Our last full day at Walt Disney World was a Studios day, and as Estelle and I were the first people ready in the morning, we took off for the park... OR SO WE THOUGHT.
Follow the bouncing bus:
- We walked to the Art of Animation bus stop and found a seriously INSANE line for the Studios. We figured this had to be a freak thing,
- so we walked over to Pop Century's bus station, where the line was even CRAZIER. I decided to get all clever and led us onto a Downtown Disney bus with the idea that we could then pick up an Epcot area resort bus and use the path to the Studios from the Boardwalk.
- Upon arrival at DTD, we hopped in the Epcot resort bus queue, only to be informed by a cast member that if we got on this other bus over here, it would take us to the Studios.
- But not before it took us to Port Orleans Riverside AND French Quarter.
- The end result being that we FINALLY arrived at the Studios, oh, an hour or so later.
Oh, WDW transportation. Always an adventure with you!
Our first thought upon arrival was breakfast, so we got in line at Starring Rolls. Estelle found a danish that would do nicely, but what I really wanted was a breakfast sandwich, something Starring Rolls mysteriously lacked. I knew from reading Eating WDW that Fairfax Fare has an egg sandwich, so I cruelly abandoned Estelle in line and ran over there.
But not fast enough. I slid into the stanchions with the Fairfax Fare breakfast menu still in view. But as I came to the front of the line, a guy switched out all the menus for the lunch specialty hot dog offerings. I checked my watch - 10:31AM. Breakfast ended at 10:30AM but surely they weren't hard and fast on that rule, were they?
They were. I asked for an egg sandwich and was cruelly denied. Maybe I could've argued my way into it, but instead I beat a retreat to the Sunset Ranch Market produce stand and sulked my way through a bag of Craisins trail mix and a bottle of water. Seriously, Disney, won't you spare a thought for brinner?
Estelle met me at the tables in the back but was still working through her coffee and danish; she sent me on ahead and I jumped into the Rock 'n Roller Coaster single rider line. It took about 40 minutes to make it into my super-stretch limo, but considering the standby line read 90 minutes I counted myself lucky.
Post "Sweet Emotion" I located Nicole and Erica, who were meandering about Sunset Boulevard while Katherine and DeJanea went through the Tower of Terror standby line (YES KATHERINE I WILL RIDE THIS WITH YOU IN JANUARY BUT I WANT THAT ICE CREAM). The latter still had awhile to wait, so the former and I met up with Estelle in the Muppets courtyard and took in MuppetVision 3D before heading to lunch.*
Somewhere in there we also visited Wandering Oaken's, where long lines of children waiting to play in the snowground. To them I say: silly children. Drive north a few hours and see what winter is like for REAL.
After lunch we formed splinter groups, with Estelle headed off to the Yacht Club; Katherine, Nicole, and I bound for Epcot; and DeJanea and Erica staying the Studios. On our way out, Katherine, Nicole, and I randomly passed the Great Movie Ride and jumped in the (long, actual existing, since when is there an outdoor portion of the queue, what the heck?) line. Coincidentally enough, we encountered DeJanea and Erica in that very line, and we were able to enjoy a thorough hijacking by Mugsi in the world of movies.
Then it was time for Epcot really. Katherine, Nicole, and I picked up a Friendship boat that was just docking, with Nicole debarking at the Boardwalk while Katherine and I continued on to the Yacht Club. We made a brief pit stop in the Yacht Club lobby to see the sights and smell the smells before walking to the International Gateway for the final day of the Food & Wine Festival.
Well. It didn't kill me. It didn't even maim me. But it was kinda gross - like thin mead with a weird aftertaste. I downed a little over half of it before giving up and chucking the rest in the trash. Meanwhile Katherine ate meat from Australia and fared much better than I did. Moral: don't drink scotch cocktails. Do eat meat.
My mission accomplished, we moved on to additional foodstuffs. Katherine bought more meat from Patagonia, and I stopped at Mexico (where the cast member complimented me on my tiger hat) for the sweet corn cheesecake. Verdict? My second favorite thing after the pao de queijo. It was really more analogous to a corn pudding than a cheesecake; in fact, I didn't detect much cheesecake texture at all. But if you enjoy sweet corn, you would very much like this.
Katherine and I had been experiencing Acute Phone Battery Drainage all day. The cure? Time spent in the Chase Lounge, accessed via exclusive elevator with the help of our matching Disney Visas. We availed ourselves of the Coke Freestyle machines (raspberry Coke is weird, guys) before settling on the floor in a corner by an outlet and watching the provided cartoons while we charged up.
Pao de queijo round 2 + moscato! |
Well, not DIRECTLY - we had to hop in a massive FastPass line first. I'm confused about the precise value of the Fantasmic FastPass. My mom and I used it last December, and at that time I thought that standby line was held until the FastPass window had closed. This time around it looked like the standby line was being let in before the 7:45PM FastPass cutoff; when we entered the amphitheater, it was already largely full. Indeed, it was one of the most packed showings I've ever seen. We were way over on the other side of the stands from the entrance.
There was nothing left to do but pack. Sigh. I drank my leftover beer from the race and ate Katherine's donated cherries while I packed up, then showered and went to bed. Which I just mistyped as "bad" because the next day we would go home. And that's bad.
Tomorrow: the final day.
* WILL YOU STOP THIS FOOLISHNESS?**
** What foolishness would you like to see?
Don't forget, you can follow us on Twitter @fairestrunofall. To see how our training is going, check out Jenn's dailymile here and Moon's dailymile here. If you have any questions for us, leave a comment or email us at fairestrunofall@gmail.com. See ya real soon!
MUST.GET.TIGER.HAT.
ReplyDeleteAND.WINTER.BERRY.RITAS.
Will you be at Marathon Weekend? The Lights MIGHT still be up, which means there MIGHT still be ritas, which means WE CAN DO THESE THINGS.
DeleteAlas, future travel splans do;t bring me back to the world of all things wonderful until it's time to spectate and cheer during Princess Weekend. However, I forsee many wondrous hats and libations on a particular little fun-filled weekend next November. Or so methinks!
DeleteYay! I'm playing with doing W&D again too - it's financially unwise but also SUPER FUN soooo...
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