Split Stay Get Away - Day 4: "We went to the Behind the Seeds tour"

[Stewboy]

The Index

Monday 28th May 2018

It’s Monday and the last day of the Epcot Flower & Garden, so of course that would be our destination this morning. The title of today is a bit of a spoiler alert as obviously we’ll be doing the Behind the Seeds tour later. Jo and I did this a couple of times pre-Isabella and loved it - Jo is a science tutor, she teaches biology and loves plants - and now that we’re in the ‘post-stroller era’ we know/hope Isabella can handle walking around in a greenhouse for an hour. We know she’ll enjoy it that’s for sure!

First thing’s first, I usually try to respond all the comments that are left on my trip report, but once again I’m on a bit of a deadline to get this report done, and there’s been so many comments that I just want to say thank you to everyone, I read and appreciate them all. And I will reply eventually!

Now back to today. Despite the late night, we had to be up early for our Akershus breakfast reservation. Not only do we enjoy the food, Isabella gets to meet a load of princesses in one go, and we get early access to Epcot, so for us it’s definitely worth it.

By 7am we were all awake, and drinking coffee - not Isabella obviously, she was on the milk. It didn’t take us long to get ready and drive to Epcot, and by 7:40am we were parking in the Imagine parking lot, just over an hour after we’d woken up - good work Sears .

It’s not often we get to park in Imagine, it’s so close to the entrance it only took a few minutes to walk. The first breakfast reservations in the park are at 8am - that includes Akershus and Garden Grill - and as we joined the queue at about 7:45am, guests with reservations were just beginning to be allowed in.


'Imagine' parking this close...


Guests with reservations line

As we were in the park so early, we were finally able to get a decent photo in front of the Welcome topiary at the front of the park. On the previous two days it had been a bit of a free-for-all and we’d been surprised that there had been no PhotoPass photographer there, like there usually is. Perhaps the rain was keeping them away?


Isabella and the welcome topiary


"There's so much room for activities!"

We took a slow walk through Future World, and were able to appreciate the topiaries without the crowds; we saw yet more ducks, also out enjoying the early morning quiet.

As we passed the Floating Gardens, Jo wanted to get a photo of the monorail as there was hardly anyone about. She found a nice spot and waited for a few minutes for one to come by.


Huey, Dewey & Louie?










Colourful Epcot


Monorail

Once she’d got her photo we carried on over to the Norway pavilion, checking in a couple of minutes before our 8:20am reservation.

We’d all been awake for just over an hour and a half by this point, and we were hungry! Fortunately we didn’t have to wait too long before being ushered inside to meet Belle for photos and autographs.


Checking in at Akershus


Once upon a time...




Belle

With Belle out of the way we could be shown to our table, where after being seated and ordering coffee Jo immediately took Isabella to get some food.

A couple of minutes after Isabella started eating, the princesses appeared to lead the kids on the first Princess Parade of the day.

Aurora was the princess for our section of the restaurant, and led Isabella and a few other kids on procession.Snow White, Cinderella, and Ariel did the same with their sections.

The parade only lasts a few minutes. Isabella wasted no time on continuing with her breakfast - it’s not that she didn’t enjoy the parade, it’s just, you know, breakfast time!


Breakfast time


Parade time

Jo and I hit the buffet, which as well as a nice selection of pastries and fruit, also includes the Norwegian Smorgasbord featuring cold meats - salami, roasted turkey, smoked pork loin; fish - peppered mackerel, dilled salmon gravlax; and some (mostly) Norwegian cheeses - Jarlsberg Cheese, Muenster Cheese, and Gjetost Cheese. It may not be to everyone’s taste but we like it - that’s why we enjoy the odd Norwegian Cruise .

Once she’d bought the coffee our server also brought us a plate of hot stuff to share: scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, and potato casserole; there’s definitely something for everyone, although there’s no Mickey Waffles.


Buffet food


Hot food


Pastries

Finally it was time for the princesses to come and visit. First up was Ariel, followed by Snow White. Then came another princess parade with Aurora, then we actually met Aurora, and finally Cinderella.

Each princess took the time to chat to Isabella, sign autographs, pose for photos and a selfie. As far as character dining goes, the interactions here are definitely among the best we’ve experienced, and the food is also really good, if a little different.








Ariel








Snow White


Parade Mk 2










Aurora








Cinderella


"I got loads of selfies"

[Stewboy]

By about 9:20am we were full. The hot food plate may be All-You-Care-To-Enjoy i.e. limitless, but we’ve never asked for more of anything as we’re always too full.

With the World Showcase not yet being open, we made our way back to Future World and decided to ride Journey into Imagination. Each time we ride this it feels like it could be our last, surely it’s days are numbered?

We messed around in the ImageWorks for a bit - Isabella got a pressed penny - then we played around with the jumping fountains for a while; we were just killing time before our Soarin’ FastPass.


Im-aaaaa-gi-naaaaa-tion


Eric Idle


Making music (sort of)


Trippy Figment!


Bing Bong


Jumping fountains

So far the weather had been dry, although the clouds certainly suggested that the predicted rain was on its way. At about 10am we made our way to the Land pavilion where we were surprised to see a long line for Living with the Land - good job we had it FastPassed for later.

We’ll come back to Living with the Land - right now we had Soarin’ FastPassed. We asked for Concourse B, which we got, although we had to settle for a second row seat.

After our flight we asked Isabella if she wanted to do the Behind the Seeds tour, and from the title of this day you know she said yes.

Because we didn’t have anything that could get us a discount like Annual Passes or DVC etc., Brian, the CM that signed us up, asked us a Living with the Land question about tomatoes which Jo got right (obvs!) and earned us a 15% discount! We really should’ve done a #CastCompliment tweet for Brian - in fact, I’ve done one this evening: better late than never!

As we paid we donated $1 to the Disney Conservation Fund and Brian gave Isabella a Disney Conservation Fund badge, which she was happy about.


Disney Conservation Fund badge

With our tour booked for 12:45pm - in 2 hours time - we could now go do our Living with the Land FastPass. The line for the ride was still long, and we even had to queue for the FastPass entrance. As we sailed - is that the correct word? Drifted? Floated? Anyway, as we did whatever you do on Living with the Land, we noticed the distinct lack of dog barking coming from outside the American farm. Jo speculated that perhaps it had gone to visit the vet, I hope it was ok. If anyone’s visited since, perhaps they could let me know if they saw the dog, and whether he was wearing a cone of shame?

Trivia alert: That dog is the same dog as in Carousel of Progress and Pirates of the Caribbean, and apparently is modelled on Walt’s dog.


Where's the dog?




Living with the Land


'Hybrid Bass' is a great name for a band!


'Hidden' Minnie




Living with the Land - pt2


Isabella's favourite food!

Leaving the Land - we’ll be back real soon - we headed off in search of refreshments. Starbucks was the obvious choice, where we got a Trenta Unsweetened Peach Iced Tea (for Jo & I to share), a Grande Vanilla Bean Frappuccino (for Isabella & I to share), and an Iced Water for Isabella.

While I waited for a total of 20 minutes (10 to be served, 10 for the drink) Jo took Isabella outside to pin trade with the CM outside Starbucks.

Once we had our drinks, we sat outside by the fountain, and as we drank we also applied some sun cream. It had turned into a really hot morning, maybe the rain wasn’t coming after all?


Starbucks

Sitting by the fountain outside Starbucks has always been one of our favourite ways to relax at Epcot. When Isabella was a baby we would spend ages chilling out here, watching the Fountain of Nations, and doing some people watching. Sadly, the Fountain of Nations wasn’t doing it’s thing today, but there were plenty of people that were.

We had about 45 minutes before our Behind the Seeds tour, so we had a look at the Festival Shop stall - Isabella was trying to find something to send to some friends. Unfortunately there was nothing appropriate. There was a Flower & Garden Festival t-shirt that we liked, but they didn’t have right sizes - we never did find it in the right sizes.


Festival tee

Leaving the Festival Shop empty handed, Isabella said she was hungry, but didn’t know what she wanted to eat. We stopped at a number of different carts but nothing took her fancy.

Our Behind the Seeds tour time loomed and Isabella still hadn’t eaten. We headed to the Land, thinking that she would find something at Sunshine Seasons. Unfortunately nothing took her fancy there either. Concluding that she probably just needed a sit down in the cool (that girl’s like me - if she needs to eat, she’ll eat!) we found some seats by where we needed to meet for the tour and relaxed for 10 minutes.

After about ten minutes of sitting on her own out of the sun, Isabella declared that she was fine, didn’t need to eat, and was ready for the tour.




Ready for the tour

Heather was our tour guide, and she was excellent - definitely deserving of the #CastCompliment we gave her after the tour.

She was an intern, like all the Behind the Seeds tour guides, and she was planning on becoming a Professor - she’ll be great at it I’m sure.

Heather started off by telling us about various insects, some of which they use as pest control - there’s some really horrific sounding wasps that do Alien-like things to other insects!






Heather telling us about the insect pest control and passing around some samples


Isabella on tour - complete with Whisper Unit

As the name suggests, the tour then took us behind the scenes of what you see in the greenhouses on the Living with the Land ride. Heather told us lots about various plants, fruits and vegetables, and how Epcot grows them using various methods, expanding upon the stuff you hear about on the ride.

It’s a really engaging tour. It’s educational, interactive, and if you get a good tour guide like Heather it’s a lot of fun. Jo and I have done it three times, and each time is different.

Isabella really loved her first tour, and I’ve no doubt it’ll be something we’ll do many times in the future.












In the greenhouses




Stanley the mimosa pudica - he doesn't like to be touched!


We got to try some cucumber - Isabella loves cucumber!








Heather was a great guide






The tour is very interactive


Baobab tree


Behind the Seeds Tour




#CastCompliment

Once the tour was over we only one thing left to do before heading ‘home’: our Spaceship Earth FastPass. Spaceship Earth was busy again just like a couple of days ago and we had to queue for 10 minutes before we could get on the ride.

When it was finally our turn, Isabella had decided to sit with Jo, so I got to sit with Judi Dench.


Queue for Spaceship Earth FastPass

It was time to say goodbye to Epcot, and the Flower & Garden Festival. The predicted rain hadn’t come today, but we’d done all we needed to do at Flower & Garden over the previous two days. My Verdict on the festival: it looks pretty but the food and drink choices are not as good as Food & Wine. We did still enjoy it though, but it would’ve been better without the rain.

The drive back to Port Orleans French Quarter was quick and painless. I dropped Isabella and Jo off so they could go to Sassagoula Floatworks, then I drove to our building, dropped off the bag and picked up the resort mugs.

After a quick walk down to Sassagoula Floatworks, I was greeted by 12 beignets - we’d finally got the beignets!


Beignets

I got coffee then had a couple - four to be exact - beignets. By the time we were done, there was one beignet remaining which we decided we would take back to the room for Isabella to eat later.

The rain finally came, and it came hard! Luckily we were still inside and not on the way back to the room. To wait for it to pass we visited the shop - Jackson Square Gifts & Desires - where we bought Isabella a resort pin. We resolved to get her pin from each resort we stay at, hopefully there will be more in the future. We also need to get one from Saratoga Springs as she’s already stayed there a few times.


POFQ resort pin


Rain!

For our return to the room - the rain had stopped now - we got ourselves a drink. With some time to kill before we headed out again, I wrote up my notes, Isabella watched Stacey on the TV (at least 3 loops), and Jo did whatever Jo does when she relaxes.

[Stewboy]

After about an hour, we got ready and headed out. Tonight we were off to Disney Springs via the Sassagoula Steamboat Co. - the boats that go to and from Disney Springs and various resorts including Port Orleans French Quarter and Riverside, Saratoga Springs, and Old Key West.

The nearest boat launch was only about 5 minutes walk away, and the boat arrived about 5 minutes after we did. It took about 25 minutes for the boat to take us over to Disney Springs Marketplace - it’s a very pleasant ride.




Boat launch








On the river






Saratoga Springs






Disney Springs Marketplace

At Disney Springs we needed to decide where to eat. With nothing booked we opted for Wolf Puck Express - it was right there, and it’s somewhere we’ve eaten at a few times, and it’s never too busy.

We ordered our food. Jo went for a Chicken Alfredo, I had the Ravioli, and Isabella got a Margherita pizza; none of which sound particularly exciting but they all tasted nice. Jo and I got a drink too - a glass of Malbec for Jo, and a Goose Island IPA for me.

The food came out quickly, and we wasted no time. Isabella’s pizza was big and she couldn’t finish it, so I helped her out - my Ravioli was very nice but wasn’t a very big dish.


Pasta


Ravioli


Pizza

By 6:15pm we were done, and headed into the Marketplace to have a browse and maybe even buy something. First stop as always was the Christmas Shop but we came out empty handed. Next was the Co-op but we didn’t buy anything from there either, although Isabella did see some jewellery upon which she remarked: “That’s so bold and elegant”.


That's right Mickey, the Holidays ARE swell!


So bold and elegant!

We stopped in Ghirardelli’s for a free chocolate - consider it dessert - then headed to Dockside Margaritas, our favourite bar at Disney Springs. We found a seat and ordered some drinks. Jo got a margarita (obviously!) and I got an IPA of some description - the server had taken our order at our seats and had made the recommendation, it was nice.

In the corner was a singer with a guitar (or a guitarist who sang) asking for requests from the customers. He was pretty good, although he seemed to know mostly 70s American rock and, when he found out we were English, the Beatles - because obviously all English people love the Beatles, right?

He took a shine to Isabella, so we encouraged her to put in a request. She decided on ‘Red Red Wine’ by Neil Diamond. I think the man misheard or just didn’t know it because he played something completely different which none of us knew. Isabella went back and asked again, and this time he got it right.


Joanne Margarita


Enjoying the music

After a nice relaxing sit down with a drink and some MOR it was time to get on with the rest of the evening. World of Disney was our next stop, which is in the process of being refurbished. Consequently half the shop was closed off and it was all a bit chaotic inside. We had a gift card to pick up as part of our WDTC booking, but as there was no guest services desk anymore we asked a random CM who instructed us to wait by one of the tills while they went off to sort it out for us.

While we did that, Isabella had a browse and decided she wanted to buy an Oswald stuffed toy. He’d become a favourite of hers ever since we played the Epic Mickey game on the PlayStation at the villa last summer.

With the gift card and Oswald in our possession we moved on to the Lego Shop. To be honest, I never think we spend enough time in here, but I can’t force Isabella to buy Lego so we moved swiftly on to the Town Center area (after having a look at the giant Millennium Falcon they’ve built). Jo was looking for a new Disney Vera Bradley bag, which were no longer on sale in the Co-op where Jo had bought them previously.


Oswald


Lego Millennium Falcon

There was only one Disney patterned Vera Bradley bag in the Vera Bradley shop which Jo didn’t like so we left there and continued over to West Side where we headed to Curl Surf Shop to buy a hat for Brett (happyhaunt1000) . He’d messaged us before we went and asked us if we could pick him up a hat that he’d liked but hadn’t bought when he’d seen it, obviously we were more than happy to do so.

We found the hat he wanted, so I went to pay. Meanwhile Jo had seen an amazing pair of Toms with Up artwork on them. Even though they were pricey I knew she’d regret not getting them, so we ended up buying those too.


Jo's new Toms

That was the shopping over so we made the long walk back to the Marketplace as we’d promised Isabella an ice cream from Ghirardelli’s. She’s such a good girl, even when she’s tired after a fun filled park day and being dragged around shops in a busy Disney Springs, she doesn’t complain, she goes with the flow, and was well deserving a treat to finish the night off.

I decided not to get an ice cream, but Jo and Isabella got a waffle cone each - mint for Jo, vanilla for Isabella. Jo knew using snack credits in Ghirardelli’s was possible, so asked the server who told her that whatever you buy has to be below $6.80.

Once we’d picked up our order, we sat on the wall opposite the shop while they ate their ice cream. Against my better judgement I finished off Isabella’s ice cream as it was too much for her; it’s not that I don’t like ice cream, it’s just it doesn’t agree with me - I’ll leave it at that!




Ice cream!

It was almost 9pm and time to head for home. We walked back to the boat launch and waited about 10 minutes for our boat back to Port Orleans French Quarter. It had been a really enjoyable evening at Disney Springs, being able to get the boat was great, although if we’d been staying at Saratoga Springs it would’ve been a 10 minute walk away…

The boat ride was about 20 minutes and by 10pm we were all in bed asleep, exhausted after another fun filled day.

The last day of Flower & Garden had ended up not being about the festival at all despite spending most of the day at Epcot. The rain thankfully stayed away (mostly) and Disney Springs was a great way to end the day.

Thanks for reading, tomorrow is an Animal Kingdom day.

[Neep]

Love the Toms!

[Palm trees]

Another fun filled day for you. I'd really like to try the behind the seeds tour, it looks great

[mouselover22]

Fun & interesting day doing the Behind the Seeds Tour

Love the breakfast selfie's Isabella, especially the one with Aurora

What was the verdict on the beignets?

[flo-tinka]

Cool Toms!
Amazing writing Isabella

[mick]

Another great day love the photos of the all the flowers in Epcot.

The shoes look nice

Joan

[Unexpectedpenny]

A great day! I love the Behind The Seeds tour. Jo’s new shoes are beautiful.

[princess allie]

Omg! I love the Toms they are fabulous