Parks, Pins, Puke, Pennies...Not Enough Planning April / May '17 - Day 7: Epcot & Cheesecake Factory

[moosha]

Day 7 - Friday 28th April 2017

Breakfast this morning was cereal in the room for Mat and the girls while I held out for fruit later on.



As we left Cabana Bay we took a moment to observe as we did every day a) just how not ready Volcano Bay seemed despite being a month away from official opening and b) how close to the road and tiny the park seemed. I took some photos to back our observations up:



Today’s park of choice was Epcot but we ended up taking the wrong exit off the I4 or something and I think went all the way round the back of Saratoga Springs and some other hotels. Eventually we pulled up at the parking kiosk so that Disney could rob us of $20.



I say ‘pull up’, Mat managed to actually mount the kerb at the kiosk today which was highly embarrassing .

I spy the 'big ball':





We parked in Imagine and it was a quick little walk to bag check which was nice and speedy this morning.







The CM checking Mat’s rucksack asked where he was from and when he responded, the CM put on his best over the top British accent and replied, ‘Just across the pond?’ Mat found it necessary to close the conversation with a ‘Jolly good show, my good man.’





We were held at a rope drop just before Spaceship Earth which was a bit tedious, and said rope was dropped at around 8.50 am. We hot footed to Soarin’ as we hadn’t ridden the new version yet. To be fair, we weren’t massive fans of original Soarin’. We were firmly in the ‘overrated’ camp although we had a slight soft spot for it because it had been our first WDW ride all together as a family in 2012. In 2015 we had actually not ridden it at all all trip because we couldn’t be bothered to sacrifice a Test Track FP for it and the standby waits had been prohibitive as capacity was lower then.



Anyway, this morning we pretty much walked on and I can’t remember whether we were naturally lucky or whether we asked nicely for row 1, but we got the front row today which definitely improves the experience. I was glad to see the cheesy pre-show video hasn’t changed as that was (still is... spoiler alert) pretty much my favourite thing about the ride.

Before we ‘took off’ Freya was freaking out a bit because she hadn’t ridden it for a couple of years and remembered being a bit scared. That was the thing with her this trip; she was fine with rides she remembered enjoying on previous holidays but anything that was new or that she recalled having been scared of on our last trip when she was seven, she went into with trepidation and needed a bit of reassurance. She was always fine once it got going.

So the new Soarin’... well Mat and I are very much still in the ‘Snorin’ camp, although the girls enjoyed it. I think I’m right in saying there is a lot more CGI in this new version (if there was any in the original, I’m not sure). Anyway, Mat and I really didn’t like it; both the CGI and how they have chosen such obvious world landmarks. We thought it was pretty cheesy. I liked how the old one was just different California scenery, but it’s so obvious to go Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower etc. Then of course you also have the curved screen problem meaning that we were looking at a very bent La Tour Eiffel and Taj Mahal. That was Mat’s biggest problem with the whole thing, and he was pretty scathing about it as we left the building. I also missed the ‘whooshing’ of the original. My favourite parts of Soarin’ 1 were the fast bits where you whoosh over the sea etc. This one seemed a lot more slow paced, apart from a brief whoosh in the China scene. Meh. Maybe we’ll give it a second go this year but we certainly weren’t in a hurry to rush back after our first ride.

Next up we wanted to go and meet Baymax and Joy and Sadness while the park was still quiet, so we headed over there. The line for Joy and Sadness didn’t look too bad, and while we were checking it out, the pretty grumpy CM told us the wait was 15-25 minutes. We could see across the way that there were only a couple of people waiting to meet Baymax, so we decided to go there first. The CM handler was really miserable. I know they have to try and keep people moving at the character meets, but we are always really quick. We jump in, the girls have a couple of pictures with minimal interaction and then we’re off. No messing about, no starting conversations with the characters, no selfies, no different combinations of family members. So it really bugs me when CMs tar all guests with the same brush and try and rush us along before we’ve even got in there just because the last family took several minutes with the characters. Not exactly magical. Rant over (for now ).



The Baymax meet is a quick one anyway as he can’t hug or really interact so only a couple of minutes after entering the line, we were back in front of the entrance to Joy and Sadness. The queue for J&S didn’t look any different in length to when we’d arrived, if anything it was a little shorter. As we entered the line, the grumpy CM who had told us the wait was 15-25 minutes a few minutes before now barked that it was 25-35 minutes. Clearly she didn’t like the look of us and was trying to put us off getting in line. Maybe we look like the kind of guests who do take ages at meets. Anyway, we politely thanked her and joined the queue which actually took about 10 minutes. We liked the themed queuing area here, especially my big girl who acts like a stroppy teenager at times but put her in a Disney park and you get this face. She looks so happy and like a little girl again :



Clever(ish) trick shot:



We liked that the characters were behind a wall so there are no spoilers until you’re just about to meet the characters. They’re so cute (although Sadness really gets on my nerves in the film for being such a misery guts :angry and the girls loved hugging them. Unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough to get a good photo of them hugging (see I told you we were in and out like a flash) and I was hoping the PhotoPass photographer had but unfortunately not. These were the best ones.







It was now time for my breakfast (and everyone else’s now regular unnecessary mid-morning snack.) We walked back over to The Land to Sunshine Seasons and I got a pot of pineapple and a pot of grapes. The grapes were nice but the pineapple was underripe. You can tell it’s underripe by looking at it so not sure why I bothered, especially at $4.19 . Seren got a cherry Danish, Freya got a blueberry muffin and Mat went for a wholegrain croissant and a banana.









Everyone enjoyed their snacks. I tried the Danish and it was good. The muffin was really dry and crumbly but Freya still managed to hoover it up.

While we were sat there eating, I made a FastPass for Spaceship Earth for about 20 minutes time, and then we headed to Nemo which was posted as a 20 minute wait but was actually a walk-on (as always.) We do like this cute little ride.





Wheeeeeee... :



We popped to the restrooms in The Seas and then it was time for our Spaceship Earth FPs. The standby wait was posted at 25 minutes and it took 5 minutes to get on with our FPs. I was lucky enough to get to sit with Seren which I love doing on this ride as she really enjoys it being a bit of a history geek.












Once we were all done there it was about 11.10 am and time to leave the park until the evening.

The girls took a selfie as we walked back to the car:



We drove to the Mall at Millennia, passing Volcano Bay again...



...and managed to get parked up close to the Cheesecake Factory as it was pretty quiet. By the time we walked through the CF door it was about 12pm. We checked in and were told it was a five minute wait for a table, but then we were seated straight away.



Hidden Mickey:



Our server was Matt and he was really friendly and efficient. In fact he was a little over friendly; he touched both Mat and I twice each during our meal (hand on shoulder type thing) which we found a little odd and unnecessary .

I ordered a glass of Cab Sav, and some nice bread arrived while we waited. Mat and I both ordered the same dish we’d had on our previous visit in 2014: a lunch (smaller) portion of Evelyn’s Pasta (basically pasta with vegetables and olives) and we both opted for gluten free pasta which I think was a dollar or so more. It was nice but a bit too oily. Seren chose a children’s cheese pizza which was tasty but massive so she left a couple of slices. Freya had the same meal she chooses pretty much wherever it’s available: pasta with marinara sauce, and she said it was the best one she’d had on the trip so far. Then she left half and said she didn’t like it after all :angry:. We also ordered a side of green beans for us all to share as we were craving green veg. The beans were tasty and we scoffed them all between us.

Continued below...

[moosha]

...continued









Obviously we couldn’t leave without cheesecake. We were all quite full so decided to get one slice of fresh strawberry cheesecake between us, knowing the pieces are massive. Freya said she didn’t want any so we told Matt we were sharing between the three of us. He said he would bring an extra fork as ‘they always say no and then change their minds’. Freya is the most strong-willed, stubborn person I know so I was expecting her to prove him wrong. When he brought the cheesecake over, he told Freya ‘You should try a bite sweetie, it’s really good.’



I had two small bites as it was way too sweet for me. Freya ended up having loads and when Matt came back, I pointed to her getting stuck in and he exclaimed loudly, ‘Oh, look who’s eating!’ Overall, we had a really nice meal, we do love a bit of Cheesecake Factory, and we left Matt a good tip as he was excellent (unnecessary touching aside ).

We popped to the restrooms before leaving and then Mat wanted to get a double espresso from Starbucks so he and Seren went to join the not insubstantial queue. While we waited, Freya and I decided to walk a lap of the mall upstairs to get my steps up after all that sitting down. It was pretty deserted up there and we got some speed up, going around twice. I felt like we were ‘Mall Walkers’ as featured in the likes of Better Call Saul and Modern Family, you know when senior citizens put on their tracksuits and briskly walk laps of the mall.









We went back to Starbucks to meet the others and Mat handed over the iced water that I’d asked him to get me from Buckaroo’s. I’ve mentioned before in the report how I was all over the Starbucks iced water this trip.



Not being shoppers, we didn’t bother going into any of the shops at the Mall At Millennia, but we did all agree that it is a lovely looking mall and it was so nice that it was very quiet today.



Instead, we drove to the Florida Mall (not quite so ‘posh’ or quiet unfortunately) but we were only here to visit American Girl. Quick time and temperature check on the way:



Again we got parked up easily, and then headed towards AG which is accessible from outside the mall. Freya was beside herself with excitement:



Mat found himself a nice seat inside the shop while the girls and I wandered around. Here’s his view of us doing our thing:



If you’ve read any of my previous trippies going back to 2012, you won’t need me to say that Seren and Freya are big American Girl fans and we’ve visited the shop at least once every time we’ve been to New York (every year for the past six years). The Orlando store opened at the end of 2014 so we had visited for the first time on our 2015 trip and obviously planned to return this holiday. The Orlando store is small, but bearing in mind we didn’t want to spend the rest of the day there, that probably worked in our favour. I helped the girls pick out a couple of outfits each for their dolls that they bought with their spending money, and then I sent Mat to pay for a secret doll’s outfit for Seren’s birthday later in the holiday. This is the second time she’s had a birthday in Florida and our plan both times was just to secretly buy her a few bits she liked while we were there to give her on the day rather than bring presents with us.

Mat took a random photo of a doll for reasons unknown to me (and probably him too) :



The reason I sent Mat to pay for the birthday outfit was because I wanted to look at their new range of dolls. We had seen the Wellie Wishers range online and they were so cute, and smaller than the standard American Girl dolls. I had actually planned to buy myself one when I saw them . Yes I know that is a bit weird and I wasn’t intending to play with it or anything, just to have it as an ornament. The plan was (and still is) to get two and give them to the girls eventually as heirlooms that they can keep and hopefully pass down to their daughters.

I couldn’t decide which one to get out of a possible three. There are five and the girls had both said they eventually wanted to buy one of them each, so I was choosing from the other three. One of the three struck me as annoying so it was between two and I really struggled to make my mind up. I’m terrible at making decisions which I believe is a Libra thing (my star sign) so I got Mat and the girls to help me and after about ten minutes I went to pay for my new doll, Willa.

I know it sounds really odd that a 38 year old woman bought a doll, but I’m not a weirdo honestly . I had just watched the girls dress their pretty dolls for six years and thought it was nice, plus as I said I was buying it as an heirloom. I told myself it wasn’t really that different to buying a soft toy or character souvenir from Disney or Universal which lots of adults do. I’m sure I read in The Times recently that the number of adults buying toys (Lego, Star Wars toys etc) has increased massively over the last few years and it’s not that different to that I don’t think. The slightly embarrassing bit was when I took her out of the box that night (I couldn’t bring her home in the box as it was too bulky) and I shed a couple of tears because, as I told Mat, ‘she’s so beautiful.’ In my defence I had had a couple of cocktails and it was a long day. Tired and emotional and all that.

So, here is Willa who now stands randomly on my dresser in the bedroom. I must admit I have changed her clothes a couple of times since I got her as Mat bought her an outfit from a work trip to New York last summer, and we also bought her a Christmas outfit from our visit to New York in October. But other than that she just stands there like an ornament as intended, and I don’t talk to her or play with her or anything. Although I must admit that at the moment I won’t let the girls play with her in case they mess her hair up .



She's so cute. Anywaaaay... we couldn’t be bothered to visit any other shops although I had been briefly tempted to pop into Hot Topic but the girls were itching to hit the pool so we took a photo outside the shop...



….and drove back to Cabana Bay and got ready for swimming.

Today we were testing out the lazy river pool (South Courtyard) which was a new one for us as it hadn’t been open on our first stay here in 2014. The girls love the North Courtyard pool with the slide, but now we had inflatables that we’d bought at Target the day before, they were lazy river ready. There’s a shack by the pool where they sell and blow up inflatables. I’d heard they were fine about blowing up inflatables that were bought elsewhere and they were, so yay for the pool staff at CB .

The girls went off into the water and we found a table by the bar with an umbrella. The pool area was quite crowded and as we’d experienced at the North Courtyard a few days before, available loungers with shade were extremely thin on the ground. Mat went to the Hideaway Grill pool bar and got some iced waters and a cocktail for me: A Fun in the Sun which was Three Olives Mango Vodka, Mango Puree, Sour, Pineapple Juice (apologies for the capitals, taken from the online menu).



The cocktail was $13, and this was the point where we learned you can only get the cocktails at the pool bar in the souvenir cups as per my previous rant on Day 5. To sum up, the souvenir glass is also the shaker and you have to buy the drink in the glass or bring one back for refilling as they don’t have actual cocktail shakers at the pool bars anymore. I only planned to have one drink each visit to the pool / bar so never got the benefit of the refill discounted price of $10 and I ended up with several of these souvenir plastic glasses that I didn’t want. I couldn’t be bothered / forgot to bring my old glasses back down each time plus we didn’t have anything to wash the cup up with and I didn’t think it was particularly hygienic to reuse it without washing it properly as it had an in-built straw lid thingy.

The cocktail was nice, but the whole refill thing (which was new since our last trip) got us talking about how we felt about Cabana Bay this time compared with our previous visit three years before when the hotel was only half built and still in soft open. In 2014 we had loved absolutely everything about the hotel and had raved about it here on the Dibb. We really loved the theming of the resort and thought the facilities were excellent for a ‘budget’ hotel. That hasn’t changed, and this time we were still impressed by those things, plus had no complaints about our suite and still found the food court excellent.

Obviously after three years, the hotel was starting to show signs of wear compared to when it was brand new and this was noticeable to us particularly in public areas such as the corridors and elevators. It was also a lot busier than it had been in 2014 which was no surprise because the hotel now has about four times the room capacity than in April 2014. Everywhere feeling busier (pools, parking, food court) was a bit of a bummer. We also didn’t like the new round glass towers which roughly doubled the number of rooms at the resort. They really felt like a cheap add-on and didn’t fit in with the excellent theming of the original Courtyard and Tower blocks of rooms.

But at the risk of sounding a snob, the main issue was the actual clientele. You may have read that in the first year, the hotel actually increased its rates because there was far too much partying going on; college age kids checking in for the weekend with lots of beer because it was so cheap to stay there. I think there has definitely been some improvement since then, but we were well aware that there were lots of young people in groups or couples staying at the hotel. I don’t have anything against young people, I was young once, and I know they weren’t necessarily doing anything wrong but sometimes it felt more like a party hotel than a family resort, which I’m not sure is what Universal were aiming for. It never really impacted on us directly but we were aware that the people around us were perhaps enjoying a different kind of holiday to us. There were two incidents that really sealed our opinion of the resort this trip; one happened later on this day so I’ll get to that in due course, but the other one although minor just kind of proved our point. One morning we were just leaving in the car and we saw a man around our age with two teenage girls (I assumed they were his daughters) pushing a luggage trolley containing very little luggage and lots and lots of beer, like a good few cases. He can enjoy his vacation any way he wishes, but I wouldn’t have liked to have been in a room next to him if he was planning on drinking all that over a night or two .

So we both sat there this afternoon and said we wouldn’t stay at Cabana Bay again, although we’ll always have a soft spot for it and will probably return to visit the food court and have a mooch when staying at another Universal hotel. This got us talking about plans for our next trip in 2018 although I couldn’t get much out of Mat as he couldn’t understand why we’d want to plan next year’s holiday when we were still less than half way through this one. I also caught up on some notes and we people-watched groups of journalists being taken over to visit the new aforementioned glass towers which were about to open.













One of the new unthemed glass towers:





Chillin':





After an hour and a half, it was time to leave the pool area and amazingly the girls pretty much got out straight away which was a first.



It was about 5 pm at this point. As we passed the Bayliner Diner food court, Freya asked if she could have the kids’ mahi mahi again as she as hungry, so we had a brief stop for her to eat some dinner. The rest of us planned to eat back in Epcot later.

For some reason Mat took this photo of a plate of garnishes at the food station :



No photo of the food today (it was the same as a few days ago) but here's a photo of the menu:



Cabana Bay gift shop:



Random photo inside the gift shop:



Continued below...

[moosha]

...continued

We left Cabana Bay about 6 pm which meant there was a lot of traffic on the I4. We arrived at Epcot and parked up in Discover so we had a little walk to the entrance. It was getting pretty breezy which was welcome but still hot. Once inside the park we went straight to World Showcase which was busy. The plan was just to take a clockwise walk around WS and sample some treats from the Flower and Garden Festival kiosks. A quick restroom stop at the Odyssey toilets and a photo with the Three Caballeros:



We walked straight through to China where Mat decided to get some vegetable spring rolls from the F&G kiosk. The girls wanted to watch the acrobats who were currently performing so I stayed with them while Mat bought his snack.



Then we took the spring rolls over to one of the little tables by the water and he let me have a taste, they were very good.



Crowd watching the acrobats:



On to Germany where Mat got some potato pancakes with apple sauce from the Bauernmarkt kiosk.





This wasn’t really my thing but Seren was all over them. Mat said the pancakes were good but not as good as the spring rolls.



While Freya and I had been waiting for the others to buy the pancakes, we were stood near a group of three teenagers (two girls, one boy) who had been very excitedly walking along the promenade and had spotted Snow White come out of a nearby door to start her next meet. When they saw her, they screamed and ran over towards her. Snow White’s CM handler immediately intercepted to stop her getting bundled or knocked over and calmly but firmly told them ‘the line to meet Snow White is just over there’, pointing to where a couple of young families were patiently waiting. It made me see how difficult it must be to be a character handler, particularly at World Showcase where alcohol definitely plays a part. The CMs have to keep everything professional and Disney, and be nice(ish) to guests while making sure everyone is safe and following ‘the rules’. To their credit, the teenagers apologised profusely and joined the line. They clearly hadn’t realised they couldn’t just run up and meet Snow White.





Next stop was USA where Seren had decided she wanted the kids’ tomato pasta from Liberty Inn. We popped to the very nice restrooms at the back of the pavilion first, and as we crossed back to the restaurant, we passed a young couple who were very smartly dressed. I whispered to the girls that I thought they were there for Dapper Day which was tomorrow. I managed to take a sneaky photo of them (below) and then overheard a CM ask them if they were there for Dapper Day. They said they weren’t. I don’t believe them .



We bought the pasta meal from Liberty Inn which came with a couple of sides (Seren had broccoli and apple slices, I think I had to swap the gelatine-filled Danone yogurt for one of these at the counter) and a bottle of water.





We sat at the nice outdoor seating area and were joined by some squirrels who were getting very close, I guess because other park guests feed them so they’re expecting food. Freya got a bit freaked out because she thought they were going to bite her.

Onwards to Morocco where a live band was playing which added to the atmosphere. I got the vegetarian platter which was all very tasty besides the falafels being a bit dry. We sat at one of the tables outside and everyone helped me eat it.









Our last food / drink stop was France as I was after a La Vie en Rose slush. I had a couple of them in 2015 and was so pleased they were on the menu again for 2017’s Flower and Garden Festival.



They’re so tasty . This one melted really quickly because it was so hot but that wasn’t a problem. Mat got a tarte l’Alsacienne which we both agreed was really good. Mat had done the purchasing and had said please / thank you / goodbye etc in French which he said the French CMs seemed to really appreciate. We carried on walking with our drink and snack as we had somewhere to be.









Apart from snacking at the festival kiosks, our other reason for being back at Epcot tonight was that we had a FastPass for our first ride on Frozen Ever After. When we’d arrived at the park this evening, the ride had been down which was a bit of a concern but I’d continued to check the wait times on the app throughout the evening. When we’d been at Germany earlier it had re-opened with a wait time of 95 minutes and then had gone down to 60 when we’d been in France. So I was hoping our FP wait wouldn’t be too long now that it had calmed down a bit.

Our FastPass was 7.50 - 8.50 pm and we arrived about 8.30 to find the FastPass line backed up all the way to Akershus. Here's us at the back of the FP line:



The standby wait was posted as 45 minutes but the outside entrance was empty as the line was all inside so it looked like the FastPass line was longer. Therefore, people kept getting in the wrong line which was getting on my nerves. People were thinking that the FP line was standby because it was so long and there were no CMs all the way at the end of the line to direct people correctly. There was no CM until you reached the FP checking point at the doorway.





Eventually we were inside and enjoying taking in all the detail of the interior queue.





Excited:



We waited about 20 minutes with our FPs and it was well worth it. We all loved the ride; the animatronics are stunning. It was definitely more splashy than I expected though, we all got a bit wet. And it’s a bit juddery when the boat changes direction. But also just fabulous .

We were off the ride about 9.05 pm all gushing about how much we loved it. We walked past the fireworks to the exit...



...and drove back to Cabana Bay, arriving around 9.45 pm. All of the parking spaces outside our block were full so we had to go into the parking garage tonight which was fine, it was only a few extra steps across the road back to our building. It was a bit alarming to see the entrance to the Volcano Bay construction site wide open for any Cabana Bay guests to wander in. The following night and each subsequent night when we came home there was a security guard sat by the gates. Not sure whether that was a reaction to an incident on this night:



We had really noticed lots of groups of kids at the hotel today; school trips and sports trips from what we could gather. This was the point where we had our other annoying Cabana Bay guest encounter as mentioned earlier. We came out of the elevator on our floor and walked along the corridor to our room. As we were walking, we came across a group of young teenagers sat across the narrow corridor outside hotel room doors playing games and eating and drinking. Several room doors (theirs) were open and there was additional noise from TVs coming from inside. They were just hanging out all together in the corridors. It was very difficult to pass them as they weren’t interested in making way for people trying to walk down the corridor; they were just sat there with legs outstretched, holding cards and big bags of chips and talking loudly. :angry:As we passed, an adult (teacher? chaperone?) came out of one of the open doorways to talk to the children who were out there, but not to tell them to move / quieten down / be more considerate, just to ask them something. Mat and I couldn’t believe it. It felt like we were at a summer camp / student halls of residence or something.

Once back in the room, we decided the hotel was much busier than it had been so far as we could hear quite a few people coming back to their rooms (we were opposite a set of elevators) whereas we had barely heard anyone up to this point. We could also still hear the summer camp kids down the hall and were worried we wouldn’t be able to sleep, but after showers we all crashed out as soon as our heads hit the pillow, which for us grown ups was about 11.30 pm.≈

[Skittl1321]

Oh, I love the wellie wishers doll! She is adorable.

I am not as fond as American Girl dolls as when I was younger (I don't like how Mattel has changed the brand)- but at my peak in my late 20s I had 12 of them, and now I have 9 at age 36. I'm sure my daughter will have no interest in them, as I just love playing with dolls.

So it makes perfect sense to me that you bought yourself a doll.

[HelenJNT]

I’ve been reading along but not been very good at commenting.

Shame that Cabana Bay had lost its shine. Large groups of excited/drunk teens let off the leash can be intimidating at the best of times.

I had to say I really love the inclusion of Mat’s random photos, several of them in this instalment made me laugh out loud.

[i love jack]

Sounds like mostly a lovely day, and another busy one just for a change!

[Unexpectedpenny]

A great busy day! Loving all the food photos too.

We were in EPCOT that morning too for the Behind The Seeds tour!

[Goldia]

An Epcot day! I'm sort of in agreement with you about Soarin (say it quietly as it's really popular!). We really liked the old version, which incidentally was out first ever ride at WDW! It just seems a bit like they've tried to pick the most touristy places and not necessarily the most interesting or real places. Also, you are right it's a real pain how the screen warps the picture.

Mall laps! That was funny, I've seen both the shows you referred to!

By the way I'm planning on taking your advice and booking up Raglan Road for us this summer, and I plan on not cancelling it before we get there! I might ask for good seats though so we don't get stuck like you did.

[moosha]

Originally Posted by Skittl1321

Oh, I love the wellie wishers doll! She is adorable.

I am not as fond as American Girl dolls as when I was younger (I don't like how Mattel has changed the brand)- but at my peak in my late 20s I had 12 of them, and now I have 9 at age 36. I'm sure my daughter will have no interest in them, as I just love playing with dolls.

So it makes perfect sense to me that you bought yourself a doll.

See more...

Oh thank you for sharing that . I hope your daughter does take an interest in playing with dolls too. Thanks for continuing to read along and comment .

Originally Posted by HelenJNT

I’ve been reading along but not been very good at commenting.

Shame that Cabana Bay had lost its shine. Large groups of excited/drunk teens let off the leash can be intimidating at the best of times.

I had to say I really love the inclusion of Mat’s random photos, several of them in this instalment made me laugh out loud.

See more...

Thanks for reading and commenting Helen. I’m all for people having a good time on holiday, but you’re right, it can get intimidating.

I know, such random photos. And he kept saying ‘I’ve got a good photo of such-and-such for your trip report’ and then when I checked they were either really bad photos of useful things, or just the most bizarre shots . Bless him. Will do all my own photography this year .

Originally Posted by i love jack

Sounds like mostly a lovely day, and another busy one just for a change!

See more...

Thanks for reading and commenting Emma. We certainly don’t like to be idle on our holidays .

Originally Posted by Unexpectedpenny

A great busy day! Loving all the food photos too.

We were in EPCOT that morning too for the Behind The Seeds tour!

See more...

How funny . Hope you enjoyed the tour. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Originally Posted by Goldia

An Epcot day! I'm sort of in agreement with you about Soarin (say it quietly as it's really popular!). We really liked the old version, which incidentally was out first ever ride at WDW! It just seems a bit like they've tried to pick the most touristy places and not necessarily the most interesting or real places. Also, you are right it's a real pain how the screen warps the picture.

Mall laps! That was funny, I've seen both the shows you referred to!

By the way I'm planning on taking your advice and booking up Raglan Road for us this summer, and I plan on not cancelling it before we get there! I might ask for good seats though so we don't get stuck like you did.

See more...

Thanks for reading and commenting as always Abby. I knew I couldn’t be the only one around here who felt that way about Soarin’ but I know it’s an unpopular opinion .

Yep, all that was missing from the mall laps was the dodgy tracksuit and sweat band .

Yay, I really hope you enjoy a Raglan Road as much as we do. Remember it’s really noisy right by the stage so it depends what you’re after. I think somewhere in the main room but a way back from the stage would be ideal, but we’ve always had one extreme or the other (table closest to the stage or out in the corner of the side room). I’m sure they’d be accommodating to your request but as it’s such a busy place you might just have to wait a few extra minutes for your preferred table .

[collybird]

It's such a shame that Cabana Bay didn't live up to your first visit, you had such a great stay.

I always enjoy reading about your visits to American Girl, Willa is lovely, and it is nice to hear that the girls aren't 'too old' for dolls yet! Your retro attraction postcards look awesome framed, that was a fab idea!