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Saturday, January 13 - Magic Kingdom and Epcot day

We drove to Epcot (getting great parking for the first time!) and then took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. We were able to get a same-day lunch reservation for Plaza Restaurant, and then we went to search in vain for souvenirs for a couple of attractions. We then paid a second visit to Mickey's Philharmagic (I liked the show a lot, but I still don't like the CGI renderings of some of the characters - Ariel, Jasmine and Aladdin looked particularly bad), and I loved the ending with Donald, similar to Chef in Muppetvision 3D. We then took a second ride on Carousel of Progress - can we please trade that for our own Innoventions? It was then time for our lunch reservation. I liked Plaza Restaurant, and I was happy to note that it was one of the few places I saw where they served hamburgers with leaf lettuce instead of shredded lettuce! (Yes, that's a particular pet peeve of mine.) Both of us had the club with the German potato salad - very tasty all around. After lunch, we went for a ride on the Astro Orbiter. It was a bit of a wait, but being able to fly over Tomorrowland was worth it. We then had a stroll down Main Street, and then we bid farewell to the Magic Kingdom.

We hopped on the monorail back to Epcot, and we went on a second ride on the new Nemo ride - I really love that ride, and the seagulls out front are hysterical. And the queue is pretty awesome too - it simulates you being underwater all during the queue. We hadn't been to The Land, so we stopped by to see what was there. We saw the Circle of Life, which is an environmental film with Simba, Pumbaa and Timon, which was pretty cool. We then went on Living with the Land, which is a boat ride that's environmental based as well. I liked seeing all the different methods of growing food that are being developed, and I'd actually be interested in doing the Seeds tour next time. We also had a walk-through of the food court, which looked to have some interesting items, so we'll try to have a meal there sometime on our next trip. We then went to World Showcase, where we wandered around and did shopping at the UK (no, I didn't buy any more tea this time), France, Italy and Japan. We then did a little more browsing/shopping at Future World, and then it was time to go back to the car for a change of clothes before heading back to the park for dinner at Le Cellier. Our dinner companions were already there, and we were seated fairly quickly. Our dinner experience was just as good as our last time around. Both of us had the Le Cellier mushroom filet, and we shared a side of asparagus, all of which was delicious. My starter greens salad and the husband's starter tomato salad were tasty as well. Our dinner companions had salad and the cheese soup to start, followed by the filet and the prime rib. They seemed to enjoy their dinners as well. They passed on dessert, but my husband got a mousse dessert, and I had the creme brulee sampler - the maple was especially delicious. By the time we were done with dinner, the park was closed and Illuminations was over, and we could hear the strains of Tapestry playing as we walked out.


Sunday, January 14 - resort hopping and going home

We still had one day left on our tickets, but we decided to save it for our next trip since we'd be having a short day. It was drizzling in the morning, and we spent some time wandering around the CBR for one last look at everything. We then decided to visit the Magic Kingdom resorts and parked at the Polynesian. We had a look around the main building and then had breakfast at Kona Cafe. I'd heard about the Tonga Toast, so I had that, which was ok. The server had warned me ahead of time that I might not want to add syrup until I'd already tasted it since it was very sweet to begin with, and I appreciated the tip. Even without the syrup, it was a bit sweeter than I would have preferred. I liked it ok, but I don't think I'd order it again. The husband ordered the Kahuna, which was a mix of things, and he liked his meal. After breakfast, we got on the monorail over to the Grand Floridian, where we had a look around, and I lamented that they had so many different tea offerings there (from an Alice tea to a traditional high tea), and with the demise of the Practically Perfect Tea at Paradise Pier, we had no tea offerings at DL at all. We then continued on to the Contemporary, but there wasn't as much to look at, so we then made our way back to the Polynesian and had a look at the grounds there. If we ever decided to stay at a Deluxe, the Polynesian would definitely be one of the top choices. I loved the theming and the look of the resort, and you get a gorgeous view over the Seven Seas Lagoon. We also had a look at where the luau is held - something else I'd like to do on a future trip.

We then headed off for a quick trip back to Downtown Disney, and while I had remembered really liking the magnet store there, I luckily didn't find anything I wanted there this time. It was then time to bid farewell to the WDW resort, drop our car off at the airport and then wait for our flight home.