When I last left off, we were on our way to Italy for a date!
I took pictures along the way:
Our destination!
My parents went to Norway two summers ago for their 25th anniversary and my mom loved all the stories about trolls so I knew she would like this guy:
Literally the only picture of China I got the entire trip
We got to Italy and I couldnt believe how beautiful it was. I havent been to the real Italy, but if Epcots Italy is even a quarter as beautiful, then I cant even imagine the real Italy!
Our lunch reservation was at Via Napoli at 11:50 and we were about 20 minutes early. They hadnt opened yet so we plopped down at an outside table so I could regroup and we could go over the plan for the rest of the day. I took that moment to take some pictures of the pavilion and was immediately in love.
We started noticing people going into the restaurant so like the good little lemmings we are, we followed. They hadnt begun seating anyone yet, but we were able to check in and only waited about 5 minutes before servers took their parties to their tables.
Via Napoli is a really beautiful restaurant. I love the rustic elegance and simplicity and openness. Just eating there made me want to go to the real Italy so much more than I already did. We were seated next to a window that looked out to the front of the restaurant. Our server, whose name I cant remember, was really nice and was constantly refilling my water, which I much appreciated since it was getting to be a warm day out (that humidity really gets you when you arent used to it).
We browsed the menu and were struck by how similar it looked to the Italian restaurant at Downtown Disney at
Disneyland, Naples. We love that restaurant (their pizza is awesome!) so it was nice to have similar options. After some research a little later, I found out that Via Napoli and Naples are sister restaurants
hence the similar menus!
I ended up ordering the veggie lasagna (at Naples, the lasagna, which is not vegetarian, is the best lasagna Ive ever had
and Ive had a LOT of lasagna). It came with this strange yet delicious cheese (I think?) on top. The texture of which was similar to mousse (maybe?) or polenta. I can sometimes have a hard time with food textures but this was actually really good if unexpected. Jordan ordered the pepperoni pizza and he said it was awesome. It definitely looked really good!
My half eaten lasagna. You can sort of see the fluffy cheese stuff. Looking back, I remember that at first I thought they had put mashed potatoes on top of my lasagna and I was like SCORE! Two of my favorite foods! (However Im way too OCD to have my foods touching so that was not okay). And then I ate it and realized it was some sort of cheese and again, I was like SCORE! Two of my favorite foods! Ill even let these ones touch because cheese naturally goes with lasagna.
Im getting hungry just looking at these!
During the course of the meal, I found out that Jordan had never had, or even heard of, tiramisu so of course we had to get some for dessert. I tend to hesitate to get tiramisu simply because Ive had so many bad ones - too much coffee which is totally overpowering, or too much rum (is that possible?) which makes the cake part soggy. Lots can go wrong with tiramisu so I was crossing my fingers that Via Napoli had a stand out tiramisu so that Jordan wouldnt think Im loonier than I know he already thinks I am. Fortunately, Via Napolis tiramisu was awesome! I highly recommend it!
And I dont have a picture of it. Oops.
After lunch, we reluctantly got up to leave and were hit by a wall of warm air when we went outside. We decided that we were going to go back to the resort for an afternoon break before we came back that evening and had our big dinner at The Yachtsman Steakhouse (Jordan was ridiculously excited). We looked across the lagoon and realized we didnt really want to walk ALLLLLL that way (I know it isnt too far, we were just being lazy) so we made our way over to the boat dock in front of Germany where a boat was ready and waiting especially for us (or not). We had a relaxing little ride to the other side of the lagoon and I really enjoyed taking everything in from the water. It was a beautiful, if not cool, day and I was in love with being at Disney World with my favorite man. In that moment, I realized I was one lucky girl.
We got off the boat and may our way to the exit.
I have no idea where this picture was even taken. I DO know it was taken before we left Epcot that afternoon because we are still wearing the same clothes but I couldnt tell you where it was taken. Somewhere dark, apparently.
We had FP+ for Spaceship Earth that evening so as we walked through the wind tunnel outside of the ride I made a mental note that that was where we were going when we came back!
On the way out, I wanted to grab a map because, like I said before, Epcot really threw me for a loop. Ive been told I take after my dad and am pretty geographically capable (well, I certainly didnt take after my mom in that regard) but I never really got the hang of Epcot.
At Disneyland, Im the complete opposite. I dont need a map,
I AM the map.
Anyway, I went up to the map station (for lack of a better word) and there was a cluster of 3 adults right in front. I naturally thought that they were looking for the map they need since the maps come in several different languages. I stood back a little and waited patiently however I soon realized that they were not looking for a map but were having a casual conversation. Im not confrontational and am probably too polite so I took a step closer hoping theyd notice that they were having their conversation in a very inconvenient and busy spot (lots of people need maps!) but they didnt even look my way. I then decided to but on my big girl pants and speak up and said, excuse me in my manliest voice possible and one of the guys looked at me and honestly looked a little taken aback that I was standing there, like, whatever could she want? I WANT A MAP.
He kind of shook his head and came out of his stupor and reached in and handed me a handful of maps. Um, thanks.
But what if I wanted the German one?
We made our way out of the park and got to the bus stop. Our real bus stop was nowhere near where we were dropped off. We happened to be the second or third stop in. A bus was just leaving as we walked up and since our resort was only a short drive away, we didnt think anything of waiting a little bit for the next one.
We waited. And we waited. And we waited. And we waited for ALMOST AN HOUR.
Apparently Disney has fewer buses going between resorts that are closer to parks and more buses going between resorts that are farther to parks. We realized as the week went on that while we were at the bus stop, we did see a LOT of MK and AK buses and a lot fewer DHS and Epcot buses.
Anyway! A bus finally came and we finally made it back to our hotel. Our beautiful, wonderful, amazing hotel. We needed to be back at Epcot around 5:00 so that we could ride Spaceship Earth before heading over to the Yacht Club for dinner. As was already the routine, I headed to the pool with my book and Jordan opted to stay in the hotel room and nap. I believe I also went to the lobby and looked in the gift shop/store for a certain pair of Mickey canvas Crocs. They had them, just not in my size. For a shoe fanatic like myself, what better than a pair of Mickey Mouse shoes for your souvenir? I decided Id look as we walked through Epcot.
I made sure to head back to the room to get ready for our fancy shmancy dinner in time to shower and get clothes on that maybe didnt have a tie dye Mickey head on them.
By 5:00 we were ready to go and out at the bus stop
to wait.
Up next: Dinner in a Yacht (club)
But when people ask me which is better, I can't give an answer. They are each better at different things.
I just started reading your TR and I'm loving it so far! Very cool to get the DL perspective. My DH wants to visit California so badly. We've made tentative plans to go several times but it hasn't worked yet. One day!
). Typically May is a beautiful month if California!
