The TCD Gang Springs Forward at the Fort- A Spring Break 2014 TR

[lklasing 16]

 

Here we are passing over that construction site that we saw earlier set-up in the corner of the Seven Seas Lagoon.  They seem to be assembling something else here now, but I'm not sure what:

 

 

 

TCD

 

 

I have heard rumors that they are working on a walking path that will connect the GF with the MK.  I've also heard that they are not going to do that.  I can't tell if your pictures are in the area of where they park the EWP floats, but if they are, then that would at least be in the right area.  I would love for them to connect GF with the MK.  Then I would only have to risk life and limb for a short space under the water bridge to be able to actually run all the way around the loop!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'd like to see Ms White with a dog collar on being walked by Pluto.  Wouldn't that be special?

 

Regarding those bungalows at $1500/night....have you priced airfare to Bora Bora?  Makes the price of a Poly bungalow downright cheap in comparison.  Of course, they won't be quite as pretty as the ones in Bora Bora.

 

 

Man, you are so bitter toward your ex-girlfriend.  You need to let that anger go.

 

I have not priced air fair to Bora Bora.  In fact, I'm not even sure where it is.  That resort looks pretty nice, though.

 

TCD, I know I've said this many times, but I'm always amazed at how much you all see/do in a day!

 

I do what I can.

 

I wouldn't mind just sitting in that rocking chair in Frontierland some time.

 

I have heard rumors that they are working on a walking path that will connect the GF with the MK.  I've also heard that they are not going to do that.  I can't tell if your pictures are in the area of where they park the EWP floats, but if they are, then that would at least be in the right area.  I would love for them to connect GF with the MK.  Then I would only have to risk life and limb for a short space under the water bridge to be able to actually run all the way around the loop!

 

I initially thought it might be this to. It is in the right area. But, there is a new floating ramp over by the MK Ferry dock that I think was put together here.  They might be building additional components for that project.

 

They really ought to complete that walkway.   It would be cool to be able to jog all the way around the Seven Seas Lagoon.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I think this would be a good time to take care of a couple of small housekeeping items.

 

First, Heidi asked to see a photo of the trading pin that was in the goodie bag they provided at the Muppets Most Wanted Meet-up.

 

Since I had to dig out the bag and camera, I took photos of everything.

 

First, this is the bag- just a regular little shopping bag like they use all over WDW (and I guess all the parks around the world) :

 

 

Here are the bag contents- from the left, there's a Downtown Disney Mighty St. Patrick's Day passport, then the pin, the bead necklace, some more of those seeds, and trading cards:

 

 

This is a look inside the passport- it's set up like the ones they use at the Food and Wine and Flower and Garden Festivals at Epcot.  There's a place where you can get the passport stamped at each venue you visit:

 

 

This is the back of the bag containing the pin.  Quality merchandise from China:

 

 

And here is the actual pin- I guess that's supposed to be an @ sign, but with a mouse head inside:

 

 

Here's the back of the pin.  It has a metal clasp, not one of the rubber Mickey heads that are used on the official Disney pins sold in the parks:

 

 

With the clasp removed, we can see that this apparently is a real Disney pin:

 

 

So, there you go Heidi.

 

And, anyone else that wanted to know.

 

Now, one more matter to address before moving on to the next update.

 

I shared earlier in this report that I invented the "selfie."

 

It's true.

 

My kids found the proof when we were over at my parents' house this past Christmas.  My mom had a pillow that holds a photo on the couch. It looks like this:

 

 

That photo was taken a couple of days after Christmas in December, 1986 in New York City.  Mrs. TCD and I had just gotten engaged, and we went to visit my folks, who were living outside of NYC at the time.

 

Three of my four sisters and my brother were there, and we went in to the city one day.  I had a camera (the kind with film) (which was the only kind that existed back then), and snapped this photo out on the street.

 

From the left in that photo is sister #2, me, sister #4 right next to me, with sister #3 peeking over her head, then the soon to be Mrs. TCD, and my brother all the way over to the right.  Sister #1 was not in town then.

 

There you go- a selfie from 1986.  Proof that I invented selfies.  And 27 years later, I haven't gotten much better at taking them.

 

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

 

There you go- a selfie from 1986.  Proof that I invented selfies.  And 27 years later, I haven't gotten much better at taking them.

 

TCD

 

 

These guys have you beat by 66 years.

 

 

http://www.fastcodesign.com/3026832/this-might-be-the-first-selfie-in-photographic-history

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

These guys have you beat by 66 years.

 

 

http://www.fastcodesign.com/3026832/this-might-be-the-first-selfie-in-photographic-history

 

Close, but no.

 

Two guys were holding that camera.

 

How is that a selfie?

 

I was first.

 

TCD

[luapgibva 0]

Ok I don't believe I have commented on any the many Trip reports that I have enjoyed authored by TCD. However I can not let the Awesomeness that is that Selfie to pass without commenting and giving you your Kudos for that fine piece of art. As a holder of a a Bachelor of Arts degree (in science) from a fine Division III school let me tell you that I know art when I see it. To further prove my pedigree I may even have a copy of Dogs playing cards in my basement as we speak. If that doesn't give me the clout to admire that Selfie I dont know what would. As a first time poster TCD, keep up the good work. As an individual that still sees snow on the ground when I look outside I really appreciate the nice sunny pictures in your reports.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Close, but no.

 

Two guys were holding that camera.

 

How is that a selfie?

 

I was first.

 

TCD

 

To be fair to them, the camera was the size of a 1970's Sears catalog, and probably weighed 8 pounds.   

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

You invented the selfie and yet are not good at selfies.... That, my Fiends, is irony.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Ok I don't believe I have commented on any the many Trip reports that I have enjoyed authored by TCD. However I can not let the Awesomeness that is that Selfie to pass without commenting and giving you your Kudos for that fine piece of art. As a holder of a a Bachelor of Arts degree (in science) from a fine Division III school let me tell you that I know art when I see it. To further prove my pedigree I may even have a copy of Dogs playing cards in my basement as we speak. If that doesn't give me the clout to admire that Selfie I dont know what would. As a first time poster TCD, keep up the good work. As an individual that still sees snow on the ground when I look outside I really appreciate the nice sunny pictures in your reports.

 

Awesome.  An almost-lurker has come out of lurkdom!  Thanks for posting.

 

That dogs playing poster is a fine piece of art.  So, you definitely know what you're talking about.

 

There are more photos of blue skies and flowers coming up.

 

To be fair to them, the camera was the size of a 1970's Sears catalog, and probably weighed 8 pounds.   

 

Sorry, but that's not my problem.

 

This whole thing is obviously a fake.  That site you linked has this photo, which supposedly shows the selfie being taken:

 

 

The only problem is that one of the guys in that photo isn't wearing his hat, but he has it on in the so-called selfie.  Also, the floor is different in the selfie from the one the men are standing on in this photo.

 

Fake!

 

They probably had some other guy with the camera on a tripod take it.  They just stuck out their arms to make it look like they were holding the camera.

 

Not a selfie!

 

You invented the selfie and yet are not good at selfies.... That, my Fiends, is irony.

 

Hang on there a minute.  Luapgibva, who is an art expert, said my selfie was a work of art.

 

It's certainly better than that fake one Dave posted.

 

And it's real.

 

So there.

 

TCD

[Starbuc71 162]

Great trip so far. A couple things:

1. We finally got to see the new parade last week and we loved it. They actually got something good and right this time.

2. I was so happy that like you, I was able to beat the system a few months ago and get Sorin and TT FP's for last Monday. We were so bumbed that after sorin it poured like a mother and they shut down TT. Big S71 fail. Disney got me again.

3. We love the air condition short cut too to bypass Main Street. We actually made appointments for our kids to get their haircut at the harmony barbershop one day last week. We thought it would be cool for them. It was and wasn't. Nothing too special about it, but the kids were happy to get the old aqua net sprayed on their hair then confetti glitter shaken on their hair. The reason for this story was that we were 1/2 hour late for appointments due to some 12:00 parade which made us not able to cross the street right across from the barbershop. semi fail #2 but not bad

4. I was hoping they were building a ferry landing at that point where they are building the dock. A long time ago when we didn't know better, we walked that beautiful path along the water in hopes of walking to the GF. Guess what? As my daughter calls it now, the EWP home is at the end of that walk and unless you want you want to swim, no GF. It's a shame the monogrammed pavers go all the way down there and nobody ever walks it. A ferry dock there would be nice (but probably impractical)

5. I hope you made a FP for the land just because you needed to pick a 3rd attraction. Usually the FP line is longer than the stand by...lol

[Memphis 105]

Actually that's a great selfie considering you had no screen to look at to frame the shot or be sure you got it right.  

[Heidi-meetsTCD@TSM 5]

TCD,

 

Thanks for the photo of the pin and goodie bag! I think it is awesome that Disney gave out FREE goodie bags and anything free from Disney is good! Having said that, I think they failed on the pin!! We have at least a couple thousand pins that we have accumulated over the years. I couldn't even venture a guess at how many thousands of pin trades we have done since 2001, but its a LOT! Anyway, last summer when we went to Disney my boys were not into the pin trading, but I still traded, trying to collect the newest set of cast member hidden Mickey pins. Since we have thousands of pins, I just brought 100 or so pins from our collections that the kids traded for when they were little, but really have no special meaning to us. So, some of my older pins looked exactly like your pin does on the back. And you know what??? I had quiet a few Cast Members REFUSE to trade with me since the pin didn't have the Disney trading logo on the back!! My pins did say Disney on the back just like yours, but didn't have the logo that is found on all pins now. It ticked me off, because the pins I had were pins that at one time my boys had traded for from Cast Members. Oh well, it wasn't a big deal. I had brought enough with me that I would just trade something different. By the end of the trip, all my China pins that just said Disney on the back were traded off, since many cast members don't get too technical.  It is sort of ironic though, that the pin they gave you doesn't have the newer logo on the back.  I challenge you to trade it off and see if you have any problems!!

 

I loved all of the parade pics. I can see I need to watch some of the newer Disney films (like Brave) before I watch the parade so I can appreciate all of the details. My boys were born in 93 and 96, so even now I can recite parts of Peter Pan, The Rescuers Down Under, Toy Story, Bugs Life and Hercules. However, except for Cars when that came out, I haven't seen any Disney movies.

 

Love your selfie!! You are the master!!

 

Heidi

[Big Kahuna aka John 71]

Well Dave,  I checked my local flights and Philadelphia to Bora Bora came in cheapest at  $1984.00 per person and that was on Air Tahiti...  Guess I have to settle for McHale's Navy reruns....  Awesome parade and construction photos TCD...

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Well Dave,  I checked my local flights and Philadelphia to Bora Bora came in cheapest at  $1984.00 per person and that was on Air Tahiti...  Guess I have to settle for McHale's Navy reruns....  Awesome parade and construction photos TCD...

 

That's actually not bad compared to what I have priced out in the past.  

[HappyRedhead......Betsy 16]

So I'm reading this report and my son looks over my shoulder and wonders why my picture is in TCD's trip report. What do you mean I asked. He pointed to TCD sister #2. 1986 TCD sister #2 and 1986 HappyRedhead look very much alike.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Great trip so far. A couple things:

1. We finally got to see the new parade last week and we loved it. They actually got something good and right this time.

2. I was so happy that like you, I was able to beat the system a few months ago and get Sorin and TT FP's for last Monday. We were so bumbed that after sorin it poured like a mother and they shut down TT. Big S71 fail. Disney got me again.

3. We love the air condition short cut too to bypass Main Street. We actually made appointments for our kids to get their haircut at the harmony barbershop one day last week. We thought it would be cool for them. It was and wasn't. Nothing too special about it, but the kids were happy to get the old aqua net sprayed on their hair then confetti glitter shaken on their hair. The reason for this story was that we were 1/2 hour late for appointments due to some 12:00 parade which made us not able to cross the street right across from the barbershop. semi fail #2 but not bad

4. I was hoping they were building a ferry landing at that point where they are building the dock. A long time ago when we didn't know better, we walked that beautiful path along the water in hopes of walking to the GF. Guess what? As my daughter calls it now, the EWP home is at the end of that walk and unless you want you want to swim, no GF. It's a shame the monogrammed pavers go all the way down there and nobody ever walks it. A ferry dock there would be nice (but probably impractical)

5. I hope you made a FP for the land just because you needed to pick a 3rd attraction. Usually the FP line is longer than the stand by...lol

 

Wow, that's a nice list.  You are a regular Rusty Scrapper.

 

My responses:

 

1. Everyone seems to like the new parade.  Even Lou.  I agree-they got this one right.  It was neat to be there on opening day.  That's something my kids will be able to tell their kids (because Lord knows it's going to still be playing then).

2. That's a pretty major fail.  Since TT was shut down, didn't you get an email telling you that you could use your FP somewhere else?  We have received a couple of those. 

3.  From what I saw, they don't let guests pass by at all during that parade.  I know for the night parade, they have CM's that will periodically wave guests across the street during gaps.  I don't think they were doing that for the new parade.

4.  A ferry dock would be good, but what would be better would be a pedestrian draw-bridge.  I guess they don't want riff-raff to be able to walk to the GF.

5.  I know.  That Living with the Land FP+ was a waste, but I couldn't get anything else in that time slot.  I wanted to keep the FP+'s close together that night, as the plan was to ride the rides, and then eat our way around the World Showcase.  As you will soon see, it didn't turn out that way.

 

Actually that's a great selfie considering you had no screen to look at to frame the shot or be sure you got it right.  

 

Thank you, Harold.

 

These young folks have no idea what an accomplishment that selfie is.  Back in those days, you had to wait until the roll of film was shot and developed before you knew if you had even gotten the shot you were trying for.  And film and developing it cost money, so there were not multiple takes. I might have used one 36 exposure roll of film for an entire weekend trip back then.  Nothing like it is today.

 

TCD,

 

Thanks for the photo of the pin and goodie bag! I think it is awesome that Disney gave out FREE goodie bags and anything free from Disney is good! Having said that, I think they failed on the pin!! We have at least a couple thousand pins that we have accumulated over the years. I couldn't even venture a guess at how many thousands of pin trades we have done since 2001, but its a LOT! Anyway, last summer when we went to Disney my boys were not into the pin trading, but I still traded, trying to collect the newest set of cast member hidden Mickey pins. Since we have thousands of pins, I just brought 100 or so pins from our collections that the kids traded for when they were little, but really have no special meaning to us. So, some of my older pins looked exactly like your pin does on the back. And you know what??? I had quiet a few Cast Members REFUSE to trade with me since the pin didn't have the Disney trading logo on the back!! My pins did say Disney on the back just like yours, but didn't have the logo that is found on all pins now. It ticked me off, because the pins I had were pins that at one time my boys had traded for from Cast Members. Oh well, it wasn't a big deal. I had brought enough with me that I would just trade something different. By the end of the trip, all my China pins that just said Disney on the back were traded off, since many cast members don't get too technical.  It is sort of ironic though, that the pin they gave you doesn't have the newer logo on the back.  I challenge you to trade it off and see if you have any problems!!

 

I loved all of the parade pics. I can see I need to watch some of the newer Disney films (like Brave) before I watch the parade so I can appreciate all of the details. My boys were born in 93 and 96, so even now I can recite parts of Peter Pan, The Rescuers Down Under, Toy Story, Bugs Life and Hercules. However, except for Cars when that came out, I haven't seen any Disney movies.

 

Love your selfie!! You are the master!!

 

Heidi

 

Thanks for the pin information.  I didn't really notice the different copyright mark, but I knew the metal back was not consistent with the pins they sell now.  Oh well, it was free.

 

My girls were born in '91 and '95, but they have seen all of the most recent Disney and Pixar films.  I guess girls are different than boys in that regard.  You really ought to get ahold of Brave, Tangled and Frozen.  They are really good movies.

 

Thanks for the compliment on the selfie, but I know I stink at taking them.  Even after 27 years.  I guess there's not much hope that I will be getting any better.

 

Well Dave,  I checked my local flights and Philadelphia to Bora Bora came in cheapest at  $1984.00 per person and that was on Air Tahiti...  Guess I have to settle for McHale's Navy reruns....  Awesome parade and construction photos TCD...

 

McHale's Navy re-runs?

 

Where?

 

I used to love that show!

 

That's actually not bad compared to what I have priced out in the past.  

 

Were you actually planning to go to Bora Bora?

 

So I'm reading this report and my son looks over my shoulder and wonders why my picture is in TCD's trip report. What do you mean I asked. He pointed to TCD sister #2. 1986 TCD sister #2 and 1986 HappyRedhead look very much alike.

 

Interesting.

 

But TCD Sister #2 never had red hair. 

 

You need to post a photo of you from 1986 so I can judge for myself.

 

TCD

[HappyRedhead......Betsy 16]

 

 

Interesting.

 

But TCD Sister #2 never had red hair. 

 

You need to post a photo of you from 1986 so I can judge for myself.

 

TCD

In 1986 HappyRedhead wasn't so red....

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Well Dave, I checked my local flights and Philadelphia to Bora Bora came in cheapest at $1984.00 per person and that was on Air Tahiti... Guess I have to settle for McHale's Navy reruns.... Awesome parade and construction photos TCD...

I'll have to find the pictures from our honeymoon. We went to Bora Bora, and it's more beautiful than you can imagine.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

I'll have to find the pictures from our honeymoon. We went to Bora Bora, and it's more beautiful than you can imagine.

Not quite related but I have heard Tahiti is a magical place.

[The Troll 67]

 

Who's the dude with the teeth?

 

[Beckers 1,136]

Whoa! A troll sighting!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

In 1986 HappyRedhead wasn't so red....

 

Aha.

 

Were you at least happy in 1986?  Or did that come later too?

 

I'll have to find the pictures from our honeymoon. We went to Bora Bora, and it's more beautiful than you can imagine.

 

I finally broke down and Googled to find out where Bora Bora is.

 

I found out that photo DIT posted depicts the Bora Bora Four Seasons.

 

Perfect.

 

I will need to join their loyalty program.  After a few stays at the new Disney World Four Seasons, maybe I can score a discount for the Bora Bora one.

 

I hope there are discounts.

 

The prices they quote are in some kind of funny money, but it looks like those things rent out for north of $2K a night.

 

Not quite related but I have heard Tahiti is a magical place.

 

It sure looks magical.

 

But rather expensive.

 

 

Who's the dude with the teeth?

 

 

Holy crap!

 

It's the Troll!

 

I'm glad to see a post from you, Norm.

 

That dude with the teeth is my kid brother.

 

He was demonstrating what we called the "bear smile."  Like Davy Crockett does?

 

It was a thing that got started in the TCD gang back in that time frame.  And it persists to this very day.  There's and interesting story about how that all came about.  Well, maybe not all that interesting.  I'll share it some time.  But maybe not right now.

 

Whoa! A troll sighting!!

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

This is a good day!

 

TCD

[Big Kahuna aka John 71]

 

 

McHale's Navy re-runs?

 

Where?

 

I used to love that show!

 

 

Were you actually planning to go to Bora Bora?

 

 

TCD

I wish I could go to French Polynesia.   It is on my bucket list.   As far as McHale's navy,  I have a local station that airs it.  But I did find this for you http://uverseonline.att.net/tv/show/mchales-navy

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

The Tahiti thing was a joke. Kind of an experiment. Want to see how many might catch the reference.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

This is turning out to be a fun little trip report, isn't it?

 

Thanks for all the comments.  They make it much more interesting.

 

But, let's move along.

 

The last update ended midstream in our journey from the MK to Epcot on the afternoon of March 9.  We needed to report to Soarin' by no later than 5:05 pm, and had begun making our way there after the new parade had ended.

 

In the last update, we were just pulling in to the TTC monorail station.

 

As expected, an Epcot monorail was pulling in to the station just as we arrived.

 

It is good to be TCD.

 

So, we hopped on and off we went.

 

By 4:03 pm, we were cruising past the former STOL-port.  I always take a look at what is going on here- sometimes there are some interesting things to see.  Like they had the track for the new Mine Train ride stored in this area for a while before it was installed.

 

I saw something interesting today:

 

 

Look at that big white tent they have set up there.

 

What is that?

 

It's tall.

 

I've never seen a tent like that.

 

Take a closer look:

 

 

What could that be there for?

 

A giant Phil Holmes statue?

 

Oh, I suppose you have a better idea?

 

So, we zipped right over to Epcot.

 

I know that there's at least one Fiend who hates the monorails.  But, I don't.  I love this ride.  Every time.  And my favorite part was coming up.  The loop around Future World.

 

Here we go.  First, we passed by the Wonders of Life pavilion.  I am glad when they open it for the festivals.  Remember, that's where you need to go to get your Tomato Push Pop:

 

 

Then we passed Test Track, and here we are over the old Odyssey restaurant.  I never went there when it was open, but I was in that building most recently last year when the had passholders pick up their new plastic passes:

 

 

You can see a bit of the World Showcase in that last shot.  It doesn't look packed with people.  That's good.

 

During the Flower and Garden Festival, you need to cruise around Epcot at least once on the monorail.  It's a great way to take in the huge flower beds and the floating planters that they have for the festival:

 

 

Now we're passing over the special Monsters University themed playground that they installed for this year's festival:

 

 

 

As you can see, that playground is a popular place.

 

Also, you may have noticed the reflection of an Auburn t-shirt in that last photo.  That's me. War Eagle (have to stay in the good graces of the site owners).

 

Now, we are passing by the Imagination pavilion.  True fact: the oldest TCD DD still has not seen Captain EO, and refuses to:

 

 

Here's the stroller parking area between the Land and Living Seas pavilions.  Note that the water in the big pond that you can see at the bottom of the photo has been drained-just like the moat at the Magic Kingdom:

 

 

Now we are passing over a beautiful flowering tree- there are a lot of these scattered around WDW, and they are all in bloom this time of year (much better than snow) :

 

 

We do have our version of winter in Florida.  These crepe myrtle trees are bare for now:

 

 

And, now we're in Epcot.  Looking at the entrance topiaries.  It's 4:16 pm:

 

 

Now, who wants to tell me that park hopping is too much work?

 

That was a piece of cake.

 

We were going to get to Soarin' earlier than I had planned, which meant that we would likely be done with it before our return time for Living with the Land was valid.  Oh well.

 

We proceeded to Soarin'.

 

And found the expected mess at the FP return line.  Different guests, but same story.  At least half the people in front of us got turned away.  But only after trying to scan their MB's and having the CM's tell them that they didn't have valid FP+ to ride at this time.  I really don't understand it.  How can there be this many stupid people in the world?  And why are they always in front of me?:

 

 

We hit the Soarin' line just right.  We zipped through, and got waved right onto the place where you stand on your seat number.  The spiel video was already playing.  Usually, even with FP we have a bit of a wait before getting this far.  Not today.

 

So, we were done with Soarin' way before it was time to ride the boat.  As S71 alluded to above, we didn't need that FP anyway, and could have walked on to the boat right then had we wanted to.  But nobody wanted to.  The girls had something else in mind.  Remember, we had roasted in the hot sun to watch the parade, and had moved pretty quickly to get to Epcot.  We all were looking for a nice cold drink.  They have plenty of drinks right there in the Land Pavilion, but the girls wanted something specific.

 

We skipped the boat ride and headed out.  Toward the World Showcase.  Here we are passing the Monsters University playground- it is good to see how many people are enjoying it:

 

 

There were some interesting displays on the left of the walkway, but nobody wanted to stop and look, we were on a mission:

 

 

For the past few years, there has been a big sand sculpture in this area.  This was the first weekend of the show, and I didn't see the sand sculpture.  Maybe that's coming later.

 

We took a quick left, and here I am standing in the line at the Pineapple Promenade.  The view:

 

 

While I waited my turn to order, I looked over at the display area we had just passed.  I don't see a place where the sand sculpture would even go:

 

 

 

The girls each ordered a violet lemonade.  They really like it.  I got myself a Dole Whip with a shot of coconut rum. The girls each wanted a photo of their violet lemonades for their social media accounts:

 

 

 

Sorry, but I don't have a Dole Whip photo.  Imagine a really small Dole Whip.  Smaller than one of the ones DIT makes.  Then imagine a smaller one than that.  With a couple of drops of rum on top.  That's what it looked like.  But, it was good.  And the coconut rum is a winner. 

 

We found a bench in the shade and enjoyed our treats.  We all agreed that we were getting kind of tired.  I asked if everyone was still up for eating our way around the World Showcase after Test Track, and there were some objections.  To be honest, the food choices are not as interesting and fun as the Food and Wine offerings.  I was still up for it, but the girls said they'd rather just go to a quick serve restaurant some place, order our food, and sit down and eat it.  None of the walking around and trying a little bit here and a little bit there.  We discussed some choices, but didn't reach a consensus.  We agreed to continue the discussion after we finished with Test Track, and then we could map out the rest of our evening.

 

After our break, we headed back toward Future World.  We stopped to admire the view:

 

 

 

We had a little bit of time to kill, so we decided to go in to the butterfly garden.  We passed by the Goofy topiary. It's a popular spot for photos:

 

 

I guess those fairy friends of Tinkerbelle's are on their way out.  Because this year, the theme of the butterfly garden was just Tinkerbelle.  The other fairies got the boot.  Also, there weren't a whole lot of butterflies to be found today.  Still, it's a nice garden:

 

 

I remember taking this photo specifically because I had finally spotted a butterfly, but now I can't find it in the photo:

 

 

There are nice flowers and garden art in here, but not very many butterflies:

 

 

Here's one.  Look to the left of the center of the photo, on the pinkish-purplish flower- there's a little white butterfly hanging there:

 

 

There are signs around describing the butterflies allegedly flying around in here:

 

 

There were more signs than there were butterflies.

 

But, it's early.  The Flower and Garden Festival runs all the way through May.  There will be some butterflies in there eventually.

 

It was time for us to make our way over to Test Track.  One more look at the flower beds:

 

 

Now we are over by the Cars themed playground.  It also is busy:

 

 

I have a few more photos of the Cars playground to share before we head over to Test Track.

 

But we are at the photo limit, so they will need to wait.

 

Next, we will ride Test Track and then head on to dinner.

 

And that third cool thing for this day will happen.

 

TCD