Day 12
I had forgotten to set myself an alarm call before I went to bed. I still managed to wake up about an hour before my first Fastpass reservation. By the time I was properly up and ready, I started to wonder if I would make it in time for my first Fastpass reservation, which was Spaceship Earth. However, circumstances were on my side. As soon as I arrived at the bus stop, the bus pulled in. Better still, when we got to Epcot, the bus pulled up the closest it could possibly get to the entrance. Bag check and the lines to get in where also very manageable and in the end I even had time for some Photopass photos before I headed to Spaceship Earth.
Based on my experiences in 2013, I was dreading what was ahead of me. However, I got to test the Magic Band sooner than I had expected as there was no line whatsoever at the Fastpass entrance. Fortunately the Mickey head turned green and I was on my way. I enjoyed the ride and then played a game where I had to put a skeleton together using 3D glasses in the post ride area. I have played this game before, but this time I did not do too well. It was still fun.
I had a little bit of time before my Fastpass window at Test Track opened. I used this to get some samples at Club Cool and to check out the pins at the pin trading kiosk. I try to get a ping for every special event I attend so I wanted to check out the Food and Wine pins. Unfortunately the one that grabbed my eye and that had Figment on it was for annual pass holders only so I did not get a pin at that stage. What I did however get was the game pack for Remy's Hide and Squeak and also one of the gift cards that come on a wristband for ease of use around the Food and Wine Festival.
Then it was time to head over to Test Track for my next Fastpass. The Fastpass line looked huge and a cast member explained that the ride had been down and was now catching up. In the end, my total waiting time was about 30 minutes, but that included the time that it took to design my car. I definitely went with quirky for this one and it actually did OK. When it was my turn, I enjoyed the ride. I never saw my ride photo, but the cast member reassured me that it would automatically be linked to my Magic Band in the next 24 hours.
I had one Fastpass left for Journey into Imagination with Figment. On the way I walked through the area of Future World that had been included in the Food and Wine Festival for the first time. I stopped at Sustainable Chew and tried the Spareribs with red wine, fennel, and cheesy mascarpone grits. I was not sure what I would think of grits, but I actually quite liked it.
I then headed over to Journey into Imagination with Figment. The concept of having a Fastpass for this amused me quite considerably. Pretty much as soon as I got to the loading area I was on the ride. Unfortunately this is where my luck ended. I have never had any issues with this ride before, but this time the ride broke down for the first time just before we got to the Smell Lab and we were stuck there for quite a while. When we finally started moving again, we got as far as Figment’s house and then broke down again. I now have first-hand experience that One Little Spark can get in your head just as much as It’s A Small World. I was quietly relieved when they switched off the sound. One good thing came out of this though. While I was stuck on the ride, I was checking in on Facebook and amongst other stuff, I found a recommendation for what was to become my favourite sample at the Food and Wine Festival - the Liquid Nitro Chocolate and Almond Truffle.
While I was stuck on the ride, my friend Pam texted me to let me know that they had arrived in the park. I could not wait to see her again. I texted her my whereabouts. Fortunately by then the ride was just about to start working again and soon I was at the exit. I had a quick look at the gift shop and then decided to head over to the Chew Lab, which was also in the new area for the market places to try the Liquid Nitro Chocolate and Almond Truffle. I figured I had deserved this after my ordeal.
I have to admit when I first read about this about a month or so before the Food and Wine festival started; I thought this was gimmicky and overpriced. However, when I think of a truffle, I think of a little round thing about the size of a 10 Pence coin or a Quarter. For that $4 would have been steep. The reality was different. I paid for my treat and then watched it being made. The cast member who made it took a large spoonful of what looked like a dense chocolate mousse out of a tub and dropped it into the liquid nitrogen. The effect was quite stunning with it smoking up a storm. Once it had set, she took it out and took a hammer to it and then sprinkled it with grated almond and drizzled it with a Whisky caramel sauce. The taste and texture was out of this world. On the outside it was firm and cold and the inside it was room temperature and soft and gooey. This may well be the richest and most decadent chocolate dessert I ever had. For the size and what it was, I felt $4 was very fair.
While I waited for my treat, I had another text from Pam letting me know that they were at The Land and were about to use their Fastpass for Soarin. I texted her back that I would come to meet them at The Land. So when I had finished my truffle, I walked over there. I still had a bit of a wait until they were done with the ride. Once they came out, we said "hi" to each other and then set off exploring.
I had told them about the Liquid Nitro Chocolate and Almond Truffle and they decided to try this. I resisted the temptation of having a second one and I still don't quite understand why. This was a hit with them, too. We then moved on to the Cheese Studio, where I had the cheese fondue with sour dough bread. This was $3.50 and consisted of a pot of cheese fondue and a sour dough roll. I felt that the size was very generous. The fondue was quite alcoholic, but very nice.
After this, we headed over to the World Showcase. We stopped at the Greece market place and I tried the chicken gyro with tzatziki sauce. I nearly did not get to try this. I had my hands full with the Hide and Squeak map, receipt, my Food and Wine passport, water and my gyro and somehow managed to drop this. When Pam noticed this, she took me over to the market place and explained what had happened. They gave me a new one. I thought that this was very nice of them and definitely not what I had expected. It was definitely appreciated though and this bit of pixie dust brightened my day. We stopped at one more market place, which was Canada; I got my beloved cheddar cheese soup there so I was happy.
On our way around the World Showcase, we looked for Remy. I did not really know what to look for at first. The game pack consisted of a map with room for a sticker next to every World Showcase pavilion. I also got a sheet of stickers each featuring Remy holding one of the ingredients needed to cook Ratatouille. You had to find the Remy at each pavilion on put the right sticker next to it. It turned out that statues of Remy holding the ingredient were hidden somewhere in the vicinity of the pavilion. Often it was on the corresponding marketplace, but this was not always the case. Considering that this was aimed at children, this was fiendishly difficult. However, this was very much a team effort and we also got some help from other guests and some cast members. It was a lot of fun.
We did not only eat and hunt for Remy. We also had a look around some of the pavilions. We started browsing the shops at the UK. It always amuses me what is presented as typically British in terms of merchandise. We then crossed over into France and went to see Impressions of France. I don't think I had seen this film since our honeymoon in 1998. I very much enjoyed it. We had a look around the shops after the film and then moved on to Morocco. This had originally been planned as just a bathroom stop, but this is one of my favourite pavilions and I asked if we could have wander around. This is such a hidden gem. Most people don't seem to venture beyond the restaurants and shops along the lagoon and yet there is so much more. We had a good look around and I was able to share all kinds of trivia.
We then moved on towards Japan. Christine wanted some sushi from the marketplace there, but they had run out of the kind she wanted. So instead we headed over to Katsura Grill where she managed to get the sushi she wanted. I had some green ice tea, which went down a treat. This little unplanned detour turned out to be a real blessing. It was oppressively hot at that point and all three of us were struggling a little. So sitting down in and air conditioned restaurant and rehydrating was a blessing. I was also nice to be able to just chat. Once we were done, we also had a look around the shop and I got my traditional pick a pearl. This time round I got one of average size with a slight pink tint. I was still glad that I did it.
By the time we came back out, the worst of the heat had broken. There was a Photopass photographer in front of the pagoda so I stopped for photos and Pam and I got some together, too. We then got some kakigori. I went with melon with sweet condensed milk and this went down a treat.
While we got in line for this, Christine went to check out the music at the Eat to the Beat concert. Once we had finished or sweet treat and found Remy at the American Adventure, she was ready to move on. Christine and Pam got something from Karamell-Küche at the German pavilion and then we went over to the Chinese pavilion. We had a look at the Terracotta Army exhibit and also browsed in the shop for a bit.
It was only as I started typing this up that I realised that our choice of pavilions that day turned out to be strangely prophetic. The only ones that do not fit in with this are the UK and Germany, but they are of course my home country and my country of birth respectively. Other than that, they foreshadowed things to come. I know that Morocco is North Africa, but in terms of architecture and cultural heritage it is very much influenced by the Arabic world and we got to see plenty of this during our Arabian Gulf cruise in December, which was not even on the radar in October. The same is true for my impromptu trip to Disneyland Paris in November. The really exciting addition though is represented by the Chinese and Japanese pavilions both in terms of the overall region, but also the countries specifically as we are planning to visit Xian, Shanghai and Beijing in China later this year. Little did I know when I stepped into the temple at the Chinese pavilion in October that a little over a year later, I would get to see the real Temple of Heaven as well as the real Terracotta Warriors.
Once we left the Chinese pavilion we were ready for some more food. We looked for the last two Remys and then moved towards to the World Showcase Plaza. I really wanted to try the loaded mac n’ cheese with Nueske’s pepper bacon, cheddar cheese, peppers and green onions at the Farm Fresh marketplace. This was really nice and quite a generous portion, too. I then went to Port of Entry to redeem my Hide and Squeak map for my pin. The other two wanted some food from the Scotland marketplace. There was nothing on the food menu that grabbed me, but I decided to get one of the drinks - Citrus Thistle featuring Hendricks’s Gin. This was a nice enough drink and very refreshing, but it lacked a certain wow factor and at $9, it was overpriced for what it was. There was one last thing that I wanted to try that day and this was exactly the opposite of overpriced. That was the Kālua pork slider with sweet and sour Dole Pineapple chutney and spicy mayonnaise at the Hawaii. This was $4 and almost full-sized roll with a generous amount of fillings.
We then had a look at one of the merchandise locations in this area. We were hoping that they had the pins there. Pam was happy to use her annual pass to get the Figment pin with her annual pass and I equipped her with the cash for this. They did not have any pins, but we both ended up getting a Chef Figment. We then headed towards the front of the park. We decided to have another Liquid Nitro Chocolate and Almond Truffle and this time we all had one. As we enjoyed our treat, it started to drizzle. This was no big issue and it had drizzled for a short while in the morning and then stopped again very quickly. So I was not in the least bit concerned. However, this turned out to be a mistake.
We went over to the Pin Trading Station and I got my Figment pin. I always try to get one pin for every special event I attend and the 25th anniversary of the Food and Wine Festival definitely comes under this category. Once we got my pin, we decided to do a couple of rides. We decided to do The Seas with Nemo and Friends. On our way there, it absolutely started pouring it down. When we got there, you could have wrung us out. We conveniently forgot that it is quite chilly in there. The advertised waiting time was quite long, but this ride never draws any significant lines and there seemed to be nobody about. Sure enough, we pretty much walked straight through. The curse of the broken down rides was still alive and well. We were stuck forever at the last scene with the talking jellyfish. I can tell you that one grows old very quick. We had a look around the tanks and went to see the manatees and then went on our way. It was still raining so we decided to call it a day.
Pam and Christine offered to give me a lift back to my hotel and I gladly accepted. We walked towards the exit and the rain was becoming stronger still. I rarely get to use the parking trams and that day I learned that they are not really designed for wet weather. Unfortunately the driver took a strange route where we ended up stopping at all the parking areas and then drove past our starting point again before we ended up in the right are where the car was parked. We got absolutely soaked on the way there and the walk to the car did not help either. Still we started to warm up and dry out when we got in the car. I don’t think I have ever been so wet, which is a bit of a surprise considering that I live in one of the wettest parts of the UK.
On the way over to the hotel, we were talking about what we had planned for the next day as we were going to meet up again, but this time at the Magic Kingdom. Time passed quickly and we were soon at All Star Music. We said goodbye and I went to my room. It was freezing in there and I even ended up turning on the eating. I got dried off and ready for bed. I was glad that I had brought my fleece blanked with sleeves as I definitely could do with that this evening. Fortunately I soon warmed up and fell asleep.
frustrating about the party ticket and them giving you incorrect information about the will call window.
