Crazycatperson's winter vacation

At this point, we had no idea where Via Napoli was within the Italy pavilion since we'd never eaten at either restaurant there. We walked through the shop to the rear door, saw restaurant tables, and hoped for the best - but no, Via Napoli was all the way at the back of the plaza. We found another sheltered spot between the shop and Tutto Italia near a cast members doorway and waited, hoping the rain would at least slow down. A couple with a toddler joined us, and Mom took advantage of the sheltered space to change the little girl's rain-soaked clothes while Dad searched the shop for disposable ponchos. Eventually the rain let up enough that we decided to make a run for it. We were still a little early for our ADR, but fortunately there was room to sit down in the lobby. All sorts of people were trying to take shelter from the rain by trying to get a walk-up table, but it didn't seem as if they were having much luck. We, meanwhile, were seated very quickly.

We were very impressed with Nicholas, our busboy, and Giulia, our server. While hubby visited the restroom attraction, I ordered a glass of red sangria for myself (isn't that Spanish? hubby asked; yes, but who cares, it's delicious). When hubby returned he ordered a glass of merlot, which was quite good. We started off sharing the fried calamari appetizer, which was superb. Hubby ordered a pasta dish called Candele made with candle-stick pasta, sausage ragu, polpettine meatballs, mozzarella, and ricotta while I ordered the individual funghi pizza. Giulia warned us that the two main dishes came from different kitchens and hubby's pasta would arrive before my pizza, but we didn't mind - hubby doesn't care for pizza, whereas I didn't care for much of anything else on that menu.

Once hubby had finished his candele he went out for a smoke break while I waited for my pizza. He returned just as the pizza was delivered. I gave him a slice - yeah, it's pizza, he said. I loved it, though. Mushrooms have been a favorite pizza topping of mine since I was a little girl, and this pizza did not disappoint. We shared a tiramisu for dessert, and apologies, I forgot to take a photo until there was just one bite left. Hubby said, take it anyway, as a joke. So I did. Trust me, the whole tiramisu looked (and tasted) just as lovely as that last bite.

Hubby and I agreed that we liked the calamari best of everything, then the tiramisu, and lastly the main dishes - but that's not to say the pizza and pasta weren't awesome, it just means the other stuff was beyond awesome.

The rain had stopped by the time we left, and after taking a couple of photos from within Italy's plaza, we caught the boat to Mexico and headed back to Wilderness Lodge to change into dry clothes.

Scenes of the Italy pavilion.

Back at Wilderness Lodge, we tossed our wet clothes in the dryer and hubby warmed up in the Jacuzzi (I swear, that was his favorite WDW attraction). Meanwhile, I wrote up my notes for the first part of our day. I also rearranged our FastPasses to accommodate our midday resort break.

We returned to Epcot separately, since hubby wanted another smoke break. Down at the bus stop, I took a photo looking toward the VWL building through the trees followed by a zoom shot of our windows (the topmost windows with the open railing balcony just below the roofline).

In spite of leaving Wilderness Lodge separately, hubby arrived at Epcot shortly after I did and we rode our separate FP attractions almost simultaneously - his was Mission: Space, mine was Test Track. I enjoyed the ride as usual, but was disappointed my car only scored 199. We met up after our rides and used our delayed Spaceship Earth FPs, which we didn't really need since I think it saved us all of 30 seconds over the standby line. Hubby designed our future this time, and it came pretty close to what we'd actually want. After the ride was over, we looked at the big world map showing where everyone came from and noticed that while lots of folks were at WDW from various places around North and South America, there were very few people from elsewhere in the world aside from a handful from the UK.

And now it was time for our second ADR of the day, Spice Road Table. We normally don't like to have more than one table-service meal per day since it's just too darn much food, but we figured since Spice Road was small plates, it wouldn't be a problem. We'd order one of the samplers and if we wanted more, order the other. Oops - they've changed their menu! The samplers are gone, the small plates are more like appetizers now, and they've added several full entrees to the menu. I guess too many people didn't like the idea of just grazing? Whatever. We stuck to our plan and ordered all small plates. Our waiter, Samir, had no problem with that.

First up, we had the Moroccan merguez sausage, mussels tagine, and a Greek salad. (Sorry, forgot to take a photo of the first round.) We both adored the sausage (even though I normally don't care for lamb), were disappointed by the mussels (the sauce overpowered the flavor of the mussels, which were so tiny we could barely taste them), and liked the salad. Next we ordered more of the sausage (yes, it was that good), spicy shrimp, and fried calamari with spicy harissa and remoulade sauces so we could compare Morocco's version to Italy's. We agreed that while Via Napoli's calamari was a bit better, Spice Road's sauces were better than the simple marinara served with Italy's squid. Hubby liked the harissa best, I preferred mixing the harissa and remoulade together. As for the shrimp, it was good, but tasted more of garlic than spice. For dessert we had baklava, of course! (No photo of that.) Although I normally don't like to take flash photographs at a table service restaurant, I made an exception at Spice Road since none of the tables anywhere near us was occupied.

As time passed, the crowds inside Spice Road Table began to increase - people wanted one of their prime tables to view Illuminations in just an hour. So we vacated our table and walked back to Future World past the UK and Canada pavilions.

Spice Road Table.

Our last FastPasses of the day were Soarin' for hubby and Turtle Talk for me. Once again, I didn't need my FP, although getting to sit in the front row did enable me to take pictures. The crowd for this showing of Turtle Talk was quite small, perhaps a dozen kids up front and three rows of people behind them. The CM letting us in was a real hoot and kept us entertained while we waited for a few more people to fill out what was probably the final show of the evening. At one point, he told us to cheer and applaud the next family he let in. We did, and I don't think they understood what was going on because they started to clap and cheer also. Then the CM went back out and made a grand entrance, and we all cheered and applauded for him. He closed the doors after that, but let one more group in just as the show was about to start, so we all gave them a nice ovation also. This guy definitely has the Disney spirit.

After the show, I walked over to The Land to find hubby only to learn that he was outside visiting the tobacco attraction. Illuminations was starting as we met to leave, so we beat feet out of there to make it to the bus stop before the hordes came stampeding out of Epcot. Unfortunately, a Wilderness Lodge bus was pulling out just as we arrived, but that meant we were first in line for the next bus, which arrived in less than 20 minutes. It was a quick ride back, after which I did some laundry and got to bed early - our first FastPass Tuesday was Toy Story Mania, and no way we were missing that!

Tuesday, February 3 - Disney's Hollywood Studios and Epcot again.

Today I set an alarm for 8:30 so we could make our 10:00 FastPasses at Toy Story Mania. We arrived just as our FP window was opening, and along the way I snapped a quick photo of the Sorcerer's Hat, which was noticeably less intact than it had been Saturday. See photos below for comparison. The first was taken Saturday, January 31, the second Tuesday, February 3.

We had tons of fun on Toy Story Mania, but I got a really miserable score. I didn't even outscore hubby and barely made beaver! After that we had some time to kill before our next FastPasses (Tower of Terror for hubby and...huh, I don't even remember what mine originally was). I asked hubby if he wanted to do Rock'n Roller Coaster in the single rider line; he responded by asking what I wanted to do. Well, honestly, I wanted to ride Toy Story Mania again! He said, Then do it. So he headed off for RnR Coaster while I got into the TSM standby line and used my smartphone to rearrange my FPs to accommodate the unscheduled hour-long wait in the TSM line. I had more fun and got a much better score second time around, but dang it, still no kitty!

One of the FP changes I made while in line was to add Voyage of the Little Mermaid for approximately 1 1/2 hours after I got into the TSM line. But the line moved relatively smoothly, and before I boarded I bumped Ariel up by half an hour so I could go straight there from TSM. I had woken up that morning humming "Under the Sea" and figured I might as well go with the flow.

After the show hubby and I met up for lunch. We didn't want salad again, and I mentioned a few possibilities: ABC Commissary for fish and chips; Backlot Express for burgers; or head toward Tower of Terror for whatever suited our fancy among the offerings there. Hubby suggested sharing a turkey leg, and I agreed. Over at Fairfax Fare the turkey leg platter comes with coleslaw and baked beans, which was perfect - I love coleslaw, hubby loves baked beans. The turkey leg was huge, definitely more than enough to share, but sorry, no photos. (It's a turkey leg, you know what they look like.)

Once we'd finished lunch, we each headed for our separate third FastPasses - Star Tours for hubby and the Muppets for me. But, heh, I didn't feel like seeing the Muppets at the moment, so I just scanned my Magic Band, walked inside, and walked right back out again. Then I found the nearest FP kiosk and got myself a FP for the Great Movie Ride with a FP window that was just a few minutes away. When I reached GMR, hubby texted to say that he was done with Star Tours, so I found another FP kiosk and got him a GMR FP as well. We met up in the GMR courtyard, where I took a few photos of celebrities' hand prints. (Billy and Christie, guess you regret this now, huh? Still missing Robin Williams, RIP. And I snapped Bob Hope just because I happened to luck into a couple of freebie tickets to see him live when I was in high school.) I also got a photo of the classic car in the courtyard.

And once again, we had a FastPass we didn't really need. The Great Movie Ride standby line was about as short as I've ever seen it, so we saved a few minutes at most with those FastPasses. We got the gangster storyline again, this time with a male Muggsy. We were in a different position in our car, so I got a different vantage point for photos this time around.

At this point we decided to quit DHS and head over to Epcot, where we had a dinner ADR at La Hacienda de San Angel. On our way out of DHS we stopped in a shop near the exit, still browsing those phone covers. Up to this point we had both seen something we liked - a black Mickey Mouse cover that would've gone well with my black phone, and a silver Mickey case for hubby's white and silver phone. The DHS shop had both of those covers, but they also had...OMG...Marie the kitty! That did it for me. Below are photos of both our phones front and back - mine is the black one and hubby's the white one in the first photo.

Hubby commented that it's too bad mine says "Spoiled" on it, but I disagree. I do spoil kitties.

We took the resort boat from DHS to Epcot. Once inside, I found a FastPass kiosk and got us Test Track for after dinner. Then we wandered through Future World, hitting The Seas with Nemo and Friends and Living with the Land, both on standby with no wait. We walked through both sides of Innoventions and took the guided tour of a futuristic energy-efficient home. When the guide raised the window blinds in the bedrooms to reveal a painted landscape behind the windows, I had an instant flashback to the New York World's Fair of 1964/65. We visited the Underground Home exhibit at the Fair, and the bedrooms there also had painted scenery through the windows. Ah, nostalgia!

After a quick smoke break for hubby and pit stop for me, we decided to take a little rest time with Ellen Degeneres and Bill Nye. I don't know what's up with that ride, but it always makes me sleepy - maybe it's the prolonged sitting in one place in the dark after all the running around? Then we were off to La Hacienda de San Angel for our ADR.

The restaurant wasn't at all crowded, so much so that walk-ups were being seated immediately and there were always a few empty tables nearby. (I guess the crowds pick up closer to Illuminations, as they did at Spice Road Table the day before.) We had very nice seats not far from the windows overlooking the lagoon, see the photo below. Our waiter, Nicolas, was very attentive to our needs. We shared the gorditas appetizers, which were excellent - if you've ever gotten gorditas at Taco Bell, trust me, the ones at La Hacienda were nothing like them and much, much better. I chose the tacos de camarones for my main dish, while hubby ordered the carnitas Yucatan. Everything was superb, but unfortunately after all the table-service dining we'd done to that point, we just didn't have the appetite to finish it all. Instead, we asked for boxes, packed up the leftovers, and since we were beyond comfortably full, we skipped Test Track and took what was left of our dinner home.

A young family was seated beside us for most of our meal - mom, dad, young daughter, toddler son. The little girl was quite well behaved, but toddlers will be toddlers. The little boy wasn't at all obnoxious, just a normal child, but he spilled his drink by taking the lid off the cup and got put in "time out" right there at the table. He was supposed to sit quietly until time out was over, but of course toddlers aren't very good at sitting quietly, and he was warned again and again. Finally he was told that time out was over, and he shouted, "Yay!" And hubby and I both laughed.

Back at Wilderness Lodge I moved what was supposed to be our dinner ADR at Sanaa the next day to a lunchtime ADR so we could finish today's leftovers tomorrow evening. And then we called it an early night.

A couple more photos from DHS - the Chinese Theater and hubby smoking again. Also, the chips and salsa from La Hacienda de San Angel. Part of the reason we couldn't finish our dinner.

Allie, the baby on the flight down was closer to toddler than infant, so not quite in the same category as your 3-month-old. And then, even kids who are normally angels have their bad days, or are pushed too far by parents who want the perfect Disney vacation.

Don't worry, I will get that kitty someday.

Robyn, I love Marie too! I'm so glad I didn't get that black Mickey phone case I'd been eyeing before I found Marie.

Wednesday, February 4 - Animal Kingdom.

I actually woke up early (well, early-ish) at 8:10 today. I'd been wondering why hubby never thought to bring back hot beverages from Roaring Forks when he took his morning smoke break (the smoking area is right beside the main WL building), and since he hadn't gotten out yet this morning, I asked him to bring back coffee. Grumble, mumble, "well, if my hair looks okay." Ladies and gentlemen, apparently I married a teenage girl. I guess his hair must've been passable (or else he damped it down and ran a comb through it first) because he did come back with coffee.

We arrived at Animal Kingdom just in time for our Finding Nemo FastPass, although we did have to walk a bit quickly and did not get the best seats. Still, our seats on the left aisle in the front section were excellent. Bonus, my new smartphone took much better pictures of the show than I got during our last trip.

Once we got out of the show, we still had a little time to kill before our Sanaa ADR, but not quite enough to do something else, so we headed back toward the park entrance with the idea that if Russell and Dug had a short line we'd hop in and meet them again. Unfortunately, they were on break when we passed their meet and greet spot, so we kept on going. Although we arrived at Sanaa early, we were seated fairly quickly at a lovely table directly overlooking the savannah. I've already posted a photo of our avian dining companion, but we also had a good view of several giraffes and antelope. Our server, Michelle, recommended the bread service, but we already knew we were getting that! We only got the standard three toppings and went with coconut, mango, and tamarind chutneys along with the garlic ginger naan, spiced naan, and onion kulcha. Hubby also ordered a bowl of the carrot soup, one of his favorites. For our entrees hubby went with the lamb kefta burger, while I decided to order the appetizer sampler for two instead of an entree. I got potato and pea samosas, lamb kefta sliders, and chose the chana tikki over the seasonal soup.

Of course we loved the bread service. Hubby enjoyed his lamb burger, and so did I since I got two lamb sliders on the sampler platter. The samosas were also lovely (I shared one with hubby), but neither of us was overly fond of the chana tikki. And unfortunately, after the bread service and hubby's soup, neither one of us could finish everything. Pity, too, since we were heading straight back to Animal Kingdom and didn't want to take the time to bring the leftovers back to Wilderness Lodge.

The photos below show some of the giraffes visible from our table (used the zoom lens to get them), the bread service, the carrot soup, the appetizer sampler, and a shot of the Kidani lobby, since I never got one when we stayed there last year.

Back to Animal Kingdom! We walked around to Expedition Everest so hubby could ride using the single-rider line, which never seems to take very long. While hubby was riding, I watched the Indian DJ and dancing. Next up we visited the Maharajah Jungle Trek, where I got several animal photos, including some of three different very restless tigers. It's the first time I've seen them up and about; they're usually napping. Guess it was the cooler weather?

More critters.

We then headed over to Africa for our second and third FastPasses. The Kilimanjaro Safari FP window hadn't opened yet, so hubby took a smoke break while I listened to the band in Africa and took several photos, including one of hubby in his official Animal Kingdom outfit. He got quite a few complimentary comments and also an occasional funny look - guess some folks don't think grown men should be walking around dressed like giraffes.

Kilimanjaro Safari was next, but I was seated in the middle of our seat and in the middle of the car, so I have no photos this time around. However, we did get our best ever view of a cheetah, who was up and wandering around, as well as a lioness.

Last up was Festival of the Lion King. Hubby went to smoke again while I lined up at the FP entrance. I'd been having problems with my Magic Band all day and part of the day before - hubby's band read fine but mine came up blue and said I had no FPs. Which of course I did, so I showed the CMs my MDE app with the FPs listed right there, and they always let me through. I wanted to be first in line so I could explain to the FoLK CM what had been going on. And sure enough, my Magic Band flashed blue again, but I already had my phone out ready to show him, so I got in. And then it turned out hubby's band also flashed blue, first time for him, but he also had the FP on his phone, so he joined me at the front of the waiting area.

Once inside, we were directed toward either the lion or elephant section, but I had promised hubby we would sit in the giraffe section next time, so I walked over there. "You're going to get us in trouble," hubby whispered. I kept right on going. "Please go sit in that section," a CM asked us. But I pointed to hubby and said that we really wanted to sit in the giraffe section, and the CM relented! He even let us take seats in the disabled section, since there was a gap between two parties in that area - a great spot for taking pictures!

More photos...

Once the show was over, we left the park - it was open another half hour, but that wasn't really enough time to do anything else, and we'd already done all the stuff that was really important to us. I did get a shot of a whole flock of birds nesting down in a tree. And there's a crocodile, but I think I took that photo on the way in, not on the way out.

Back at Wilderness Lodge, hubby took yet another whirlpool bath while I tweaked our Thursday FastPasses using hubby's laptop, hoping perhaps they'd "take" better that way and we wouldn't have to go to Guest Services about the Magic Band problems we'd been having. The reason I was changing FPs was because rain was predicted to start in the evening and last till noonish, so I wanted to move our FPs back a bit. After that I watched some television while hubby took the bus to Downtown Disney to buy more cigarettes at the nearby Hess station and also to visit Ghirardelli.

A little before 9:30, I headed down to the Wilderness Lodge beach to see the electric boat parade. It seemed shorter than usual - there were no dolphins. Guess they were malfunctioning. I've cropped the photos I posted earlier so you can see the actual boats better.

I'd brought my refillable mug with me, so I stopped at Roaring Forks after the boat parade, got a cup of tea, and returned to our rooms, where I watched more TV and wrote up notes for the trip report.

Thursday, February 5 - Last full day, BOOOOO!

This day got a late start due to the rain that started overnight. Wednesday the forecast said it would clear up before noon, but by Thursday morning that estimate had been backed up a bit. We stayed in all morning eating cereal, watching TV, and for me, reading one of the Harry Potter books on my Kindle for the umpteenth time. (Yes, I do need to get over to Universal again; Diagon Alley is calling my name.)

Around noon I was completely sick and tired of sitting around, and since I already knew how Harry was going to do in the second challenge of the Triwizard Tournament, I threw on my jacket, grabbed my umbrella, and caught the bus to the Magic Kingdom while hubby stayed behind relaxing and waiting for the rain to end. The bus pulled in just as I was approaching the stop; I seemed to luck out that way a lot on this trip. The rain had slowed down to a light drizzle when I reached MK, so I didn't even open my umbrella and just let my hair frizz up as much as it wanted. I breezed through the "no bags" entrance and heard "Singing in the Rain" as I entered the town square. It was the Rainy Day Parade, which I'd never seen before. I hurried over to a good vantage point and took a few photos. Once the parade had passed I headed across the street and up to Casey's for some corn dog nuggets and a Coke.

I'd pushed all our FastPasses back to accommodate the rain, so once I'd finished lunch I headed over to Tomorrowland, where we had no FPs this day. I started at Monsters, Inc., which is always a hoot. The Buzz Lightyear standby wait was advertised as 10 minutes when I passed by, so I got in line, but it quickly became apparent that the only time the line budged was when people exited through the entrance. Guessing the ride was down, I got out of line and rode the Peoplemover instead. Then I hit up Carousel of Progress and sang along.

I've mentioned that there was some sort of cheerleading or drill/dance team competition going on. There were also numerous tour groups that may or may not have been participating in the competition (guessing some were since they were mostly teenage girls, but don't know for sure). At the Magic Kingdom this day there was one particular group that I kept running across all over the park. They were speaking either Spanish or Portuguese (couldn't hear enough to be sure which), so perhaps one of the dreaded South American tour groups I've heard horror stories about? Only they weren't horrible at all! They were obviously having a great time, laughing, breaking into cheers, posing for photos. I had a blast watching them each time our paths crossed and took a few photos. There were other tour groups as well speaking Spanish or Portuguese, and I never witnessed any kinds of problems from any of them.

The photos below show Tomorrowland in the drizzle along with the Latin American tour group.

Then it was on to Fantasyland. I wandered over to Under the Sea, but discovered the ride closed, with wooden fences enclosing the entrance. Wonder what was up with that? Hubby texted that he'd arrived, and we met over by Peter Pan's Flight to use the paper FastPasses we got when Winnie the Pooh went down earlier in the week.

As we walked by It's a Small World, hubby said that since he wouldn't be back for a while he guessed he ought to ride. I was amazed but pleased, since unlike him, I really enjoy this attraction. Next up was our first FastPass, Pirates of the Caribbean, which we definitely did not need. I snapped a photo of "live" Captain Jack across the way and also got a couple of photos on the ride itself thanks to the new smartphone. Our second FP was Splash Mountain, where I got more photos and we got a bit wet when the line of boats backed up prior to offloading and ours stopped right beside a waterfall! Fortunately a CM must've seen what was going on because the waterfall stopped while we were still stuck there.

We had time to kill before our final FPs, so we took the train around to Main Street and then walked back to Tomorrowland to see if Buzz Lightyear was functional again. It was, and I got my best score ever, 66,000 points. Don't laugh! I usually get half that!

Splash Mountain. We're in the back row of our log, that's me with my arms up in the air.

At this point we split up, since hubby's final FP was Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and mine was Haunted Mansion. It wasn't quite time for either FP yet, but he wanted to smoke and I wanted to try to catch a little of the Move It! Shake It! party.

Over on the hub, I watched a bit of the castle show from a distance and then found a great spot facing Main Street to wait for the parade. That same Latin American tour group was also waiting for the show and having a grand time of it, so I snapped a few more photos and also took a photo for a family in front of the castle. They also were Latin American and didn't know much English (perhaps as much English as I know Spanish, which isn't much), but we managed to get the job done. Fortunately, their iPad takes photos the same way my iPhone does.

I got several photos of the parade but couldn't stay for the whole party because my HM FP window had opened, and I had to get it done and get myself gone to make sure I was in time for our ADR at Artist's Point. I made my way quickly through the FastPass line and boarded quickly after a minor back-up in the loading area. Then the ride stopped for quite a while overlooking the dining room/parlor, the first time I'd ever stopped on HM in someplace interesting. I was starting to wonder whether another evacuation was in order, not to mention worrying about that ADR, when the ride finally started moving again.

Once off the ride I hustled to the exit and found a Wilderness Lodge boat pulling in just as I approached the dock. Meanwhile, hubby, who was a minute or two ahead of me, had made his way over to the bus stop and was heading back at the same time I was. We texted back and forth comparing where we were on our journey, and I said I assumed he'd be back before me since the bus stop was closer to our rooms than the dock. He asked whether we should just meet at Artist's Point, but in spite of my earlier worries we had nearly an hour before our ADR, so of course when I arrived in our unit I found hubby in the Jacuzzi again!

Some photos from the hub along with a shot of our Buzz Lightyear photo that I forgot to load above. I've finally figured out where they take the photos, hence the big grin.

I should add that the tour group people pictured above were just a few of the people in the group; there were a lot more people sitting at the curb on both sides of Main Street waiting for the parade.

Anyway...Move It! Shake It! photos. The last one was taken on the way to Haunted Mansion.