This morning, after just a minor argument concerning the use of the wheel chair we were off to start our day. Since Bob had to upgrade his hopper to an AP we opted to go in through the International Gateway and go by the Festival Welcome Center to pick up our tickets for the afternoon’s seminars.
It didn’t take long at all and soon we were on our way to the bus stops at the front of Epcot. We were going to the Animal Kingdom to meet a very dear friend and her husband!
Debbie (Mrs. Heg) and I have known each other for years on the DIS, but had never met in person. She and her husband (Richie) made a whirlwind driving trip to WDW from Mississippi just for the weekend and I was very excited.
I am so glad that you can take a bus from one park to another now. Remember when you couldn’t?? You had to figure out if going to one resort and switching busses was going to be faster than going to DTD and getting a bus or going to the TTC. Much easier now! It took forever to get a bus. We had a couple from Australia or New Zealand (can’t tell their accents apart…) ask what time the bus would arrive and my response was “within 20 minutes or so.” It was definitely the “or so” time frame.
35 minutes later we were on the bus!
(For those of you who are reading this and wondering why in the heck we all met at Flame Tree instead of in Epcot: I had planned to be at AK early that morning to enjoy the park. myBob and The Hegs were going to join me there. Plans changed with the need for the chair.)
We met at Flame Tree for lunch and a chat. It went by so quickly, but The Hegs had not been to HS yet (their favorite park) and we had a 3:45 seminar at the Festival Welcome Center. And none of us ever thought to take a picture!
So, back to the busses. I have to say that taking a wheel chair on WDW busses is very easy. You have the option of using the ramp and being strapped in or folding it up and walking on yourself. Bob opted for the latter since his knees were not too bad. We both commented that we were seeing Disney from a new perspective this trip. So far they have been great!
We were a little early arriving back at Epcot so we strolled a little. It was a gloriously beautiful day in our favorite park.
We decided to go to the Welcome Center a little early to see if there was something there that Bob could read while he waited for me to do the 4:30 seminar. As we were looking at the amazing variety of books for sale, look who I bumped into!
The Deen brothers had done a seminar and Jamie was doing a book signing. I walked right past him and took the first shot, and Bob was seated behind him so I leaned over to try to get a better angle and he turned around, smiled and winked at me. It was adorable.
My brush with fame for the day, I suppose.
It wasn’t long before we were heading for the Beam Spirits seminar. This is the only seminar that myBob is doing the whole week so I was really hoping that he would enjoy himself. The CM who was manning the helm there asked if Bob was ambulatory and when we confirmed this she said, why don’t we just put you down front and then you can stay in your chair and be comfy? He finally had learned to accept offers like this gracefully, so down front we went. It was nice because we got to meet the presenter, Bernie Lubbers, AKA the Whiskey Professor.
We discussed Virginia (he will be in our neck of the woods next week) and our love of Bourbon before the others were let in. What a nice thing to have happen! And we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as you can see.
The pours of Ri(1), Jim Beam White and Knob Creek were very generous. Bourbon is my hard liquor of choice and I could not finish these!
Not only was the liquor good, but we learned a lot! A few examples:
1. Bourbon was declared the American Native Spirit in 1964. (Therefore the proclamation that it was our “damned patriotic duty to drink it!”
)
2. By law, bourbon must be:
• Produced in the USA
• Made of a grain mix of at least 51%, but not more than 79% corn
• Distilled at less than 160 proof (80% ABV)
• No additives allowed (except water to reduce proof where necessary)
• Aged in new, charred white oak barrels
• Aged for a minimum of two years
3. The saying to “86 something” originally meant to reduce the proof of a bourbon from 100 to 86 proof.
4. The term “proof” came from old-timers trying to determine if their whiskey had been watered down. They used gunpowder from bullets and added whiskey to the powder. If it fizzled, the whiskey had been watered down. If it flashed blue fire it was pure. There was your “proof” that it was 100 % pure!
This 45 minutes flew by and soon it was time for myBob to find a spot to enjoy his new cookbook:
And for me to run to the Warren Brown/Mary Myers presentation. I lucked out! Since I was alone, there was a single seat at a front row table and Pam Smith was just beginning the introductions. As I sat down I saw a tablemate with a particular pin that had been made by another DISer (oybolshoi) for this F&W Festival. I knew that I had to know her since there were only 50 of these pins made! It was Jordan, a daughter of another DISer who is at WDW on the College Program). My photo of her was taken as she was videotaping the presentation for her Mom.
Someone else took a photo of us together which I am sure will be posted on the DIS at some point and I will update this when I find it.
Here is a photo of Jordan and me together after the seminar. She was so sweet!
We first heard from a representative from Allan Scott Wines. He spoke a little about the winery in general (with a Power Point presentation) and about the Riesling we were tasting. These were eyedropper portions! I sipped a bit just to get a hint of the wine without food and left myself enough to try with the cake being presented.
Both Warren Brown and Mary Myers were very personable and there were lots of tips to be learned here too. I have to get some orange oil, and possibly other oils like the one they used in the cake and ganache. It was a powerful flavor and so purely ORANGE that I want to try it in my own cooking.
Our portion was adorable. It was a tiny, wee, individual pound cake loaf (tiny) with a drizzle of ganache, a spurt of whipped cream and a twist of candied orange peel. I have no idea why I don’t have a photo of this?!?! I bet I will find one online and will hijack it for my report at that point.
Continued on next post...
But, thanks!
Here's for a quick recovery. 
