Hey guys! I'm back sooner than normal! I know I put off our April trip to Epcot because I just didn't have the time, and I wanted to get at least one blog in during the month of April. So, now I'm here to play catch up. We almost made another trip to Disney this weekend, but I had no idea it was going to storm so terribly on Sunday, so we scratched it and made Fastpasses for this weekend instead, so hopefully that'll work out. With the car situation and blackout dates we've fallen behind on our quest to do every Disney attraction on these passes. I believe they expire on the 6th of October, so we're looking at just five months left!
Anyway, Asa and I decided since my mom was here we would attempt to take the car all the way to Disney. I mean, it was a great time to test run- because if we got stranded, she could come get us. Turns out, everything went fine, and I have regained *some* confidence in the Fit, at least for now.
So not only was it exciting to know we could make it to Disney- but you guys, it's FLOWER AND GARDEN FESTIVAL TIME! The Food and Wine festival used to be my favorite. But, that's so crowded anymore- and I almost like the food better at the Flower and Garden festival. It's less heavy, and less meat-centric, and most things are light and fruity and awesome. It also means those yummy veggie dishes are much cheaper than the food and wine festival dishes.
So there's another Festival off our Epcot list!
#15 Flower & Garden Festival
In case you were wondering there are currently 71 things on our Epcot list (taken from the Disney website- but ever changing depending on what is available- they're known to take entertainment options out without any notice-- and add them). We've only done 14 of them to date.
But, the tram from the parking lot is listed. So, we took that too! (Despite the fact that it only took us about the length of a football field since they are totally redoing the Epcot enterance.)
No picture from the short ride, but that clocks in at #16 Tram from the parking lot
We arrived just in time for our first fastpasses for Mission Space. You guys, I had NEVER ever in our over a decade of having passes been on this ride. I'm slightly claustrophobic and I get motion sick. People have assured me this is a pretty tame one, but I still opted out every single time.
There's the green mission and the orange mission. If you're like me, you're going to want to take the green mission. Because the orange mission is notorious for being way more intense. I've personally seen a few people toss their cookies after the orange mission. Even Asa refuses to go on it. (For the purposes of this 'quest', we only need to go on one- because Disney simply lists 'Mission Space' as an attraction, and doesn't differentiate until you get to the actual ride. Even your Fastpass doesn't stipulate.
I survived just fine. I wouldn't say I'm itching to do it again- especially if there were four people in our space shuttle (it was just me and Asa), but it was ok.
And that one is complete!
#17 Mission Space
So, the Flower and Garden Festival is also my favorite because Epcot is SO PRETTY during it. The bright flowers are gorgeous- but my favorite thing is the topiaries. They are amazing. One of the little carts was selling mini topiaries to take home. I'd LOVE one someday. But, they are like $50, and that's a little too steep for a plant for me.
But just look at it! The only down side is how plain it looks when it's all over.
Of course, there is food too, and they have the little wrist band gift cards to help keep track of your spending and keep your money handy. This year they came with a ta that contains wildflower seeds. You just plant the tag and get a little patch of flowers!
First up, we tried the famous Violet Blueberry Vanilla Croissant Doughnut at Taste Track. This thing is delicious and everything you would want a cronut to be. Flaky, light, sweet, and crispy. It's also really big, and totally shareable. We might get this one again if we go with the boys.
And then we headed over to the Citrus Blossom booth. This one had lines like an hour long on opening day. They have a really great menu (even lobster tail!), but it was the little orange bird sipper that had everyone waiting. Eventually they sold out of him. But, he's back now!
Orange bird if you don't know (and for real, what is wrong with you if you don't!) is one of those way back Disney characters from the Magic Kingdom. He's from Sunshine Terrace, which once upon a time was home to the Dole Whip. To me, he's like the dole whip mascot. Anyway, I thought I could pass him up. He comes with a very delicious orange cream slushy (though truth be told it's more of a milkshake than a slushy) but he's also $14. I tried to resist. I really did, but I caved. Also, the drink on it's own is delicious, it tastes like a melted down orange creamcicle, but not in a gross melty way. Even if you can resist the adorable cup, the drink is worth getting (and it's cheaper if you don't get it in the Orange bird cup).
I also picked up the Crispy Citrus Chicken with Orange Aïoli and Baby Greens from the same booth. It was good. But, I was expecting to love it. It sounded right up my alley. I wanted more greens and more aioli though. For real, the aioli was the star of the show here. The chicken was a little too crispy and the chicken to breading ration was not great.
While I waited for my orange bird sipper and chicken (it was a super short line the day we were there!), Asa went over to grab the Coffee-rubbed Pork Poutine with Barbecue Demi-Glace, Fire-roasted Corn Relish and Cheese Curds from the Refreshment Port. This one was a winner, but it's COFFEE AND POUTINE, so basically if you don't love this, I don't want to know you. (My non-coffee loving mom, gets a pass of course). The coffee flavor is defiantly there, but not over powering. And I mean, poutine is always great from the Refreshment Port.
Next up we went over to the Honey Bee-stro. Get it? BEE-stro? Ha!
There, we tried the Local Wildflower Honey-mascarpone Cheesecake with Orange Blossom Honey Ice Cream garnished with Fennel Pollen Meringue Kisses and Petite Lavender Shoots. This one was yummy, but there's some weird edible glitter over the ice cream that I just wasn't too much of a fan of. I would get this one again, and maybe ask to leave that off. But the honey cheesecake is on point.
And because we wanted to get in some veggies we also had Roasted Cauliflower with Buckwheat Honey Carrot Purée, Wild Rice Pilaf, Asparagus, Honey-blistered Grapes, Sunflower Brittle and Coriander Flowers. This one was great- except for the grapes. I don't know, they also just didn't go with everything for me. That honey carrot puree is awesome though. It might look like baby food, but I would eat a jar of that stuff.
We were pretty fully by then, so we decided to hit the rest of our fastpasses, and wander through the Butterfly garden. I have big dreams of eventually turning my front flower bed (which is totally empty at the moment) into a butterfly garden.
I think I could manage, I'll just have to research what all to put out there.
We've been on Spaceship Earth a couple of times on our 'quest', but our plan is to do it in every language. We know the whole story, so we always think it's fun to hear it in different languages. This time we went with Portuguese.
So while it doesn't knock a whole item off our list- we've done 3 of the 6 languages, so we are halfway there. Still to go: German, Spanish and English.
But we could knock off #18 Project Tomorrow: Inventing Wonders of the Future (otherwise known as all those little games when you get off Spaceship Earth.
It's been years since we did this stuff, and while it is all showing its age a bit, it's still fun!
Next up, I had nabbed some Fastpasses for #19 Meet Pals at the Epcot Character Spot. This is a top tier Fastpass, so I've been putting it off.
Like, you mean to tell me I can't have Test Track and Soarin if I meet the characters? BOO. But, the boys weren't tagging along on this trip, and since nobody in their right mind not traveling with toddlers would give up their one top tier space for this, I made the sacrifice so the boys wouldn't have to.
But, for the whole character spot, you do get a couple characters. There's Mickey.
And Goofy.
And Minnie.
I would have preferred a Pluto, but what can you do?
That was it for our three pre-booked Fastpasses, so then I started scoping out for some new ones, and #20 Turtle Talk with Crush
came right up. Truth be told, we didn't need it at all- there's never a wait, but I grabbed it just in case and we headed on over.
That's another one we haven't done in years. Like, since the boys were little enough to sit up front and be part of the gaggle of kiddos. But, I'm not quite sure why. It's entertaining even for the grown ups, and it's an interactive one, so no two shows are exactly alike.
Next Up things got a bit tricky. Epcot pads their numbers of 'attractions' (like you couldn't tell with that whole tram bit, right?) and just like over in the Animal Kingdom, they list lots of different animals in the seas pavilion as 'attractions'. So, while I'm not quite sure exactly what's meant by each one, we spotted various animals and went and looked in every single tank there is in that building, and called it a day. Some things were obvious like the coral reef, other's like the invertebrates, not so much.
We're going ahead and counting them all as done though.
#21 Sea Base Exhibits (Nemo Pavilion) 4/28/19
#22 The Coral Reef (at Nemo exit)
#23. Reef Fish(Nemo Pavilion)
#24. Sea Turtles (Nemo Pavillion)
#25. Sharks & Rays (Nemo Pavillion)
#26 Invertebrates at Epcot (Appears on Map in Nemo Pavillion)
Interestingly enough, the dolphins and the manatees aren't listed. But, they do have them- and we did see them.
We even took quizzes on the computers and played with all the interactive exhibits just to cover our bases. When we were done we had spent a good chunk of time in the Nemo Pavilion, and I thought that would have been better to do when it's 9 million degrees out, instead of the nice day we had- but such is life.
It might have been a weekend (during a festival, no less) but it wasn't terrible crowded, so we jumped in line to see some characters that don't have Fastpasses.
#27 Meet Baymax at Hiro’s Workshop
and
#28 Meet Joy & Sadness at Headquarters
I think the longest line we waiting in all day was for our iced coffee/tea at Starbucks.
But the line to get our free Passholder magnets for the Flower and Garden Festival moved pretty quickly! They even still had some Pluto ones left even though those were supposed to be the first half of the festival, and Daisy was supposed to be the second. We came at a good time to get them both in one visit!
Then we took another mode of transportation (also listed as an attraction) across the lagoon to the World Showcase
#29 Friendship Boats (on Lagoon inside park)
Since we were sans kids this time, we decided to start hitting up some of the little museums in the world showcase.
Our first stop was
#30 Gallery of Arts & History in Morocco.
This one makes you feel like you're going somewhere secret, because the doors are so unassuming.
The only other attraction in Epcot is meeting Jasmine, we were all set to- but she wasn't there. We'll have to try again later. We did nose around the marketplace shops (which I couldn't believe wasn't listed!)
Over in Japan, we just missed the drummers (while I think if we catch a show in the middle it counts- because it would be so hard to time it all otherwise and I'm doing this for fun not for index card of fun type of planning), they were putting away their drums when we got there.
But we did see the
#31 Bijutsu-kan Gallery (Museum)
Again, the stores in the World Showcase aren't listed, but I'm trying to go in all of those too, just to nose about- and the Japan store is totally redone!
The American Pavilion has some construction going on, so our only stop there was to get a little snack. The Smokehouse is always a good booth. This year we decided to go with the Beef Brisket Burnt Ends and Smoked Pork Belly Slider with Garlic Sausage, Chorizo, Cheddar Fondue and House-made Pickle and it did not disappoint. Seriously, get this one.
We bypassed Italy and Germany, since you have to get the right times for the attractions there (there's only one a piece too), and headed over to China where we knocked quite a few things off our list.
#32 Jeweled Dragon Acrobats
It's a fun show to stop and watch if you have a few minutes!
#33 House of the Whispering Willows (Gallery)
was a little disappointing. I've been in here before and it used to be a really cool Chinese museum. Now, it's basically an advertisement for Shanghai Disney. I was unimpressed.
We also stayed to watched the film,
#34 Reflections of China (film)
although this motion sick prone girl had to close her eyes a few times.
Over in Norway we stopped in a gallery I didn't even know was there (I mean it's TINY and if you're in a beeline for school bread in Norway, you're going to miss it).
#35 Stave Church Gallery (Viking Museum)
Though it's small, it has some interesting artifacts (by far the oldest we've seen in any of the Epcot museums, and lots of stories to read.
I had nabbed a Frozen fastpass after Turtle Talk by refreshing My Disney Experience over and over again. This is another top tier Fastpass, and while I like the ride, it's not usually one the boys or even Asa prefers. They still aren't over the demise of Malstrom. Anyway, I had a fastpass for our anniversary since I got to make those 60 days out, but I ended up cancelling it since you can only have so many out at a time. (Something I think sucks for passholders).
But anyway, we bypassed a very large line and rode
#36 Frozen Ever After
for only the second time since it opened.
We timed our trip through Mexico well, and were able to see the
#37 Mariachi Cobre Show
And, we went inside to look around
#38 Mexico Folk Art Gallery
which, much like China has been transformed into basically a whole museum of Coco stuff. (Which, I still haven't seen).
We were ready to head home after our trip around the world (I wanted to get home before dark just you know, to make sure we made it ok!), but we wanted to make one more stop at the Flavor Full Kitchen counter to try out two more dishes.
Asa was excited about the Citrus-poached Salmon with Ancient Grain Salad, Roasted Vegetables, Citrus Greens. But I was there for the Mickey Tart Peanut Butter Mousse with Strawberry Jam and Boba Pearls
Asa loved the salmon. It was his favorite dish of the day. I tried it, but you know how I feel about fish. Still, it was fine. But, the tart... well, it is awesome. Really a must get. And they will ask you if you want a multigrain crust or a chocolate crust. You want the chocolate crust, I assure you. It's like a grown up Peanut Butter and Jelly in Mickey form, and you can't ask for more than that.
Not only are we at 38/71 things off the Epcot list (over half way there!), but we got to try some Flower and Garden Festival Food, and I even got to bring Orange Bird home with me.
Such a fun day at Epcot, especially since we hadn't been able to go to Disney in FOR.EVER. I think we have plans to go on Sunday to the Animal Kingdom, so I'm pretty excited about that! The Animal Kingdom list stands at 33 out of 64, so we'll see how much we can do! Avatar is going to be tricky for sure. For Disney as a whole we are at 98/235 attractions so we have a ways to go!
Next Up: Mother's Day Weekend. Get out the Lifeboats everyone!
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