It's The Greatest Hits Tour August 2018: Day 13 - Epcot, DHS & California Grill

[moosha]

Day 13 - Thursday 23rd August 2018

This morning was Extra Magic Hours at Epcot with the park opening to resort guests at 8 am. The plan was to leave the Yacht Club at 7.30 am for the five minute walk to the International Gateway. However, as usual we left a bit late and didn’t get to the IG entrance until 7.45 am.



One of the three tapstiles was closed and there were lots of people arriving so we had to join a fairly substantial queue to enter. As I’ve said before I get very impatient about getting into the parks efficiently so I was a bit annoyed but as always, my ‘Why aren’t all the tapstiles open? Why do we always have to wait ages to get in?’ mini-strop was over very quickly.

Once we were through, we joined the rope-drop people on the bridge and we were quite a way back. Luckily when we were allowed to enter, a lot of the people waiting went to Frozen Ever After and we were in the minority going to Future World. We’re also pretty speedy so we got ahead of those who were heading the same way as us.

We walked up to Test Track to join the queue. Obviously from International Gateway we couldn’t get there as quickly as the majority coming from the main entrance so we were behind a lot of people. The posted wait was 30 minutes and there was a long line outside. They hadn’t actually opened the ride at that point though. After a couple of minutes it was opened and we all moved forward. It did take 30 minutes including the design studio until we were boarding.





We were lucky again to get a car to ourselves as there were no single riders, so we spread out and left the middle seats free. I wrote in my notes that I was a bit over Test Track at this point. There aren’t many rides at Epcot that we do (we don’t like Soarin’ or Mission Space and don’t do Figment very often) so I think we had ended up overdoing TT a little bit on our trips over the years. Also in our experience, our designed cars seem to link only about 50% of the time so we don’t actually get to test them out or compete. I do love the outside bit, especially at night or when it’s not blindingly sunny as I’m not the biggest fan of hitting the bright sunshine from the dark inside with no sunglasses. Of course, three years since we last went to Disney and having gone through the last two years, I would absolutely love to be on that ride squinting in the bright sunshine.

Once we were off the ride it was about 8.50 am. We restroomed at the Odyssey restrooms and then headed to Frozen. I had read on easywdw.com that there was an opportunity to ride Frozen with no line just before 9 am on EMH mornings and Josh was right. There was no line and the CMs were waiting for people to arrive. This time in the morning was the sweet spot between the EMH guests who had rope-dropped Frozen finishing and having headed up to Future World for other rides, and the 9 am rope-droppers who hadn’t yet got in the park or had time to walk all the way back here.



Because it was quiet, we sat in two rows of two in the hope that squishing to the middle of the seats would stop us getting too wet. It didn’t work great as we still got a bit wet. I do love this ride though, when I think about all the fuss there was around taking Maelstrom away….this ride is so much better in my opinion and yes that may make me basic but I don’t care. I love Frozen anyway so possibly a bit biased but the extra effects and music and animatronics make it more interesting than it was before.

We had only come to Epcot for Extra Magic Hours to tick off those two rides for the day so the plan now was to get a Starbucks and walk to Hollywood Studios. It took a few minutes in Starbucks as it was quite busy (RIP Fountain View Starbucks). We got a lovely Starbucks iced water each, as well as Americanos for Mat and I (obviously.)

It was hot. We decided to take a Friendship Boat from International Gateway to DHS. This definitely wouldn’t have been my choice and would have been down to the girls moaning about walking. I don’t enjoy waiting around for Disney transport so if I can walk I’m going to choose that. But I guess I was outvoted. We didn’t time our arrival at the dock very well as a boat had just left. The CM told us it would be 14 minutes until the next one. It was cool where we were waiting undercover at the dock so we didn’t mind too much. I remember we could see the Ratatouille construction behind the France pavilion from over the bridge where we were. It’s slightly amusing that construction for Remy began in 2017 and the ride has only just opened four years later.





14 minutes after arriving at the dock we were on the boat to DHS. We sat outside at the back thinking we might get the benefit of a cool breeze but it was really hot sat there.



We passed a wedding at Seabreeze Point on The Boardwalk. When we got to The Boardwalk dock we moved inside, thinking it might be cooler and at least we’d be shaded but it was still really hot. By the time we got to Swan and Dolphin, the boat was really busy which definitely didn’t help with how hot it was. In hindsight, taking the boat was a mistake as it was so hot and crowded and it took us ages to cool down again once we got off. Today's FastPass+es:



Once inside the park we went into the nearest shop on Hollywood Boulevard for a blast of air conditioning, which turned out to be a very good move as Seren immediately found a phone case she loved after struggling in every other shop we’d looked in. She bought it straight away, along with a Belle keyring. She was very happy. Phone case:



While we were in the shop benefiting from the A/C, we placed a mobile order for Woody’s Lunchbox so it would be ready when we got up there. We ordered some of the vegan totchos and a grilled cheese sandwich for Freya with a side of tater tots.When we got over to Woody’s, a Cast Member was monitoring people entering the area because as we all know, the seating area is tiny and they only want people who have bought something from Woody’s to sit there. We told her we had mobile ordered and went to the counter where we had to wait a few minutes for our order to be prepared.

We had a nightmare finding an available table so either CMs policing entry wasn’t really working or there just weren’t enough tables for the number of people buying food. There was a woman sat at a table with no food or drink just relaxing, meaning guests with trays of food couldn’t sit down to eat. It was very annoying. Here she is:



We spoke to the CM again about not being able to find a seat and she said she’d raised the issue with her managers and nothing had changed. Luckily a table became free for us within a few minutes of collecting our food.





It appears from the photos I also had an alcoholic beverage but no idea what this was. It would have been whichever pre-mixed cocktail they were offering at Woody's.



When we’d finished eating we made sure we made our table available to a family with a tray of food rather than people just trying to find a shady spot to sit down. I’m sure I read somewhere that there aren’t many places to sit and rest in Toy Story Land so it’s no surprise that people are trying to do that at Woody’s. The problem is, with it being such a small seating area there aren’t really enough tables for customers with food in the first place anyway.

Galaxy's Edge construction:





Next up we decided to ride Alien Swirling Saucers. This was a new ride for us at the time and I wasn’t especially excited about riding. However the girls were and although the wait was posted at 35 minutes I thought it would probably be less.





Also the queue, whilst outside, looked shady so I thought it might be cooler than baking in the sun elsewhere. I was right about the length of the wait which turned out to be about 20 minutes but wrong about it being cool. In front of us in the queue was a dad with three small children and the children were climbing everything, going out of the queue and one of them basically made screaming noises for the whole wait which was fun for us being stuck so close to them.

When we got to loading there was a technical issue so they had to run our side of the ride empty. The holding area we were waiting in was really hot and even the CMs were struggling. I thought the ride was ok but the girls enjoyed it.



We had Slinky Dog Dash FP+ booked for 12.25 pm and we only had to wait in line a couple of minutes which was great. When we got to loading we asked if we could wait for the back and he responded with ‘How about now?’ as we had pretty much timed it just right to be allocated the back seats. I sat with Freya in the very back. I love this ride, it’s so much fun I can’t help but laugh all the way round.



We decided to ride Toy Story Mania in standby next. The posted wait was 40 minutes but we knew it would be cool in the indoor queue so just decided to go for it. I caught up on notes in the line. We waited about 30 minutes which was fine because air conditioning.







I played against Mat and he beat me which peed me off a bit. We’re both quite competitive on this ride.





The old Pixar Place entrance to Toy Story Mania was looking very empty:





It was time for some vegan nachos with chilli (RIP) from Min and Bill’s. We got two portions between the four of us and two drinks; the Watermelon Margarita and the Blue Long Island Iced Tea. We also got a frozen Coke from a little stand around the corner.



The nachos were so good and so were the drinks.





Despite being pre-mixed as most cocktails in the parks are now, they were tasty and pretty strong. Mat had a few sips but as he was driving later I had most of both. The Star Wars shows were going on behind us so we talked about Star Wars a bit (a subject I know next to nothing about and have no interest in) but the girls were fairly interested and while we were sat there at a table at Min & Bill’s, Mat ordered some of the movies on DVD (tell me this trip was more than three years ago without telling me this trip was more than three years ago). The plan was for him and the girls to watch all the films together beginning on his birthday the next month. I think they’re still only six films in three years later. And I’m certainly not about to take their place now they’re super busy teenagers. I have no desire whatsoever to see what I’m ‘missing’ having struggled through half of one of the films years ago. Just not my thing at all. I am excited for Rise of the Resistance though in the same way I love Flight of Passage despite wanting to watch Avatar about as much as I want to punch myself in the face.



We went back into the shops when we were all done and the girls bought some little mystery bags of mini figures where you can’t see which one you’re getting. Freya was hoping for the Ursula and Oogie Boogie ones and out of three purchased, she managed to get both of those. Seren was disappointed with what she got but decided against buying more to try and get better ones.

We got coffees and waters from Starbucks as we left which we drank on the walk back to the Yacht Club. We love a Starbucks tap water:



Mickey:



Saw this slightly concerning car parked up on our walk back:



We relaxed in the room for a bit and then got ready, setting off in the car about 6.45 pm for our 7.15 pm California Grill ADR.

We arrived about 7 pm and went into the beautiful Contemporary Resort.







There were lots of people checking in at California Grill but luckily we were sent straight up.





Our table was to the left as you enter the restaurant, so away from Magic Kingdom which was a bit of a shame but it’s luck of the draw and we’ve been sat both sides before. The viewing decks weren’t open during the daylight and I don’t really know why.

Our server was Tommy and he was rubbish. We told him we were ordering off the vegan menu and he still did his pre-rehearsed speech about steaks.



Seren wanted the tomato flatbread minus the burrata. Tommy said ‘That’s an appetiser’ (as if to say it wouldn’t be enough for an entree) so we asked how big it was and he said ‘Oh it’s big’. Annoying that he didn’t just realise that a big flatbread would be enough food for a 12 year old but I think he was more concerned about his potentially diminished tip if one person was having an appetiser instead of an entree. He was just clueless and disinterested which shouldn’t be the case at a Signature restaurant.

To drink I had a glass of chianti, Mat had a blackberry lemonade mocktail and Seren had an apple juice. Freya just had tap water. Mat had a second lemonade so we’d got all of our ‘free’ included drinks (equivalent of one each.)





The bread took ages to come but when it did it was a nice warm sourdough with butter for the girls and olive oil with sundried tomatoes for us. It was really good.



Because we’d had to wait so long for our bread we were still eating it when the entrees arrived.

Besides Seren’s flatbread, Freya had a cheese pizza from the kids’ menu which she demolished and Mat and I both got to choose four of the vegetarian unplugged options for our meal. Not all of the options were vegan so we couldn’t have all of the options but we both went for the vegan roll sushi, tofu steak with rice and edamame, vegan pizza, and black truffle pasta.



To be honest it was all a bit bland especially the creamy pasta. The tofu steak was served cold which meant that half the food was cold and I just wasn’t into that. On top of our disappointing entrees, Seren bit down on her (appetiser) flatbread and moved a baby tooth which started bleeding and was painful so she couldn’t really carry on eating.

Seren's flatbread:



Freya's pizza:





Little bit of after dinner reading:



Continued below...

[moosha]

...continued

After our mains, the viewing deck opened and we popped out to take photos and look at Magic Kingdom. I love looking at the park from up there, it looks so small and magical. For dessert Seren had blackberry lime sorbet, Freya had chocolate chip cookies with ice cream, and the vegan dessert was a hazelnut cake with chocolate coating and fruit.











It was a bit dry and I don’t really like nutty desserts so I didn’t love it but didn’t expect to. The berries were nice though. Just reading my notes I was wondering why we all had dessert as I don’t really eat dessert but then I remembered the dining plan back then for table service restaurants was entree + appetiser + drink. Good times.

Around the time of our desserts, Tommy, who had been largely absent throughout the entire meal and when he had been present had been completely disinterested, popped over to ask if Seren wanted a second apple juice. She didn’t, and we told him that, but he brought one anyway. It was annoying that he hadn’t listened and as we would have been charged out of pocket for that drink, we sent it back.

Mat went over to speak to a manager about our largely disappointing meal and poor service. We’d had at least three or four really good meal experiences at California Grill but this was definitely up there with our worst meals at Disney. Nothing will top our biggest two stinkers ever, Flying Fish and Yak and Yeti, but it was such a shame that one of our previous favourites had been such a let down today.

Audrey the manager told Mat not to leave a tip and she actually arranged for us to have six dining credits deducted instead of the eight we should have been charged. We didn’t realise this until the next day when we were paying for another meal as she didn’t tell us at the time but that was a nice gesture. Reading it back now it doesn’t sound like a terrible meal, but I think that’s because with the time that’s passed I’ve forgotten how rubbish Tommy was and how disappointing the food was but it was definitely one of the worst meals of the trip, if not the worst.

Freya didn’t want to watch the fireworks from the viewing terrace so Mat took her to the shops downstairs and then back to the car while Seren and I stayed out on the terrace to watch all of Happily Ever After.



Mat took this arty shot from downstairs in the resort:





We’re not really fireworks people and I think this was the first time we’d seen this particular show, having also only seen Wishes once before when we went to a dessert party. Seren loved it. When it was finished we went downstairs to meet Mat and Freya at the car, Seren gushing about the show, and drove back to the hotel. We were in bed by 10 ish. We were really struggling with tiredness by this point in the trip.