The most fantastic, magical things can happen ............... Day 03 Update/July 18

[Pinkocto]

I felt like I was on the tour with you, what a lovely experience!

Glad the other folks finally showed up. Awful to miss the tour and lose money.

I have never seen the fire in the dragons mouth either. What fabulous attention to detail!

Very cool about the poster. Any pictures of that or the pin?

 

[englishrose47]

I just LOVE the Topiaries and the Butterfly Garden, I am going to see if we can do a May Disney Trip in 2017 as well!!

 

[englishrose47]

Kyle Graduates from Junior High or Prep school as they now call it , tomorrow , he will go to High School in September . His last report card , his overall average was 96% . His name was listed in the paper . He is definitely college material and he is not argueing about it !! I am soooo proud of him!!

 

[rteetz]

Awesome tour! I've never gone to Disney during flower and garden so I love hearing about and seeing the topiaries. The gifts you got sound awesome as well.

 

[Leshaface]

That is so cool!

Love the 'fire' in the dragons mouth. Also, how neat that they have the flowers on the top of the mouth. How do they do that?!

watched a person from the Bonsai society take care of the Bonsais that were on display in front of the shop.

I had no idea how much care and meticulous cutting goes into Bonsai care! I could never, ever have one. Even though I think they are amazing!

(side note: since there were numerous CMs taking care of the displays we were not allowed to take photos during the WS part. It was okay to take pics of the flowers close up, but no pics with background, so therefore the lack of photos during the last part)

That's weird? They don't want people to see how they're taken care of I guess?

 

[GoofyFan1515]

Not that there is a bad time, but I really enjoy visiting Epcot in the spring during F&G! I'm not sure I've ever paid attention to the dragon in China, much less the fire in its mouth??? We always enjoy noticing all of the seasonal changes at the railroad in Germany though!

How cool the special surprises that you got as part of the tour! We haven't done any of the tours, but I think it is getting time we start looking into adding some to our future trips!

 

[jenseib]

That sounds like such a fun tour!

 

[pas130]

I LOVED the butterflies! We went in there several times.
I didn't see the dragon topiary, but I checked out the display in Germany (while sipping on my wine flight of course)

 

[momof3princes]

That looked like a fun tour! Interesting to get some behind the scenes looks as well. I would love to see the pin and poster, always nice to get a surprise bonus.

 

[dizneeat]

I am back because ...........





I AM FINALLY ON VACATION!!!!!!!!



Yes, school ended on Friday and there was a staff educational trip planned for Friday and Saturday, so this is why I did not come on any earlier. And now I am off for 9 blissful weeks. Thank god, it has been a LONG school year.

Let's get on with replies and an update, so I can get most of this TR done before we leave for our next adventure in just 3 weeks and 2 days. ​

I felt like I was on the tour with you, what a lovely experience!

It was really worth it to spend the morning on the tour. They pointed out so many things that we had walked by several times before. So much attention to detail.

I have never seen the fire in the dragons mouth either. What fabulous attention to detail!

We have walked past that dragon so many times and we never noticed the fire. It really is neat to have someone point out those little details.

Very cool about the poster. Any pictures of that or the pin?

I had to google for a photo of the poster as ours is still boxed up. But taking a photo of the pins was easy.

​

I just LOVE the Topiaries and the Butterfly Garden, I am going to see if we can do a May Disney Trip in 2017 as well!!

They are just so creative when it comes to topiaries. And it was awesome to have the time to really enjoy them.

Awesome tour! I've never gone to Disney during flower and garden so I love hearing about and seeing the topiaries. The gifts you got sound awesome as well.

It was a really interesting tour and if you ever get to Disney while the F&G is on, it is highly recommended to take the tour. So much fun and so many things we learned.

Love the 'fire' in the dragons mouth. Also, how neat that they have the flowers on the top of the mouth. How do they do that?!

It is made up of an incredible number of plants, but I have forgotten how many. There is a frame and they attach the plants, it takes quite some skill and a very good eye.

I had no idea how much care and meticulous cutting goes into Bonsai care! I could never, ever have one. Even though I think they are amazing!

The lady from the Bonsai society gave us a little insight, but there is a lot of looking after needed to get those Bonsais the way they are.

That's weird? They don't want people to see how they're taken care of I guess?

They don't want people to see how much work goes into creating these gardens I guess, but she was pretty strict that no photos were taken if CMs were in sight.

 

[dizneeat]

Not that there is a bad time, but I really enjoy visiting Epcot in the spring during F&G! I'm not sure I've ever paid attention to the dragon in China, much less the fire in its mouth??? We always enjoy noticing all of the seasonal changes at the railroad in Germany though!

Epcot is always beautiful, but with all the flowers and topiaries it is extra special. I would not have noticed the topiaries in Germany. We always look for a hidden Mickey in there, but other than that we just look at it "as a whole" and not so much in detail.

How cool the special surprises that you got as part of the tour! We haven't done any of the tours, but I think it is getting time we start looking into adding some to our future trips!

You get a little special something on every tour you take and we were aware there would be another pin but we had no idea about the poster. Funny thing is that I had wanted to buy one, but wanted to wait until the end of the trip to see if we had space in our luggage for the tube it came in. We did make space for the two tubes we got in the end.

That sounds like such a fun tour!

It definitely was. Highly recommended if you visit during F&G!

I LOVED the butterflies! We went in there several times.
I didn't see the dragon topiary, but I checked out the display in Germany (while sipping on my wine flight of course)

That was one AWESOME exhibit. And we enjoyed it even more when we knew what to especially look for lateron.
We never tried anything from the German booth. Therefore no wine sipping for us and it was great she pointed out the little topiaries as I would have easily overlooked them.

That looked like a fun tour! Interesting to get some behind the scenes looks as well. I would love to see the pin and poster, always nice to get a surprise bonus.

I had thought long and hard about taking this tour, we have done so many other tours at WDW and DL and I was not all that sure it was what we wanted to spend time on, but in the end we were both so happy to have given it a go. It was a great and educational tour. Photos of the pins and poster are in the post above this one.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 3, March 22

Gardens, rides and friends … - Part 3

Once on stage again, we all still chatted for a while, the guys from Adventures by Disney let us know that there were new “adventures” to come, but we had to read up on them on the website and then finally we said our goodbyes.
Tom and I went back to our room for some rest and some lunch. I picked up a

coconut bar in the shop and finally set the table for one of our picnic lunches. After that we rested for a while and sat out on the balcony with a

glass of wine and enjoyed what a nice and warm day it was. But before we knew it, it was time to head out again.
We had Fast Passes to use and needed to be at Disney’s Hollywood Studios before 2.30 when our first FP would expire. So around 1.30 we headed to the Yacht Club to catch the next boat to the studios.

We had to wait for a few minutes, but then a boat docked and we got on. It was pretty full, so there was standing room only and it got even fuller at the Swan and Dolphin. On the other hand it gave us a small advantage when leaving the boat at the studios.
Bag check was pretty easy and then we tapped our tickets and were inside the park. We had little time to spare, so we headed right for our first ride, the Tower of Terror. To say the park was packed would have been an understatement. When we got close to the Tower we could see the line snaking around to where the entrance to Fantasmic is.

We looked at the proposed stand by wait time and it said 105 minutes.

We love that ride, but not a 105 minute wait much. So we passed the waiting standby guests

and went over to the Fast Pass entry, tapped out magic bands and were in and were sure that this definitely was a 105 minute standby wait. Our line moved relatively fast, while the standby one didn’t seem to move at all. That was when we noticed a group of teenagers “changing lines” from the standby line to the Fast Pass one.
Would be interesting to see what would happen.
What happened was, that once we entered the building and got to the second check-point their magic bands did not work and some of the people ahead of us, who had seen them change lines as well pointed the fact out to the cast member there.
We were really surprised to see him call for help and the teenagers were escorted out. Wow!
And a minute or so later Tom and I found ourselves in the library and then in a long line in the boiler room. Everyone chose to turn right into the first line, we chose to go to the back line and were assigned a row a short time later. The ride is always fun and we enjoyed it a lot. Now, since I had tried to book Fast Passes close together we were already within the Fast Pass time for our next ride, Star Tours.
We were not in a terrible hurry and went through some of the shops on our way over. Again, there was quite the standby line, but the Fast Pass line was more or less empty until we got to the last room before being selected into rows. There everything had stopped and nothing seemed to move. We waited for about 10 minutes and then both lines started to move and we soon found ourselves in the middle of row one, waiting to board. We don’t ride Star Tours often, so our chances of getting to experience different “rides” were pretty slim, but this time we had another story and it was a really fun experience. Once we got off, we had a look around the store and then went out towards the Streets of America for a stroll around there

until the Fast Pass time for our third Fast Pass would open. It was fun to look around, even though we had been there many times before, but there is always something new that we seem to have missed before. When our Fast Pass window opened we headed straight over to Toy Story Mania,

where the standby line again was 105 minutes long. Inside, both lines moved quite slowly, but after about 10 minutes we could pick up our glasses and made our way up the stairs for the last part of the line. And soon we were seated and went off to play some games. I am not really good at them, but they are still fun.
After we exited the ride we knew it was time to head right to the exit and go back to our resort. When we walked towards the dock we saw a boat coming in and quite the line to get onto it. We joined and hoped we would be able to get on and we did. We even scored a seat on the way home.
Once we were back at the Yacht Club we hotfooted it over to the Beach Club and when we were back in the room we freshened up and changed and then it was about time to make our way over to the Boardwalk to meet with our friends Mick and Teresa again for dinner. When we left the resort we got a text that they had already arrived and signed us in and a few minutes later we were united again.
Didn’t take long and we were called to get seated. It was the first time we all had been to Trattoria al Forno,

but we had been to Kouzzina, the restaurant that had been there before, many times and this time we were seated in a smaller room towards the back of the restaurant. We made ourselves comfortable and poor little Otto was tired again and it did not take long for him to fall asleep again. We all ordered our drinks and some water before having a good look at the menu. And while we were still making our minds up, the server brought out some really good nice

bread and I think there was also some olive oil for dipping. Neither of us wanted an appetizer and Tom ordered the

Polpetta Gigante, a Beef and Spinach Meatball over Ricotta Cannelloni and rich tomato sauce for his meal, while I ordered the

Tagliatelle alla Carbonara, Local Organic Eggs, Pecorino Romano and House-cured Pancetta. Both dishes were really tasty and we enjoyed them a lot.
We had a lot of fun chatting with our friends and enjoying the atmosphere. There were some tasty desserts, so we needed to try some. Unfortunately I did not take any photos of what Teresa and Tiffany had, but Tom had just opted for an

Espresso and I had ordered the

Tiramisu, Lady Fingers soaked with Espresso and layered with Italian Mascarpone Cream. It was creamy and had a very good coffee taste and was just the right size, as it was pretty heavy. Once we had finished our meal we chatted for a while until we asked for the bill, paid and left the restaurant. Funnily enough, once we had left the restaurant, Otto woke up again and there was a street artist who he watched in amazement, while we stood by the railing chatting away. Finally, when we saw the boat arrive from Epcot we took a few more photos of all of us together

before we got in line and boarded the boat over to the Yacht Club. It was sad, as we knew Teresa and her family would drive home the next day and we would have to say goodbye to them without knowing when we would meet them again. But it is a short sail over to the Yacht Club and with a heavy heart we hugged them goodbye before we had to get off.
They all went back to the Studios to catch a bus back to their resort while we slowly walked back to our room. We had planned to chill for a while and then head over to Epcot for Illuminations, but after we had returned to our room we gave up the idea of walking to Epcot. We were too tired. So we made ourselves comfortable, had some drinks out of the fridge and I opened the Easter Basket we had gotten from Teresa.
We watched a little TV until we heard some loud noises outside. Off to the balcony we went and surprise, surprise, we could see part of the Illuminations fireworks from there. The trees were a bit in the way, but it was still nice to be on the balcony and enjoy the fireworks.
We grabbed some drinks and stood outside until they were over, when we finally went back inside and a short while later the time change had caught up with us and we went to bed.

To be continued ..........​

 

[pas130]

We ate there for dinner both with my kiddos and when it was just DH and I, it was a hit for sure!

 

[rteetz]

Those boats can definitely get packed!

Those are some long waits but not unexpected. I'm kind of surprised but glad the people called the group of teenagers out when they got to the FP check point. I've heard a lot of stories now of people line skipping after the first check point because Disney hasn't been using the second check point on all of the rides anymore.

I have yet to try Trattoria al forno but have heard good things. It looks like you had a nice meal.

 

[jedijill]

Playing catch up!

Yay for summer vacation! I love F&G Festival. Your tour looked great. Love the meet you had...you dinner looked delicious.

Jill in CO

 

[momof3princes]

Isn't it nice to stay in the Yacht and Beach Club area? So convenient. So glad they checked and took care of the line jumpers! If Disney rules are like other amusement parks that is automatic ejection from the park. Trattoria al Forno looked great! Glad you had a nice dinner with friends and that you could see at least some of Illuminations from your room

 

[Pinkocto]

YAY for the start of your vacation!!!

Thank you for the pictures of the poster and pins. Those are great treasures

Great update. That coconut bar looks amazing

Goodness gracious, you weren't kidding about it being busy at HS. I'm used to TSM having a super long line, but not ToT. Glad you had those FPs.

Sounds like a delicious dinner with fabulous company yet again. Glad you could get together with them again before they left.

 

[GoofyFan1515]

That is very interesting about the teenagers being escorted away after jumping the FP line. I think Pat saw somewhere recently they plan to do away with that second checkpoint, so that type activity is probably going to become more common. I'm not sure I understand that decision.

We did Trattoria with MEK and Denny and had a great time! Something special about sharing a meal at Disney with good Disney friends! The food was really good too (including that delicious bread)! I'm pretty sure somebody ordered the Tiramisu.........that looks really familiar!

 

[franandaj]

I'm glad you're finally on vacation! I really owe you a message now that I've gotten back home.

Good FP+ choices, there really aren't many others for that park. I need to go back there next trip!

Trattoria AL Forno looks really good. I may consider that for our trip in October as our first day isn't working out like I thought it would.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Happy Summer! Your big trip is almost here! Too bad you had to say good bye to Teresa hère.

Having a FP for TOT looks like a great plan for that day. Too funny the "line changers" got caught.
That tiramasu in a cup looks good enough to be worth making a ressie for

I'm in the middle of moving again. We are moving to an apartment because the landlord wants to sell the house we are in. We were just working on getting going on getting a house built and asked for an extension of our lease, and bam! They want us out! So anyway, if I don't get back here before you go, have a wonderful trip! Are you in FB? I would love to check in on you there. Send me a PM if you don't mind.