Disney - Day 3 - Epcot

Waking up Sunday, January 13, was bittersweet. On the one hand, I was excited that it was 7am rather than 2am, but on the other hand I was wicked jealous of all the people out running the Walt Disney Full Marathon that day.

But, I couldn't dwell on it too long as I had friends to track (Eric, Krissy & Robin to name a few) and a full schedule on the agenda.

First, we headed back to Magic Kingdom to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which we had missed on Day Two because of lengthy wait times.

The wife really wanted to ride the monorail so we actually took the monorail from Magic Kingdom to Epcot. The monorail is such an easy ride. I think if we go back - sorry when we go back for Goofy Challenge 2015 - we will stay at a Disney hotel on the monorail.

What I forgot is the WDW Marathon ended in the parking lot of Epcot so as we headed to the gate there were TONS of runners who had already finished and spectators trying to enter the park to catch their loved ones finishing the race. So security was a bit of a cluster, but thankfully the guards did a good job moving people along as quickly as they could.

Once we entered the Park, we were off to grab a fast pass for Test Track before going on Mission: SPACE. Now let me tell you Mission: SPACE was NOT my cup of tea as I am a claustrophobic type person. So choosing the orange option (intense training) over the green option (mild training) was not smart, but it was what the wife wanted so I went along with it.

(Note: I did proceed to get sick after this ride. Yay me and my weak stomach! :P)

To give my stomach time to settle, we walked around Innoventions, where the wife tested out The Sum Of All Thrills (which went all sorts of directions as you built your own virtual roller coaster). Yup, I sat my butt on the bench while that happened. :)

The Seas With Nemo & Friends was a must-see. It was a great combination of Nemo characters and actual aquarium life.

We then headed over to use our fast pass at Test Track, which wasn't as exciting as I had remembered ... but still enjoyable.

I do have to commend Disney on their job of shuttling fans and spectators through the park without interrupting the runners since the marathon was still going on while we were taking in the sights.

After crossing the marathon path, we claimed our fast pass for Soarin' before grabbing lunch at The Electric Umbrella (mmm chicken tenders)!

Following lunch we went to Spaceship Earth, which was delightful. They took your picture at the beginning of the ride then used it in a little computer game at the end of the ride (determining what your future will look like).

Before Soarin', we managed to squeeze in Journey Into Imagination With Figment (and we were the only people in our entire car), Captain EO (featuring Michael Jackson) and The Circle Of Life.

Soarin' was definitely cool, but being in the bottom row meant some of my view of the large screen showing the scenes of California were blocked by the people in the row above me's feet. Gross! But still a cool ride/experience overall.

Since we had made our way through most of Future World, it was time to head over to the World Showcase and meet up with some friends. My dad met up with us outside Soarin' and headed to Germany to have a beer/brat with us.

In Germany, we were meeting up with Twitter Friends Eric and Krissy ... I LOVE meeting social media friends in person!! They had both ROCKED the WDW Marathon that morning so I couldn't wait to share a celebratory beer with them!

YAY!! It was so great seeing them!

Eric is a fellow Weight Watchers Leader in NJ

 After Krissy and Eric headed out to meet other friends and my dad went back to the hotel to see my mom, the wife & went ahead to finish up our tour of the World Showcase.

Including have a Sam Adams in The American Adventure...

We visited all of the countries before calling it a day to head back to the hotel bar to have some drinks, eat pizza and watch the Patriots playoff game, which was happening at 4:30pm.

How amazing were the skies (no filters) we had as a backdrop for the AWESOME Patriots win, which sent them to the AFC Championship game!

Can you tell I was a little excited? It helped that if they won we would be GOING to the AFC Championship game!!

My parents met us for the game and we headed to the Boardwalk Resort to go to Big River Grille & Brewing Works to celebrate! The food was delicious and the area near the Boardwalk Resort was lovely.

We headed back to the hotel room after this to get some rest before our final day in Disney: Animal Kingdom!