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Old 12 Oct 17, 09:37 PM  
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Stewboy
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All Villa No Filler - Day 14: Universe of Energy, Kona Cafe and Happily Ever After

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Friday 4th August 2017

It was a late start this morning, we all woke at about 9am.

Surprisingly for me I didn’t have a good night’s sleep as somehow I’d managed to hurt my back - I don’t even know how it happened, it just started aching and it was difficult to get comfortable and stay asleep.

We decided to have a relaxing morning at the villa and then head to Epcot a little later than originally planned. After some tea, coffee, and trip report notes, we had fruit and cereal for breakfast, then got ready to spend some in and around the pool.


Ah, grasshopper


Pool time

After about an hour it was time to head inside for showers and lunch. Isabella had a ham sandwich with cucumber and crisps; Jo and I had egg sandwiches with tomatoes and crisps.

Now that we were clean and full, it was time to leave the villa and head to Epcot.




Lunch

Just after 2pm we were parking up in Create, and making our way to the park entrance. Once inside the park our first destination was Mouse Gear to try and buy some of the exclusive limited edition Universe of Energy merchandise. We bought two t-shirts (one of which was an Annual Passholder exclusive), and the Annual Passholder ornament.


Jo sporting yet another pair of Merry Ear Market ears

We had a FastPass to meet Mickey, Goofy and Minnie at the Character Spot, so that was our next stop. The character interactions were fun, although Goofy was a little creepy when he started spying on Minnie!






Mickey






Goofy




Peepin' Goofy




Minnie

After the character meet we went back to Mouse Gear to pick up some more of the Universe of Energy merchandise, this time for the Hardings, who wanted two of the Annual Passholder t-shirts, and a Tervis. I also bought some other t-shirts that were on offer (two for $40) - Donald Duck, and Oswald.


Jo trying out the Chewbacca purse, unfortunately she didn't buy it

The time was now about 3:30pm, so we decided to get a coffee from Starbucks. Jo got an iced latte, and Isabella and I shared strawberries and creme frappuccino.


Iced iced latte...


She loves a S&C frappuccino

Next up was something new: Colortopia in the Innoventions East. It’s been a little while since we’ve been in Innoventions, there’s not much there now. Colortopia was fun though; it’s split into three parts. First up was the “Power of Color Theater” which is presented by a CM who uses sound and narration to describe colours and emotions. The next area is “The Color Lab” which is an interactive area where you get to test your perception of colours at two different interactive stations. Last is the “Color Our World” room, where another CM gave us all a magic paintbrush, and explained how we could paint the interactive murals on the walls using paint from the pots in the centre (obviously no real paint is used - it’s very clever how it works).


If this was in the UK would it be "Colour-tropolis?"


This reminds me of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!


Not real paint pots


Before the painting started


Painter at work

Colortopia was a fun way to spend half an hour or so, and the CMs who presented the various exhibits were really good presenters - very engaging. They were both senior citizens it seemed, and really enjoyed their work

We had done something that we’d never done before, now it was time to do something that we’d never do again… Ellen’s Energy Adventure. After riding it twice already this trip, we didn’t expect to do it again, but as we were here we thought that we should.


Last ever Universe-of-Energy-photo

We made our way to the Universe of Energy just in time for the next ride. We even managed to see (most of) the pre-ride show.


Stupid Judy

The ride was done for (definitely) the last time, and we headed back to Spaceship Earth as we had it fastpassed.


Bit of a queue for Spaceship Earth

After two Judy/Judis on the trot (Stupid, and Dench), we decided we needed a drink, so we headed over to the World Showcase, and the Joy of Tea - oh yes, it was Tipsy Ducks in Love time!

On the way over to China we passed some of the Food & Wine Festival kiosks - we’d be back to sample those in a couple of months time!




See ya real soon F&W kiosks!


Tipsy Sears in Sunglasses

Moving on from China, we headed to Norway to ride Frozen Ever After. As we left the ride we walked past a CM (Morten from Norway) who had a sword, we talked about his sword, and he knighted me, making me a Knight of Arendelle! The interaction with Morten was great fun, and so I took to Twitter a couple of days later to tweet him a #CastCompliment to @WDWToday - something I’d only recently found out you could do.


CastCompliment


Frozen


Freezin'

In the shop - The Puffin's Roost - Isabella spotted a pressed penny machine. As we were out of quarters I went to the till to get change. I chose the wrong till, as the people in front of me had some issues. After waiting for a while I found another till at the other end of the shop and eventually got Isabella her quarter. While she was waiting she did some pin trading so she made good use of the time.

Once we left Norway, that was it for Epcot for the day, we were off to the Polynesian for dinner at Kona Cafe - something we’ve never done before (we did breakfast there once when Isabella was 1).

As we made our way past the Fountain of Nations the water show and music started up. I love this, it reminds me of when we were here a few years ago and Isabella and I spent a lot of time hanging around outside Starbucks while Jo was inside getting coffee.

We made our way back to the car, and drove the 15 minutes or so over to the Polynesian, where we parked up, and made our way into the main building. I went and parked the stroller, while Jo and Isabella relaxed in the lobby for a few minutes.


Arriving at the Poly

It was time to check in to Kona Cafe, we had to wait for a bit so they gave us a buzzer and we went had a browse in the Moana Mercantile shop until they were ready for us.

We returned to check in, and were shown to our table. Jo ordered a Lapu Lapu, I got a Kona Hanalei IPA. Jo’s drink was very strong - she thinks it was mostly just rum! My beer was very nice




Kona Cafe decor






Woah! That's a strong one!




For food we ordered the following:
  • Starter to share: Pot Stickers (Pork and Vegetable Dumplings served with a Soy-Ginger Cream Sauce, Pickled Vegetables, and Chives)
  • Me: Island-style Beef Burger (Beef Burger with Char Siu Pork Belly, Soft-poached Egg, Havarti Cheese, Mustard Greens, Spicy Mayonnaise, and Pickled Onions served on a Pineapple Brioche Bun with House-made Pickle)
  • Jo: Kona Sampler Large (Three pieces of Nigiri, Four pieces of Sashimi, Four pieces of our California Roll and Tuna Poke)
  • Isabella: Hot Dog and chips


Bread with Macadamia Nut Butter


Pot stickers


Best burger ever!


Sushi


Hot dog and chips

Now, I’m not exaggerating when I say that the Island-style Beef Burger was the most amazing burger I have ever had, anywhere! It was so good, and I can’t wait to get back there and have another one!

Jo really enjoyed her sushi too, and Isabella loved her hot dog (she’d been after one for a few days); so all in all it was a great meal.

Isabella got a dessert as part of her meal, and opted for the ice cream sundae.


Ice cream sundae
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Edited at 09:41 PM.
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Old 12 Oct 17, 09:38 PM  
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Stewboy
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Once we’d all finished we settled the bill ($77.86 with Annual Passholder discount - excluding tips) and made our way to the monorail as we would be finishing the day at Magic Kingdom watching the “Happily Ever After” fireworks and projection show.

The CM at the Polynesian monorail stop was really friendly, and when he noticed we were English he asked Isabella if she liked football or rugby. She told him that we played football over the field sometimes.


Night falls over the Grand Floridian

The time was about 8:35pm as we made our way unto Main Street USA to find a place to watch the show - due to start at 9. The show was amazing, as much as we loved “Wishes” we agreed that this show was even better. Obviously being half way down Main Street we didn’t have the greatest of views, and had to put up with the usual kids-on-shoulders, iPad wombles, and people holding phones up in the air, but we still enjoyed it.


Pre-show selfie


There's a castle somewhere behind that child-on-her-dad's-shoulders








Happily Ever After

Once the show was over, and everyone was heading for the exit, we decided to head over to Tomorrowland to see if we could get in a few rides before home time; we also had a Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin FastPass to use. First up though we rode the People Mover, hoping to let the FastPass queue for Buzz go down.


Is her hair not done yet?!

As usual, I won Buzz (Jo wins Toy Story, I win Buzz - it’s the law), and we decided it was probably time to leave as it was almost 10pm. We expected that the park would be empty, and that we’d be able to get out quickly. However, we’d made a fatal error of judgement in not realising that the other projection show, “Once Upon a Time” had just finished, and so we got caught in a mass exodus - so much for being clever and beating the crowds




Off on a secret mission


Brilliant


MILF


Wait, what is that...?


...oh no

The queues for everything were long; Express Monorail was 30 minutes, we needed the Resort Monorail to get back to the Poly, which also had a long queue due to some issues - why does there always seem to be an issue with the monorails?

We were stood waiting for about 10 minutes before one eventually appeared, but we couldn’t get on it. However the next one came much quicker, literally a few minutes later. As we tried to head along to the right hand side entrances, a woman just refused to move out of the way so that we could get past. I literally had to shout “excuse me!” in her face to get her to move out of the way. Some people are just so ignorant!


Resort monorail queue

Anyway, we got on the monorail finally, and by 10:45pm we were back at the Polynesian, and heading to the car. We arrived back at the villa at 11:30pm, Isabella went straight to bed, and Jo and I followed after quick showers.

And so ends another action packed day!

Thanks for reading!


Isabella's TR day 14
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Old 12 Oct 17, 10:43 PM  
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Oh wow what a fab fab fab day! You crammed loads in - Happily Ever After looks amazing. Love Kona cafe and Lapu Lapu, never had that burger but it looks delicious!

Fabulous picture Isabella xx
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Old 13 Oct 17, 02:41 PM  
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Unexpectedpenny
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A lovely day, a part from the difficulty leaving the park. I really don’t enjoy getting in or out of MK!

Brilliant Frozen photo

Ooo that sounds like my perfect burger, a definite addition for next time!
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Old 13 Oct 17, 08:13 PM  
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Kona Cafe looks delicious! Glad you enjoyed Happily Ever After
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Old 13 Oct 17, 10:09 PM  
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Fab day! 👍.. Got to ask, was Kona Cafe better than 'standard' quick service? We really wanted a Ohana's reservation but unfortunately fully booked, I was advised to try Kona but my OH now says he thinks it looks like quick service lunch/tea? I'd love to try it,! Great read as always
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Old 13 Oct 17, 10:25 PM  
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What a lovely day! So much packed in.
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Old 14 Oct 17, 06:44 PM  
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Another great day - agree regarding "Happily Ever After". I thought nothing could top "Wishes", but HEA just took our breath away.

That Kona burger does look good.

Oh, and your Monsters Inc photo - saw what you did there... naughty... 😂😂

Thanks for sharing.
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Old 15 Oct 17, 05:14 PM  
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That was a busy day but very good

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Old 17 Oct 17, 07:45 AM  
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Another fab day!

Colourtopia looks fun!

Hmm that burger did look good! I remember the Lapu Lapu being SO strong too, but I had to finish it to justify the price haha!

Can’t wait to see Happily Ever After! Looks amazing!
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