Day 5 (Monday) of my Pandemic Disney World Trip had us revisiting EPCOT. But before we would go to the park we wanted to hit the pool for a morning swim. Since EPCOT doesn’t open until 11 am we didn’t need to rush this morning either. 

Plus EPCOT currently isn’t a very heavily visited park and it was Monday so most of the locals wouldn’t be visiting either. There was no need for us to get there right when they opened. The only ride we NEEDED to do was Test Track. We rode everything else we wanted to yesterday. 

So first thing first I was to grab a coffee from the food court. Boy am I not a fan of the coffee this trip. I can’t figure out what it is but something is off with it. Every single cup I had so far wasn’t good. 

So I drank my coffee and my daughter swam. Then I took a quick dip and had a great morning swim. The pool wasn’t too busy either but still had more people than I expected. Now it was time to glide over Hourglass lake and take our second trip around the world in two days. 

We arrived at the International Gateway and went through the temp check, bag check, and ticket check with no issues and stopped in at the World Travelers to get Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak. I must say I thought it would be easy but I was mistaken. Finding Remy in different pavilions is no easy task. However, it was really fun and took us into areas of the Pavilions I’ve never been to for one reason or another. 

Of course, our next stop was in France. You know we had to get her beignet. I didn’t end up getting anything since there was so much I wanted to try that I didn’t want to fill up on anything that I’ve had before. 

Once she was finished we looked around the France Pavilion for Remy. Other than the big statue near what will become the entrance for the Ratatouille ride we didn’t find him. But don’t worry we won’t be giving up that easily. 

Now at this point, I needed some food in my belly so we walked from France over to Mexico so we could take a quick peek at each pavilion and see if we could spot Remy. The first one we spotted was Remy in Italy. We spotted it yesterday and that’s why we decided to try it today. You couldn’t miss him. He is just sitting up there along the main path. If only the rest were that easy (they aren’t). 

We continued on our trek looking for Remy and making our way to Earth Eats. My daughter wanted to try the Impossible burger or meatballs. I was going to try both. 

As we were walking through Germany I just so happened to start walking backwards for some reason and BAM….. there was Remy. I don’t know how I noticed him or why I decided to walk backward. But hey…. It paid off.

Now as we were walking past Norway we noticed Frozen Ever After only had a 5 minute wait so we hopped in line. I figured even though today was more about the food we might as well ride some rides if they have short wait times. 

After we got off the ride we continued on to Earth Eats and tried to find Remy in Norway with no luck. Now Mexico was a different story. My daughter picked that one out real quick. I wasn’t even looking at this point since I was so close to getting some much needed food. 

So far we found 3 out of 11 and we weren’t even trying too hard. 

We made it to Earth Eats and ordered the Impossible slider and meatball. Now I am not big on this whole impossible meat trend. I have had the impossible whopper but that was only because my daughter wanted to try it. Since her diet is mainly chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, and noodles I will always get her what she wants to try. She liked the meatball but only the meatball. She didn’t care for the other stuff that came with it. I didn’t think it was great but it also wasn’t bad. It was just so so. 

Now the slider is a different story. I really enjoyed that. It had a nice little bite to it with the spicy Asian slaw. I almost stopped later in the day for a second one but decided against it. 

The next stop was to Canada to try that famous Cheddar Cheese Soup and the Filet. I just couldn’t see how a Beef Filet Mignon for $8.25 would be any good. Well, it was very good. It was so tender and flavorful it was amazing. It just melted in your mouth. 

As for that famous Cheddar Cheese Soup. What people say is true. It is delicious. I just wish the pretzel roll was bigger. Other than that it was amazing and I will make sure I get it every time I am at EPCOT for the Food and Wine Festival. 

Now that my belly was nice and full it was time to head on over to Test Track. When we arrived it was showing a 5-minute wait. However, after a couple of minutes in line, I knew that was wrong. I checked my home and it was now showing 25 minutes. Still wasn’t bad and the line was moving so it wasn’t an issue. A minute later they announced that we would be held up for a few minutes due to them cleaning the cars. While you never want to be in line when that happens. It’s good to know since you know Walt Disney World is doing their best to keep everyone safe and healthy. It wasn’t much longer and we were getting ready to get in the car and take the ride of our life. 

Right before we took off I heard another announcement stating that a weather system was moving in and that at any point the ride could close. Luckily we were already in the vehicle and ready to take our test drive. Our vehicle performed the test perfectly. Just too bad we couldn’t design a car at this time since all across Walt Disney World the interactive elements in the ride queues are currently closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The best part of the ride was about to come up. Going from 0 to 60 and flying around the bends at lighting fast speeds. We had no problems at all with that till we got near the ride exit. All the cars in front of us were stopped and we were stopped just outside. The sky was getting darker around us and it looked like at any moment the sky would open up and we would get wet. 

We ended up being stuck outside on the ride for about 10 minutes before the car started moving again. Thankfully, time was on our side since we didn’t get wet. It was a close one though. While we were walking from Test Track to Spaceship Earth it started to rain. If we were stuck for 5 more minutes outside we would have gotten soaked on Test Track. 

Now when we got off of Spaceship Earth it was just a light rain so we continued on over to the Land Pavilion to ride Soarin’ one last time. We got the middle ride all the way at the top. It was always a wonderful experience. I don’t know what it is about this ride that I love. For one I am not the biggest fan of flying or heights. This ride simulates flight and if you look down you are pretty high. 

After Soarin’ we did another ride on Journey into Imagination. Today like yesterday it was a walk on. But like I said yesterday, this ride usually has little to no wait any day, any time. If you never checked it out you should. Yes I know they say it was better before. But you know what I didn’t see what it was before so I can only base it off what I see now. And right now it is a decent ride. 

Now it was time to take in some more of what the Food and Wine Festival has to offer and find that rat. We spent about twenty minutes in Canada searching for Remy but never did find him. 

From Canada, we hit up the Food and Wine building again. We got the mac and cheese again but this time I also got the buffalo chicken one as well. The regular mac and cheese was still good. Adding the soft cheese to the buffalo chicken one definitely kicked that up a notch. I just wish the buffalo chicken had a little more kick to it. It wasn’t spicy at all. 

The next thing we tried was the Kielbasa and Potato Pierogi at the Festival Favorites table. Now my dad’s side of the family makes some amazing Pierogies. However, they call them something else and I can’t think of the name to save my life right now. That side of the family lives out by Pittsburgh Pa. Needless to say this area knows how to make good perogies. (check out this hotel if you are in need of a place to stay while visiting Pittsburgh)

Now of course my family makes better pierogies but these ones were a close second. Plus the kielbasa was amazing too. It really pulled the meal together. I wish I would’ve went back for one more plate.

From here we headed to England. It was a little sad that the Yorkshire County fish shop was closed. This place is my mother’s favorite quick service location out of all the locations in Walt Disney World. 

Not only was the quick service location closed but many of the shops were also closed.  However, two good things came from our visit to the United Kingdom Pavilion. We found Remy and got to see Mary Poppins. We are going to need more than a spoonful of sugar to get back to normal. 

From the UK we ended up in France yet again. Yet again we looked and looked but never did find Remy. We did have better luck at Morocco. 

Not sure how we missed it the first time around but we did. Now the Morocco Pavilion is a great place to take photos. The level of detail is amazing. Plus the shops are neat and I feel most people just walk right by. DON’T. It’s a pretty cool place to browse. 

Next up was the Japan Pavilion which I think is one of the nicest to look at plus has an amazing store. But like I said yesterday it is just missing that atmosphere. Even with the lack of atmosphere in the store, we did find Remy. All we had to do was take a minute to look around. 

Now at the American Pavilion Remy was easy to spot too. Good thing too since we usually skip this Pavilion. After all, I live outside Philadelphia and get my fair share of colonial America all the time. Now I did want to grab a bite to eat from the Regal Eagle Smokehouse. However, we were both pretty full at the moment so we skipped it on this trip.

Our next stop was over in China. We skipped both the Italy and Germany pavilions since we already found Remy and checked out the shops in Germany. 

China is another one of those Pavilions that has a great level of detail. I’ve never been to China before but I imagine that is how some of the countries look. Plus I think they have the second best store behind Japan. 

We did a little browsing but ended up walking away with nothing. In total, we spent about a half-hour browsing and looking for Remy. We had no luck finding him. Kinda funny when you think about it since 2020 is the year of the rat.

From here we visited Norway again. Some day I will be visiting the country of Norway since my daughter has Norwegian in her from her mother. The country is beautiful from the pictures I see and the Pavilion is just as beautiful. 

It took us some time but we ended up finding Remy. This little guy was a lot harder to locate in most pavilions than I expected. Doing the scavenger hunt was a lot of fun. 

Plus you can turn in your list and get a cup. Not a bad deal if you ask me. 

Well, we rode everything we wanted to. Eat all the food. Checked out all the shops. Now it was time to head back to the resort and off to Disney Springs for one last time. 

We got off the Skyliner and headed to the buses. Surprisingly it didn’t take long for a bus to show up and off we were to Disney Springs. 

While we had a decent amount of food at EPCOT we were starting to get a little hungry. I wasn’t sure what I wanted but my daughter wanted some pizza. Now there really is no good pizza in Florida. However, Blaze isn’t too bad. It’s much better than what you will get at the resort. 

The food came out hot and fresh and was so delicious. We even had some leftovers to bring back to the room for a late-night snack or breakfast in the morning. 

After we ate we just walked around Disney Springs a little bit. I took some photos of the different quick-service locations for a later post. Than we just did a little shopping around and headed back to the resort. 

We did catch a beautiful sunset over Hourglass lake. Most of the sunsets were nice and colorful all week. Of course we did get a lot of rain all week too so that definitely helped with the colorful skies. 

Tomorrow would be our last full day at Disney World. We had an early breakfast at Chef Mickey’s than a day at Magic Kingdom. Hopefully the crowds are light like they were on our first day. The crowds were steadily increasing everyday. It looks like things are starting to get back to normal at WDW. Hopefully they will start opening up more resorts, shops, and restaurants in the coming weeks. 

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