MarbleBob
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2003
Hi Matt! I thought I would have a "quick look" at your TR when I noticed them in your signature over on the DIS Dads board. Well, I was so entertained I ended up reading the entire thing in one sitting! I really enjoyed it and it loos like an awesome trip. I don't know that I will ever have to opportunity to stay at the GF but it looks like a beautiful resort. By the way, I noticed your Pickle was born just three weeks before my DD. Interesting coincidence.
Hi Jeff!!! Very glad that you enjoyed the TR. Yeah, I didn't think I'd ever have the opportunity to stay at the GF either, but so happy (and grateful) that my parents decided to splurge on us!!! It was a fantastic trip and truly a beautiful resort! Not sure if/when we'll ever get back, but I like to think that maybe we'll be back to celebrate our 50th anniversary or something like that when we're a bit older.
That's fun that our DD8's are so close in age. Based on your signature, looks like we both have DD16's too. Interesting coincidences indeed!
I think you are correct about it being offered during Flower & Garden festivals only.
I'd recommend the tour with a couple of qualifications... If you like drinking tea; or if you like gardens; and also if you've felt like you've already explored EPCOT enough to try something different.
With respect to tea, they give a bit of history of the Twinnings tea company, how Earl Grey tea came about, as well as the origin of other teas like Lady Grey. (It's been quite a few years now, so I don't really recall too many details.) Then they took us out back and showed us 10 or 12 different tea plants that were growing in the garden. I think that they were all different varieties. Anyway, at each spot the tour guide would stop for 5 minutes or so and tell us a story about how that plant (origins, climate, whatever) and then about how it's used. And some had stories relating to the company too. So yeah, if you like to drink tea, those parts are all interesting. And they give you a few samples at the end too!
With respect to the gardens, I guess you could tour that area on your own, but it was fun to have the tour guide point out each tea plant and speak to its qualities. Personally, I work for a 200 year old nurseries and orchards company, and I love this kind of stuff... so I really enjoyed it from a gardening perspective too.
Finally, with respect to EPCOT in general... I think the tour took maybe 40 minutes to an hour. And then we had to sign up earlier in the day. So it does take a bit of time away from other touring plans. We've been to EPCOT quite a lot through the years, so we didn't feel like we were missing out on anything important by devoting some of our day to this. For someone who is still fairly new to EPCOT, I might suggest waiting until they've explored most everything else in the park at least once... otherwise it's actually pretty cool!
Hope that helps
