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

[Dugette]

I forgot one thing from the night before! While we were out wandering the BC, we stopped into the Marketplace and took a look around. I immediately spotted a Christmas ornament that I’d wanted (I’d seen it in one of Happydog’s TRs) and snatched it up:

And I love Lady and the Tramp, so who could resist this adorable little thing?:

We also got Dug’s sister a Christmas gift:

What we really wanted was a copy of the “Four Parks, One World” CD that I’ve seen mentioned in a couple other TRs. We didn’t see it, so we asked and they said that they didn’t have it, but the Yacht Club gift shop might. They called over to the YC and, sure enough, they had a copy. They put it on hold for us to pick up the next day.

Back to Day 2.

Even though this was our somewhat relaxed morning, we did still have to get up reasonably early. We had an 8am ADR at Kouzzina that we were looking forward to!

In fact, Dug got up even earlier than me, as he decided to try out the “Ship Shape” fitness center. He got a little workout in to start the day. I just slept a little more.

While Dug was gone, I swiped his camera and took some additional pictures of our room. First thing was something I really liked: a handy little place to put things in the entryway:

I used this a lot. The other thing we didn’t like so much. There was almost no storage in this room! We actually didn’t unpack this trip, because there was really nowhere to put all our stuff. This was literally the extent of the storage space:

I also took a few balcony shots. View to the left, right, and straight ahead, as well as the balcony itself:

We really never got around to using this space at all. Maybe if we’d stayed longer we would have. But all the balcony really got used for was airing out the cleaning chemical smells in the room.

Once we were ready, we took the pleasant stroll along the boardwalk to Kouzzina. The restaurant was not very crowded:

We both got an orange juice (they serve them large, apparently!) and Dug got a Frappe, as he wanted some sort of coffee drink:

For food, we ordered the Spinach, Tomato, and Feta Scrambled Eggs (served with Breakfast Potatoes with choice of Bacon or Chicken Sausage). Dug chose bacon. We also ordered a side order of the Sweet Potato Hash. The waitress asked if we wanted to sub the Sweet Potato Hash into the entrée instead of the breakfast potatoes. So, we did that AND still got the additional side order of the Sweet Potato Hash. If you read my January TR, you may remember that I absolutely loved this stuff last time we were at Kouzzina. Here’s the entrée (you can’t see it, but there’s another whole dish full of the Sweet Potato Hash):

Dug ate most of the breakfast and I ate most of the Sweet Potato Hash. I did try the eggs, though, and they were quite delicious also. And the Sweet Potato Hash was just as good as I remembered! Yum!

It was a very good breakfast!

Our tummies happy, we set off on a walk the other way around the water. So pretty:

We passed the Swan and Dolphin (or Swolphin, as I’ve heard it called). There was some sort of maintenance going on:

The walk along the water was really beautiful! Next, we arrived at the Yacht Club. Headed into their gift shop to pick up our CD:

I just have to throw out there a HUGE plug for this CD! Awesome!!! It has the audio for a whole bunch of rides, attractions, and areas of WDW. I’ve been listening to it at work and it makes me so happy. My co-workers THINK I’m at work, but little do they know that I just rode Splash Mountain, Pirates, and Spaceship Earth! Love it!

While we were in the gift shop, we had yet another Duffy sighting. Are we the only people who didn’t really know who Duffy was before this trip? He is absolutely everywhere in the parks! We actually saw the meet & greet Duffy walking around…he has a hidden Mickey on his bottom! Ha! I think there is actually far more Duffy than Mickey around the parks and gift shops these days. Anyway, I jumped in the boat with them:

We then headed back to our room at the BCV to get something we’d forgotten. I don’t recall exactly. But, on the way through BC, we passed Cape May and saw all the characters out and about for breakfast (Goofy and Minnie especially). After we stopped in the room, we were soon on our way to Future World.

The path we walked on was really pretty, lots of flowers:

Our first destination was The Land to pick up Fast Passes for Soarin’. We got passes for 1:24pm. It was an odd situation, though. If you have an Annual Pass, you may know that the pass itself is terrible quality (not nearly as good as a Key to the World card). It’s just a paper ticket. Dug and I have both had to replace ours once. They are especially troublesome in FP machines. They are often spit back out w/o a FP, in my experience. Indeed, this is what was happening at Soarin’. A CM saw that the AP was being continually rejected, so they pressed a button on the back of the machine and gave us two FP. The awesome thing about this is that our APs were not linked to these FPs. So, we could go get more FPs immediately! We decided to hit TT for FP before we left Future World.

We thought it might be nice to jump on Living with the Land next, but it had an outrageous line! I think that people were getting out of Soarin’ and just following the crowd, lining up for Living with the Land. Strange. Lines through Sunshine Seasons. So, we decided to skip that and go to Club Cool instead.

On the way there, we caught the Jammitors performing. We have never seen them before. They had changed their normal theme into a Food & Wine appropriate one:

We stayed and watched their show and it was fun.

Up next, Club Cool:

Since neither of us had tried the Beverly since our September 2009 trip, we both decided to sample it again. Yuck! Still bad! We each had a sip and dumped it. I noticed that the description of the Beverly said that it is used to stimulate appetite, which made me wonder if it does so by making you hungry for ANYTHING just to get that nasty taste out of your mouth? After counteracting the Beverly with some Fanta, we were off.

The fountain was putting on a (high water shooting) show when we came out. That was pretty!

We made our way over to Test Track. We ended up getting FP for 11:40am. Not without trouble, though. This time, due to one of our APs not working (the opposite of whichever one wasn’t working at Soarin’), we ended up getting a “Fast Pass Key Card” to use instead (not that we needed to, as we were done obtaining FPs).

We figured we had enough time to jump on Spaceship Earth quick, before World Showcase opened. We went to check it out and it had a very long line! I’m pretty sure it’s because the late arrivals are magically drawn to the "big ball" and ride it first. We figured it would regain its normal walk-on status later in the day. So, we headed over to World Showcase.

Since we wanted to start with a Belgian Waffle, we went to the boat launch area. There was one other couple waiting there. And a sign, roping off the entrance, that said the boats were not operating for the rest of the day. After a very brief moment of confusion, we realized that this sign was from the night before and we were waiting for the very first boat of the day. In fact, we saw it heading our way:

While we waited, there was a bird that was apparently drying its wings. He was standing like this the whole time:

Soon, we were enjoying a pretty boat ride over to the Belgium side of the lagoon. At the dock, Dug thought this was cool:

Meanwhile, I was like, “Why are you letting everybody else on the boat pass us up to get in line for Belgium while you take pictures of this?”

So, Dug got moving. He got in line for Belgium and I snagged an empty table for us.

Up next: A lot more food! A Magical Moment! And will we finally see the Voices of Liberty? Stay tuned!

 

[A&Bmama]

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

Looks like you and Dug were having a great time! We haven't done any of the rides at night but it looks like I am going to have to make a point of doing TT after dark. Looks so different!

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:

Yum. That looks good. I wish my DH would go for a meal at La Hacienda but he is not an adventurous eater and doesn't want to try it. sigh...

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!

Again, this looks good too. More food I can't have. sigh...

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

That's so nice. We are going to try to get more pictures this time. That is something we are sorely lacking. I need to get a neck strap for my camera and carry it with me the whole time. Last time it was in the backpack and I never stopped to dig it out as often as I should have.

I just can’t believe all the people with prime seats that left right before it!

Crazy people. Obviously not DISers.

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.

The view looks fantastic.

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

It is nice looking. It would be nice to take a leisurely stroll there with a beverage in hand. Knowing me it would probably be tea rather than the good stuff. I'm such a wimp.

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!

A test? I don't get it, what do they need to test? Probably wanted to see how much it would effect the sales of in room internet, and found that, yes, offering it free in the lobby will decrease the sales.

 

[A&Bmama]

I gotta tell ya. I've been laughing my butt off all evening over this picture. From this angle it looks like someone is going to be put on Santa's naughty list...

Even though this was our somewhat relaxed morning, we did still have to get up reasonably early. We had an 8am ADR at Kouzzina that we were looking forward to!

No rest for the weary.

In fact, Dug got up even earlier than me, as he decided to try out the “Ship Shape” fitness center. He got a little workout in to start the day. I just slept a little more.

Crazy Dug. Was he worried you guys wouldn't do enough walking today?

While Dug was gone, I swiped his camera and took some additional pictures of our room. First thing was something I really liked: a handy little place to put things in the entryway:

I love that. Seems in our room someone always couldn't find their KTTW card or car keys or camera, etc. etc. These things need a home!

There was almost no storage in this room! We actually didn’t unpack this trip, because there was really nowhere to put all our stuff.

That would never do for a family!

We really never got around to using this space at all. Maybe if we’d stayed longer we would have. But all the balcony really got used for was airing out the cleaning chemical smells in the room.

What happened to the chemical smell? Did it dissipate as promised?

We also ordered a side order of the Sweet Potato Hash.

yum. sweet potatoes.

I just have to throw out there a HUGE plug for this CD! Awesome!!! It has the audio for a whole bunch of rides, attractions, and areas of WDW. I’ve been listening to it at work and it makes me so happy. My co-workers THINK I’m at work, but little do they know that I just rode Splash Mountain, Pirates, and Spaceship Earth! Love it!

It's amazing how hearing the sounds of the rides can take you right back there.

Awesome picture!!!!!

A CM saw that the AP was being continually rejected, so they pressed a button on the back of the machine and gave us two FP. The awesome thing about this is that our APs were not linked to these FPs. So, we could go get more FPs immediately! We decided to hit TT for FP before we left Future World.

Bonus FPs. Gotta love it!

Since neither of us had tried the Beverly since our September 2009 trip, we both decided to sample it again. Yuck! Still bad! We each had a sip and dumped it. I noticed that the description of the Beverly said that it is used to stimulate appetite, which made me wonder if it does so by making you hungry for ANYTHING just to get that nasty taste out of your mouth? After counteracting the Beverly with some Fanta, we were off.

I'm surprised you don't try some every time. If it tastes that bad it has got to be good for you, right?

The fountain was putting on a (high water shooting) show when we came out. That was pretty!

I haven't seen that yet. Hopefully this coming trip we will catch it.

 

[Nermel9]

I love the ornaments! I have such a problem with Disney ornaments, seriously, if it were up to me, I'd buy 10 on each trip! I limited myself to 2 this time (well, 3, since I got my mom one too!).

I have the Four Parks One World CD's, LOVE them! I can't listen to them right now, after only being home for 2 days though, too depressing! Maybe once I have my next trip booked I will start listening to Disney music again!

I saw Duffy everywhere too, and if it wasn't for the DIS boards, i wouldn't know who he was either...I'm not a big fan, he's not very Disney-like!

 

[IheartDDuck]

I am totally going to have to remember that fastpass trick when the machine doesn't take my AP! I have never thought of that before.

 

[Dugette]

Looks like you and Dug were having a great time! We haven't done any of the rides at night but it looks like I am going to have to make a point of doing TT after dark. Looks so different!

A lot of the rides are a whole new experience at night! Some that we love at night are: TT, BTMRR, ToT, JC, Splash, EE, & especially the Peoplemover! Also, I listened to a podcast recently that was about riding things at night and they made a point that I hadn't thought about before, but I noticed was true when we did it this trip: riding some of the dark rides at night, you see more, because your eyes are better adjusted. I found this to be true on things like Pirates and HM.

Yum. That looks good. I wish my DH would go for a meal at La Hacienda but he is not an adventurous eater and doesn't want to try it. sigh...

Bummer! He doesn't have to be too adventurous...just order off the appetizers menu...a vat of cheese and an empanada or something, maybe?

Again, this looks good too. More food I can't have. sigh...

That's so nice. We are going to try to get more pictures this time. That is something we are sorely lacking. I need to get a neck strap for my camera and carry it with me the whole time. Last time it was in the backpack and I never stopped to dig it out as often as I should have.

We don't have that problem. Dug loves taking pics. On our honeymoon (in Italy), I remember jokingly asking him if he was honeymooning with me or with the camera!

Crazy people. Obviously not DISers.

Yeah, I just don't get it. The one family I can kind-of see, since they had a baby and maybe they thought the fireworks would upset the baby. But why have a window seat right before Illuminations if you don't plan to use it? I don't know.

The view looks fantastic.

It was!

It is nice looking. It would be nice to take a leisurely stroll there with a beverage in hand. Knowing me it would probably be tea rather than the good stuff. I'm such a wimp.

Whether or not you have something to drink, it's a nice place to stroll!

A test? I don't get it, what do they need to test? Probably wanted to see how much it would effect the sales of in room internet, and found that, yes, offering it free in the lobby will decrease the sales.

I think you are exactly right about the "test".

I gotta tell ya. I've been laughing my butt off all evening over this picture. From this angle it looks like someone is going to be put on Santa's naughty list...

I didn't even notice that, I was just trying to get a pic of those pawprints on back!

No rest for the weary.

That is the theme for our Year of Disney, I think!

Crazy Dug. Was he worried you guys wouldn't do enough walking today?

I think he was feeling guilty about all of the eating. And wanted to check out a nice fitness center while he had the chance.

I love that. Seems in our room someone always couldn't find their KTTW card or car keys or camera, etc. etc. These things need a home!

That shelf really helped me keep track of things...just plunk it all down there when we walk in.

That would never do for a family!

It wouldn't even do for the two of us!

What happened to the chemical smell? Did it dissipate as promised?

Sort of. The airing out helped. But then it returned...

yum. sweet potatoes.

I could eat that stuff for breakfast every morning! So good!

It's amazing how hearing the sounds of the rides can take you right back there.

It's really cool. I've noticed, by listening to this CD, that I apparently am very fond of the Epcot entrance music. I never pay attention to it in the park, but apparently it's being picked up subliminally, because I love listening to it on the CD.

Awesome picture!!!!!

It turned out pretty good! I was just standing in back of the display, slightly tilted, but it looks like I'm in the boat!

Bonus FPs. Gotta love it!

I'm surprised you don't try some every time. If it tastes that bad it has got to be good for you, right?

No thanks!

I haven't seen that yet. Hopefully this coming trip we will catch it.

It's fun to catch some of the show. And, if you're hot and stand close, it can really cool you off too (mist).

I love the ornaments! I have such a problem with Disney ornaments, seriously, if it were up to me, I'd buy 10 on each trip! I limited myself to 2 this time (well, 3, since I got my mom one too!).

Thanks! They have so many cool ornaments! And that's just in the BC gift shop, I haven't even been to the Downtown Disney Christmas store yet! I knew in advance that I wanted the little alien (I have an inexplicable fondness for those guys!), but I got sucked in by Lady & the Tramp too. And then ran away quickly so as not to look too closely at the others...it definitely takes some self-control around those things!

I have the Four Parks One World CD's, LOVE them! I can't listen to them right now, after only being home for 2 days though, too depressing! Maybe once I have my next trip booked I will start listening to Disney music again!

I hadn't thought about that. Since we have another trip coming up, I'm enjoying the CD. After that, when WDW isn't happening for a long time, not so sure I'll love it as much! I hope you get another trip booked soon!

I saw Duffy everywhere too, and if it wasn't for the DIS boards, i wouldn't know who he was either...I'm not a big fan, he's not very Disney-like!

Yeah, we didn't really "get it." We read the little story about Minnie making him for Mickey, etc. But it just doesn't seem all that Disney-like. Part of me wondered if they felt obligated to have a "good" bear, after Lotso.

I am totally going to have to remember that fastpass trick when the machine doesn't take my AP! I have never thought of that before.

Yeah, the key is to make sure that you use the non-working AP first (not that you probably will ever know for sure, since they seem to work at random ). Since we hadn't tried the other AP yet, she just asked us how many and gave us two FP. If we'd gotten one directly from the machine, it would have limited one of our tickets, so it's lucky it worked out that way.

 

[Dugette]

I waited at a table in front of the Belgium booth while Dug obtained our goodies. He got the Steamed Mussels with Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce, the Freshly Baked Waffle with Berry Compote and Whipped Cream, and another Godiva Chocolate Liqueur Iced Coffee:

Dug started with the mussels (just for him, I wasn’t about to try them). He noticed right away that one of the “mussels” had no mussel in it. He brought it up to the counter and they replaced it with a new one. He enjoyed this dish and really liked the sauce. Meanwhile, I was loving the waffle! It was quite good and I would have loved another one, but I knew that we had too much other food on the agenda for today. Dug enjoyed the iced coffee just as much this time as he did the day before. I also stole a few sips again.

At this point, I saw that we were right by Morocco, which reminded me that I’d seen some F&W reviews where people mentioned that one of Morocco’s mimosas is a nice way to start the morning.

One quick stop in Morocco later, we were enjoying a Tangerine Mimosa Royale:

We savored this view while we sipped it:

We saw a sort-of Hidden Mickey:

Walked through Japan next:

Later in this trip, when it gets more crowded, we’ll end up sitting on that wall in the above picture for awhile to eat some of our food.

Since we had worked our way around to America, we decided to check the schedule for when the Voices of Liberty would be performing. We lucked out…they would be starting in just a few minutes!

We went inside and grabbed the last remaining bench, against the back wall. Within a few minutes, the Voices of Liberty made their entrance. We ended up moving out to sit on the floor, as they recommended it for the full acoustical effect of the building:

They put on a great show! They are quite talented! After the show, one of the performers came over and chatted with us, wishing us a happy anniversary. Very cool.

We were torn as to whether or not to stay for The American Adventure. We remembered that it was a long show and, as much as we would have enjoyed seeing it again, we had a lot of eating still to do! We asked a CM how long the show was. He said it was 35 minutes. He congratulated us on our anniversary. AND he said that we had a phone call.

Because I’m such a DIS-nerd, I knew (from reading other TRs) what this meant! Magic Moment!

The CM told us to go out to the lobby, open the box, and dial a number on the phone. We did and it was Mickey and Minnie calling to wish us a happy anniversary! How sweet of them!

Once we hung up the phone, the CM filled out a little Magic Moment certificate with our names and “5th Wedding Anniversary,” writing in very nice calligraphy. We thanked him and decided to head out.

After all, it was about time for my Italian lunch!

This is the booth where we ordered everything edible! And one drink too. All (mostly) for me. I got the Baked Cheese Ravioli with Creamy Bolognese Sauce and Melted Mozzarella, the Polpettine Toscane (meatballs) with a Rosemary Breadstick, the Cannoli Al Cioccolato, and a Primavera Fruit Smoothie:

We sat down on a bench facing the lagoon, with a beautiful view:

I enjoyed my food and even let Dug have some! Everything was good. Not unbelievable, but good. And the smoothie was refreshing.

As we were finishing up, a bird walked up to us, presumably to ask if we would be finishing the Bolognese Sauce. We noticed that the bird seemed to be missing some toes, though:

Wonder what happened?

The bird wandered away and so did we. I had read on the Disney Food Blog that there were F&W additions to the miniature train village, so we wanted to check that out next.

How adorable is this?:

Up next: Oh, we’re not done eating yet! And we find a drink to rival the Beverly…but it ain’t free! We meet characters! We find the BEST F&W drink! We go to Le Cellier! And we actually make it to Stormalong Bay! Wow, this next update sounds action-packed!

 

[Nermel9]

Great update! I loved that Godiva chocolate coffee drink in Belgium, I'd love one right now, actually!

I didn't notice the F&W additions in the little village, and we were looking at it for a while, how cute!

You found a better F&W drink than that Godiva one? Can't wait to hear what it is!

 

[jc040404]

Wow. I have reeeeally fallen behind on your TR! I should really start quoting as I read, too. I've forgotten half the things I wanted to comment on.

Love that you took a pic of my favorite IASW doll! The JAMMitors look nifty. I wish I'd planned an Epcot day during F&W so the boys could see that. I bet they would've loved it.

Looks like you're having a great time! I was smart and ate before I started reading. Some of this looks tooo yummy! It was completely nuts that people would leave such nice spots in a restaurant so close to Illuminations. Did they not realize what was about to happen? Too crazy..

Love that you got a magical moment when you saw the Voices and Liberty!

Can't wait to read this action packed update!

 

[Dugette]

Great update! I loved that Godiva chocolate coffee drink in Belgium, I'd love one right now, actually!

I didn't notice the F&W additions in the little village, and we were looking at it for a while, how cute!

You found a better F&W drink than that Godiva one? Can't wait to hear what it is!

I'm sitting here asking Dug which was his favorite drink at F&W. He is finding it too difficult to choose between the Godiva one and the "mystery drink." He said they were each great in their own way. I, for one, much preferred the "mystery drink" simply because I don't like coffee. The Godiva can only help so much for me...it's still coffee. Anyway, the other drink is coming up! I'll be curious to see if you tried this one!

I don't know if we would have noticed the mini F&W festival except that I'd read about it in advance. I think it's just one little section of the village. Super cute and detailed, though!

Wow. I have reeeeally fallen behind on your TR! I should really start quoting as I read, too. I've forgotten half the things I wanted to comment on.

Love that you took a pic of my favorite IASW doll! The JAMMitors look nifty. I wish I'd planned an Epcot day during F&W so the boys could see that. I bet they would've loved it.

Looks like you're having a great time! I was smart and ate before I started reading. Some of this looks tooo yummy! It was completely nuts that people would leave such nice spots in a restaurant so close to Illuminations. Did they not realize what was about to happen? Too crazy..

Love that you got a magical moment when you saw the Voices and Liberty!

Can't wait to read this action packed update!

Yea, you're caught up! (Sorry about your computer virus thing, BTW). I'm glad you enjoyed seeing your IASW doll! I bet your guys would have enjoyed the kitchen-themed JAMMitors! Good call eating before reading! Writing these updates makes me so hungry! I wonder if people leaving La Hacienda right before Illuminations is common or if this was just a weird night? The magic moment was fun and unexpected...we were just excited to have finally heard the Voices of Liberty! Action-packed update coming right up!

 

[Dugette]

After admiring the details of the mini F&W Festival in the train village (did you see the tiny "15 years" signs on the lampposts?), we got in line for the Germany kiosk. We had a few things to obtain here: the Nurnberger Sausage in a Pretzel Roll, the Spatzle Gratin with Ham & Cheese, and the Apfel Struedel Featuring Werther’s Original Karamell Sauce. Dug also decided to add on a Hooked Riesling to drink. We were able to snag a picnic table right on the water to eat our German feast at:

(my apologies for this picture…and the upcoming churro!)

Everything was pretty good. To follow up our German feast, we took a quick stroll through Germany’s new Karamell Kuche shop. It was pretty crowded, so we didn’t get anything, but it was fun to take a peek. We may have to go back there on our next trip…

On our way to Poland, we stopped off to grab FPs for the Maelstrom. They were for 1:35pm. Stashed them away and continued on our mission.

At Poland, we got the Kielbasa and Potato Pierogie with Caramelized Onions and Sour Cream. We also decided that, despite the steep $8.75(!!!) price, the Belvedere Strawberry Balsamic Chiller sounded like a refreshing drink. We grabbed a bench and enjoyed our Kielbasa and Pierogie:

Then we tried the drink:

I tried to like it. Really tried. Kept taking another sip, hoping it would taste like strawberry. It didn’t work. Dug ended up drinking almost the whole thing himself. And here’s what his tweets had to say about it afterwards:

Balsamic chiller has very unique taste. Very strong vodka flavor.

Thought maybe the purpose of the Beverly was to wash the taste of the Belvedere out of my mouth.

Belvedere Chiller basically a non-sweet strawberry compote whose purpose is to get you drunk fast.

I actually found myself wondering if they would give us a refund if we returned it after a few sips. Probably not. So, Dug accepted the burden of drinking it and the side-effects that came with it. He was a little goofy after that!

As we continued walking, we saw Duffy the Ever-Present Disney Bear out doing meet & greets. Passed on that one.

Instead, we made our way to Club Cool to try washing the Belvedere down with something better. I may have been wrong when I said we tried the Beverly last time at Club Cool…I think it was actually this visit. Dug had to try to counteract the Belvedere with something. It didn’t help. Thank goodness for the fruity, good drinks there!

Just after we left Club Cool, I was suddenly reminded of a TR I read (can’t remember which one) where they showed a picture of someone who was dressed wildly inappropriately for WDW. That person had on some sort of polyester catsuit. Well, the woman that we were currently following could definitely have made it into that worst-dressed category. We don’t have a picture, but I have a brief bit of video. I won’t post it, but I’ll describe it:

Hot Pink (whole outfit)
Spandex (whole outfit)
Short Shorts
Midriff-Baring Tank Top
Not a supermodel

Oh, my!

At this time, we needed to start making our way over to the Disney Visa Character Meet & Greet area of Innoventions. We wanted to be sure to line up early, so maybe we could get a photo this time. Last trip, the line had been too long.

Well, we arrived about 15 minutes early and the line was ridiculously long! Down the hall and around the corner, several wide. No way. We detoured over to The Land instead, planning to return later to monitor the line situation.

We got there at 1:35pm, which meant that we could now use the Soarin’ FP we collected that morning. Dug got one of the red line-timing cards. It wasn’t too bad of a wait, but a bit.

We ended up in the third row. Dug told me after the ride that, when in the last row, Soarin’ shoeless is the way to go. I guess he liked the opportunity to relieve his sore feet! As usual, it was an enjoyable ride.

Time to check out the Disney Visa thing again! Still long!

We figured that maybe now was the time to fit in Spaceship Earth. You may remember that it had a long line in the morning, which we’d attributed to the late arrivals making a beeline for the golf ball. We had figured it would be walk-on later in the day. And, sure enough, it was!

We did have a few breakdowns on this ride, though. Once was in the backwards, going down part. I was concerned that we wouldn’t have time to see our video, but it worked out just right. Afterwards, we emailed ourselves and my dad & step-mom a copy of the video.

Time to check out the Disney Visa line again! At this point, it was still not short, but it wasn’t as long as it had been. It no longer rounded the corner. So, I hopped in line while Dug went off to find a restroom.

The woman who got in line behind me was in turmoil as to whether or not to stay in line. I think she thought that it should have been a take-a-quick-pic-and-move-on type of process. (I remembered reading that they take their time here, though.) But, the line moved very slowly. Her family seemed okay with anything, but she was agonizing over this. After going up and talking with a CM, she finally decided to skip it. Nice for the people behind her group!

Anyway, it still took us about 35 minutes of waiting in line before we got in. I watched some Segway training while I waited. Finally, we were allowed inside and saw who was there that day:

Goofy came over and kissed me a couple of times! I’ve never experienced a Goofy kiss, complete with smooching sounds! Minnie was there also. They took a few Photopass pics, then one with our camera. It actually turned out pretty good:

In order to get our free 5 x 7 photo, we had to stop by the Camera Center (under Spaceship Earth) sometime the same day. We figured our only opportunity would be to go right away. So, off to the Camera Center we went. Picked out a photo and a border (the anniversary one) and they printed out a nice souvenir pic for us. And once we find a 5 x 7 Disney frame for it (seems like almost all of them are for 4 x 6), we’ll have to put it up on our mantle. Nice souvenir!

We decided to try to use our Test Track FPs quick, before heading back into World Showcase. Upon walking into the Fast Pass queue a bit, we realized that it was a Slow Pass queue. VERY backed up. It clearly would have taken a lot of waiting in line to get on the ride. We just didn’t have that much time to spare, so we actually turned around and left the FP line. And told the CM there how backed up it was. Kept our FPs, though.

We went left into World Showcase. Next up was one of the countries that I was really looking forward to: Puerto Rico. Here we got a Medianoche Sandwich and a Bacardi Frozen Torched Cherry Colada:

We grabbed a bench to dig in. Sandwich was yummy, as I’d heard. Could have had another. However, the Cherry Colada was the best thing ever! Worth the $7.50! Admittedly, I love cherry things, but this was soooooooooo good! Refreshing and sweet – the opposite of the Belvedere thing earlier. Dug described it as “yogurt booze.” I could have happily had several more of these! Perfect on a warm afternoon at Epcot!

Across the street from Puerto Rico was Argentina. I held our nice water-view bench while Dug went over to the booth. There were a couple of must-haves here: the Grilled Beef Skewer with Chimichurri Sauce and Boniato Puree and the Roasted Corn and Cheese Empanada:

These were both good, but we enjoyed the Empanada more than the Skewer. Nice and cheesy!

We still had FP to redeem for Maelstrom, so we walked over to Norway. Stopped at the restrooms quick. Just outside of them, there were lots of kids on Kim Possible missions making the flag go up (with fanfare).

On to the ride! I must say that FPs for Maelstrom are so worth it! There was a pretty long and not-too-fast moving standby line. We literally walked past it in the FP queue and immediately got on a boat. We were in the back, which made it fun to look over the waterfall outside during that part.

Time for more food. We went next door to Mexico. We had decided not to get much here, since we’d just eaten at La Hacienda the previous night. We just got the Esquites (Fresh Corn Topped with Mayonnaise, Queso Fresco, Fresh Lime, and Chili Powder) for Dug and a Churro for me. While we were there, I remembered that Mexico was supposed to have a pretty good non-alcoholic smoothie drink, so we got a Frozen Conga Fruit Punch too (pineapple and orange fruit drink).

We couldn’t find a table or bench anywhere, but we noticed a lot of open tables in the Cantina seating area. Not sure whether or not we were supposed to go in there, but we did. Got a table. Here’s our stuff:

Again, my apologies for the angle on the churro picture! That thing was huge, though! You get your money’s worth on the churros at that booth!

All this sugar and spice was making us thirsty (and the frozen punch was giving Dug ice cream headaches), so I went to the Cantina ordering area and asked for a couple of ice waters. They asked if I’d like small or large. So I picked large. They gave us two huge ice waters for free! Nice! Probably good, since I think we were getting more dehydrated than we knew.

After finishing up our Mexican snacks and waters, we made our way over to the pyramid. It was very pretty inside, all decorated for the holidays. We headed for the corner, to hop on the boat ride. Surprisingly, the queue was actually full, but all the people were moving at a walking-pace, so we figured it wouldn’t be a bad wait. Well, there must have been a sudden influx right before us, because eventually the full-speed walking stopped and we had to wait in line for a little bit. Soon enough, though, we were cruising past the volcano and searching for Donald.

On the way out of Mexico, we saw a glass-blower making an Octopus out of glass. He had the torch out and was quite impressive. We didn’t really have any time to stop and watch, though.

We had one more booth in the area to stop at before break time: the Desserts & Champagne booth. The booth only had one person taking orders, so it actually took awhile to get our $1.50 item here. Originally, I had thought I’d be getting a Dark Chocolate Sensation (or the sampler), but every single review I read of it said that it wasn’t very chocolate-y, so we just decided to go for the one most recommended, which was the Pear Streusel Pudding Cake:

This was quite tasty and fresh. Just to give you an idea of size, though, since these pictures often make the food look bigger, we each had one bite of this. And it was gone. One average sized bite. Just kind-of an FYI that we weren’t gorging ourselves quite as much as the pictures seem to indicate.

Finally, it was break time! We had a little walk to get over to the International Gateway. Luckily, we were able to get “home” through the “secret” entrance to the BC.

When we arrived in the room, it was rather chemical smelly again! Not nearly as bad as the previous day, but not super pleasant either. Oh, well, we weren’t too concerned. We were just tired. Both of us were asleep in no time. By the way, our dog Bailey (okay a towel replica) was waiting for us when we arrived in the room:

Unfortunately, I woke up with a headache again! We aired out the room for the rest of the night and made another call about the chemicals. We were told that the next day they would not use any chemicals to clean our room, only hot water.

Since we had overslept our plan a bit, we didn’t have as much time for Stormalong Bay as we wanted, but we got out there for a short time anyway. It was dark by now. Dark=cold. Not great planning.

For what it’s worth, nobody checked our room keys or anything to get into SAB. I guess they figure that, when it’s this cold, if someone wants in, let ‘em in!

We tossed our stuff on a chair. SAB was not crowded, but there were still a few people swimming. We walked down a few steps to get into the pool. COLD! SO, SO COLD!

I was shivering and whimpering so much that the lifeguard told me I should get in the hot tub (this is after less than a minute in the pool). And who am I to argue with a lifeguard? So, off to the nearby hot tub we went. SO MUCH BETTER!

We enjoyed hanging out in there for awhile. Eventually, though, Dug wanted to explore the rest of SAB. We knew that the heated water we’d been in was going to make the pool seem even colder, but we gave it a try. I only got as far as putting my feet in. I swear the pool was ICE WATER at that point. Being pretty sure that I wouldn’t survive, I made a beeline back to the hot tub and left Dug to explore on his own. Which he did. It was cold, but he managed to tolerate the cold water and air. I occasionally stood up on the side of the hot tub to see where he was. That’s close enough to exploring, right?

Eventually, a small group (a couple guys who seemed to be old friends and a couple little boys) joined me in the hot tub. It was kind-of uncomfortable, since they just ignored me. And the guys were discussing one of their wives’ morning sickness. And there was at least one (maybe two?) empty hot tub(s) right by us. I almost moved, but Dug returned pretty soon and we grabbed our stuff and ran inside.

Dug had tried the waterslide and didn’t like how you have to walk across the main path to get to it. We also thought it was odd that we had to walk past Cape May and through the main BC lobby to get back to BCV.

After this SAB experience, we knew that we had to go there while it was still sunny the next afternoon. No complaints about the hot tub when it’s cold out, though.

Back at the room, we got cleaned up for our dinner at Le Cellier. Nice, cozy clothes!

Since we had overrun our allotted break time, we knew we weren’t going to make it to Canada in time for our ADR. Actually, we were leaving the BC at our ADR time. So, we stopped by the Concierge desk and asked her to call Le Cellier for us. She happily agreed to!

On our way out, we saw some sort of private, catered party going on out on the beach. Looked like fun!

Since we were in a hurry, we knew that our Test Track FPs would go to waste. There was nobody else heading into Epcot right then to give them to. So, we gave them to the CM working the ticket machine at the IG and asked her to give them to somebody who needed them. She replied, “Magic Moment!” Then, looking in confusion at the FP, said, “How did you get a window that long?!” After a moment, she laughed, realizing her mistake – they were just for much earlier in the day.

We booked it around to Canada, arriving about 15 minutes late for our 8pm ADR. They said that the concierge had called for us, so we were still on the list. That was good! We just had to stand outside and wait for awhile to be seated.

We ended up being seated in a tucked-away corner (half booth/half table). It was nice. I took the booth side. The table to my left was in the middle of their meal. The table to my right was empty and being cleaned off.

Dug started with a Canadian beer:

My throat was scratchy (probably from talking over crowds for a couple of days), so I wanted something cold and soothing. A Pina Colava seemed to fill the bill. I’d had one of these from the pool bar at the AKL in June, but this one was much prettier:

It was delish! And, of course, the bread:

We ate all of the pretzel bread, but I don’t think we finished the others, trying to save room for our entrée. We had decided to split the Le Cellier Mushroom Filet Mignon - with wild mushroom risotto, white truffle and herb butter sauce. We also got a side order of Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes, because they had been absolutely delicious last time!

While we waited, the people on my left finished up their steaks and crème brulee. Each time our waitress came to take their plates, she said, “You must have hated the steak/crème brulee!” They laughed, as they’d cleaned their plates happily. Clearly this “joke” generally works well for our waitress, as she used it at every available opportunity. Also, while we waited, a family of four was seated to my right. One of the kids was asleep on the booth in no time.

Our food soon arrived:

We had ordered the steak medium, but it was very pink and bled when I cut it! I am normally a medium-well (or well-done) type of girl, but I’d gone along with the medium this time, remembering the charred steak I’d once gotten at the CA Grill. I guess the chef that night at Le Cellier liked to error on the rare side, though. We ate it, but a few bites I just couldn’t look at. It tasted good, though.

And the potatoes, just as before, were scrumptious!!! Mmmmmmmm…….

The table to my left cleared out as we ate. The family to my right got their OOP appetizer. (I should mention, these tables were VERY close together, so you can’t help but hear every word of their conversation.) They had last been to WDW when the appetizers were still included as part of the standard Dining Plan, so they had debated over whether or not to get one. But the waitress had recommended the Tomato Stack, so they got that. According to allears.net: Tomato Stack - with Caramelized Onions, Cucumbers, Crumbled Blue Cheese, and Yuzu Vinaigrette $8.99. Well, for any of you who may be considering this, it apparently only comes with ONE tomato slice. The family next to us spent a lot of time marveling at this. I guess it was tasty, but very skimpy, especially given the price. (Really, they could have had almost the same thing at the U.S. F&W booth for $3.00…and I think it was bigger too!)

So, when the waitress came back to collect their plate, she used her favorite line, “You must have hated the tomato stack!” The wife shyly said, “Well, we were wondering where the rest of the stack was?” I think the waitress was stunned at the unexpected response. The woman elaborated, “How is one tomato a stack?” The waitress gave a lame excuse of the “stack” being all the things that are “stacked on the tomato.” Not very convincing. You can tell this family was not big on complaining, but they really felt they had to say something. And the waitress really didn’t know how to handle it. But they let it go.

Meanwhile, we had polished off our food with just barely enough room left to try the Chocolate Moose that I’d been looking forward to. They brought it out with a nice anniversary message on it:

It was all quite tasty. Actually, those little red hearts on the plate were really good too…strawberry flavored! Dipping bites of the chocolate mousse into the strawberry decoration was yummy!

During our meal, we’d heard the Illuminations fireworks going off, so we knew it had probably cleared out in WS. Good timing to head out.

Shortly before we left, the family to our right got their food. The wife was saying to her family that her meat was very, very rare. So rare that she just couldn’t eat it. I think she may have ordered Medium also, not sure. We left before hearing the outcome of that one, but I hope they took care of them well. It seemed like that family was really not having the typical Le Cellier experience that everyone scrambles to get ADRs for.

We enjoyed it, though. Not as much as last time, maybe, but it was good.

Stuffed, we slowly meandered our way back to the IG. We wanted to check out the Boardwalk this evening. We had been interested in going to Jellyrolls, but found we were just too tired and sore to do it. In fact, we were too tired and sore to even walk back to the BCV from the BW. So, we sat on a bench and waited for the boat.

We enjoyed our boat ride, then sleepily made our way back to the room. I had my video camera out and was walking behind Dug through the BC hallway. I told him, “Hey, you should do that excited, clicking your heels in the air shot that people do at Disney World!” I’ll spare him the embarrassment of posting the video, but he tried to do it…and fell straight into the wall! It was pretty hilarious! The things you do when you’re exhausted at WDW!

The room had aired out nicely while we were gone and we were asleep in no time.

Up next: EMH at DHS, Chefs de France, and yet more food!

 

[A&A'sGrammy]

I love your idea of sharing an entree and also splitting a side. Less expensive and you get to experience variety!!!

 

[Dugette]

I love your idea of sharing an entree and also splitting a side. Less expensive and you get to experience variety!!!

Exactly! Even non-Disney, we often share when we go out. But, we especially do at Disney, since their portions are huge and it's not the ideal situation for taking home leftovers (although you will see us do this soon in this TR! )

by the way!

 

[gellybean]

Holy crazy action packed day Batman! No wonder you guys were exhausted. LOL @ Dug trying to click his heels ! Gotta love those priceless Disney moments!!

 

[Dugette]

Holy crazy action packed day Batman! No wonder you guys were exhausted. LOL @ Dug trying to click his heels ! Gotta love those priceless Disney moments!!

It was pretty funny!

 

[A&Bmama]

I was loving the waffle!

I don't blame you! I would be loving that waffle too! I don't know if I could have resisted getting seconds on this.

Since we had worked our way around to America, we decided to check the schedule for when the Voices of Liberty would be performing. We lucked out…they would be starting in just a few minutes!

Ohh you were lucky! Love it when thing work out well.

We went inside and grabbed the last remaining bench, against the back wall. Within a few minutes, the Voices of Liberty made their entrance. We ended up moving out to sit on the floor, as they recommended it for the full acoustical effect of the building:

I never heard that sitting on the floor was better before. I'll have to keep that in mind in case we get a chance to see them!

The CM told us to go out to the lobby, open the box, and dial a number on the phone. We did and it was Mickey and Minnie calling to wish us a happy anniversary! How sweet of them!

Once we hung up the phone, the CM filled out a little Magic Moment certificate with our names and “5th Wedding Anniversary,” writing in very nice calligraphy.

How cute! I didn't know about this either.

I enjoyed my food and even let Dug have some!

Oh Dugette, it is so good of you to share with Dug. I'd stab my DH with my fork if he tried to get that waffle though. Everything else, ok I'll share. The waffle is untouchable though.

As we were finishing up, a bird walked up to us, presumably to ask if we would be finishing the Bolognese Sauce. We noticed that the bird seemed to be missing some toes, though:

Wonder what happened?

I always feel soo bad when I see something like that. I always wonder what happened too.

 

[Dugette]

I don't blame you! I would be loving that waffle too! I don't know if I could have resisted getting seconds on this.



Ohh you were lucky! Love it when thing work out well.



I never heard that sitting on the floor was better before. I'll have to keep that in mind in case we get a chance to see them!




How cute! I didn't know about this either.




Oh Dugette, it is so good of you to share with Dug. I'd stab my DH with my fork if he tried to get that waffle though. Everything else, ok I'll share. The waffle is untouchable though.



I always feel soo bad when I see something like that. I always wonder what happened too.

The waffle was really yummy! Maybe I should have forked Dug when he tried for some just to get more for myself!

 

[jc040404]

Hmmm.. Probably not the best TR to catch up on when you're trying to avoid a late night snack.. Everything looks sooo yummy!! I wasn't super impressed with our last Le Cellier experience, but I could totally go for another try right now.

Loved the Moose! That was so cute.

What's with the chemically smell going on in your room? I'm glad they're going to stop the harsh stuff and hope you don't have to deal with it anymore.

LOL @ Dug's jump!

 

[Dugette]

Another early morning! This day was EMH at DHS, starting at 8am. We were up and out fairly early.

First stop was the BC Marketplace, as I’ve seen numerous recommendations of the yogurt parfaits, so we had to have one for breakfast. While we were waiting in line to order, the person ahead of us got some ham & cheese omelet croissants. We didn’t know these existed, but they looked YUM! So, we made a spontaneous purchase and got one of those too.

We took both items out to the boat launch and ate while we waited in line. Here’s breakfast:

Both items were really good. The yogurt parfait was really fresh…they make it to order right in front of you.

Good thing we had stuff to eat while passing the time. We ended up waiting far too long for a boat. We’d just missed one by a minute or so (we could see it leaving as we approached the dock). Our hopes of being towards the front of the TSM Stampede were not looking so good.

Finally, a boat did arrive and it was an express straight to the Studios!

When we arrived, the park was already open. We were only a few minutes late, though. It was surprisingly calm and empty there, arriving just after the stampede.

Once we entered, we enacted our plan. I, being the faster walker, took off for the TSM Fast Pass machines with our APs. Dug made his way to the TSM standby line. This is our usual strategy to ride TSM twice.

The thing that was challenging this day, especially with the late arrival, was that we had to leave DHS so early (for lunch in France) and we would not be returning. So, our FPs had to be early enough.

As I got near Pixar Place, it became apparent that the stampede had indeed occurred before our arrival: I took my place at the end of the longest line I’ve ever seen for a FP. WAY down the street…

I tried to wait patiently, but I was hearing reports from a family member of the person in line behind me that the FPs were already for late morning. We had pretty much decided in advance that we needed FPs for about 10:30am or earlier. As I finally neared the machines, I could see that they were for about 10:45am. I figured, “Okay, close enough.” But, in that short time I had to wait for the couple people ahead of me, it got all the way to 11am. I got the passes anyway, since I was right there and all.

Then came the other line. WAY down the street in the other direction. As I walked down the street, Dug yelled out to me from his place in line. This looked to be a long wait. I think the board said 45 minutes, but who knew how accurate that was right after the rush?

I joined Dug in line and we spent a few minutes discussing our strategy. I was talking about how our FPs might be useless to us, with that late time, but maybe we could find someone to trade with? Someone with earlier ones who doesn’t care because they’ll be in the park all day? Nice theory, but I don’t know how one would actually do that. Dug was seriously thinking about leaving the line, worrying that we wouldn’t get the other headliners done if we stayed in this long line. Realizing that this might be our only chance to do TSM, though, we ended up sticking it out. I believe we ended up waiting in line for about an hour. I think this may have been the longest we waited for any ride on all of our trips.

Every single family, when they passed Mr. Potato Head, was taking a pic with him, so we had to follow suit:

We’re usually moving so fast (or in the FP queue) that we’d never had the chance to do that before!

Finally, we donned our glasses and boarded our vehicle!

I ended up with about 140k and Dug with 130k…I beat Dug!! Not our best outing, though. Our trigger arms were out of shape!

On our way out of Pixar Place, the green army men were doing an audience participation skit. Cool.

We made our way over to the other two headliners. Got in line for RnRC first. Since we had a very bad experience with the Single Rider Line here once (last January), we got in the normal line. And so glad we did! The SRL was like it was when we had the bad experience: very, very slow and backed up. The normal line was cruising right past it. Thank goodness we were in the fast-moving line this time! I don’t think I’d ever do SRL here again.

When we got to the pre-show area, the CM working there was actually interacting with the Aerosmith video bit. I’ve never seen that before…he was feeding them lines and asking questions that they answered. We figured it was probably a bored CM that knew the video all too well. Sort-of amusing.

While we were waiting behind the fence, we watched a few coasters take off. One person was wearing Mickey ears. We wondered if they would stay on and they did! Must be strapped on, I guess.

As usual, the ride was great. We checked out our pic at the end and Dug had succeeded in making a dramatic “terrified” expression for the pic! Silly boy!

Next up, Tower of Terror.

Line was not too bad. While we were in the boiler room, I was thinking about A&Bmama’s daughter’s “frightening flip flop fiasco” (from her TR).

I videotaped this whole ride too, but it’s not really worth posting, as it’s so dark most of the time. Can’t really see much. Still fun, though. It’s challenging to try to hang onto a video camera and get shots of yourself, while dropping faster than gravity!

I was surprised that we didn’t see the mirror image pic of ourselves like we had in June. I didn’t realize that the “Summer Nightastic” enhancements really were limited to summer. Huh. Anyway, it seemed like there were far more drops on this particular ride than normal. Very fun!

As we were walking away from that area, we had the video camera out and saw a DVC booth coming up. So, we made a clip of Dug looking around suspiciously, whispering to the camera, “Ssshhhh…it’s a secret!”

We like to make fun of the whole “best kept secret” campaign, since it’s plastered on the sides of buses, on billboards, etc. If you have a secret, don’t tell it to Disney! They don’t seem to understand the concept of keeping a secret!

Anyway, we had decided to stick around till 11am to use our TSM FPs. So, we had a little bit of time to kill. I’d kind-of wanted to do the Great Movie Ride, since we hadn’t in awhile, but we didn’t think we had that much time. So, instead, we went over to One Man’s Dream. They had made some changes since last time we were there. Walt’s childhood desk was gone. They’d moved some of the models around. Added an Abe Lincoln animatronic. It was cool. There’s always so much to see in there.

As we were meandering through, the announcement came on that the movie was starting soon. We’d only seen this once, and it had been awhile, so we decided to take a seat. Good movie!

After the movie let out, we grabbed our FPs and headed back to TSM. It was 11:04am. We hoped that the FP line wouldn’t be too slow. We pretty much walked right up to the area where the FP line joins the regular line. We had had one experience in the past where they directed us around the other way instead, which puts you immediately on the ride (I think it is intended to be the wheelchair loading area). Like a super Fast Pass. Well, as we approached the split, the CM answered the phone. There was one family ahead of us. I had a feeling that the call was going to prompt the CM to send that family the other way. Sure enough, it did! AND…they sent us the super-pixie-dusted-Fast-Pass way too!!!!

We really needed that magic, as we probably should not have stayed in DHS this long, due to our lunch ADR. Perfect time to jump straight on…no upstairs, no circus tents, no downstairs…nice!

I got 138,400 and Dug got 163,700 this round. Not too shabby!

Time to hightail it on out of DHS now!

On our way out, I noticed Minnie Mouse out doing meet and greets. She was very cute, in a pink dress.

After I turned around from looking at that, I realized that the characters must have had some place to go: within about 5 seconds of each other, I saw Pluto, Goofy, Tigger, and Eeyore make their way through the crowd. Very cool!

Shortly after this, Dug was relieved to finally see one of the Residents of Hollywood out performing. He was starting to worry that they’d been cut or something, since we hadn’t seen any all morning.

We passed the big tree on our way out:

There was a long line at the boat dock, but luckily there was a boat approaching as we joined the line:

No problem fitting everyone on the boat. And soon, we were off on our 25-minute ride to Epcot. With stops at all the Epcot resorts. On another trip, we’d tried getting off the boat at the Beach Club and walking to Epcot (boat goes to Boardwalk after BC), but we were so slow and sore that we had to watch the boat beat us there! So, we played it safe and stayed on the boat this time.

Got off the boat at Epcot and entered through the International Gateway. Just inside, the Tangled characters were out:

I had been given the task of speed-walking over to Chefs de France while Dug did the bag check and made his way in. As “usual”, we were running late for yet another ADR. About 15 minutes, I think. I checked in at Chefs and had a seat on a bench outside. Just as I saw Dug approaching, they called us in. Perfect timing!

We were seated in the windowed area:

Dug called his French-teacher parents from “France.” We both kept an eye out for Remy and finally saw him start circulating on the other side of the restaurant. The chair-stacking-climbing act started outside the window. Lots to look at, between that and Remy.

We had decided in advance to split the prix fixe meal here. We started with the French Onion Soup:

Very yummy! Our waitress also brought out a baguette:

The main course was Croque monsieur (ham & cheese sandwich) with a side salad. They brought it out split onto two plates for us:

It was quite good. Both the sandwich and the salad.

For dessert, we decided on the Gâteau chocolat:

Very good. We were still waiting for Remy, however, so Dug ordered us some chocolat chaud:

Finally, Remy made it over!

We had a nice little conversation with Remy and his handler. Dug complimented Remy on our yummy food. Remy squeaked his responses. So cute! Since I was videotaping, the handler said to Remy, “You’re not very much of an action star when it comes to movies, huh?” To which Dug replied, “I don’t know, I could see him in a movie.” Remy shook his head no to that one. Very cute!

(By the way, we figured out how Remy is operated. I don't know if I should post that, though, in case it spoils the magic. Oh, I know, I'll post in white-out. If you want to see it, highlight this: The lid of the platter has a little joystick/button built into the handle. You can see the handler manipulating it as Remy does his thing.)

After that meet and greet, it was time to move on. After all, more food awaited!

First post-lunch food booth was the nearby Australia. This booth was pretty much for Dug. He got the Grilled Lamb Chop with Roasted Potato Salad and Red Wine Reduction:

I think I tried one bite of this. I also had told him that I’d seen very good reviews of the Seared Barramundi with Blistered Cherry Tomatoes, Arugula, and Lemon Oil, so he got that too, even though it wasn’t on his original list:

I didn’t have any, as I don’t like fish, but Dug said it was very good.

I spotted Jasmine out doing meet and greets as we wandered. We also saw the drummers performing in Japan.

At this point, we had a….what would you call it?...”tweet-meet”! So, Dug’s tweets that I occasionally quote on here are from his Disney-only Twitter account. He only uses it to “take notes” on our trips (so I can use them to help with the TRs). Since this is the purpose of the account, he has very few followers. But, there was one guy that he had communicated with who was in the park that day with us. The guy contacted Dug to see if we could meet him by the big Christmas tree in front of the U.S. pavilion. Since we were nearby, we went to meet him. We walked and talked halfway around the world. We split up over at the entrance to World Showcase, as the guy was going to a podcast meet and we wanted more food.

We decided to hit nearby Chile first for Pastel de Choclo (Beef and Corn Pie):

We both thought this was quite tasty!

Next, we decided to split up. Dug went over to get an item from Brazil and I waited in line across the street to get another yummy Cherry Colada!

I have no idea why we didn’t take another pic of this, since it was so good, so here’s the previous pic again:

Dug forgot to take a pic of the Grilled Pork Skewer with Farofa until after he’d dug in:

He described it as “spicy pork with shake and bake.” I tried a bite and that was all I needed. After all, I had a precious Cherry Colada to enjoy! I wish that they had these year-round. I would love another Cherry Colada on our upcoming trip! Oh, well.

It was now time to head out. We had to get some time in at Stormalong Bay while it was still warm and sunny out!

Up next: Stormalong Bay! More food and wine! What else would you expect? Oh, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy!

 

[A&Bmama]

Dug also decided to add on a Hooked Riesling to drink.

I don't know much about wine but I have recently discovered that I like Rieslings. I have been doing a little research and so far have not met a riesling that I didn't like, although, some have been better than others.

(my apologies for this picture…and the upcoming churro!)

My apologies for making you paranoid!

To follow up our German feast, we took a quick stroll through Germany’s new Karamell Kuche shop. It was pretty crowded, so we didn’t get anything, but it was fun to take a peek. We may have to go back there on our next trip…

I am so going to that shop!

Then we tried the drink:

I tried to like it. Really tried. Kept taking another sip, hoping it would taste like strawberry. It didn’t work. Dug ended up drinking almost the whole thing himself. And here’s what his tweets had to say about it afterwards:

Balsamic chiller has very unique taste. Very strong vodka flavor.

Thought maybe the purpose of the Beverly was to wash the taste of the Belvedere out of my mouth.

Belvedere Chiller basically a non-sweet strawberry compote whose purpose is to get you drunk fast.

I actually found myself wondering if they would give us a refund if we returned it after a few sips. Probably not.

Bummer. I hate when you get something that you really don't like and are trying to like it anyway just so that it doesn't seem like such a waste.

I was shivering and whimpering so much that the lifeguard told me I should get in the hot tub (this is after less than a minute in the pool). And who am I to argue with a lifeguard? So, off to the nearby hot tub we went. SO MUCH BETTER!

I would be with you. I am a wimp when it comes to the cold.

Back at the room, we got cleaned up for our dinner at Le Cellier. Nice, cozy clothes!

The upside of getting cold is that once you get to warm up it feels absolutely luxurious.

Since we had overrun our allotted break time, we knew we weren’t going to make it to Canada in time for our ADR. Actually, we were leaving the BC at our ADR time. So, we stopped by the Concierge desk and asked her to call Le Cellier for us. She happily agreed to!

Good tip. I would have never thought of that.