Epcot
Last night we decided we should try to eat somewhere on property that was highly rated, so I booked a reservation for the Kona Cafe at Polynesian Village Resort for breakfast. We enjoyed their famous Tonga Toast before making our way over to Epcot.
I didn’t think we’d be at the park long, but we spent nearly six hours there. I was so happy the Seas area was open since it was under refurbishment last time we visited ten years ago.
We went on the Nemo & Friends ride first which was cute, but kinda boring, although I did like how they incorporated the animated characters in with real live fish. I felt bad for the solitary dolphin swimming in a fairly small tank with not much in it, though. That can’t be good for the animal’s mental health. We also saw a manatee and some sea turtles.
We had fast-passes for Test Track so we went on that next. We immediately noticed it was very different from when we rode it in 2005. The newer version is faster which made it much more fun than before.
Our next stop was to see Captain EO starring Michael Jackson (and Angelica Huston, which I totally forgot about). It was popular when I was a kid but was removed in the late 90’s. It was then brought back after Michael Jackson passed away. It was definitely cheesy, but I’m glad I got to see it again. It would have been nicer if the people sitting behind us didn’t feel the need to discuss the showing in great length during the show, though. So rude! I almost turned around and said something. Seriously, not only is that rude, but you’re missing what’s being said when you’re talking so much. Ugh!
Our next stop, just because it was right there, was Journey Into Imagination With Figment which is cute.
I like the area around Captain EO and Figment because it’s where the jumping fountains are located. I could have sworn you used to be able to walk on the area where the water comes from, but pictures from this awesome website called Yesterland that shows comparisons of different Disney theme park areas over the years has proved my memory incorrect.
After hanging around awhile to get a picture of the monorail, we made our way to Epcot’s World Showcase area.
It was the first day of the International Food & Wine Festival and it was crowded. We got a small lobster roll and beef slider at the Hops & Barley booth. The lobster roll was listed as a festival favorite but neither of us enjoyed it very much. The beef slider was very good, however.
Shortly after we ate it began to rain. We camped out in a gift shop while the worst of it passed over. Then we went on the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros in Mexico before making our way out of the park.
Once we made it back to the hotel we decided to hang out in the pool for a bit before it started thundering. We were stuck in our room for a bit waiting for the rain to pass and getting increasingly hungry since the small lobster roll and beef slider were all we had eaten that afternoon.
It finally seemed to be letting up so we made our way to Downtown Disney (recently renamed Disney Springs) in search of food. The area is under construction but we found a parking garage which was really cool because it has censors over each parking space. When you enter the garage it tells you how many open spots there are on each level, and there’s a spot counter for each row as well. The actual boardwalk area of Disney Springs is rather dark and narrow so it felt claustrophobic since it was so crowded. They really need to add some additional lighting.
We had a heck of a time picking a place to eat. I had a coupon for Earl of Sandwich but we weren’t sure we wanted to spend our last night of vacation eating sandwiches so we kept looking. I told Joe I could go for either a steak or a burger, so we started checking out the menus. The burger at The Rainforest Cafe seemed overpriced so we decided on Fulton’s Crab House even though their filet is $47! The problem was when we walked in the atmosphere was icky. I don’t know how to explain it exactly, but for those prices I was expecting it to look nicer inside. I told Joe what I was thinking and he said, “let’s keep looking then” and we left.
Our next attempt was at The Boathouse. We were being led to a table right by where an extremely loud live band was playing, and I asked the hostess if she could seat us away from them. She agreed, but instead of taking us to any of the tables deeper into the restaurant, she led us to a table that was just a little further from the band. WTF??? As we were sitting there trying to speak to one another by screaming, I told Joe I couldn’t take it and wanted to leave. Luckily we hadn’t placed our orders yet, and didn’t touch the bread plate, so he said, “lets go”. I was sure he was going to kill me at that point, but he didn’t care. I can’t stand really loud music when I’m trying to dine and he agreed it was annoying. I guess that’s what happens when you’re trying to find food at 9:30 pm on a Friday night. We passed through their little food truck area and there were only two trucks even though four are listed on their website. We joked that’s one more truck than at the food truck “festival” we attempted to attend last weekend when E was over. There was literally one truck, and it was an ice cream one! But I digress.
At this point we were both getting frustrated and starving. House of Blues was too loud too, so we decided to leave. I consulted Yelp and found a place called Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers in Orlando a short drive away where we finally enjoyed some burgers and a monster turtle sundae. By the time we got back to the hotel we were exhausted and got to bed around midnight.