Watson's Very Merry 24 Nighter TR. Day 23 - Yuletide fantasy tour & Epcot

[RobynPrincess]

Our alarm went off at 7:30. I was awake already as I'd been poorly in the night I had a mini panic about today, we were booked on the Yuletide Fantasy tour and as I was feeling grotty I was worried about getting ill on the tour. Sy talked me down from cancelling though so we quickly got dressed and hot footed over to Epcot arriving at 8am.


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We stopped at the little coffee stand out front for Sy to get a croissant and a bottle of water for sickie old me.


We went to check in and it was a bit chaotic. There were people everywhere so we just hung about to find we were stood in the wrong area, we needed to be about 30 feet over to the right where a different tour was checking in. We stood about until someone came round to check us in and give us a name badge each.


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We were all there so the tour started a little early. The tour guides introduced themselves to us, there was one guy and one girl. They explained that they would be taking half the group each. We got the girl who I'm afraid wasn't as good, she stopped talking loads more than the guy did. She was also reading the tour from a book she carried around which was a bit disappointing. We kept switching the channel on the headphones to the guys channel to listen to him instead :O


Don't get me wrong, we still really enjoyed the tour, it was just the least favourite out of all the tours we've done so far. I didn't know before hand but this tour was run by Disney institute and not the normal WDW run tours. I've not heard good things about the backstage magic tour so had I known this before booking I might have thought twice... But I'm glad we did it I really enjoyed the history.


We boarded the bus which took us around everywhere for the tour, first up we headed back stage in Epcot. We went in to Germany and learned about the history of the Christmas tree and the glass ornaments. We then went through to Italy and learned about the wreaths. It's worth mentioning that even when we were on the bus they were talking to us and showing us different things to look at and pass around.


Bus selfie


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Another bus selfie as I started to feel better lol


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Erm, no idea what this is now as I didn't take any notes lol creepy though


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Back on the bus we made our way over to MK, entering the park again via backstage. We had a bit of a walk around but it was soooooooo busy. It was here we noticed how little the CM's running the tour knew about the parks. They were explaining about the flags along Main Street, it was Sy who told them that most of the flags were not official flags, they have less Stars and Stripes so that they don't have to follow the strict flag rules about going up and down. The guy didn't seem to actually believe Sy. You'd think someone running the tour would know it already? It's something that was talked about on the keys to the kingdom tour.


We were once again back on the bus and making our way over to the Christmas decoration department. It was so cool to see where all the decorations get stored. There were still so many in there too. Everything has its own little place. Colour coordinated baubles etc. Very cool.


We had to wear some very sexy protective glasses...


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Pics from in the storeroom


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Back on the bus on our way to the last stop of the day, wilderness lodge. We had a quick look around the lobby and then made our way into the lounge where we were given small glasses of warm spiced apple juice (apple cider). We then talked at great length about pine cones. We even had different sized ones to pass around lol.


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Quick bathroom stop and we were back on the bus heading back to Epcot. Where the tour finished at 1pm.


We were all given rice crispy treats and a pin each.


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Having not eaten anything I was now starving so we headed to the crossroads and to Chili's for lunch.


We went for the meal for $20. We started with loaded fries which were amazing...


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Sy said he had one of the best burgers all trip next. I had something chicken but I took no pictures nor did I write it down... Lol oops!


We paid up and made our back to VGF. We were back in the room by 2:30. I had a sleep for about an hour and a half as I hadn't slept last night. Sy watched toy story while I slept, he did doze a bit on the sofa too but then got yelled at for snoring hehehe.


At 4:30 we got up and got ready for an evening in Epcot. This was our view as we drove out of VGF....


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Too-many-jokes-about-turkey's-crossing-the-road....


In Epcot we had Fastpasses for this evening, first up was Soarin'.


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We then went to ride Living with the Land. There was no wait whatsoever! Was strange being in the greenhouses while it was dark outside.


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Hidden Mickey wearing his Santa hat


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[RobynPrincess]

Last ride of the day was Test Track! Love it <3 can you guess who designed which car??***


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We then went to wander round world showcase. We stopped in Karamel Kuche for some toffee goodness. I decided to go for a toffee apple (big mistake, it was so disappointing! The toffee stuck together and slid off the apple), Sy got an apple and oatmeal cookie (winner!).


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Louis was in Epcot with his friends from Disneyland so we met up over in America to say hello. His friend Steve was *amazing* he's a blue badge wearer over in DL working at the Plaza, I actually see pics of him pop up on Disney Facebook pages cause he's so awesome. He had brought his brother over to WDW for his birthday and he'd actually had enough for the day (he was poorly) so they weren't staying to watch illuminations. I said we would drop Louis back afterwards so they went on back to their hotel.


We caught a bit of candlelight processional but I didn't really know who it was narrating it tonight (which explains why we could rock up at the back to watch).


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We made our way over to Italy to find a spot to watch illuminations from. Sy was playing around doing his best hades impression...


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I'm not normally a big fan of illuminations but I really liked the Christmassy ending! Shame it was going to be the only chance we had to watch it.


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We could see other fireworks in the background too... Though we could decide if they were wishes or the new Star Wars fireworks


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We made our way out of the park after it had finished, the boys were hungry so we went to try out Fudruckers as Louis had never been. Tbh I was way past it and just needed my bed but who am I to deny starving men of some dinner hehe.


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I had a grilled chicken burger with sweet potato fries.


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Sy went for a beef burger with thick cut fries.


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Considering I was way too tired to eat, I managed to polish off most of my food we then dropped Louis home just up the road and then made our way back. We fell into bed at 11:30. #shattered


***clearly Sy did the green car while I did the pink hehehe

 

[Chilly]

The flag fact is one of my favourite MK facts.