After the torture of the video taping, we head to Teppan Edo for lunch.  We are scattered around 3 tables, and I’m honestly very glad that I’ve had the opportunity to sit near just about everyone on the panel and get to know each of them just a little bit more.  I feel like these guys are family – we’ll be living the same experience for the next year, and I think even if we weren’t able to bond over Disney, these are people I’d still want to be friends with.

Lunch is wonderful – thank you Margaret for the scallops recommendation!  Don’t you love the show the chefs at the Hibachi perform?

After lunch, we have another bit of a photo shoot to do outside the restaurant.  We have to line up on the stairs and a couple of promotional videos are made.  We gather a bit of a crowd, as it’s obvious something is going on, with 16 people lined up on the steps like we were and a camera crew gathering.  I’ve heard that people on reality shows get so used to the cameras being there that they start to forget that they are there.  Are these people on drugs?  The whole time the camera crew is around, I’m worrying about the lack of support my girdle is giving me; whether or not the grey roots are showing through my recently touched up hair; how much botox would have cost before I left; and all sorts of other things people with cameras in front of them should be thinking about.

We just about have time to pack into the bus and head to the Magic Kingdom for a Guestology Tour.  What a great tour – culminating with a ride on the Haunted Mansion and a lovely pin!  I loved this tour!

We head back to Coronado, where our time is very brief.  I take a few minutes to pack up some things so I can sleep a few minutes later in the morning.  We are back on the bus and headed to EPCOT before I know it.

Tonight, dinner is at Bistro de Paris – what a great restaurant, and what HOT waiters.  What is it we have against the French, anyway?  Obviously, the anti-French have not seen the waitstaff here.  The French are our friends, people!  And the more single we are, the closer friends we should be…..

After another amazing meal, featuring so much food it’s embarrassing, we race to catch the Candlelight Processional.  This is my MOST favorite thing ever at any Disney theme park.  I own several CDs of the show, and I can count on less than one hand the number of years I have missed it since Brighid was a baby.  Having just seen it the week before, I get a little homesick waiting for the show to start, wishing my girls were here, but once the first trumpet sounds, I am captivated!

Our narrator tonight is actress Virginia Madsen, and she is enthusiastic and emotional, and really a pleasure to watch.  The pictures I have were actually taken a week before, so if Virginia Madsen looks a lot like John O’Hurley, let’s pretend it’s the lighting…

After the end of the Candlelight Processional. we are escorted to our own private viewing area to watch Illuminations.  There is a lovely dessert buffet set up, and hot coffee and tea to drink – which is so welcome in the cool Florida night air.  I’d love to be able to think of something funny right now, but I’m actually just overcome with emotion at recalling how spectacular Illuminations was, how terrific the weekend was, and how sad it was to see it all come to an end. 

Leeanne is not going back to the hotel with us, so everyone hugs her, thanks her, and says goodbye.  It is the first official closure to the weekend activities 😦

We left EPCOT and hopped onto the bus back to the Coronado Springs Resort.  We all kind of stood there a few minutes, then everyone just started hugging and saying our goodbyes.  We are all on different flights tomorrow, and although some of us may be taking the same Magical Express transportation to the airport, most of us are pretty well scattered on different trips.  It is so hard to say goobye to these people!