Day 2: Friday 11/11/16
The alarm went off around 7. After running around trying to pack a park backpack for a potential 15 hour park day, scarfing a breakfast bar, and a quick stop at the front desk to report that the TV wasn’t turning on, I was walking onto an Epcot bus (that was just starting to load as I arrived at the bus stop) about 7:45 am. Perfect timing!
The bus ride was quick (just one more reason I’m loving this resort), and I was strolling up to bag check about 8 am. Bag check was easy, but I’m sure that after the previous day’s experience at the airport, it’ll come as no surprise that they selected me, literally as I was stepping away from the bag check table for the metal detector.
After proving that I was secure, I stopped for a quick picture, so that I could do some facebook and text spamming during the wait to enter the park.
Then I headed for the tapstyles and surveyed the situation to find a line that would split in two, rather than one that would stay one line, before settling on one. I then passed the next half hour by texting, facebooking, and clearing up some...mistaken touring ideas...of those around me, all the while silently giggling at the fact that it was 60 degrees and the cast members were wearing their winter pea coats. I was sporting shorts and a t-shirt.
With the crowds steadily building, the tapstyles were opened for business about 8:35. Knowing that I had a fastpass for tomorrow for Frozen, I stayed to the right, and took in my surroundings as I followed the much smaller crowd toward the Land. There was a rope up, and the crowd was held there for less than 10 minutes. In that time I somehow ended up answering questions again, and being told by a family that they’d follow me to get to Soarin. Uh...it’s RIGHT ahead of us. Can’t miss it, I promise.
The rope was dropped, and I heard from behind me “remember, follow the fearless leader”. Lucky for them (a multi generational family with multiple strollers), I was still not moving at full speed. I left them at stroller parking, reminding them to just follow the mob.
I continued to follow the mob, right into line, which pretty much never stopped moving. I was directed to the concourse straight ahead of the line. Oh, right...they added a third theater!
I don’t remember what row I sat in. But I do remember that this version is SO much better than the old version! And I loved the original Soarin! Granted, many of the buildings shown in this version were not designed to be viewed on a circular screen. But they did a great job with this! And I knew Nick would love the fact that the Pine Sol scent was removed!
Following Soarin, I headed across Future World. I went over and scoped out the Festival center briefly to see if there was anything interesting going on.
Then it was off to MouseGear for some shopping. On the way to MouseGear, I got distracted. The chefs were Jammin’!
After enjoying the remainder of their set, I really did go to MouseGear. I had one specific item in mind: the Chef Mickey Pandora charm that they released for the festival. Figured since the main purpose of the trip was the festival, that’d be the perfect souvenir.
Once I’d purchased that (and avoided being talked into any other charms), I picked up a couple other souvenirs and had them sent back to the hotel. Given the amount of time I’d be in the parks, I had no desire to carry around souvenirs. The charm, though, went right onto my bracelet.
Shopping done, it was back to Soarin to use my fastpass. This time, I ended up chatting with the people behind me in line, one of whom had moved to Manchester recently from NJ. He was in WDW with his old friends from Jersey, and it was clear that Manchester was culture shock for him, both in terms of the lack of things like mass transit, but also the surprising amount of crime. Welcome to NH! The real world is here too!
About as soon as I had just started to shift my eyes to roll them, the CM came by looking for a single rider. That’d be me! The chain on the queue was unhooked, and I followed the CM to the preshow area.
Because I was all the way on the edge of the row, the curvature of the featured buildings was more noticeable on this ride. That said, this version is still amazing.
After my second ride on Soarin, my fastpass window had opened for Spaceship Earth. It was becoming VERY evident that we’d be dealing with summer-like crowds this weekend as I walked towards SSE. The extended queue was open for FP returns, but fortunately this moved much faster than the hour long wait on the other side of the queue.
Once I had finished my nap and returned to earth, it was about time to get this festival started!
Nick and I had carefully mapped out our eating at the festival to maximize time and food. I had a list of booths that only I had an interest in, to hit that day, and a list of booths that either Nick or both of us were interested in, to avoid overlap standing in lines. So...time to eat!
First stop? Patagonia for an empanada. Nick’s parents had been in Disney in September, and his mother said this was the best thing she ate at the festival. Now granted, with shrimp and walnut allergies, her options at the festival were more limited than mine, but I took that as a sign I better try the empanada. It was pretty good.
Next stop? The Caribbean booth for the quesito (a puff pastry with cream cheese filling and guava drizzle) and Caribbean sangria. The quesito was excellent! The sangria...well...I committed alcohol abuse and threw some of it away.
Up next? The Wine and Dine Studio, which had REALLY cool eating areas. Here I got the pork tenderloin with cannellini bean ragout and zinfandel reduction. This was excellent.
From here it was time to head deeper into World Showcase. By that I mean Canada. I’ve never gone to Le Cellier, mostly because we have an amazing steakhouse in Manchester where the prices are better, and well...as long as I name drop, I can walk in anytime I want and they’ll find space for me. So...I don’t really see a point in using vacation dollars to go to a steakhouse in Disney. But...I’ve always been intrigued by the cheese soup. This was the perfect opportunity to try it!
I actually enjoyed the pretzel roll far more than the soup (crunchy vegetables in soup are a big turn off for me), so once I’d eaten what I wanted, I moved on...all the way to Italy.
The big reason I went to Italy was for the margarita made with both Limoncello and tequila. I’m a margarita fan, and a limoncello fan. This was kind of a win win. But I also got the chicken parm because well...I’m a lightweight. The food was good. The margarita was, as I expected (we were combining two of my favorites here), amazing.
As I enjoyed the margarita (food having already been consumed), I walked back to the American Adventure, knowing that the Voices of Liberty would be starting shortly. I finished up as much of the margarita as I was going to, and headed inside. I always love seeing this group perform. But today, being a patriotic holiday, made their performance even more meaningful. And it was clear that most of the audience felt the same way.
As the set was wrapping up, I got a message from Jackie (from the Michigan couple from the cruise). She and Andy had entered World Showcase, and were, at that point, in China, walking deeper into World Showcase. Since that was the general direction I was walking, I let her know I’d bump into them soon.
Apparently Jackie and Andy walk just as fast as New Englanders. I found them studying the menu in Italy. They’d flown down that morning from Detroit and were starving. Hugs were exchanged, and a picture was taken. Andy is definitely a selfie taking pro.
Then Andy headed for the food line, and Jackie and I started chatting. Conversation flowed freely, and continued to flow freely when Andy arrived with food.
Once they’d finished eating, we started walking and continued chatting. We enjoyed everyone at our table on the cruise, but this was definitely the couple we enjoyed the most. It was great to catch up.
The next food stop was France, where Jackie had french onion soup. Here I found out that they had JUST booked their WDW trip when they saw my picture that my Magic Bands had arrived. When they found out we’d be there the same weekend as them, they took it as a sign that they were absolutely making the right choice in going to Disney. Nice!
Next stop on the food tour was Greece. Jackie and I both went the spanakopita route, and Andy got the nachos, having not read the description. It wasn’t until I reacted with “you’re eating WHAT?”, that he realized they were vegan. He said they were pretty good though, and dared Nick to try them the next day.
We continued walking. I think there was a stop for soda floats for Jackie and Andy. We chatted for a few minutes around the entrance to World Showcase, and then headed for the Imagination Pavilion for the Pixar Shorts.
As I sat down in the theater, I realized just how good it felt to get off that foot for a few minutes. Uh oh. It was only about 2:30. I had another 8-10 hours to go today.
We all enjoyed the Pixar Shorts a lot. Once back outside, there was a group hug, and then they headed for Soarin while I headed for the exit.
Yes...they were going to Soarin in the middle of the afternoon, on a very crowded day. They were prepared to try out the games in line for the wait. Evidently in planning roughly a month out, they weren’t able to get a Soarin fastpass. The only tier 1 fastpass that was left for the day was Illuminations.
After stopping for a couple pictures, I made it to the monorail station. A monorail had just departed so I had time for some texting, and to dig out my portable charger to revive the cell phone. I’m sure I looked a bit goofy with my phone in my back pocket and my charger in my side pocket, with the cord going between them, but oh well!
When I reached the TTC, I headed for the resort monorail, pausing for some picture taking along the way.
My next stop was the Grand Floridian. I wanted to see if they had started the gingerbread house yet. Nick and I both agreed that even if just the frame was up, it’d be cool to see.
As soon as I walked into the Red Roof, it was clear that the gingerbread house was complete! Awesome! It was scheduled to open on the 16th, but it was definitely finished, minus staff selling gingerbread cookies.
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