Solo Trip Report - Food and Wine 10/26 - 10/29

[Jadesfire21]

I’ve enjoyed reading others trip reports and thought I would share one of my own.
After upgrading to an annual pass this year, I decided that I really wanted to
attend the food and wine festival, having never been before. I decided to do
this less than 30 days before I left, but I was fortunate to find a decent rate
at Pop Century, with my annual pass discount. So I decided to take a long
weekend and go to Disney!

Day1: October 26 – Arrival Day
I don’t know if I should even include this day or not, as I worked
during the day (woo hoo, 4:30 am wake up time to be in the hospital with
nursing students at 6:30 am – I teach med-surg lecture and clinical in a BSN
program) we made it through the day and then I headed home to shower, change,
and pick up my carryon to head to the airport for an evening flight to Orlando.
The flight was uneventful – which is what I hope all of my flights will be and
on the descent into Orlando I had my first glimpse of Spaceship Earth, which
you can see as the blurry little blue ball in the picture below.

The flight landed at 10:40 pm and then I trekked my way downstairs and to the
Magical Express location and was on the bus by 11:03. As I was the 3rd
person on the Magical Express, we waited about 20 minutes for others to arrive
and left the airport at 11:25 p.m. The ride to Walt Disney World seemed to fly
by and we were at the main gate at 11:48 p.m. and made our first stop at Art of
Animation at 11:51 p.m. I was then let off at Pop Century at 11:59 pm and the
Magical Express continued to their final stop at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

I’ve stayed at Pop Century twice before but have never arrived so late at night. I
was a little surprised to see only 1 cast member working the check-in desk,
though another cast member came out to help shortly after the bus arrived. I
started check in at 12:10 am and was in my room by 12:23 am. When my flight
landed I had considered going into Magic Kingdom as they were having extra
magic hours until 1 am, but due to the time it took to arrive at Pop Century, I
chose to just go to bed instead. This trip I was placed in the 90’s section, in
neither a lake-view room or upper floor as was noted on my room request.
Initially I was disappointed, as I had an amazing view from my room this past
August in the 70’s section:

Instead of that beautiful view, I got to look at a giant rubics cube each morning, just
lovely, no?

I also was on the 2nd floor of the building – not my favorite, as I hate
having people walk on my head, but amazingly I didn’t notice this during my
stay – but that could be due to the fact that I didn’t spend much time in my
room. While the room placement wasn’t optimal, I was too tired to try and do
anything about it, so I did a little unpacking and went to bed, as I knew that
I would have a long day the next day.

[PrincipalTinker]

Yay! Thank you for writing a report!

[Jadesfire21]

Day
2: October 27, 2016 – Epcot Morning

As always, I was excited to be at Walt Disney World, and while I considered sleeping in due to the late night, my excitement wouldn’t let me, so I was up at 6:15 am to get ready for Epcot EMH! I was ready and out of my room by 7:10 am, and made the quick 4 minute walk to the bus pick-up area and was on the bus and leaving for Epcot by 7:20 am and we were at Epcot a short 13 minutes later. I was bag-free this morning, so I was able to breeze by the bag check and was through the tapstiles by 7:43 am and up to the rope at 7:45 am. Since I was planning on going to the Magic Kingdom in the afternoon, I didn’t make any fast pass+ reservations for Epcot. Since I wasn’t that impressed with Frozen Ever After, I knew that I wanted Soarin’ Around the World to be my first experience. While not as good as Soarin’ over California, in my opinion, it’s still probably my favorite attraction in Future World.

I must have walked faster than I thought, because I was at the Land and in line for Soarin’ at 7:59 and they let us start the walk to the theaters at 8:00 am. I ended up with a perfect seat, in the B section, middle of the front row, so I wasn’t disturbed by the distortion that occurs in the A and C sections. I still have some issues including the CGI and the distortion with Soarin’ but it’s a wonderful way to start the day!

Then on to Living with the Land, which I do at least once a trip, as I enjoy gardening and am fascinated by the different systems they use. I also was originally a biology major so I connect with this attraction. When I entered the line for Living with the Land, I asked if the attraction was open, as there was no one in line, and none of the boats seemed to be moving. The cast members assured me that they were open, and I had prime viewing from the front row in a boat with no other passengers by 8:19 am. It was an interesting experience being the only one on the boat, and I did jump a little when I caught one of the animatronic monkeys moving out of the corner of my eye, as I wasn’t expecting it. I felt like I was on the Jungle Cruise when getting off of the boat, one of the cast members asked me where the rest of the people on the boat
went as they disappeared during the course of the attraction

I then headed over to the Seas pavilion to see the marine life there and catch a show of Turtle Talk with Crush, which is another of my favorite attractions. I have never been in a showing of this attractions with so few people in it, there were 19 people in the theater, including the cast member, 11 adults and 8 children – so for those of you who don’t want to spend a huge amount of time waiting to get into Turtle Talk – go early in the morning! Turtle Talk was fun, as they have a new show featuring Baily, the Beluga whale from Finding Dory. The show was cute, though the experience did make me wish that I had my nieces with me as three of the little girls were from Manchester, England and had accents similar to my nieces who lived for 5 years in Leeds, England.

I then walked to the Imagination pavilion to ride Journey into the Imagination with Figment, where I hit my first block – Figment was going to not open until 9:00 am. So I went to the upper part of the Imagination Pavilion grounds to watch the jumping water in the fountain and start reviewing the locations of the booths for the food and wine festival. When I went back to check after 9:00 on Figment, it was still down and the cast member at the front advised going to see the Disney/Pixar Short Film Festival. I hadn’t been planning on doing this attraction again, as I had seen the same films in August, I did go ahead, La Luna is my favorite of the three films presented. When the films let out, Journey into the Imagination was open, so I was able to spend some time with Figment. Afterward I did stop into the photo booth, but my photos were awful so I didn’t save any of them.

I then walked from Future World East over to the Festival Center in Future World West to purchase the special edition Food and Wine Festival Gift Card. I also marveled at the sculptures in the Chocolate Experience-

Expedition Everest

Star Wars

Ratatouille

A Bug’s Life

Big Hero Six – isn’t the chocolate Baymax Awesome?

And Disney Nature

To say I was impressed with the creativity and artistry of the Walt Disney World Pastry Chefs would be an understatement! Just look at the use of different shaped and colored chocolate pieces to represent the ground in this A Bug’s Life tribute.

A little after 11 am I made my way from Future World into the World showcase and to start my journey in eating my way around the world. As I was coming from Future World East, I started my walk in Mexico, though my first festival
purchase was at the South Korea booth where I tried the Korean-style BBQ Beef with Steamed Rice and Cucumber Kimchi and the Roasted Pork Lettuce Wrap and Kimchi.

Korean-Style BBQ Beef with Steamed Rice and Cucumber Kimchi – while flavorful, for me this dish was just “ok”. I was hoping that the Kimchi would have a bit more of a crunch to contrast with the beef and rice, and provide more of a pickled flavor, for me the cucumber Kimchi was just kind of bland. While not super spicy, the beef did have a lingering heat that the rice didn’t quite off-set. It was good, just not my favorite dish of the festival.

The Roast Port Lettuce Wrap and Kimchi was a hit with me. It was flavorful spicy with a little bit of heat that the mayonnaise helped to tone down. The lettuce also proved the crunch I was looking for in the Kimchi with the BBQ, giving a textural contrast to the soft pork and Kimchi.

I was more full than I expected, and in need of a beverage when I finished these two dishes, so I headed over to the Chase lounge on the top floor of the American Adventure pavilion for some water, ginger ale and a needed phone battery charge, as I hadn’t brought my portable charger with me due to wanting to be bag-free. So up the three flights of stairs I went!

After exiting the Chase lounge, I went to the booth I was most looking forward to, having spent a few months there shortly after graduating from college – Brazil! I couldn’t decide what I wanted to try here, so I got one of everything – the Escondidinho de Carne – “Little Hidden One”, the Crispy Pork Belly with Black Beans and Tomato and the Pao de Queijo: Brazilian Cheese Bread.

Escondidinho de Carne - While I liked this dish, especially the use of the yucca instead of potato in the toping, the seasoned meat in a tomato sauce reminded me of a pasta sauce, so not my favorite dish of the festival.

Crispy Pork Belly with Black Beans and Tomato - The crispy pork belly was very crispy! It had a good flavor, but was a little difficult to eat as you couldn’t cut it with a plastic knife, but I managed a way to eat it, though not very gracefully! Both the black beans and tomato were nicely spiced and were a pleasant flavor combination.

Pao de Queijo – I was both looking forward to and a little wary about this dish, as I absolutely adored Pao de Queijo when I was in Brazil and I was worried it wouldn’t live up to my expectations, but I was happily surprised when the Pao
de Queijo lived up to my memory. Now each Pao de Queijo is about twice the size as I remember, the flavor and texture were just right. Definitely one of my favorites at the festival.

After enjoying my food from the Brazil booth, I didn’t think I could eat anything else anytime soon. Also, I was getting close to the fast pass times I had selected at Magic Kingdom, so I started to make my way to the front of the park to take the monorail over to Magic Kingdom. But first I had to stop by Desserts & Champagne for a non-alcoholic Root Beer Float, which was a great finish to an amazing lunch!

I did make a brief detour into Mouse Gear, as the Shop Parks Disney App indicated that they had all 3 Disney Cookbooks I wanted to add to my collection in stock. Unfortunately the only one I could find on the floor was The Best of Epcot Festivals Cookbook. So I asked a cast member on the floor about it and they told me to check when I went to check out as the other two books might be in the back. So that’s what I did and was very happy to find that they did have them in the back and I was able to purchase them and have them sent to Pop Century for pick-up the next day.

I then took the monorail to the Ticket and Transportation Center, where I switched to the ferry for the ride to the front gates of the Magic Kingdom.

I’m working on the trip report and hope to have more up tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

[Jadesfire21]

You’re welcome! I had hoped to get it done sooner, but life, work, and school got in the way. I’m hoping to have more up tomorrow. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy it!

[MooreDisneyPlease]

I’m glad you liked the Pao de Queijo!

[PrincipalTinker]

I then walked from Future World East over to the Festival Center in Future World West to purchase the special edition Food and Wine Festival Gift Card. I also marveled at the sculptures in the Chocolate Experience-

I never knew that existed! Wow! That is so cool!

[gabmom]

I don’t remember seeing the chocolate sculptures last year. Thanks for taking us along.

[Jadesfire21]

It was so yummy, and it’s one of the recipes included in the Best of Festivals cookbook, so I’ll have to see if I can recreate it at home!

[Jadesfire21]

The sculptures were on the back wall of the area where they were selling ghirardelli chocolate and drinking chocolate, I just happened to need to use the restroom which was right by it and then thought I would check out the chocolate, because I love chocolate

[Jadesfire21]

You’re welcome! Sorry about the reflection in the photos, I didn’t realize that it was there until later when I couldn’t go back and try to retake the photos.

[Jadesfire21]

Day 1: Afternoon, Evening and Night at Magic Kingdom

I don’t have as many photos to share in this part of the report because my phone battery was down to 10% by the time I made it up main street in the Magic Kingdom!

I love the different transportation options at Walt Disney World, I try to make a point of taking a ride on both the monorail (sometimes it’s just doing the resort circuit by the Magic Kingdom) and taking the ferry across the lake to the entrance of Magic Kingdom. Since I knew that I probably wouldn’t have time to return to Magic Kingdom later in the trip, I chose to get both in with one trip! Monorail to the TTC and then transfer to the ferry for the ride to Magic Kingdom, which allowed me to let my excitement build as the train station and castle became closer and closer in view, as well as marvel at the Contemporary, Polynesian and Grand Floridian Resorts, someday I will be able to afford to stay there, I hope!

After making it through the tapstiles, I was treated to the sight of the train station decorated for fall – aren’t the colors beautiful?

And in case we’ve forgotten that we’re close to Halloween – there are Mickey Jack-o-Lanterns everywhere to remind you!

I did appreciate the Fall décor and it put me into the Halloween spirit as I would be attending Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party that evening.

Sorry, The next photo is not the best shot, but I thought the pumpkin people were amazing. I wish I could have gotten more pictures of those that were in town square.

After making a very quick stop at the fire station to pick up a set of Sorcerers of the magic kingdom cards (No new ones for me this day, hopefully next trip I’ll have better luck. I’m missing about 10 of the 60 you can get from the fire station). I was then off to my first fast pass plus reservation for Peter Pan’s Flight. This is an attraction that has grown on me over the years. On my very first trip to Walt Disney World in 2009,
this was the very first ride that we went on and I HATED it, although that opinion was probably influenced by the fact that I think we waited 90 minutes in line for it, as the friends whom I did that trip with had read that in order to avoid long waits it must be done first thing in the morning, unfortunately, we were not there for rope drop and so first thing in the morning at 10 am is very different from first thing in the morning rope drop! I actually disliked Disney during that trip, but it was mainly because I wasn’t really prepared for Walt Disney World. My experience with theme parks to that point consisted of Six Flags, which I’d had season passes to off and on since junior high – during the summer my mom would drop my sister and I off and we’d spend the whole day there, this was during the late 80’s early 90s so the world was a different place; Worlds of Fun which is a regional park very similar in theme to Six Flags, and King’s Dominion. All three of
these parks have one thing in common – heavy on the thrill rides (I love roller coasters, especially ones with corkscrews!) and creativity just doesn’t exist, nor do dark-rides based on children’s stories. So between the feelings of – what in the heck is this, and I waited HOW long to go on this ride, and the sticker shock of realizing that a season’s pass at Six Flags cost LESS than the cost of one day at Walt Disney World, I wasn’t in the best frame of mind to appreciate the details and creativity of Peter Pan’s Flight.
Thankfully, one of my nieces and my sister decided that instead of doing a family cruise we should go to Walt Disney World, and that experience was so much better and it helped change my opinion of Magic Kingdom. It also has helped that I’ve learned more about the history of many of the rides and everything that went into building both Disneyland and Walt Disney World which has increased my appreciation for so many of the dark-rides and other attractions.

So Peter Pan’s Flight was again my first ride on a trip to Walt Disney World, but I went into it with a very different attitude, and it is now one of my favorite rides as I can appreciate the creativity that went into it’s creation. Plus I love the way the airboat takes you over London and how the buildings get smaller so it appears that you’re getting higher and higher in the air.

After this I went over to Tomorrowland to do one of my other favorite rides, which is the Tomorrowland Transit Authority People Mover. I enjoy the tour of Tomorrowland and the little glimpses you get into many of the rides in that section. As I was finishing up the People Mover I noticed that the Carousel of Progress was turning and getting ready to let people in, so I made my way over to the building in order to experience that tour through history and be reminded that a big, bright, beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of everyday and that it’s just a dream away. I hadn’t planned on doing the Carousel of Progress, but I
was trying to kill about 15 minutes before my next fast pass became available in Tomorrowland. I was also looking for a place to sit down and rest my feet, as I could feel a few hotspots on my feet.

I had two goals for this trip, the first and main goal was to attend the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot, and the second was to do things on this trip that I had never done before at the parks that I attended, which is how I ended up on the next attraction, which was the Tomorrowland Speedway. I have had my driver’s
license for over 20 years at this point in my life. Thank goodness there weren’t any officers of the law judging my driving on the Speedway racing course because I’m sure they would take away my license! I actually found it to be fun just due to the absurdity of the little race car not going in the direction where
I was trying to steer it! I also faced the challenge of the little guy in the car in front of my on the track was having problems keeping his car going so I had to make several abrupt stops to keep the 1 car length behind that we are cautioned to do while on the track.

When I finished up at the Speedway it was 3:00 pm. I headed over to the area in front of the Castle in order to hopefully try and find a spot for the Festival of Fantasy Parade, and I was in luck! The parade was wonderful as always.

After the parade, I was feeling rather thirsty, so off to Adventureland to get that amazing dessert and beverage mixed into one – a dole-whip pineapple float!

I wandered over to liberty square to enjoy my float and sat outside on one of the benches to people watch. Nothing too dramatic happened during my people-watching, though I apparently freaked a cast member out by making him think that I had spilled my dole-whip when I was carrying the empty glass while trying to find a water fountain. I reassured him that wasn’t the case and I had thoroughly enjoyed the float, I was just looking for some water!

I then slowly made my way over to the Haunted Mansion for my 4:00 fast pass. After communing with the spirits, I did It’s A Small World as there was a short wait time listed. Apparently there wasn’t much going on with the fast pass line at that point because one of the cast members directed a large group of those of us in line into the fast pass line, which made the wait even shorter.

I then snagged a fourth fast pass to Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid, followed by a fifth on the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. At this point I thought I should probably find out where to check in for the Halloween Party, but I noticed that the standby time for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was only 30 minutes, which I have never seen it that low! So I and everyone else in the area made our way into the queue for the ride. 30 minutes of waiting into the queue I realized that the posted wait time was deceiving. All told, the actual wait was 65 minutes, so lesson learned, for 7DMT, don’t believe the posted standby wait time, especially if it seems too good to be true. My phone had died at this point, otherwise I would have checked out the expected wait time posted on the Lines app.

At this point I knew that I needed to get checked in for the party, so I attempted to make my way to the front of the park to find out where I needed to go to check in in the park. Doing this I experienced what it feels like to be a salmon, trying to go against the current to get to where you need to go against the rising tide of people. I finally made my way and was directed back over to Tomorrowland!

After checking in and obtaining my wristband and bag for trick-or-treating I made my way back over to Adventureland to do the Jungle cruise prior to it closing (and picking up some candy from the station there as they had started handing it out). My next stop was at the Swiss Family Treehouse which is the other
attraction at Magic Kingdom that I have never done. I had planned on doing it this summer, but unfortunately it was closed for refurbishment, so I’m glad I was able to do it right before it closed. I’ve never read the book, but after doing the walk-through I’m interested in reading it. I then started my trek to the various trick-or-treat locations. I like how they’ve changed this from the prior MNSSHP which I attended in 2013, where they had several trails set up with multiple candy stops on each one which took FOREVER to get through, especially on a cold, wet, raining night which is what we experienced then. This time, the weather was beautiful and the candy trails were easy to get through.

As there wasn’t a wait, I did take a quick detour to ride Pirates of the Caribbean and it was fun as always. After hitting up a few more trails, I was feeling a little peckish and went to Pecos Bill’s for their Beef Rice Bowl and a frozen strawberry lemonade. It was ok, definitely not the best meal I’ve ever experienced at Disney, but also not the worst. There really weren’t seats available inside the restaurant, so I chose to head outside with my food and find a spot for the parade, which I was able to do without any difficulty as they were just setting up the rope barriers on that side of the street.

The last time I attended the party my family and I didn’t stay for the parade or the fireworks, so I was anxious to see both. The parade was great! It was so fun to see the headless horseman canter past heralding that the parade would soon begin. It was fun to see characters featured that don’t appear in any of the other parades. After the parade, I went back to Tomorrowland to catch a little bit of the dance party, go through a few more candy stations and take advantage of the short lines at Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin – I never score highly, but I find that to be part of the fun, knowing that I will do horribly.

I then went to Storybook Circus to go through the candy stations and then on to the ones in Fantasyland with a brief encounter with a spooky graveyard.

By this point Main Street was full of people waiting for the fireworks, so I went over to Liberty Square to escape the mass of people. While I’m sure the fireworks are incredible with the castle in the background, I was still impressed with my view from liberty square. Plus I was able to take advantage of the raised platform with the wooden pillory and sit during HalloWishes with my feet elevated, as they were starting to become rather painful at that point.

Following the fireworks, I slowly made my way over to the castle forecourt to try and catch the Hocus Pocus Spelltacular. Unfortunately it has started to rain and so the show was postponed. My early morning was starting to have an effect on my energy level and so instead of waiting for the show, I chose to slowly make my way back to the bus for Pop Century. Luckily the wait for the bus wasn’t too long and once back at Pop, I quickly got ready for bed! It was no wonder that my energy was flagging and my feet were tired, according to my fitbit, I put in over 30,000 steps that day and around 15 miles!

[MooreDisneyPlease]

Oh, I NEED that cookbook!!

[Jadesfire21]

It’s a good one, it has recipes from both the flower and garden festival and the food and wine festival. It was on my list of “must get” during the trip, but then, most of the Disney cookbooks are I like how it has a solid binding instead of the spiral that many of the Disney cookbooks have (or at least the ones I own do).

[Hi_Ho]

So glad you got to try new things on this trip! 15 miles is a lot of walking!! Thank you for sharing your trip!!

[Jadesfire21]

Thanks! There’s more to come, but as you can see I’m writing what feels like a small novel so it takes time. I’m planning on getting more done tomorrow. I hope that others are enjoying it and not turned off by all of the detail I’m including, I intentionally took notes on the trip so I wouldn’t miss anything!

[Janetclzz]

I love all the little details. It’s like going on the trip with you.

[Hi_Ho]

I’m loving the details too! And I’m impressed with anyone who does a trip report!! I said I was going to do one for our August trip and well…
Can’t wait to read more!!

[Jadesfire21]

Sorry it’s taken me a while to continue with the trip report, I caught a bug shortly after writing the first part and have been spending most of my time that I’m not needing to be doing other things resting. Here’s day 3

Day
3: Friday October 28, 2016 Epcot and Hollywood Studios

My intention had been to get up early for rope-drop again at Epcot, but when my alarm went off Friday morning, I just couldn’t get myself out of bed, so I snoozed until about 10:00 am, when I decided I really should start my day of food and fun! Since I was going to Hollywood Studios later in the day, I didn’t go bag-free this day, so it took a little longer to get up to the entrance after going through bag check.

I decided that the best breakfast would be something from the Chocolate Studio. I couldn’t decide which of the three options I wanted, so I decided to try all three, the Liquid Nitro Chocolate-Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey-Caramel, the Ghiradelli® Chocolate Raspberry Torte and the Red Wine Chocolate Truffle.

Liquid Nitro Chocolate-Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey-Caramel – this was probably my favorite thing that I tried during my trip. The chocolate-almond truffle was so smooth, and it was interesting to have the warm/cold contrast between the warm caramel and the cold truffle. The topping provided a nice textural contrast between the smooth chocolate and the crunchy nuts. I have to admit that milk chocolate and caramel is one of my favorite flavor combinations, so it’s not surprising that this was a favorite of mine from the festival.

Ghiradelli® Chocolate Raspberry Torte – for me, the chocolate raspberry torte was just ok. I’m not a
huge fan of raspberries due to an unfortunate incident during my childhood, but I occasionally enjoy the flavor if it’s not overpowering. Unfortunately for me, the raspberry flavor was just too strong for my liking, to the point of masking the chocolate flavor. It looked pretty, it just didn’t taste as good as it looked.

Red Wine Chocolate Truffle – the red wine chocolate truffle again for me was ok, though my opinion may be influenced by the amazingness that was the liquid nitro chocolate-almond truffle, for me nothing could compare to that incredible treat!

Next I went to Islands of the Caribbean. I had a hard time deciding which of the four options I wanted, but as it was my goal to try more things this day, I only picked 2 of them – the Jamaican Beef Patty and the Pescado con Coco: Seared Grouper, Pigeon Peas and Rice with Coconut Sauce.

Jamaican Beef Patty – This one was interesting. The yellow color of the breading was astonishing to me. The beef mixture inside was very nicely spiced, but wetter than I was expecting.

Pescado con Coco: Seared Grouper, Pigeon Peas and Rice with Coconut Sauce – I liked this dish. I’m not a fan of fish that is fishy tasting, but the grouper was a very mild white fish, the pigeon peas and rice were a nice accompaniment and the coconut sauce was amazing, and paired nicely with the fish, vegetables, pigeon peas and rice.

I was feeling quite full after my morning culinary adventures, so I decided to take a little break from the food tasting. I did make a stop at Club Cool to enjoy some of the different beverages they have there – not including Beverly as I’ve tried Beverly in the past and knew to avoid it! While walking around, I felt one of my blisters break and so I headed over to the First Aid center to pick up some Neosporin and bandages. I then went to the Festival Center to pick up a Remy’s Ratatouille Hide and Squeak adventure map, and the 8 entitlement Food & Wine Festival Tasting Sampler. Since I don’t drink alcohol, I just barely broke even on the cost of the sampler, but I liked and wanted the Limited release Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Trading Pin, so I’m pleased with the purchase.

While at the Festival Center, I watched the “Seasons of the Vine” short film, which was interesting describing the process of wine making and I attended one of the Back to Basics demonstrations on fresh produce. It was interesting, and I appreciated being off of my feet for the 30 minute presentation.

I then went back into the park, making a first stop at Mission Space, since the wait time was low and this is one of my favorite attractions in Future World.

Following a successful, though dangerous landing on Mars, I went back out into the World Showcase, making a first stop at the Australia kiosk, getting the Grilled Lamb Chop with Mint Pesto and Potato Crunchies. I usually like lamb, but for me the mint pesto was overpowering. This was probably my least favorite dish of the festival and one I don’t plan on trying again if it appears in future years.

While making my way around the World Showcase, I did spot my first Remy in Mexico – this was the only statue that I managed to get a picture of as the crowd levels on Friday and Saturday were much larger than Thursday.

I then stopped at Hops & Barley for the New England Lobster Roll. I took this with me into the Chase lounge to enjoy with a glass of root-beer. The lobster roll was good, had a fair amount of lobster and wasn’t covered in a sauce.

I then went through the International Gateway Entrance to Epcot to catch a Friendship boat to Hollywood Studios. As I’ve mentioned earlier, one of my goals for this trip was to do things that I’ve never done before in the parks, and one of those things for me was taking the Friendship Boats to Hollywood Studios. I enjoyed seeing the different resorts that we passed on the trip, as well as the Boardwalk.

When I arrived at Hollywood Studios, I was already into the time for my Fast Pass for Toy Story Midway Mania. While I never score all that well (I grew up during the time period when Ninteno games were brand new, but my parents refused to buy a console, so most of my videogame experience came at friend’s houses. I’ve never been good at them, but I do enjoy playing).

After this I went into the Star Wars Launch Bay to see if there were any Jawas around who wanted to trade items. I traded a string of shiny beads for a droid’s head. After my trading adventures during my last trip I now have 3 droids heads and 2 droid bodies, I just need to get some arms/legs and I’ll have a full droid.

I then had some time to kill while waiting form the Disney Junior Show, which was another I’ve never done attraction, so I people watched in the square in front of the launch bay. It was fun to watch all of the little kids playing with bubbles. The Disney Junior Show was cute, though I doubt I will ever see it again unless I’m there with one of my nieces who is in the age range for the target audience.

I still had some time before the check-in time for the Star Was: A Galactic Spectacular Dessert Party, so I made my way to For the First Time In Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along. I enjoy this show, with all of the jokes and puns made by the Royal Historians of Arendel. It’s always fun to see who Kristoff is mistaken for (it was Justin Bieber this show, though my favorite was this summer when Eric mistook him for Luke Skywalker).

After the show let out it was time to check-in for the Dessert Party, so I made my way back over to the Launch Bay. It wasn’t quite time for the food to be out, so I did stop and watch the short film that’s shown in the Launch Bay. I don’t know when this change occurred, but it was nice to get a lanyard for the dessert Party instead of a wrist band (I attended the dessert party on my last trip in August and we received purple wrist bands to indicate that we were party guests).

The food was the typical Dessert party/buffet dessert selection that’s available, but I wasn’t there for the food, I was there for the amazing view of the fireworks show! I will make one note on the food though, while it is good, the liquid nitro frozen Nutella truffle with dark chocolate sauce was not nearly as delicious as the truffle at Epcot with the caramel sauce.

After eating all I wanted, I spent some time watching the Jawas trade with other guests and traded a flashing light-up wand for a flashing light-up ring. I also shared some of my trading stash with some girls I had met early at the dessert party and they had fun trading as well. One note for those of you who have children that might enjoy trading – one of the girls was into the trading, but the Jawas would only trade with her 3 times, and it didn’t matter after that 3rd trade what she tried to trade with them, they would refuse the trade.

At the appropriate time, we lined up and headed out to the viewing area for the fireworks, picking up our Chewbacca Steins while entering the area. The view and the fireworks were amazing as always. I do think this is one of the best projection shows and fireworks displays that Disney has currently, but I may be biased as I am a Star Wars fan, and have been since I was very young – I saw Return of the Jedi in theaters on opening day at age 5, and up to that point in my life, the only movies I had ever seen in theaters were Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back (both during their re-release prior to the release of Return of the Jedi) and ET. And as this was during the time prior to VCRs, movies weren’t as readily available for viewing as they are now.

I had planned on staying for evening Extra Magic Hours, but my feet were hurting, so I made the long trek back to the bus for Pop Century. I then re-packed my bags, as I would be needing to check out in the morning and then it was time for bed.