Me, my son, and a little hurricane named Matthew. (Updated 4/6 -- F&W time!)

[wsssup]

Awesome.... looks like you guys smashed out food and wine very nicely. The Australian menu didn't really look Australian. Shrimp on a bbq is so old and outdated. I had to laugh when you mentioned about the fan your son purchased, haha. Memories of getting India one at Disneyland and us carrying around all the time, oh i hated it too haha.

As for Soarin, they should change it to Snorin. Not a fan of this ride at all.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

(Earlier in the year we had been on Radiator Springs Racers at DL. It was the evening, the air was crisp, and there was something magical about being in Cars Land. I much prefer the RSR ride compared to Test Track. I like TT as it is, but I luuuuuuurve feeling like I’m in the desert with Mater and the gang.)

We rode RSR right at sunset last time we were at CA Adventure and it is one of my best memories EVER. Definitely prefer to Test Track, though we do love us some TT. Anyway, I am really enjoying your report! I am going to WDW with my 8 year old son in September so am reading with particular interest as to how you managed to keep the both of you happy during your trip

 

[Beccybooboo]

YES! Please do! I just ate a substandard cupcake in honour of my son's birthday tomorrow (quality testing, of course) and wish there was something Aussie involved.

Happy Birthday for tomorrow CJ

 

[steviethegreat]

I've been following along. I really enjoy reading about your adventures and all the details of the pavilions that you've explored in Epcot so far. Epcot is my favorite park. It's 99% due to all the food available to be eaten. Hahaha.

Your pictures are wonderful and your son has hilarious facial expressions. It looks like you had a wonderful time! I can't wait to read more! (And we skipped New Zealand, too. It just didn't appeal.)

As for Soarin', there's always going to be SOME distortion unless you're smack dab in the middle. But I like seeing places I've never seen before. And it's cool and peaceful in there. It smells like grass and flowers and the ocean (I think). I think it's just a really neat concept. It's not my favorite ride in all of WDW, but it's on my list of 'If I could only pick 10 rides and never ride anything else again'.

Can't wait for your next update!

 

[elcmum]

Awesome.... looks like you guys smashed out food and wine very nicely. The Australian menu didn't really look Australian. Shrimp on a bbq is so old and outdated. I had to laugh when you mentioned about the fan your son purchased, haha. Memories of getting India one at Disneyland and us carrying around all the time, oh i hated it too haha.

I know! And it would be prawns, not shrimp. Hahah!

And yes -- isn't that the joy of parenthood? You buy things for your kids and then lug it around.

We rode RSR right at sunset last time we were at CA Adventure and it is one of my best memories EVER. Definitely prefer to Test Track, though we do love us some TT. Anyway, I am really enjoying your report! I am going to WDW with my 8 year old son in September so am reading with particular interest as to how you managed to keep the both of you happy during your trip

Oh my gosh, you will have the best time! I feel kind of sad, because I know there will soon come the point that he will tire of Disney and that it won't be cool. He could care less about princess rides, meeting characters, or anything that is considered a waste of his time. He LOVED food & wine (okay, food in general), crazy ride poses, 50s Prime Time, being able to pay for things with the magic band, refillable drink mugs at the resorts, and being in the parks at night time. Oh, and that nauseating Tomorrowland Speedway. That said, with you having an 8 year old, you will have a fantastic time!

Happy Birthday for tomorrow CJ

Thanks! He had a pretty good day! Party tomorrow, so I am going insane with details this weekend and finally feeling like I can work on my house with warm weather outside. Hope to get back to the TR tomorrow!

I've been following along. I really enjoy reading about your adventures and all the details of the pavilions that you've explored in Epcot so far. Epcot is my favorite park. It's 99% due to all the food available to be eaten. Hahaha.

Your pictures are wonderful and your son has hilarious facial expressions. It looks like you had a wonderful time! I can't wait to read more! (And we skipped New Zealand, too. It just didn't appeal.)

As for Soarin', there's always going to be SOME distortion unless you're smack dab in the middle. But I like seeing places I've never seen before. And it's cool and peaceful in there. It smells like grass and flowers and the ocean (I think). I think it's just a really neat concept. It's not my favorite ride in all of WDW, but it's on my list of 'If I could only pick 10 rides and never ride anything else again'.

Thank you so much! My son was born with personality -- he's a crazy kid. He was a ginormous premature baby who had to make his way in a house with two older sisters. He's been making us laugh since he was a baby.

And yes -- totally get what you are saying with Soarin'. I'll ride it because I'm there and at the park... but I prefer FEA and even TT even more. (Yes, call me weird. I liked FEA!)

 

[Beccybooboo]

Thanks! He had a pretty good day! Party tomorrow, so I am going insane with details this weekend and finally feeling like I can work on my house with warm weather outside. Hope to get back to the TR tomorrow!

No rush sounds like you have had alot going on.

 

[elcmum]

A night of Food & Wine (but just food)

I am going to try so hard to get our day of Epcot finished!

At 6:18pm we decided to visit the Islands of the Caribbean!

Quesito: Puff Pastry with Sweetened Cream Cheese and Guava Sauce – $3.75

We had the quesito... and it was just okay. It was more or less like a froufrou version of a Toaster Strudel. The trouble with anything that is pastry is that it needs to be eaten freshly baked for it to taste good... and this had just been sitting out a fraction too long to be superb. I'd give it a pass next time.

And the kid was ambivalent.

We went over to Canada for... soup and pretzel rolls!

Canadian cheddar cheese soup served with a pretzel roll – $4.75
This did not disappoint. Despite the mugginess of the Florida weather (and the fact that I have never been to Le Cellier) I loved this soup. This was one other recipe I searched for online when we got home and made it again. There's a nice little kick at the end which makes it very different from the standard Wisconsin-beer-cheese soups that I've had before and, well, we can thank Tabasco for that kick. (The soup recipe wowed my friends at our annual camp-out, too. Strongly recommend if you have a pitch-in at work.)

That was a lot of food... and it was only 6:30.

We really hit up dinner time with lots and lots of food. It was off to Belgium for...

Belgian Waffle with Warm Chocolate Ganache and Whipped Cream – $3.75

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

The serving was small, but this was amazing. We fought for every bite of this. This is a must-eat if you EVER go to Food & Wine.

And then it was on to the Morocco booth for some hummus fries.

Spicy Hummus Fries with Cucumber, Tomato, Onions and Tzatziki Sauce – $5.00

CJ and I both love hummus. He is the kid that actually takes it to school every day for lunch with pita. (So, his pickiness does have limits.) But, neither of can really tolerate especially spicy food and this was spppiiiiiiiicy. I'm just noticing now that there is no tzatziki, which would have helped mellow the spiciness.

I'd probably pass on this if it were offered again. I felt like for the price point and the fact that it is meatless, it just really wasn't good value, and wasn't really our thing. Just give me a bowl of hummus and some fresh veggies.

Earlier in the day we were at Japan and CJ was in love with Pick a Pearl. He wanted to buy something for my daughter (who is in love with Asian culture) and we did Pick A Pearl for her. To be honest, she wasn't as thrilled with the pearl as I had hoped. We showed her the video, but I suspect it just loses its luster if you aren't there in person to pick the pearl. (Then again, she's basically 17 and.. uh, yes. She's a teenager.)

The Japan pavilion was beautifully lit!

And we did some more attempts at weird poses.

After this it was around 7:30... and we walked past these lit-up Mickey ears.

CJ was looking at them and enthralled (we still have a light-up lightsaber from Disneyland) and so I said he could get a pair so he'd have, you know, light-up things. It turns out these ears were $30 and I balked slightly until the CM said, "you know, when you walk through the different countries in World Showcase the ears change colours to match the countries. Italy is red, white and green... France is red, white and blue. And the lights sync with Illuminations and Wishes and Fantasmic."

SOLD. SOLD.

SOOOOLLLLLLD.

We walked away and for the next few minutes he was like, "what colour are my ears?" and we would look and laugh... and I became jealous. I wanted magic light up ears, too.

So we trudged back to buy a matching pair!

I LOVE THOSE DARN STUPID EARS. I love them. I'm not going to lie, they are heavy suckers on your head, but they really are cool. I love the technology behind them, and they made us smile every time we looked at them.

And where should we go after celebrating our awesome new Mickey ears?

Australia!

We had a lamington (which was tiny)...

Lamington: Yellow Cake Dipped in Chocolate and Shredded Coconut – $3.00

... and I loved that the host at the stand was actually an Aussie.

We also had the lamb.

Grilled Lamb Chop with Mint Pesto and Potato Crunchies – $7.25

The lamington was just... eh. If you are a true blue Aussie you know that it is sacrilegious to eat a lamington with fresh coconut. It has to be desiccated [dried] coconut... and this had fresh shredded coconut.

The lamb chop was good, too. It was cooked perfectly (although there is a part of my heart that loves my mum's overcooked lamb roast... even though it was as tough as leather). You'll notice the "potato crunchies" were just the remnants of potato chips from the bottom of a chip bag, that haven't really been smushed properly.

Here's what I think: if you are making steak or lamb for friends and want a way to impress them, I would totally smush potato chips and put them on top of the meat. But, I wouldn't toss it with what looks like the bottom of a bag of Lays.

The ears are lighting up!

We were trying to kill time before our FPP for FEA, and went into Mexico to check it out. If there was a way for me to bring the sombrero home, i would have.

The Mexico pavilion was paaaaaaaaaackkkkked.

Excuse the dim lighting, but it seemed like every flipping bachelor/bachelorette party was in there and trying to line up for the tequila bar.

We had been standing in line for Grand Fiesta Tour and after about ten minutes were told the ride was down, so we just looked around a little bit more trying to dwindle down time. I ended up deciding it was way too packed, so we headed over to Norway and I saw that there was a 25 minute wait for Anna and Elsa.

CJ has an absolute hatred of meeting characters, but I dragged him to meet Mary Poppins earlier in the day and dragged him again to meet Anna and Elsa.

That said, I had a blast taking photos of the queue.

We were in line with a family where the mother had a phone that was basically dead, and I let her use my back-up charger while we were in line. We both marveled over the details.

I examined this closely... I kept trying to figure if it was real cross-stitch or just a fantastic production.

I loved the decorative details of the violins and artwork.

After a little bit of time, we were on our way to meet Elsa! She was very regal and proper...

And I don't know what I was expecting from the experience, but maybe "icy" is how she is supposed to be.

Elsa was hysterical, though. She and CJ had a fantastic chat... and it was just amazing to stand back and watch.

I LOVE this photo.

(just keep scrolling down... the next post is below.)

 

[elcmum]

I kind of felt like that was way too many photos for one post... so let's try and wrap this up!

After meeting with Anna and Elsa, we went on to FEA! This was the FPP that I was stunned to actually grab, since we weren't supposed to be at Epcot that day!

The line was insaaaaaaaannee, and we thanked our lucky stars we had the FPP.

The theming in here was still just a continuation of amazeballs.

I love the little nod to Maelstrom!

At 8:52pm... we were ready to board.

I don't want to give it away... but let's just say that THIS blew me away.

I am probably in the minority, but I loved the ride. We didn't have any issues with animatronics. I thought the story was weird... but I could not open my eyes wide enough to take in the details. It was probably because I knew this would be the only time that I rode the ride that I just could not stop turning from left to right to left to right.

Now, I would not have waited two hours in line. I'm not insane... but if it was a 30-40 minute wait? Sure.

The evening was starting to wind down and we found a space of concrete and were ready for Illuminations. CJ was desperate for the mac'n'cheese...

Loaded Mac ‘n’ Cheese with Nueske’s® Pepper Bacon, Cheddar Cheese, Peppers and Green Onions – $4.50

And it was divine.

If you have the chance to get this, GET IT. DO NOT SHARE.

It was so good, I made CJ go back to get a second one.
It was the richness of the cheese, plus the bacon, and the freshness of the scallions. MMMMMMMMM.

At 9:39pm we were sitting... and he didn't want to share.

At 10pm Illuminations started...

... and I'm probably going to make some people mad.

We kept checking out each other's ears.

I tried to watch the show. I really did. I was tired. I was stuffed full of food.

We had been on our feet since daylight.

And so, to beat the rush to the buses...we left. We left halfway through Illuminations, and just sort of walked backwards through the park to keep an eye on the fireworks.

At 10:23 we were done with Epcot, and in line for a bus back to ASMo. I still don't regret that decision.

But it was an amaaaaazing day.

Coming next -- up early for Hollywood Studios

 

[Beccybooboo]

You guys did F&W so well. Loved all the photos.
What were they thinking fresh coconut. Lamingtons are definitely not fancy food the dont need to be jazzed up.
Roast lamb yum. Even when it tastes like leather haha.
Mickey ears that light up..must have...they are so cool.
We had to purchase the star wars ones they were $24.95 each but we got the annual pass holder discount which was good because of course we all had to have them. Yes they hurt to wear and are heavy too but I refused to take mine off allday during our star wars tour. They look really cool at night. We have ours hanging on the wall at home now.
I also loved FEA also such a cute little ride.
As for leaving early. I get it. You had a great time at Epcot but the fun had come to an end, better to leave while on a high than hang around and have that change.
Aussie at the Australia stand.. nice. It is awesome that at Epcot they support the culture they are promoting with workers from those countries.

 

[wsssup]

As Bec said you guys smashed out Food and Wine. Good job on tasting so many treats. Love all the pics. Just looking at Epcot pictures makes us miss it already. I mean we are annual pass holders and cant go as it is too far haha. Would really love to check out food and wine one day, and Halloween.
FEA is a pretty good line. I would only ever fastpass it as it is not worth standing in line that long thats for sure.
Keen to hear what you thought of Hollywood Studio's, was my favourite park, only because of all the Star Wars.

 

[oceanmarina]

Love the updates! I've done precisely the same thing too with illuminations - I like to get a head start on that mad rush for the buses.

So glad you guys got to ride FEA, it was down a few times this summer when I had a FP for it.

I made my DS participate in the Anna & Elsa meet & greet too this past summer, he was a good sport and they made him laugh.

Can't wait to read about your HS day!

 

[abarriger]

What a perfect Epcot day! You must have been so stuffed! And I agree with you 100 percent of FEA. I find it spectacular!

 

[mamamelody2]

Wow, love your TR so far!! Your sense of humor is much appreciated!

My youngest will be 11 in June and a mom-son trip sounds super fun, but that's not in the cards for us.

We are having a husband-wife trip this November, though, so yay!

 

[elcmum]

You guys did F&W so well. Loved all the photos.
What were they thinking fresh coconut. Lamingtons are definitely not fancy food the dont need to be jazzed up.
Roast lamb yum. Even when it tastes like leather haha.
Mickey ears that light up..must have...they are so cool.
We had to purchase the star wars ones they were $24.95 each but we got the annual pass holder discount which was good because of course we all had to have them. Yes they hurt to wear and are heavy too but I refused to take mine off allday during our star wars tour. They look really cool at night. We have ours hanging on the wall at home now.
I also loved FEA also such a cute little ride.
As for leaving early. I get it. You had a great time at Epcot but the fun had come to an end, better to leave while on a high than hang around and have that change.
Aussie at the Australia stand.. nice. It is awesome that at Epcot they support the culture they are promoting with workers from those countries.

Yes! Exactly! I was thinking for Anzac Day this year (about 50 Aussies get together and you have to bring a plate) and I was going to buy some donut holes and try my hand at lamington donut holes... just to avoid having to make the sponge while also not being the loser who brings a packet of chips. So, not fancy by any stretch... but I reckon it will still be better than what they had at Epcot.

As Bec said you guys smashed out Food and Wine. Good job on tasting so many treats. Love all the pics. Just looking at Epcot pictures makes us miss it already. I mean we are annual pass holders and cant go as it is too far haha. Would really love to check out food and wine one day, and Halloween.
FEA is a pretty good line. I would only ever fastpass it as it is not worth standing in line that long thats for sure.
Keen to hear what you thought of Hollywood Studio's, was my favourite park, only because of all the Star Wars.

Hahah! You guys could have another trip... but I don't know how you would top your 40 day adventure. And I think I'm going to try and tackle the HS post tonight -- I need to knock it out since tomorrow is our 180 day countdown for our next trip!

Love the updates! I've done precisely the same thing too with illuminations - I like to get a head start on that mad rush for the buses.

So glad you guys got to ride FEA, it was down a few times this summer when I had a FP for it.

I made my DS participate in the Anna & Elsa meet & greet too this past summer, he was a good sport and they made him laugh.

Can't wait to read about your HS day!

Thanks! I'm soooooo glad it isn't just me. I wait and wait and wait and then think, "ahh heck, I don't want to deal with people." I realise I have now turned into my dad who would leave a sport game halfway through just to beat the traffic.

What a perfect Epcot day! You must have been so stuffed! And I agree with you 100 percent of FEA. I find it spectacular!

Wow, love your TR so far!! Your sense of humor is much appreciated!

My youngest will be 11 in June and a mom-son trip sounds super fun, but that's not in the cards for us.

We are having a husband-wife trip this November, though, so yay!

Yay! Husband-wife trip may be just a smidge more fun than mother-son.... but maybe one day you can do it. Thanks for following along!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

The lamington was just... eh. If you are a true blue Aussie you know that it is sacrilegious to eat a lamington with fresh coconut. It has to be desiccated [dried] coconut... and this had fresh shredded coconut.

Kind of ironic that Disney used a fresh ingredient and that makes it not authentic! Love it!

 

[Beccybooboo]

Yes! Exactly! I was thinking for Anzac Day this year (about 50 Aussies get together and you have to bring a plate) and I was going to buy some donut holes and try my hand at lamington donut holes...

How did your Anzac Day donut hole lamingtons go?