Well, let's kick this thing off!
A little background to start off. Rob HATES to fly and I HATE to drive, but somehow he wins this argument every year and every year we drive. This year was no exception. So, to prepare for the 1,000 mile, 15 hour drive, I took the Thursday off work before we left to pack and get some last minute things done and try and relax a little. Rob was able to swap his normal 4pm-12:30am hours and went in from 8am-4:30pm. Once he was home we dropped our dog off with my in-laws
, had some dinner and he took a nap and 9:30pm exactly we were off!
I did win a small victory and he let me take the first shift driving for the first time ever and I drove the first 5 hours and got us to North Carolina before we switched drivers. After a few more switches and a 5:30am stop at McDonalds we finally arrived at our destination around noon. Walt Disney World!
So, what happened was we were originally booked for 4 nights at POR in a Royal Room with an AP discount. Then at the last minute we decided to add an extra day onto the beginning of our trip (we can't help ourselves) and since there was no availability with the AP discount to add onto our existing Royal Room days, I had to book one night in a King room. No big deal. I don't mind making the switch. And it was about $30 cheaper, so no biggie. Now we arrive at POR around noon, exhausted from 15 hours of driving, and we check in. The girl checking us in said there was no room available yet, which was not unexpected, but also not what I really want to hear. I told her she could put us in any room, it didn't matter, as long as there is a bed and a shower in it, we don't care where we are for just the one night, as long as we could get a room now that would be great. I also mentioned that we had another reservation for the following 4 nights in a Royal Room, so she said that might work out in our favor and made a few calls for us to see what she could do because they would rather have the King room available for use. Works for us. Eventually she said she could put us in an available Royal Room for all 5 nights right now. Yes! I was so loving her.
We get back in our car and drive around to the Oak Manor section of the resort, unload everything out of the car, somehow get everything to our room door without dropping anything or passing out from exhaustion and what do you know... our MagicBands won't open the door.
Lord give me strength. Now I don't love the check-in girl too much.
Rob, bless his heart, drives back to the check-in area while I stand watch with all of our luggage and I also called the front desk and with our combined efforts we finally got into the room after about 20 minutes. Rob said a manager got pretty snippy with the girl who checked us in because she kept saying, "I didn't do anything wrong with linking the bands," to which the manager replied, "Yes you did so stop saying that." Yikes. Poor girl.
MagicBand room issue behind us I could now take in the beauty of our room.
I love the details, like Genie's lamp from Aladdin as the faucet at the bathroom sink.
After unpacking a few things we both got showers and napped until 3:30pm. The plan for today is to go into Epcot and walk around and enjoy the Outdoor Kitchens and the Flower and Garden Festival until we are exhausted once again and then retire to the room for the evening.
We took a bus from the main building at POR to Epcot and stopped at one of the ticket windows at the entrance of the park to trade in our AP vouchers I bought at the
Disney Store last year (before the price increase, thankfully) for the AP cards and to make sure they were linked correctly to our bands. The girl at the ticket window was super sweet and we bonded over my Parkbound button I was wearing and then once everything was set we got in line to enter the park. Aaaaaaand our MagicBands didn't work. Of course not. So we went back to the same girl and got everything straighten out and mercifully they worked this time. Then we stopped at Guest Relations to buy our Tables in Wonderland card and now we were ready to enjoy some food! I haven't eaten anything other than an Egg McMuffin since 6pm the day before, so I am HUNGRY!
First up was one of the new Outdoor Kitchens, La Isla Fresca.
Rob got the Jerk-spiced Chicken with Mango Salsa, Chayote and Green Papaya Slaw with Lime-Cilantro Vinaigrette.
He loved it! He said it had a ton of flavor and the chicken was way better than he thought it would be.
I tried the same thing but with Grouper in place of the Chicken.
So delicious! I could have eaten just a big helping of this as my dinner. The grouper was cooked nicely and Rob was right about the flavor. I loved the salsa paired with the fish. Excellent bright flavors. We're off to a great start! And now that I have food in my belly I can actually pause to enjoy the beauty of the flowers that are absolutely everywhere in Epcot.
Oh, and our PINs didn't work when we tried to buy anything with our MagicBand either. Fun stuff. We had to go to the front desk the desk morning to remedy that issue as well.
We also stopped for our first ride of the trip. Gran Fiesta Tour! I love it. It never gets old. Three Caballeros is one of my favorite Disney movies.
Up next was Lotus House where Rob had a Gaoli Beef Bun which he also added Sriracha to.
He said it was good and that the Sriracha was definitely need to boost up the flavor.
He also had the Dragon Pearl. Beer, Honey, Cream and Tapioca Pearls. It came highly recommended by the girl who rang us up.
He said it was the weirdest thing he ever drank. He was glad he tried it, but he wouldn't get it again. The sensation/texture of drinking the Tapioca Pearls was very odd. And I mean, honestly beer and cream just sounds disgusting.
I tried the Vegetable Spring Rolls with Orange Sauce.
These were excellent! Once again, the sauce is what makes the dish.
I too had a weird drink. The Oolong Peach Bubble Tea.
It looked almost identical to Rob's drink. It was gross. About 85% of this drink went in the trash. It was tea which was then watered down with way too much milk or cream. It was nasty. And then the 'bubbles' were weird. I know some people love this drink. I was not a fan It was like drinking lukewarm chunky milk.
Lotus House food gets a thumbs up, but the drinks were a thumbs down across the board.
Next up was Germany.
I needed a BIG beer to wash the taste of the bubble tea away. We stopped at the outdoor beer cart in Germany where they finally had my personal all time favorite beer back as a draft instead of the bottle, Schofferhofer Grapefruit!
I love it! The draft is so much better than the bottle, which is for some reason all they have had the last couple of times. (Side note: How cute are my Little Mermaid nails?)
Rob got some other German beer (note taking fail). And we enjoyed our beers while strolling around WS. Heaven.
Up next was The Smokehouse.
Rob and I both got the Beef Brisket Burnt Ends Hash with White Cheddar Fondue and Pickled Jalapenos which we enjoyed so much at last year's festival.
It was amazing again this year! And what made it better was the fact that there were way fewer jalapenos this year, which was my only complaint from last year's dish.
Rob asked for the Great American Wine Company Red Blend but was instead given the 3 Daughters Rod Bender Red Ale. He didn't really feel like complaining, so he just drank it.
I also got the Warm Chocolate Cake with Bourbon-Salted Caramel Sauce and Spiced Pecans.
Yum! I loved this! I really liked the fact that it was served warm. Everything about this dessert worked. I thought it was a big improvement over the Piggylicious cupcake they had served the past couple of years here.
Oh, we certainly will!
Starship was getting ready to perform, but it was super crowded in the concert area and we were still too off from the drive to enjoy it, so we passed on the Flower Power concert tonight.
Then we stopped at Fleur De Lys where Rob had the Kir Imperial. Sparkling Wine with Chambord Black Raspberry Liquor.
He thought is was tasty, but when he let me try it I thought it tasted like raspberry cough syrup.
This was one of my favorite areas of Epcot during the Festival. So beautiful.
The sun was just starting to set and the temperature was just perfect. It was a beautiful first evening in Epcot.
On our way out of the park we were able to ride Living with the Land, Nemo and Spaceship Earth with no wait and no use of Fastpasses. Sweet!
We also stopped for a Photopass picture, which I am so glad that we did. With our AP we had free downloads of all of our Photopass pictures and video, which is a huge plus for me. Love that change. Especially since I didn't get hit with the price increase to get it.
I need to try it again this month. So glad they brought it back.
