I Have to Do WHAT ?!?

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 537]

On Wednesday morning we had breakfast again at Whispering Canyon Cafe.  i'm sure you all know that the shenanigans there have been discontinued because of COVID.  Instead our server decided to provide his own entertainment.  As we came out of the Cafe, we had greeters:

Then we drove over to EPCOT.  It was another really cold day. We got in line to enter the temporary MouseGears.

The store is small.  This picture shows about 25% of it:

It's pretty much just a warehouse experience right now.  Not the fun stop it used to be.  But it was warm in there!

This was the only location in the entire park to get a decent shot of Spaceship Earth:

The tree at the American pavilion;

Voices of Liberty was performing in the America Gardens Theatre.

A little while later we heard some music and were surprised to see this famous couple motoring down the way:

It was a pleasant surprise.  I had no idea cavalcades were happening in EPCOT too.  Notice how they had a barrier between the driver and the characters?  And Mickey and Minnie sure were practicing their social distancing!

We went the rest of the way around World Showcase and then walked the detour around Future World.  The line was short for Spaceship Earth, so we hopped on it before we left. 

We  bundled up and rode the golf cart for just a few minutes that night, but it was really too cold to enjoy it. 

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 537]

Thursday was another non-park day for us, so we went to Disney Springs.  We arrived around 11;00 and made our way to the second floor of the parking garage to get in the long line for our temperature check and then the security check.  It took a good while to get cleared.  

There was a long line waiting to get in World of Disney, so we skipped it for the meantime. We had lunch at the Polite Pig and did the Christmas Tree Stroll.  I took pictures of all the trees, I won't post all of them here unless someone requests them.  Here are three of the most unusual ones.

The Lion King:

Star Wars:

And this one needs no explanation!

Later that afternoon David had his own "I Need to Do WHAT" moment when he got carded at the trading post for buying a bottle of wine.

 

[keith_h 389]

1 hour ago, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said:

Later that afternoon David had his own "I Need to Do WHAT" moment when he got carded at the trading post for buying a bottle of wine.

Been there, done that. I tell the person doing the carding, in good humor, that there is a certain age where being carded isn't a compliment.

[ependydad...Doug 175]

On 12/30/2020 at 7:21 PM, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said:

Would you believe I had to see the nurse and have my temperature taken before they would allow me to use the bathroom?

So if I had a temp what would they had done?  would they have allowed me to wet the floor rather than go in?  We'll never know.

You had me curious.

We were at the Contemporary the other night for dinner and I did ask what happened if I failed the temperature check to go into the bathroom. The woman informed me that she'd send me to another that didn't require screening.

[ependydad...Doug 175]

On 1/7/2021 at 6:48 PM, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said:

We didn't find one server anywhere who was working at their pre-COVID restaurant.  As I said earlier, Joy from TE is working at Olivia's.  Our server at The Wave said she is a new hire because of none of their previous servers would come back there.    We found out Ken from TE is now working at Le Cellier in Canada.  

Wow, I'm surprised (and not surprised) that  they've been shuffled around so much. I surely hope he's there when we go back... it'll be the last thing we really love there gone.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 537]

Friday was our second MK day.  And it was finally in the low 70s, beautul, sunny, not a cloud in the sky.

  

We rode Peter Pan's Flight and Haunted Mansion, walked around awhile, had some popcorn in the shadow of the castle, and left.

It was time for us to visit the horse barn.  Wow!

This horse's name is Owen. He was being groomed for an event at Golden Oak that evening.  The groomer said he's young and a little hard-headed.  He listened to her pretty well.  She would say 'Owen, put your head down,' and other things like that, and he would do it.  But then he would also show his impatience and a little temper once in awhile.  We watched the process for a good while.

Later we went back over to the MK for dinner at the Plaza Restaurant.  As we were walking in, Goofy's Cavalcade came down Main Street.

The Plaza, like all other Disney restaurants, has really cut back on their menu.  Other than the plant-based option, they only have two sandwiches, a burger, and meat loaf to choose from.  The burger was pretty good, but David didn't like the meat loaf too much.  The only good thing about eating there is you can order items from the Plaza Ice Cream Shop even though it's closed. I blew my diet again and got this beauty:

That's a hot fudge sundae made with raspberry sorbet.  Yum!

I don't like the projections on the castle any more than I like the new paint scheme.  Nevertheless, I did take several pictures.  I'll share a few.

The view from the balcony:

A closer look at the Christmas tree:

As we were leaving:

[ThemeParkCommando 43]

What is the significance of the box lanterns on each of the trees in the Christmas Tree Stroll?  The one for HM looks fine, but on Star Wars and Lion King, they look out of place.  Are they for a hunt or something?

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 537]

3 hours ago, ThemeParkCommando said:

What is the significance of the box lanterns on each of the trees in the Christmas Tree Stroll?  The one for HM looks fine, but on Star Wars and Lion King, they look out of place.  Are they for a hunt or something?

I have no idea.  I went back and looked carefully at my photos of each of the 12 trees.  It appears that the only 2 trees missing lanterns are the main Disney Springs tree and the one inspired by Pluto.  The Pluto tree may have had a lantern on the opposite side ... I'm just not sure.  The one for HM looks fine to me too, but the rest of them are just plain odd.  

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 537]

22 hours ago, keith_h said:

Been there, done that. I tell the person doing the carding, in good humor, that there is a certain age where being carded isn't a compliment.

David tried to make a funny remark, but apparently this person was humorless.

22 hours ago, ependydad...Doug said:

You had me curious.

We were at the Contemporary the other night for dinner and I did ask what happened if I failed the temperature check to go into the bathroom. The woman informed me that she'd send me to another that didn't require screening.

Isn't that the only restroom on the 4th floor?  I'd  hate to be a parent with a young child who suddenly thinks they can't wait.

22 hours ago, ependydad...Doug said:

Wow, I'm surprised (and not surprised) that  they've been shuffled around so much. I surely hope he's there when we go back... it'll be the last thing we really love there gone.

Right now I'm just hoping that Trail's End will be back again.  This just didn't feel right ...