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Old 16 Aug 20, 02:13 PM  
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Another Birthday Trip, Oct 2019 - Day 8, Resort Time, Disney Springs and Epcot

The previous day is HERE.

Thursday 10 October 2019

We were hoping to have a lie in today but both girls were awake before 7am. We took our time getting up and had some cereal in the room. Our plan was to swim at the resort this morning and Madison and Kaley had said they wanted to use the pool at French Quarter, rather than the main pool at our resort. We did the usual hair, suncream, getting dressed and left just before 9am. It was a beautiful day

You can get the boat from POR to POFQ but we wanted to walk so crossed the bridge near our building and headed toward FQ

We had taken our refillable mugs with us, we got so much use out of our mugs this year, more so than any of our other onsite holidays

Oops!

Posing for silly photos

Rare photo of me and Phil

The buildings at POFQ are really pretty too

We were soon at the main pool

As it was fairly early, it was lovely and quiet. I wasn't fussed about going in (I can't be doing with having to re-do my hair) so found a couple of sun loungers and Phil and the girls went straight in. We could see pretty much the whole pool from where we were sat so it was easy to keep an eye of the girls. Whilst Phil was in the pool with them, I went to the food court to get drinks for us all. They have the Coke Freestyle machines here so I had a coke zero with lime. Wow, the colour of the lime was bright green!

They all had loads of fun in the pool and loved the slide. After a couple of hours they were done and we got our stuff together to go back to our room.

Phil and the girls had showers and I got together everything we needed for the rest of the day.

These were the drinks Phil had gotten from HS

We left at 11.55 and drove to Disney Springs. We were parked in the Lime garage, level 3, row 4 at 12.15pm

We walked through the Marketplace area

I do love SSR, it's such a pretty resort.

We were going to one of my favourite places for lunch, Wolfgang Puck Express

I love the food here, there is a good choice on the menu and it's really good value on the dining plan



It wasn't busy and we were able to order straightaway. We got our drinks and found a table in the back part of the restaurant


(Look at that vibrant orange! )


Catching up on notes again

We didn't have to wait long before our food came out. Phil had the Barbecued Chicken Salad - romaine, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, corn, black beans, poblano peppers, crispy tortilla strips, ranch dressing. This was $13

He really enjoyed this and liked having something lighter to eat.

I had the Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf - mashed potatoes, crispy onion strings, port wine sauce. This was $18.50

This was really good, I usually just go for one of the pastas but I had seen this on so many trip and dining reports that I wanted to finally try it. I was glad I did.

For Madison and Kaley, we had ordered two things for them to share; the Half Rotisserie Chicken - rosemary, mashed potatoes, garlic butter. This was $16.50

And the Crispy Chicken Tenders - French fries. This was $13.50

These were both also really good, all of the chicken and the fries were eaten.

We had gotten four fountain drinks with our meals ($3.15 each) and the total cost should have been $78.92. We used 4 QS credits to pay. I also used a snack credit to get a Crème Brulee ($6) as this is one of my favourite dessert items at WDW

This was as good as I remembered it being and I ate the whole thing, with a little bit of help from Madison and Kaley. We left an $8 tip for our server who had been really good and headed out about 1.10pm.

We went over to Goofy's Candy Co to get something for the girls. Kaley decided she didn't want anything. Madison had an M&M covered chocolate marshmallow. This should have cost $5.32 including tax but we used a snack credit.

We made our way back to the car



Madison's treat from GCC

Sitting in the boot as you do

We were back at the car by 1.25pm and were soon on our way to Epcot.

We parked in Journey, row 6, at 1.40pm

We walked to the entrance


We were soon in the park


We had our free FP to use so were going straight to Test Track to use it


CONTINUED IN NEXT POST
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MY TRIP AND DINING REPORTS - July 2023 Ten (Not So) Little Ones Take the Adults ~~ Onsite/Offsite Dining Report - July 2023 - 4 people - £168 budget per day plus tips ~~ Another Birthday Trip, October 2019 ~~ The Land, Sea and Wedding Trip Report, October 2015 ~~. Sept / Oct 2013 Five Little Ones Take the Adults
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Edited at 03:20 PM.
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Old 16 Aug 20, 02:39 PM  
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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST

We went over there and scanned in, it was just before 2pm by now. It took a while to get on and Madison was getting quite nervous

Kaley was really excited, having ridden this in 2015

We were soon into the room to design your car (I know this is to pass some of the queue time but I could do without it)




Once we got through this room, it wasn't long until we were on the ride

I love this ride, it has been one of my favourites for years. I was so glad Madison had come on it with us as she loved it too!

She says that this and Smuggler's Run are her favourite rides.

One of the cars in the room as you exit the ride

Both girls when we were back outside

Phil had seen a travel mug he wanted in the Preview Centre so that is where we went next. We passed this play area on the way, though it wasn't open

We stopped for some photos on the way


I don't think we had to wait long for the monorail to come along

We went into the Preview Centre and Phil got the travel mug he wanted

This was $39.99 plus tax. We also got the Epcot re-useable shopping bag, $2.00

We had these shipped back to our resort so we didn't have to carry them around for the rest of the day.

We came out of here and it was raining again! We ran over to Mouse Gear and got the Starbucks mug ($19.99) and a F&W mini shaker ($9.99)


The line in here to pay was quite long and when it was our turn to be served, the CM was really rude and dismissive, something we haven't really seen before. We had this shipped back to the resort too.

Kaley had seen some dolls she liked in the Festival shop (the ones either side of the start of World Showcase) so we went there next. We walked around the shop twice and couldn't find them anywhere. We asked the CM and it turned out that the dolls are from an outside vendor and were only available to buy at the weekend.

It was time to check out some more of WS, heading left towards Mexico, where we stopped at the F&W booth

We got the Capirotada de Chocolate - chocolate bread pudding served with chocolate abuelita crème Anglais

We used a snack credit for this, the cost otherwise was $4.75. This was really good and we all ate it really quickly.

We had never looked in the Mexico pavilion so decided to look now


(The rain had stopped and it was really hot and bright again.)

It was lovely in here, really atmospheric and well themed

It had to be done!

There was a walk on line for the Gran Fiesta Tour so we joined it and were quickly on the cute little boat journey

This was fun but there was an issue when we got back to the loading/unloading area. About two boats in front of us was a family of women and kids, there were 4 adults and 3 young kids. One of the women was an elderly lady who could not get out of the boat. No matter what she tried, she didn't have the strength to pull herself up. The other women, I would guess her daughters, (uselessly) tried to help but they didn't get anywhere either. In doing this, they were ignoring their kids who were now standing up in the boat, close to the edge.

A couple of cast members came over but I presume due to being concerned about lawsuits, weren't actually able to touch the lady to try to help her out. A couple of men on the boat in front of us ended up jumping out to see if they could help. Eventually, the woman was able to somehow crawl out of the boat and was then helped straight into a scooter.

This took almost 10 minutes and we felt really sorry for the lady as it must have been distressing and embarrassing for her.

We came back outside, it was very bright after being in the dark for a while

We continued walking round and stopped in Norway. The wait time for Anna and Elsa said 15 minutes so we jumped in the line. It was 3.54pm and we were out in just over 10 minutes so the posted wait time was longer than it actually was.

Waiting before we went in


It was our turn very quickly and Anna was first up



Chatting away and signing their autograph books as normal

Posing


Then it was time to meet Elsa



I love pictures like this

Posing


These were a lot of fun and the girls enjoyed meeting them. It was even better not having to wait too long.

We had a wander around Norway





CONTINUED IN NEXT POST
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MY TRIP AND DINING REPORTS - July 2023 Ten (Not So) Little Ones Take the Adults ~~ Onsite/Offsite Dining Report - July 2023 - 4 people - £168 budget per day plus tips ~~ Another Birthday Trip, October 2019 ~~ The Land, Sea and Wedding Trip Report, October 2015 ~~. Sept / Oct 2013 Five Little Ones Take the Adults
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Old 16 Aug 20, 02:53 PM  
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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST

We finished having a look around the shops and then continued on our walk around WS. Our next stop was China and the F&W booth

We got the Chicken Dumplings, served with Chinese slaw. We used a snack credit, the cost if paying OOP is $4.95.

These were very tasty, my favourites of these are still the ones from our 2010 trip though. We all had a taste of them and all enjoyed them.


It was almost 4.30pm and as we were in China, we decided to go to Lotus Blossom Café, as that has been on our list to try some food from for a while.

The Orange Chicken was the dish we wanted to try from the menu

I ordered this while Phil and the girls went and sat down. The Orange Chicken comes with steamed rice and I got a diet coke as our drink. I used a QS credit for this, the prices without this are $10.95 for the food and $3.99 for the drink, plus tax

We all liked this but found it a bit too sweet. We were glad we had tried it but I wouldn't get this one again.

Mulan was due out soon but Kaley really wanted to see Snow White and we didn't have time to do both.

She said she would rather see Snow White so we left China and carried on our walk around the world. We came to the Africa booth

Phil wanted to try the Tusker Lager, $4.50, so he got that

He enjoyed this one.

We continued on our walk and soon arrived in Germany

We went straight to the line for Snow White. There was one person already waiting in line. Snow White was due out at 5.20pm and it was about 5pm. The line was really close to Karamell-Kuche so Madison and I went over, as this is my favourite place to use snack credits.


It wasn't busy in here and we didn't have to wait long. Some of the yummy treats available




We got a large pack of caramel popcorn ($7.45)

Two caramel marshmallow wands ($4.59 each)

And a milk chocolate caramel with sea salt ($4.59).

These were all really good, I love the treats from here. We used 4 snack credits, the large bag of popcorn is a great use of a snack credit here.

We were soon back in the line to see Snow White. She was due out at 5.20pm but was late, coming out about 10 minutes later than that.

This was another meet where the character walked over to the girls and then walked back with them to the meet and greet area. I'm not sure if I've already mentioned this on another day but I always thought this was a nice touch.

Walking with them

Autograph book signing

She looks like she is teaching them dance moves or something here

Posing


She wanted Phil and I to join in for a picture, I always film the character meets so just Phil jumped in for a picture

This was another lovely character meet and Kaley was really happy she had gotten to see Snow White.

We carried on our walk around the world, Phil stopping occasionally to take a couple of photos



There are so many photogenic areas of this park, it is so beautiful.

Kaley also really wanted to see Sleeping Beauty so France was our next stop. We found where her line was and joined it. There were quite a few people in front when we joined the line at 5.40pm. We found out that there were so many people as she hadn't yet come out for the 5.20pm meet. We weren't sure what the reason was and while we were waiting, a few people in front of us left the line, so we kept moving closer to the front. A CM came along and apologised for the delay.

We were happy to wait as when we walked over here, we were expecting to see her at 6.20pm anyway. It was just after 5.50pm when a CM came back out and said she would be about 5 minutes, and less than 5 minutes later, she did come out.

There were only a handful of families in front of us now, so we didn't have to wait long until it was our turn




She was lovely and Kaley was so happy to have seen the two Princesses she most wanted to see in one day.

We were done here just after 6pm


CONTINUED IN NEXT POST
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MY TRIP AND DINING REPORTS - July 2023 Ten (Not So) Little Ones Take the Adults ~~ Onsite/Offsite Dining Report - July 2023 - 4 people - £168 budget per day plus tips ~~ Another Birthday Trip, October 2019 ~~ The Land, Sea and Wedding Trip Report, October 2015 ~~. Sept / Oct 2013 Five Little Ones Take the Adults
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Old 16 Aug 20, 03:08 PM  
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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST




I wanted to see what was on offer in Les Halles Boulangerie Patisseries so made the short walk there


It was really busy in here and though the food looked really good, none of us were hungry enough for anything from here. Phil and the girls did want ice cream though, so we went to L'Artisan des Glaces

The menu board

Choosing what she wanted

Kaley went for vanilla in a cone

Madison had mint-chocolate in a cup

And Phil had coconut white chocolate in a cup

A single scoop is $5 and we used 3 snack credits. We sat outside so that they could eat their ice creams and have a sit down for a few minutes. They all really enjoyed these and said they tasted really good.

I wanted something savoury so we went to the France booth when they had finished their ice creams

I got the Boeuf Braise a la Bordelaise, Pomme Dauphine, beef braised in cabernet sauvignon with red onions and puffed potatoes

This was really good, the beef was so tender and the gravy delicious. I wasn't fussed with the potatoes but otherwise, a great use of a snack credit. The OOP cost is $6.50.

We stopped for a toilet break then carried on around the world


We went into Morocco

As we were wandering around, we saw that Jasmine was meeting in a side room and there was only one family waiting in her line so we joined it. I noted that it was 6.50pm and we had seen her and were back out in 5 minutes.



Props

We wandered around for a bit more then walked to Japan to have a look around there

We had a look around the shop then out and stopped briefly at USA

The Eat to the Beat concert was on, I'm not sure who this is


We carried on towards Italy and as we got there (Italy Isola I think), we spotted a couple of empty benches. It was only around 7.15pm but as we were planning to stay for Epcot Forever, we decided to grab one of them while we had the chance. There weren't many more places we wanted to look and we thought it would be good to have a bench to sit and wait and to watch from later. We did consider not staying here so we could be closer to Future World and have an easier exit but having somewhere to sit on.

The view


Phil went over to Italy to have a look and take some pictures

Kaley had been looking at the baby teddy characters wrapped in a blanket and really wanted the Marie one. We had seen them in La Mode Francaise in France so I took her back there so she could use her money to buy one. This was $29.99 plus tax ($31.94) and she was very happy to have it.

It was quite busy on the walkway so took us a bit of time to get back. I was looking along the way for any other spots to be able to sit and watch from by the water but there weren't any.

We stopped at Fife and Drum on our way and used a snack credit on a diet coke ($4.75) and also got some iced water. We got back to Phil and Madison at 7.45pm ish.

We did a restroom run in shifts (me and the girls while Phil stayed on the bench, then vice versa) and then I couldn't be that close to the Italy booth and not try some of the F&W food so went over with Madison. The line for this booth was long and quite slow moving. I think it took almost 10 minutes from when we got in line until we got our food.

Phil was taking photos as it went dark


The Italy food board

I wanted to try all of the savoury dishes here so decided to use a QS credit rather than snack credits.

We got the Ravioli Carbonara, parmesan and pecorino ravioli, egg yolk, cream and bacon ($7.25)

The Costine di Maiale, balsamic-glazed and oven-roasted pork ribs ($8.00)

And the Pollo, crispy chicken with marinara sauce ($6.00)

This was all really good, I especially enjoyed the pasta. Between us we easily managed to eat it all.

Phil nipped over to a nearby card to get a bottle of diet coke, $4.25. We didn't use a snack credit for some reason.

A few more photos as we waited



The park looked lovely with all the lights.


CONTINUED IN NEXT POST
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MY TRIP AND DINING REPORTS - July 2023 Ten (Not So) Little Ones Take the Adults ~~ Onsite/Offsite Dining Report - July 2023 - 4 people - £168 budget per day plus tips ~~ Another Birthday Trip, October 2019 ~~ The Land, Sea and Wedding Trip Report, October 2015 ~~. Sept / Oct 2013 Five Little Ones Take the Adults
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Old 16 Aug 20, 03:18 PM  
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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST

The time went by quite quickly. It got very busy where we were and we were glad we had the bench to be able to sit and wait, and then just be able to turn around and kneel on it when the show started.

Epcot Forever started at 9pm












We really enjoyed the show. I know it is only a filler and many people think it has nothing on Illuminations, but as it had been so many years since we had seen Illuminations, we had nothing to compare it to.

Phil took a few more photos while we let the crowds disperse a bit




The park really looks beautiful all lit up.

We started to walk back towards the exit, stopping as we got near the front for a few more pics




Kaley was feeling a bit tired so asked to be carried for a bit

It hadn't taken us long to walk back to the exit and we were soon in the car and driving out. It was really quick and easy to get out, there was no queuing at all.

We were back at POR and Madison and Kaley in bed by 10pm, both of them falling straight to sleep.

We needed milk so I walked over to Fulton's and got some whole milk ($3.69 plus tax). I had also taken mine and Phil's refillable mugs so went to Riverside Mill to fill them up. It was 10.15pm and it was still very busy, far busier than I thought it would be at that time.

When I got back, we spoke about our plans for the next day. We had a breakfast ADR for Be Our Guest at 9.15am but we decided that after such a late night, we didn't want to have to set an alarm for the morning so I cancelled it on the app. Our plan for tomorrow also included staying at HS for the Star Wars fireworks, but as they were on at 10pm, we said we weren't sure if we would want another late night two days in a row.

I went to bed at around 11.30pm, after reading for a while.


My steps for today - 23,526
Phil's steps for today - 18,978

Next up, resort time, MK resort walk, Hollywood Studios and Boardwalk area resort walk is HERE


TODAY'S DINING PLAN ROUND UP - 6 Counter Service used and 13 Snack Credit used.

OVERALL DINING PLAN ROUND UP - 49/80 Counter Service used and 56/80 Snack Credits used.

DINING PLAN CREDITS REMAINING - 31 Counter Service and 24 Snack Credits.
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MY TRIP AND DINING REPORTS - July 2023 Ten (Not So) Little Ones Take the Adults ~~ Onsite/Offsite Dining Report - July 2023 - 4 people - £168 budget per day plus tips ~~ Another Birthday Trip, October 2019 ~~ The Land, Sea and Wedding Trip Report, October 2015 ~~. Sept / Oct 2013 Five Little Ones Take the Adults
IG - Lisas29 and familyanddisney

00 / 01 / 04 / 07 /Xmas 08 / 10 / 13 / 15 / 17 / 19 / 23

Edited at 05:05 PM.
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Old 22 Aug 20, 07:29 PM  
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What a great day !
You all look so happy in your photos, so e gorgeous ones of Epcot too , my favourite park day to read about
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Old 27 Sep 20, 10:59 PM  
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Aw what a lovely day! I love Epcot. Just caught up on your last few days and can’t wait to read more 🙂
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Old 10 Feb 21, 10:13 PM  
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An evening in Epcot is just perfect - as well as all the yummy food! That caramel sea salt square is firmly on my list from many moons ago. Can’t wait to get to try it at some point

Thanks for taking the time to share this! X
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