Trip Log:

Started off the morning eating a snack in the room then spending some time roaming around the Coronado Springs resort taking pictures of the main pool and other areas I stumbled upon.  After making it back to the lobby I rejoined my group and we headed for the Studios.  The rain started coming down pretty good as we were en route.   We reached the  Studios and headed for Toy Story.  Grabbed a Fastpass and then decided to hop in the standby line and avoid the rain for a while.  Waited just under an hour.  After riding we decided to head for EPCOT via the Friendship Launch.  When we arrived at EPCOT it was raining pretty hard so we found a spot under the cover by the ticket booths at the International Gateway and waited a bit, then moved into the park and waited under cover of the gift shop.  The rain let up a bit so we hiked over to the American Adventure for a quick bite to eat then to watch the show.  After the show the rain had stopped for the most part and we backtracked to France to catch the film and then Canada.  Decided to continue on and took the boat ride at Mexico and then finished our loop of the lagoon.  We ran out of time so skipped China’s film.  Walked back to the International gateway and headed for the Beach Club, checked out the lobby and then headed for the Yacht Club to do the same before our dinner at Yachtsman.  After dinner took the boat back to the Studios and used our Fastpass for Toy Story.  The park was closing now so headed for the bus stops.  Half the group took a bus back to Coronado Springs.  I hiked back to EPCOT since the line for the boat was two or three long.  Decided to stop off at the Boardwalk and see if I could see anything from the Home Depot awards that were going on, I could not, then stopped by the lobby to see the holiday decorations.  Saw a boat coming in for EPCOT so took that over to the park.  Roamed around World Showcase for a bit, stopping at Morocco and Japan.  Caught the end of the Candlelight then found a spot for Illuminations.  Decided to walk around the lagoon during the show and ended up back by the Christmas tree as the finale was going on, then headed for the busses and back to Coronado Springs to call it a night.

Thoughts & Observations:

• This morning we woke up to the threat of rain, and according to the weather channel by 9am the storm should be hitting. We spent the morning preparing for the rain and taking some shots around the resort, then ventured out as the drizzle started. The by the time we reached the Studios there was a steady rain. After our visit to Toy Story and boat ride over to EPCOT the rain was coming down in buckets. But after lunch the weather had cleared. Overall the rain did make for a slow morning and at EPCOT the crowds were extremely light, but at the Studios the line for Toy Story was healthy.
  
  
• Speaking of Toy Story, just wanted to re-iterate that if you do not get your Fastpass early in the day you probably won't get one. We picked one up around 10am and it was not valid until 6pm.
  
  
• We stopped to wait out a down pour at the International Gateway under an awning. As we sat there plotting how we were going to make it over to the American Adventure it became clear to me that there was not a whole lot of cover between here and there unless you went into a country. Staying on the walkway left you no real choices except to get wet... which we did..
  
  
• As we were drying out and eating lunch at the Liberty Inn we somehow kept running into the Fife and Drum Corp.. seems in the short span we were there we say the show 3 times. It was nice to catch the abreviated indoor set while eating.
  
  
• We ate dinner at my favorite restaurant, the Yachtsman's Steakhouse. The food was great as usual as was the service. If you enjoy steaks and do not mind paying the high prices (its on the upper end of Disneys price scale), its a definite must.
  
  
• We had planned to use our Fastpass for Toy Story then cap off the evening visiting the Osborne lights, but somehow even our Fastpass experience on Toy Story turned into a 45 minute wait due to an attraction breakdown.
  
  
• I finished the evening with one last performance of Illuminations... my plan was to get some better pictures of the Earth Globe from various points around the lagoon, but as luck would have it the video display on the Earth globe was not working properly and for much of the show was off or random patterns.

Pedometer Information for the day:

Enough with the text.. onto the pictures

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