Oh, has it Been Raining? No, this is Just Sweat. Sept/Oct 2022 Trip Report! (Updated 9/16!!)

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Day 9, Part 2: This is Why You’re Not a Car Designer….​

Saturday October 1st, 2022

We last left off having some food at the F&W food booths. After we finished up our food it was getting close to our prebooked DAS for Soarin’, so we made our way over there. This time we were in 3C, so not the best ride for the view, but still fun!

On the way out of Soarin’ we were shocked at the line for LwtL! It was up to a 45 minute wait!

At that point we were almost into our time for our TT DAS, so decided to head over to that side of the park. On the way out of the Land I ran into Jojo for Jojos world. Like literally ran into him. He was in front of us as we were exiting the building, and as soon as he got outside the door he stopped right in the middle of the door to play on his phone, and I, and a few other people, crashed into him. So lesson learned, it’s not only tourists who are completely oblivious about their surroundings!

We headed over to TT and scanned into the LL. There was again a bit of a wait here, about 20 minutes, but a lot of it was outside which my mom does a lot better with.

This time I let mom do the car design, and it was interesting…



Unlike the car we designed earlier in the week that won all but one of the tests, this one lost all but one. Oops!

It was still a fun ride though!


What am I looking at?!?

After getting off TT, mom decided she wanted one of the spiked coffees from Joffrey’s, so we headed to one of those stands.

Unfortunately, they were completely out of cold brew there, so we decided to head to Ireland instead to get the Guinness Bailey’s shake.

There was a pretty decent line at Ireland, but we had a fun conversation with group in front of us about cheese, so time went by quickly! (gotta love random strangers who are willing to talk about cheese with you )

Drink in hand we headed to the back of the UK pavilion to find a place to sit and enjoy, but it was packed back there! Guess that secret is out.

We ended up standing in the shade, leaning up against one of the buildings for a while. Finally, a table opened up so we ran over to grab it to finish our drinks.



After finishing our drinks we decided to head out of the park. On the way out I grabbed one of the commemorative maps, and as we were leaving a CM was passing out the commemorative posters.



Next up: Rose and Crown Fireworks​

 

[Wood Nymph]

Drink in hand we headed to the back of the UK pavilion to find a place to sit and enjoy, but it was packed back there! Guess that secret is out.

We found out that the shady table area to the left of Rose and Crown was not reserved for the restaurant. Anyone can sit here. We've only been coming to Epcot since it opened and didn't know that sooner. I did know that the area to the right of the restaurant was open to anyone.

 

[VAtink]

We found out that the shady table area to the left of Rose and Crown was not reserved for the restaurant. Anyone can sit here. We've only been coming to Epcot since it opened and didn't know that sooner. I did know that the area to the right of the restaurant was open to anyone.

Ohhh, I didn't know that! Gotta keep that in mind for September. Thanks!

 

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Day 9, Part 3: Rose and Crown Fireworks​

Saturday, October 1, 2022

We last left off heading back to the YC for our afternoon break. We dropped off our goodies in the room and then changed and headed down to the pool.

We ended up staying down at the pool for just over an hour, and came back upstairs to shower and change (and pack) around 3:00.

While packing we had the PSU game on, I love being able to watch football, and my teams, while I’m down there!

A little before 7 we headed back over to Epcot. We had big plans for this evening!


It was a beautiful evening!

Once in we made our way over toward Morocco where we got some photopass pictures!



We then explored the pavilion a bit and went into their museum area, which we’ve never been in before! It was pretty cool!

We then started making our way back towards the IG, stopping at France for some more photopass pictures!



It was finally time to go check-in for our dinner, so we headed over to Rose and Crown! We arrived at the check-in at 7:40, and although the app said check-in was at 7:55, there was already 10 other groups with the package waiting.

We got into the line and soon after a CM came through the line to scan us in.

We were eventually lead down to our table for our Fireworks dinner package! We were sat at a 4 top table under the awning on the lower level. I was a bit worried the awning would impact our view, but it was fine.

This is where things got interesting. Our server, well, she tried.

When we arrived we put in a drink order, I got the red wine that is included in the package and mom got a snakebite (also included in the package), and we also both ordered waters. The drinks took forever to come out, like 20 minutes, and even then she forgot to bring the water. So we nicely reminder her we would like water as well.

Well, I don’t know if she just kept forgetting, but she just would not bring us water. We asked her four times! Finally she did bring water, but only brought one glass. I guess we were supposed to share?

When she finally came back I asked if we could each have our own glass of water and eventually a second glass was brought over.





Meanwhile our food came out pretty quickly! I got the scotch egg to start, the salmon entrée, and then the dessert trio, mom got almost the same but got soup to start instead of the egg.









The food was delicious, and this would have been a perfect meal if our waitress wasn’t so flighty.

Soon the fireworks started, and similar to our preview of the show earlier in the week, we were not impressed. It’s interesting, I feel like people complain about Illuminations being boring since there is the section with no fireworks, but I feel like Harmonious is even worse in that respect. The entire first half of the show seemed like there weren’t a lot of fireworks, and the ones it does have are those tiny little flare ones. It was like play a song with no fireworks, and then at the end of the song shoot off two and then repeat! This show really didn’t do it for us, we once again found it to be kind of boring.

I did upload a video to YouTube of our view of the show to share, but Disney blocked it. Odd, I’m used to getting the copyright claims for the recorded shows, but this is the first time that Disney has blocked viewing of a fireworks show worldwide. Of course, my first thought was they must be really embarrassed by it, but I see others still have their videos of the show up, so not sure why my version has been blocked. Oh well! I did get some pictures as well!





The waitress did come around after the show asking people what they thought, and the overwhelming opinion from surrounding tables was along the lines of it being just “ok”, we didn’t hear anyone around us tell her they loved it.

After the show we sat there for about 10 minutes to finish our drinks and let the crowds ease a bit before heading out. But tonight we were not headed home, nope, we had a party to get to!

Next up: Epcot Private After Hours Event!​

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Great picture of the Yacht Club lighthouse!! Ther's nothing like golden hour in that area and around World Showcase with the cotton candy sky. So gorgeous. Sorry your server wasn't on top of things at Rose and Crown. I'm really disappointed by how much they've pared the menu down. I'm sure it makes things much easier in the kitchen, but I want more options! That said, I wouldn't be surprised if 95% of diners order the fish and chips, bangers & mash or shepherd's pie anyway even with a bigger menu ("when in Rome...") so I suppose it makes sense. Illuminations. I am so happy that the taco barges are gone and the glorious views across World Showcase lagoon have been restored.

 

[Wood Nymph]

When she finally came back I asked if we could each have our own glass of water and eventually a second glass was brought over.

That is pretty bad to continually forget the water.

The waitress did come around after the show asking people what they thought, and the overwhelming opinion from surrounding tables was along the lines of it being just “ok”, we didn’t hear anyone around us tell her they loved it.

I like the show. The moving arms of spraying water are distracting, but the music is good.

 

[MickeyReeds]

Hi! Just found and read your whole report up to this point! Thanks for taking the time to share your trip!

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

I miss Illuminations so much!


Dinner looked delicious (though how can you forget water?!?!?!?!?)

Also what is a snakebite exactly lol

 

[VAtink]

Great picture of the Yacht Club lighthouse!! Ther's nothing like golden hour in that area and around World Showcase with the cotton candy sky. So gorgeous. Sorry your server wasn't on top of things at Rose and Crown. I'm really disappointed by how much they've pared the menu down. I'm sure it makes things much easier in the kitchen, but I want more options! That said, I wouldn't be surprised if 95% of diners order the fish and chips, bangers & mash or shepherd's pie anyway even with a bigger menu ("when in Rome...") so I suppose it makes sense. Illuminations. I am so happy that the taco barges are gone and the glorious views across World Showcase lagoon have been restored.

Thanks, it was such a beautiful evening, and this location is so stunning!

Yeah, our server was a bit of a mess, I can't believe we were basically begging her to bring us water!

And yes, I miss Illuminations so much, and even miss after the show hearing the Tapestry of Nations parade song, the new music just doesn't come close! It is so nice the tacos and stargate are gone, I cannot wait to see it in person! I just hope they don't premiere the new show during our trip again!

 

[VAtink]

That is pretty bad to continually forget the water.

Right? I couldn't believe we had to keep asking her to bring some, and then she only brought one glass!

I like the show. The moving arms of spraying water are distracting, but the music is good.

I don't think I would mind the show so much if they added some original music to go with the movie music, and added more/larger fireworks. I'm curious to see what the new show is like, hopefully it's the best of both worlds!

 

[VAtink]

Hi! Just found and read your whole report up to this point! Thanks for taking the time to share your trip!

Thank you for joining in! And you're welcome, it's so much fun to share about my trips, I love going back and reliving it!

 

[VAtink]

I miss Illuminations so much!

Same. I really really hope the new show has original music that rivals Illuminations music.

Dinner looked delicious (though how can you forget water?!?!?!?!?)

The food was fantastic! I would definitely go there again, and just hope for a better server!

Also what is a snakebite exactly lol

It's a lager (Harp at R&C) mixed with a hard cider. I think it's probably my mom's favorite beverage after tea!

 

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Hello everyone and Happy 4th!

Sorry I've been MIA lately with this TR. Things have been super busy, and I've been super stressed out. My mom fell down the stairs a few days ago and ended up breaking her leg in two places and now needs to have surgery. It's scheduled for tomorrow, so of course I'm worried about her and the surgery. She is in pretty good spirits though, so that's a plus!

This comes after last week my dog got into some fertilizer and was super sick for a few days, which of course was hard, I hate seeing my little man sick and I was worried sick about him the whole time. He's better now though and back to being in the way 100% of the time!

That of course came a few days after my cat ate something (no idea what) and was also sick for about a week. Ugh. So three weeks now of worrying about my family, human and fur baby. It's been a rough go and I'm a bit burnt out with all the worrying!

So anyways, I will be getting back to this TR soon, hopefully within the next week! I'm ready for some fun back in my life!

Oh, and ETA - I also had surgery about three weeks ago. Seriously, this is a bit ridiculous! The good news is, since I had surgery I'm allowed to work from home, so I've been able to monitor my cat and dog the past few weeks while they've been sick, silver lining I guess! ​

 

[Wood Nymph]

I'm sorry to hear about your mom. I hope surgery goes well and she is back in shape for WDW again.

It sounds like you have had more than your share of stress. At least you can work from home for a while.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Oh my! What a real life update!! I'm so sorry you've been dealing with so much stress! Definitely a silver lining that you were able to be home to watch over the fur kids' recoveries. I am thinking good thoughts for your mom's surgery today and hope that her recovery is a smooth one that doesn't impact your F&W plans. Hopefully that will serve as good inspiration and something to look forward to for both of you!

 

[NJlauren]

Oh boy! You’ve had a month!!

I hope you, your family fur and human are all feeling better soon!

 

[VAtink]

I'm sorry to hear about your mom. I hope surgery goes well and she is back in shape for WDW again.

Thanks! Me too, she should be in the hospital by now, so fingers crossed everything goes well! The good news, it sounds like it will be 4-6 weeks to heal, which still gives 1.5-2 months before Disney to build back up to walking. I suspect this trip will be similar to the one in 2019 when she broke her foot in June and we just took it a bit slower in September.

It sounds like you have had more than your share of stress. At least you can work from home for a while.

Haha, seriously! It doesn't help that I suck at sleeping on a good day, so I'm not sleeping at all these days which is, well, exhausting! It is nice to be able to work from home though, definitely a silver lining to all this!

 

[VAtink]

Oh my! What a real life update!! I'm so sorry you've been dealing with so much stress! Definitely a silver lining that you were able to be home to watch over the fur kids' recoveries. I am thinking good thoughts for your mom's surgery today and hope that her recovery is a smooth one that doesn't impact your F&W plans. Hopefully that will serve as good inspiration and something to look forward to for both of you!

Right? Haha, I'm so over this summer already! Thank you for the well wishes, fingers crossed everything goes well today! Right now we're still planning on going to F&W, we may get her a wheelchair some days, but we'll see how she's doing. I can't wait to get through this so we can start planning and getting excited for F&W again!

 

[VAtink]

Oh boy! You’ve had a month!!

Haha, seriously! Ready for things to turn around over here!

I hope you, your family fur and human are all feeling better soon!

Thank you so much!

 

[Counting Stars]

Sending positive thoughts and well wishes your way... You have certainly had some trials. Prayers for your mom's speedy healing. Reading your trip reports it seems that she keeps herself in great shape so that should really help the process along. Hoping that you and your fur babies are on the mend also! Take your time and take care of yourself. Whenever you get back to the TR people will follow because you do a great job writing them Very enjoyable to read!