We went to Hollywood Studios on October 2nd. In the morning and at intervals during the day, Captain Phasma leads a contingency of storm troopers down main street in the "March of the First Order". With somber background music and her voice amplified for everyone to hear, Captain Phasma has presence.
We went on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride, which is still one of our favorites. And it did not disappoint!
Next we walked around and learned that Disney's version of Grumman's Chinese Theatre has authentic celebrity footprints in it's concrete, and that Hollywood Scoops has reasonably priced ice cream. We also took the Star Tours ride, saw a movie about Walt Disney, grabbed a quick lunch at the Backlot Express, then went to the Indiana Jones Stunt show.
Later that evening we went to the Cheney Brothers Food evening event, where we nibbled on snacks and treats. They put us up in the Renaissance Hotel and provided bus service to their event location. The next day we returned to the Food Show for the serious stuff. And I mean serious. They were out to impress their potential customers and they were offering samples of everything. Oysters, scallops, and mussels. Every kind of cheese, including gorgonzola, provolone, English cheddar, and French brie. A bounty of Italian meats like prosciutto, mortadella, capocollo, pepperoni, and salami. Sashimi and sushi, lots of pasta dishes, some really good pate, and macaroni and cheese made with lobster. And a few desserts.
One of the best things I tasted was the Peking Duck. It was so good that I didn't even mind how it looked.
We took a couple of days off to get a few things done at home, then it was back to Disney. This time we went to the Magic Kingdom, where Main Street is decorated for fall and Halloween.
It rained on and off all day but we just put on our ponchos and kept going. We went on the Liberty Square Riverboat, then to the Haunted Mansion. They have added several things to the outside of the mansion, including a large mausoleum with musical instruments "sculpted" on its side. When kids press the instruments, they make music. Dark, somber music of course.
Nearby we found the "It's a Small World" ride so we did that one. For an old and easy-going ride, it sure was busy! Afterwards we climbed up and through to the Swiss Robinson Family's tree house. Then we headed to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. They have dressed it up a bit with references to the movies, but much of it remains as it was originally created. We also went on the Jungle Cruise, with a nice young lady boat captain who was witty and clever, and could pilot the boat from behind her back.
By the end of that ride it was time for the early afternoon parade. Each float was themed for one of the famous Disney cartoons, like Frozen, Tangled, The Little Mermaid, Brave, Peter Pan, and Beauty and the Beast.
But near the end of the parade, just before Micky Mouse's float, came a big, lumbering dragon. I, of course, with my fascination with metal creations, loved it. One of the best things was that, unlike the other floats which just floated along, this thing walked! It took slow, tromping steps with it's big metal-banded legs.
After the parade we went to the Monsters Inc comedy show. It was cute, and it used a feature that is showing up in more of their presentations, where the creature on stage or screen interacts with the audience. They ask questions and craft their presentation around the answers they receive.
We still hadn't seen Tomorrowland so we went there next. That was sort of disappointing. We went on the People Mover ride which, like the Liberty Square Riverboat and Jungle Cruise, is a slow-moving, low-key ride. But this one felt very dated and uncared for, with views of uninteresting scenes and blank walls. The nearby Carousel of Progress has a lot of good animatronics but it too seems dated.
And the next afternoon we went back to Epcot. We were there for the fireworks and while we were waiting, we tried a few more of the Food and Wine samples. We started at The Chocolate Studio with a Dark Chocolate Raspberry Torte and a Liquid Nitro Chocolate-Almond Truffle. It was good, although Randy and I disagreed about the effectiveness of the nitrogen-freezing.
We also tried a small Cheese Tart at The Cheese Studio, and at the Wine and Dine Studio we had Pulled Duck Confit. The duck was good but I expected more intense flavor from a confit dish. At the Irish stand the Warm Chocolate Pudding with Cream Liqueur Custard smelled so good that we had to order it. And it was good, but nothing today was so good that we need to repeat it.
We went to the American Adventure Theater for an animatronic presentation, then to the Canadian show, which is a film in the round. At 10 pm the fireworks started. Epcot fires them off from the center of the lake, around the big globe, and uses the globe for a light show. We were tired by the time it was over but it was worth staying for.
No comments:
Post a Comment