A quick change of clothes, and we were off.
The Friendship launch goes directly from the Boardwalk to the International Gateway (it stops at the Yacht Club on the way back), so we hopped on. It was a lovely breezy afternoon, so we sat outside.
Would that every bag check looked as uncrowded as this one:
We headed right over to Italy.
Via Napoli had seemed like a good place to use DP credits -- it's expensive and the desserts sounded good (our top two DP table service criteria!).
I'd thought of Tutto Italia as the signature restaurant of the Italy Pavilion. But Via Napoli, with its high ceilings and Neopolitan charm, is just as elegant.
We stopped for a photo in front of the ovens that would be baking our meal. The names painted over each oven are Stomboli, Vesuvio, and Etna -- the names of the three active volcanoes in Italy. (Who knew Stromboli was a volcano, not just an insideout pizza?)
We asked for a table by a window and were taken to the back room with a small window along the side of the building. The murals on the wall make you feel as though you're in a forest, and we loved our little window. This was the view:
Decisions, decisions!
Aedan chose the kids' pizza and settled in for some coloring.
I wanted to try one of their signature aqua frescas -- a house made seasonal fruit cooler. The version made with fresh strawberries was delicious, though I should have asked for it with no ice -- it disappeared too fast! Everything was beautifully presented.
We enjoyed a slice of bread while we waited. Truth to tell, it wasn't very good. Not bad, but kind of tasteless, unfortunately.
The lasagna verde (with spinach, parmesan, and besciamella sauce) was outstanding.
We learned that al forne means "from the oven."
Aedan had the ruota di carretto (vanilla ice cream served with little crispy cookies). He and I also shared the zeppole di Caterina.
In the dessert world, there's nothing worse than fake whipped cream (ubiquitous on the
Disney Cruise Line!). This whipped cream was entirely real and entirely delicious. The chocolate was also real and delicious. I had expected the little donuts to be fantastic -- maybe my expectations tripped me up. They were good, but not great. The ricotta is not very evident, but it made them a little heavy. Or perhaps we just got a less-than-ideal batch. Worth trying, and probably worth having on a second visit. But not melt-in-the-mouth delish. Still, we enjoyed it very much -- particularly serving ourselves from the little silver dishes.
On the way out, Aedan stopped to try the Mouth of Truth. Would it bite? (Like the one in Rome visited by Audrey Heburn and Gregory Peck in ROMAN HOLIDAY.)
We emerged into a beautiful sunset. The sunsets are always beautiful at Epcot. "Epcot, we love you!" Aedan exclaimed. That's amore!
We juked around the Epcot ball to take a ride through human history. We're big fans of Spaceship Earth.
We waved to great-great-great-great .... great grandpa:
And to pharaoah:
And to Mr. Buonarroti:
And he's off!
The Smart Driver racing game is always popular.
Then a stop to provide Paris with some energy at Power City.
It was getting close to 7:00 p.m. -- we'd have to hurry to get to Innoventions before it closed.
Had them sent directly to the big kids' apartment in Winter Garden so we wouldn't have to carry them on the plane.
