Day 4 Epcot and Dining Experiences
Epcot…was like a ghost town and the construction is horrendous! You feel like you’re walking around in a maze of billboards. First thing at opening we stood in line for Frozen Ever After. After that no lines ever. We got a kick out of the Three Caballeros. Being from San Antonio, it was like being on the River Walk. No lines at Test Track, Mission Space Green or Orange, Figment or Soarin’. We enjoyed Nemo & Friends and spent a lot of time at the aquariums. We enjoyed O Canada and really wanted to see the show at the USA Pavilion, but our timing was out and we didn’t want to wait for the next show. We were looking forward to getting back to the resort early for a swim and checking out the animals from our balcony.
Here’s a good time to share our “eating adventures” and we had some good ones! Last trip we purchased the Dining Plan and it was a very good choice with “littles”. We had several character meals and availability for lots of snacks. We used every credit. I highly recommend it if you want several character meals. We were fully prepared to purchase it this time but then it was cancelled. Good thing, we did much better $ wise without it. We budgeted as if we would spend that amount of money for meals and so were able to feel free to make reservations at really nice restaurants, order whatever we wanted and not be shocked at the sticker price. With many of the restaurants closed and the parks closing early, we opted to make most of our sit down meals in the evening at park closing.
We researched earlier and decided it was cost effective to purchase the refillable drink cups ($20each) in the gift shop. You can only refill them at the resorts, but we definitely got our moneys worth. Especially for coffee in the mornings. If you want to take them to the parks you can refill them with water at the water refull stations, which are hard to find. We found that it was easier to ask for the free water at the quick service cafe’s. At our sit down meals we ordered water unless drinks came with the meal. Soda and Tea is VERY expensive.
I may have mentioned in an earlier post that at AKL only Sanaa was open, so upon arrival Saturday we ordered Chick fil la delivered by Uber and sodas in our refillable cups.
Sunday at AK we had breakfast at Yak & Yeti Quick Service kiosk, but note although the park opened at 8:00 they did not open until 9:00, but it was a very tasty breakfast. Much like AKL there are not a lot of eating places open in AK. So we went back to Yak & Yeti QS for lunch. Sometime during the day we got a large box of popcorn. I had heard how good the Disney popcorn is and all the reviews were accurate. Yummy!
That night we had reservations at Whispering Canyon Café at Wilderness Lodge. We caught the bus from AK to WL and had a wonderful steak dinner . Be prepared, VERY pricey, but EXCELLENT. Knowing our group, we ordered three steak dinners and an appetizer. The waiter was more than accommodating and we had more than enough to eat. We took our refillable cups and filled them up at the QS cafe in the Lodge. This was one of our favorite meals.
The hiccup came when we tried to get back to AKL. There are no buses from lodge to lodge which we knew, so we planned on taking a bus to DS, transferring from there to a bus to AKL. However it started pouring down rain and even in ponchos and rain coats we got drenched. We waited about 20 min for the bus from WL to DS Once at DS you have to go through the entrance protocol, temperature check etc. It’s still pouring. Then you walk a block or two, seemed like miles, in the pouring rain to the departure bus station. At the station there were about 20 people already in line and the busses don’t carry but about 12-14 We waited and waited and no bus. Now because of the rain people are crowding into the covered station and there is NO social distancing. The lady in front of us said she had been waiting about 30 minutes. I got on the phone to AKL and told them the situation. She was very kind but not real concerned until I mentioned “There is NO Social Distancing going on here”. Her ears perked up and she said she would have a bus right away. I said we will need several there are about 50 people here and I was not exaggerating. Three busses appeared within 7-10 minutes.
Note: if caught in a similar situation call UBER!
Monday at HS we had lunch reservations at 50’s Prime Time. Very good! Again, the waiter was very accommodating when we mentioned sharing he told us which plates were large enough to share and which were not. He was spot on and we had a delightful meal. Excellent fried chicken! We had reservations at Oga’s at 3:00. Blue and Green Milk and an appetizer. Pricey but worth it for the experience. We had a great time. We ordered Mario’s Pizza delivered to the hotel that evening.
Tuesday HS we ordered online at Backlot and it was very fast and very good. We snagged a large table inside in the a/c which was nice. We had reservations at SciFi Drive-In that evening (I mentioned before the craziness of that and the RoR time slot) Again, the waiter was very accommodating. Online I could only make reservations for 4 & 3 and they were 45 minutes apart. We arrived for the earliest reservations, explained there were 7 and he sat us in a very large car with plenty of room in the front seat for the 4 tweens. He took care of immediately cancelling the 2nd time slot and making whatever adjustments needed to be made that we would not be charged. The tweens didn’t see anything on the adult menu that they were interested in and asked if they could order off the kids menu. (Chicken nuggets with Mac & Cheese) No problem. The food is mediocre at best, but the experience is memorable and the service was excellent.
Beaches and Cream at The Beach Club Resort is an absolute MUST if you are ice cream lovers, as we are. We knew if we ate dinner or lunch there we would not have room for ice cream so we made late evening reservations and indulged on ice cream. $100 worth of ice cream! Three of us shared the large Kitchen Sink. Oh my! It was incredible. We could have used one more person to help us finish it. Two shared a banana split. and two shared something amazing called No Way Jose. The coffee was what put us over the edge in cost. 
We took a couple of Ubers back to the Resort. It was a very fun evening.
Wednesday noon we had a delightful meal at Coral Reef in Epcot. I highly recommend, but only if you like seafood. My husband and DIL shared a steak, which didn’t come close to WCC steaks. Again, the hostess was so accommodating for our group of 7. I had made reservations 60 days ahead online. I had to make two separate reservations, one for 5 and one for 2 close to the same time. When she saw our small tweens she said we would definitely fit in one of their large booths, right in front of the aquarium. It was fantastic!
Remember we are ice cream freaks so we found this amazing ice cream shop in France. My son and DIL had pastries from Les Halles while we satisfied our ice cream cravings.
That evening the adults chose to pick up the Nine Bread appetizer dish from Sanaa, which was fabulous. The kids picked up some microwaveable dishes in the gift shop
Thursday we were finally at MK We headed straight to 7 DMT only to find it was not working yet. So we had giant cinnamon rolls at Gaston’s Tavern. We bought three to share but PawPaw decided he wanted one for himself! Ha! We all helped him finish it. GIANT!!! Ooey, gooey, delicious!
Later in the morning after riding PoC we stopped at Aloha Isle for a Dole Whip, a Disney Must! I have to mention, we didn’t order online and it was very confusing trying to order at the counter, even though they weren’t busy. Awkward!
We struggled at lunch. We were in Frontierland at lunch time and only Pecos Bill was open and extremely crowded. We really just wanted a hot dog from a stand, but none of the stands were open. We ended up going all the way to Cosmic Ray’s in Tomorrowland The chili hot dogs were large and came with fries and a drink, but one from the kiosks would have been better. It wasn’t one of our favorite meals. They were also not very accommodating in letting us all sit together. Weird.
However the evening meal was a home run! We had reservations in DS at T-Rex Restaurant and it was AWESOME! At the suggestion of a cast member we took the monorail to the Contemporary, which was fun, then a bus to DS We arrived in time to walk around a bit and visit the Lego Store, right next door. T-Rex was wonderful. The ambiance is amazing, dinosaurs everywhere, the 10 year old was star struck. We were encouraged to walk around and look at all the restaurant which we did several times. The food was excellent. Three shared some huge appetizer plate, which was more than they could eat. I had an amazing dish of shrimp and grits. This time it was easy to catch the bus back to AKL and it was NOT raining.
Friday we were at Universal and ate at Mel’s Drive Inn. Really good hamburgers and fun atmosphere, but the ordering program was frustrating and service was not good. We had to download their app to order. Good grief!
Saturday morning we were back at AK and had a breakfast sandwich at a kiosk just outside the exit from FoP, that put McDonald’s to shame. We couldn’t end our Disney Vacation without Mickey Bars! They were a great finish to our food experience at Disneyworld.