October 2018 D-cot Meet 10/12-10/21/18 – day 6

Wednesday 10/17/18

We knew we had to be at Animal Kingdom very early for our Wild Africa Trek so we walked out to the parking lot to a waiting cab in the wee hours of the morning and were to Animal Kingdom by just after 7:00, before the buses were even running. They weren’t quite ready at bag check but were very shortly. We met Jess, who Ashley had messaged me would probably be the one to take us back. Ashley and Jess were just perfect tour guides! This was such a wonderful tour and although not cheap I would definitely love to do it again! Please see my full report on the trek here: https://www.d-cot.com/topic/october-2018-d-cot-meet-10-12-10-21-18-wild-africa-trek/ . We got a Mickey bar afterwards, my only one of the trip! We also shopped the two big stores at the front, Island Mercantile and Discovery Trading Company so we wouldn’t have to do that on Friday when we’d be back. I even found a nice winter coat for me! We headed out for home where we caught a bus in short order for a swim break. A good idea since it was 93 today! Mousekeeping checked on us to see if we needed anything, towels, cups, soap, even coffee and teas! This was even after opting out of room cleaning! While at Pop, Kathy went down to talk to concierge about any possibility of finding the Haunted Mansion wallet anywhere on property. We knew it could be ordered but didn’t have enough for free shipping. They felt so bad for her and her futile efforts to physically find it that they credited our account $25 to more than cover the shipping, and part of the cost of the wallet, so she could order it! She did that back at the room and our quest was complete! It would be delivered to the house!

After a much needed rest and heat break we headed off to Epcot just a little before 3:00. We got our own private limo bus! Our first stop was the Festival Center for our cutting boards since this was our fourth visit! It was pretty efficient to get those and we were so happy to be able to get them! We were really afraid they’d be out by the time we got to them. We found out that Robyn and her family were at Epcot with a dinner reservation at San Angel Inn. We figured out that we could meet up with them after they rode Frozen and Mission Space and we used a couple fastpasses. So off we went to Soarin’ with our first fastpass. We got B2, right in the center, what I consider to be just about the perfect spot! You could see everything with no distortion! A great way to round out that ride for the trip. We had just a bit of time after so we popped into the Visa Meet and Greet with absolutely no wait! I like how a lot of people don’t even know about that place! We then rode Nemo with our FP, pretty close to not needing it at all. Epcot was very pleasantly uncrowded! I texted Robyn and they were finishing up at Mission Space so we were able to walk and meet them in the breezeway by Character Spot! We walked with them to Mexico and enjoyed a nice chat on the way. It was good to spend a little more time with them! After some hugs goodbye and promises to see each other again, they really aren’t all that far from us, we rode Gran Fiesta Tour with minimal wait. We headed up and used our FP for Spaceship Earth, again with no wait. What a change from Monday! We thanked the Phoenicians for our ABC’s one final time this trip and realized we were getting hungry. So we started around WS clockwise from Mexico, making our first stop Norway for our first ever sampling of school bread. Oh my gosh, everyone on D-Cot is right, that stuff is awesome! I got my Happy Peach from China, Kathy just had a couple sips and let me have the rest. Wow, if @monkcline and @disjen ever want to get me drunk, this is the drink! I could have about four or five of those and be on the ground! We stopped in Italy for rigatoni which was very good, and Japan for the teriyaki chicken bun. Then it was time for the dessert of the festival, the Belgian waffle with warm chocolate ganache from Belgium! Oh man, Kathy found out why Lauren and I liked it so much last year! It was so good! We were getting full so we didn’t stop anywhere else for food except the final stop of the night, beef brisket poutine from Refreshment Port. That was such a huge portion! We were totally done after that! We really wanted to get the warm chocolate pudding from Ireland but there was just no way. We slowly worked our way home from there, saying goodnight and goodbye for the trip to Spaceship Earth and Epcot, for our last four days would be spent at two parks, the Kingdoms of Animal and Magic. We were actually home at a pretty decent hour, before 9:00.

Steps: 26,148
Miles: 11.79
Wheel Spin: 15

How are we over halfway through our trip already?! Not to worry though, there is a lot more fun to be had! Wait until you read about Return to Sleepy Hollow and the Headless Horseman and a “surprise” meet up!