2022 Disney World Vacation Day 6 - Epcot

Friday, April 8 was our last day at Disney World, and we ended on a high note in Epcot.  We woke up to clear blue skies, abundant sunshine, no humidity (a rarity for Florida), and a high of only 73 degrees.  Absolute perfection.

B and I set our alarms for 6:55 AM so we could get our lightning lanes at 7 AM (Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After), and once those were secure, we got showered and ready for the day.  The park opened at 8:30 AM to the public, so we were able to go in at 8, and we left our hotel room at 7:50 to get over there.  Epcot was the closest park to our resort, so the drive wasn’t long at all, and we were walking in the gate by 8:15 AM!

We had planned to run to Test Track first, but the ride was temporarily closed, so we opted for Soarin’ Around the World instead… one of my favorite rides in all of Disney World!  We only had to wait about five minutes for that one, and we were on!

After Soarin’, we ran over to The Seas With Nemo & Friends and we walked right on that one.  Seriously, there was no wait whatsoever… the only time it took to get on was the walk through the queue. 

Test Track still wasn’t open at that point, so we walked over to Spaceship Earth to ride that next.  On the way, we passed a PhotoPass spot, so we stopped there briefly to take pictures and they are all so cute!

When we got to Spaceship Earth there was about a 15-minute wait and most of it outside, and despite the abundant sunshine it was SOOOO COLD.  It was only 61 degrees at that point, and 61 with no humidity and lots of wind is way too cold for my thin southern blood.  We had told the kids to wear their hoodies that morning, thank goodness, so they were all bundled up and warm, but Brian and I hadn’t brought ours and we were regretting it.  Haha. 

After a quick check of the weather, we realized it wasn’t going to warm up very much, so after the ride, we headed into a gift shop to grab a sweatshirt for me… Brian decided to tough it out. 

By the time we were done there, Test Track had opened, so we headed there, stopping for a bathroom break on the way because the wait was already 70 minutes.  We had to wait outside for about 20 of those minutes, and the line was in the shade, so I was incredibly grateful I’d gone ahead and bought the sweatshirt… it was freezing.  Haha.

While we were in line, I had an itch on my back, and when I went to scratch it, I noticed that I had a big rash.  I didn’t think anything of it at first, but when it kept itching, I had Brian look at it.  He said it was pretty strange looking, so I had him take a picture of it so I could see it, and yeah, it wasn’t just any standard run-of-the-mill rash.

Naturally, my mind started to wander to all kinds of things – spider bite, bed bugs from the hotel (EEK!), some weird disease I’d picked up from one of the parks – and then I started to feel anxious, so I immediately stopped thinking about it because I didn’t want it to ruin our last day there.  I mean, how bad could a rash really be, right?

As the day went on, it continued to look worse and worse, and there were a couple of times I considered going to one of the first aid places in Epcot to get them to shed some light on the situation, but I didn’t want to waste any of our precious time there, so I continued to ignore it. 

As you all know, it ended up being shingles, but I didn’t find out it was shingles until four days later when we were home.  Whoops.  All’s well that ends well, though, I suppose.  And thankfully they’re gone now!  They lasted just slightly over two weeks, and mine were mild compared to some of the horror stories I’ve heard, so I’m very grateful.  And I’m glad I didn’t worry my head off and let it ruin my trip!

We did end up waiting about an hour for Test Track, but the line moved quickly, and the kids had so much fun designing their cars before the ride.  That ride gets up to 65 mph at its fastest point, and it feels like you’re going 200 since it’s open-air… seriously, my face felt like it was flapping in the wind.  Haha.  The ride was crazy fun and we all loved it.  It was the first time any of us had ever ridden as none of us rode it back in 2018.

By the time that was done, it was time for our lightning lane for Frozen Ever After, so we headed to Norway!!  But first, a few pictures of all of the beauty around us... and Minnie Mouse, too!

Frozen Ever After is another one of our favorite rides, so we’d all been looking forward to it, and we all loved it just as much this year as when we went in 2018!  And Jacob is in the boat with us... he didn't quite make it into the camera shot!

When that was done, it was nearing lunchtime, so we went in search of food.  There were a couple of restaurants we’d considered trying, but unfortunately, we hadn’t had the forethought to order in advance, so the wait time was entirely too long.

Out of all of those different countries and cuisines there, we ended up in United States of America to eat lunch.  Forehead smack.  Haha.  It was Friday during Lent, and since we’re Catholic, we don’t eat meat on those days, so we opted for Regal Eagle Smokehouse so I could just get some sides.  I ended up getting their mac n cheese and coleslaw + a beer, and it was all I needed!!  It was soooo yummy! 

After lunch, we saw that there was no wait to visit Anna and Elsa, so we headed back to Norway, and we got right in!  I hate that we weren’t able to get autographs from them.  I mean, we already have them from our trip in 2018, but still.

We had a few minutes to kill after that, so we made a quick stop in Mexico, and then we walked around China.  While we were there, we caught the 360-degree movie there, Reflections of China.  The theater was really cool because it’s a big circle, and the movie surrounds you aaaallll the way around, so there are no seats… that way you can stand and face whichever direction you’d like, and you can also spin around to see everything.

By the time that was done, it was time for our Ratatouille LL, and we were all soooo excited to ride it since it was new.  We walked all the way around to France, and headed straight in.  Since we had the LL, we only had to wait about five minutes, and we were on.  That ride is SO cool, y’all!  Without spoiling too much, the ride makes you feel like you’re the size of a rat, so you get to see/experience everything from a rat’s point of view.  The ride is a 4D experience, so it’s very interactive, and it’s verrrry realistic.  We all just loved it.  There was one part that Olivia didn’t like too much because it startled her, but other than that, she enjoyed it, too.

After the ride, the kids were already asking for snacks, and considering we were in France (the home of beignets and macarons), we decided to go ahead and grab something yummy.  We stopped at Les Halles Boulangerie & Patisserie and it was basically dessert heaven. 

I ended up getting the chocolate mousse, Brian got a big raspberry macaron with lime filling, and the kids each selected a sampler of smaller macarons.  We all sampled eachother’s and everything was just so, so delicious.  I’m ready to go to Paris now and eat all the goodies!  Haha.

We were wide open for several hours after that, so we decided to go to the Beauty and the Beast Singalong in France since we’d never done that before.  It was nothing majorly special, just a quick movie on a big screen in a theater, but we got to sing several of my favorite songs including Beauty and the Beast.  And it was a nice break to get off of our feet for a few minutes.  We walked more in Epcot than any other park and we were so tired!

After the singalong was over, we walked through England and we got to see Mary Poppins in the Twinings English Tea Garden.  We also stopped to take pictures by one of the red telephone boxes.

B had booked a lightning lane for Soarin’ Around the World earlier in the day once we were eligible, so we headed there next, and happily rode it a second time.  It never gets old, y’all!  I love that ride!  And on the walk there, we stopped along the way to take in all of the gorgeous flowers!

Right as we walked out of the building that Soarin’ is in, we noticed that there was a temporary butterfly garden set up in a green house, so we walked through that next.  While we were there, Epcot was having its Flower and Garden Festival, so there were beautiful flowers everywhere, and I’m assuming the butterflies were there for that.

After we left the butterfly garden, we headed back to Test Track because Brian had been able to secure a lightning lane for that.  We all loved it so much that we wanted to ride it again, so we did!  And it was just as fun the second time around, too!  Check out Olivia's vehicle that she designed... it's Elsa blue and it has magic sparkles all over it for Frozen.  ;o)

At that point, we were approaching our dinner reservation time, which was at San Angel Inn in Mexico, so we headed there next to ride Gran Fiesta Tour while we waited.  There was hardly any wait, and it was a nice, relaxing ride – and a festive one! – to get us in the mood for our dinner in Mexico. 

By the time the ride was over, we were able to check in for our reservation, and we only had to wait about ten minutes for our table.  We ended up getting a table right near the water where the ride comes through, and it was just PERFECT.  Ambiance in a restaurant is almost as important as the taste and quality of the food to me (maybe more??), and San Angel Inn was AH-MAZING. 

When you’re in there, you feel like you’re sitting outside under the night sky, and the only light is from a few strands of twinkle lights criss-crossing above your head.  We started with chips, queso, and salsa and a round of margs for B and me – clasica for me, and blood orange for B – and then we enjoyed our main courses.  I opted for the enchiladas de pollo minus the pollo since it was Friday during Lent, and they were DELICIOUS.  It ended up being one of my very favorite meals in all of Disney World.  We will definitely be going back there again!

Once dinner was over (and I didn’t want it to be… I could have stayed in there forever!), we had some time to kill before the fireworks, so we went in search of souvenirs.  Jacob had seen a puppet tiger in China that he wanted… you know, one of the ones that comes with strings and the little wooden handle that you can use to make it move around?  It was really neat.  So we headed back to China to grab that next.

Once that was done, we headed back to The Seas with Nemo and Friends because Olivia had seen a stuffed otter that she wanted.  We took one more bathroom break there in hopes that it would get us through until we could get all the way back to the hotel that night.

We still had time to kill after that was done, and all of us were exhausted, so we snagged a lightning lane for Journey Into Imagination with Figment so we could get off of our feet.  We had already ridden that ride in 2018 and it wasn’t our favorite, but we figured we’d ride it again to give us something to do.  Jacob actually enjoys that ride, so he wasn’t mad about it one bit.

We hopped right on to that one, and then it was finally time to make our way over to the lake to find a spot for the fireworks.  We ended up finding a spot on a large area of the sidewalk right when you walk into the big ring where all of the countries are, and we were able to sit down and spread out while we waited.  Everyone in that area had taken off their shoes and they were sprawled out and laying down, so we did the same. 

We had to wait about an hour before the show started, so it was nice that we were able to relax while we waited.  The show started promptly at nine and it was FANTASTIC.  I’d worried that it wouldn’t hold a candle to the one in Magic Kingdom, but I should’ve known better.  Disney doesn’t do anything halfway, y’all!  I teared up repeatedly during that show and it was just wonderful.  It definitely made up for the fact that we’d missed the fireworks show in Magic Kingdom the night before.

The show lasted for about 15-20 minutes, and then it was time to walk back to the bus stop.  But first, a couple of pictures by that magical ball!

We were back there by 9:45 and back at our hotel by 10, and then we let the kids skip showers because they were so tired.  They. Were. Exhausted.  Oh so happy, though.  B and I headed to bed right after they did, and that was our last night in the hotel. 

Saturday, we slept in until 8, got showered, packed up, grabbed some Mickey beignets at our hotel for breakfast, and then we headed home.  Traffic was HORRIBLE for the first two hours of the trip, and then the Chick-Fil-A we stopped at for lunch was busier than any CFA I’d ever seen, so it took double the time to order and eat than it normally does, so needless to say, our trip home took several more hours than we thought.

We arrived home by dinnertime, stopped to grab pizza on the way to our house, and then we ate dinner, unloaded the car, reunited with Maui, and ZONKED OUT for the rest of the evening.  It was coooold when we got home (what?!) so we had a fire in the fireplace that evening, and we were all verrrry lazy on the couch for the rest of the night.

And that, my friends, was the end of a very wonderful, soul-filling, super fun trip, and it’s another one that we’ll never ever forget!  It was, by far, one of our favorite trips as a family ever!  After waiting two extra years to go (because of Covid cancelations), it was worth every extra day that we had to wait.

Here’s a summary of our day!

 

Summary:

Hours spent in park – 13.5 (8:15 AM – 9:45 PM)

Rides/Attractions – 10

Characters met – 4

Disney Photo Pass pictures and videos taken – 12

21,150 – Steps taken

9.5 – Miles walked

 

Schedule:

Arrive 8:15 AM

Soarin’ Around the World (everyone)

The Seas With Nemo & Friends (everyone)

PhotoPass pictures near Epcot ball (everyone)

Spaceship Earth (everyone)

Sweatshirt shopping (everyone)

Test Track (everyone)

LL – Frozen Ever After (everyone)

Lunch at Regal Eagle Smokehouse (everyone)

Met Anna and Elsa (everyone)

Reflections of China (everyone)

LL – Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure (everyone)

Snacks at Les Halles Boulangerie & Patisserie (everyone)

Beauty and the Beast Singalong (everyone)

Walked around England (everyone)

LL – Soarin’ Around the World (everyone)

Butterfly Center (everyone)

LL – Test Track (everyone)

Gran Fiesta Tour (everyone)

Reservation – San Angel Inn for dinner (everyone)

Souvenir shopping (everyone)

LL – Journey Into Imagination with Figment (everyone)

Harmonious Fireworks show (everyone)

Left park at 9:45 PM (everyone)

And here are the other recaps in case you missed them!

Disney Springs

Hollywood Studios

Animal Kingdom

Pool Day

Magic Kingdom

Happy Monday, y’all!  I hope you enjoyed reading these posts about our trip as much as I enjoyed writing them!