Disney's Expedition Everest - Day III

When you're at the most magical place in the world, time just flies by. I think I'm the idiot who scheduled our 7:45 a.m. Segway tour at EPCOT - what was I thinking. I had a lot of trouble getting up after staying up so late drinking champagne. We had some issues getting to EPCOT on time (note to self: In January when you do this same thing, drive over).

This was a 2-hour ride where you spend the first hour indoors learning the how-to, and the second hour is an outdoor tour of the World Showcase. Everyone told me that Segways are not the easiest things to learn to ride, and I did have my problems. It looks so easy. I actually was pretty good with everything until you had to get off to go over an obstacle. I was unable to keep the handles upright...not once, but twice, and darn near ran myself over. Then I was just nervous about the whole thing. But, the trainer was very good, very patient, and when we went outside, he stayed with me until I was completely comfortable. Thanks, Renee, for the pictures!

Seeing how things went indoors, I was a nervous wreck going outside into the World Showcase. This part of the tour was really cool. As we did different things in various countries, we would eventually group together and the guide would tell us different bits of trivia. Once I got the hang of it, I really did have fun.

When we finished our tour, we decided to leave our car at EPCOT and take the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. Although Renee loves to be in the MK with her daughter, Kendall, she was excited to do some things she can't do with a 5-year old. We went to the Haunted Mansion (which Renee hasn't been in since the refurbed), and Snow White's Scary Adventure - neither of which are good rides for little ones. Look who we saw when we came off Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin! To my friend, Bill, here's 2 thumbs up to you!

We went to Cosmic Ray's for lunch, did a little more souvenir shopping. At this point, I was practically falling asleep on the rides and desperately needed a nap. We decided to hop back on the monorail, pick up the car at EPCOT, and head back to the hotel for a nap. We had dinner reservations that night at the Wave in the Contemporary and our plan was to head back to the MK for our last evening.

We drove to the Contemporary and our Wave experience was okay despite the fact that our waiter was a boob. About 7:30 p.m. we hopped back on the monorail for the MK. Renee was the first to realize that we had a problem: the park closed early for Mickey's Not So Very Scary Halloween Party. We checked to see if any tickets were available only to find that the cost for the tix was $59/ea. Yikes! Now what to do.

Since the Animal Kingdom closes early, MGM Hollywood would be getting ready for Fantasmic, we didn't think we had much choice but to head back to EPCOT. It was very crowded, but we rode the rides in Mexico and Norway and then found a spot for Illuminations. I usually watch Illuminations over by France, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find that viewing near Mexico was even better. It was a great way to end our trip.