped and chatted with Buzz, a night security guard who has worked at the Lodge for years.
He told us some stories about all the different kinds of wildlife that he has seen, especially duriong COVID when the resort was empty. It was a fascinating chat that we all enjoyed. Then we went up to the room and finally got in bed by 12:15.
It was a great last full day of the trip and it felt like we accomplished everything that we wanted to.
Check back for our next update as we begin our travel home day.
