Drawn to Life

 In case you missed the first day of our anniversary (just page on back to see that one!) we spent year #12 at Saratoga Springs. We woke up Saturday (I was feeling much better), and decided to take the walk to Disney Springs. 

Technically, there is an entire loop you can do around the lake to come and go from Disney Springs. We were headed to Homecomin, which is right in the middle, so we decided to try the whole loop. It's a nice, quiet loop that runs along the water. 

And will drop you off at the Marketplace at Disney Springs. 

And as it turns out, 10 am on a Saturday sees very little Disney Springs traffic. We had the whole place to ourselves! 

An unusal thing at Disney these days, where everything is very crowded. But, look at Asa on the bridge all by himself! 

So, Homecomin. It is probably my favorite place at Disney Springs. But it's REALLY hard to get a reservation. Even 60 days out, when reservations "open", it's usually full thanks to hotel guests that can book for their length of stay plus 60 days. Brunch on the weekends is especially hard to get. But, then I read that Homecomin only releases *some* reservations to Disney. They reserve some for walk ups, but you can also call the resturant and get some directly that way. So, two days before our trip, Asa called for a Saturday brunch reservation, and they were like 'no problem, what time would you like?" Because we had a pick of our times! Crazy. But, theres a little pro tip for you. Call Homecomin and ask. They might be able to hook you up. And then you'll be having the best deviled eggs known to man for brunch. 

I was also talked into getting the refillable drink cup. I got a Strawberry Moonshine in my cup for $22. But now whenever I'm in Disney Springs I can get it refilled with pop, lemonade or iced tea for free- or a drink drink for $13. And you don't have to sit down to get it, either. They have a walk up bar. So, I figure it's a decent investment. 

Asa and I split the Hushpuppy Eggs Benedict for our main dish. Here's another pro-tip for you. Homecomin portions are HUGE. Not even sure how someone eats it all on their own, especially if you've just started your day with three deviled eggs. 

Anyway, this comes with fried chicken, ham, and pimento hollandaise all on a hushpuppy base. It's amazing. But, a little spicy. Cool it down with some cheddar grits and you have yourself a solid brunch.  (all in outdoor seating!) 

We nosed around a bit after that, going in the new M&M store and enjoying a generally still empty Disney Springs (though it did start to pick up rapidly at lunch time). 

We were mostly killing time to try out the new Star Wars VR experience that opened at noon. It's FREE! And only available until mid-July, and I knew I wanted to try it. I'm always afraid VR will make me motion sick, so I never want to pay to do it. But, if I could try for free, I was totally into it. 

So, we parked our butts right outside to wait for it to open to be the first ones inside for the day. The line quickly formed behind us, and was so long even the people working the line said they'd never seen it so long so early in the day. I guess we're trendsetters. 

You get just under 10 minutes to try the Star Wars game for the Quest 2 Oculus VR headset thingie. (I know, very official language, right?) 

They took both Asa and I back into the same pod, and had one guy working with us. He was pretty awesome (I wish I remembered his name!), and read our strengths and weaknesses really well. I had 'teleportation' on since I get motion sick, and instead of walking around, I'd just use my controllers to point to a spot on the ground and click to magically appear there. I'm not really great at free-world games, so I spent my time in the Cantina having drinks, eating a ronto wrap and playing darts! Asa, however, left the Cantina to fight off bad guys with his light saber/gun/sword or whatever. 

Both of us really enjoyed it (and I was so glad I didn't get motion sick!) and now Asa wants a VR for home. When you're all done, they have you take a survey, and give you a $5 Disney Springs gift card to thank you for participating. So not only is the whole thing free, you profit $5 from it! 

We took our Disney Springs gift cards promptly over to the Cirque Du Soleil store. I knew if they had it, I wanted a magnet from the show we would be seeing later that night, and the store was empty so early in the day. We made the right decision visiting so early, by the time the show let out, it was PACKED. 

So, I got myself a free magnet! They only had one, so I didn't even have to make a decision on design, which was my only concern buying the magnet before I saw the show. 

To the right of Cirque is a little known path that goes back to Saratoga Springs, by going along the golf course at the resort. It's a lovely walk, and we didn't see another human while we took it. I heard this was only open during daylight hours, but there was some lighting there. It drops you off at the main lobby of the resort where the boat launch to get to Disney Springs is located. (You can take a boat, but we always opted to walk). 

Back at our room, we were going to throw in some laundry (laundry is free at DVC resorts) and hit the pool. I was hoping to swim at both the Paddock Pool and the Main Pool, because they both have slides. 

But as soon as we put on our swimsuits and went down the pool, the thunder started. We had lucked out the day before, and there wasn't a single afternoon rain drop. 

But, we weren't so lucky on Day 2 of our anniversary extravaganza. So, we sat out on the balcony in the rain and had some snacks instead. 

Not only did we have snacks I brought from home, we had a few sweets from Disney, too. 

Asa took care of the laundry for me too. 

We kept hoping the rain would stop, and we could hit the pool, but we had no such luck. Instead, we watched Mickey cartoons. 

Lucky for us, the rain tapered off right around the time we headed out to see Cirque. It was still sprinkling, so we drove instead of walked, back over to Disney Springs (though it was such a nice temperature, I was a little bummed we couldn't walk). 

Drawn to Life is the new(ish) Cirque Du Soleil show. It was supposed to open in March of 2020. But, you know. March, 2020. So, instead it got put off until early this year. I had wanted to see it since they closed La Nouba at the end of 2017. So I was super excited we were finally going. There's two shows most nights. We opted for the earlier 5:30 show. 

You can't take any pictures during the show, but we both took pictures of the stage. The show is called Drawn to Life and is all about Animation. The way they use Disney Animation in the story-telling is nothing short of masterful. It's possible I liked the acts in La Nouba better, but as an all around show, Drawn to Life wins hands-down. It's 90 minutes of non-stop capitavting visuals. 

We did sport our masks, but the theather wasn't even full, so that helped. 

But man, it's a good show. If you get a chance to see it, you totally should. The music. The incorperation of Disney (that La Nouba lacked). The acts. The story. All awesome. 

After the show, we weren't super hungry, but decided we should grab some food while we were at Disney Springs. We walked a bit, and landed at Pepe. It too, just recently reopened after the shut down. It's a counter service place attached to the Spanish resturant Jaleo, both done by Chef Jose Andres. We've only ever eaten there once before because it is pricey. But man, the sandwiches are THE BEST. We opted for the pepito ternera. This one is flat iron steak, carmelized onions, cheese, mayo and roasted green peppers on pan de cristal. This thing is killer. I mean, it's $18. But, everything on this sandwich is cooked perfectly and works together. It's probably my favorite sandwich on Disney property. Even if you count a Ronto Wrap as a sandwich people. And Ronto Wraps are amazing. 

We've had that sandwich before, and I suggested we just split that since we weren't starving. But then, the Bikini 3 Quesos caught Asa's eye. It's basically a fancy grilled cheese with Manchego, Harvati and Goat Cheese (see, three cheeses!) Again, this one is pricey. It's ten bucks for one grilled cheese. BUT, it might just be the best grilled cheese I've ever had! It was perfectly crips and gooey, and you coudl somehow  taste all three cheeses at once. This place might be a total splurge (thus making it a great anniversary trip meal), but when I am going to splurge, this will be a contender for sure. 

We had beaten most of the crowds out of Cirque. We were first in line at Pepe, and easily found a seat outside. But, by the time we were done eating the seats were all full and there was a line out the door. Coupled with a concert night at House of Blues, and that was enough of Disney Springs on a Saturday night for us. 

So, we headed back to our resort, and luckily the weather had cleared! 

We changed into our swim suits and walked up to the "Carriage house" otherwise known as the main lobby area. 

We played some games, like Connect Four (check out Asa being Mickey), which I won- and then some pool (Asa ALWAYS wins at pool, unless he accidentally sinks the 8 ball). 

Look at our cute pool ball picture. 6-17-10! Our anniversary! 

Then it was time for some swimming. I have a goal to swim in all the main, or "feature" Disney pools. While we were swimming here, I realized I'm only missing two: Coronado Springs (Stay tuned!) and Old Key West. I'm also missing those two slides and the one at Stormalong Bay and I will have been at all the Disney Resort slides! 

When it started to get dark, we took a walk across "The Springs" area of the resort over to the Paddock. It's not a long walk, and was lovely, even in our wet swim suits. 

The Paddock pool is smaller, and the slide is just a swirly one all the way down (reminds me of the Fort Wilderness Slide), but I wanted to check both of the fancy pools in Saratoga off my list. 

After our late night swim we headed back to our room. It was our last night at Saratoga Springs, since in the morning we were switching resorts and heading over to Coronado Springs. 

Next Up: Sangria University! For real, I got a diploma and everything.