Flowers and Gardens -- Part 3
Monday, May 5, 2014
Plan for the Day
Epcot
Fastpass+ for
Living with the Land
Soarin
Spaceship Earth
California Grill for Dinner
How the Day Went:
Wake up surprised at how well I've slept. Our room is really quiet. Though we can hear the busses while we are out on the balcony, I don't hear them inside the room which is good.
We breakfast on coffee, cereal (for Gene); hardboiled egg and cottage cheese (for me) and we are off. We're on a bus by 9:20 in the morning. After a stop at Fort Wilderness, we arrive at Epcot. Test Track is listing a 60 minute standby. We head to the Living Seas where Nemo is listed as a 15 minute standby so we go on that. After watching the manatees and the dolphins, we check out the wait time for Crush which is listed at 10 minutes so we get on line.
Apparently, the way they handle this now is that there is a switchback line for the standby folks. Fastpass folks are allowed to enter the general area and explore all the exhibits. Some of the standby folks are allowed to do this as well. After a 20 minute wait in line, we were the last two allowed into the show from the standby line. (Had we not been allowed in, we would have left and, in fact, saw a number of folks in the line beside us deciding to leave rather than wait through another show cycle).
After Crush, we head over to Figment where the standby line is 25 minutes. Not happening!! In fact, we never got on this ride at all during this trip. We check out Mousegears - more money spent of course.
We then begin to check out Flower & Garden exhibits and visit the show center. As we exit, Gene announces he is hungry. We've decided to head to Tutto Gusto for a fairly light lunch. As we begin our trek around World Showcase, we see the boat is available so take that across. I think it's been at least 10 years since we used one of the Friendship boats. Upon arrival at Tutto Gusto, we are seated immediately. Gene selected the meatballs parmesan along with a glass of red wine. I have the meatball sliders along with an Espresso Mocha Cocktail. Lunch is quite good and hits the spot for both of us!!
It's around 12:45 as we walk past the American Adventure but the next show will not be until 1:30 pm so we pass on by. And, unfortunately, we never do get back to experience this during this trip. As we walk by the new Spice Road restaurant, we take a peek inside. We are warmly welcomed and encouraged to look around. I think we will definitely try this place at some point!!
As we pass by the pub, I notice all the outside tables are taken so take a peek inside - not expecting to find any open tables. I'm very surprised to find the bar is practically empty and there are several empty tables. We must have luckily hit a lull! Within 10 minutes the tables are full and the bar area is once again packed!
We finish our drinks and our cool-down period and venture out of doors once again. We continue to explore the beautiful garden areas until it is time for our fastpass+ at Living with the Land. This is so totally a walk-on that we skip the fastpass line (although we observe a group of people entering the the fastpass+ line). By time they make it through and up to the boarding area, we are already sailing past them.
As we exit the boat, it is still too early for our Soarin fastpass, so we make our way out of the building to go check out the butterfly area. Along the exterior benches, we spot an unattended Disney World bag along with a child's hair scrunchy. It looks like someone may have wandered away while forgetting their purchase. I report the find to a nearby cast member who asks me where the package is. I point it out to him and we continue on our way.
We head over the butterfly area and explore that for a while. We then make our way back to The Land for our Soarin' fastpass. As we approach, we see that security has been called in to deal with the unattended package and see the security guard carrying the package away with him.
When we've completed our journey over California, we decide to check out the standby time for Spaceship Earth - our last fastpass + of the day. It's not quite time for our fastpass but the ride is clearly a walkon so we complete it before our fastpass would have become available.
We head to the exit and monorail over to the Grand Floridian. I am on a mission. I used my last bath bomb the evening before. I quickly stock up on more at the Basin store here. We monorail over to the Contemporary and from there boat back to Wilderness Lodge. Ruining our run of last two on board, the boat captain waits for one final latecomer so we are last two on board but for one more!!
Back home, we shower and change for dinner. We now boat back to the Contemporary and head to the main concourse where we find a spot in the Outer Rim. We relax there for a while before our reservation upstairs at California Grill. When the right time arrives, we head downstairs to check in at the California Grill desk - which has moved from the left to the right hand side. We are escorted to the elevator as usual and sent on our way to the top. Before we arrive at the top floor, the beeper we were given when we checked in downstairs is already signaling our table is ready. We are seated at a table that is 3 from the window and we still have a nice view. The tables to our right are situated so parties of two afford only one of the two a view out the windows - the other party would be staring at a wall. Gene comments he would not be happy had we been seated there.
During our meal, we observe any number of people improperly dressed (and who do NOT meet California Grill's stated dress code). There are many who are wearing shorts and tee shirts and appear to have come straight from the parks. One man, in particular, was unfortunately seated right in my line of vision. He entered wearing jeans with no belt which was a rather unfortunate choice. He also wore a white tee shirt which hung out under the red tee shirt he was wearing. Let's just say that the missing belt to hold up those jeans provided me with a most distasteful view when he was seated - one I would much rather have missed.
Oh well, we get on with our lovely meal. We both have the goat cheese ravioli as our appetizer. Gene was going to order the fillet mignon but, when I discussed our entree options with our server, Gene changed his mind and selected the bison which I had chosen as my entree. Though I was full, I did order ice cream and a coffee for dessert while Gene selected a chocolate cake and coffee. Our desserts had just been delivered and I had only taken a couple of bites of my ice cream when we went outside to watch the fireworks which were lovely. When I returned, I found my ice cream was gone. Kelly, our terrific server, was afraid it would melt while we watched the fireworks so she brought me a fresh bowl of ice cream when we returned!!
We had thought about going to Top of the World at Bay Lake Tower after dinner this evening to watch the fireworks but dinner ended up lasting longer than we thought so we take the boat directly home where I have a tubby and go to bed.
