My Pre-Illuminations Dance Party is Now a Hoedown?
Hi everyone! I'm almost caught up on everyone's TR's! There are still a few I have to catch up on, and I will, but I'm almost there! Yay! So I thought I should do another update today, and finish Day 3 of this trip and get moving with this TR so I can start a PTR for my September trip. I think. I'm still not sure, because I don't want to do day by day plans like I used to in TR's, so I'm not sure what the point of doing one will be, but we'll see!
Anyway, when we left off, I was killing some time before our Test Track FP's could be used taking pictures of the beautiful Epcot scenery and Florida sky!
Since I'm kind of obsessed with Disney Christmas trees, I of course found myself in front of the Epcot tree again, taking a million pictures of it and it's surroundings.
There was a couple there trying to take pictures of each other, so they asked if we would take one of them, which we gladly did, and then they said they would take one of us if we wanted. Brandon said no, but I quickly said yes, because we never get pictures together and I hate asking other people to do it, so since they were offering, why not?
Not the greatest picture, but I do like my bow!
Anyway, somehow we moved on from the tree to the Fountain of Nations, I guess we had more time to kill than I originally thought, haha!
FINALLY it was time for Test Track!
I went on the new version a few times in February with my sister and niece, but this was Brandon's first time on since the refurb and I was anxious to see what he thought of it. He loved Test Track before so I wasn't sure how the new theme would go over with him!
I figured he would like the new design your car part, so I let him do all of (except the color, that's all me!) and THIS is what he came up with:
Really? This from a person obsessed with cars and racing...I figured he'd make something really cool and fast looking...not this thing!
Finally it was our turn to get in our car and test it out and guess what? Brandon hated it! I knew he wouldn't like it, but he really hated it. The only part he liked was when you go outside, the rest of it he thought was stupid, and honestly, I kind of agree. I just don't like the refurb as much as the old version, there was nothing wrong with it! Yeah it could have been a bit more modern but it just needed a little update, not a complete overhaul!
Oh well. Now that we had Test Track out of the way, we were ready for dinner. I wanted Fish and Chips, so we went over to England. We were going to go to the little quick service place and eat by the water, but Brandon wanted to get a beer in the Rose and Crown pub first, so we went in, and there was an empty table! So we sat down and decided to just get food there instead!
I decided to live a little and get a beer too, even though I hardly ever get beer in Disney, but you know, it's a pub, you kind of have to!
Brandon loves the Scotch Eggs from Rose and Crown so he ordered one for an appetizer and we decided to split the fish and chips since they're a huge portion. They brought his Scotch Egg out right away, which he devoured, and then we had to wait a while until we got our fish and chips, which was fine. It's such a fun atmosphere in Rose and Crown that you can just sit there and drink and be perfectly content!
When they finally did bring out our fish and chips, the server brought Brandon another Scotch Egg. He told the guy that he already had one and he said "oh well, you can have this one too" so he got a second one for free!
Our fish and chips were perfect (sorry, I forgot to take pictures here, except for the beer, of course!) and the beer was yummy! I love Rose and Crown, and it's so awesome that you can just walk in and sit at the bar and order anything off the restaurant menu!
When we finished, we didn't really have anything to do before my beloved Illuminations, so we just wandered around the World Showcase.
(I LOVE that picture, I know it's blurry but it's one of my favorites from this trip!)
Italy, which I always almost completely ignore!
We detoured in China for a little while, because we never spend any time in there! It's so pretty but we always walk right by it!
I had no idea they even had a store back there...and it's HUGE! It has such cool things too, seriously, when I win the lottery, I'm buying out the Japan and China stores in Epcot!
I had a little bit of a breakdown once we left the store...my feet were really bothering me on this trip, more than any other trip. Like yeah, after walking around Disney for a few days, my feet would start to hurt. But on this trip, they started hurting basically the second we got there. So I had to sit for a little while, and I think I might have even cried a little because I was so frustrated. I wasn't tired or anything, I wanted to keep going, but my heels hurt SO badly. It was just my heels. So I was actually googling why my heels would hurt, and Brandon was convinced that I have plantar fasciitis, but I'm not so sure. I honestly think it's from being overweight and wearing the wrong sneakers (I recently discovered that my Merrels, the sneakers I thought were SO great actually suck) so I'm trying really hard to fix that by my next trip! I'm looking for super comfy walking sneakers and I'm hoping to lose at least 50 pounds by September.
Once I felt like I could walk again, I noticed people were already sitting for Illuminations. It seemed really early, the pre-Illuminations music wasn't even playing, but whatever. I figured we should just get a spot and chill until it was time for Illuminations. We ended up between Mexico and right where the path to the bathrooms at the Odyssey building are. Not the best spot, but it was fine.
Finally, it was time for my Pre-Illuminations dance party music! I LOVE this music more than anything...I used to listen to it every day on my way to work, I used to listen to it when I was attempting to do the Couch to 5K, basically any time I needed to listen to music, this what I would go to.
But it was different. Sometime between February and this trip, they changed my Pre-Illuminations music! I was basically traumatized. Like I kind of got mad. The music they were playing was awful. It sounded like it belonged in the Magic Kingdom in Fronteirland. Like hoedown music. I was not happy. You can't just change things like that and not expect it to impact people's lives, Disney!!!
Brandon decided to go get a drink and he brought back some popcorn for me, which cheered me up a little! There's nothing better than Disney popcorn!
And then it was time for Illuminations!! I love Wishes at MK, I do. It might even be my favorite nighttime show at Disney. But there is something about Illuminations that I'm crazy about. The music is just perfection. It's so emotional, I don't think I've ever watched this show and not cried. Like I love Wishes because it's pure Disney, all of your favorite Disney songs, and it's all about dreams coming true, but Illuminations is different. I still feel like Illuminations has that same Disney theme about dreams coming true, but in such a different way. A more mature way, maybe!
This was my first time seeing the special Holiday tag at the end of Illuminations, and I was completely in love with it! When we were in Disney in December 2011, we skipped it to beat the crowds out of Epcot. We didn't do that tonight. We moved to the front, because a lot of people left and watched and it was beautiful. And the fireworks were crazy! So if you ever visit Epcot in December, make sure you stay for this during Illuminations!
Brandon's not a fan of trying to leave when everyone else is leaving the parks, so we hung out for a while by the Fountain of Nations. I love that area because it just smells so good, like Disney water so I had no complaints about waiting a little while to leave! I'll stay in Epcot as long as I can before they kick me out!
Finally it was ok to leave Epcot, so naturally, I had to stall. There simply no way I can just leave Epcot, it just doesn't happen.
I had to get the perfect picture of the lit up walkway
and I don't have a million other pictures of Spaceship Earth or anything, right?
Eventually, we made it back to Pop. I loved coming back to my cute little decorated window at night! If we end up staying at a Value resort in September, I'm going to have to decorate again with a Fall/Halloween theme I think!
We were really tired, it was a looong day, and we had another long day ahead of us tomorrow so we went to sleep pretty quickly! Although I was sad, because the next day was our last Disney day, I was also excited...tomorrow was the Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom and I couldn't wait!
Up next...our last Disney Day!