And When Did You Last See Your Father? - Day 15 (Epcot Food & Wine, Hide and Squeak and TEARS!)

[Guest]

We are a family of three - me (April), DH (R.C.) and DS (Poot - who turned 10 on this holiday!). We visited Orlando and Sanibel Island, travelling from Gatwick on BA.

DH has his own business and could only join us for part of the holiday (hence the title of this trippie!). He’s not really a theme park sort of chap, but he enjoys it down on the Gulf Coast.

For our week on Sanibel we were joined by my DM (Judybat) and her husband (Hans).

Trippie Index Here

Day 14 (Typhoon Lagoon and Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue) Here



Food and Wine Day!


BUT, and more importantly...



Today was 11 November...

I hadn't slept too well - and even after a hot shower I still felt pretty rough. When he’d been ill, Poot just seemed to get fatigue and aches, but I got the extremely attractive streaming eyes (and later, an utterly disgusting cough that made me sound like a pack-a-day smoker...sexy! ).


I wasn’t moving too fast, so we just picked at some leftover pineapple (from yesterday’s Artist’s Palette brekkie) and headed out to Epcot.

As well as being Remembrance Day, today was the last Friday of the Food and Wine Festival. I had promised Poot that we could do Remy’s Ratatouille Hide and Squeak today - the hunt was meant to finish with Food and Wine, and I didn’t know how long it would take to complete…


I made sure that we had our poppies pinned on, and we headed out to the bus stop. BOY was it crowded! We got a sense for what Epcot might be like when our DISNEY BUS sat in a queue to get into the Epcot parking lot!


We were waiting to do Test Track until R.C. arrived - and hadn’t been able to get a Fastpass for Soarin’ - so we just planned to play it by ear today, do the scavenger hunt and enjoy some of the food from the Festival.


Daisy was meeting guests not far from the entrance - and with Poot wearing his Donald Duck shirt today - it seemed rude not to say “Hello”.

Daisy made a big deal of Poot’s shirt - she made air hearts and pointed at Donald - it was very cute. I had decided to leave the autograph book that ate Tokyo back at Saratoga (I could barely lift my head today, let alone that behemoth), so this was a quick meet.

We wandered into Future World, and had a go on Living With The Land. I enjoy the greenhouses here - and was interested to see that though it was Christmas by now everywhere else at Disney, here it was still harvest time.

I like Living With The Land - though like SO MUCH of Future World, it needs updating. Much as I love Test Track, and Soarin’ - and even Mission Space - I really hope that Future World gets some big time love once Star Wars is done.


Obviously, it’s cheaper just to flog booze in World Showcase at more and more festivals (I won’t lie, though - I really wish I could have seen the “Art” stuff this Winter) - but I want to cry when I think about what Future World USED TO BE.


Walt Disney LOVED the modern, the future, the new - SO MUCH - I wish that love was still reflected in the parts of the parks that once showcased it (not just FW but Tomorrowland, too). Personally, I’d rather they just jettisoned the whole “Future World” concept and went a totally new way, rather than let it become self-parody. Ellen’s Energy Adventure, anyone?

Tiny rant over.


We wandered down to the Epcot pin trading spot and picked up Poot’s rat-hunt map.

This was $9 - but at the end of the hunt, you could redeem your completed map for a...pin!


The crowd was SO big...I began to wonder if Disney might open World Showcase a bit early on days like this…so we headed towards Canada, and - lo and behold - the food booths were open and serving at 10:30 AM. We walked right up to all three of our snack stops with NO WAITING! Yay!

First stop: Farm Fresh

In my Highs and Lows I said that the Cheeseburger Spring Rolls (in Magic Kingdom) were my favourite Disney guilty pleasure. But if this little beauty from the Farm Fresh booth was available all year round, IT would have won the prize.

Loaded Mac n’ Cheese with Nueske’s pepper bacon, Cheddar cheese, peppers, and green onions ($4.50 - we used 1 snack credit per portion).


Poot really wanted to try this - I was less eager, because I’d read a pretty poor review of it on EasyWDW (skimpy portion, mushy pasta, too many bread crumbs, if I remember rightly). But wow! I did not agree! This was SO good - cheesy and (so) bacon-y and just a little bit spicy. The spiciness helped to combat the lurgy for a little while, too - so I’m counting it as medicinal.


I ducked into the Port of Entry shop nearby to grab a soda for me and a bottle of cold water for Poot - we needed them to help with the SPICY. And yes (please don’t yell at me!), I used snack credits to buy them - we were so behind with our snack credits that I thought it was better to use them on drinks than to let them go to waste...


AT LAST - the title of the dining report makes sense.


Poot was still hungry - on we went to Canada...

...where we shared the Canadian Cheese Soup.

This was $4.75 OOP, but we used 1 snack credit. Do you remember the shot glass of macaroni Poot ordered back on Day 0? Well, this was it’s soupy cousin. If I had paid $5 for this itty-bitty, teeny-tiny portion of soup, I would have been (wait for it…) cheesed off.


It’s a shame this one felt like a bit of a swizz, because it was DELICIOUS. One of my favourite winter comfort foods is “Beer Cheese Soup” - and this tasted a lot like that. It wasn’t overly cheesy (I’ve had some cheese soups that tasted like fondue, ack!) but rather well-balanced with what I think was a bit of Worcestershire sauce.

Mmm...so good. For your money, you also get a pretzel roll. I thought we’d be fighting over this one, but it was just OK. Better than the pretzel roll I had on the flight over, but not the bread from heaven I thought it would be...shame.


While we were in Canada, we also started our rodent hunt. I think (at nine dollars) that the scavenger hunt is overpriced - but it turned out to be really fun (even in my sorry state). If you have kids and you are visiting Epcot during Food and Wine - I don’t think you will regret ponying up the cash to search for vermin.


You find a tiny statue of Remy in each WS pavilion, and then mark him off on your map - some were easier to find than others.

Unsurprisingly, the French one gave us the most trouble (but of course! ) and in the end we had to ask one of the French CMs for a clue (Remy, Il aime pêcher).


The French Remy (Can you see him? I told you so!):

Poot was pretty pleased with himself after getting his clue, as the pretty French lass had complimented his French. Shortly after that, we saw this guy over World Showcase Lagoon:

I kid, I kid, I love the French. But they even pick apart EACH OTHER’s French. So what hope do the rest of us have?

While we hunted for vermin in fin de siecle Paris, Poot saw that the France F&W booth had snails on offer.

Snails are his absolute favourite food, so we couldn’t pass up:

Croissant aux Escargots - $5.75 (we used one snack credit)


By now, World Showcase was getting busy, but we found a spot for Poot to sit down and eat. Seated next to us was an American lady, who saw Poot eating the snails, POINTED and then yelled out, “EEEEEW! How can you eat that! It’s so ICKY!”


Poot, ever sanguine, continued munching away and countered with, “They are actually quite delicious. Have you tried snails before?”


“No - Gross!”


“Then how do you know they’re ‘icky’?”


“They’re snails!”


“That doesn’t make any sense.”


I struggled with this, because I want Poot to always speak respectfully to adults. But...SHE started it (so I let her twist in the wind for a while, I just couldn’t help myself ).


In the end I suggested that perhaps they should agree to disagree - but seriously, people...who points and yells at a KID and then has a pop at him for what he’s eating? It was just...poor.


Poot actually found the interchange quite funny and was eager to tell my husband all about it the next day. But he’s a pretty confident little chap - what if he had been trying snails for the first time, or was easily upset?


Back to the food -


Poot’s verdict on the snails: good, but he would have preferred more snails and less croissant. And a little pot of garlic butter. I didn’t try these - there were only three snails in the dish, and they are Poot’s very, very favourite - only fair that he got to eat them all.


I won’t lie, I found it EXTREMELY amusing that we watched THREE different Americans eat the snails ON A DARE! I told Poot we should come back tomorrow and do some snail hustling, but he just gave me the mother-you’re-so-embarrassing look and headed off to look for the next rat.


Our Food and Wine snacks had been pretty rich and filling, so we didn’t get anything else from the Festival today. Instead we concentrated on finding the remaining Remys.


Italy’s Remy had decided to go boating:

Norwegian Remy:

By the time we found Mexican Remy...

World Showcase was chock-a-block with people, some of whom had been affected by spirits OTHER than the Disney spirit (remember the sloppy drunks in my Highs and Lows?).


It was HOT, it was insanely crowded and I felt properly ill - I wanted to get as far away from this:

...as possible. Had I been alone I would have gone back to Saratoga, ran a cool bath and CRASHED (with a cup of tea and a nice sloth documentary).

I’m adorable - I would never crash drunkenly into you - and then be sick on your sandals…


Again, that was “had I been alone”. But I wasn’t. Now...Poot is old enough to understand that when someone is unwell plans have to change, but I thought I could try and tough it out for a few more hours.

We went to claim Poot's reward for completing the rat-hunt. He picked the "bread pin":

I was glad to get out of Epcot - while we waited for the monorail, I jumped on my ‘phone and grabbed a Fastpass for Splash Mountain (which we hadn’t managed to ride yet). I told Poot we could make a QUICK visit to Magic Kingdom (haha): ride Splash Mountain, pick up (the inevitable) Sorcerers cards and GO.


Once at Magic Kingdom, we grabbed a quick photo with one of the MK Christmas trees - you can see from this photo how rough I felt, I was all puffed up like a marshmallow…(yuk).

After taking the extremely attractive snap (shudder) we hopped in the queue for Splash. The days had been extremely warm this holiday - and today even the Fastpass queue took nearly fifteen minutes to get through. I love Splash - but mid-way through the ride my eyes began to stream and stream and stream. After a couple minutes it must’ve looked like I had just sat through Old Yeller, Brian’s Song and the miscarriage scene from Up.

I put my sunglasses on (so I still looked like a weirdo, but perhaps like LESS of one?) - you can see them in our drop photo:

I thought I had been discreet with my disgusting illness, but as we walked off the ride, one of the ladies who had been sitting in front of us turned around and said, “I thought it was very brave of you to take your son on the ride. You were obviously terrified. But it’s all over now, Dear.”




Time to leave, methinks.


We headed back to Main Street - and arrived during the middle of the Flag Retreat ceremony. I wish I’d been thinking more clearly that day; I would have made certain that we saw the ceremony from the beginning - I love it.

Today being Remembrance Day the ceremony was a bit longer - and even more tear-jerking. A combat vet recently back from the Middle-East lowered the flag and we all recited the Pledge of Allegiance. I was already crying, but now…

I can’t describe to you how special it was for Poot to stand among Americans and recite the Pledge. Of course I did it every day as a girl after we moved to America, but Poot has only ever said the Pledge in our kitchen (in Hertfordshire!).


Once the (quiet) crowd dispersed, we walked slowly over to the firehouse to collect Poot’s Sorcerers cards. And that was it for our day, I had to go.


We made our way to the exit and the buses. The queue for Saratoga was SO LONG, and there were three families with scooters waiting. We hopped on the Disney Springs bus instead - it was a bit of a slog walking back, but frankly I felt better MOVING than I would have just standing and waiting for another bus (or the boat).


Poot took another snap of the Rainforest Cafe’s volcano as we walked past -

- but by now I was a zombie. All I wanted was to make it to our room.


Again, WHY didn’t I just call an Uber from the TTC? Dummy.


I staggered into Room 1812 at last - I don’t remember much after that, but I apparently told Poot, “Eat some Halloween candy for your dinner, watch the Weather Channel and don’t open the door to ANYONE”.


The next morning I found a chair braced underneath the door handle. I have no memory of putting it there but Poot tells me I did…


So ended (our) Remembrance Day.

Day 16 (Dapper Day at Epcot! R.C. Arrives from London and Late-Night MK) is HERE

[Excited6910]

Wow well done for making it though the day as well as you did. Sounds like you were feeling horrendous. I'm pretty sure my 3 would love the Rat hunt in Epcot. So I'm popping that on my list too, thank you.

[KarenG]

What. A. Day!

That ignorant woman about Poot's snails! Worse than a complete absence of manners, frankly.

You did so well to manage MK as well as Epcot - and you got the pin, too. You must be made of strong stuff

[Mel49]

Even though you weren't feeling too good, you still managed to do quite a lot before barricading you both in the room ! The rat hunt sounded fun as I remember going round to get Duffy coloured in at Epcot when my DD was younger.
I suppose that is the one downside when you are on part of a holiday on your own as normally you could have had a rest day while your DH took Poot out.

[princess allie]

Well done on getting so much done when you felt so awful. I love the way you were in protective Mother mode with the chair under the door handle even though you couldn't remember it next day.

[jojo82]

You poor soul. What a trooper! You just plodded on and made the best of the day for Poot.

That woman with the snails though!?!? :angry:

Looking forward to the next instalment

Jojo

[mick]

Well done you for soldiering on when you felt so bad
Had to laugh about the chair

Joan

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Excited6910

Wow well done for making it though the day as well as you did. Sounds like you were feeling horrendous. I'm pretty sure my 3 would love the Rat hunt in Epcot. So I'm popping that on my list too, thank you.

See more...

Why thank you, Excited - glad to be of service again!

The hunt was really fun (though, like most fun at Disney - a little over-priced!).

Originally Posted by KarenG

What. A. Day!

That ignorant woman about Poot's snails! Worse than a complete absence of manners, frankly.

You did so well to manage MK as well as Epcot - and you got the pin, too. You must be made of strong stuff

See more...

I try as best I can to let Poot solve his own problems (he knows I am there to back him up if need be) - there will always be challenging people in life - but, ooh - she got right up my nose! On Dapper Day we had another adult hassle Poot...don't they say, "Pick on somebody your own size!" anymore?

Hmm...strong stuff...well, I'm a mother - so that goes without saying, no?

Thanks for commenting - I appreciate it!

Originally Posted by Mel49

Even though you weren't feeling too good, you still managed to do quite a lot before barricading you both in the room ! The rat hunt sounded fun as I remember going round to get Duffy coloured in at Epcot when my DD was younger.
I suppose that is the one downside when you are on part of a holiday on your own as normally you could have had a rest day while your DH took Poot out.

See more...

Thanks for sticking with us!

Yes... ...I was rather surprised when I woke up the next morning. The tiny trash can was full of candy wrappers, the chair was wedged under the door handle, the telly was on and Poot was asleep on top of the covers (still wearing one shoe).

We've never done the Duffy challenge - why would Poot want to do that one - it's free! - when we could do the upcharge one instead?

[Guest]

Originally Posted by princess allie

Well done on getting so much done when you felt so awful. I love the way you were in protective Mother mode with the chair under the door handle even though you couldn't remember it next day.

See more...

It was pretty funny the next morning, even to me in my feeble state! Of course, the very first thing I thought was...what if there'd been a fire?!

Thanks for coming along with us today, I appreciate it.

Originally Posted by jojo82

You poor soul. What a trooper! You just plodded on and made the best of the day for Poot.

That woman with the snails though!?!? :angry:

Looking forward to the next instalment

Jojo

See more...

That's what parents do, right? Well, OK...not all parents...some parents let their children throw dishes at Be Our Guest...but that's what parents SHOULD do, anyway...

Seriously, though - Thanks. And thanks for staying with us.

I felt a little mean letting Poot needle the snail woman, but obviously it didn't trouble my conscience enough to make him stop.

Originally Posted by mick

Well done you for soldiering on when you felt so bad
Had to laugh about the chair

Joan

See more...

Oh, Joan - I know! So ridiculous!

Thanks for your support (again).

[slaleyhall]

Im now fully up to date with your trip report and its absolutely great im loving reading this abd thanks so much for taking the time to write it all. Some great tips for food in the dining plan 4 wgen we go next year so thanks x