Day 2 – Epcot, Flower and Garden Festival
Sunday 15th May
Up with the lark at around 6am, and showered, dressed and ready to hit the supermarket by just gone 7. Descended on Publix armed with a list and 2 children, and slowly filled the trolley with all manners of holiday provision that only seem to come in packs that would do for a small army. You can’t buy small portions of anything it seems…buying in bulk is the only option. Try to buy some beer but am told it’s too early ☹ Think of using the Jimmy Buffett line that it’s 5 o’clock somewhere but think better of it…
Back home for 8am and Helen has just about finished the unpacking…we’re only here for 6 nights, but we need to unpack the lot as we’d spread all the contents around in case of bags being lost or delayed. We can then be a bit more logical with the re-packing for the locations that lie ahead.
Next it’s breakfast for everyone and a bit of exploring around the villa. It’s very luxurious and you can tell the owners have a real flair for decoration. In fact, as we’re getting our bearings, the guy we are renting from – Michel – drops round to check that everything is ok. He’s just moved down from Canada in the last few weeks but it seems he is slowing buying up the entire development piece by piece – he now owns 5 villas on the estate in total. Really lovely chap, and great to know that he’s nearby if we need anything.
Quick swim to test the pool for sharks, and then we’re off to Epcot, as it’s the final day of the Flower and Garden Festival. We arrive and immediate grab fastpasses for TestTrack for later, and then start to look around the flower festival specialities: The butterfly house, the incredibly creative children’s playgrounds, and the beautiful topiaries that still look amazing even though it’s the final day.
Shame it’s the last day for the Epcot playgrounds
Ryan and I go exploring while Helen and Emma queue for pixie photos and autographs. Line moves very slowly for this, and it’s about a 45 mins wait in all. Emma says thank you appreciatively afterwards with just a small amount of prompting from me ;-)
Lunch is a 11.30am reservation at Coral Reef. H’s fave restaurant in WDW, and a late treat from her birthday 2 days earlier. Good spot close to the tank, and 90 mins passes very quickly. Food wonderful as always…lobster bisque delicious, and my mahi mahi very subtley flavoured.
Mahi mahi…mmmmm
Head off to do Cars 2 sticker collections around the world. Kids love to collect stickers, don’t they? End up at Italy and picked up a badge/button for getting all 6. Kids happy, proudly displaying the prize of all the walking we’ve done over the last hour!
Next we head back to UK to watch new music group after British Invasion left recently. Still not sure what they’re called . Times guide suitably vague, and introductions didn’t really specify either. Anyhow, they are good. Nice mix of older music and more modern, and they’ve got great voices too. Less of an impersonation than before, more a tribute act now. Lots of songs in the set, as often they’ll do a verse and chorus, rather than the whole number. Decent way to spend 25 mins, and am sure we’ll visit again later in the holiday to see if the set list changes much.
It’s now 4pm and we stop by the Cars 2 pavilion to listen to a talk by Michael Giachomo who produced the music for The Incredibles, Ratatoille, Up, and now Cars 2 – plus Lost, Alias, Star Trek and various other shows and movies. Very entertaining guy, and lots of insights into the movie making and music scoring process.
After this was round to American Gardens Theatre to watch Peter Noone. Standing room only, but great atmosphere and we stay until the end.
Peter Noone, in the distance
Finally get a chance to use FP for Test Track with Ryan, then we head home via supermarket to pick up the handful of things I forgot this morning, and the beer that they wouldn’t let me have ☺
Finally back to the villa for a meal of Publix finest – hot dogs, fries, scrambled egg. It’s basic, but it hits the spot. Quick swim before bed, then we all retire, worn out from a great first full day.
Day 3 - Hollywood Studios
Setting the Scene and Index
Sunday 15th May
Up with the lark at around 6am, and showered, dressed and ready to hit the supermarket by just gone 7. Descended on Publix armed with a list and 2 children, and slowly filled the trolley with all manners of holiday provision that only seem to come in packs that would do for a small army. You can’t buy small portions of anything it seems…buying in bulk is the only option. Try to buy some beer but am told it’s too early ☹ Think of using the Jimmy Buffett line that it’s 5 o’clock somewhere but think better of it…
Back home for 8am and Helen has just about finished the unpacking…we’re only here for 6 nights, but we need to unpack the lot as we’d spread all the contents around in case of bags being lost or delayed. We can then be a bit more logical with the re-packing for the locations that lie ahead.
Next it’s breakfast for everyone and a bit of exploring around the villa. It’s very luxurious and you can tell the owners have a real flair for decoration. In fact, as we’re getting our bearings, the guy we are renting from – Michel – drops round to check that everything is ok. He’s just moved down from Canada in the last few weeks but it seems he is slowing buying up the entire development piece by piece – he now owns 5 villas on the estate in total. Really lovely chap, and great to know that he’s nearby if we need anything.
Quick swim to test the pool for sharks, and then we’re off to Epcot, as it’s the final day of the Flower and Garden Festival. We arrive and immediate grab fastpasses for TestTrack for later, and then start to look around the flower festival specialities: The butterfly house, the incredibly creative children’s playgrounds, and the beautiful topiaries that still look amazing even though it’s the final day.
Shame it’s the last day for the Epcot playgrounds
Ryan and I go exploring while Helen and Emma queue for pixie photos and autographs. Line moves very slowly for this, and it’s about a 45 mins wait in all. Emma says thank you appreciatively afterwards with just a small amount of prompting from me ;-)
Lunch is a 11.30am reservation at Coral Reef. H’s fave restaurant in WDW, and a late treat from her birthday 2 days earlier. Good spot close to the tank, and 90 mins passes very quickly. Food wonderful as always…lobster bisque delicious, and my mahi mahi very subtley flavoured.
Mahi mahi…mmmmm
Head off to do Cars 2 sticker collections around the world. Kids love to collect stickers, don’t they? End up at Italy and picked up a badge/button for getting all 6. Kids happy, proudly displaying the prize of all the walking we’ve done over the last hour!
Next we head back to UK to watch new music group after British Invasion left recently. Still not sure what they’re called . Times guide suitably vague, and introductions didn’t really specify either. Anyhow, they are good. Nice mix of older music and more modern, and they’ve got great voices too. Less of an impersonation than before, more a tribute act now. Lots of songs in the set, as often they’ll do a verse and chorus, rather than the whole number. Decent way to spend 25 mins, and am sure we’ll visit again later in the holiday to see if the set list changes much.
It’s now 4pm and we stop by the Cars 2 pavilion to listen to a talk by Michael Giachomo who produced the music for The Incredibles, Ratatoille, Up, and now Cars 2 – plus Lost, Alias, Star Trek and various other shows and movies. Very entertaining guy, and lots of insights into the movie making and music scoring process.
After this was round to American Gardens Theatre to watch Peter Noone. Standing room only, but great atmosphere and we stay until the end.
Peter Noone, in the distance
Finally get a chance to use FP for Test Track with Ryan, then we head home via supermarket to pick up the handful of things I forgot this morning, and the beer that they wouldn’t let me have ☺
Finally back to the villa for a meal of Publix finest – hot dogs, fries, scrambled egg. It’s basic, but it hits the spot. Quick swim before bed, then we all retire, worn out from a great first full day.
Day 3 - Hollywood Studios
Setting the Scene and Index
