The water may be fake, but the wine is real! Mother Daughter 2017 F&W Trip!!! (Updated 5/27!)

[VAtink]

Day 3, Part 1: Well that was an unexpected wake up!

We decided to sleep in this morning since it had been a rather late night the night before. Even though our alarms weren’t set until 9:00, we still woke up by 8:00. Stupid body clock!

Since it was a lazy morning, I had my coffee in bed while watching the local news. They had some fantastic news for us, our already rain free trip looked to be rain free until the weekend! Wow! I’d say that NEVER happens when we go to Disney, but the exact same thing happened for our trip in May as well. Now with two trips in a row rain free, I’m afraid we may be due for a very rainy trip next time around!

After enjoying a few cups of coffee in bed I finally dragged myself out of bed and got changed and put sunblock on. I was in the middle of straightening my hair when it happened…the fire alarm went off!

Oh my goodness, the fire alarm at the YC is obnoxious! It’s not you standard loud beeping, this had this painful sireny sound to it that physically hurt. I mean, I guess it’s a great way to make sure everyone gets out of the building, but wow, it was bad!

We quickly grabbed our purses and sunglasses, and headed to the stairs right next to our room. We joined the crowd of other guests outside by the quiet pool.

Since it was already pretty warm outside, I decided to go sit with my legs in the pool. As I was sitting there, this little girl came over and sat next to me. We started chatting and she admitted she was really scared. Poor thing. So I did my best to assure her that everything would be fine, and since I design buildings for a living, I told her all about how buildings are designed to keep fires from spreading.

That cheered her up, and soon we were chatting about our favorite rides! We had a really fun chat, and eventually the alarm was turned off! Yay!

My mom and I quickly ran upstairs and finished getting ready, then we were off to Epcot!

This morning we were doing one of our favorite things from our trip in May, breakfast at France! It was around 10:00 when we arrived, so there were already a handful of people back there, but we didn’t have too long of a wait to get our chocolate brioche and mimosas!

Well, until the guy in front of us couldn’t figure out his dining plan at the register. Ugh, that took forever.

Finally we made it through and were outside enjoying our breakfast!





After finishing up breakfast, we made our way over to Future World to get some more photopass pictures! Of course on the way over we took more pictures ourselves!









When we had wrapped up with the pictures, we still had some time before the food booths opened, so we headed over to SE! The wait was about 15 minutes at that time, a lot shorter than the wait we had in May!

We love this ride, so it was nice to get on it, especially since it was closed the other day when we had our FP for it!

Next up: More Food Booths!​

 

[missangelalexis]

I didn't realize you had started a new TR, yay! Getting all caught up!

Sounds like your solo time at Epcot was really nice! Such a cute idea getting your mom a little welcome bag! What a nice quick little evening at Epcot for the 2 of you!

Love all the photos of you guys during your Epcot morning! Sounds like a great time both in Future World and at the food booths!

Ugh what a long and terrible wait for the bus to MK! How frustrating.

Your party outfits are so cute! Adorable photos with Donald & Daisy, as well as lots of great PP pictures! Sounds like a fun MNSSHP

Another great morning in Epcot so far!

 

[VAtink]

I didn't realize you had started a new TR, yay! Getting all caught up!

to my new report! Probably would have helped if I properly finished my last one!

Sounds like your solo time at Epcot was really nice! Such a cute idea getting your mom a little welcome bag! What a nice quick little evening at Epcot for the 2 of you!

It was really nice having that extra time to hang out in Epcot, and it helped to have that time to pick up my mom's presents! So happy she loved everything, and even happier she got in with time to pop over to Epcot to try some food booths!

Love all the photos of you guys during your Epcot morning! Sounds like a great time both in Future World and at the food booths!

Thanks!

Ugh what a long and terrible wait for the bus to MK! How frustrating.

Oh my goodness, it was crazy! We used to complain if we had to wait 20 minutes, HA! We will never complain about having a 20 minute wait again!

Your party outfits are so cute! Adorable photos with Donald & Daisy, as well as lots of great PP pictures! Sounds like a fun MNSSHP

Thank you! That interaction with Donald and Daisy was the best we've ever had! They were so funny! Definitely a great party!

 

[VAtink]

Day 3, Part 2: More Food Booths!

After riding SE, it was just about time for the food booths to open, so we made our way over to WS!

Our first stop was the Odyssey, where I got the East Florida beer flight and the Handwich! The handwich was good, but very messy! The beer was good as well!



After finishing up the food we checked out the small display for Epcots 35th, then made our way out to WS!

We next headed over to Greece where my mom had her eye on the Taste of Greece! We picked that up and found a table. While my mom started on that, I swung over to Mexico to get the rib eye taco and the sangria. We shared our dishes per usual. I liked the taco, but it wasn’t my favorite dish, I was expecting it to be spicier and it was kind of bland. The taste of Greece was also good, but once again not my favorite. My mom loved it though!


My taco and sangria!


The Taste of Greece!

Once we finished up with that food, we continued our way around WS. Our next stop was India, where my mom wanted to try the chicken after my rave reviews. She ended up getting the chicken and the beer there.



She enjoyed it just as much as I had!

At that point my mom didn’t want any more for lunch, but I was still a bit hungry, so we continued on around WS. Our final food booth of the day was Hops and Barley where I got the smoked beef brisket and pimento cheese as well as the beer flight. Oh my goodness was this good! Not quiet as good as the beef at Canada, but a close second! It was also a LOT of food! I couldn’t finish it, so my mom had to finish it for me.


SO much food!



We were full after that, and getting really hot (it was a very hot week!) so decided it was time to head back to the YC and take a dip in the pool! So we made our way out and to our room to get changed.

When we got down to Stormalong bay we were surprised to see they had changed out the lounge chairs! They now were padded and looked super comfy. Sadly, we weren’t able to try them out that day since it also appeared they had also reduced the number of lounge chairs and we couldn’t find any without other peoples belongings on them. It was odd since the pool itself was empty, but every chair had some clothing on it! We finally found a non-lounge chair on that island in the middle of the lazy river which was fine since we weren’t planning on spending too much time down there that day!

Up next: We Finally Experience Pandora!​

 

[katriscari]

Enjoying your trip report! Cannot wait to experience F&W for the first time in 4 days

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like you guys sampled a lot of stuff for lunch on this day! Yum!

 

[VAtink]

Enjoying your trip report! Cannot wait to experience F&W for the first time in 4 days

So exciting! Hope you have an amazing time and get to eats lots and lots of great food! I'll try to post a few more food reviews in the next 4 days to help build up the excitement

 

[VAtink]

Sounds like you guys sampled a lot of stuff for lunch on this day! Yum!

Haha, yeah we did! We ate so much on this trip! Usually with all the walking around we don't gain any weight, but this trip we ate so much that I ended up gaining 4lbs! Oops!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Following along! I was in Disney the same exact time!

(Also, yay, my mom figured out how to text!)

Ha! Sometimes I wish my mom didn't know how to text.

Day 1, Part 4: F&W Three Times in One Day!

Your hotel location really came in handy!

and take a quick peak at the gift bag I put together. My mom absolutely loved it!

So nice of you!

It was a longer wait than expected, but we’re glad we did it, we had so much fun!

Very cute picture.

(I swear this isn't how I kept winning!)

Ha! I love it!

 

[shannie102]

Wonderful trip report as always! Quick question- I see you guys got to the MNNSHP Dessert party at 830, were the fireworks at 1015? We are doing that also next week and the time on MDE is 915, but if we could get there early I would rather. Just wondering, thanks!

 

[VAtink]

Wonderful trip report as always! Quick question- I see you guys got to the MNNSHP Dessert party at 830, were the fireworks at 1015? We are doing that also next week and the time on MDE is 915, but if we could get there early I would rather. Just wondering, thanks!

Thanks! Yeah, we had thought it opened at 9:15 as well, but when we picked up the lanyard the woman at the podium told us to come back at 8:30 to get in. We actually ended up arriving around 8:20 and they were already letting people in. The fireworks were at 10:15 that night as well.

After the CM brings you to your table, they'll put a reserved sign there, so then you can actually head out and go watch the parade, or do whatever you feel like doing, and come back closer to the fireworks and still have your seats saved. We didn't do this, but if we did the dessert party again we would, we got a bit antsy after a while!

 

[shannie102]

Thanks! Yeah, we had thought it opened at 9:15 as well, but when we picked up the lanyard the woman at the podium told us to come back at 8:30 to get in. We actually ended up arriving around 8:20 and they were already letting people in. The fireworks were at 10:15 that night as well.

After the CM brings you to your table, they'll put a reserved sign there, so then you can actually head out and go watch the parade, or do whatever you feel like doing, and come back closer to the fireworks and still have your seats saved. We didn't do this, but if we did the dessert party again we would, we got a bit antsy after a while!

Thanks!

 

[VAtink]

Following along! I was in Disney the same exact time!

No way! That's awesome, it was a great week to be there...although very hot!

Ha! Sometimes I wish my mom didn't know how to text.

Haha! Fortunately my mom only texts in an emergency (or at Disney).

Your hotel location really came in handy!

It is such an amazing location! When we're ready to book for F&W, we always discuss staying elsewhere...but in the end decide being able to walk to Epcot is the best thing ever, so I don't think we'll ever stray from the Epcot resorts!

So nice of you!

Aw, thanks! I figure after all my mom has done for me in my life, I should try to do as many nice things for her as I can!

Very cute picture.

Thanks!

Ha! I love it!

Haha, thanks! I love that picture!

 

[VAtink]

Day 3, Part 3: We Finally Experience Pandora!

After a quick dip in the pool, we headed back upstairs to shower and get ready for our afternoon adventures. We got down to the bus stop around 2:00, and didn’t have a horrible wait for a bus, so arrived at AK just after 2:30. We made it through security very fast, and then went to go scan our magic bands. Now, after the incident the previous night at MNSSHP, my mom was concerned hers wasn’t going to work since she thought maybe it was an issue with the second park of a day.

So after I made it through, I stood just on the inside to watch to make sure my mom also got through. I ended up standing next to a CM, and she saw me watching my mom, so asked me if my mom was a troublemaker. Ha! I told her that yup, she was always the troublemaker and had issues getting into the parks. The CM was so nice and assured me that it wasn’t a problem and she would make sure my mom got in!

Well, of course, my moms magic band didn’t work again, she got that dreaded blue light again! The CM I was speaking with was on it SO fast though! She stepped over, pulled my mom aside, scanned the magic band with her tablet, took her pictures (not sure why) then told us to head on in and have a great day! Well, that was fast! Thank you awesome CM!

Our first FP+ for that afternoon wasn’t until 2:55, so we still had some time before to do other things, which of course for us meant photopass!

We headed over to Pandora for our first experience with the new land! Yay! We of course took pictures on the way.





Then we stopped by the photopass photographer there!





It was so cool to finally see the land! When we were there in May it wasn’t open to the public yet, but they were having previews and we were so jealous we couldn’t get in back then! Well, we finally got in! It was beautifully done, but we quickly realized also very very small!

After taking a bunch of pictures, we finally headed over to our first FP+ of the day at 2:55. We made our way through Pandora over to Na’vi river journey! We scanned our bands then made our way through the queue to the ride. There was a bit of a line with the FP, but we didn’t mind since we got to really take in all the details in the queue! For instance, the walls look like they have water running down them, but it’s actually fake water…it’s not really wet! I don’t know why, but we found that WAY too interesting! (and also was the inspiration for this TR title!)

Anywho. After a little wait we were loaded onto our boats for the ride.

Now, I really wanted to love this ride, I really did, but we got to the end and my first thought was “that was it?” Yeah, it was very anticlimactic. It was beautiful, and some of the effects were really cool (like those bugs!), but it was just so short, and there was no discernable story. I’m sure if I were a little kid I would have loved it, but as an adult it was just ok. Looks like a one and done for us.

They had a CM there interviewing guests as they existed on their thoughts of the ride, so we stopped to give our opinions. We told her it was good but needed more, and agreed to fill out a more detailed survey on it that they would email over.

After our impromptu survey, we headed out of Pandora to explore the rest of the park. Our next FP wasn’t for another 45 minutes, so we decided to check out one of the trails they have!

Next up: Animals Everywhere!​

 

[disneyAndi14]

I am enjoying your report, I travel with my daughter and we have wonderful trips. I feel the same way about the River ride. Beautiful but very short! I hope your mom doesn't have anymore trouble getting in the parks, lol! Such a troublemaker!

 

[missangelalexis]

Glad this CM was nicer about your mom's ticket troubles than the first CM!

Great pictures in Pandora!

 

[DVC Geri]

I can hardly wait to get to my first Food & Wine. This post is making me hungry!

 

[VAtink]

Day 3, Part 4: Animals Everywhere!

We made our way out of Pandora and headed over to Africa! We decided to do the Gorilla Falls trail since it would spit us out right by our next FP+. It was a nice stroll, it was nice to see the animals, I had forgotten (or perhaps this is new) they had zebras on the trail!


We took our time walking the trail, really taking in the details and spending a lot of time just watching the animals. It’s so wonderful to be in a theme park and yet move at such a slow pace and still feel like you’re getting a lot in!

Soon enough it was time for our next FP+, the Safari!

We made our way over to the FP entrance. We got there right at the same time as this other group, well part of this other group. There were 8 of them, and 3 of them had run ahead to “get in line” for the FP, while the rest of the group was far far behind. My mom and I had no clue there were more than 3 of them, so we scanned our magic bands after those three and followed them up the queue. Well, we’re in line for about 5 minutes before the rest of that party showed up, and asked if they could join their family just ahead of us.

Not a big deal, we were in the Disney happy mood at that point, so had no issue letting the rest of the family join the three ahead of us. You would think being polite would bring good karma? Maybe? Yeah no.

So this family had one woman in a ECV, so the CM sent their party up to the special loading dock for their truck. Well, the CM also sent us, and about 5 groups behind us to make sure that vehicle with the ECV family was full.

No big deal right?

Ha, no. The family with the ECV thought that they should have a vehicle ALL to themselves, so ignored the CM who told them to only sit in the first two rows, and instead spread out with one or two of them in each row!

So when we got up to the loading, the CM told us to go to row three, which we did, joining a guy from that family. Well, this crazy woman from the ECV group starts yelling at us that their family needs to sit together and we couldn’t be in the truck with them!

Um what?

Meanwhile all the groups behind us that were also sent to sit in this truck were filling in, so the ECV family was scrambling around trying to move all their family members and complaining that the rest of us are ruining their ride.

Eventually the CM who had been loading the truck came over and finally explained to the family that he had told them to ONLY sit in the first two rows, but some of them still hadn’t moved, like the guy in our row, and the CM just seemed so overwhelmed by this family he just gave up and sent the truck off. The ECV family though seemed so mad during the ride though, especially the guy in the row with us! He kept glaring over at my mom and I! Yeah dude, not our fault your family can’t follow instructions!

I understand that they probably didn’t pay attention to the CM who told them where to sit and they may not have had any idea what they should have done, but that is no excuse for yelling at other guests and telling them they have to move and get out of “their” vehicle. It’s amazing the rude people you encounter sometimes at Disney!

Anyways, my mom and I made the best of it and enjoyed the safari. Similar to the last two trips we saw a ton of animals in the afternoon!



Why do I only seem able to get pictures of animals backsides?!?!



After the safari we headed out of Africa towards our next ride!

Next up: We Try Tiffins Again!​

 

[VAtink]

I am enjoying your report, I travel with my daughter and we have wonderful trips. I feel the same way about the River ride. Beautiful but very short! I hope your mom doesn't have anymore trouble getting in the parks, lol! Such a troublemaker!

Thanks and welcome! My mom only had issues twice getting in, whatever the CM did at AK seemed to have fixed that problem fortunately!

Glad this CM was nicer about your mom's ticket troubles than the first CM!

Great pictures in Pandora!

She was SO much nicer, and so on top of things! We were very impressed!

I can hardly wait to get to my first Food & Wine. This post is making me hungry!

Haha, I can imagine! It's such an awesome event, hope you have a fantastic first F&W trip!

 

[tink1957]

Wow, I can't believe the nerve of the ecv family...I would probably have opened my big mouth and told them they would be sitting together if they had gone to the freaking row as they were told.

Enjoying your adventures anyways