Yesterday we had the Christmas party and therefore we slept a little longer this morning. Sander went for a run and already prepared something for the trip home next Saturday.

Shortly after noon we left the hotel for lunch at Outback across the road from the Premium Outlets at Vineland Ave. Sander ordered a Victoria’s filet and I had a grilled salmon with steamed veggies.

After lunch we drove to Epcot and it was really slow in the park. Quickly we had some Photopass pictures in front of Spaceship Earth and one with Pluto.

For every attraction except Soarin’ and Test Track the waiting times were minimal like 5-15 minutes. We got a Fastpasses for Test Track and after we designed our cars we did the attraction through the single rider line ending up next to each other on the front row of the car.

After Test Track we got some more Photopass pictures with Duffy, Donald, Mulan, Alice, Jasmin & Aladdin and Belle. Before the we had to get ready for Illuminations we did Journey a Into Imagination with Figment, Captain EO, Soarin’ and again Test Track with our Fastpasses.

At the end of a relaxing day we enjoyed Illuminations for the third time this vacation and it still is amazing.

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Before we went to the hotel we grabbed a quick late night snack at the Chick-fil-a at the SR535 near to our hotel. At the hotel we watched some tv and wrote the blog.

We woke up today without an alarm lock and went for a swim and relaxed at the pool until 11:30. After that we took a shower and got ready for lunch.

Today we decided to go to Longhorn Steakhouse at the 192. It was very slow at the restaurant but the food was great. We both ordered a Flo’s Filet, Sander with French fries and I with mashed potatoes. The steak was amazing and one of the best we’ve ever had, so we really recommend this place.

We got dessert at Krispy Kreme Donuts on the other side of the road and then we headed for the Magic Kingdom. We drove to the Ticket & Transportation Center and took the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom. We arrived there short before 15:00 and we were lucky to still have great places for the Share a Dream Come True Parade at Town Square. This was probably the last time we saw this parade.

After the parade we took some Photopass Photos and the next thing was meeting Mickey at the Town Square Theater. We both were really surprised because Mickey was really talking to the people and even played pick-a-card with the both of us.

Still flabbergasted from the talking Mickey we walked to the New Fantasyland, particularly the Beauty and the Beast part. At Gaston’s Tavern we bought ourselves a Le Fou’s Brew. The drink is very sweet, but tastes good if you like sweet drinks.

We walked to Pete’s Silly Sideshow to meet with Goofy, Donald, Daisy and Minnie in the circus-outfits. After some short waits we got some nice pictures.

It was almost 18:00 and we went back to the entrance to get out Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party Bracelets and a program for that evening. We studied the plan for where to meet with the characters and after we watched the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party we walked to the Jungle Cruise, which is called Jingle Cruise during the holiday season. We were expecting a lot from this ride, maybe too much, and there was not so much different. But we were happy we did it.

Because it was 19:00 now we started searching for the characters and the first characters were Donald Duck and Scrooge. The waiting line was a little chaotic, but we got some nice pictures. Next characters to visit were Ariel and because of the – we thought – short wait also Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and their princes. Unfortunately the wait was longer than expected and we could not get great spots to watch the Once Upon a Christmastime Parade. We watched it from Frontierland. Luckily at event like this, the parade always comes out twice an evening.

After the parade we walked to The Hub and found ourselves a spot for Celebrate the Magic followed by Holiday Wishes. Both shows were as usual amazing. Afterwards we moved back to Frontierland to get great spots for the second parade of the evening to make some great pictures.

We still had about one hour after the parade to get some more pictures, so we walked to Fantasyland. We got pictures with Minnie, the seven Dwarfs and Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore. Those last four characters were really a great end of a great evening and after meeting with them we moved to the hub for some pictures.

After getting the last pictures from the castle we moved slowly towards the exit (getting more PhotoPass photos) and at about 01:15 we were back at our hotel.