Tuck your elbows in - day 13 - Sip n strolling through Epcot

[lumosq102]

Day 13 Sip n Strolling through Epcot
3 October 2017

Day 12 is here
Index is here

We had a nice relaxed start to our morning, leaving the villa at a just about 8:10, hopping on the resort monorail around to the TTC, then onto the Epcot beam – we had a date with some food and wine today!

We arrived at Epcot at 08:45 and were quickly walking past that big old golf ball. Love.



Our plan for the day involved another D23 event, so another unusual park day. We didn’t have to check in until 10:30am so we had some time for some fun. First on our list was Test Track:



Always a glamorous look. It was a grand total of a 15 minute wait at rope drop and clearly there was no one utilising the single rider line that early. Still prefer the original version, but hey ho, life moves on.

Then we headed over to the Land Pavilion for that lovely Land smell and a trip on Soarin with another 15 minute posted wait time. Gasp. We were doing well today, and were sent to the new concourse! Exciting! Well, if you’re me its exciting. For the rest of the world, it’s the same experience wherever you end up.

We waited for B1, then happily soared around the world with no screen tilting or curved national icons. It’s worth the extra wait, as we will see later today…

As we were in the Land and we had skipped breakfast (tut tut) we decided we had plenty of time to grab breakfast at Sunshine Seasons.



Doesn’t that just scream healthy and balanced breakfast to you? Cheese and grapes for me with a coke, coffee cake and coffee for R. the cheese and grapes are always a solid choice and the cake R went with was a triumph – apparently the best pastry item ever at WDW.

Nutritionally balanced breakfast consumed, it was time to head into World Showcase and pick up our credentials for Sip N Stroll. This is an annual event that D23 run at both the Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival in addition to the Epcot festival. By a stroke of luck this happened to fall during our dates, so we thought why not. We do enjoy the Food and Wine seminars & for the $125 cost you get to attend 2 exclusive seminars, enjoy VIP viewing of whoever is playing at Eat to the Beat that day and then round out the night at a dessert party at Isle de France for Illuminations. Oh, and you get $25 of that back each in the form of a gift card which is supposed to be for the food and wine booths, but can be used anywhere. When you add it all up it’s a pretty good deal, especially when you also leave with a really lovely gift, but we will get to that later.

So we rolled around to the World Showplace to pick up our nifty little lanyard that would give us access to the days events and our 2 $25 gift cards before we were released back into the park.



The UK pavilion was looking very much like home – look at those clouds ☹

We had a fastpass for Spaceship Earth so we headed back into Future World for a trip into the past.







Big fan of your work, Guttenberg





I have been silenced!



We thought we would go against type today and choose something outdoorsy – and we were off skiing!









Yup, that’s accurate.

Phoenicians thanked, we headed back into a gloomy park for the first food booths of the day





Staying in Future World, I was heading to Earth Eats for the Ricotta and Zucchini Ravioli



R started with the lump crab cake from Coastal Eats



which she followed up with the Smoked Corned Beef



All of which were, well, fine. Nothing to write home about, but nothing wrong with them either. Just fine.

Then it was time to check in for our first event of the day - Mix it, Make it, Celebrate it.



This was the only event Epcot were running that was not part of the D23 event, but we figured we might as well do the whole set.





Today was all about coconut cocktails & we made a daiquiri. The host who was instructing us on how to make the cocktail was a little off, but the drink was fantastic (I was thankful for the pasta and cheese I had already consumed). Not the best session, but it was fun & the recipe was delightfully simple:



I rather want to try making this at some point too. How good does that sound?



They always serve a small plate at these shindigs if you are making a drink, but of course I couldn’t eat it –



Darn you shrimp!

Looks so pretty though doesn’t it? R enjoyed both portions



They provided ingredients to make either a strawberry daiquiri or a pineapple chilli daiquiri. We both made the strawberry version of the drink & I ate both portions of the leftover pineapple (R thought it only fare after she consumed both plates of shrimp).

The rum the session was sponsored by was really lovely – much lighter than you would normally get, something to do with it being made with coconut water.



I’m hoping it becomes available in the UK at somepoint as I’d rather like to add it to my liquor cabinet.

Food consumed and drinks enjoyed it was time to head back into the park for a little stroll before our next session. We dove into Mousegear for a little window shopping before heading back into the Wonders of Life Building / Festival Centre for the two D23 Sip n Stroll events.

We started with the food seminar which was led by the Chef from Fort Wilderness, Chef TJ. Now this man is a character – he came in to some rather loud music and enthusiastic running up and down whilst his staff handed out the cutest little pots of a spice blend to take home with us. Whilst he started the demonstration he asked if there was anyone in the audience who was vegetarian. I meekly raised my hand & he instructed his team to arrange for a veggie version of his dish. What a sweetheart!

We also got another treat whilst he was introducing himself – a deep fried oreo. This was amazing, and apparently a specialty of his



Yummmy.

Chef at work





His creation was an Indonesian curry, with scallops for those who eat seafood. R loved it, I loved it… hurrah for Chef TJ! And it was served with frozen coke! Overall it was a fantastic session that we both loved. Overall it was a fantastic session and is the reason why we have added the Fort Wilderness dinner on the list for the next trip – and not just because they have a baked potato bar!

As we left to go over to the wine session his staff were out handing out loafs of corn bread, then another station handing out Caprina’s from the Brazil food booth – it was an arduous walk from one side of the building to the other. They also gave us our event gift – a rather fabulous cocktail making set – and a rain poncho just in case. That came in handy later in the week.





This got a little work out over the Christmas period, with the second set securely stored in pristine condition.

Drink in hand, we arrived at the Vineyard and lucked into a seat front and centre. Lovely. We were at first joined by the lovely Marianne Hunnel who talked about her arrival at Disney with her husband (Scott Hunnel, wizard like chef over at the Grand Floridian and Victoria & Albert) and her journey with the Food and Wine festival.



Now this doesn’t normally happen at the wine seminars – we were brought a plate of food inspired by the food served at Epcot when it opened 35 years ago – hamburgers and hotdogs essentially. According to R it was cold and disgusting.



Doesn’t look great does it?

Onto the wine!



I was still working on that Caprina too.

The winery today was the Frank family vineyard. Rich Frank was the president of Disney Studios until he discovered his love of Napa and wine. Honestly, he might have stuck with the Studio, the wine was, well, average. Nothing special, nothing exciting… the cheap bottles you buy at Asda when you want something drinkable but not pricey. The Frank Family wines.

Session over, wines drunk, weird hot dog burger things discarded, the rest of the group were heading off to watch American Authors do their thing at the America Gardens Theatre. We decided to opt out and get some more food and wine booths under our belt. But first – the front of the park to hire a locker to deposit our haul until the end of the evening



Any excuse for a Spaceship Earth shot



Our haul deposited in the lockers, we nipped into Art of Disney for a quick wander…




But bought nothing. Shocking.

[lumosq102]

Before the gorging commenced we had a fastpass to use over at Nemo and Friends





Visited the lovely Manatees



Tummy tickle?



They’re so cute





Before heading back to the Land for a trip on Living with the Land









Monorail!



And that blue sky was finally back



We started our food journey in Morocco with the Spicey Hummus Fries. These were amazing, the best thing I ate at food and wine, no contest.



R went with the Wasabi Shumai Steamed Pork Dumplings



R said they were fine, but wouldn’t get them again.

Next up – America!



R went with the new England Lobster Roll, we split the Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing and the coffee pilsner. R wasn’t a fan of the pilsner so it became mine by default. Hic. She did love the lobster roll though. The cake was fine.

Tired and emotional in Germany





Sunset Spaceship Earth









Rounding out the journey with the India booth and the Madras Red Curry with roast cauliflower and chickpeas.



It was fine, its always risky having curry anything in the US, its just not as well rounded.

The sunset was looking gorgeous and it was time for us to head back around to France for the dessert party.



Look at that view. So gorgeous. We were so excited to be seeing Illuminations from here.



The dessert here were mainly items from the festival in slightly smaller portions so it was nice to try items we hadn’t had so far, and revisit favourites (the passion fruit cheesecake with macadamia nuts – I may have had 2 of these)





Our view



My fireworks photos were a disaster, tbh, but the view was glorious, and just sitting down at a table with no elbows, no people trying to push past you to get a better view… that was spectacular.

[lumosq102]

It was EMH at Epcot this evening so instead of heading back to the hotel we made a dash for Frozen Ever After





The queue really is charming













Happy Kirsty’s







Nighttime Norway. From getting in like to walking back outside it took a total of 40 minutes. Not too bad considering the lines we had seen on the app earlier in the day.



We stopped off in Mexico for a quick visit to see my favourite birds





Love these sculptures



















yeah, I’m obsessed





Next up we got to tick one of my WDW bucket list items off – Living with the Land at night



We had a boat to ourselves and it was lovely to just have a few minutes of peace and quiet – this ride is my happy place.





It was just before 11pm when we left Living with the Land so we were able to quickly dive into the line for Soarin’ – we were the last people in line so there was no waiting for the front and middle of the theatre this time. We ended up in row 1 of concourse C and, well, I wouldn’t recommend it. I also wouldn’t recommend riding Soarin when you are absolutely wiped. I fell asleep mid ride and woke up to be confronted by a leaning Eifel Tower and a intense feeling of panic. Thankfully I didn’t plummet to my death and we were soon back on terra firma and walking out of the park via those lovely light up paths









We collected our packages and exited the park 14 and a half hours after we arrived, hopping onto the monorail at 11:36pm, managing to get straight on a monorail at the TTC back to the Grand, finally getting back to our room just before midnight.

This ended up being our route around Epcot for the day according to my moves app:



We covered some ground – but missed China completely.

Tomorrow – we sleep in!

Day 14 is here

[Palm trees]

That sounds like a wonderful day, I'm enjoying your report so much, you've got a great writing style and it all sounds interesting and great fun

[Goldia]

The cocktail making sounds really fun. Another fantastic day, when I read your reports I always end up thinking you must have been shattered by the end of the day as you manage to pack in such a lot, so I'm not surprised the next day you had a lie in.

[lumosq102]

Originally Posted by Palm trees

That sounds like a wonderful day, I'm enjoying your report so much, you've got a great writing style and it all sounds interesting and great fun

See more...

Thank you very much It was an amazing day

Originally Posted by Goldia

The cocktail making sounds really fun. Another fantastic day, when I read your reports I always end up thinking you must have been shattered by the end of the day as you manage to pack in such a lot, so I'm not surprised the next day you had a lie in.

See more...

Those Mix it Make it sessions are really worth trying if you're in WDW for Food and Wine, I'm just writing up day 15 where we are making Tirimsu... they're a lot of fun/

There is always a day where it all catches up - tomorrow is the day when it hit me and we had a very slow start to the day.

[Excitedx4]

What a great day! The D23 thing looked well worth the money and that cocktail kit looked amazing! Fab day!