Cin and I slept in, still very tired but having slept very well. We headed down to the shop in the Beach Club and got French Toast sticks for breakfast (another quick service meal on the dining plan). We then headed out to Epcot via the Friendship boats and learned that the boats drop you off at an entrance to the park back in the World Showcase, as opposed to the front where the giant sphere is. Interesting...this is also the entrance to the park that we used when we ran the Disney Marathon back in 2010, something we did not recognize until now.
We went up to Soarin', one of my most favorite rides ever (if you haven't done this, it is worth the price of admission to Epcot alone...you are suspended in front of a huge screen with simulated landscape flyovers so it makes you feel like you are soaring over some very famous places...sheer awesomeness!), and both rode it and got Fastpasses for later. After that, we checked out some of the Innoventions stations and then headed back to Italy in the World Showcase for our first of two Italian meals of the day...at the new brick oven pizza place, Via Napoli (their TripAdvisor page is here). This is a new place, that just opened in the past year, with a menu that has pasta and such but is clearly focused on their pizza. Cin and I split an appetizer that was fried risoto and mozzarella balls and then a large pizza which was very thin, very saucy, and had fresh mozzarella that was a little less generous (basically, just how I love fresh Italian pizza). It was delicious and provided quite a meal. Via Napoli itself was really cool and they have three ovens, each of which has its own name. Cool, very cool.
From here, we went to the front of the park and picked up the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. Initially, we had planned to split the previous day between Hollywood Studios and the Magic Kingdom, but then Star Tours was open and our Imagineer lunch was long, so we spent the whole day there. This meant we needed to do the Magic Kingdom today, which was fine. On the monorail ride over, the train in front of us broke down and we had to wait about fifteen minutes, which was a bit annoying, but oh well. While there, we rode Buzz Lightyear's shoot-em-up ride (where Cin kicked my butt, somehow), Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Mickey's PhilharMagic show, Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, The Haunted Mansion, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The Winnie the Pooh ride has a new queue that is highly interactive for all of the small children that will be waiting in it...and my wife. :) The Haunted Mansion also has a new interactive queue with all sorts of spooks and haunts. Both are VERY well done and these new queues that Disney is putting in are welcome additions.
After a snack, we headed back to Epcot via monorail and then rode Spaceship Earth, which I really enjoy, and find very inspiring, every time we do it. We did not have enough time before our dinner reservations to enjoy Soarin' again, so we gave our Fastpasses away to some very happy folks. We then ate dinner at Tutto Italia (their TripAdvisor page is here). I had some short rib that was quite good ... the pizza from lunch filled me up with carbs and I was not in the mood for pasta. But everything was quite good, including the tomato and mozzarella we had as an appetizer. Dinner was pretty quick, which was good as Epcot closed at 9pm. On the way back to the boats, I grabbed a quick beer at the French area, a Kronenbourg 1664, which I really enjoy, for some reason. I had this back in France a number of years ago and still enjoy it very much. Awesomeness. A short boat ride back to the Beach Club and we packed up for the drive home the next day. Lots of things accomplished in three parks over two days...exhausting, so off we went to bed.
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