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

I thought I was caught up here, but I was so, so wrong!

Day 4:

Of course I loved that you started your day at Stormalong Bay. I haven't been to Yacht & Beach nearly as many times as you- 6 times I think- but I am also surprised to learn about the bench in the lazy river. Never knew about that, either.

Haha, welcome back! We were surprised to find that bench in the lazy river! It's kinda nice since it's hidden and a bit away from the crowds!

OK, I'm impressed with your tequila tasting lunch and that you were still standing at the end of it

:worship:

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HAAAA! That is awesome!

I'm with your mom about the roasted beet salad. YUM! One of my Disney favorites was the Roasted Beet & Goat Chees salad from Sunshine Seasons. This was my go-to meal at the World. I was gutted when I learned it was discontinued. GRRRR!!!!

The Light Lab looked very cool, but I didn't see much of interest there either.

That's too bad they discontinued that, when I first read that I thought it would be great for my mom to try!

I'm glad you took the time to see the movie in Canada. I love the "new" Martin Short version. We have skipped most of the WS movies, too. Haven't seen Reflections of China since the early 90's. I had skipped the one in France since seeing it solo in 2008, but then went with friends in 2015, then again with Mark and friends in October 2016.

We're happy we stopped to watch it as well, it's been so long since we've seen any of those movies!

The Figment magic shot is AWESOME!!! I have never seen that one in anyone else's reports.


:figment:

Thanks! It's the first time we've ever gotten that one, I was surprised to see it!

Wow, what a GREAT night at Jellyrolls. You and your mom rock! Even if it is to Lindsey Buckingham...

:goodvibes

HA! Yeah, my mom had some interesting requests, but as always we had a blast! Love that place!
 

Love these pictures!

I actually have one very similar to the last one from one of my first trips to the World back in the 80's.

I was hoping to have many more- I have chaperoned two 8th grade class trips to Disney where the students go to different classes. One of the popular classes is a physics lesson where the students get to ride Space Mountain with the lights off and then again with the lights on, then give their observations about whether the experiences feel different. The school schedules that class almost every year- except the two years my sons and I were on the trip!

:mad:



After knocking “See Space with the Lights on” off my bucket list, we made our way back over to Buzz. Once again, there was no line and we walked right on. This time was a fight for first place! At one point my mom was up over 70,000 points! But then I hit a high point target and jumped waaay ahead of her. I figured I would easily win again, but then suddenly I look over and she had maxed out the score! WHAT!?!?! No idea how she did that, but she finally won and was so happy! She decided that would be her last time playing Buzz this trip. Haha, won’t even let me try to win again!


Yay, Mom!

(sorry)

:goodvibes
 
After HM it was time for our first FP+ of the day, BTMR! We arrived just after a group of about 6. They were arguing with the CM working the FP+ line about how since they just came from Pirates, which was down, the CM there told them they could get into any FP line on property. The CM caught them in their lie though and specifically asked if they had FP+ for Pirates. Well, they didn’t. The man in the group became livid and starts yelling at the poor CM. While this is going on a long line has formed behind them of people who actually had FP+. The CM kept telling that party to move aside so the rest of us could get by, but they refused to budge. Finally the CM just gave up and let them through. UGH.

We followed them up the ramp and they were so giddy they beat the system. Jerks. We got to the next FP+ scan point, and they scanned, and of course it didn’t work, but the CM there just turned and looked the other way to let them by. Not cool CM. Not cool.

:sad2:
 
That stinks that you couldn't get ice cream until 11. You can get a Dole Whip or Mickey Bars before then, right?


We were joking around with them, when something surprising happens. Dale runs over to his handler and grabs a box, runs back over to my mom, gets down on one knee and “proposes” to my mom!

This picture is priceless!


:love:
 


Day 5, Part 6: We Need a Second Lunch!

We arrived at Epcot around 2:00. By then we were starting to realize that our ice cream lunch earlier in the day wasn’t quite enough for us, so we decided we needed to stop by a few food booths to fill up. We got through security quickly, even with all our shopping bags, and then entered the park.

Shockingly, it was so hot this day, we didn’t even bother with photopass photographers! Instead we made our way around WS to get our second lunch.

We passed a bunch of booths, but didn’t find anything we wanted until we got to the Brewers Collection. When it’s that hot out, a lot of food just seemed unappetizing. I had my eye on the Pomegranate beer at the Brewers Collection, so when we got to that booth I swung over to grab one. It’s from the same company that makes the Grapefruit beer that I love, so I just had to try it!

It was a very very popular drink, there were over a dozen of us waiting to pick one up after paying! Happy to say, it did not disappoint! It was just as good as I imagined!


Mmmmm!

We stopped for a minute so I could drink a bit since it was a very full pour. We couldn’t find a very shady spot, so once I had a few sips we moved on to find some food, and hopefully some shade!

We ended up at Spain where my mom got the Charcuterie in a cone. She had been wanting to try this ever since the menus came out, and it ended up being a perfect start to our second lunch that day. My mom shared it with me, even though I was less interested in it, and I was surprised at how good it ended up being!

We found a table with an umbrella to enjoy the charcuterie and my beer and rest for a bit.


Mom and the charcuterie!

After finishing up the charcuterie, we were still hungry, and wanted to get the calamari from Italy next. Epcot was pretty crowded this day, most crowded we’d seen so far that week, and tables were hard to find, so I suggested to my mom that she stay at the table to hold it for us while I ran to get the next food. She loved that idea, so stayed there while I went to get the food.

I made my way over to Italy and picked up the dishes of calamari and the Moscato, then turned to make my way back to the table only to see it had been taken over by a group of girls! What?!!?

I made my way over with the food, and the newcomers happily moved over to let me put the food down. Turns out they couldn’t find a table and saw my mom at one by herself so asked if they could join her. They ended up being really sweet and really funny. They were all locals just popping in for some of the food goodies! We had a great chat with them while enjoying our food. We actually ended up running into a lot of locals just stopping by for food during the week, and they were all so sweet and fun to chat with! Must be so awesome to be able to swing by Food and Wine anytime!


Lots of calamari!


Calamari and moscato.

The calamari was great, and a HUGE serving. Actually for all our dishes we had very decent servings. We were very impressed with the serving sizes for this years F&W, much larger than last year!

After finishing up our food, we said goodbye to our new friends, then made our way to Hops and Barley where my mom wanted to try the lobster roll. We got the lobster roll, and I picked up the beer flight. We grabbed a table in the covered area, which was perfect since it started to drizzle a bit just as we sat down!

The beer was good again, and my mom loved the lobster roll!





Fortunately, the drizzle lasted only about 5 minutes, so was over by the time we were ready to move on.

I was still a bit hungry, so we made a last food stop at Japan where I picked up the pork dumplings!

We searched for a table after grabbing the food, and walked quite a ways, but they were either taken or in the sun. We finally found a ton of tables in the shade…in the smoking section. We were a bit disappointed that they had SO many tables in that area, especially with them being some of the few shaded ones. At that point though we were tired of looking so went back there so I could eat my dumplings. There were a number of other families also back there just to eat, trying their best to avoid all the smoke. Since it was stinky back there, I finished them quickly so we could move on.


Pork Dumplings!

We decided at that point it was time to head out of the park. On the way out, my mom mentioned she would love to swing by Rose and Crown for a Snake bite, so we made our way over. We opened the door, and my goodness, it was packed! We have never seen it so crowded! I guess not that surprising, Epcot was so much more crowded that day than it had been the rest of the trip.

Upon seeing the crowd, my mom decided she’d rather just head back to the hotel to rest and not deal with the mass of people. So we made our way back to the hotel to rest for a bit and cool off again!
 
Love these pictures!

I actually have one very similar to the last one from one of my first trips to the World back in the 80's.

I was hoping to have many more- I have chaperoned two 8th grade class trips to Disney where the students go to different classes. One of the popular classes is a physics lesson where the students get to ride Space Mountain with the lights off and then again with the lights on, then give their observations about whether the experiences feel different. The school schedules that class almost every year- except the two years my sons and I were on the trip!

:mad:

That trip sounds amazing, I wish they had something like that when I was in school! Bummer it wasn't offered your two years though!
 
That trip sounds amazing, I wish they had something like that when I was in school! Bummer it wasn't offered your two years though!

The class trips are, um, interesting. They are fun and challenging and full of drama! The classes are a really nice feature- we got to meet an imagineer one year and go backstage at Haunted Mansion during another trip. But picture 130 13 and 14 year olds with chaperones of varying levels of supervision. I was on the scale of "too chaperoney" according to my sons. Oh, yeah, no alcohol allowed- for the kids or adults!

:scared:
 


n’t find anything we wanted until we got to the Brewers Collection. When it’s that hot out, a lot of food just seemed unappetizing. I had my eye on the Pomegranate beer at the Brewers Collection, so when we got to that booth I swung over to grab one. It’s from the same company that makes the Grapefruit beer that I love, so I just had to try it!
I wonder if they will have this somewhere at Festival of the Arts. My husband and I love the grapefruit beer. I am sure we would love that as well!



Calamari and moscato.
That looks really good! I love the marinara sauce at Via napoli.


37941689866_c362c09ae0_z.jpg
The Lobster Roll looks like they may have added some extra filling back in. I know people were starting to complain about the portion for that.
 
I had my eye on the Pomegranate beer at the Brewers Collection, so when we got to that booth I swung over to grab one. It’s from the same company that makes the Grapefruit beer that I love, so I just had to try it!

I love that Grapefruit beer too. For Christmas, I purchased a 12 pack variety case: Grapefruit, Orange, Pomegranate and Lemon Berry. I had it out on the porch to chill for our Christmas Eve party and I forgot to bring it in and the cans all froze. None exploded, so I am hoping the beer is still ok.




I missed the calamari! It does look like a huge portion, Food & Wine-wise


The lobster roll does not look too bad. Being from New England, I tend to be picky about my lobster rolls. They often are made with too much mayo, but this one looks pretty decent.

:goodvibes
 
The class trips are, um, interesting. They are fun and challenging and full of drama! The classes are a really nice feature- we got to meet an imagineer one year and go backstage at Haunted Mansion during another trip. But picture 130 13 and 14 year olds with chaperones of varying levels of supervision. I was on the scale of "too chaperoney" according to my sons. Oh, yeah, no alcohol allowed- for the kids or adults!

:scared:

Oh goodness, 130 teenagers and the adults can't drink? That sounds like an amazing test in patience! Still, the backstage perks would be worth it I think!
 
I wonder if they will have this somewhere at Festival of the Arts. My husband and I love the grapefruit beer. I am sure we would love that as well!

Hopefully they have it! I imagine since it seemed so popular at F&W that they would bring it back for all the festivals!

That looks really good! I love the marinara sauce at Via napoli.

It was fantastic, perfectly crispy, and the sauce was great!

The Lobster Roll looks like they may have added some extra filling back in. I know people were starting to complain about the portion for that.

Oh wow, I had no idea! It was a LOT of filling, it didn't even all fit in the roll! Glad they upped the portion!
 
I love that Grapefruit beer too. For Christmas, I purchased a 12 pack variety case: Grapefruit, Orange, Pomegranate and Lemon Berry. I had it out on the porch to chill for our Christmas Eve party and I forgot to bring it in and the cans all froze. None exploded, so I am hoping the beer is still ok.

I have not seen a variety case yet, I need to keep an eye out for that! Lemon Berry sounds really good! Hopefully the frozen beer turned out ok!

I missed the calamari! It does look like a huge portion, Food & Wine-wise

The lobster roll does not look too bad. Being from New England, I tend to be picky about my lobster rolls. They often are made with too much mayo, but this one looks pretty decent.

:goodvibes

We were surprised by how much calamari they gave us! It was SO good!

It's funny about the lobster roll, my parents live up in Massachusetts, so you would think my mom would have had one before, but nope, this was her first lobster roll! She thought it was great, but then again she didn't have anything to compare it to!
 
Day 5, Part 7: A Much Needed Low Key Night

After the long hot day, we had a good decent rest back at the hotel. I spent some time updating the trip notes while my mom napped. We were over the crowds for the day, so decided to skip the pool and just hang out in the room for some peace and quiet! This always seems to happen around the 5th or 6th day of our trip, we just get to the point where we need some quality time away from all the crowds!

It was a nice break, and around 5:30 we started getting a bit hungry again. Since we wanted a low key evening, we decided to head down to one of our favorite places, Crews Cup Lounge!

We made our way down, and grabbed the table next to the window looking into the Steakhouse. This time a butcher was actually in there cutting up all the steak! It was actually kind of awesome to watch!

We had a great waitress who I spent a lot of time chatting with about our dogs. It’s amazing how those furry little things can bring people together!

We started off with the cheese plate, then I ended up ordering the prime rib and a glass of Malbec, while my mom got the burger and the grapefruit beer!





Both were amazing. It was such a great relaxing dinner, we really do love this place!

After dinner we went back up to the room to rest a bit and watch some tv. After an hour or so we started getting a bit stir crazy though. We didn’t really feel like heading back into a park, so I suggested we take a walk around the boardwalk to see what was going on over there!

On our way we of course had to stop to get a picture of our favorite place on the Boardwalk!



There were a few entertainers out that evening which was great to see. First we stopped by a magician, and watch that for a while. We eventually got tired of his tricks, so moved on. We found another magician with a very different act, and ended up watching him for a while as well. We were very impressed with the quality of the entertainment. In the past 20 some-odd years we’ve been staying at the YC or BC, we had never stopped to watch the entertainment on the boardwalk, so were glad we finally made the time to do so!

After getting our fix of magic tricks, we continued our way around the path back to the YC. I had to stop on the way to get this awesome shot! This area really is so beautiful!



We ended up back at our room just before 10:00, and decided to call it a night since we were so exhausted. It was a good call, and within minutes we were both completely out!

Next up: Another day with the Animals!
 
The Crews Cup is an awesome place for a low-key, last minute, delicious meal.

I am so confused now about the bars/restaurants at the Yacht Club now. Between the YC Marketplace at Ale & Compass, the Ale & Compass Restaurant (formerly Captain's Grille) and the former Ale & Compass Lounge, I can't keep straight where everything is now. I believe the Crews Cup is still open, but tucked away in the back of the Ale & Compass Restaurant. But I could be wrong!

What a nice way to spend an evening! I haven't seen many of the performers on the Boardwalk. Once I watched a magician with my family and another time I watched one when I was solo, but those are the only two I have encountered. Not that I spend a lot of time at Boardwalk, I am mostly at the parks.

The EPCOT resort/Boardwalk area really is stunning in daytime hours and at night.

::yes::
 
Lots of yummy snacks you tried at Epcot!

Your dinner and evening sound so nice! Strolling the boardwalk sounds like a perfect night activity and that last photo you got is awesome!
 
Day 6, Part 1: Another day with the animals!

After the perfect relaxing evening, we had gone to bed nice and early, and ended getting a great night of sleep! We woke up around 6:00 feeling SO much better than the previous day! Our plan for this morning was to head back to AK to FINALLY get on FOP! When we booked our FP+ at the 60 day mark, the earliest ones we could get weren’t until the 6th day of the trip! Thank goodness we had a longer trip than normal this fall. Usually we only do 4-5 days, but my mom’s work schedule worked out great this year and we were able to do a full week!

After getting ready and going through a few cups of coffee, we made our way down to the bus to get to AK in time for the EMH. The bus took a bit over 20 minutes to arrive, but after our experience earlier in the trip with the bus to MK, we were not complaining! We ended up arriving at AK just before 7:45 and made our way through security and into the park.

As expected, most of the morning crowd was headed to Pandora, so it was nice after passing that pathway there was hardly anyone around. Our plans for the morning was to head to Africa to do the safari first thing in the morning!

We arrived at the Africa gate where they were holding us until the park opened. There were a handful of other guests there waiting, but it was very calm and laid back group of people just milling around, nothing like other rope drops we’ve experienced! Finally around 8:07 they let us into Africa, and we all made our way back to the safari!

My mom and I ended up being in the first car of the day, and since it was so empty, had a row all to ourselves! It was so nice to have the row to ourselves, wish we could get this every time we ride the safari!





So back in the day when I was in high school and we would do our yearly summer trips to Disney, we ALWAYS made sure to do the safari first thing in the morning based on the “common knowledge” that the animals were more active in the morning. In recent years, since our trips have been much shorter, we’ve always ended up with AK being our second park of the day, so have done mid afternoon safaris. We have never been disappointed with the number of animals we’ve seen in the mid-afternoons, some trips it seemed like a lot more than we’ve seen in the morning in the past.

Well, still operating under the assumption that mornings were the best time to see the animals, we couldn’t wait to see how many animals would be out and about first thing in the morning. Turns out we were about to be wildly disappointed! There were hardly any animals at all! HA! I have never seen the savannahs so empty! The animals we saw were the wild dogs, the warthogs, the white rhino, and the lions. Besides that, not much. But hey, at least we had a row all to ourselves!


The driver asked us what these guys were, everyone in the truck dutifully responded "Hyenas!"....but alas, we were all wrong. They're wild dogs!


The last few trips every safari we've been on, these guys were just hanging out next to the road! So cool to see them up close!






Awesome to see the warthogs out of their den for once!

Lesson learned, first thing in the morning actually is not the best time to see the animals! Guess they like to sleep in…

Next up: How many rides can we do in an hour???
 
The Crews Cup is an awesome place for a low-key, last minute, delicious meal.

I am so confused now about the bars/restaurants at the Yacht Club now. Between the YC Marketplace at Ale & Compass, the Ale & Compass Restaurant (formerly Captain's Grille) and the former Ale & Compass Lounge, I can't keep straight where everything is now. I believe the Crews Cup is still open, but tucked away in the back of the Ale & Compass Restaurant. But I could be wrong!

What a nice way to spend an evening! I haven't seen many of the performers on the Boardwalk. Once I watched a magician with my family and another time I watched one when I was solo, but those are the only two I have encountered. Not that I spend a lot of time at Boardwalk, I am mostly at the parks.

The EPCOT resort/Boardwalk area really is stunning in daytime hours and at night.

::yes::

Yes! We love Crews Cup! I'm sad we only discovered it a few trips ago, it's now our go-to place for a low key dinner. I'm curious to see how the Ale & Compass restaurant is, we may try to stop by on our trip this fall, the pictures look really nice!

I was surprised at how active the boardwalk was at night! We too are usually at parks, so I guess we never realized they brought out so much entertainment!

Isn't that area amazing? Definitely our favorite area to stay!
 
Yum! Sounded liked a nice night.

Yeah, Crews Cup has never disappointed in their food!

It's so nice to have a low key night while at the World! We don't take advantage of them enough on our trips, but we always feel so much more refreshed the next day when we do manage to take them!
 

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