“Stop talking and just smile!” – a Food and Wine TR 11/4 – 11/8 ( COMPLETE! Link to new TR 3/9/18)

[franandaj]

I've gotten very behind around here and caught up on several updates. We had apps and drinks at the Nomad lounge, we liked the Poutine as well. We also tried the bread service. I thought Avatar land was done pretty well, and we only saw the movie the night before. I had similar thoughts of RoL. It didn't wow me or anything. It was pleasant enough.

You guys get up really early, I'm not nearly as good at rope drop, but you can get a lot done. Ij have not seen any Star Lords who really look like him. Most of them look sort of goofy.

From the looks of your lunch, I am happy with ours. I don't like peas or salmon, but perhaps when prepared exquisitely possibly my mind could be changed. I know what you mean about fuzzy getting back to the room and passing out afterwards!

 

[skier_pete]

From the looks of your lunch, I am happy with ours. I don't like peas or salmon, but perhaps when prepared exquisitely possibly my mind could be changed. I know what you mean about fuzzy getting back to the room and passing out afterwards!

I guess we each got the right meal, because when I saw yours I didn't think I would like the seafood pot (main course) as much as I liked our veal.

 

[skier_pete]

Day 2 - Resumes with regaining consciousness...

I woke about 2 hours later having had a pretty good nap. DW was already awake. (I assume she slept.) Amazingly, I still felt a little drunk, which is a weird sensation to wake up to. It was probably something like 5 PM now…with the time change the night before it was going to get dark pretty early, but it was definitely not yet dark. We changed into some different clothes for the evening and proceeded to head out. The plan was to Food and Wine a little for dinner, and then head over to Magic Kingdom for a couple of Fastpasses and to hit our sixth park.

I know it was dark by the time we got to Epcot. We really weren’t all that hungry, so we just decided to hit a few booths nearest to the entrance without really getting into world showcase.

The first spot we stopped at was the Light Lab. This one had food that glowed in the dark. We ordered the deconstructed cotton candy, which took cotton candy and dissolved it in soda water.

DSC05526 by Peter /url], on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/ZnMARL]DSC05528 by Peter , on Flickr

I will save you the trouble on this one – it was awful. Just outside of the light lab was the “Flavors of Fire”. (I realized after the fact that I was pretty terrible about taking pictures of the booths or menus, so really I only have pictures of the food. Hopefully I can reconstitute all the item names.

DSC05530 by Peter , on Flickr

We ordered the Piggy Wings: Roasted Pork Wings with Korean BBQ Sauce and Sesame Seeds – $4.50, and Smoked Corned Beef with Warm Crispy Potatoes, Pickled Onions and Blonde Ale Beer Fondue featuring BelGioioso Romano and America Grana Cheeses – $5.00. Both were really good.

DSC05531 by Peter , on Flickr

Couldn’t quite get this picture to take – but it was a cool figment topiary:

DSC05532 by Peter , on Flickr

From Active Eats: Loaded Mac ‘n’ Cheese with Nueske’s® Pepper Bacon, Cheddar Cheese, Peppers and Green Onions – $4.75. I remember really liking this Mac and Cheese in the past, but this time I wasn’t quite as impressed, it was OK, not great.

DSC05536 by Peter , on Flickr

At Earth eats – we went for the trifecta: Ricotta and Zucchini Ravioli with Rustic Tomato Sauce – $4.75, Grilled Beef Skewer with Romaine, Apricots, and Feta Cheese – $5.25, and Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Mousse with a Caramel Drizzle (GF) – $3.50. Honestly, the Ravioli here was so-so last year and again this year. I really liked the Beef Skewer, and the White Chocolate Mousse was pretty good.

DSC05537 by Peter , on Flickr

I missed the picture, but we also stopped at the Coastal Eats and gotLump Crab Cake with Napa Cabbage Slaw and Avocado Lemongrass Cream – $5.00 and Baked Shrimp Scampi Dip with Sourdough Baguette – $5.50. Both of these I wasn’t impressed with, especially the Crab Cake which I actively disliked. Perhaps it was because we really weren’t that hungry at this point. Can you believe we were already getting full? Gee, why would that be? Our last stop was at the Chocolate Studio – where we got a favorite from the previous year: Liquid Nitro Chocolate-Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey-Caramel (GF) – $4.75.

DSC05538 by Peter , on Flickr

The one they gave us was HUGE, I don’t know if it was because it was toward the end of the night, but it was the last straw, we were done eating. Off to our SIXTH and final Park.

DSC05539 by Peter , on Flickr

We had three fastpasses for the night and were surely going to use them!
Wait, it’s November 5th!

DSC05541 by Peter , on Flickr

They were shooting the Disney Parks Christmas special here as well. I can’t tell you who was performing tonight – someone said 5th Harmony was there.

DSC05552 by Peter , on Flickr

Fastpass #1 was for Pirates.

IMG_20171105_220532581 by Peter , on Flickr

Gotta see the Redhead before they stupidly change this scene:

DSC05545 by Peter , on Flickr
DSC05547 by Peter , on Flickr

Last time we were here solo, we got stuck on this ride right here! Much better outcome tonight.

DSC05548 by Peter , on Flickr

Johnny’s just hanging around hoping for Pirates 6.

DSC05550 by Peter , on Flickr

We deiced while we here to do a quick ride on the Jingle Cruise. I actually don’t really like this ride as much in the dark, and prefer the non-Jingle version, but it was a “walk-on” because people were all watching the fireworks. (They started going off while we were walking over here.)

Next up was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. By going on Jingle Cruise, we were towards the end of our FP+ time here as well, so we got in line and road it. The wait wasn’t bad of course, I think standby was only about 30 minutes. No pictures on this ride either for some reason.

Then we headed over to Fantasyland for our 3rd Fastpass – Seven Dwarves Mine Train. I screwed up where the picture was being taken though.

MK_MINETRAIN_20171106_406270858564 by Peter , on Flickr

Got the second one OK:

MK_MINETRAIN_20171106_8121949248 by Peter , on Flickr

We actually wrapped the night with a quick ride on the TTA Peoplemover – a family tradition to have a nice relaxing ride to end the night.

IMG_20171105_222017129 by Peter , on Flickr

They were still shooting the Christmas Special as we were leaving the park, right around closing time. This was our WORST bus experience. We were tired, and as we approached the bus-stop, we could see what we thought was an AK bus leaving, but we knew we couldn’t make it. So we just walked. There was actually one other family in front of us. And then we waited…and waited….and waiterd. It was at LEAST 30 minutes, maybe longer, before a bus finally pulled up. It wasn’t a super late night, maybe close to 10 PM by the time we got back, but two VERY busy days behind us, we were ready for a slightly more relaxing pace. (Well, relaxing for us!)

Happy new year...until next update![/url]https://www.flickr.com/photos/146996812@N02/https://www.flickr.com/photos/146996812@N02/https://www.flickr.com/photos/146996812@N02/

 

[franandaj]

I don't know how you guys mustered up the energy to go out again after the French lunch! And then do all those rides.

You tried a few of the things that were on my list from the booths, but we never got to. It will be two years until we go back during F&W so I'm going to have to plan better next time. Thanks for saving me the trouble if I ever get to the light lab.

 

[skier_pete]

I don't know how you guys mustered up the energy to go out again after the French lunch! And then do all those rides.

You tried a few of the things that were on my list from the booths, but we never got to. It will be two years until we go back during F&W so I'm going to have to plan better next time. Thanks for saving me the trouble if I ever get to the light lab.

Well, its a short trip, so fast.pace.works for us. We slowdown quite a bit after this. We've already decided that we are going to try to really slow down next fall for our weekend, but we always SAY that.

Yeah, I think I would skip the light lab next time. It looked neat in there, but not much to impress.

 

[skier_pete]

Day 3:

The problem with short trips, we were already approaching the half way mark! We had decided we were NOT going to rush off to the park this morning. We had our FP for the evening when we met our friends, so there was no immediate need. All we wanted to do was get to Epcot for lunch. So we got up in the morning and were feeling kind of sore, so we decided to go down to the hot tub at the pool for a soak. It felt GOOD. We also were treating ourselves to something we rarely do – BREAKFAST! Usually we bring our own breakfast, but this trip, we had decided against that, so we got breakfast from Mara – basically breakfast sandwhiches with home fries. (We actually had the breakfast – THEN the hot tub.)

DSC05554 by Peter , on Flickr

Eventually we went off to the park. I think we got there about 11 AM.

IMG_20171106_110352282 by Peter , on Flickr

We have a strategy for when we get to food and wine at opening (11 AM) – head to the back and make your way forward. This seemed like a good strategy, as there were LOTS of people in the front of world showcase, but very few towards the back.

I need to point out at this time – it was HOT while we were here, and hotter it seemed every day. I get people like to move to Florida, but geez we came in February and November of 2017 and BOTH trips we had several unpleasantly hot days. Not that I want it to be cold this coming February, but would LOVE some days in the 70s for a change! This is why I feel like I could never move to Florida –once it gets above 80 I want to hide in the air conditioning. (As I type this, it is 14 F outside, so maybe eighty degrees would be OK about now.)

Anyways, we started all the way at the back at the America pavilion. We got one of our favorites, the Lobster Roll, though it seems like they decided instead of raising the price more they would shrink he portion more:

DSC05555 by Peter , on Flickr

It was very good, but I told DW next time she can get one and I’ll save the $7.50. Next up was Japan.

DSC05557 by Peter , on Flickr

These were the Wasabi Shumai Steamed Pork Dumplings – $6.95. They were really good, though not sure worth that price.

DSC05556 by Peter , on Flickr

In Morocco we tried the Kefta Pocket: Seasoned Ground Beef in a Pita Pocket – $5.00.

DSC05558 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05560 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05559 by Peter , on Flickr

Next was Belguim, with the two waffle desserts the choice of the day.

DSC05561 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05563 by Peter , on Flickr

We also got a Escondidinho de Carne – “Little Hidden One”: Layered Meat Pie with Mashed Yucca (GF) – $5.00 from Brazil. This was really yummy, we had this the year before.

DSC05564 by Peter , on Flickr

We actually skipped by France with only a short stop, and headed right to Ireland for the Roasted Irish Sausage with Colcannon Potatoes and Onion Gravy – $5.50. This was pretty good.

DSC05565 by Peter , on Flickr

And also a favorite from last year - Warm Chocolate Pudding with Irish Cream Liqueur Custard – $4.00.

DSC05566 by Peter , on Flickr

Since we started our “lunch” with lobster, we are finishing with Steak – at Canada – we each got one of the steaks “Le Cellier” Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon with Truffle-Butter Sauce (GF) – $8.00 DW also got a Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup served with a Pretzel Roll – $5.00. Both were yummy.

DSC05568 by Peter , on Flickr

And with that, we headed back to the resort. We had to meet our friends, who were parking their car at Animal Kingdom. We got back probably around 2:00 PM, with just enough time to take a quick power nap, change of clothes, and then back out to the parks!

 

[franandaj]

Sounds like a good plan of attack for F&W, I like getting there just before 11AM because we're slower than you guys!

I missed so many good things this last year, the shumai look really great, but then again we had them at Morimoto Asia and they were really tasty there. I really liked the sausages and the molten center cake. We did make sure to try those this trip!

 

[khertz]

I got quite a bit behind but I'm all caught up!

The lunch at Monsieur Paul looks really nice and definitely filling! SO. MUCH. WINE! I am impressed you made it back out to a park that night. lol

 

[kcpinwdw]

Pete! I haven't been on trip reports in forever but I found your pre trip report and link to this Nov trip,... Jer and I were there for an adults only weekend this weekend in nov too! Now I have to look for us in the background of all your pics . AND-- looks like we will be there the same time in February too. Maybe I will run into you, know that I know to look!!!

 

[skier_pete]

Sounds like a good plan of attack for F&W, I like getting there just before 11AM because we're slower than you guys!

I missed so many good things this last year, the shumai look really great, but then again we had them at Morimoto Asia and they were really tasty there. I really liked the sausages and the molten center cake. We did make sure to try those this trip!

Would love to try Morimoto, but we never seem to bother with Disney Springs anymore. Not even any plans for February to go there.

I got quite a bit behind but I'm all caught up!

The lunch at Monsieur Paul looks really nice and definitely filling! SO. MUCH. WINE! I am impressed you made it back out to a park that night. lol

It was a lot of wine. I did a good job to sleep it off! We were ready to go again after the long nap.

Pete! I haven't been on trip reports in forever but I found your pre trip report and link to this Nov trip,... Jer and I were there for an adults only weekend this weekend in nov too! Now I have to look for us in the background of all your pics . AND-- looks like we will be there the same time in February too. Maybe I will run into you, know that I know to look!!!

That's too funny! DD still wears her mickey tie die that you gave her all the time. Will you be at copper creek for the princess half? We are at boulder ridge. We MUST get together at least once, right?

 

[skier_pete]

Day 3 - Continued

We met up with our friends – I won’t share names but two of the people that we met on the ABD trip in 2013, we’ll call them K and M. We were going to spend the evening at Epcot, and the night at Jellyroll’s.

We got back into the park in time to use our first Fastpass, for Spaceship Earth. It’s always a good time learning the history of communications.

DSC05570 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05571 by Peter , on Flickr

I had to take this one because that’s the Duomo in Florence in the background. The birthplace of the renaissance.

DSC05573 by Peter , on Flickr

And there’s the Sistine chapel, which we also saw. According to what we were told, Leonardo did not paint this lying on his back.

DSC05574 by Peter , on Flickr

Our next Fastpass – if you are just going to see one character greet – it should always be Mickey Mouse. Of course, I remember when you would meet FIVE characters at the Character Spot, then it went down to FOUR, now it’s down to a mere TWO. Even with a Fastpass we ended up taking probably close to 20 minutes for this one.

EPCOT_CHRCON1_20171106_406121120602 by Peter , on Flickr

EPCOT_CHRCON1_20171106_406121120609 by Peter , on Flickr

EPCOT_CHRCON2_20171106_406121177870 by Peter , on Flickr

EPCOT_CHRCON2_20171106_406121177873 by Peter , on Flickr

Goofy was giving me Skiing tips:

EPCOT_CHRCON2_20171106_406121177878 by Peter , on Flickr

EPCOT_CHRCON2_20171106_406121177880 by Peter , on Flickr

Can’t remember why Minnie gave me a big hug..

EPCOT_CHRCON3_20171106_406121228876 by Peter , on Flickr

EPCOT_CHRCON3_20171106_406121228879 by Peter , on Flickr

It was getting dark now, so we headed into Future World and headed LEFT towards Mexico. First stop was the Farm Fresh booth. We tried both things here- Crispy Chicken with Griddled Cornbread and Red Eye Gravy – $4.75, and Roasted Beet Salad with Green Beans, Feta Cheese, Minus 8 Vinaigrette and Toasted Walnuts (GF) – $3.75. The chicken with Cornbread may have been the best thing of the fest. The beet salad was more of a DW thing.

DSC05577 by Peter, on Flickr

The Greece booth was now over on this side of WS. We ordered both Spanakopita — $4.25, and Bougatsa: Warm Phyllo Dough Strudel with Sweet Vanilla Custard, Lemon Honey Syrup and Cinnamon — $4.00. Both were delicious.

DSC05578 by Peter , on Flickr

K got a Marinated Chicken with Peanut Sauce and Stir-fried Vegetables – $4.75 from Thailand. Though I don’t have a picture, it was just terrible, really gross. I would’ve considered bringing it back. DW meanwhile got the Seared Shrimp and Scallop Cake with Cold Noodle Salad – $5.00, which she quite enjoyed.

DSC05579 by Peter , on Flickr

Meanwhile, I went over to the craft beer location. I got a Zesty Cheeseburger and Cheddar Cheese Macaroni Handwich – $5.50, and an Eastern Florida Beer Flight – $9.00 which was made up of M.I.A. Beer Company 305 Golden Ale, Doral, FL, Playalinda Brewing Company Blonde Ale, Titusville, FL and Florida Beer Company Passport 35 Triple Chocolate Milk Stout, Cape Canaveral, FL

DSC05581 by Peter, on Flickr

The handwich was a clever idea but was not that great in actual taste. The beers were all good. Quite honestly I adored the chocolate Stout.

As you can see from this next picture – I REALLY enjoyed the beer flight:
DSC05582 by Peter , on Flickr

No seriously, that was taken on the Frozen ride. This was our second time riding it, and again it is so not worth the massive waits, but really with a fastpass I definitely like it quite a bit. Here’s us in the queue.

IMG_20171106_195108787 by Peter , on Flickr

I like that the ride doesn’t just tell the tale of Frozen yet again, but sort of a new story, of course using the same old songs:

DSC05583 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05585 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05586 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05588 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05589 by Peter , on Flickr

Once we were done with Frozen, we made our way around the rest of World Showcase, but I am not sure that we ate anything else. Or at least, I didn’t take any pictures of us eating anything else. We weren’t interested in sticking around for Illuminations anyways, we mostly wanted to go over to Jellyrolls’, pretty much our favorite thing to do at Walt Disney World. We met another couple of friends there as well, and I think everyone had a good time.

IMG_20171106_205831220 by Peter , on Flickr

We were here from around 8:30 PM to around midnight. We then took a Minnie-Van from Boardwalk back to AKV and arrive back at around 1 AM. (I remember this because the Vans stop running at 1 AM so this was the last ride we were going to get.) K and M had to pick up their car here and head back to their hotel.

Up next, sleep in and then more fun with friends!

 

[franandaj]

Wow! I cant believe that Character Spot is down to only two characters. I thought that three was a little chinsy.

You got to try way more things than we did! The stuff at Greece sounded good, i saw the beet salad on another TR and thats just a flat out "no" for me.

I'm glad you all made it to Jellyrolls, maybe we could do that on your last night of your summer trip? One of my plans for that weekend after the cruise is to do "non park" type stuff like Jellyrolls and Yeehaw Bob.

 

[skier_pete]

Wow! I cant believe that Character Spot is down to only two characters. I thought that three was a little chinsy.

You got to try way more things than we did! The stuff at Greece sounded good, i saw the beet salad on another TR and thats just a flat out "no" for me.

I'm glad you all made it to Jellyrolls, maybe we could do that on your last night of your summer trip? One of my plans for that weekend after the cruise is to do "non park" type stuff like Jellyrolls and Yeehaw Bob.

It's three characters, but still it's pretty bad.

I'm sure you could get us to meet at Jellyrolls! Especially since we'll be at Beach Club and its just a short walk away! I have to admit though - it's a fun place to hangout, but a terrible place to "catch up" because the music is non-stop so you never get time to really have a conversation.

 

[franandaj]

It's three characters, but still it's pretty bad.

I'm sure you could get us to meet at Jellyrolls! Especially since we'll be at Beach Club and its just a short walk away! I have to admit though - it's a fun place to hangout, but a terrible place to "catch up" because the music is non-stop so you never get time to really have a conversation.

This is true. Maybe we could "get a slice" or something beforehand on the boardwalk and then head over. I forget what the QS options there are.

 

[khertz]

I really love Spaceship Earth! I never cared about doing it as a kid, but it's one of those things I have come to adore as an adult. I still enjoy the thrill rides, but somethings it's just so nice to sit and relax.

It's really a shame that they have whittled down the one spot where you used to be able to meet all of the Fab 5 in the parks without paying an arm and a leg for a character meal. It's nice that at least you can still see Minnie in her red polka dot dress at least, but still a bummer considering what the Character Spot used to be.

Y'all really love Jellyrolls!! Glad you got to spend some time there with friends. Maybe one of these days DH and I will get to check it out for ourselves.

 

[skier_pete]

I really love Spaceship Earth! I never cared about doing it as a kid, but it's one of those things I have come to adore as an adult. I still enjoy the thrill rides, but somethings it's just so nice to sit and relax.

It's really a shame that they have whittled down the one spot where you used to be able to meet all of the Fab 5 in the parks without paying an arm and a leg for a character meal. It's nice that at least you can still see Minnie in her red polka dot dress at least, but still a bummer considering what the Character Spot used to be.

Y'all really love Jellyrolls!! Glad you got to spend some time there with friends. Maybe one of these days DH and I will get to check it out for ourselves.

Yeah - the drop from 5 to 4 to 3 really exemplies the "less for more" that Disney is doing constantly. Often it's not as noticable, and I suppose if you were new to Disney it wouldn't bother you...but it's really a big difference!

We love Spaceship Earth too. The only change I would make is i wish they would do something with that giant space at the top. Keeping it dark seems such a waste. Well, that and fix the poor paperboy so he doesn't have to face the wall.

And yes we absolutely love jellyrolls. It's not as great as the Adventurer's Club, but it's a fun nights entertainment.

 

[skier_pete]

Day 4 (Tuesday) - Well, we slept in again this morning. I think we were thinking about going down to the pool in the morning, but we ended up deciding against it. We probably got to the park around 11 AM but it may have even been closer to noon. We had a Culinary session at 2:30 PM to get to, that’s all I know for sure.
Entering the park we decided to get a photopass shot at the entrance.

EPCOT_ECENTR2_20171107_406133292775 by Peter , on Flickr

I’m almost always disappointed in photopass photos, because I think they do such a poor job of framing the shots, but this one below they actually managed to frame it properly.

EPCOT_ECENTR2_20171107_406133292786 by Peter , on Flickr

Then I took one of my own:

IMG_20171107_123729953 by Peter , on Flickr

The figment topiary from the other night.

DSC05590 by Peter , on Flickr

I’m always one to say “Start with dessert first”, OK not really, but that’s what we did – We had already tried the Liquid Nitro Truffle at the Chocolate Studio, so this time tried the Sweet Dark Chocolate Raspberry Torte with Whipped Cream and Raspberry Dust – $4.25. This is one I loved the previous year, so yeah, still love it.

DSC05591 by Peter , on Flickr

Next up was the cheese studio – and if you know us, you know we love a good cheese (or 5). So we ended up trying both things here - Braised Beef “Stroganoff” with Tiny Egg Noodles, Wild Mushroom, and Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs Cheese Sauce – $5.00, and Savory Caramelized Onion Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs Cheese Tart with Cold Arugula Salad and Aged Balsamic – $4.50.

DSC05592 by Peter , on Flickr

The Stroganoff was fine, but the Cheese Tart may have been the steal of the festival. Very flavorful, and HUGE. I was actually already getting full after just these two booths!

Third up was the “Wine and Dine” Booth

DSC05595 by Peter Scheidle, on Flickr

DW wanted a picture of this sign – we love doing cheese/food/wine pairings.

DSC05593 by Peter Scheidle, on Flickr

So, in the end we couldn’t resist the Artist Palette of Cheese and Wine – $11.25, Fromager Affirois de Excellence served with toasted Baguette with Round Pond Estate Sauvignon Blanc, Point Reyes Original Blue served with Apricot Jam with St. Francis Chardonnay, and Point Reyes Toma served with Honey with Recuerdo Malbec.

DSC05594 by Peter , on Flickr

Admittedly this one was a bit pricey, but it was fun tasting the combinations. Neither us are big Blue Cheese fans, but the other two were really yummy combos.
Booth four was Islands of the Caribbean, which we had liked the previous year

DSC05597 by Peter , on Flickr

We tried the Mojo Pork with Black Beans, Cilantro Rice, and Pickled Red Onions (GF) – $4.50 and also the Quesito: Puff Pastry with Sweetened Cream Cheese and Guava Sauce – $3.75.Both of these were leftover from the previous year, but both were favorites of ours. You can see we also got a sample of the Caribbean White Sangria @ $5.00.

DSC05598 by Peter , on Flickr

Our last stop before heading to our culinary event was at the Australia booth, a favorite of ours in the past…so much so that we got the entire menu: Grilled Sweet and Spicy Bush Berry Shrimp with Pineapple, Pepper, Onion and Snap Peas (GF) – $5.25, Grilled Lamb T-Bone with Mint Pesto and Potato Crunchies (GF) – $7.50, Lamington: Yellow Cake Dipped in Chocolate and Shredded Coconut $3.25

DSC05599 by Peter , on Flickr

The Lamb T-Bone in the past was always one of my favorites, but honestly this is the first time I didn’t rate it a 5. It was a little too greasy, and a little small. For $7.50, I am not sure I would do this again. The Shrimp was quite good though, and the Lamington was as well, though they can’t really do it “right” here. Just a different taste to real Lamington.

By this point we wanted to be sure we got over the festival center in time, so we headed out from the end of World Showcase. (All of these booths didn’t take us even to the Canada pavilion.)

A quick look at the closed Universe of Energy building. Stupid Judy!

DSC05600 by Peter , on Flickr

Entering the festival center always makes me sad. This was the first Pavillion my wife and I ever went to together- Wonders of Life. Now it’s a rather shabby looking building that feels in need of repair. (As of this writing, it’s actually being worked on!)

DSC05601 by Peter , on Flickr

Ready to go – we picked up our tickets.

IMG_20171107_141617377_HDR by , on Flickr

To be continued....

 

[skier_pete]

The culinary demo was being done by Maneet Chauhan of Chauhan Ale and Masala House, Nashville, TN. Apparently she is an actual “celebrity” chef and is one of the rotating chefs on “Chopped”, but I don’t watch enough of those shows to really recognize some of them. What I will say is this, she was very charming and friendly, and gave a wonderful presentation.

DSC05603 by Peter Scheidle, on Flickr

IMG_20171107_144032772 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05604 by Peter , on Flickr

They always give you a recipe, and I usually take a photo of it to remember, but I didn’t this case. I know that she started with a yogurt smoothie that used rose water and basmati rice.

IMG_20171107_144316033 by Peter , on Flickr

This was in fact horrible. I enjoy the flavor of basmati rice, but not in a cold drink! Blech! The main dish was a chickpea slider. I quite enjoyed this, though to be honest DW thought it was too spicy for her taste.

IMG_20171107_145227774 by Peter , on Flickr

After the fact, she was doing a free autograph session to anyone that had been at the demo. You could get a photo signed, or you could purchase her cookbook. I ended up buying the cookbook for DW, since she LOVES cookbooks.

DSC05609 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05616 by Peter , on Flickr

As we wrapped up the autograph session, K and M showed up as they were joining us for the wine seminar. It was a Kendall Jackson seminar. I like the wine seminars, but not as much as the culinary ones. They teach you quite a bit about their wines, but it really is a 40 minute advertising session. However, the chardonnay they gave us was the Vintner’s Reserve for I think 2015, and it was probably the best Chardonnay I’ve ever tasted. The problem being is though they sell bottles here – they were all out already.

DSC05618 by Peter , on Flickr

While we were in the festival center, we checked out the Chocolate booth. There are always these really cool dioramas made out of chocolate, and this year was no different.

DSC05619 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05620 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05621 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05622 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05623 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05624 by Peter , on Flickr

We got our cup of warm chocolate drink (NOT hot chocolate – this stuff is actual melted chocolate, it’s actually too rich for me to drink the whole little cup.) DW really loves it though.

IMG_20171107_164030112_BURST001 by Peter , on Flickr

To be continued...

 

[skier_pete]

It was now time to head over to Magic Kingdom for the evening. We had 3 fastpasses to hit, and then Happily Ever After.

It was just getting dark as we got there. This following picture is the moment where I got the name of my trip report. DW had been very chatty with our friends, and I was trying to get a selfie and she kept talking so I said (jokingly) “Stop talking and just smile.” You can see from this everyone was half-laughing when I took the picture – and DW stuck her tongue out at me in response.

IMG_20171107_173539403 by Peter , on Flickr

I also like how we managed to get a shot of the front with no one else in the shot, just one lonely CM wheeling her cart of light-up crap for sale.
If it’s November 7th, it must be CHRISTMAS!

DSC05625 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05626 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05627 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05628 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05629 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05630 by Peter , on Flickr

DSC05631 by Peter , on Flickr

A quick stop for a photopass shot

MK_MSUPTOWNJL_20171107_406141460024 by Peter , on Flickr

MK_MSUPTOWNJL_20171107_406141460031 by Peter , on Flickr

They were still shooting the Christmas special – this time we stopped for a quick look. If anyone watched the Thanksgiving one, this was the song that Ciara sang near the start of the show – a hip-hop version of Jingle Bells. We didn’t see the actual taping, but this was a run-through with camera movements and everything, so it was pretty much just like the real thing. The interesting thing is seeing them all dressed up in Christmas wear, and it is friggin’ HOT out. IT was still probably near 80 at the time they were rehearsing this.

DSC05634 by Peter , on Flickr

Honestly I now have some trouble remembering exactly what we did. I usually try to take pictures of each ride, but in this case I didn’t. I think we did the following.
First – we rode Peter Pan, which we had a FP+ for. Then, we went to ride Small World, but the wait was like 40 minutes, so we wandered slowly over to our 7D Mine Train FP, and was able to get onto the ride with our FP right when we got there. This may be my favorite ride photo ever. I finally knew where the cameras were, and decided to go with “abject terror” as my main expression. Does anyone buy it?

MK_MINETRAIN_20171107_8122861941 by Peter , on Flickr

MK_MINETRAIN_20171107_8122861962 by Peter , on Flickr

Our third FP was Haunted Mansion, but as we were walking by Small World, we noticed the wait had dropped to 15 minutes, so we did a quick world tour before heading over to HM.

Finally we ended the night with Happily Ever After. (Note I decided just to watch it and enjoy without sweating trying to get pictures – so there aren’t any. This was our first time seeing the show and as a replacement for Wishes I thought it was wonderful. The one “flaw” I thought was it relies heavily on co-ordinating the castle projection with the fireworks, but a lot of what goes on on the castle was down low, making it hard for I think kids to see the action. Overall though a worthy successor.
The park ended up being open for an hour or two after HEA, but we were ready to call it a day, so we said good-bye to our friends and headed back to our resort.

Tomorrow is check-out day already!

Sorry to be burning through so many posts at once - just trying to get this TR done before I have to start another one.

 

[franandaj]

All your food pictures are making me hungry, but I can't eat real food because it hurts my mouth too much! So I'm just sitting in bed with my stomach growling.

Kendall Jackson is a good solid Chardonnay. A little pricey for my house wine, but a good choice at restaurants.

Looks like a fun evening at MK, that was a great shot on 7DMT. I completely missed where the camera was on that one .