We had grand plans to eat around the world today (8 November
2014): in other words Shannon and I were headed to EPCOT to enjoy the 2013 Food
and Wine Festival! We were up and at the bus stop catching a bus to EPCOT
around 8 am. Upon arrival we had a short wait before opening (we were the first
in our line and the nice ladies behind us enjoyed my pretzel necklace and our
map of the food stalls in World Showcase). Our first ride (as is our usual
plan) was Soarin,’ which we rode and retrieved fast passes upon exit. Next we
raced across the hub and rode Test Track (another fast-paced but really fun
ride that we usually ride immediately after Soarin’).
Needing a little break (already?) we stopped at the
Fountainview Café, which has become one of the recent outposts of Starbucks in
the Disney Parks. With our coffees in tow, Shannon and I made our way back to
the Land pavilion to enjoy a light breakfast of strawberry shortcake at
Sunshine Seasons. By now it was time to use our Soarin’ fast passes so we went
to fly over California followed by another of my EPCOT favorites: Living with
the Land. We enjoyed our calm boat ride and decided to have another relaxing
trip, this time on Spaceship Earth.
After that, Shannon and I decided to attempt to ride the
Universe of Energy ride again. If you don’t remember, we tried to ride this
three days ago on our trip, but we were foiled by some lame-o who disembarked
the ride after the last call was made, shutting everything down for the rest of
the day! We braced ourselves to watch the pre-show movie (again!) and we were finally
successful in riding the full ride—it was pretty nice, but soooo long (over 45
minutes) so make sure you have the space in your day for that.
After our Universe of Energy accomplishment, Shannon and I
headed to the World Showcase to visit the Three Caballeros boat ride in Mexico
(another favorite!). Visiting with Donald and friends was fun and after that we
walked to Norway to see some trolls on the Maelstrom ride. Staying in World
showcase, with a couple of boat rides under our belts, we decided to start
eating our way around the world! We began by visiting the China food booth
where we shared a coconut silky spun ice (with fortune cookie). This turned out
to be one of my favorite treats from the Food & Wine festival (we even came
back tomorrow for another sample). Next we tried the cheese plate from the
Cheese booth (how aptly named!). It was good—you can’t really go too wrong with
cheese! Following cheese, we visited Poland and tried the pierogi with
kielbasa—Shannon liked this one, but not as much as the pierogis that her
Polish friend makes. We next visited the Hops and Barley booth where I tried a
griddled lobster tail and while it was tasty, it was waaay too small a portion
to justify the steep price (luckily we used a Dining Plan snack credit). We
stopped by Japan to refresh ourselves with a melon kaki gori (shaved ice) and
by this time is was...lunchtime! We ate at the Katsura Grill in Japan and I had
a nice teriyaki chicken with rice, green tea to drink, and green tea ice cream
for dessert.
After lunch (and eating around the world), Shannon and I
were pretty stuffed and ready to leave EPCOT for the day so we took a
Friendship Boat to Hollywood Studios. Upon arriving at Hollywood Studios, we
wandered through the souvenir shops lining the main streets before making our
way to Star Tours for a “leisurely” ride through space.
We were pretty lucky with this trip in that we were able to
see the parks decked out in Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations (at the start of
our trip) and Christmas decorations (at the end). Tonight was the first time
that the famous Osborn Family Lights would be lit at Hollywood Studios, so we
made our way to the Streets of America for a look at the lighting ceremony.
Shannon and I snacked on a jalapeño cheese pretzel while waiting for the
lights. We waited...and waited...and waited...and finally we had to leave
before the lights were turned on in order to make our dinner reservation at the
Boardwalk.
We took a boat to the Swan and Dolphin hotels (and saw some
of the Osborn lights from the boat) and walked to the nearby Boardwalk, making
our reservation at Kouzzina just in time! This was a new restaurant for both of
us and it was pretty good. I had the California fruit bomb wine flight, short
ribs with feta mashed potatoes, and no-sugar cheesecake for dessert.
The Boardwalk has a walking path to EPCOT so we wandered
over there and meandered around the World Showcase for a bit before stopping to
buy some souvenirs at Mouse Gear (one of my favorite shops in WDW). We took a
tranquil ride on Spaceship Earth to round out the night and headed back to the
hotel via bus ~9:30 pm. Tomorrow was our final Disney day for this trip—wah!
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