BradyBzLyn...Mo

4am, why does it always have to be 4am? The plan is to be on the road at 7am or so. We have requested to 500 loop - we shall see. Rita has done it to me again! I told her after the last reservation fiasco, that she better get it right the first time, because I wasn't going to keep making changes ...
Change 1: My cousin, Heather, is coming down for a few days because she needs company for the Halloween Horror Night at (gasp!) Universal. Heather's Birthday is Oct. 29, so I make Reservations at Narcoosee for her Birthday.
Change 2: Heather can't come, so the Reservation at Narcoossee gets cancelled, and I'm NOT going to HHN.
Change 3 (starting to see a trend here?): Rita, "One day Premium/Platinum Plans end Dec. 31, why don't we slip one in"? Me, :facepalm: Hours later, our ONE reservation at The Fort is now THREE! One for when we check in; one for the One Day OMG I Ate Too Much But Cirque Was Fantastic Plan; and one for the rest of the stay. (Don't forget having to make reservations for all that dining [brown Derby, California Grill and Yachtsman Steakhouse - and YES, Dave, there WILL be pictures of Pood Forn] and anther reservation for Cirque).
Change 4: Originally Rita couldn't get off on Monday, Oct 24 - no way; no how, so we were due to arrive on Oct. 25 ... As "the day" got closer, Rita developed full blown DOCDAA (Disney OCD Anxiety Attack), and "found" a way to cram everything that needed to be done into the last few days at work. Guess who was rapidly becoming on a first name basis (Yes, Lou, I DO know they ask for my first name and use it on the phones) with the CMs at the Reservation Center :banghead: NOW, she wanted to leave "as soon as we can get reservations for a Premium site to extend our current Reservations". On the Phone Again (I bet they have my phone number flagged and the "newbies" get to handle my call). Saturday, Oct 22 didn't have Premium sites available ... the 23rd did.
Change 5 (bless you Lorna & Bitchie!): We had arranged to get a GC for our stay starting the 25th. A flurry of PMs (notice the change from Caps to lower case - there was NO PMS or pms involved!) later, and we are also supposed to get the GC early :jumpforjoy
THEREFORE, we shall be at The Fort this afternoon! Expect photos - lots of photos! There will be photos of Fiends; there will be photos of Pood Forn; there will be photos of GG and other Fiend events (BATWIT Blackmail photos available at extra cost :rofl2: ); there will be photos just because.
To be continued ...

Packed, Hitched and ready! Y'all all be careful, we'll see you there!

Paula can be the DD! I can't wait to get a hangover with you girls!

I don't drink but I want to hang out so I have the hangover.

we're on the road!!

Hooray for me. Rhonda was able to add October 27th to my reservation.

After running around to restock groceries we decided to wander over to MK for EMH.
Some of the decorations we saw along the way....


A lot of decorated golf carts are starting to show up....

Passing by Discovery Island we saw many of these big black birds in the sky and roosting in the trees...

The sunset was very pretty...


The "welcome lights" were on at MK...


First stop is always Peter Pan. The ride got stuck so we were left hanging over London...

Then across the way to ISM...(no...don't listen to that song going round in your head!! :rofl3: )
Aiden just can't swivel around fast enough in his seat to take it all in!

We came out of ISM and found it was time for fireworks. These are looking over top of Pinochio Haus....




Next up...Winnie the Pooh!




Then we did Dumbo and the Carousel with POC being next. Unfortunately Aiden hadn't gotten his afternoon nap and he fell asleep in the stroller. We headed for the boat back to the Fort. I took lots of pictures on the way out...they will come in another post.
The rain is beginning as I post this on Tuesday afternoon. Looks like it might not be quite as bad as expected but we are planning rain activities (might just need a trip to the outlets )!

Monique, we are checking in Wed. the 26th instead of the 27th. :jumpforjoy

Ok, I figured I'd better get some more put on here before the week starts. This will be a pretty busy week and it may be a couple of days before I can get any more put up.
We were fortunate enough to have some travel company contacts that offered to help us out on park tickets, so Monday morning we got up early to meet them at Epcot to get our tickets for the day.
We decided to take the monorail over instead of the bus, since we figured we would end up at the MK before the day was over.
Here we are on the boat leaving the marina.

Shoe tree. More on that later...


River Country. More on that later too.

MK as we exited the boat on our way to the Epcot monorail...

What? You say that the MK doesn't have a direct monorail to Epcot?
Doh.
Lesson Learned: Don't be stupid...learn the monorail routes.
I don't know why, but we both assumed that we could take the monorail from the MK directly to Epcot that morning. I guess this is where our Disney inexperience shows. We know better now.
Yes Lou, I am a teacher. However, I don't teach monorail.

So we get to Epcot and get our tickets. Turns out they were not park hoppers, so now we were stuck at Epcot all day. Wasn't our initial plan, but we made it work.

The first thing we did was pick up our Disney Rewards Redemption card. If you go to Disney a lot and don't have a Disney Rewards Visa, I suggest it. We had earned $125 off of our visa to spend as we wished! SWEET! And it was F&W. Even better.
Lesson Learned: Use the Disney Visa for everything to earn more rewards points!
I don't like posting pics of my family on the internet, but I couldn't resist this one:

Lesson Learned: my kids are super cute.
We hit the "kid" rides in Epcot pretty quickly. We had never been on the Seas or Turtle Talk, so we did both of those. DD3 pretty much liked everything, but as expected, DD19mos had a hard time sitting through a lot of the show type attractions.
The aquarium was pretty cool, and we got there just in time to see the end of a dolphin demonstration. I think they are smarter than a lot of kids (not mine, of course).
Not really a hidden mickey, but I had to take a pic anyway.

After riding several rides, it was about 11:00 and time to hit the world showcase. Woo hoo! F&W here we come.

DW had been wanting to see some of the lesser traveled places in Epcot, so we hit the gardens and hedge maze in the UK. DD3 had a fun time with that, and it was nice and quiet back there with almost no other people.

I don't know what this is supposed to be on the hill crossing over into France, but it was cool.

DD3 got to meet Belle here (in her commoner clothes), and DD19mos decided that she hates people. At least meeting people. She decided at this point to either sleep through or throw a fit during ever subsequent character meeting for the rest of the trip. Awesome.
Lesson Learned: as if we didn't already know, our youngest is nothing like our oldest!
We had read a lot of reports about the slushies in France.
We couldn't wait to try them.
The F&W kiosk had a cosmo slushie.
BOOOOO. Who the heck wants a cosmo slushie? Where was the freaking Grand Marnier slushie?
It wasn't open yet.
So we waited.
It was well worth the wait. It was already half gone before I remembered to take a pic.

Lesson Learned: don't share the slushie with the wife.
I learned, because later in the day we went back to get another, and I opted for the Grey Goose Citron slushie and it was really good too.
Lesson Learned: Slushies with liqueurs are way more fun than regular slushies.
We were so excited about our slushie that I totally forgot to take pics of the food we tried. Nothing blew us away, but it was fun to try different things...especially since we were using our reward points!
After hitting a few countries it was clear it was nap time for the girls.
So we started our long journey back to the Fort.
Monorail.
Change monorails.
Boat.
Golf Cart.
Finally made it to 1802.
I guess we could have just taken the bus back to the Fort, then taken the bus back up to the marina to get our golf cart, but that didn't occur to us.
Lesson Learned: take the bus to Epcot.
After lunch and resting at the TT, we headed back over to Epcot mid afternoon (on the bus this time).
I honestly don't remember everything we did now, but I do remember we ate more food and had more slushies.
Maybe that's why I don't remember.
We went to the coke place and tried all the different drinks.
DD3 tried Beverly.
I should have gotten a picture of it.
If you've never tried it, you should. It's great...
Since we have the Disney Visa we got to go to the special character greet in Innoventions West.
Short line and a private pic with Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy. Plus we got a free 5x7 of it. Not a bad deal, and DD3 loved meeting the characters. As expected, DD19mos wanted nothing to do with any of them.
Lesson Learned: I like getting perks!
Then it was time for my favorite ride at Epcot.
Soarin'?
Mission: Space?
Test Track?
Nope.
Living with the Land!
Yes!
I don't really care about the first half of it, except that you get to sit down for awhile inside.
But the greenhouse is where the excitement pics up!
I don't know why, but I really dig seeing all of the plants growing in unusual ways. Plus, it just makes me feel healthy being around all the vegetation!
Lesson Learned: I'm a dork.
Here are the pics:


I don't really care for all the fish they have in there, but whatever.




Another non-hidden Mickey.

They even grow scarecrows and dried corn stalks in here!

Okay, so I probably just lost half of you after all the pics of plants, but I think they're cool.
For those of you still awake, we press on.
After meeting Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, it was time for dinner. We needed a place to sit and relax...and get the girls out of the strollers.
We ended up at La Cantina.
$50 for nachos, tacos, two kids meals, a lemonade, and a margarita.
Ouch. Our rewards card was getting kind of low.
We had an awful time trying to get a table in there. DW was on one side, and I was on the other. Somehow every other person in there was able to beat us to a table. Even the old lady who beat me. How I let that happen I don't know. It almost ruined my night.
We finally got a table. Paid $50. Ate some okay food.
yay.
Lesson Learned: Make dinner out of the F&W kiosks in the showcase. Duh.
We were going to try to stay for IllumiNations, but decided it was best if we headed back to the Fort.
First I tried some pics using some different settings and putting my camera on a railing. This was the best one:

After some late looping and taking in the fireworks from MNSSHP, it was time to call it a night.
Coming up: rope drop at the MK (kind of), not many pictures in the MK, and finding the missing tetherball!

Thanks! Make sure you take lots of the EWP for Lou!

Sorry it's blurry, Lou. Next time I'll be sure to take LOTS of pictures of it just for you. :jumpforjoy

Ok, I forgot a few things about our first night.
First of all, you can't roast marshmallows over charcoal...very well. We thought we would avoid the crowds and just do it at our site after we grilled the steaks.
Booo. They don't produce enough flame. Needed wood. Luckily, we were at the fort and there is wood everywhere.
It was all wet. So, we had warm marshmallows instead.
Lesson Learned: join the crowd and just do it at the campfire!
That sounded wrong. I meant roast marshmallows at the campfire. Let's keep it G rated here.
...
After the sing-a-long we headed to the beach to watch the MK Wishes fireworks. We had never seen them from the Fort so didn't really know what to expect. We actually enjoyed them, and the girls really enjoyed them.
I took my camera in hopes of getting some good pics.
I tried to get the boat in this pic, but the fireworks weren't bright enough. Would have been a good pic if the fireworks had been brighter.



Lesson Learned: Take a tripod to get good pics of fireworks.
Other Lesson Learned: Take a real photographer with you to get really good pics of fireworks.
While sitting on our lounges a family came up with a young boy to sit next to us. As I was fooling with different camera settings trying to get the best pics I could, he asked his mom, "Mommy, why do people take pictures of fireworks?"
There were so many things that came into my head at that point.
To remember them.
To show family.
To try to get a great shot to put in my TR.
Shut it, kid.
I chose to not say anything at all.
Lesson Learned: don't take pictures of fireworks unless I know what I'm doing and there aren't kids around!

Moving on...
Here are a few more pics from our first Settlement expedition:

If I could sleep on one foot with my head turned around backwards, would I? No. This duck thinks it's a good idea, though.


My girls loved this playground. Ok, they love any playground. But this one has a really steep slide on the far side that even I was tempted to try.
I didn't.

See the horse coming? Someone's riding it.




Ok, let's discuss the last three pics. $1000 for info regarding the death of Jim Allen, $1000 for the guy who held up the stagecoach, and only $300 for Curly, who robbed another stagecoach? That means that you can kill a guy or rob a stagecoach, and it's basically worth the same amount. But if your name is Curly, then you don't rate very high.
Lesson Learned: As usual, the Fort management is inconsistent!!!
I didn't notice the lights when I was there, but did once I looked at the pic. See how they are scalloped around the edges? Kind of cool.

Here comes our horse again. Guess she got tired of riding. She said it was a draft horse so you didn't ride it...then why was she on it before?
I also started thinking about horses. They are strong. Especially this one. It was huge. Two people (women or not) could not possibly hold on to it if it decided to run after a squirrel or cat or something. Luckily horses don't chase squirrels or cats, but think about if they did!

I remember a pic like this causing a bit of controversy back on voldemort, so I thought I needed to include this one:

I have never seen a guy this excited about a horse. He told the women that it was the most beautiful horse he had ever seen so he literally ran over to take a picture. I don't like its tail, but I'm sure its cut short for a reason...and I can probably guess the reason...

Lesson Learned: The Fort is the home of the most beautiful horse in the world...according to that guy.
After we made our rounds, we headed back to site 1802 for dinner. I don't know what it is about the Fort, but all meals seem to taste better there. We grilled some steaks...UNDER AN UMBRELLA...and they were great. Maybe the rainwater seasoned them.
Luckily the rain passed and we were good to go for the campfire sing-a-long! Woo hoo!
Ok, I wasn't really saying woo hoo at the time. I thought it would be cheesy.
It was.
And we loved it!
Lesson Learned: We love cheese. And sing-a-longs.


It was packed.

I must say that both my wife and I are music teachers (elementary and HS band), so we are partial to music. I'm not much for kid songs, but we had a good time, and both daughters loved it. DD 3 sang and danced, loved meeting Chip, and didn't want to leave. She even made me go up to the front and dance with her. It was fun.
Speaking of Chip, I like him much better than Dale, so I'm glad that he came to our side. No offense to Dale, but I think Rudolph should be the only animal with a red nose.
The singer guy (cowboy somebody...don't remember his name) kept talking about Chip and Dale's big butts.
?
While I agree (though I try to avoid checking out chipmunks butts), did we really need to say this about 5 times with my DD 3 around? Whatever, we're on vacation. Thanks buddy, because she talked about that the rest of the trip.
Lesson Learned: Not only did Chip and Dale have big butts, but the cowboy seemed to have a thing for them too!
We also went to the sing-a-long on our last night. Different cowboy. Different songs. I liked all of them.
Until he played rocky top.
?
Really?
I looked at it as a teachable moment for my daughters.
So we stopped clapping and yelled "Go Dawgs" after the TN fans yelled their "woo" in the song. I hate that "woo."
Go Dawgs.
Lesson Learned: even at the Fort, I still can't stand that song.
The problem is that it's really a good song. I hate it for that reason. It gets stuck in your head and you can't get it out. In fact, I just got it stuck in my head right now.
Awesome.
Lesson Learned: don't talk about rocky top unless I want to be singing it all day, which I don't.
That ends day 1 at the Fort. It was actually a half day. The next installment will include a day at Epcot, some F&W, how not to use the monorail, my favorite ride at Epcot, and slushies!!!

We just returned from our inaugural camping trip in our new TT to the Fort.
We have been to Disney World before. We have camped before (once). This was our second camping trip to the Fort (or EVER for that matter).
Lesson Learned: we still have a lot to learn.
In this TR we'll cover all of the lessons learned. Some of the lessons will be how to not use the monorail, what different alarms in the TT mean, how to identify floating objects in the pool, and the what happens to tetherballs when they go missing.
We spent all of Saturday packing the trailer, figuring out what we needed or didn't need, finishing up some last minute details like hanging a curtain to close off the bunks and installing a bed rail on the top bunk.
Lesson Learned: start packing earlier!
Well, we basically started with nothing in the TT, so I'm sure it will get easier the more we do it. Many of the things I did to get ready to leave won't need to be done next time.
We pulled out at 5:30 Sunday morning. 30 minutes late. Yes, we like to leave early. With two young daughters (3 and 1), it works out better that way. Plus, why do I want to spend all day driving when I could be hanging out at the Fort?!?
After an 8 1/2 hour rain-filled trip (with a 30 minute 5 mph crawl just before the Turnpike because of a flipped car), we finally arrived at DW and FW.
Does this view ever get old?

As reported by others, it was wet. Really wet. Water everywhere. Even in the TT. We found out that the slide let water in underneath during travel and a window needs some silicone...probably because of all the spray on the road coming up from the bottom rather than the top. Awesome. Luckily it was minimal and didn't cause any real problems. Not sure how to fix the slide leak other than not driving in the rain, but I'll figure that out later.
Not real crowded today...probably because there was water everywhere!


We pulled into the Fort right behind two really nice, nearly matching Allegros...both pulling jeeps. Guess they are brothers or something.
We got lucky that it wasn't too busy, and just as we pulled up someone was pulling out in the second lane from the right. Yahoo for us!

As we were waiting on our CM to get our packet (online check in is great) I noticed this in the Reception Outpost.

Really? They used painter's tape to attempt to hold up the vent?
Lesson Learned: They should have at least used duct tape. Duh.
Notice the water across the sidewalk.



Welcome to site 1802 with a lake view. It wasn't too bad. There was water on either side of us, but the water on our "porch" side dried up the next day so it worked out. I liked our site...lots of room around on every side of us. I also like being in the back away from everything.

After fighting with on and off rain, I finally got everything set up and had our cart delivery from Kenny. As expected, Kenny was awesome. Delivered our cart right to our site and it was great. We hope to purchase our own soon, but until then will continue to rent from Kenny!
Lesson Learned: Kenny rocks!
Plus, our cart was faster than all the FW carts...I was constantly having to slow down whenever we got behind one of them. My DD3 actually started pointing that out every time we got behind another cart. She also (with the help of DD 19mos) felt the need to point out every stop sign, and yell at me if I did not come to a complete stop! Can't wait to teach them to drive!

After getting settled in, it was time for some looping! My DD 3 loves looping. She said she wanted to loop all day. She changed her mind after fighting with her sister (19 mos) on where they would sit! We did find out that some late night looping put them both to sleep after about 5 minutes!
Lesson Learned: Buy a golf cart and start looping the neighborhood every night to get them to sleep!
As we were going through the 1600s I noticed this couple unloading something from their small SUV.

?
It was a miniature golf cart. pbbt. Small enough to fit in their little SUV. I thought that was genius...until I saw it out and fully put together.

I'm happy for them that they have something they can take with them, and I'm sure it's very useful and they love it. But I'm afraid that I would have to turn in my man card if I drove around the Fort in that.
Compare that to some of the other "carts" we saw while at the Fort.


Really, when is the line drawn? "Golf cart type vehicle." pbbt. Some of those could nearly pull my TT.
Lesson Learned: FW management doesn't enforce rules.
I saw a cart without lights, 6 adults in a 4 seater, vehicles parked all over the place (as in not on pavement), and Florida fans. Okay, maybe they aren't against the rules, but they should be. Unless UGA beats them this year (yeah right). If that happens, I'll give the fans a break for a year.
We made our way around the Fort, taking in the sights and regaining our bearings of where we were. It was wet everywhere, and nearly every playground or tetherball area was under water.


My first thought was if Rocky was here, he would be upset...or wet. Then I thought to myself, "self, you relate way too many things in life to a TCD trip report."
But wait, where was the actual Tetherball in this last picture? Squirrels? Storm? An out of control tetherball match? I found it later...in a place that I never would have expected.
That's all for now. Later we'll see more of the Settlement, see some HUGE butts (in more than one place), and attend our first campfire sing-a-long. Woo hoo!

Throw me in for the wine. Throw me in for the peach cobbler. And, I am buying shirts as fast as the orders come in, so keep going.

I'M READY!!!

:rofl2: That reminds me of something Jeff Foxworthy would say:
"If you have a purple toilet in your backyard, you might be a redneck!"

It's a gorgeous fall day here in Southern NH!
The sun is shining, it's cool and crisp... perfect weather for packing the camper and painting flamingos purple!!!

It's a gorgeous fall day here in Southern NH!
The sun is shining, it's cool and crisp... perfect weather for packing the camper and painting flamingos purple!!!

Ed, Ed, Ed.....think this through....use THIER towels............ :batman:

I'm not to far behind ya'll, but I have went from "it's never going to get here..." to "OMG I need to get my butt in gear and get moving!!!"

and one of my favorites...
“Charlie: Can my family come?
Wonka: Of course not. You can't have a family hanging over you like a bunch of old dead goats. No offense.
Uncle George: None taken, jerk.”

Outback Walkabout Soup
2 cups thinly sliced yellow sweet onions
3 tablespoon butter
1 can (14.5-15 ounce) chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
2 teaspoons chicken base (bouillon cubes can be used if the base isn't available)
1/4 cup diced Sharp Cheddar cheese cubes (compressed in measuring cup) (use Velvetta for a more realistic version)
1 and 1/2-1 and 3/4 cups white sauce (recipe below)
shredded cheddar cheese for garnish
In 2-quart saucepan, place butter and sliced onions. Cook at low to medium heat, stirring frequently, until soft and clear but not brown. Add chicken broth from can, chicken base, salt, and pepper and stir until completely heated through. Add white sauce and Sharp Cheddar cheese. White sauce will be thick because it has been removed from the heat. Simmer on medium-low heat until the cheese is melted and all ingredients are blended, stirring constantly. Turn temperature to warm and let cook for additional 30-45 minutes.
Serve with a garnish of shredded cheddar cheese and a couple of slices of warm, dark Russian bread.
THICK WHITE SAUCE:
3 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoon flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 cups whole milk
In a 1-quart saucepan, melt butter and add flour. Cook on medium heat until the flour turns thick and comes away from the side of the saucepan. Pour milk into flour a little at a time and stir constantly; add salt. Mixture should thicken and become like thick pudding. Remember to stir constantly, taking care not to let mixture lump. Remove from heat and set aside until ready to use for the soup.

This is supposed to be a quick report, so here are the last of the photos and commentary. . .
After enjoying our visit with Tony the restroom attendant, as well as our ravioli and cappellini, we headed back out into the rain.
Our next stop was Germany.
This is where they have my favorite item- the Nuerenberger sausage on a pretzel roll. The twins wanted to try this too, so we got two this time. This is also where I realized that there was no wait at any of the stands along this stretch of the World Showcase. I just walked up to the cashier, ordered, had my card swiped, and walked over to pick up the order. That was the way it went the rest of the evening. That made being semi-soaked worth it. On a regular Saturday night, you can expect each transaction to take 5 or 10 minutes. That slows things down considerably, and in some cases, the lines are so long that we would bypass the booth all together. Not tonight- if we saw something that we liked, we were able to just walk up and get it immediately. That was really nice.
The other thing that ended up being fun is that after we ordered each food item, we had to find someplace to eat it. Normally, you could just walk along and eat, or find a bench or ledge to sit on. but when it is pouring down rain, your food would get soaked before you could eat it. So, we had to scout out a place to eat after visiting each stand. That was a challenge here in Germany. But, we found a doorway with an overhang on the side of the building next to the stand, and that's where we enjoyed our sausages.
For Dave:

Look at those beauties!
As we huddled under the small doorway overhang, we pulled out our drenched map and looked for where we would stop next.
It looked like it would be South Africa, which was the next stop.
There was a Cheese booth here. One of the girls thought the cheese fondue looked good. And it did. But we also were planning to get cheese soup when we got to Canada, so we passed on the fondue.
Before we headed back out in the rain, I took a couple of crowd shots:


On a typical Saturday night, these shots would look a lot different. You wouldn't see any open space. You would just see wall to wall people.
Our next stop was South Africa, where we got a couple of orders of the seared beef and one order of the Bunny Chow. Here is a very bad photo of the twins eating the seared beef, and you can see the Bunny Chow there on the table:

The seared beef was a different version of a similar dish that was served at the South Africa booth last year. The girls did not like the new version as much as they did last year's. I ordered the Bunny Chow because we had agreed that we would order something that we had never tried before. It wasn't bad, but I'm not sure what it was. It was kind of like a salsa with a lot of zucchini, and a bit touch of curry. I will eat just about anything, so I ate it, but I'm pretty sure that was the first and last serving of Bunny Chow I will be having.
Our dining venue for our South Africa food was the beverage stand in the Outpost area. They serve frozen cokes here, and there is a little display of Coke memorabilia here. There are misters in here, and this is a place where folks are supposed to stop to cool off on hot days. The misters were not on tonight. No body needed to cool off. This photo shows you our location:

As we did in Germany, we pulled out our soggy map again for a discussion. There was a castmember hanging out here to get out of the rain, and she struck up a conversation with us. She was a photopass castmember. I asked her what she was doing back here. She told us she was assigned to take candid shots of folks enjoying the Food and Wine Festival. But for now, she was trying to keep herself and her camera dry. She said she really enjoyed her job, and that she had been trained to work in all four parks, but enjoyed Epcot the most. I have heard that the photopass photographer position is one that most castmembers enjoy. I have also heard that the folks who work for the photopass are not really Disney employees, but employees of another company. This young lady said she was employed by Disney. Maybe she is supposed to say that. Anyway, she offered to take some photos of us. So we took her up on the offer. She took the girls off to the side to take some photos:

According to what the girls said, these were supposed to be shots where fairy wings would be added. When we checked the photopass card, the photos were not there. The photographer did question whether there was enough light for the photos to work, so I guess they didn't.
As the girls were working with the photographer, I snapped a few more "crowd" shots:


Those photos may not look like much to you, but the last time we were at the Food and Wine Festival on a Saturday night, that bridge and pathway were wall to wall people. It was so packed, that it was difficult to get out of the crowd to stop at a food booth. Tonight, there were only a few people walking around.
The photographer worked with the girls for about 10 or 15 minutes. Too bad the photos didn't work:


While I was standing around, I took a good look at some of the props around here. Out of curiosity, I tried to open one of the coolers. I was surprised when I heard what sounded like a coke can being opened and coke being poured into a glass. We tried that with the various coolers around us, and they all did that. They also had fake ice cubes, and mister nozzles in them:

It's all about the details!
Right before we headed out of our shelter, the photopass photographer offered to take a group shot. I knew she was up to something, because she told us to pose in a certain way and pretend we were looking at something. This is what she was up to:


Cool!
After this, we put the soggy ponchos back on and headed out.
In case you were wondering, it was still raining.
The next stand we came to was Korea. There were a couple of things there that I would try, but we had already set our sights on China, so that was our next stop. We got the Pepper Shrimp and some Pork Pot Stickers. We had a hard time finding a place to get out of the rain near the stand, so we walked over to the quick serve restaurant's seating area, and grabbed a table there. We were about the only customers. The poor castmembers there were just standing around looking at each other. I haven't thought about it before, but I'll bet the quick serve restaurants get very little business when the Food and Wine Festival is going on. I don't know why I didn't take any photos in China, but I didn't. I think it's because my daughter broke out her nice camera here to take some photos. I will have to check with her if anyone wants to see photos of Chinese food. Our Chinese stop was nice because we were under a real roof and had a table and chairs. We pulled out our soggy map for the last time here, and it fell apart. But, not before we agreed that our next stop would be Scandinavia.
In Scandinavia we ordered just the Swedish Meatballs. We were all starting to get full. Also, the other main offering here was something they were calling a "Taste of Scandinavia," which included cured salmon and herring. I'm not sure what they mean by "cured," but it didn't sound good to me at the time. Maybe I'll give it a go next time.
We found a great spot to enjoy the meatballs on the very small porch of the Viking church at the Norway exhibit. I have probably walked past that church a hundred times, but never noticed this porch until we were looking to get out of the rain. It was a great place to stand. We could see everyone walking by, but we were out of the rain. Here are the meatballs:

This is the Scandinavia booth:

Technically, the Scandinavia booth is new this year. But, I remember they used to have a Norway booth in that spot. I remember this because one year I got Reindeer Stew there. It seems like back in the day, the food offerings were a lot more exotic than they are now. I mean, where else would you get a chance to eat reindeer. Now, most of the offerings are things that you can find year round around Disney World.
And some shots from our little porch:



You may be wondering about the Wine part of the Food and Wine Festival. Well, since I knew that I was driving home after we finished, I had to pass on the wine. But, I have to say seeing everyone walking around with those souvenir beer mugs started to get to me. I try to set a good example for my girls by not drinking before I know I am going to be driving. But, I will still have one beer every now and then. I decided it would be OK to have one beer tonight.
As we headed past the Norway attraction, there was a beer stand calling my name. So I got my beer:


You can see my mug has a Norwegian Flag on it. According to the lady who poured my beer, only the Norway and Germany stands have mugs with flags on them. The other locations use generic mugs. I don't know if this is true, but that's what she said. I did see a guy with a mug with a German flag on it, but I did not see other flags. This doesn't make sense, as other stands serve beer. Like Japan, for example (remember the Sumo wrestler?).
After I got my beer, we walked past a bunch of booths- Mexico, Caribbean, Argentina, Brazil, and Australia. We were heading to the new Hawaii booth. It is near this sign:

In Hawaii, we got one of the pork slider sandwiches. it was good, but had maybe just a bit too much pineapple.
Next, we passed Greece. The castmembers in Greece were bored. They had no customers at all. They were chanting Opa! and other things. They were even doing some type of cheer, which was then answered by some type of cheer from the booth across from them-Canada. The castmembers were apparently bored in Canada too. Their chant began with "Soup! Soup! Soup!," and then they said something else that I couldn't quite make out. According to my DD's this was a variation of a chant that begins with "Shots! Shots! Shots!," from the MTV show Jersey Shore. I am too old to watch the Jersey Shore, so I don't know about the Shots! chant, but that apparently was what the Canada castmembers were using for their Soup! chant.
Here's one of the TCD twins with her cup of soup:

Get a load of the size of that cup. Luckily, we were all pretty full. But, I think that's a pretty chintzy serving of soup.
The castmember who served us the soup was a hoot! I'm not sure if you can read her name tag, but her name was Andrenika. I asked her what part of Canada she was from, and she said Baton Rouge! I don't want to talk about it, but LSU, which is also in Baton Rouge, had just severely defeated the Florida Gators in football that afternoon. I was wearing a Gators shirt. I called Andrenkia Gator Bait. She growled at me, and showed me her tiger claws. It turns out she is part of the college program, and was assigned to work here. I am not sure how this works. The castmembers in some of the booths were from the country represented by the booths, while others were not. Clearly, the castmembers working in the Canada booth were not from Canada.
Our last stop for the evening was the Dessert and Champagne booth, where we tried the White Chocolate Macadamia Mousse with Dark Chocolate Pearls. The serving was about the size of a shot glass. But, I think it was only a dollar, so it was worth it. It was very rich, and that little bit was really all we needed.
And with that, we were done.
It was about 8 pm.
Epcot was open until 10.
But it was still raining.
It really had rained all day.
It would have been fun to take another lap around the World Showcase, because I would bet that between 9 and 10 we would have had the place to ourselves.
But we were wet.
And a little cold.
So, we headed out.
I didn't know there was a Cranberry Bog at the Festival this year. But, here it is:

And, there were cranberries in it:


There wasn't much around the bog to explain what it was doing here, but there was a little information booth off to the side. I told the girls that I had seen real cranberry bogs as a boy when I lived in New Jersey. They said that they didn't think cranberries grew in New Jersey, so we went over to the booth. There was a guy working there who told us about cranberries. He confirmed that cranberries are grown in a lot of places, including New Jersey. He had bags of Craisins there behind the counter, but he didn't offer us any. I think he was supposed to. Maybe he was going to eat them all himself.
From there, we headed to the AKL bus stop. It is the first one you come to. Nice. And, as soon as we walked up, an AKL bus came pulling up. But it stopped at the bus stop three down from ours. The bus driver motioned the people there to get on the bus, but nobody did. We could see them pointing and gesturing. The guy then pulled up to the stop right next to us and opened the door. Nobody was waiting there. He then closed the door, and was about to drive off, but everyone at our stop yelled and got his attention, so he stopped to pick us up. The guy didn't know what bus stop he was supposed to go to! When I entered the bus, he had his head down, studying his little bus stop chart. Where do they find these guys? Fortunately, our bus driver did know the way to AKL, and we made it back without incident.
From there, we loaded up and headed for home. We had a constant rain the whole way home.
So, for this once, the weather forecasters were right. But, I'm still glad we went.
That's all I got for you this time.
Chances look pretty good that the next trip report will not be far off.
TCD

Is it a slow boat? Oops wrong thread. :rofl2:
Enjoying the TR. As always.... :jumpforjoy