theDIBB - #USAnumber3- Helen&Andy Nov 18 - Day 4: Unintentional Epcot, California Grill Brunch & Magic Kingdom

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Day 4: Unintentional Epcot, California Grill, & Magic Kingdom

Welcome back to my trip report and thanks for bearing with me. These aren’t exactly the shortest things to write, and between work and an avid Game of Thrones re-watch, there isn’t much time in the day left for writing this report. It’s creaking along though!

So, today, you join us on Sunday, and one of the days I was most excited about for this trip. Typical really, to be more excited about feeding my face than seeing Toy Story Land. Sad, yet true. We had a 10:40 reservation for the brunch at the California Grill. I’d been devouring (ha) reports and reviews of the brunch and this was the one dining reservation I was adamant we needed to get. Andy and I really love a bottomless brunch, and where better to have one than at the Contemporary, with that amazing view?

As we were still a little jet-lagged, and hadn’t exactly had a late night the previous day, we were dressed and raring to go by 09:00. Our plan was to get the bus to Magic Kingdom, pop in and do a couple of gentle early rides or have a coffee, and then wander over to the Contemporary in time for our reservation. Sounds like a plan, right?

NOPE.

We arrived at the Beach Club bus stop area to what can only be described as an angry mob. It was one of the Disney marathons (no clue which one – I am as attracted to running as Cersei Lannister is to anyone who isn’t her brother), and as a result there were no buses running. Well, there were, but a cast member – who was enjoying his position of power with a megaphone a little tooooo much – said that there was a huge traffic jam around the resort and they had no idea what time any buses would be able to make it through.

Noooo! This was terrible news! I’d be devastated if we missed our reservation and was starting to panic a little. Then, common sense got the better of me, and I hatched a plan. This was where staying at the Beach Club really paid dividends as we had options that wouldn’t have been open to us if we’d have been elsewhere, like AKL or any of the moderates. I said to Andy, let’s walk through Epcot to the monorail and get that over to the Magic Kingdom instead. Happy days.

So, off we trotted on foot. However, this wasn’t as pleasant as it sounded. The lovely mild breezy weather of the previous day had vanished completely, and we were back to 99% humidity. It was utterly horrendous that day and we hadn’t even got as far as the International Gateway before I was dripping with sweat. No photos, you’ll be pleased to see.

Readers of my previous reports will know we have form for turning up at the California Grill looking a total mess, and I had been determined it wouldn’t happen this time – only to be foiled once again.

We were held at the bridge area for what felt like ages, as the runners went past. I was feeling very uncomfortable as was aware I was being a bit of a princess – not the good kind – and all these brilliant people were actually out and RUNNING in this weather, whereas I was grinching about having to put one able-bodied foot in front of the other, with the sole goal of filling my face with food. Yeah.

Finally, we made it into Epcot and were discussing the shortest route to the front of the park. My instinct was to go round, to the side walkway before you get to Port of Entry, past Figment and straight down to the fountain. Plan, yes?

NO!

It was all roped off, due to the marathon route. So instead, we were shepherded round what felt like the whole of World Showcase, with miles and miles of ropes seemingly directing us in every way other than the way we wanted to go. Lesson learned – never try and travel anywhere during a marathon! Have a pool day!

As a result of the rushing around and being a bit preoccupied, I didn’t actually take many photos. But look at this one – the state of that sky.

Eventually, we made it to the monorail. Damn, that ramp is steep when you’re in a rush, full of lactic acid, and feel like you’re wearing a fur coat.

We disembarked at the TTC, and swapped for a resort monorail, deciding that we may as well just head straight for the Contemporary at this point.

It had taken us an hour to get from the room to the TTC.

As you can clearly see, I was bone dry and in a brilliant mood.

Finally, at about 10:15, we made it to the Contemporary.

We had a little wander around the shops. I think this is partly why the Contemporary always feels like an airport lounge to me - aside from the architecture, the shops are actually pretty good. I always see a few things I like in the main clothes shop – although I didn’t buy anything.

We also found a little grocery store which had some cool things. I bought these sew-on patches which I love – and didn’t see in any other shops, so knowing to snap things up when you see them – I bought them.

I’d spent a while before we came away buying plain vest tops and “augmenting” them with patches I’d bought from eBay so I could choose my favourite characters and wear something a little subtle but unique – you’ll see some of my creations in later posts.

I also picked up a postcard with one of those hologram pictures of the castle on it, as it was Andy’s birthday the day after we were due to arrive home, and I needed a back-up plan in case I couldn’t find a birthday card anywhere. Bad disorganised wife hadn’t bought one before we went away, so I’d been surreptitiously looking for birthday cards in every shop we’d been in – and totally failed. Never saw one anywhere. Can you buy a birthday card in WDW? Answers on a hologram postcard please.

Andy was also having a grand old time in this shop. Everyone has their thing, and Andy’s thing is an addiction to salted peanuts. I don’t say this lightly – it’s a serious addiction. He has to have peanuts in the house or he goes a bit funny. I swear you could feed a circus of elephants from the loose peanuts I’m constantly picking up from the kitchen floor, and he’s constantly to be found scoffing a handful of peanuts between meals. I’m used to it, and at least it’s not anything more sinister. He does have to go through a peanut-weaning once in a while - a peanut amnesty, if you will.

So just imagine his joy when he found that the Contemporary shop stocked little packets of salted peanuts. Yeah. Several were bought, and demolished more or less on the spot.

It was also here that a momentous event happened. Readers of my previous reports will know of my very serious quest to find the only unoccupied restroom in the whole of Walt Disney World. I’d begun to give up and think it just wasn’t possible. But then…

I swear I heard angels singing and saw sunbeams break through. Apparently, the only unoccupied restroom in the whole of the World is tucked away behind a sofa on a random mezzanine floor of the Contemporary. You’re welcome. I’d actually only gone in to check my hair (after the humid sprint over there) and put on some lipstick – typical.

Smug.

Speaking of angels singing, it was time now for our lunch reservation. We’d made the most of the air con at the Contemporary and actually felt like we’d recovered from a bit of a stressful morning and like we might actually be allowed in.

We went up the private lift to the top floor, and were quickly shown to our table. It was lovely seeing the California Grill in all its daytime glory – the last time had been after dark, which was also special, but in a different way. The light was bouncing around the room, there were some musicians playing low-key and unobtrusive music, and ahhhh, the buffet itself.

Sadly, and against anything Patrick Swayze would have wanted, we were placed in a corner, as far away from the Magic Kingdom as you can get, and we couldn’t hear the musicians either. In hindsight, we could have complained about our table, but we didn’t. It was busy, and complaining just isn’t our style – we were just happy to be there.

Not the best view.

Our server brought us the bottomless drink of the day. I’d been expecting Bucks Fizz (or mimosas, if you’re that way inclined) according to the reviews, but we were given sparkling wine with a little blueberry liqueur and some blueberry boba balls. It was kind of an odd colour, but really delicious. We disobeyed all the unwritten rules about pacing yourselves, and hauled the first one down in moments. Cheers – we made it!

We had the buffet explained to us – there were a few sections:
1) A Bloody Mary station where you could choose your vodka and your garnishes etc. Originally this was at an extra price, but we were informed that it was included in the package. Neither of us are massive vodka drinkers and these were HUGE so whilst in hindsight I wish I had tried one, neither of us fancied it, and decided to stick to the mimosas.
2) An area with loads of different pastries and a chef cooking up something – crepes suzette, I think.
3) The main buffet area which was on a counter wrapped around the open kitchen area

We were told we could help ourselves to anything we wanted, but to save room for the main course, which we would order from the main brunch menu.

My favourite part was the main buffet area, which had so much stuff I love. This definitely isn’t a buffet for those with a sweet tooth – it’s all savoury stuff. Breads, meats, fish, salads, sushi, cheeses….ohh yeah.

Plate 1:

Plate 2:

And for good measure, Plate 3!

The thing on the left is a guava pastry – it was nice! I really liked the flatbread things too – they were like thin, crispy wheat crackers. Delicious. I didn’t take any photos of what Andy had – I think he struggled a little more than me given that he doesn’t eat pork or sushi so had to pick round things a little more.

Speaking of fussy eaters, the couple (a mum and daughter) on the adjacent table to us were having a right old time of it. The daughter was having a meltdown that she couldn’t eat anything on the buffet and was getting increasingly shrill and hyper. I can’t recall the exact details but one of them was dairy intolerant, one couldn’t eat anything raw, one couldn’t have wheat – I mean, you name an intolerance, the odds were that one of them would have it. The server was really good with them and basically bought them some gluten free sushi with avocado and dairy free cream cheese (no I don’t know either) and then they were complaining about that too.

We tried to freeze them out, we really did, but goodness they were making a fuss. Why not check a menu before you go somewhere rather than raising the roof? The daughter even said to the server that they had looked at the menu and there wasn’t a thing they could eat but decided to book anyway so maybe they should sue Disney, and it was all getting pretty awful and uncomfortable.

So we had another mimosa, or three.

For the main course, I was really torn. There was a lot of stuff on there I would have liked, but I ended up going for the lobster eggs benedict. This was an odd choice for me, and I knew it – I love lobster, I love eggs, but I’d only tried hollandaise sauce once before and decided I didn’t like it, I think mainly due to tarragon or some herb in it that I didn’t enjoy. So, I figured if I was to try it again, I would do it here, as it was likely to be some of the best hollandaise around.

Well….hmmm. It was pretty plain, so no herbs, and just tasted like melted butter, which I certainly didn’t have an issue with, but it just did nothing for me, and I ended up scraping most of it off. The eggs were perfectly poached but really, the whole thing was just too rich and slimy for me. It was also on the cold side, and the lobster was a tad rubbery, so I’m not sure how long it had been sitting around for. It just felt like a bit of an anti-climax compared to how fresh and delicious everything else had been. Luckily I had had the foresight to order a side of bacon, which – I’m sort of ashamed to say – I demolished with the eggs and the muffin. The crispness and saltiness of the bacon definitely worked to cut through what was a really rich dish.

Just in case you wondered what a plate of bacon looked like. And yeah, I ate the lot. No shame.

Andy? Well, he had this. Looks like something Ramsay Bolton would have enjoyed very much.

Hehe. It was steak, with chimichurri sauce and potatoes. He managed most of it and said it was OK but not memorable.

After this, we decided that the cocktails on the menu sounded too good to be true, and although they weren’t included in the brunch package, we decided to try them out. Andy – who isn’t a big spirits drinker, so always makes me choose something I think he would like - opted for the blackberry lemonade (which was alcoholic, I promise), and I had the lemon drop martini.

Both were utterly delicious, and the martini certainly packed a punch. Yum.

Double parked.

We also ordered a couple of coffees, which took forever to arrive as our server had actually forgotten about us. She was really apologetic and also brought us a little tray of mini-desserts too.

In 99% of the reviews and trip reports I have read, people take the desserts to go. They look pretty portable given that they’re more like sweets and petit fours than squishy desserts, but we were heading off to the Magic Kingdom so felt it was better to carry them inside than out, and with that outstanding logic, we scoffed the lot.

I’m not one to keep a record of bills and receipts (not helpful, I know) but let’s just say if we weren’t on the dining plan, Andy probably would have fallen off his chair – and not just due to the immense amount of food and booze we’d put away. I think the base price is about $85 per person (which you get for 2x DDP credits each) and then we’d had two cocktails. They threw the coffees in for free as it had taken so long for us to receive them. We left a 20% tip though as on the whole, it had all been great.

In fact, this was the best Disney dining experience I have ever had. Fact. Even better than Blaze pizza, haha. It was chilled out, un-rushed (think we were there for about 2.5 hours), they weren’t skimpy on the booze, ambience was great, and the buffet food was outstanding.

The main courses weren’t quite there for us but that might be just because we ordered the wrong thing – some of the other plates we saw coming out of the kitchen looked immense. I have heard you can order more than one main course if you so wish, all within the price, but we felt that would just be wasteful. It’s not as though we were hungry by that point….

I think the main thing for me was, other than the whingers we were sat next to, it was just such a welcome escape from the hustle and bustle of the World. No hyperactive kids, no stressed out parents, it was wonderfully Victorian. Ha. I guess parents won’t get the return on investment from taking little kids to an expensive meal with quite adult food and drink options?

Anyway. Next time we visit, we’ll be on the quick service dining plan again, so I need to think about whether we would pay out of pocket for this. Probably not, if I’m honest but if we were on a table service plan again in the future, this would definitely be the first meal I booked.

So. That’s been about 1,500 words about a meal, so well done for sticking with me thus far.

Cont. below...

We decided we would walk to the Magic Kingdom from the Contemporary. We’ve only ever gone there by monorail, so it was interesting to do something new.

We made our way to the ground floor, stopping in there to visit the rest rooms in reception. They were very nice, and it struck me (obviously hard as this is the kind of detail I can remember several months on, not important stuff like how much the damn meal cost) that the restrooms had very nice loo roll. All the important facts here.

Reception itself was also really nice, with rugs and big squashy sofas and a colour scheme that immediately made me want to redecorate our house in line with it. Could it be that we were finally starting to fall for the charms of the Contemporary? Same thing happened to us with the Grand Floridian; the first time we visited there, it just made me think of the Titanic, but now we love it.

The walkway to the Magic Kingdom isn’t really signposted – and not going to lie, the air hit us hard after the best part of three hours with unlimited booze - so we had to ask a bell services chap where to find the path. You turn right out of the entrance, cross the road next to the car park, and then basically follow the monorail to the Magic Kingdom concourse.

You’d better believe this was one of the stand-out moments of the holiday, and not for good reason. I felt like a sausage that needed pricking. SO full. We lurched and rolled along the path (not really but it was pretty slow progress). What made it worse was that the humidity which had killed us on the way there had not abated; if anything, it felt worse as we’d spent the past few hours in oblivious air con bliss. Being stuffed full, a bit boozy and walking in hellish humidity do not make for easy bedfellows. I feel icky just thinking about it!

What was excellent was that there is a bag check and scanner along the path, so you don’t have to join the mega queue on arrival at the front of the Magic Kingdom. Another tick in the box for the Contemporary!

I think it was about 2pm by this point and I’d deliberately not booked any fast passes til a little later as I didn’t think we’d want to be lurching around straight after a brunch. And how right I was! The only other time I’m that full is about 14:30 on Christmas Day, and unfortunately we weren’t able to sit on the sofa and have a nap during the Queen’s Speech. So, we did the next best thing, and headed to the Hall of Presidents.

I don’t think we timed this very well as it felt like we waited forever to be let in for the show. Very unlike us, but we both plonked ourselves down on the floor to wait. There may have been groaning – and not the good kind. Rinse your brains out!

George did not approve.

We went in to the show, and Andy fell asleep more or less as soon as it started. I was still a bit scarred by the fact that a few years ago, I saw a hefty bloke wearing a t-shirt with an eagle and the stars & stripes (#USAnumber1) have a proper go at some poor tourist who had had a nap during the show, so I managed to force myself to stay awake as I didn’t fancy a face-off with someone accusing me of a lack of respect – which I suppose would be fair enough. Also, I was really interested to see what the Trump animatronic was going to be like.

They don’t let you take photos in the auditorium, so I don’t have any. But as always with this, especially as it was closed the last two times we visited, it’s more interesting than you think it’s going to be, and if nothing else, it’s good pub quiz research as there are always lesser known Presidents you get reminded of. As for Trump, well, meh. It doesn’t look much like him and I didn’t much care for the applause “he” got either. Nope.

After the show, we were trapped by the exit, as the Festival of Fantasy parade was just passing Liberty Square. We were pretty close so snapped a few photos.

It was still hella humid and you can see the sky was really grey. Once it had passed, we turned left into Fantasyland where we had one of our weirdest Photopass moments – yep, you can now have your picture taken outside the Tangled toilets… Andy was delighted about this, as you can see.

We still had bags of time before our fast passes but felt we could more or less stomach a gentle ride, so headed on over to the Peoplemover. Even though it was during the middle of the parade, the queue to get on was really beastly and it took a while.

I know I keep banging on about the humidity, but it was like the air was so dense and I felt as though I was wearing a fur coat. I scraped my hair up into a bun and enjoyed the breeze of the Peoplemover.

Gasping to be back in the air con, and in the spirit of wanting to do the more sedate attractions, we headed for the Carousel of Progress.

There must have been some kerfuffle when we entered as for some reason Andy and I ended up on separate rows, which cracked me up.

Also meant I could pretend I wasn’t with him, when he commenced snoring in 3…2…1… Or perhaps he wanted some time out from his wife’s sweaty face, I mean, who can blame him, I was minging.

I think if I am going to redecorate the lounge to look like the Contemporary lobby, I definitely want the kitchen from the future… #goals

The doors peeled back to let us out at the end of the show and we were faced with RAIN. Not just a shower but the kind of tropical storm you can only get in Florida. Thank god. The relief was instantaneous, and it had clearly been building all day.

Luckily there is some cover at the Carousel exit so we were able to stand there for 10 minutes or so and just watch people haring past.

Unfortunately, at that point a cast member came and moved us along as we were blocking the exit and the next rotation needed to come out.

I checked the app as it was time for our Seven Dwarves Mine Train fast pass. Alas, due to the weather, it had been cancelled and we had been offered another fast pass of our choosing instead. We were a little annoyed about this as this one had been our only 7DMT fast pass of the trip, so we knew we were going to have to either get up early one day or keep an eye out for a future fast pass (like hens’ teeth, still).

Given that we were in Tomorrowland and were feeling able to ride – finally the brunch had begun to digest, hallelujah –we sprinted across Tomorrowland (as fast as one can sprint after a massive lunch, in a low-ish cut dress and flip-flops, told you, I’m built for comfort, not speed) and checked in for a flight to outer space instead.

The Space Mountain fast pass queue was pretty empty which was a good job as it felt like it took me a while to get there. My flip-flops had turned into slip-slops and I was sliding all over the place and having to grab on to the hand rail whilst walking up the ramps. Embarrassing. Still, the ride was fairly uneventful. No vomit, which is always a bonus – luckily enough for the lady in front of me.

I don’t know why, but there was a temporary exit to the ride. Normally you come out via the shop, but for some reason on this trip, you came out of Space Mountain somewhere on the back side of the building and have to walk round. They’ve put in a little temporary walkway but for some reason, the genius brain behind it, had decided to use wood that had been painted with what looked like black gloss. Perfect in the rain, I’m sure you’ll agree. I nearly slipped over a few times, as there isn’t anything to hold on to – well, apart from the man (who wasn’t my husband - he had gone off ahead of me…typical) I grabbed to break my fall, oops.

Not only is it a walk outside, you have to cross the rail tracks. We were held there for ages as a train was about to pass through, and at this point we were utterly drenched. I was torn between pain due to the mascara cascading into my eyes and smugly pleased that Andy hadn’t made it across the rail tracks and so he was caught up too. Serves him right for leaving me behind. Rain hadn’t even been forecast so we didn’t have an umbrella or our macs with us.

We’d reached the point of no return now – the rain wasn’t letting up and we were soaked to our undies so there was only one thing for it and that was to cancel our remaining fast passes and head to the buses.

Back at the room, we each had a shower and whilst we were deciding what to do, watched some kind of Mickey birthday spectacular on the TV. It wasn’t really doing a lot for us though, it was all bit millennial for us, so we didn’t watch it for long.

The rain was still slamming it down, and we didn’t have any meal reservations or anywhere to be, so we opted to have a night in. We pottered down to the shop to fill up our mugs (more pink Sprite from the freestyle machines) and whilst we weren’t hungry in the slightest, were starting to get a little peckish, so used a couple of snack credits on a cookie for Andy and this Lunchable thing for me.

We went back up to the room and scrolled the TV for a movie, finally ending up with Caddyshack which was perfect as we wanted something funny and that required no brain cells. I always feel disappointed when I read trip reports where people stay in and watch movies of an evening, especially when they’re on site, so I felt bad for this instalment, but the rain really wasn’t conducive to doing much else.

We got into bed, Andy feasted on his nuts, and I got stuck into the Lunchable snack.

What a game changer that turned out to be. Lunchables in the UK are gross crackers, mystery meat and little slices of Dairylea. Like 99% of the snacks in the US, this was worlds apart from the crap they fob us off with and it was delicious. Little tortilla chips, some really zingy salsa which had a bit of poke to it, and my fave – plastic cheese. YES.

That’s it for this day. A really different day for us – we never ever have a late start, spend hours on a meal, a short time in a park and then have the evening in the hotel room. Really alien. Whatever next? Despite all the sogginess, we still had a great time and managed to rack up a few steps.

I hope you’ll join us for the next instalment, where normal service is resumed, and we spend the day at Universal! This can now be found here!