soneevda: DISNEY: EEC Food & Wine

Welcome to Epcot :)
Included with the registration for the Expedition Everest Challenge were a pair of 1-day-1-park tickets to either Disney's Animal Kingdom or Epcot (one for each of us), and they were only valid for a limited time (until October 10th), so we decided to take Sunday to hit Epcot and the Food & Wine Festival.

We weren't in any rush and decided to relax and have breakfast at the resort then have a late start to the park. We had our cinnamon buns (absolutely delicious) and walked around Coronado Springs, checking out the other Casitas areas (absolutely beautiful). It was also a nice opportunity for some Kermit pics.

Anyways, it was about 10:30am before we got to Epcot. It didn't look all too crowded. We started off as many do and got FastPasses for Soarin'. We rode LWTL then headed to the other side of the park to check out the Food and Wine Festival headquarters at the once Wonders of Life pavilion. The setup there was pretty standard, but it was nice to see it used in any capacity.

After that, we picked up FastPasses for Test Track and then headed back west to ride Soarin' which was nice. Then it was basically time to head right back and ride Test Track -- I did some research online afterwards and discovered that the host of the intro, Bill McKim, is played by John Michael Higgins, who you may recognize as Wayne Jarvis on Arrested Development or in the upcoming comedy Kath & Kim on NBC (yeah, I know!... I'm not sure if I still have a crush on him... I'm so confused).

Anyways, by then, we were getting hungry so headed to the World Showcase. Long story short, we went clockwise starting at The Odyseey, and we got 4-5 items each and ended up spending less than $20 each. In addition to today's ride itinerary, I'm also including the list of items we each got, accompanied by FOOD PICS!! I believe that Chuck's favorites were the Red Curry Shrimp and the Boxty, while I particularly enjoyed the Bacon Dumpling and the Buttery Escargot.

Again, the crowds weren't huge, so it was a relaxing trip around the world, and overall we were very pleased with what we got.

On our way around, we did check out the shops at China and Japan, played around at the Pearville area in front of the United States (cute, fun), and stopped to watch Impressions of France. We made really good time and surprised ourselves again.

So we headed back to Future World, where I showed him the StormStruck exhibit, then we rode the tried-and-true Spaceship Earth (they split my head open again!). We then tried our hand again at Project Tomorrow's Power City, and we rocked the map, earning a score of 10,755,000 -- MEGACITY Tokyo! Yeah!

And on that note, and after a successful 6 1/2 hrs at the park, we headed out.

Today visit was really good. I liked how we didn't stress/rush, and we were able to get everything done that we wanted. It was fun going around the Food & Wine Festival booth with Chuck because we were both the same and right level of getting/trying food -- didn't starve, didn't go broke. And it was nice to visit the parks with someone who sees the magic.

Thanks for the great visit Chuck!
-----
Here's what Chuck and I did this visit:

EPCOT (JOURNEY 7)
- Living With the Land
- Soarin' (FP'd)
- Wonders of Life pavilion (F&WF HQs)
- Test Track (FP'd)
- Food and Wine Festival (Chuck blue, Cedric red, Both purple) -- click any of the pics for a bigger view:

Vienna, Austria
Beef Goulash with a Bacon Dumpling [$3.50]

New Delhi, India
Red Curry Shrimp over Rice [$4.00]

Melbourne, Australia
Pepperberry Prawns on the Barbie with Sweet Potato Hash [$4.75]

Cork, Ireland
Boxty with Bacon Chips and Kerrygold Garlic & Fresh Herb Butter [$2.75]

Wellington, New Zealand
Bay Scallops with Baby Greens and Cranberry Vinaigrette [$3.75]

Lamb Slider on a Brioche Roll [$5.00]
Lyon, France
Escargot Persillade en Brioche [$4.50]