Florida
- Day 15
Friday 7th November 2025
Participants: Tam, Kev, India, Georgia and Charlie
We're up at 8.00 am for the usual breakfast in the room. We meet Sharon and Evan in the lobby at 9.15 am. They are leaving today. Evan is flying home to Texas, but we don't feel too sorry for Sharon as she is catching a flight to LA where she is meeting up with her husband Keith before flying on to Hong Kong to start a 28 night cruise in the far east. She's barely taken time to recover from trekking up Kilimanjaro - the woman's superhuman.
We all get the bus to the Animal Kingdom wander and look at the animals while the rest ride Expedition Everest.
The decorations are really good.
Yep. Kevin meets Kevin.
We meet up and
most have a Kakigori, which is shaved ice covered in watermelon
syrup and condensed milk. Quite refreshing as it's nice and warm
today. On to the Maharajah Trail where we first go to the Fruit
Bat enclosure. Where are they all? There used to be hundreds of
them. Today we barely see one. I'm sure there used to be more
animals generally throughout the park.
There are a few dogs accompanying their owners today and I say
that if I had an emotional support animal it would be a naked
mole rat. India reckons it would definitely need smothering in
sun cream.
On to lunch at Satu'li Canteen in Pandora. The food here is consistently good. I have the chicken and beef with noodles and a green onion vinaigrette, which is very nice. All the food in WDW has increased in price considerably since the last time we were here. You now pay $15 to $20 for counter service food, $10 to $12 for a beer, $15 to $20 for a cocktail and $30 to $40 for an average sit down restaurant. In fact everything is more expensive in the US than it used to be. We used to buy jeans and trainers to take home, but no longer.
After lunch we pay a quick stop to watch the otters before leaving the park at 2.30 pm to return to The Boardwalk. Sharon uses our room to shower before leaving with Evan for Orlando airport. We say our farewells knowing it's not goodbye as we'll see them in the not too distant future for sure.
Down to the
pool for 90 minutes of relaxation. The temperature is around 80 F
and will be for the next few days before a low front hits and
they are forecasting near record low temperatures for the time of
year, we may even get a frost!
We shower and get an Uber to the Grand Floridian at 6.00 pm where
we wait for a table at Enchanted Rose. Unfortunately we are put
in the side room, which is plain and rather featureless or as Tam
puts it 'A cavernous s%*thole'. I'll have to have a talk to that
girl about her language.
I have a Negroni and we share some olives, which are served warm
and are rather nice.
I forgot that we saw the Electrical Water Pageant from the beach.
Before we leave
India joins the waitlist for the Wailulu Bar and Grill at the new
Polynesian DVC resort. You can't book this place you just have to
turn up or join the waitlist on the app. We have a 35 minute
wait, which is perfect for a slow walk around to the Poly on a
warm Florida evening, probably the first we've had. We ask for a
booth outside and wait for another 10 minutes before being shown
to the perfect table with a straight view across the lagoon to
the castle.
We all split the tuna nachos (very nice) and the ribs (just ok)
before Tam and I split the burger and the catch of the day (both
really good). One of the main reasons for eating here is to watch
the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party fireworks at 10.00 pm.
They dim the lights and pipe the music in and it's one of the
highlights of the holiday so far. It's all Christmas music, but
some is upbeat and some more traditional, which is a nice mix.
The view is excellent and the fireworks are spectacular covering
the whole horizon at the finale. I would absolutely recommend
eating here in the evening and timing it to see the fireworks.
I'm not sure why, but we don't seem to have any photos of us sat in the booth or many of the fireworks. Maybe we were just enjoying it too much to bother with taking photos. You'll just have to take my word for it that it was great.
We all have
another drink - mine is a Chardonnay, which is nice enough, but
not worth the $20 price tab. Georgia is starting a list of Tam's
strange sayings. These include 'Milky yub yubs', and 'Shushie kip
kips'. Milk and sleep for the those that don't speak Tam.
Sometimes I think she's the most childish 61 year old you'll ever
meet.
We're the last ones to leave the restaurant at 11.15 pm. It's
been a lovely evening and that went just as we'd planned. Uber
back to the Boardwalk.