Regular cider here is just apple cider. We drink it mostly in the fall. If you add booze to it, then it’s hard cider. But bottled hard cider, or hard cider on tap, is kind of like a beer-ish drink.
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[quote=“OBNurseNH, post:39, topic:27465”]
Time stamps serve as note taking[/quote]
Good idea, but not the same!
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Despite being no wait, hubby did not want to meet Kylo Ren. He said he was a bad guy and not worth meeting. Loved meeting Chewbacca and trading with the Jawas
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Guiness and beamish are the only things close to beer I drink. I had the latter in Cobh, Ireland. That was the last stop where the titanic stopped. Beamish is made by Murphys which is based in Cork where we stayed. I love Beverly and was happy to find it in the World of Coke in Atlanta. It is as much fun there as in Epcot.
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More great stuff @OBNurseNH. Just love following along with you, and the photos have been fantastic!!
A stop for Guinness at R&C Pub is a must. Its too bad most US bartenders don’t know how to properly pull a pint…
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Sorry for the break in the action. I got stuck in a work cycle. Off for a couple of days now! 
We made our way to France next. My DD is obsessed with Paris (no, she’s never been) so I felt like France would be the place to get her a souvenir. And I found it! An absolutely adorable Minnie mouse/Eiffel Tower tee. When DH showed me the shirt he was looking at and it was the same as I was looking at, we knew it was perfect. I paid for that while DH made his way through the line to get pastry for himself for a snack. He got a vanilla eclair and said it was amazing. I on the other hand decided to spend my calories in France differently:
Having procured food and beverage, we found ourselves seat by a fountain… So tempting…
Now, this was a Grownups In Disney trip, but we both realize quite well that Disney is full of children. We were well prepared for that. However, brats are another thing altogether. As I sat enjoying my Gray Goose slushie, this 4-5 year old boy was splashing in the fountain, and in the process scooping water at me! I let it go once but then said, “Oh sweetie be careful! You’re splashing me!” The oblivious parents took two ore three more splashes – and probably at least as many nasty looks from, ahem, someone in our travel party - before they intervened. Clueless wonders.
Still, I had a Gray Goose slushie, DH had an eclair, and although it was hot, the sun was shining and I was with my sweetie. As Ms Swift would say - shake it off! And I did.
We enjoyed Serveur Amusante (?spelling - sorry) before moving on from France. We had never seen this particular street show before and I was so happy to catch it with such perfect timing. We really enjoyed the show a lot
Happily full (DH) and maybe a smidge tipsy (me) we moved on to Morocco. Loved it! We had never explored this pavillion before. So many cool items for sale! And the architecture is just mindblowing!
We wandered through the Japan pavilion a bit. I grabbed some sushi from Katsura Grill - half California Roll and half Nigiri for my own “snack” I had heard a lot about this being one of the best quick services in WS. The sushi was “okay” but did not blow me away by any stretch. It’s a very good thing I had it before our California Grill brunch (tomorrow) or this would have been pure rubbish by comparison. While I ate we took in the Matsuriza drumming show. Like the sushi, it was “meh.”
We stopped by the American pavillon but our timing was all off for VOL - perhaps we had even missed the last show of the day? - and we made our way on to Italy. Here I had a glass of wine, but DH passed. Turns out he wasn’t as interested in the drinking part of the day as I was 
He also preferred to sit outside vs go into Tutto Gusto so we placed that on our itinerary for a future trip. I have to admit it was gorgeous out so being indoors was less appealing than being out.
DH was beginning to get hungry for something substantial for dinner, so we stopped in Germany to review our options. After considering the QS in the pavilions of Germany and Mexico, DH said he preferred Mexico. Having had the sushi not long before, I was open to either. And besides, Mexico had margaritas so there was that!
The QS of Mexico - La Cantina de San Angel - was, to be blunt, yucky. I opted for the nachos which was more of a snack than a full meal in my mind. But the “beef” was gross and they use cheeze sauce instead of real cheese. Yuck. The guac was only okay. DH had gotten, I think, empanadas, and said his meal was about as enjoyable as mine. Bummer dude. At least the marg was killer:
Until next time…
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Great trip report, I love all the little details. Reading about your reaction to AKL and Sanaa has me reconsidering our plans. In the UK all cider is alcoholic, otherwise it’s called juice.
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I would stay here every single time if I could.
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So glad to see the report starting up again…
Loving the photos.
Will definitely have to think about drinking my way around the world next time…
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I know it’s a little snobby but I think that about most of the QS lol. They are great for snacks but not meals. People laugh at my eleventy seven ADR’s but there are so many good restaurants why would I waste room on mediocre fast food that costs nearly as much as a good sit down.
I’m surprised you didn’t enjoy the drumming show though. I think those ladies are really talented. I enjoy watching them.
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Bwahaha! I thought only I said that! 
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It is really a lovely and relaxing way to spend the day!
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One of the things you’ll see in my wrap up is that I would not do the QS dining plan again. I don’t mind it for one meal per day but for more than one it left too much decision making to be done (as a planner I like to make as many decisions as possible ahead of time and then reap the benefits thereof upon arrival) and I found the options too limiting, particularly as we were spending 90% of our time in the parks.
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Great trip report! Thank you for posting it!
I am really enjoying following along with this. Wish I was there!
Hmm…youve got me thinking…about drinking…around the world!
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Dooooooooooo it! I didn’t even do it that perfectl and it was still amazing!
In the US, apple juice and apple cider are different. Apple juice is clear, light colored and very sweet. Apple cider is dark, cloudy, and still sweet, but with more of a sour flavor. Hot apple cider is popular here in the fall, it’s served warm with cinnamon and nutmeg.
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That pic of you in Morocco - LOLOLOL!!! I get it, “the architecture is just mindblowing!”
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Our time in Mexico marked the end of our WS touring. What a great afternoon we had had!
It was early evening now, and many of the attractions in FW were closing soon. We took some time to make our way through Mouse Gear and then talked about what we wanted to do. It was too early to go hunker down for Illuminations, so we decided to take a spin on the monorail just for the heck of it. Neither of us had ever been on the Epcot-TTC rail and were curious just how long a trip takes. It seemed like a quiet, cool way to rest our feet for a bit, and we figured we could get some cool pics of Epcot on the return trip and be back just about on time to make our way to the FPP location for Illuminations. The ride was quick - estimates here seem largely exaggerated (though I suppose I always pad my estimates to allow extra time) - but we did get some cool Epcot pics:
We got back a little sooner than we expected to, but bag check for re-entry took longer than any other bag check during our entire trip. I’m not sure if the security guard we had was in training or what but she was EXTREMELY thorough, even asking me to open the change purse part of my wallet so she could verify she was feeling change. 
I’m in the camp that is in favor of security checks that will actually keep us safer, and this falls into it. But it was a bit extreme at the same time.
At that checkpoint, as well, my husband was selected for the metal detector thingie 
Maybe we had a suspicious look about us. Shrug.
We meandered back toward WS. The FPP location, for those unaware, is located immediately across the bridge from FW to WS between two shops whose name escapes me and which I cannot find online. I think it’s something like World Traveler or whatever.
In any case, we noticed as we approached the area that people were already lining up in the FPP area. Say what?! What is the point of lining up in the FPP area an hour ahead of time when you can go ANYWHERE in WS an hour ahead of time and stake out a great spot? I was more than a bit irritated about this, especially as the line grew beyond where the eye could see (and I, in my stubborn “that’s not how this works!” attitude refused to get in it - we went into the shops and grabbed a snack). At ?8:30ish they began to let the people in that line enter the FPP area. We waited til the end of the line, all the while debating whether it was going to make sense to go into that area or not. Ultimately we ended up going in and wound up fairly front and completely center and not even remotely packed in like sardines. Lesson? You don’t have to stand at FPP entrance to get a GREAT seat - which is just as it should be.
While waiting for the show to start, we were able to view some of the Star Wars fireworks. Even from that distance they were pretty impressive, and the sneak peek affirmed the plans we had made to attend the show later in the weekend.
Now, my husband had never seen Illuminations and it had been a good 20+ years since I had. I recall having a “meh” reaction to it back then and hoped that it would be different tonight. Turns out, Illuminations is just “meh” for both of us. We were glad we had stayed because we could both now say we had seen it (and recently) but we both felt that it wouldn’t be horrible if we missed it in the future.
After the show we made our way slowly toward the exit and to the buses. This is another strike against Pop - it is always the furthest stop away on the return trip from the parks. We managed to get a seat, but I was freaking out most of the time because the mom beside me was holding a little girl (about 2ish) who was coughing and gagging the whole time and I was supremely concerned I was about to get barfed on. I didn’t. Phew!
We retrieved our refillable mugs when we got back and grabbed something to drink before making the 73 mile walk back to our room. Those of you who are worried about how to get around the thermostat re-setting will enjoy hearing that we had turned it down to 70 when we had gotten up that morning and it was still set there and the room was quite comfortable and had been well Mouse-keeped Fitbit tells me that we walked 23,729 steps (the equivalent of 9.81 miles!) in our 14 hour day of touring. My dogs were barking It had been a pretty fantastic day, though, and we had done just about everything we had set out to do. Now it was time to fall into bed and sleep it off.
Tomorrow: Brunch At the Top!
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