Epcot

The Chocolate Ice Cream Crêpe that I got from Crêpes À Emporter by La Crêperie de Paris in the France pavilion this morning.

A look at the France pavilion from outside of the Crêpes À Emporter by La Crêperie de Paris.

A look at the France pavilion from the FriendShip boat.

Some of the landscaping work as seen from the FriendShip boat.

Disney's BoardWalk Villas

A look at the BoardWalk area of Disney's BoardWalk Villas from the FriendShip boat.

A view of the BoardWalk Villas pool area.

Epcot

A look at a Coco decorated Skyliner gondola.

A view of the France pavilion from the Skyliner station.

Outside of the CommuniCore Hall and Plaza, we watched the JOYFUL! A Celebration of the Season concert, which is a joyous tribute to Christmas and Kwanzaa—with gospel, R&B and holiday songs.

When the concert concluded, we headed over to The Land building with the intent of going for a ride on Soarin' Around the World. On our way to hit up the popcorn stand to purchase the new music box popcorn bucket. We arrived at The Land, but instead of going on a ride we ended up taking a detour to see the Awesome Planet movie, as Aunt Erica had never seen it prior to today. By the time the show was over, we didn't have time to wait in line for a ride, so we just chilled for a bit as our dinner reservation was coming up at the Garden Grill Restaurant so that we could get preferred seating for the Candlelight Processional this evening. Once we were seated, we enjoyed our family style meal of backyard grilled steak, rotisserie-roasted turkey, as well as sides such as cornbread, green beans, and mac-n-cheese. We also got to meet Mickey Mouse, Pluto, and Chip & Dale! A pricey dinner to be sure, but the food was better than I expected, and the character greetings are always a fun experience!

We were finally called for our boarding group on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind as dinner ended, so we decided to hustle across the park to get on before our showing of the Candlelight Processional later. Aunt Erica stayed behind as Grandma Terry and I rocked out to Disco Inferno, but with the line forming for the candlelight show forming, I sent Erica across to get us a spot. While we enjoyed the ride, seating had begun as we were wrapping up, so Grandma Terry and I had to hustle across the park as they would only seat our entire party. Ugh!

Once we met up with Aunt Erica at the America Gardens Theatre we quickly found a seat in a nearly identical spot for where I was during The Fray concert I saw earlier this year. Unfortunately this was nowhere near as good a seat for the Candlelight Processional as it was for the concert. If we do the processional next year we will definitely be in line earlier and will sit in the center of the theatre, preferably somewhere around 10-20 rows back. I definitely enjoyed the experience of the show, hosted by Tituss Burgess, who did a great job and was funny throughout the performance. The big negative for me was that our view of him was blocked almost entirely by the orchestra at the front of the stage. I wish that they would put the host out front more, instead of between the orchestra and the choir.

After the show we headed back to France, stopping at Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie to finally get our Framboise (a raspberry mousse, chocolate cake, and raspberry jam). We also bought a baguette so that Grandma Terry could have it for breakfast tomorrow!

With our dessert fully enjoyed, we headed back to The Land building one more time. I had been waiting to ride Living with the Land at night, as I wanted to see the Christmas decor at night more that I wanted to in the daylight, but when we got there the wait was 60 minutes! I have never seen the line for this ride so long! Grandma Terry and I instead headed over to go on Soarin' Around the World instead, as the wait was much shorter. I was excited to see if the promised improvements to the ride - no more leaning Eiffel Tower, and an update to our arrival at Epcot at the end, as it now shows the remodeled park instead of the old park design. Although the tower still had a bit of a lean from our view at the side, it wasn't nearly as bad as it used to be, and the front of the park definitely is more reflective of the current status of the park!

After the ride we got in line for Living with the Land, as the wait had come down to "only" 40 minutes. Frankly, it was worth the wait to see the holiday decorations at night. It was absolutely a unique experience, and one I enjoyed thoroughly!

We were nearly ready to leave the park at this point, but Grandma Terry wanted to get some PhotoPass pictures in front of Spaceship Earth at night, so we hit up one of the picture spots. We then decided to watch the Luminous The Symphony of Us show over the World Showcase Lagoon. We found a spot right at the end of the bridge to the World Showcase, looking directly across the lagoon at The American Experience pavilion. Although this show doesn't compare to the Magic Kingdom fireworks, it was still an enjoyable event, and one I am glad that I got to experience. I wish I could afford to stay the night more often so that I could enjoy more of the parks offerings at night!