Friday, January 16th
This day was kind of a "day that went wrong." We got up, we got dressed, we went to wait for an Epcot bus. Everyone else waited for an Epcot bus, too. And the people who got there last pushed on first... In the end, we got to the South Depot stop at 8:20. We got to Epcot at 9:30. THAT stunk!! There were a number of us grumblers who were all on our last day of our vacation and Done With It.
Once we got in the park (and did I mention that it was a brisk 35F when we left our hotel room? And that it was -15F + wind at home? Yikes!!!), I dragged Jeremy over to Soarin'. I mean DRAGGED. The wait time said 35 minutes, but we took a deep breath and decided to bear it and... like the guy behind us said "they forgot the dash between the 3 and the 5." Once again, I was in the middle row and saw FEET! That said, Jeremy enjoyed the ride a LOT more than I did (and I looked at him and said "hey, we could go to California for our anniversary" <--I am very pliable via advertising!
). We grabbed some breakfast at the Land pavilion (I totally wish I could remember what I got, or if I got anything at all) and then went on the Living with the Land ride, which I hadn't done in YEARS. It was surprisingly cool.
Next, we crossed (this time, no marathoners!) to ride Test Track and Mission: Space. But! Test Track was down, as it would be until we walked by it again at around 9pm. DANGIT!! Instead, we got in line for Mission: Space, opting for the orange side. The time said "20 minutes."
We then proceeded to enter the longest line I had ever EVER seen for that ride, with lots of those tour groups in front of us. Twenty minutes passed. Twenty more minutes past. My feet ached and I was very grumpy. We were probably another 30 or so minutes from the ride. We ducked out, chewed out the people who monitor the time (which was at "40 minutes" despite them having expanded the line!!!"), and got FastPasses, which were for about an hour away.
Next up, we went to Spaceship Earth, which was reporting a 30 minute wait. It wasn't, happily, especially since it was brisk standing in the shadow of the golfball! My brother had advised us to pull a silly face when they take our picture at the beginning. We decided to trust him and made faces as our pictures were taken. The updates were cool; it's still a nice ride... and what they do with your face? AWESOME! Once we got off the ride, we ran to one of the computers and promptly emailed it to ourselves... which meant it was then put up on the screen for everyone to see. We decided that was a good time to quickly duck out of there.
We wandered through Club Cool (free soda!) and the Innoventions before returning to Mission: Space. We still managed to wait almost half an hour from our FastPass line, which was remarkable. People who'd been in line behind us were still waiting. It was NUTS! Just... nuts.
We worked our way back to the Living Seas, since neither of us had been on the ride since it had been updated with Nemo. I think in 2005 it was being redone? Or maybe my recollection was simply "lame" and we skipped it? And maybe it was being redone in 2007? Anyway. That line wound pretty quickly. We had a family in front of us with a young boy who was more interested in playing with the line dividers than being marched through the line itself. Since it's a constant moving line, it was occasionally frustrating (did I mention it wasn't a great day? And that we were ready to go home?) to watched the line get 20 yards ahead of us while we waited for the family to corral their child but really. The ride wasn't going to leave without us forever and ever.
Once we got through the line, it was time for lunch at Le Cellier! This was the one Jeremy had been looking forward to the most. We got there a couple minutes early and waited a couple minutes beyond our ADR (nothing to write home about) before being seated. I opted for the three course meal, despite the fact that it wasn't a great "deal." But, again, I was tired of rich heavy meals and the idea of a steak salad sounded REALLY appealing to me... so why not? Plus, cheddar cheese soup!
Our waiter was, I think, a hair distracted. Like, I was eating a breadstick, put it down to talk to him, and he then took it from me. I was a little boggled, but, well, I didn't NEED the food. Otherwise, things were good. Jeremy got his creme brulee and I got the chocolate "moose" for dessert. We poked through the shop and then stopped for Off-Kilter's set, which was fun. It was nice to warm up in the sun and listen to a rock-ish band with (well-played) bag pipes!
The other "problem" at this point was that I had NO souvenier of the trip. Jeremy had his marathon shirt and another that he bought. We'd picked up something for our niece and something for a friend of mine... but nothing for me. So we hit up every shop, sometimes twice, just to be sure there was nothing I wanted. (Beyond the $668 necklace or oversized pieces of crystal) There was nothing, I got nothing and... I'm okay with that. I have lots of stuff but now I have plenty of memories!
We walked through England, through France, and Morocco.
We made it to Japan just in time to watch Matsuriza (drums) play. Also, between Sunday and Friday, the pagoda had gone from visible to fully encased in construction wrap. This meant that the drums were played in the courtyard... and we saw where they'd be, snagging ourselves a great viewing spot!
At American Adventure, we caught the Spirit of America Fife and Drum Corps.
In Italy, we saw the end of the World Showcase Players doing a complete goofy skit.
Germany, I eyeballed crystal before decided it was an impractical choice.
China, Jeremy opted to watch the 360 movie and I ducked out. I spent some time looking at the Tomb Warriors, which I found COMPLETELY fascinating... and the rest of the time, resting my completely sore feet. By this point, we were very much kicking ourselves for not having looked into the Kim Possible stuff earlier. We saw kids, families, and couples walking through the World, playing the game. And we'd had more than enough time, too! Dang it!
At Norway, we cashed in a couple more snack credits. I got a sweet pretzel with almonds which was really enough food for two people. Jeremy got a more moderate snack and then helped me eat mine.
We saw "Off Kilter" again, after the sun had gone down, in time for them to do a rock/bagpipe version of Amazing Grace that was pretty cool!
And finally was our near-disaster of a dinner that set the tone for how we came home from our trip to Disney World.
We got to Spoodles, at the Boardwalk Inn, about 10 minutes early. We checked in, we got our pager, and we sat down. Ahead of us was a group of 31 people, most of whom were under the age of 15. They did, however, have reservations. They got seated. Everyone before us got seated. People who arrived after us got seated. It was now well past our reservation time.
Jeremy went and asked where we were. He was assured we were next.
A couple that came in after us was then seated.
Annoyed, I went to see REALLY what was going on... and basically got chewed out by the hostess about tags and checking in and waiting and other BS that really made no sense. We almost left then.
So, what happened next? Oh yeah. We were punished by the hostess. We were seated at THE table that was between the two tables of the group of 31, who immediately apologized to us. Imagine a long banquet like table. Then, imagine a round table that was 6 or 7 feet away. Imagine a table for two that would form the point on a triangle with those three tables. That's where we were seated. In a separate room, away from the rest of the restaurant.
I was fuming. Like, to the point where I asked the waitress to give us a few minutes, I needed to regain hold on my temper.
Awhile later, a waiter, who'd been assigned to work with the waitress, came up and took our drink orders. Forever and a week later, he returned with them and took our food order. At this point, I assured him he'd done nothing, but asked if I could speak with a manager. This was a good decision, since when he returned with OUR bread a few minutes later, the waitress took it from him and gave it as seconds to one of the tables for the large party.
The manager turned up promptly, listened to me complain (mostly about the front desk, the delays, and certainly NOT about the party) and said that she would take care of us. She did. She found us a booth in the main restaurant (the large party apologized AGAIN - and I hope they believed me when I said that I did understand and I felt bad leaving, since I didn't want them thinking they'd done anything wrong. They hadn't. But 31 adults/kids is LOUD).
Our waiter, of course, approached us with some trepidation (you know he was told he got the problem table!) but he was great and we were relaxed. Turns out he's from a few towns away from where we live (I don't even know if I can write the town name on the forum? Hotter than... *fill in the blank* and that's actually the town!) so we had that in common. He was a great waiter, was really nice, and the dinner was NOT a loss! The menu had changed, though, and there was little on there that interested me, so I ended up with the garlic & lemon shrimp pasta. Again. Jeremy had a woodfired pork that was SO GOOD. I don't often like pork but OH MAN. The manager comped our drinks but we tried to be sure that we tipped generously for the service we DID receive. Between the waiter and the manager making things right, it ended up as a nice meal.
But I'm not sure I want to go back, after dealing with the front desk of that restaurant!!
In the cold, with full bellies, we pressed back across the boardwalk, through Epcot, and out the front door to wait for a bus. Again, a very crowded bus, but people were in really good spirits. Some "kids" decided to sign show tunes for us (it was just that sort of atmosphere... I shouted "we have a woman with an infant, anyone got a seat?" and three appeared magically, so those who *needed* seats actually got some) and everyone chatted with everyone else. That's the Disney magic!!
