After an hour or so of good AC I was getting hungry and it was late enough that I could park hop (could we PLEASE get rid of time restrictions on park hopping now that capacity has increased so dramatically!). So I headed for the bus stop. It was a hot but reasonable length wait for a bus to Epcot. I walked in the park about 2:45 according to my pictures.
Shortly after walking in the park, I found some more distanced characters. Seriously...I love this.
Then it was time to eat! First stop was pretty ridiculous for 3 pm in FL, but I was on a mission to be basically done with the foods on my “need to try” list today so that I could maintain my dinner reservations for later in the week, so you gotta do what you gotta do. Anyway...first stop was the Noodle Exchange for some pork udon. This was delicious, and, aside from that mimosa flight, probably the biggest value of the festival.
Next up was the Australia festival booth, for some deconstructed pavlova. Honestly, this was a WTF moment. I’ve had deconstructed desserts before, but WTF is this?! A bit (a lot) more of the pastry cream would have made this actually worth the money. But instead, there was virtually no substance, and this was just a thumbs down.
Since I was wearing a very festival appropriate shirt, I tracked down a photopass photographer by the festival signage at the entrance to World Showcase for a few photos.
Then it was off to other countries, by way of the boat across the lagoon. My goal was to cool down a bit, but it actually was pretty hot on the boat until it got moving. But, it saved my feet some steps, and got me to my next target, so that was good.
Next up? France. I got the grand marnier creme brulee from the festival booth. This was...disappointing. Not like pavlova disappointing, but, the creme brulee was a little undercooked, and the alcohol just sat on top of the crust. It was...meh.
Then it was time for some pictures in France, because...Remy shirt. I paid a visit to the local photopass photographer, and then headed deeper into the pavilion to check out the new area, and found some great photo ops.
Picture taking done, I decided to take in some AC and a Beauty and the Beast sing-along. Turns out the waiting area has some cool stuff to look at. The AC is good, the theater wasn’t overly packed, and the show was cute enough.
Singing complete, it was on to more festival food. I don’t think I ate anything in Epcot this trip that wasn’t part of the festival. Next stop? Morocco. They’re using the still not re-opened Tangerine Cafe as a “food booth”. Here I got the chicken kebab and some blood orange juice. The kebab, as with all Moroccan meat options at festivals in Epcot, was delicious, and, despite not loving the blood orange mimosa the night before, I really enjoyed the straight juice.
I continued deeper into World Showcase, stopping to enjoy another Voices of Liberty set. They’re simply the best!
Music done, it was off to Italy, where I was bummed to see that they’d already run out of the fried ravioli. So instead I got the chicken alfredo ravioli and the cream filled doughnuts. Both were just ok and insanely overpriced, even by Disney standards. The doughnuts were the better of the two items.
Music done, it was off to Italy, where I was bummed to see that they’d already run out of the fried ravioli. So instead I got the chicken alfredo ravioli and the cream filled doughnuts. Both were just ok and insanely overpriced, even by Disney standards. The doughnuts were the better of the two items.
From here, I finished my (partial) lap around World Showcase, and then decided since it looked like it would rain, to take cover at the Appleseed Orchard. They’re currently using the Canada movie theater for a food booth, and it’s this one...the Appleseed Orchard. Here I got the apple crumb tart and a cider flight, and I parked myself at a table in what is usually the waiting area for the movie. I ate SLOWLY hoping to ride out the storm. The tart was good. The ciders were drinkable, but they’re no Downeast, or even the hard cider from the orchard in my town.
Somehow it STILL hadn’t started raining when I finished eating and drinking, but it looked imminent, so I gave up my table but then headed for cover by the exit to the movie. I ended up sitting around here for a solid hour. It did eventually start raining, and boy did it rain (and lightning!), but it took a long time for it to decide to do so.
Once the storm died down enough to not need a poncho (Can I make it the whole trip without donning that poncho? I’m going to try!), I made my way to the front of the park to head back to the hotel. It was a relatively short wait for a bus, and pretty soon I was back at the room to crash for the night. I watched the new “must dos” and decided that, against all odds, I actually miss old Stacy. Eventually I showered and crashed, very much looking forward to the next day.
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