4th September
We grabbed breakfast at Artist’s Palate again this morning.
I forgot to mention earlier we were on the Disney Dining Plan for this trip – I
know most people will say that breakfasts aren’t the best use of our
credits....but it’s the only way we could even attempt all that food!
Afterward we headed over to the Animal Kingdom. We started
off with the Safari and saw quite a few animals. No lions though I think we
were a little late in the morning for them.
We then wandered one of the trails before heading over to
Camp Minnie-Mickey (although this seems oddly named now that the named
characters meet elsewhere!).
I decided to join the line to meet King Louie and Baloo.
Whilst we were waiting a family with small children for some reason decided to
allow the children to creep past us. When it was time for us to meet the
characters the small children had overtaken us and rushed in to see them!
To be fair it didn’t delay us especially but I do find it
mildly annoying when people assume we won’t mind when these things happen. I
know I’m 32 but if I get in a line to meet characters it’s because I want to
meet them....not watch other people meet characters!
Rant over.....
We then decided to head across towards Everest...on the way
we decided to watch Flights of Wonder. We have never watched this before and it
was a fun show.
We picked up fast passes for Everest and then took a wander
over to Dinosaur – it’s always a bit bumpy but we have to ride it once a trip.
The line for Dinosaur was about 30 mins which seemed quite a
long line considering that the parks were extremely quiet but maybe everyone
really likes Dino?! Anyway, I was quite enjoying a break in the air
conditioning!
Finished up with Dino and headed back over to ride Everest
but by this time it was experiencing technical difficulties. We decided to get
the first soft serve ice cream of the trip and then afterward went to see the
Tigers.
We popped back to see if Everest was back up but it was
still broken so we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.
We had our much anticipated dinner at Be Our Guest this
evening.
Our reservation was for 7.40 so we arrived a little early and were
seated promptly. We were seated in the Ballroom which was just like the movie.
The room feels a little big to eat in but that does fit the theme of a
ballroom!
We were on the dining plan and I decided to try the steak (I
don’t often eat steak). Rob was also having the steak and he had his cooked
well done (rather than medium which is his normal preference) to make
absolutely certain that mine would arrive well done as requested.
I think it would have been fine anyway but he offered! Oddly
we did not get provided with steak knives but we didn’t have any major issues.
The fries were lovely!
Then for dessert we had the chocolate cupcakes. As expected
they were difficult to get into....but with a little perseverance we were
in...and it was worth the effort!
Whilst we were eating the Beast left for his break and then when
he returned he checked on all 3 dining rooms. I liked that all of the wait
staff stopped what they were doing and bowed when the beast passed – it seemed
to fit with the storyline from the movie.
After we had finished eating we took a quick look in the
other rooms. I loved the West Wing – much smaller but the theme was fantastic.
The other room was a little odd and had more of a counter service feel to
it...but there were very few tables being used in this room.
I must admit I felt a little odd wandering around the other
rooms whilst people were eating. I felt like I was intruding whilst in the West
Wing....!
Before we left we headed in to meet the Beast, we had a
short wait and then had our picture taken. Having not met the Beast before I was
quite surprised by his height...he was much bigger than I expected.
As we left I stopped to take a few more pictures. The podium
had been removed by now and the foyer was much quieter than when we had arrived
earlier.
Overall we had a really good night. I do wish they had kept
the chicken dish as the hen rather than the current choice as I would much
prefer that as an option but the venue itself was excellent.
I have a reservation for our December trip so that I can
show Rob’s mum the castle!
After dinner we decided not to stay in the park for Wishes,
we hopped on the monorail and despite a brief holding period (grr) we managed
to watch from the ferryboat dock. Much less crowded than in the park and more
relaxing!
5th September
This morning we had breakfast booked at Cape May Cafe. Our
reservation was for 8.45 and we were quite early so we waited in the lobby
before checking in.
Once we checked in we were seated quite quickly. Our server
was a lovely lady who offered to take photos with the characters if we wanted
them together.
We met a couple of the characters quite quickly and then got
some food. The character interaction was quite good at this meal and it was
quite quiet in the restaurant (considering the number of children around).
Overall I quite enjoyed breakfast here; the choice of food
was good and the atmosphere was relaxed.
Now, I‘m not sure if we were slow eating or if the
characters were fast, but we somehow managed to meet them all twice during our
meal.
Once we were finished we headed across to Epcot. We had a
quick ride on Spaceship Earth and then went to get fast passes for Test Track.
We then decided to head to the Land so that we could pick up a fast pass for
Soarin’ before riding Test Track.
On the way we popped into the Character Spot and met Mickey,
Pluto and Minnie. I think it’s a shame you can’t see the characters from
outside anymore. It used to be quite fun being able to see them inside as you
walked past.
We continued to the Land to collect our fast pass for Soarin
then we walked onto Living with the Land before popping back to ride Test
Track.
The new Test Track was quite fun although the design bit
felt a bit rushed. I did not know at this point that you could design the car
at your leisure in the after show area.
We headed back to ride Soarin’ and then grabbed another fast
pass as return times were still not too far away.
We headed back out and somehow along the way we spotted
Peter Pan on his way to a Meet and Greet so I went to meet him and get another
autograph.
Then we decided to ride the Nemo ride – I’m sure we have
been on this before but not for a while because we completely forgot about all
the fish in here!
We stayed and looked at the fish for a little while and then
went to ride Soarin’ again. I may have mentioned before that Rob is not a big fan of Soarin’ – he now
calls it Snorin’ or Borin’ but I love it!
We were finished with Future World for the day so we went to
the World Showcase. We saw Duffy on the way in so I got a photo.
Popped into Mexico to ride the boat, I wanted to meet Mexican
Donald but his line is always long and so I skipped it and went on to Norway to
Maelstrom instead.
We skipped past China and ended up getting an early dinner in
the USA. I managed to get some fruit instead of more dessert! We got around to Morocco
and then it started raining – really heavily. We sheltered in Fez House for a
while and waited for it to pass.
Once the rain had stopped we continued round to the UK and
had a looked in the shops. Rob was stunned by the cost of some of the items in
the UK compared to that in the real UK! Really expensive!
We decided to watch the Canada movie as we had never seen it
before – that is a weird feeling with the pictures all around you.
Once we got back outside it was like there had never been
any rain all day!
We decided to find a spot for the fireworks in a fairly
central position – just along from where Duffy meets. We sat on the ground for
a while and eventually more people gathered. It was still quite quiet and it
was not too crowded for the show.
We had a great view and it was a nice end to the day. I
think this was the first time we had ever stayed at Epcot without having a
midday break!
Fireworks over, we headed back to the parking lot. It was a
short walk as we were in row 9!
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