Monday – continued
So after barreling through 8 F&W kiosks, we decided to do some browsing. We went through the store in Japan, which took awhile because that place is huge! While there, we browsed around the Sake area and decided to get Xmas presents for Nigel’s sister and her boyfriend since we knew they liked Sake. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of the presents, but we got them a really cute Sake set with small pitcher and 4 cups and four different types of Sake. We learned that the Japan store could not send our package to the resort, but they would send it to the front of the park for pick up later. So, that's what we did since we certainly weren’t carrying that around World Showcase!
I know we stopped in Germany to browse since we normally do, but again, I must have been in a food coma because I have no pictures. Oh, I did snag a pic of Snow White meeting.
But we all know where we are going to end up, right? La Cava del Tequila! Our favorite bar stop in World Showcase. We have always been pretty lucky in snagging a table here as well, even during the busy times. Probably because it is fairly small so they have more tables for 2 than most places. So, we walked up and even though there was a line for the bar area, we only waited a few minutes before they sent us back to a table for two.
Of course, we got the tequila sampler with Blanco, Reposada and Anejo. But, I also saw a special drink on the menu.
In honor of our fallen brother, the Maelstrom margarita!!! Well, of course, I had to get that! The habanero peppers didn’t scare me off as I can handle heat fairly well, and I have ordered habanero lime margaritas at Disney resort bars before.
Well, I am here to tell you, the Maelstrom is serious about its spiciness. I don’t know what it was, but I could literally taste the spiciness in every sip, and it was just a bit too much for me. I had to beg Nigel to help out because there was no way I was going to finish it by myself. So, lesson learned, stick to straight tequila from now on! (I kid, I kid! I love margaritas.)
While hanging out in La Cava, I looked up the FP+ situation since we had not made any for this day. It was pretty slim pickings, especially for something in the next hour or two. After playing around, I did manage to snag a Living with the Land FP that started in the next hour. So, weird quirk happened with FP+. Since we had not scheduled any yet for this day, it was giving me the different options all of which had 3 FP+ in them. Except, it also offered me Option D which gave me only ONE FP+ for Living with the Land at the time I wanted. I just thought that was weird. I booked it, but looking back, I probably could have just booked one of the other options with 3 FPs and then gone back to edit the times. Because after the FP for LwtL, I tried to go back on the app and see if it would let me get two other ones since we had only used one, and nope! It was saying I used up all my FPs and I had to go to a kiosk. No big deal since we weren’t planning to stick around too long, but interesting to note.
Oh wait! On our way to Future World, we passed the New Zealand booth with no line! So, of course, we had to stop for the Lamb Meatball! Sorry, we dug in before getting a nice non-eaten pic. It was just as good as we remembered from two years ago, so we were glad we did the repeat.
We used the rose garden path and meandered past the Imagination Pavillion where we found a photopass photographer with no line! So, we grabbed pics, and I just have to say that these were probably my favorite pics of us from this trip. So sorry for the narcissistic overshare, but here you go!
Oh, apparently we also hit Scotland for their haggis since that is coming up in my pics. This was probably before the above pics.
So, in 2013 we tried the vegetarian haggis, but it was apparently the real deal this year. We had actually watched a program not that long ago on cable TV that explained what haggis really contained. To be short and sweet, there are lung parts and other leftovers in the haggis. It actually wasn't that bad.
It looks from pics like we also hit the Wine and Cheese booths before we got to the Imagination Pavillion.
The cheeses and wines were very good. Now onto the land..
After jumping on Living with the Land, we decided to head back to the resort for the afternoon. Why? Because Nigel is basically obsessed with pool time. For me, I could probably take or leave the pool, especially when there are Disney parks waiting for me. But Nigel loves swimming, so I usually go along with a minimum of grumbling.
Since we had tried out the Big Blue Pool and its underwater music yesterday, we decided to check out the Little Mermaid pool since that was where our room was located. It was nice, and not really crowded at all. And it was a great day to swim since the hot temperatures were still going strong.
After swimming and getting refreshed, we hit the road again. Any guesses? If you said Magic Kingdom, winner winner chicken dinner. You might want to keep track because we were apparently MK-obsessed this trip.
First order of business? Mickey ice cream bar!
Also, a visit to our favorite Chief.
We arrived in time to find a spot along the hub area to see Elsa light up the castle, which was cute. I think I actually gasped when the lights came on, cause I’m a dork like that, but it was really cool. It did start to sprinkle a little while we were waiting but not enough for poncho deployment, just enough to be slightly annoying.
After the lighting, we headed to Adventureland because we had to see our favorite Tiki birds. Grabbed some seats in the back and enjoyed the show.
After tiki time, we went to the FP kiosks next to Jungle Cruise and got FP for Jingle Cruise! We were excited to see the differences for the holiday. Sadly, we were in the back of the boat, and the skipper’s radio was not the best, so I think we missed some jokes, but we did hear some new ones and enjoyed it as usual.
After exiting, we went right back to the kiosk and got Haunted Mansion FP. I should mention, for both of these FPs, the times were immediate, we didn’t have much wait at all. The Jungle Cruise was 6:45 pm and Haunted Mansion started at 7:55 pm.
Instead of heading right over to HM, we decided to grab dinner first at Pecos Bills. We thought we’d check out the new menu. And bam, crowds.
It was so crowded!!! And the food took a long time. Everybody was pretty chill about it, but it was just crazy how long it was taking the kitchen to get out orders. Once I finally made it to the counter to wait for my food to come out, I noticed a CM just going down the counter line and writing paper fastpasses for everyone because of the long wait. I don’t know if someone complained and that's why or if she was preemptively trying to head off complaints, but it was unexpected and very nice of her to do. So, we received a “golden ticket” if you will. In that it was a yellow color and would allow us to use as a fastpass on any ride in MK and did not expire at all.
So, after the wait, finally a food pic.
We decided to try the beef rice bowl and of course use the toppings bar. (Side note, I feel like I use “of course” a lot. Sorry.) We split the rice bowl and both liked it. The beef had a bit of spiciness to it but certainly nothing crazy. I would definitely get it again, but now I hear that it is off the menu but you could maybe still ask for it? Ugh, oh well.
After visiting Master Gracey, I believe we stopped in the new Haunted Mansion shop, Memento Mori. As much as I was looking forward to this, I didn’t see anything that really jumped out at me to buy unless it was really expensive attraction art cause that’s what usually happens.
We went back through Fantasyland toward the Circus. We caught anothr photopass photog at Ariel’s “castle” (in quotes because it’s not a true Disney castle to me if I can’t go in it!). True confession time: I am exercising trip reporter prerogative and not posting a lot of the PP pics we got this night because I look terrible in all of them. I know, vanity thy name is Li Li.
Oh, I also have in my notes that we rode the Little Mermaid ride, so the line must have been pretty short. Moving on, Nigel picked up a cookie at Storybook Circus Treats and we hung out. I love the area back here, such great theming. My fav, Lambert the Sheepish Lion! If you haven’t watched this short cartoon, do so immediately! So cute. I think it might still be on Netflix in the Mickey cartoon collection.
Since the wait was short, we hopped in to meet with Daisy Fortuna and Minnie Magnifique. It was cute; we had not been in there before.
We then took the back walkway past Barnstormer to Tomorrowland. I love this walkway as it is usually never crowded. We hopped on the Peoplemover. And I think on the Peoplemover was when we decided to call it a day. We were both pretty tired and despite having delusions of grandeur, there was no way we could make it to the midnight closing time!
We stopped on Main Street to buy something I have been absolutely wanting for years but never bought before. But…I don’t have any pics of it until the next morning, so you’ll have to wait till the next update!
Don't be afraid to call me out if you see me slacking off again! Our next trip is in May, so I better get all this reporting done way before then!!! 
They were very nice and thanked me for returning the cracked one.
