October 2012 - Spooky, Wild, Exotic and a lot of food!

[cindianne320]

What a productive morning! That cranberry bog is something!

 

[Leshaface]

What a cool fact about Clownfish!

I loved doing that Piggy bank game. Super cute idea to give kids a perspective on money while still having fun

Oh my gosh, if I could buy that NBC chocolate sculpture, I totally would! In fact, I would go into debt for it!!....guess that piggy bank game didn't work for me

 

[khertz]

Looks like you had a fun morning in Epcot! We had a similar experience, since DH and I don't feel the need to ride Soarin'...CMs seemed surprised when we would walk up to certain attractions so early in the morning when everyone else is headed to the Land pavilion!

That is weird to see Snow White in Future World...maybe until her meet in Germany started? I don't think I've ever seen princesses in FW before!

Those chocolate sculptures look incredible! Those Disney chefs are really something!

 

[ronnmel]

I think the Piggy Bank Adventure is a lot of fun.

 

[snoopygirl79]

Just subscribing as I've enjoyed all your TRs in the past!!

 

[Dream426]

Oh my goodness. How did I miss this TR. I have been so out of the loop lately. Things have been a little crazy the last couple of months. Going back to read now.

 

[disneybarbie]

Hi Emma!! Welcome back! I loved reading your honeymoon TR and I'm so excited that you both came back for the food and wine festival.

I can't believe how much you got down at MK that morning! It always seems like early mornings at MK are better than late evenings. And oh my gosh! Those cinnamon rolls! They always look and smell so delicious!

It's really neat that you sat at the same table in Jiko as you did during your honeymoon. I think it's a good omen

Looking forward to reading more and seeing more pictures!

Oh! And I love it when Boardwalk performs some magic and your standard view is somehow magically a garden view Gorgeous location!

Hi! Thank you so much for reading along and your comments. We were so lucky with that room at the Boardwalk, I loved sitting out on the balcony and taking in the view

Another great update and we are only a little way through Day 3!!!

Sara xx

Thanks Sara!

Hi Emma, I lurked on your honeymoon TR and just stumbled on this one! Sounds like a wonderful trip so far, and it looks like you guys were there around the same time as us. Our October trip was the 3-12. Can't wait to read more!

Hi! Thank you for reading, October is definitely one of our favourite times to visit WDW

Hi Emma, I remember you from the wedding boards, so I thought I'd pop in! I love those little pumpkins with sharpies in MK, so cute! I have Sorcerer's of MK on my to do list as well, but have yet to do it… Looking forward to reading more

Hi! Thanks for reading, more coming up soon

What a productive morning! That cranberry bog is something!

It was such a fun morning in Epcot, we got lots done but we got to do it at a relaxed pace as the crowds were low

What a cool fact about Clownfish!

I loved doing that Piggy bank game. Super cute idea to give kids a perspective on money while still having fun

Oh my gosh, if I could buy that NBC chocolate sculpture, I totally would! In fact, I would go into debt for it!!....guess that piggy bank game didn't work for me

Hi Lesha! I liked that fact about clown fish too it made the movie Finding Nemo make even more sense hehe.
I'd definitely do the Piggy Bank Adventure again, fun computer games but learning something too!

Looks like you had a fun morning in Epcot! We had a similar experience, since DH and I don't feel the need to ride Soarin'...CMs seemed surprised when we would walk up to certain attractions so early in the morning when everyone else is headed to the Land pavilion!

That is weird to see Snow White in Future World...maybe until her meet in Germany started? I don't think I've ever seen princesses in FW before!

Those chocolate sculptures look incredible! Those Disney chefs are really something!

Hi! The CM did look a little confused when we turned up so early at Innoventions

I think the Piggy Bank Adventure is a lot of fun.

I agree Mel, we'd definitely do it again

Just subscribing as I've enjoyed all your TRs in the past!!

Hi! Thanks for reading along

Oh my goodness. How did I miss this TR. I have been so out of the loop lately. Things have been a little crazy the last couple of months. Going back to read now.

Thank you for joining in! Hope all is good with you x



Hi everyone ... sorry for the delay in the next update of the TR, weekends seem to be so busy lately!


More coming soon....



Emma x

 

[disneybarbie]

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Our first stop was Hawaii, I had read about the pork slider last year and couldn't wait to try it! We each got one, and DH got a Kona beer too.

This was delicious! I bought the F&W Festival cook book and actually tried to recreate this pork dish once we got home.

DH suggested we stop at Terra next – I was surprised he suggested it and checked that he knew it was vegan/meat-substitute food.. he didn't... so we didn't stop there in the end! I would have quite liked to have tried the Trickin' Chicken Curry.

We walked around to Mexico next and stopped at the Caribbean stand. We got one of each dish, jerk spiced chicken drumstick and ropa vieja with cilantro rice. Both were very tasty and quite spicy, the real star at this booth was the frozen dragon berry colada..

I ordered it thinking it would be like a Cosmopolitan, so was a bit surprised that it looked like a strawberry milkshake! However it was delicious, probably my favourite drink of the festival.

The booths around this part of the lagoon all really appealed to us, it was tempting to visit each one but we decided to leave a few out as we knew we'd be back in Epcot later in the week.

We missed Argentina and next went to Australia...

Again we shared the two dishes there, one shrimp on the barbie and one grilled lamp chop with mint pesto and potato crunchies. The shrimp was nice but nothing very special, but we both loved the lamb! It was very tender and the sauce was lovely, the 'crunchies' were like mashed up crisps (potato chips) but added a nice texture to the dish.

The mariachi band were playing in Mexico as we walked by...

Next was Scandinavia but we weren't too worried about this one, we'd tried similar dishes at Restaurant Akershus in August.

We had a quick break from the food and rode Maelstrom, it had no line!

I was pleased to finally spot the Viking wearing mouse ears in the queue line mural....

We even watched the movie after Maelstrom, I'd not watched it for so long!

Next we went into the Norway gift shop, I'd decided after our trip in August that I was going to treat myself to some of the Laila body range that they sell there. It's quite expensive ($43 for one bottle!) but smells wonderful! The whole area around the shop smells of the lotions and perfumes, it's a really clean and fresh scent.
As luck would have it, today was the best day ever to buy the body lotion because …. the designer was there! I approached the cash register and there was a cast member talking in Norwegian to him – he saw that I was buying the Laila lotion, and said that I could also have a complimentary bottle of the perfume he designed for the Grammy awards, as well as a signed photo!

It was a lovely surprise, a surreal but sort of magical moment!


We continued our stroll around the lagoon, next stop was South Korea for a lettuce and duck wrap. This was really light and tasty.

Next we went to South Africa, we shared a filet of beef with smashed sweet potatoes – this was one of our favourite dishes at the festival. I also got a glass of sauvignon blanc.

The cast member at this booth was really friendly, and he asked me if I was a cast member!! Which made my day

DH had seen some other people with souvenir stein glasses, so we stopped at the Brewer's Collection booth so he could buy a Pilsner beer in one.

We sat on a bench near Germany for a while and enjoyed our drinks and the view.

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[disneybarbie]

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After a little while we got two dishes from the Germany booth – Schinken Nudel (which was like a ham and cheese pasta bake) and a roast bratwurst in a pretzel roll. Both were very good.

We stopped to look at the miniature railway, which also had a Food & Wine Festival taking place...

As we were walking through Italy, a man approached DH and said “How can you wear that shirt here?” (He was wearing his soccer team's new jersey) – it turned out this man was from the same area in England and supported the rival team! He had moved to Florida 9 years ago and was a Disney Vacation Club sales agent! He was with his wife, and the four of us had a really nice chat about Disney, DVC, Disney cruises. The man said he had waited 9 years to see someone wearing DH's team's shirt - he was encouraging us to take the DVC tour around Saratoga so that we could get the Disney gift card that they offer!

We stopped at the Hops and Barley booth next, near the American Adventure pavilion, and decided to try a lobster claw 'cuddler' – we chose this because we liked the name!

It actually was a crab claw though – neither of us had eaten one before, and it was pretty hard! The meat was nice but hard to get out of the shell, I also found that I could make the claw move from the inside which was funny!

We wanted to see the American Adventure show, so went into the waiting area and sat down.

Unfortunately, I realised I'd got the time completely wrong and there was 45 minutes to wait for the next show – so we decided to leave it!


I got a white sangria at the Florida Local booth, it was very refreshing.

We carried on walking around the lagoon, and next stopped in the UK pavilion where there was some street performers doing a Monty Python type show. It was very cheesy and funny, lots of people were taking part.

We went to Canada next and saw the O Canada show, I love this one – especially since it was updated with Martin Short!

We got a couple of dishes from the Canadian booth, cheddar cheese soup and chicken chipotle sausage. It was a little hard to eat soup when it was nearly 90 degrees, but it's so tasty! I liked the sausage dish too.

We had a little more room for food, so made one last stop at Ireland – DH got the cheese selection and I got the chocolate lava cake... I'm not really a chocolate lover, but had heard great things about this dessert. It was absolutely delicious!! The recipe for it is in the cook book I bought so I'll have to try and bake it.

By this time we were very full up, so thought we'd leave Epcot and spend a few hours by the pool at the Boardwalk.

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[ronnmel]

I LOVE chocolate lava cake, it's so yummy!

 

[khertz]

Wow, that was a LOT of food!! That chocolate lava cake looks absolutely heavenly...

That's pretty cool that the fragrance designer was there when you were making your purchase! We love Larry Dotson's Disney artwork, but it is always just BETTER somehow to buy one of his prints when he is actually there doing a signing. I didn't even know they did that with fragrance designers in WS. You really do learn something new every day!


I love how they decorate the little train in Germany for the different seasons!

 

[scottny]

Great update and pics.

You really tried out the F&W festival. The entire 2 weeks we were there we had 2 things.

Nice pics from around Epcot.

 

[disneybarbie]

I LOVE chocolate lava cake, it's so yummy!

Hi Mel, I just tried the recipe for the lava cake yesterday, it came out really well!

Wow, that was a LOT of food!! That chocolate lava cake looks absolutely heavenly...

That's pretty cool that the fragrance designer was there when you were making your purchase! We love Larry Dotson's Disney artwork, but it is always just BETTER somehow to buy one of his prints when he is actually there doing a signing. I didn't even know they did that with fragrance designers in WS. You really do learn something new every day!


I love how they decorate the little train in Germany for the different seasons!

Hi! It really was a lot of food, we had one of the little passports and by the end of the week had nearly tried everything hehe.
It was really nice to meet the perfume designer that day! I love the lotion & perfume - the scent reminds me of Epcot so much

Great update and pics.

You really tried out the F&W festival. The entire 2 weeks we were there we had 2 things.

Nice pics from around Epcot.

Hi! Thanks for reading, we loved the festival so much - great way to try different cuisines



Emma x

 

[disneybarbie]

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We spent a couple of hours by the pool at the Boardwalk.

It was so warm and sunny – even with the pool party games taking place we found it relaxing! There was a Disney trivia quiz at one point, and all the adults were shouting out the answers around the pool as well as the kids. One of the questions was 'name all four Disney cruise ships', and nobody knew! I tried to call out but I don't have a very big voice


About 4pm we headed back to the room to get showered, and then walked to Hollywood Studios for the evening.

Once in the park, we had a look at the wait times board on Hollywood Boulevard, most rides had long waits but we noticed Star Tours was only 10 minutes, so we went there first.

We walked around the park for a while – I noticed that they were starting to set up the lights on the Streets of America!

A Toy Story soldier saluted us as we walked by in Pixar Place.

Next we went into One Man's Dream, I love looking at the displays and we watched the film at the end too ( I didn't cry this time but did get choked up a few times!)

We decided just to get something light for dinner, neither of us were hungry after all of the Food & Wine Festival food!

We walked down Sunset Boulevard and got something to eat – DH had a burger and I ordered a turkey sandwich, which I didn't realise was actually on the children's menu! It was the perfect size though!

We both wanted to see Fantasmic this trip as we'd not seen it for a few years, by this time it was 7.45pm and the show started at 8 – and unusually there was no queue at all! We walked straight in and got pretty good seats to the left-hand side of the stage.

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[disneybarbie]

....

The pre-show games were really good fun, the hosts were getting the audience to sing Disney songs and there was a quiz between the two sides of the audience.

They also got everyone to hold up their cameras/phones as the lights went down which looked very pretty!

Then it was time for the show, I really enjoyed seeing it again.

Due to our seat location we had to wait quite a while to get out of the auditorium  but eventually we were out of the park and walking along the canal back to the Boardwalk. It is amazing that one moment we were among 10,000 people watching a show and the next the only two people on a walkway!


We decided to stop at the Big River Grille for a drink before going back to our room. DH had one of the beers brewed on site, and I tried a Limoncello martini.

After that we headed to bed, ready for a fun day at Animal Kingdom tomorrow!

 

[jpmandan]

We are going back May 26th to June 2nd. So i'm along for your TR.

 

[ronnmel]

Hi Mel, I just tried the recipe for the lava cake yesterday, it came out really well!

Looks yummy! We have those kits to make lava cake at the grocery store, but it obviously doesn't taste as good as it does in restaurants.

That's the only way I agree to watch Fantasmic now, if I can show up 10-15 minutes before it start and just walk in. No waiting in line for 1+ hour for me anymore!

I remember the days when people used to hold up their lighters instead of phone. I would even bring a lighter to shows even though I didn't smoke. The phone version is obviously "healthier", but I find the look of the flame better.

 

[disneybarbie]

We are going back May 26th to June 2nd. So i'm along for your TR.

Thanks for reading along!

Looks yummy! We have those kits to make lava cake at the grocery store, but it obviously doesn't taste as good as it does in restaurants.

That's the only way I agree to watch Fantasmic now, if I can show up 10-15 minutes before it start and just walk in. No waiting in line for 1+ hour for me anymore!

I remember the days when people used to hold up their lighters instead of phone. I would even bring a lighter to shows even though I didn't smoke. The phone version is obviously "healthier", but I find the look of the flame better.

Hi Mel, your trip is so close now! We really enjoy Fantasmic but I wouldn't want to spend 60 minutes + waiting in line for it! I think nearly every other time I've seen it has been as part of the meal package, so we've had the front-of-line passes
That's interesting to know about the lighters rather than smartphones/light up toys before the show starts!



Emma x

 

[disneybarbie]

Wednesday 10th October 2012

Today we were heading to Animal Kingdom – we got up easily and were at the bus stop by 8.15am.

There was only a couple of other guests there, as well as a Cast Member who seemed to be doing a survey of the buses. A bus came for the Magic Kingdom first, and as it pulled away, he said to us “do you know what hidden Mickeys are? Because I think this is the Hidden Mickey bus!” … we didn't know what he meant, until we saw the back of the bus!

Apparently this is the only bus on property that has Mickey shapes around its brake lights.



Very soon our bus arrived and we were on our way to the park.

We got to Animal Kingdom well before park opening, so we stopped at the coffee kiosk for lattes and an M&M cookie to share... good breakfast!

At 8.50am we were allowed into the park and waited for rope drop in front of the Tree of Life.

Similar to when we visited in August, there was no real opening show like I've seen before – just a senior cast member welcoming everyone to the park and a quick countdown as the ropes are removed. It's a shame if they don't do the rope drop show any more, I really liked it!

First we went to Kilimanjaro Safaris, this nearly always our first attraction at Animal Kingdom!

We had a really excellent safari and saw a lot of animals – our jeep driver was particular good, he told us lots of facts about the animals that I've not heard before! I actually made a note of his name and wrote an email to Disney when we got home mentioning all the great Cast Members we'd encountered.


Next we walked over to Expedition Everest, we got fast passes but then went into the stand-by line as there was practically no wait at all.

We carried on walking around the lake to Dinoland USA, and rode on Dinosaur – we both really enjoy this one!

We stopped to look at this crocodile in Dinoland, I'd not noticed him before.

We walked back to Asia for a second ride on Everest, and then to Kali River Rapids – we didn't get too wet luckily!

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[disneybarbie]

....

It was nearly 11am by this point so we decided to stop for snack that I'd heard a lot of good things about... jalapeno-stuffed pretzel!

It was very tasty, we'd definitely get one again.

We also got a frozen lemonade so sat and enjoyed that while sitting on a bench for a while.

We were very close to the entrance of It's Tough To Be A Bug, so we went to see the 3D show next. This is such a fun attraction, I really like watching other peoples' reactions to the hornet stings/spiders/bugs exiting!

We did the walking trails next, first was the Maharajah Jungle Trek

I'd never noticed before, but underneath the fruit bat enclosure there are turtles!

Next was the tigers – these two weren't up to very much....

Luckily one of the was awake and moving around!

As we walked back towards Africa we saw Divine...

There was some live performers in Harambe, I hadn't seen them before – the man on the end of the stage was asking me to come and dance as we walked by!

Next we did the Pangani Forest trail...

I wanted to make sure that we saw the Festival of the Lion King show this trip, just in case the rumours are true and it's going to be closing/moving in the near future when Avatarland is made official!

This show is so amazing, definitely a favourite of mine!



By this time we were both ready for lunch, and decided on the Yak & Yeti quick service – DH had orange chicken with rice and I had sweet & sour Chicken with rice. Both were tasty and the portion size is generous.

It was about 2pm and we didn't have anything else we wanted to do in the park, so we decided to head back to the Boardwalk.

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