Sue's Oct F&W Trip - Day 3 of 5
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All on Wed Oct 26 15:21:56 2022
DAY 3 – Wednesday 10/26/22
Who: Sue (63), DVC Member
SB (65), my husband
Plan: Animal Kingdom
Actual: It was nearly 10:30 before I went to bed and turned out the lights, but once I did sleep came pretty quickly. I woke up around 4 but didn’t get up until almost 4:45. SB was already up at that point, having fallen asleep a couple hours
earlier than I did. He suggested breakfast at Olivia’s this morning, which did not appeal to me at all. I’ve got breakfast food here for both of us, and if I eat a big breakfast I’ll be ruined for Food & Wine later. I’ll consider it for
tomorrow if it’s something he really wants to do, but I would be happy just passing on it entirely.
Around 6:30 I started looking at the app to figure out how to buy a lightning lane at 7, but I found the whole thing confusing. After looking at the Olivia’s brunch menu again I went to talk with SB and we ended up changing our plans. We agreed on
brunch at 7:30 tomorrow, so I booked that. Afterwards we’re planning on the pool and then won’t head to Food & Wine until later in the afternoon. For today, he didn’t like that we couldn’t get into Epcot until after 2 so I mentioned the only
way around that would be to skip Animal Kingdom & change the park reservation to Epcot. He liked that idea.
I went online and was able to modify the park reservation so now we’re set to enter Epcot at any hour. We’ll do our pool time this morning then shower & head over to Epcot for lunch at Food & Wine. Dinner can be stuff in the villa, or if he wants
the burger from Goods to Go we can walk over there later.
We changed into our swimwear and were at the pool by 8:45. I was disappointed to see shade everywhere – the sun wasn’t high enough to shine over the trees and buildings yet. SB headed to the hot tub and I found the spot that would be first to get
sun and pulled a chaise lounge there. Before long the sun was up, and it was very comfortable for quite a while. The quiet pool was anything but quiet today, thanks to a grandma with a couple of very active screaming grandkids (play screaming, not
crying). They were having fun, but wow. I didn’t mind when they eventually left – perhaps headed to the main pool where it’s more fun for kids.
I did some napping, then some reading. SB moved from the hot tub to the pool, then grandma took the kids to the hot tub for a bit. Around 10 SB decided to go back to the villa to watch Steven A Smith argue about sports, and I stayed at the pool until a
bit after 11. We took our showers and got dressed, then headed to the bus stop a little after noon.
The Epcot bus came in about 8 minutes and we were at Epcot pretty quickly. There really wasn’t any wait to enter, and we got into the park quickly as well. SB was hungry so we headed back to World Showcase. He’d laid out which items he wanted to
try today, but of course his plan flew out the window as soon as we got there. We stopped at the Noodle stand, where he got the spicy beef noodle soup and the Riesling for me. He liked his noodles, but said it was definitely spicy. The wine was
excellent as well. The only part I didn’t like was the lack of shade – it was very hot standing at our table!
We were right next to the Saucy Swanky Swine stand, and SB saw someone walk by with the ribs. The rib guy was cooking them right behind us, too. So, of course he had to have that – he went up to the stand and came back with 2 orders of the ribs.
Each had 2 ribs, and there was quite a bit of meat on each one. I ate 1 rib and left the other 3 for him, which is probably what he assumed would happen, lol!
We walked a bit further and came to the margarita stand outside Mexico. Today the line wasn’t as long, so he got in line and I stood in the shade outside La Hacienda. He came back with a strawberry margarita with double alcohol – but no straw. He
loves these margaritas – I can take them or leave them. When we started walking again I grabbed a straw as we passed through China, and we stopped at a shady table across from the African drums.
The beef from Kenya was on his list for today, but he was too full at this point – except he wanted an ice cream. I stayed at the table while he went across the walkway and came back with a cup of dole whip and watermelon soft serve swirl. I thought
it was awful – the 2 flavors together just don’t work for me. He wasn’t crazy about it either, but he ate it.
After that was gone we continued walking. I’d thought about the bratwurst in pretzel bun from Germany but the line was pretty long and completely out in the sun – so no way! By America he was talking about a hot dog and despite my telling him Regal
Eagle doesn’t have them, we went inside to check the menu & sure enough they don’t sell hot dogs. They do sell them from the stand with turkey legs and popcorn outside, but I guess coming from inside would have been better? By now he was talking
about Boardwalk and getting a chili cheese dog there. I’m not sure they still sell them, but he thinks they do.
As we came to International Gateway he went to sit on a shady bench while I made another loop. I really wasn’t enjoying myself – it was just too warm this time of day. I’m sure it’ll be beautiful tonight, but I’m not coming back out today.
Hawaii’s line didn’t look too long so I joined that and then realized they only had 1 cash register open so it was moving slowly – and was in the sun. The sweat was running off me and it was gross. I got the pork slider and took it over to a
shady bench and was pretty disappointed in it – the portion looked really small and it just didn’t taste that great. I remember it being so much better, or maybe the heat was just making stuff taste bad.
I continued walking and in America got the chardonnay. Today I hated it, lol – I can’t believe it tasted good to me yesterday. I took it into the building with American Adventure, seeking out air conditioning and was thrilled to find 3 high top
tables each with a couple chairs just as you enter. One was available so I grabbed it and enjoyed cooling off for a while! Hopefully my next trip in November will be a bit cooler and I won’t need to find air conditioning like that!
Feeliing refreshed, I walked over to International Gateway and found SB talking with a lady from a town close to us! We’d never met, but it’s a small world they say <g>. We said goodbye to her and headed down the hill and out of the park to find
his hot dog at Boardwalk. We would have taken the boat, but the wait was 12 minutes. Walking made more sense. SB suggested after his hot dog we go back to OKW like we did the other day – meaning not walking through Epcot. I’d planned to get the
Rocky Road Chocolate Cake from Flavors From Fire, which I would pass walking through Epcot, so we decided to split up.
He headed to Boardwalk and then would take the boat to Studios and hop on a bus back to OKW. I walked back into Epcot, got my cake at Flavors From Fire, then exited the park. As I approached the bus stop I could see the Old Key West bus sitting there.
Thankfully, they were loading a party with a scooter, otherwise it probably would have left before I could get there.
Not knowing which stop the scooter party would be getting off, I decided to get off at the first stop and walk back to the villa. I made it back quite a bit before SB! He got back around 4:45 from his adventures. He did good being out on his own! He
got his beloved chili cheese dog (regular, not foot long) from the booth on the Boardwalk and said it was excellent. He then took the boat to Hollywood Studios and caught the bus back here. I’m glad the chili cheese dog was worth all that effort &
travel time, lol!
We agreed we were in for the night and I started some laundry – my white skort separately, followed by all the darker stuff we’d worn this trip. Might as well pack clean laundry, especially after sweating today and a little the other day. I had a
report from work to review & edit, so I did that while the laundry was running – one less thing waiting for me when I return.
Other than it being hot (however, not humid – and it really would have been lovely had we had the sense to wait until late afternoon or early evening to visit Epcot) today was another really nice day. I’m very much enjoying our resort time – the
villa is beautiful and it’s a treat having all the space to spread out. Relaxing by the pool was wonderful, and it’s so convenient to the villa. Going to Food & Wine from here wasn’t awful, but for tomorrow (our last visit this trip) I’ll be
making arrangements to get into the Boardwalk parking lot for extra convenience.
Tomorrow we have brunch at Olivia’s Café, followed by pool time and then later heading to Food & Wine for dinner. Hopefully we’ll meet up with Andy & Lisa Cubbon for a glass of wine before their dinner in Mexico tomorrow night.
Sue/WDW1972
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