"We Will Not Be Braking for Pedestrians!" "Oh my God DUUUCKKKS!"-An October 2011

[bellebookworm9]

Oh man, I know what it's like to have to ring yourself out! We had a week at WDW in May '09 where it seriously rained that way like every day. Not fun. But, you make the best of it!

Yuck, gotta love having to wring out your clothes. That's like what happened to us this past March. I totally agree that it is no fun squishing around in the parks.

On the bright side...Halloween Duffy is really cute and it looks like you made the best of the rainy weather.

Everyone we talked to said this was not normal weather. They all said that it will rain like that for 15 minutes in the afternoon, but even for them, 3 days of that nonsense and they were all like . In fact, when I had my CP interview earlier this week, I mentioned that I had been there a few weeks ago. The interviewer asked if I had fun and if I had gone to MNSSHP. I said yes, despite all the rain. Her reply? "Ohhhh, you were here the week we had all of that rain!"

I agree, Halloween Duffy is so darn cute!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Our Soarin’ FPs had been good for several hours now, so we went right over there next. I think the stand by line was about 75 minutes and we had about a 20 minute wait with the FPs. The stand by line games were open, so we got to listen to those for a bit. This was also the first time I had seen Concourse 2 open-every single time we’ve gone on, including this one, we’ve been in Concourse 1. This time we were assigned to A2-our first time not being in B1. I understand what people mean now about the feet in front of you kind of ruining the experience a bit, and not being in the center also makes the screen curve more obvious.

After our adventure over California, we walked back outside into some more rain. I checked the Times Board and saw that Test Track was still down. However, Spaceship Earth only had a 5 minute wait, so I said I was feelin’ that and we headed up to the front of the park. It really was a short wait and we were soon heading into the communications of the past. For our “future” we decided we would alternate answers and pick really crazy things, so in the end we were athletic risk takers concerned about health and interested in high tech stuff.

When we went back outside it was still raining, so ducked into the store that is nearby, Gateway Gifts, maybe? We browsed in there for a LONG time. Finally I’d had enough and decided that by gosh, we came here for the Food & Wine Festival and we were going to go enjoy it! Back out we went. Then we came to Innoventions. I really wanted to try the Great Piggy Bank Adventure. We ducked into Innoventions East and realized that was the wrong side so walked across the way to West, and followed the signs. There was a bit of a wait. Then we were given our piggy and off we went! Saving for college was our choice, since we are both students. I thought the pig was adorable.

Mom was disappointed that he was empty-she’s shaking him here to no avail.

The game was a lot of fun, even though we didn’t reach our goal. We sat on a bench under the covered area between Innoventions and the Character Spot-we wanted to meet the characters but the wait was 40 minutes. Our next stop was Club Cool.

 

[natebenma]

Loving your updates!!! Sorry to hear about all of the rain. But I applaud you for making the best of it!

I have my own Disney in a Downpour episode- August 2008, Tropical Storm Faye. It rained constantly from Tuesday until Friday. I don't think our sneakers ever dried in between trips to the park.

Loving all your pictures and descriptions of the food, both at the F&W booths and the restaurants. Sunshine Seasons is one of our favorites. Love all of the varied choices there. But the pick for dessert for me is the amazing strawberry shortcake, too!

Great interaction between you and your mom. You both seem like a lot of fun!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Loving your updates!!! Sorry to hear about all of the rain. But I applaud you for making the best of it!

I have my own Disney in a Downpour episode- August 2008, Tropical Storm Faye. It rained constantly from Tuesday until Friday. I don't think our sneakers ever dried in between trips to the park.

Loving all your pictures and descriptions of the food, both at the F&W booths and the restaurants. Sunshine Seasons is one of our favorites. Love all of the varied choices there. But the pick for dessert for me is the amazing strawberry shortcake, too!

Great interaction between you and your mom. You both seem like a lot of fun!

I hate the rain almost as much as I hate snow. I am never moving to Washington state and I'm trying my hardest to get out of Northern US!

Sunshine Seasons is probably our favorite CS. I would love to try all of the options there eventually!

Haha thanks, we like to think we're fun!

 

[bellebookworm9]

We had never been to Club Cool before, but of course I’d heard stories about the Beverly, so that was first on our list. Mom thought I might like it since I liked lemons when I was little. I made her go first.

My turn!

GROSS! Okay, we’ll go with the “Fanta Frescas” from Costa Rica now.

That one was a little better. Hmmm…I pick the Mezzo Mix from Germany.

I liked that one, Mom didn’t. She thought it just tasted like flat Coke. Our last choice was the Ginger Ale from South Africa.

We both thought that one was just okay. Now it was finally time to head back into the festival!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Ah, Beverly. You know what's funny about that drink? It's actually a palatte cleanser, so it's supposed to taste bitter. It's supposed to cleanse your taste buds so you can go on eating and have everything taste good.

 

[lilwitch646]

That is SeaBreeze Pointe, and I fully intend to get married there someday. It’s absolutely beautiful.

Me too!! (There or one of the court yards at BWV)

Mom was mad that I wouldn’t eat more, but I joined Weight Watchers over the summer and am learning that you don’t have to finish everything on the plate. Mom actually took a picture of what we threw out.

My parents have the same complaint, so you're not alone. I try to order kids meals in Disney if I can because the adult portions are SOO huge, but turkey sandwiches get boring after awhile.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Ah, Beverly. You know what's funny about that drink? It's actually a palatte cleanser, so it's supposed to taste bitter. It's supposed to cleanse your taste buds so you can go on eating and have everything taste good.

You know, i suppose *anything* would taste better than that! It also looked different than I was expecting-since it's supposed to be Cola, I thought it would be brown, not clear. I was also disappointed to see that the watermelon drink from China (I think?) was out, because I really wanted to try it!

Me too!! (There or one of the court yards at BWV)

My parents have the same complaint, so you're not alone. I try to order kids meals in Disney if I can because the adult portions are SOO huge, but turkey sandwiches get boring after awhile.

Haha I've got my whole wedding planned out! My second choice is the Yacht Club Gazebo, then I want a brunch reception in a ballroom at either Y&BC or Boardwalk, and a dessert party in the UK! (I need a boyfriend before any of this happens, obviously, but a girl can dream, right?)

Mom and I normally share all of our CS meals and TS too (unless we're at a buffet), but if I were ever to go by myself, I think kid's meals would be the way to go...or having lots of leftovers!

 

[msmith1026]

Haha I've got my whole wedding planned out! My second choice is the Yacht Club Gazebo, then I want a brunch reception in a ballroom at either Y&BC or Boardwalk, and a dessert party in the UK! (I need a boyfriend before any of this happens, obviously, but a girl can dream, right?)

mmmm....dessert party. Best part of any party would be the dessert!!! I think the brunch reception sounds good too!!

 

[bellebookworm9]

mmmm....dessert party. Best part of any party would be the dessert!!! I think the brunch reception sounds good too!!

Dessert and IllumiNations...doesn't get any better than that! And I prefer breakfast over all other meals, so a brunch reception sounds perfect to me!

 

[bellebookworm9]

I received our Photopass CD today, so those pictures will be included from here on out. I have also gone back and inserted them into the "Potted Umbrellas Blowing Over!" post for the meet & greet with Duffy!
******************

We decided we would make a right and start working our way back to International Gateway, so our first booth has Hawaii. The whole booth was pretty much a giant advertisement for Aulani, and there was a kiosk for it right next to the booth. We wanted to try the Kalua Pork Slider with Pineapple Chutney and Spicy Mayo.

We sat down on a bench across the way to eat it. This was really good! There was a tiny kick to it, but not too much, the pork was well cooked and the pineapple added an unusual twist.

I think we took a bathroom break next, and as I was going to take my poncho off, it ripped. It was $2 at WalMart, and the opening for my head just ripped right down the chest. Well, it wasn’t like I could get much wetter-I was wringing water out of sweatshirt number 2 for the day!

The Desserts and Champagne is right next to the bathroom, so that was where we went. I think this is the only booth where we got all 3 items; Top left is the Lemon Chiffon, bottom left is the White Chocolate Macadamia Mousse with Dark Chocolate Pearls, and on the right is the Tres Leches Verrine.

The Lemon Chiffon was our least favorite. It was a little too tart. The Mousse was our second favorite. I liked the combination of flavors. And the Tres Leches Verrine was our favorite, one of the best things we ate! We still don't know exactly what it was, but it was soooo good. It seemed like some sort of a cake soaked in something. Sorry, that's a terrible description!

Continuing on our way we came to Greece. Here we ordered the Griddled Greek Cheese with Pistachios and Honey and the Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki.

These were both...interesting. The cheese would have been good on it's own or with the pistachios, but the honey was too sweet for the cheese. It was also sticky to eat with fingers, but difficult to eat with a knife and fork. The chicken and pita parts of the souvlaki were good but the sauce tasted overwhelmingly of dill.

We sat on a bench partially covered with a big umbrella. A few people came over and were kind of sharing the bench but one or two of them were standing and we weren’t sure if they whacked the umbrella or what, but a torrent of water came down. Some of it went in one of the guy’s drinks and he took a sip and said, “Hmmm…I think that was acid rain, but it tastes great!”

We moved on not long after that, skipping Canada and heading to Ireland. On our way there we saw this HUGE line of people and I thought it was for the booth because I know it’s popular. But as we got closer we saw that they were all lining up to stop at a small white tent thing. At the time I thought maybe it was to meet the guy from Cake Boss, but now I’m thinking it was for the 3D Dessert Party. We wanted to get all the items at Ireland, but were getting full so we just got the Warm Chocolate Lava Cake with Bailey's Irish Cream Ganache. (Unfortunately, we never got back to the booth for the other choices).

This was tiny, but very rich. It was fine that we shared. Mom said the Bailey's also made her feel warm. This was a very good choice!

From Hawaii to Ireland was just about half an hour. I wanted to stay for IllumiNations but Mom didn’t want to wait for two hours and we were cold and wet again, so we walked back to the villas. It was around 7:15 at this point. When we got back and dried off, Mom did some math homework and I went to the fourth floor to put my stuff in the dryer. I was going to stay up there with it but it was really, really cold. A little girl and her mom came in during the few minutes I was sitting there, and they had the TV on: Monsters Inc was on ABCFamily. The little girl told me how it was on in her room and she hadn’t been feeling well in the bathroom so they came back to the hotel to watch TV. Gotta love little kids!

So I went back to the room and took pictures. Here is the sofa bed, with my stuff on it. It’s a bit messy-there’s a picture of it clean coming later.

I also took some pictures of my new wristlet.

And my new ring from the previous night. I have a similar one on my left pinky (this one’s on my right ring finger). The left hand one I got last May and it’s just one spiral with a silver G on the top and a “diamond” Mickey head on the bottom.

A bit later my laundry was dry so I went to grab it and then called it a night. We were praying that the rain would stop in the morning. I wanted to make rope drop, but only so we could ride Test Track. However, we knew if it was raining it would still be closed (it hadn’t opened at all today) and we could go a little later.

 

[wdwgirl03]

We tried the white mousse and lava cake too-both were yummy! Love the wristlet-I am still hoping to get one of the little crossbodys (I think you have one of them?). They are so cute!

 

[bellebookworm9]

We tried the white mousse and lava cake too-both were yummy! Love the wristlet-I am still hoping to get one of the little crossbodys (I think you have one of them?). They are so cute!

I don't think you can go wrong with Disney desserts! Yes, I have a purple cross body and it's perfect for keeping just a few things in.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Sunday morning I was up around 7, and much to my dismay it was still raining. I went down to the Marketplace to get breakfast, and came back with a Lemon Cranberry Scone for Mom, and a Blueberry Muffin and carton of milk for myself.

Mom had several of the scones over the previous few days, and she said they were really good. The muffin was moist and filled with blueberries.

Since it was still raining pretty hard, we knew Test Track would be closed, so no big hurry to get over to the park for rope drop. If you recall, my poncho had ripped the previous evening, so I went back down to the Marketplace before we left and bought one of those Disney ponchos so I would now look like everyone else. (I still have it; it’s hanging in my “closet”.) We were headed over to Epcot a little after 9, and it was raining even harder than the day before. The walkway to Epcot was like a small lake. Just before we got to the turnstiles it started raining even harder, so we hung out by the ticket windows for probably 10-15 minutes waiting for it to let up, and took some pictures and video in the meantime.

Mom was not amused. She hadn’t even bothered to do her hair since she knew it would just get ruined anyway!

Torrential Rain at Epcot (28 seconds)

Finally, it let up just a little and we wandered up to Future World. One of my goals for this trip was to watch the Fountain of Nations, and it just happened to be going while we were walking. It was playing to Yanni’s “Standing in Motion”. This is a song that I had grown up with, because my parents used to have it on cassette tape. It’s a pretty epic song, and as the fountain came to its especially epic conclusion, the rain began drenching us again. I just had to stand there and laugh for a minute because it was just so utterly ridiculous.

We were right near the Character Spot, and although the wait said 40 minutes we went in anyway-hey, we’d be dry-ish for 40 minutes! Me waiting to meet the characters, absolutely soaked.

It definitely did not feel like it was 40 minutes even though it was. We chatted with the mother and young daughter in front of us. This was the first time I actually convinced Mom to be in the pictures with the characters, and she had a great time!

After our character fun, we checked the Times Board. Mom wanted to go do Mission: Space again, but there were still Soarin’ FPs left for early afternoon, so I told her to head over to M:S, I’d get the FPs and meet her there. Since she knew where she was going, I hoped she would be there! No problem, the FPs were good for about 1-2pm, and Mom was taking pictures when I arrived.

(Hey look, it’s me, walking towards her in the clear poncho!)

Again, there wasn’t much of a wait. This time our capsule was full, as we were paired with a Dad and his younger son. They were adorable; the son wanted a protective helmet so Dad put an invisible one on him, and my mom said if there was an emergency they’d have to take care of it since they had their space helmets on and we didn’t! I was the engineer this time, I think, and Mom might have been the navigator. It was just as much fun as the first time!

 

[natebenma]

Love your character spot pictures!!! So glad your mom decided to join in on the fun.

I can't believe all the rain you had to deal with!!! That can really wear on your nerves, but it seems like for the moist part, you went with the flow (puns intended).

Hey, I have a BCV question to ask you. Can you tell me what size the coffee maker is in the studio? Is it a 4 cup drip or a 10 cup drip machine? I'm working on a FAQ about the coffeemakers at the resort.

BTW- I have added some of your room pictures to the first page of the thread!

PS- Is it ok for me to add the picture of you with the noodles to the noodle post? We haven't received any pictures of guests enjoying the noodles during their trips.

 

[Belle83]

I'm new to your TR and love it! Fabulous pictures of Beach Club, and your new wristlet is really cute. Your pictures from Cape May look so good, now I'm craving crab.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Love your character spot pictures!!! So glad your mom decided to join in on the fun.

I can't believe all the rain you had to deal with!!! That can really wear on your nerves, but it seems like for the moist part, you went with the flow (puns intended).

Hey, I have a BCV question to ask you. Can you tell me what size the coffee maker is in the studio? Is it a 4 cup drip or a 10 cup drip machine? I'm working on a FAQ about the coffeemakers at the resort.

BTW- I have added some of your room pictures to the first page of the thread!

PS- Is it ok for me to add the picture of you with the noodles to the noodle post? We haven't received any pictures of guests enjoying the noodles during their trips.

The character spot was a lot of fun, and I highly recommend it! the puns.

I'm not sure what size the coffee maker was because we didn't use it. I didn't really pay much attention to it, but if I had to guess I would think it was a 4 pot. Yay! I'm famous on the front page of the thread! Sure, you can use that picture; I wanted to get a Sunken Treasure and take a picture with that and the noodles, but we didn't get to it!

I'm new to your TR and love it! Fabulous pictures of Beach Club, and your new wristlet is really cute. Your pictures from Cape May look so good, now I'm craving crab.

Welcome! Thank you for reading! I love that wristlet. Cape May was good and I recommend it.

 

[bellebookworm9]

It was shortly after 11 when we finished our mission to Mars and World Showcase was calling to us. The rain was letting up just a little, but Mom tried to get a picture of the sea of ponchos. Trust me when I say there were waaay more than this.

The Earth globe was out and open!

We skipped Brazil and Argentina again, plus Mexico, so our first booth of the day was Scandinavia for some Rice Pudding with Driscoll's® Only The Finest Berries.

We both really liked this. The strawberries were sweet and the rice pudding was smooth and creamy.

Our plan was to alternate every other booth for the time being, so we walked past China for now and went to South Korea for the Bolgogi Beef with White Rice and Kimchi.

This was probably our least favorite item. It was super spicy and that was something we don't like and weren't expecting. The rice helped to neutralize the beef a bit, but the kimchi was just over the top spicy. Of course, when I got home and told my Vietnamese housemate what I had eaten, her eyes nearly bugged out of her head, because she knows I can’t eat spicy, and she was just shaking her head at me.

Skipping over South Africa (which we never came back to), Cheese was up next. I wanted the Cheese Fondue with Sourdough Bread and Mom decided that she would rather have the Artisan Cheese Selection with Sweet Gras Dairy Thomasville Tomme, Delice de Bourgogne, PC Wyngaard Chevre Affineurs Goat Gouda (neither of us can actually pronounce most of those names!).

The cheese on the left was a stronger cheese and that's honey drizzled over it. This was just okay. The middle cheese was our favorite and it was a goat cheese with cranberries, I think. The end cheese was more of a spreadable kind, and we have no idea what the brown stuff is, but it was very sweet. The fondue was not smooth; it was a little bit chunky. Mom said she tasted a mix of cheeses in it. The sourdough was very good. We stood at one of those awkward tables they have set up and I took a picture of this cool detail by the Africa Outpost.

We wanted to take a brief break from eating so we wandered into Karamell Kuche in Germany. Everything in there looked awesome and I couldn’t decide if I wanted a caramel apple, a chocolate and caramel covered strawberry or something else! Mom couldn’t decide either, so we decided we’d come back later and moved onwards. First we took some picture of the miniature train village-I never realized how far back it goes!

They even have their own Food & Wine Festival-I love it!

The Poland booth was on the edge of Germany so that was our next stop. We got the Kielbasa and Potato Pierogies with Caramelized Onions and Sour Cream.

The pierogie was good, but as others have said, tasted like something from the freezer aisle at the grocery store. The kielbasa seemed to be grilled and was kind of crunchy on the outside, a new style of it for us (we normally boil it). We found a bench sort of near Italy to eat and when we had finished, Mom wanted something sweet. I knew that Hops and Barley was nearby and they had Pumpkin Mousse with Ocean Spray Craisins and Orange Sauce, so I suggested that and off we went.

OMG the mousse was hands down the best thing we ate at the festival. I love pumpkin and I like cranberries. There was some sort of brown sugary cake thing in between the layers. It was just sweet and delicious and I could rave about it for hours. Try it if you get the chance! The outdoor seating near Liberty Inn was deserted due to the weather, but the rain had let up a lot and we managed to find a relatively dry table. We also found a champagne glass that someone had obviously stepped on under the table as well, but that’s another story.

I wanted to see the American Adventure show, and the next one was at 12:45. We wandered into the rotunda and grabbed a seat on one of the velvet benches. Everyone was being asked to take their rain gear off. Pretty soon the Voices of Liberty came out to perform.

Voices of Liberty-“Carolina Moon” (2:16)
Voices of Liberty-“The Star Spangled Banner” (2:07)
They were amazing! The last time we visited we only caught a brief listen. When they were finished we all lined up to go into the Corridor of the Flags. I didn’t remember that from last time, but then I recalled that we hadn’t seen it because we went up in the wheelchair elevator!
Before the show started, I took a picture of this really cool chandelier.

When the show was over (and I’d cried during Golden Dreams like I always do) we went back outside to find that the sun had made an appearance! Mom now decided that she wanted the Lobster Roll from Hops and Barley, so that’s where we went. After I got our food we found a picnic table by the Kidcot stop.

The lobster roll was very good. Mom says it was a quality lobster piece. I've never had lobster before and I liked it. The roll was a toasted garlic bread.

Look, no rain!

We decided to make two more stops before heading out for the afternoon. The first was New Zealand, where Mom got the Seared Sea Scallop with Kumara-Red Curry Puree and Apple Radish Salad and I chose the Lamb Slider with Tomato Chutney.

The slider was really good! There was a little too much of the tomato chutney but overall I really liked it. Mom enjoyed the scallop, but I didn't care for the tiny bite I had.
Our final booth before our break was Belgium. Here we ordered the Belgian Waffle with Berry Compote and Whipped Cream and the Chocolate Seashell Truffles.

The waffle was smaller than I expected but fresh and delicious. I don't know what the fruit was but it was a teeny bit tart. The truffles were very good and Mom identified them as having a hazelnut taste.
On our way out, we obviously passed through France. I pointed out the wine booth that is always there for the Grand Marnier slush (keep this in mind, it’s important later!) and Marie from the Aristocats was supposed to be out meeting and greeting. We searched for her but weren’t successful in finding her, and when we asked, we were told that she was up at the Character Spot because of the rain. Well, we were not trekking all the way back up there now, and besides, the wait would probably be atrocious. Our original plans called for us to leave at 3 and be back around 6, but I told Mom since it was before 3, we’d come back before 6, and Marie was supposed to be meeting again until 5:35…

 

[tlenzendorf]

I am so jealous of all of your food and wine stops! We had planned on doing more, but then we had so much fun with the people we were hanging out with that we didn't end up doing any stops, lol.

Yay for the sun finally!

 

[natebenma]

Thanks so much for all of your great pictures of the selections at the Food & Wine booths.

Looks like you had a few F&W winners! I agree with you, the pumpkin cranberry thingy looks and sounds really good! Yum on the lobster roll.

Kimchee is probably the worst thing I have ever eaten. Now, I am a very adventurous eater, I'll try almost anything. But I was working at a restaurant with a woman from Thailand, and she made a batch of kimchee and gave some to me to try. Man, that stuff smelled bad and tasted worse!

I'm so glad the sun has finally decided to peek out. I hope it sticks around!