100 Eats & Drinks in 3.5 Days! ~ Updated 1/10: December TR Started!

[Dsnygrl1205]

Can't wait to read more!

 

[Dugette]

Can't wait to read more!

and I'm working on another update right now, so hopefully I'll have it up later tonight!

 

[Dugette]

We made our way across Fantasyland, intending to walk through Liberty Square on our way to Frontierland. But, just past It’s a Small World, there was an un-dropped rope with a crowd of people waiting to go through! We determined that Liberty Square was probably not open yet, even though Frontierland was (still EMH). We had a few minutes to burn.

Since it was so early, the stroller parking area was wide open and we noticed some Christmas trees being stored there. Naturally, I had to have a picture with them:

While we were in there, we noticed that it’s actually very pretty in the stroller parking area when it’s not all full of strollers. There is running water and waterfalls:

From the outside of the area (I guess this used to be one of the gondola platforms):

So, with a few minutes to spare and It’s a Small World right by us with no line, we decided to take a spin. Since we had been on last, they’d reversed the entrance and exit areas. Maybe we just never noticed before, but it seemed like maybe there were some new things added when they refurbished the ride? For instance, we didn’t remember seeing this before:

It may well have been there before, but it was new to us. Also, JC040404, I made Dug take a picture of “your girl” for you (hopefully we got it right!):

After our cruise on IASW, the rope was gone. Before we left the area, though, I had to take a few seconds of video of what apparently must be the most important plant in the MK, based on how it’s roped off so widely:



We couldn’t really figure that one out.

We made it to BTMRR and walked through the queue. There was essentially no line…maybe a minute at the end there. I actually videotaped our entire ride. Kinda fun. Dug was being super-dramatic, as he found that our new version of iMovie has a trailer-making feature, so he wanted lots of “action shots”. I’ve spared you the worst of them, but here’s some highlights (if he makes a trailer, I’ll post it for you):



We had decided to pass up Splash Mountain this morning, as it was still somewhat chilly and we didn’t want to get soaked right before heading to Food & Wine. And, really, SM in jeans? I don’t think so.

Instead, we made our way to Pirates :

We had some fun interactions with CMs on our way in. I happened to have the video camera running:



Dug purposely had tried to set up that last exchange. Pirates had no line at all and was great as usual!

Next up, it was time to redeem those Peter Pan Fast Passes! We both love Peter Pan!

We marveled at how empty the park was around Pirates. Once we arrived in Fantasyland, we figured out where everyone was. Apparently, most people hadn’t managed to make it past Fantasyland yet. We grabbed a pic of the castle:

Thank goodness we had those Peter Pan FPs, as there was a decent line. We were on within a few minutes, though. Sailing off to Neverland.

Next up, we decided to redeem our “surprise” FP for Philharmagic. Probably not so surprisingly, you really don’t need FP for this in the early a.m. I don’t think they even collected them, just had us go right in with everyone else. Love that show!

Afterwards, we headed into the gift shop to find where Donald’s front half had ended up:

It was time to head out of the MK now and make our way over to Epcot for Food & Wine. As we passed behind the castle, we caught a glimpse of the Fairy Godmother out signing autographs, as well as the Stepsisters:

For a change, we decided to take the path around the castle on the rose garden side, since we normally go the other way. We figured out quickly why this is not the way to go: apparently a smoking area!

As we came around the bend, we caught sight of something going on. Turned out to be a meet and greet with the characters from Tangled. Not the best picture, but you can see them in the lower left:

As we bypassed that, we realized that we were not far from one of the few “cult foods” that we hadn’t yet had at WDW: the cream cheese pretzel from the Lunching Pad in Tomorrowland. Last time we tried to get one of these, the place was not open. We knew that could be the case again, but we were curious. (And, yes, A&Bmama, I know we shouldn’t have been looking for snacks right before F&W, but we were hungry! ) We made our way over and found the same thing we had on a previous trip: people gathered around looking in the windows of the Lunching Pad. The place should really open earlier! We asked through the window and they open at 11am. No pretzel for us! Hopefully on our next trip!

As we made our way out of Tomorrowland and down Main Street, we were realizing how much of an appetite we’d worked up this morning. So, we took a peek into the Main St. Bakery. Very long line! We kept moving. Saw some balloons:

Then we came across the Confectionery! I suddenly remembered seeing a recent post on the Disney Food Blog about seasonal treats at WDW and they had highlighted the Pumpkin Fudge here! I told Dug and he was intrigued enough that we stepped inside. Yummy!

How could we possibly forego a “seasonal” goodie, especially when we were so hungry? So, we got a piece of Pumpkin Fudge to share:

So very yummy and fresh! Wasn’t sure if I’d like that flavor, but it was delish! We ate some on our way to the monorail and saved the rest for later. By the way, we saw Pinocchio doing meet & greets in the square on our way out of the MK.

We boarded the Express Monorail, sitting in our own car. Got off at the TTA and headed to the Epcot monorail. Actually, the Tronorail! For some reason, they were only letting people in the first two doors, so we had to stand in a crowded car for this ride. But, soon enough, we were strolling into Epcot!

Up next: Time to start our Eating Around the World adventure!

 

[IheartDDuck]

I'm joining!

Can't wait to hear about you eating around the world!

 

[Dugette]

Just wanted to let everyone know that I've started the December PTR:

"Holidays & Hammocks PTR"

 

[Dugette]

I'm joining!

Can't wait to hear about you eating around the world!

I'm going to start working on the eating around the world part right now. Hope to have it up later today!

 

[Dugette]

As we entered Epcot, we were immediately reminded why we were there:

We cut through Innoventions East on our way over to the Festival Center, which was in the former Wonders of Life pavilion:

As we entered, I was super excited to see a Cutco Cutlery booth! I spent about 10 years selling Cutco/managing an office and never would have thought I’d see it at Disney World! How cool! Here’s the inside of the pavilion:

Our mission here was to acquire the gift card wristbands that had been recommended for Food & Wine. In case we split up, we purchased two and put $100 on each of them (you can use them anywhere in WDW if you don’t use them up at the booths). We also picked up a Food & Wine Passport, which you can have stamped at each booth you visit.

After a brief spin through the Festival Center, we headed over to Test Track to pick up some Fast Passes for later. I love TT and we’d need a break from eating at some point, right? The passes were for 1:25pm. You can also see the gift card wrist band in this pic:

FP secured, it was now time to head for a very important destination on our agenda…Club Cool:

By the way, on our stroll over there, we saw the Genie from Aladdin out meeting people. At Club Cool, we refreshed ourselves with delicious fruity drinks and were impressed with our perfect machine:

All of them should have the Beverly labeled like this! Club Cool was actually decorated very nicely for the holidays:

Nice and refreshed, we made our way to World Showcase:

The gigantic Epcot Christmas tree was standing tall:

We had decided that we would take a right upon entering World Showcase and eat our way along that route towards the International Gateway, so that we could then go take a break and check into the Beach Club Villas. So, that made our very first stop New Zealand!

We got two things here, the Lamb Slider with Tomato Chutney and Seared Sea Scallop with Vegetable Slaw and Lemon Vinaigrette:

I’m somewhat of a finicky eater, so I wasn’t going to have either of these. I don’t like seafood, so the scallop was out. And lamb just kind-of weirds me out, so I hadn’t planned on having any. But I was so hungry by that point that I took a small bite of the lamb slider. Yummy! I had a few more bites of that one! Dug enjoyed both of them quite a bit. He loves scallops.

Next up was the Greece booth:

We both really like Greek food, but Dug wasn’t that excited about this booth, as we have a really good Greek restaurant locally that we go to sometimes, so this wasn’t a priority to him. I insisted on trying these, though, as I’d seen great reviews. Plus, I was starving by this point!

As the guys working the booth were serving the food, they would yell out, “Opa!” Kinda fun! We ordered several things here: Spanakopita (Savory Spinach and Cheese Pastry), Greek Salad with Pita Bread, Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki, and a glass of Boutari Moschofilero:

We secured a nice standing table right on the water:

There were some birds enjoying a nap right next to us:

Later, while Dug was off procuring more food, one of these birds made a thorough sweep under our table, in case we had dropped anything. Anyway, all of the Greek stuff was quite tasty and fresh! Hit the spot! Dug said that the Spanakopita was perfectly done. Yum!

Next up, Dug held our table with the beautiful view and I headed over to the nearby Charcuterie and Cheese booth. We got the Cheese Fondue with Croutons and Roasted Potatoes and the Charcuterie Plate (Applewood Smoked Beef, Duck, and Ham):

This booth sounded better than what it was. Just okay. We actually didn’t even finish the stuff. I think this was the only place that we left food on our plates. I was thirsty at this point, so I went over to a quick-service snack place that we’d noticed earlier and got 2 ice waters for us (free!):

I was very proud! Otherwise, a bottle of water at any of the booths would have been $2.50! As you may be able to see, it was getting quite warm out at this point. Luckily, I had a short-sleeve shirt on under the fleece that I’d worn all morning.

Next, I table-sat while Dug crossed the path over to the Canada booth:

In Canada, we got the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup (of course!), a Nanaimo Bar, and an Icewine (dessert wine):

Everything was quite good. The Cheddar Cheese Soup was more bacon-y than I remember it being at Le Cellier. Very good, though.

At this point, it was time to move on from our nice table. We decided to skip Ireland and save it for later (during Off Kilter). We headed towards France for a nice eating break: the Impressions de France movie.

On our way, we saw Marie the Cat and Princess Aurora out doing meet & greets, plus the chair-stacking-balancing act was going on.

The movie theater was nicely decorated for Christmas. We were a bit early, so we sat down on a bench inside for about 10 minutes or so. While we were waiting, several families doing Kim Possible came in to activate the gargoyle that was near us. Mildly fun to watch them come in and try to figure it out.

Soon, we were taking our seats in the theater. The movie was good, although I believe we were both a bit on the drowsy side during it. Afterwards, we headed into the gift shop and looked around for a few minutes. As we walked out, Dug reached for his trusty iPhone and realized that he could not find it!

Luckily, he knew he’d had it right before the movie (he’d tweeted that we were heading into the movie), so we knew it had to be in either the theater or the gift shop. Didn’t see it in the gift shop, so we headed around to the theater entrance to ask a CM if they’d found it. Unfortunately, there were no CMs at all to be found in the theater lobby. Back to the gift shop we went. Dug asked the CM working the register and they contacted the theater CM and…they had found it! We went back around to the theater entrance (couldn’t go in the exit, since another show was going). The CM met us and presented Dug with his (battery dead) iPhone. Yea for great CMs! Dug thanked him in French and we were off again. Crisis averted! Dug pulled out his back-up charger thing and hooked it up. Soon he would be back in Tweeting action!

Continued in next post…

 

[Dugette]

Since we were so sleepy, Dug decided that this called for an early visit to the nearby Belgium booth. We were saving this booth for another day, so we could have a waffle for breakfast, but Dug wanted to just get a Godiva Chocolate Liqueur Iced Coffee for now. While in line, we got a little sneak preview of how delicious the waffles looked!

We grabbed a table and chairs nearby and sat down to enjoy the drink. Well, mostly Dug did, since I don’t like coffee. He LOVED this! Said the tiny cup was worth the $7.25 they were charging for it! He liked it so much that I had to try a sip. Not bad! I don’t like coffee, which I could taste, but the Godiva chocolate helped. I ended up taking a few sips, as it was nice and refreshing:

We decided to split up next. I would go to the counter service in the UK to get ice waters for us. Dug would go to the Ireland booth to pick up the items we wanted from there. We’d meet up at the Off Kilter seating. This was the only day that Off Kilter was performing during our trip, so we definitely wanted to see this show.

I had to wait in a short line for the ice waters, but they gave us two nice, big ones in holiday cups! I took them over to find a seat for Off Kilter. Even though we were quite early, the benches were already all full (however, apparently some people were just there to sit, not to see Off Kilter)! Just as I arrived, I saw someone get up from the ledge in the back right, so I snagged that “seat”. While I was waiting for Dug, some people got up from one of the benches, so I sprinted up to take those spots. Unfortunately, they must have pre-planned their exit, as the people who’d been next to them immediately scooted in and added more people from their party to the end of the bench. Even though I’d sprinted, I was too slow. Took my ledge again and waited. Just after Dug arrived, a couple people left the bench in front of us. I sprinted again and this time I got it! I think the guy next to me was surprised at how quickly the vacated spot was filled!

Now we had seats and could enjoy the bounty from Ireland. We had the Lobster & Scallop Fisherman’s Pie (for Dug), Kerrygold Cheese Selection (Aged Irish Cheddar, Dubliner and Ivernia Cheese with Apple Chutney and Brown Bread), Warm Chocolate Lava Cake with Bailey’s Irish Cream Ganache, and Bunratty Meade Honey Wine:

Dug thought the Fisherman’s Pie was fantastic. The cheeses were good, but not amazing. The lava cake was awesome! Even eating something hot while sitting in the hot sun, it was awesome! The Meade was sweet. Dug told me that the word Honeymoon comes from the tradition of couples drinking Honey Meade for the first Moon of their marriage (or something like that). We enjoyed everything while Off Kilter took the stage:

They were great and we loved their performance. The only thing that was annoying was that the sun was shining directly into our eyes, so I had to shield my eyes for the entire show (I forgot my sunglasses in my luggage). Plus, I was getting a headache , so loud music and sunshine weren’t really doing that any favors. The performance was really fun, though.

We were really needing a break by this point, so we were happy that it was finally time to go through that International Gateway and check into the Beach Club Villas. The walk wasn’t bad and soon we were checking in. The only room request we got this time was 4th-5th floor. We ended up getting a studio on the 4th floor, #450. It was connecting (we’d request a dedicated studio), it wasn’t facing the direction we’d requested, and it wasn’t one of the room #s we’d requested. At this point, though, we were so desperate for a nap we really didn’t much care. We also discovered that the lobby seemed to no longer have free wi-fi. Boo!

We took the stroll over to the BCV and found our room. As we entered, there was a CM in there spot cleaning the floor. He left right as we arrived. This left the room smelling very chemical-y. We called down to the front desk and they assured us that the smell would dissipate as it dried. We checked out the rest of the room:

Although it was nice, it wasn’t really all that special. It was clearly old. I believe that the Beach Club rooms were recently refurbished, but not the Villas. Too bad. But, it was nice to have the kitchenette and the extra space. The balcony looked out into trees (I think I have pictures on an upcoming day) and you could hear a lot of road noise out there. Thankfully, though, the doors between connecting rooms must be very well soundproofed! We never heard a thing from the adjoining room, but when we were in the hallway outside of our room, we could hear kids in that room just screaming and yelling. Glad it didn’t come through to our room.

The bellman soon arrived with our luggage. We asked him about the free wi-fi and he said that it’s definitely not in the lobby, but that they were maybe going to put it into the rooms. (We didn’t find that to be the case while we were there, but who knows?)

We immediately took a nap. We were both wiped out already. The bed was nice. However, I woke up with an even worse headache, possibly from the cleaning chemicals. Normally, naps make my headaches go away, but not this time. We decided to open the balcony door and air out the room, which helped. We had planned to hit Stormalong Bay during this break, but between the tiredness and the headache, we decided to skip it. Plus, we’d slept so long that we had hardly any time to spare before we had to start heading back into Epcot for the evening. After a bit more sleep, we got up, changed into warmer weather clothes (mistake…the weather gets cooler again in the evening…I learned that lesson this day), and headed back to Epcot. We took the “secret path” out of the BCV onto the path to the International Gateway.

As we walked, we saw a fancy little boat with a bar on it go by on the canal. There were maybe 10 people on it. We wondered what it was for…maybe an Illuminations Cruise or something? Not sure, but it looked quite nice.

Our first destination was France. There were a lot of things we wanted from here:

We got the Escargot Persillade en Brioche (Garlic and Parsley Snails in Brioche), Braised Short Ribs in Cabernet with Mashed Potatoes, Crème Brulee au Chocolat au Lait (Chocolate Milk Crème Brulee with Carmelized Sugar), Sparkling Pomegranate Kir, and Parisian Cosmo Slush (Grey Goose Vodka, Grand Marnier, Cranberry Juice):

We grabbed a bench (France has lots of benches!) and sat down to enjoy our feast. Naturally, I didn’t touch the Escargot, but Dug liked them. He said it was better to eat them separately from the buttery bun, otherwise you couldn’t really taste them. The short ribs/mashed potatoes were delicious (and looked completely different than I would have thought)! Crème Brulee was yummy. The drinks were both amazing! We loved them both (and you just may see them again later)!

After we finished this, we went over to pick up a couple of things from America to eat during the 6:30pm Rick Springfield Eat to the Beat concert (this was his only night performing during our stay). From the United States booth, we got Bison Chili with Wild Mushrooms, Cabernet, and Pepper Jack Cheese and we got the Heirloom Tomatoes with Oregon Blue Cheese, Red Onions, and Basil:

We carried the food across the path over near the America Gardens Theater, where the concert would be. We stood in front of a rope (left side of the theater) with a small crowd of other people. Tried to find out from the CM (and others) what was going on. We learned that, over on the right side of the theater, there was a “main line” and we would not be let in until the entire “main line” was seated. My favorite tweet of Dug’s from the trip:

Apparently the line for Rick Springfield stretches to Germany. Does Jessie's girl sprechen zie deutsche?

We decided to stay where we were and wait for the rope drop. It was only about 6pm, so I had to hold our food for almost ½ hour. We were interested to see Rick Springfield, but not big enough fans to wait in a line in Germany. Like most people, we were only aware of one of his songs.

The line management wasn’t great. We really had no idea when we’d be let in (just “after the main line”). We also weren’t sure that they were doing anything to end the “main line”, so people could be jumping into it forever before we got in. Turns out, they didn’t drop our rope until right before the show. We scooted in quick and got seats on one of the few remaining benches. Apparently, Rick Springfield’s got some fans!

We finally were able to dig into our food. The chili was spicy and not all that hot anymore. The tomatoes with blue cheese were good.

Then the concert began. Surprisingly, this turned out to be a big highlight of our day! He puts on an awesome show! He was out in the crowd and actually climbed on our bench, a couple of people down. Here’s some pics:

He was very good at crowd interaction. Besides surfing the crowd, he got people singing on his mic. An elderly woman, a CM from France, and a little 5-year-old girl. That was adorable when he brought her up on stage! When her mom came up to claim her after the bit, she launched into a huge bear hug of Rick Springfield. Very funny! You can see her claiming her victory in one of the photos above.

I think he did about 5 songs. Obviously, “Jessie’s Girl.” I think a couple were older songs and a couple were newer. The sing-along one was “Don’t Talk to Strangers”. Dug really liked one of the newer ones, “Venus in Overdrive.” Overall, it was really a good time!

Up next: Test Track at Night: The Video. And our favorite meal of the trip!

 

[jerseygirl16]

Wow a lot of updates and A LOT of food.

I don't know what looked better: the lava cake, the cheddar cheese soup, the mashed potatoes, or the creme brulee. Mmmmmmmmm.

Great tip about the free ice water from CS. I can't tell you how much money we've spent over the years on water bottles.

Oh, and that roped off plant is too funny.

Well now that I'm sufficiently hungry, time to have dinner! (though of course it won't compare to what I've just seen)

 

[Nermel9]

Hi, I'm here! Great start so far, looks like a fun first day! I miss the Food and Wine fest already...and I only had 2 nights there!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Man, that was a lot of food!

Isn't the "secret" path from the BCV awesome for the F&W festival? Makes it so easy.

I hope they still have the Belgium booth next year. I was so excited to hear they had one. My mom immigrated from Belgium, so we got waffles every Saturday!

 

[Dugette]

Wow a lot of updates and A LOT of food.

I don't know what looked better: the lava cake, the cheddar cheese soup, the mashed potatoes, or the creme brulee. Mmmmmmmmm.

Great tip about the free ice water from CS. I can't tell you how much money we've spent over the years on water bottles.

Oh, and that roped off plant is too funny.

Well now that I'm sufficiently hungry, time to have dinner! (though of course it won't compare to what I've just seen)

It's funny, because to me this didn't seem like too much food so far! I guess it's just the tip of the iceberg. For what it's worth, a lot of the food looks bigger in pictures than it really was. Splitting things was only a couple bites each usually.

All those you listed were yummy...especially that lava cake!

The free ice water is awesome! Any place at WDW that you see one of those fountain drink machines, they'll give you free ice waters (the new CS in Mexico will give out extra large ones, in our experience!)

I still can't make sense of the roped-off plant!

More yummy food pics to come...you'll be sufficiently hungry for dinner for awhile!

Hi, I'm here! Great start so far, looks like a fun first day! I miss the Food and Wine fest already...and I only had 2 nights there!

Welcome back! It was a fun first day, especially the evening (more to come!) Food & Wine was so much fun! I'd love to go back again for it (and have a few more days there).

Man, that was a lot of food!

Isn't the "secret" path from the BCV awesome for the F&W festival? Makes it so easy.

I hope they still have the Belgium booth next year. I was so excited to hear they had one. My mom immigrated from Belgium, so we got waffles every Saturday!

You think that's a lot of food? Just wait!

The "secret" path was nice, but we still had quite a hike to get back to the BCV. Staying in the main BC would have been even better. I love the proximity of the BC, though!

I bet they'll have the Belgium booth again...it appeared to be quite popular! Yummy waffles!

 

[Dugette]

After the concert, we decided that we had just enough time to get in our Test Track ride before dinner. We headed over towards Mexico, then used the path along the Odyssey building to cut over to TT. Turned in our Fast Passes and headed in. There was more of a wait than we would have liked in the FP line, but we got through in time to not be too late to dinner. (I think this is a theme…I believe we were slightly late to ALL of our ADRs this trip. Oops.)

I decided to videotape our entire ride on TT this night. Here are the highlights:



After the great ride, we took the Odyssey path back to Mexico to check in at La Hacienda. I think we were only a minute or two late to this one, actually. We requested a window seat and were told that we may have to wait a bit, which we were fine with (this was an 8pm ADR and Illuminations wasn’t until 9pm).

We sat on a bench outside this door:

This was the view from where we were sitting:

It was only a few minutes before our buzzer went off. We were led inside to a table for two that was next to a table for 4 that was next to a window. So, we weren’t right next to a window, but it looked acceptable to us, so we had a seat.

Some chips and salsa were brought out right away:

These were actually delicious! So fresh and addictive! Yum! We tried not to fill up too much on them, though.

Our server was Jonathan and he was excellent. Very helpful with recommendations also. He recommended the Queso Fundido appetizer (melted cheese with poblano peppers, chorizo, and flour tortillas), so we ordered that.

We were having a tough time deciding on a margarita to try. Jonathan mentioned something that I didn’t see anywhere on the menu: they have a margarita flight that includes 5 kinds of margaritas. We ordered that:

The flavors were: Orange Mango Fire, Lime Raspberry, Mango Blueberry Basil, Guava, and Rosita. They were all great! As I suspected, the Orange Mango Fire was a little too fire-y for me, but Dug enjoyed it. The Mango Blueberry Basil was the one I originally had thought about ordering, and it was good, but my favorite was the Guava margarita. I should also mention that my headache (that had been fed by two loud concerts and a lot of bright lights) finally subsided with the margaritas…I guess that’s the way to cure it!

There was a couple at the table next to us (the non-window side) and the woman said that her Lime Raspberry margarita was excellent. They were almost done with their meal when we arrived and asked us when the fireworks were. They figured they probably wouldn’t be able to stretch their dessert long enough for them.

The Queso Fundido came out next:

I am not kidding when I say that this was my absolute favorite thing I ate all weekend!!! Sooooooooooooo good! (Of course, you may have to take into account that I love cheese!) I wish I had some of this right now!

Jonathan noticed that we were taking pictures (of our food) and offered to take our picture:

For the entrée, we decided to split the Puerco en Salsa de Mole Negro - roasted pork tender loin with mole negro sauce, served with esquites (roasted corn), sweet potato mash, beans, and vegetables. Dug really likes mole sauce, so he really wanted to try this. I hadn’t loved mole sauce I’d had elsewhere, but I went along with it. This also turned out to be delicious! The sauce was just right…tasty! The esquite and the sweet potatoes were excellent also:

In addition to the food, Dug snapped a couple of pics of the restaurant:

We’d made it only partway through our entrée when it was almost time for Illuminations to start.

Here’s the crazy stuff: In our section, there were three tables right next to the window. The 4-person in front of us, a 4-person to our left, and a 8-person (I think) to our right. About 10 minutes before Illuminations (if even that), the 8-person table all got up and left! About 2 minutes before Illuminations (no kidding!), the 4-person table to our left got up and left! The table in front of us stayed put. The people next to us on the left scooted up to take the window table in their row. The CMs told the couple next to us (who had really managed to stretch out their dessert and coffee) that they could move over to the 8-person table. Glad they got to stay for the show! I just can’t believe all the people with prime seats that left right before it!

We stayed at our table, but pushed our chairs back into the aisles to see a bit better. This was a great place to watch Illuminations! They dimmed the lights and piped in the music. And the place is really designed to maximize the view of Illuminations. Here are some of Dug’s pics:

I also took video of the whole show. I’ve condensed into a two-minute taste of what it’s like to watch from there:



After the show, we finished up our entrée. For dessert, Dug had heard that the Tamal de Dulce (Sweet tamal filled with guava, topped with strawberry coulis) was good, so we got that:

They brought it out with an anniversary song for us in Spanish. I have no idea what they were singing, but it was fun!

The dessert was very good and different. Dug described it as a Mexican strawberry shortcake. We really loved this whole experience at La Hacienda...highly recommended (and ask for Jonathan).

By the time we left, the place had really cleared out. Dug snapped another pic of the place:

On our trek back to BCV, we stopped to admire the lit tree:

As we neared the BC, the view of the boardwalk was nice:

We headed into the BC lobby just to try to verify the lack of free wi-fi. When we asked there, they told us that it had been a “test” (a 2-year test) and they “decided not to go with it.” Such a bummer…sounds like we didn’t miss it by too long either!

Since we were there, we wandered over to take a peek at the empty Stormalong Bay. Looked nice!

Then it was time to make our way back to BCV 450 and sleep!

Up next: Breakfast on the Boardwalk, a little shopping, and a jaunt over to Future World.

 

[A&Bmama]

First, let me say you are a Machine Dugette! A MACHINE, I tell you. THREE updates and a PTR since I was here last!! It might take me longer to reply to your updates that it took you to make them...

Since it was so early, the stroller parking area was wide open and we noticed some Christmas trees being stored there. Naturally, I had to have a picture with them:

That is so pretty and lush looking I thought you were in Animal Kingdom for a minute.

After our cruise on IASW, the rope was gone. Before we left the area, though, I had to take a few seconds of video of what apparently must be the most important plant in the MK, based on how it’s roped off so widely:



We couldn’t really figure that one out.

Is it...the real Charlie Brown Christmas tree??

Dug was being super-dramatic, as he found that our new version of iMovie has a trailer-making feature, so he wanted lots of “action shots”. I’ve spared you the worst of them, but here’s some highlights (if he makes a trailer, I’ll post it for you):

Super-Dramatic Dug makes the ride look super-dramatic. I like it!

We had decided to pass up Splash Mountain this morning, as it was still somewhat chilly and we didn’t want to get soaked right before heading to Food & Wine. And, really, SM in jeans? I don’t think so.

I'm with you. Nothing worse than walking around in wet jeans. Ugg, has to be one of the worst sensations ever!

We had some fun interactions with CMs on our way in. I happened to have the video camera running:

That is the funniest thing ever! I think Dug got the best of them!

As we bypassed that, we realized that we were not far from one of the few “cult foods” that we hadn’t yet had at WDW: the cream cheese pretzel from the Lunching Pad in Tomorrowland. Last time we tried to get one of these, the place was not open. We knew that could be the case again, but we were curious. (And, yes, A&Bmama, I know we shouldn’t have been looking for snacks right before F&W, but we were hungry! ) We made our way over and found the same thing we had on a previous trip: people gathered around looking in the windows of the Lunching Pad. The place should really open earlier! We asked through the window and they open at 11am.

Behold the power of my hex!

No pretzel for us!

That's right, not pretzel for you!

Hopefully on our next trip!

Okay, the hex should wear off by then.

As we made our way out of Tomorrowland and down Main Street, we were realizing how much of an appetite we’d worked up this morning. So, we took a peek into the Main St. Bakery. Very long line! We kept moving.

Bwahahahaha, my evil powers are very strong.

How could we possibly forego a “seasonal” goodie, especially when we were so hungry? So, we got a piece of Pumpkin Fudge to share:

Oh no! I'm foiled! I'm melting, I'm meeellltting...

Actually, the Tronorail!

Enlighten me, I have heard the term "tronorail" a couple of times but I don't know what they are talking about.

 

[IheartDDuck]

That food at La Hacienda looks soooo good! Queso fundido is my favorite! I always order it at the mexican restaurant by my house. And a margarita flight?! I always get the beer flight in the UK pavilion, but now I think there's something else I'll have to try.....

 

[A&Bmama]

By the way, on our stroll over there, we saw the Genie from Aladdin out meeting people. At Club Cool, we refreshed ourselves with delicious fruity drinks and were impressed with our perfect machine:

All of them should have the Beverly labeled like this!

You're right, that is the perfect machine!

But I was so hungry by that point that I took a small bite of the lamb slider.

Sorry...

We secured a nice standing table right on the water:

I think I could have sat there all day. What a view!

I was very proud! Otherwise, a bottle of water at any of the booths would have been $2.50!

The economically disiplined beast within me is proud of you too!

Next, I table-sat while Dug crossed the path over to the Canada booth:

In Canada, we got the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup (of course!), a Nanaimo Bar, and an Icewine (dessert wine):

Everything was quite good. The Cheddar Cheese Soup was more bacon-y than I remember it being at Le Cellier. Very good, though.

I love, love, love nanaimo bars. The best part is, they have no calories what so ever.

Dug reached for his trusty iPhone and realized that he could not find it!

I promise I had nothing to do with this. My hexs (hexes ?) are food based only.

The CM met us and presented Dug with his (battery dead) iPhone. Yea for great CMs! Dug thanked him in French and we were off again. Crisis averted!

Phew, thank goodness he got it back!

 

[A&Bmama]

I love coffee. This looks and sounds absolutely delish. However, the price leaves the economically disiplines beast within crying in agony.

I would go to the counter service in the UK to get ice waters for us. I had to wait in a short line for the ice waters, but they gave us two nice, big ones in holiday cups!

Ahh, free ice water in holiday cups soothes the savage beast.

I took them over to find a seat for Off Kilter. Even though we were quite early, the benches were already all full (however, apparently some people were just there to sit, not to see Off Kilter)! Just as I arrived, I saw someone get up from the ledge in the back right, so I snagged that “seat”. While I was waiting for Dug, some people got up from one of the benches, so I sprinted up to take those spots. Unfortunately, they must have pre-planned their exit, as the people who’d been next to them immediately scooted in and added more people from their party to the end of the bench. Even though I’d sprinted, I was too slow. Took my ledge again and waited. Just after Dug arrived, a couple people left the bench in front of us. I sprinted again and this time I got it! I think the guy next to me was surprised at how quickly the vacated spot was filled!

You were playing an off kilter game of musical chairs. Bad joke, I know. You get what you pay for...

We were really needing a break by this point, so we were happy that it was finally time to go through that International Gateway and check into the Beach Club Villas.

Ahhh

Although it was nice, it wasn’t really all that special. It was clearly old. I believe that the Beach Club rooms were recently refurbished, but not the Villas. Too bad. But, it was nice to have the kitchenette and the extra space.

Boo. For that price "special" should come standard.

We had planned to hit Stormalong Bay during this break, but between the tiredness and the headache, we decided to skip it. Plus, we’d slept so long that we had hardly any time to spare before we had to start heading back into Epcot for the evening.

Ack, tell me you didn't skip stormalong bay altogether!

Apparently the line for Rick Springfield stretches to Germany. Does Jessie's girl sprechen zie deutsche?

You have more patience than I. I so would have said Sayonara to Rick Springfield in as many different languages as I could.

 

[A&Bmama]

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. I totally did the "Witherspoon" joke on my DH. Priceless. He fell for it hook line and sinker.

I had to do it while making supper though. I knew that I couldn't hold a straight face if I was looking at him so making dinner gave me a perfect reason for not looking at him while I was telling the joke.

He just about "busted a gut".

 

[jerseygirl16]

Wow, La Hacienda looks awesome!

My family is trying to decide between eating there (specifically for illuminations) or having an earlier dinner at the biergarten (which we love) and watching outside. Your review has La Hacienda climbing the charts. What to do? What to do?

The food looks great though, and I can't believe you were able to eat all that after what you ate during the day.

 

[Dugette]

First, let me say you are a Machine Dugette! A MACHINE, I tell you. THREE updates and a PTR since I was here last!! It might take me longer to reply to your updates that it took you to make them...

Well, it was either work on the TR or clean the house today. You can see what I chose! I'm actually trying to get this TR done as quickly as possible since we leave so soon for our next trip. It's kind-of stressing me out to have so little time between trips!

I am keeping you pretty busy tonight, huh?

That is so pretty and lush looking I thought you were in Animal Kingdom for a minute.

Is it...the real Charlie Brown Christmas tree??

It was pretty there...for a stroller parking area! on the tree.

Super-Dramatic Dug makes the ride look super-dramatic. I like it!

The funny part is that I edited out the "super-dramatic" stuff and just went with the "normal-dramatic" stuff! Dug is dramatic. Every time he yawns, he puts on quite a show. Notice the additional drama on the TT video when you get to it...

I'm with you. Nothing worse than walking around in wet jeans. Ugg, has to be one of the worst sensations ever!

One of those things you do once and say never again!

That is the funniest thing ever! I think Dug got the best of them!

It was pretty funny. I'm glad I happened to have the camera rolling!

Behold the power of my hex!

That's right, not pretzel for you!

Okay, the hex should wear off by then.

Bwahahahaha, my evil powers are very strong.

Oh no! I'm foiled! I'm melting, I'm meeellltting...

You are hilarious!

Enlighten me, I have heard the term "tronorail" a couple of times but I don't know what they are talking about.

It's a monorail (the pink one, I think) that is now wrapped in a Tron movie advertisement, basically. I thought I had a picture of it from one of our other trips, but I can't seem to find it. I bet if you search it on the Dis, someone has posted pics, though.

That food at La Hacienda looks soooo good! Queso fundido is my favorite! I always order it at the mexican restaurant by my house. And a margarita flight?! I always get the beer flight in the UK pavilion, but now I think there's something else I'll have to try.....

I highly recommend both! I think I could have those every night...

You're right, that is the perfect machine!

Sure is!

Sorry...

No problem, I started food and wine hungry, thanks to your hex!

I think I could have sat there all day. What a view!

Well, you would have had to stand, since it was a standing-only table, but it was beautiful. A lot of the places we sat/stood were beautiful around the lagoon. I'm sure we'll have some more pretty pics...

The economically disiplined beast within me is proud of you too!

I love free stuff!

I love, love, love nanaimo bars. The best part is, they have no calories what so ever.

I thought everything in WDW had no calories?

I promise I had nothing to do with this. My hexs (hexes ?) are food based only.

Phew, thank goodness he got it back!

Yeah, Dug managed to lose that iPhone all on his own. He has a special talent for losing important things (wallet, driver's license, phone, etc.)

I love coffee. This looks and sounds absolutely delish. However, the price leaves the economically disiplines beast within crying in agony.

Maybe that's why they encourage the gift cards for F&W...so you don't notice the damage so much. The food wasn't too bad (probably $3 on average), but the drinks were quite a lot for small portions. Although, we managed to find 4 that were so good we bought them twice (may just include this one...)

Ahh, free ice water in holiday cups soothes the savage beast.

Score one for me!

You were playing an off kilter game of musical chairs. Bad joke, I know. You get what you pay for...

Ahhh

I love Disney beds!

Boo. For that price "special" should come standard.

I agree. If we'd realized when we booked that BC was refurbished and BCV was not, we probably would have booked BC. Oh, well. Next time?

Ack, tell me you didn't skip stormalong bay altogether!

No, we will make a couple trips over there. One more successful than the other.

You have more patience than I. I so would have said Sayonara to Rick Springfield in as many different languages as I could.

You know, we really didn't know how long we'd be standing there until we'd already been standing there a long time. Had we known, I don't know what we would have done. However, you'll see us take a different approach to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (a concert Dug actually was excited to see).

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. I totally did the "Witherspoon" joke on my DH. Priceless. He fell for it hook line and sinker.

I had to do it while making supper though. I knew that I couldn't hold a straight face if I was looking at him so making dinner gave me a perfect reason for not looking at him while I was telling the joke.

He just about "busted a gut".

That flight attendant would be so proud! Maybe we'll have him on our next flight and I can pick up some more jokes for everyone? (BTW, I cannot keep a straight face for anything, so I understand.)

Wow, La Hacienda looks awesome!

My family is trying to decide between eating there (specifically for illuminations) or having an earlier dinner at the biergarten (which we love) and watching outside. Your review has La Hacienda climbing the charts. What to do? What to do?

The food looks great though, and I can't believe you were able to eat all that after what you ate during the day.

Most of the reviews I've seen of Hacienda are pretty positive. A few negative-ish ones, but mostly good. We just loved it! We're trying to get an ADR that works for us to go back in December, though I'm not sure we'll be able to. But we loved it that much. Good food, service, atmosphere, and views! And I'd kill for some more of that Queso Fundido! Yummy!

It's pretty crazy how much we ate. But it really didn't seem that bad while we were there. Small portions with small breaks in between. There's still a lot more food to come, though!