Food & Wine, Typhoon Lagoon + Chuck E Cheese - Disney World Diary -Two
Today's Take-aways:
- Food & Wine is my new favourite thing
- Don't sit down in the wave pool at Typhoon Lagoon
- We need to be taking more breaks
- Chuck E Cheese is a lot when you're tired
We kicked off the day in Epcot with Soaring. I've never done this one before but Lee told me it was amazing. I was nervous about the kids because it seemed pretty immersive and Ella was (as ever) anxious about the movement but it was awesome. Everyone enjoyed it and it gave me a little hope for Flight Of Passage. I hear it's similar in concept but more full on.. we'll see. For those of you who've never ridden it, it's like flying, as close as we're every going to get anyway. Very cool.From there we visited Figment just to satisfy my nostalgia. I swear, so little has changed, I loved the Figment song as a kid and Milo was bopping along to it in the cart. I was a little better prepared today and we ate breakfast before we left and I packed some snacks for the kids so a few mini powdered donuts kept them going as we headed to The World Showcase.
This is my personal favourite. If I was a local I would visit often, in fact I was chatting with such a local who told me how disappointed she was by the constant changes the current management are making. We agreed that people come to Disney for the memories and the magic but I guess they have to keep up with the thrill seekers looking for bigger and better. Apparently the Epcot firework show will be retired soon so I'm hoping to see that one last time while we're here.The Food & Wine Festival is on right now so I picked up a 'passport' and bought Milo an activity map. He has to spot Remy the Rat in each land and at the end he gets a prize. He was really in to it, to the point where my stopping to taste things and vlog was really getting in the way of his plans. He kept telling me to stop being so distracted and concentrate on (what we obviously their to do) finding Remy. Unfortunately he is a little bossy pants, just like his mother.We only made it halfway through the Showcase before having to head to another fast pass but I tried something with beef and potato in France, a 'flight' of beers in Belgium, a Teriyaki steamed bun in Japan and Lobster Roll in America. Every single thing was delicious but the Lobster Roll was out of this world and when we go back to complete Milo's map I will definitely be having another.
I had no recollection of Spaceship Earth but I really enjoyed it. Travelling through time and space, the bit where they take your photo and show you your future, Milo and I were loving it. Lee fell asleep (the proof was in said picture) and it wasn't all that thrilling for Ella, understandably. Before we left we did Living With The Land because I'd booked a fast pass.. not as great as I remember it. I last visited as a teenager and I thought that ride was fascinating, they spoke more about growing plants with no air/water etc and it was such a mind blowing concept. I'm not sure if the content has changed or I'm just less easily impressed by advancements these days but it didn't wow me.At this point everyone was exhausted. We decided to finish the day in Typhoon Lagoon to chill on the Lazy River and maybe catch a wave or two. Lots of fun, we all ruined our swimsuits on the rough floor of the 'beach' while the waves pushed us along the ground (I remember this floor vividly) and once the heavens opened we decided to head for home.
We were done in, I could have gone to bed then and there (around 6pm) but we'd done that thing you should never do. We'd made a promise to a small child. Milo desperately wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese. He'd seen it on YouTube and thought it was the best thing ever. It's half pizza place, half arcade and so we drove an hour round trip to what we thought would be a fun, casual dining option. Now, I realise we can't judge the entire chain by an incredibly busy joint off International Drive but.. sheesh. It was like having dinner at a kids birthday party. We decided against the food and loaded up some cards with 30minutes of play time. This is actually pretty smart, we bought $10 cards for each of the kids and that gave them 30minutes unlimited plays which earned tickets to spend at the counter. It gives the kids total free rein without racking up a huge bill and a time limit for the adults. We'd easily had our fill after half an hour, Ella kindly gave Milo her share of tickets (in exchange for the promise of a Frapuccino) and after picking up his handful of garbage 'toys' from the counter we left.It was not a highlight for us but Milo had no idea. He was in his element and, if you ask him, he'll tell you it was the greatest arcade he's ever visited. There was an actual Mouse named Chuck E Cheese that did the rounds while we were there and Milo told me that's what made it special. 'No other arcades have important people' - that broke me. We didn't love it but he did and that's all that matters. Ella has her own plans, I'd quite like to visit Sephora and Lee will, of course, call the shots on his birthday... it's about compromise, isn't it?We got a McDonalds on the way home (because we're creatures of habit) and then passed out before I could type this up so I'm sitting here in bed, on Saturday morning, wondering if we have it in us to do both Universal and Animal Kingdom today. I think I know the answer but that might not stop us trying..I'll let you know