One Last Fling Before School Starts: Universal, Disney and SeaWorld UPDATED 10/6

[Eureka]

We were exhausted on our way into Universal Studios.



But, we wanted to do at least one attraction here before going back to the room, so we ended up going to the Shrek 4D show, which is pretty close to the front entrance.



It's a lot like Philharmagic except the seats move to go along with what's happening in the movie. We liked this one a lot - Donkey always cracks me up. After Shrek, we headed back to the hotel, taking the route through the pool. We had considered going swimming, but it looked like rain was headed our way. Instead, we rested and napped for awhile. And ate the cookies we got at the Beverly Hills Boulangerie on our way out of the park. The kids got chocolate chip and I got peanut butter. Best peanut butter cookie I've ever had. Soft, salty, sweet, and as big as my head. I didn't take pictures...many of the "quick" meals and snacks I just didn't think to snap before everyone snarfed down the food.

We went back over to Universal Studios a little after 5pm, this time taking a water taxi per DS10's request. He had wanted to do Despicable Me Minion Mayhem before our break, but we were tired and the standby line was over an hour; with the express pass line being probably about 25 minutes, according to TMs. Now the standby line was 45 minutes and with the passes, we waited probably only 10 minutes before getting into the preshow. This ride was a simulator thing, a lot like the Shrek one, but we liked it better. The effects of being on a roller coaster are so realistic; it's amazing how you feel like you're moving. This guy was at the "dance party" at the end, as you are led into the gift shop.



After that, we walked through the New York and San Francisco sections and made our way to the Beetle Juice musical revue.



It's a mini concert with Frankenstein, his bride, Dracula and a Werewolf. They sang mostly 80s songs, including stuff from Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Rick Springfield, and The Weather Girls. I especially loved this attraction -- DH later said that it was made for me. (I am 42 years old; I grew up with this music)

Our dinner reservations were coming up soon, but we had time for one more thing. We walked along the path where there are movie posters on the fence, and took pictures of each other with our favorite movies. Finally (not really, it wasn't long, but we were hot and tired) we got to



They did a great job with this area. Here is a picture from across the water:



We walked right on to The Simpsons Ride.



Another simulator, this one was a little more wild than Despicable Me. Apparently it was more on par with Spiderman, according to my family. I was able to do Simpsons with just a few white knuckle moments, so I said I would be willing to try Spiderman tomorrow. (If The Simpsons makes you nauseous, look to your left or right and you'll see the other ride vehicles bobbing up and down. Brings you back to reality and helps).

It was about 7pm at this point, and we had a 7:15 reservation at Margaritaville, so we left the park and walked over to the restaurant.

 

[Eureka]

We had dinner at Margaritaville.



It's a fun restaurant with videos of Jimmy Buffet concerts but also some live music. The guy we heard did an acoustic set and was very good. There were a couple of people on stilts making balloon hats for the kids.




I was shocked DS12 agreed to wearing a balloon hat, and got it on film! Food was good too, but I didn't take pictures. DS10 was tired, a little grumpy and took forever deciding what he wanted to eat. We had the hugest plate of nachos ever. The chips were warm, crunchy and not too salty.

For dinner, I had a chicken Caesar salad, DH had jambalaya, DS12 had a huge BBQ chicken sandwich that he could barely put a dent in (and he is a big eater) and DS10 had teriyaki chicken and rice, which he said was the best ever. Everything was really good. We also tried their mini dessert shots: red velvet cake, triple chocolate, peanut butter fluff and birthday cake. A great meal and lots of fun. Then we walked back to the hotel in the rain and all crashed for the night.

Looking back, we all agree that this was one of the most fun meals we've had.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

Following along...this is an entertaining report and really enlightening for myself. I've only been over to the "darkside" once and it was over ten years ago!

 

[macraven]

Don't forget if you have AAA, they offer a discount. My only real complaint about Royal Pacific is that I wish they had a little snack shop or something where you don't have to sit down for a meal. I guess with City Walk so close, it's not a big deal, but it would have been nice later at night to go get ice cream or something onsite. A fridge would have been nice too, but I knew ahead of time they didn't have them in the rooms.

there are snacks at the gift shop off of the lobby at rph.
it is located in the back of the store where the refridgerated items are located.

another place to get snacks is on the 1st floor, outside entrance, at one of the gift/clothing shops.

 

[Eureka]

there are snacks at the gift shop off of the lobby at rph.
it is located in the back of the store where the refridgerated items are located.

another place to get snacks is on the 1st floor, outside entrance, at one of the gift/clothing shops.

Good to know. We just took a quick peek at the small store in the lobby, guess I didn't venture far enough in.

 

[smga1]

We are flying. I have two little guys. I don't think my husband or the boys could handle it. Thanks for the no fridge info in Royal Pacific. I was hoping to get some snacks and drinks.

 

[Eureka]

The kids were tired Sunday night but wanted to do Forbidden Journey again the next day. I set my alarm for 6:45am again, but we thought we would play it by ear and let them sleep if they needed it. Even with sleeping in a little more, we got packed up, checked out and were at Harry Potter by 8:40; still before the park opened to the public. We went in the single rider line this time and were detoured through a lot of the Hogwarts castle, which was fine since we saw it the day before. We got on the ride very quickly and were done with Hogsmeade by 9am. Next up was Spiderman, which I promised I would ride today. I ended up loving it - the 3D was great and the simulator was amazing. We felt hot, cold, wet and like we were flying through the city. We had walked on, so went on it again as soon as we got out.

After Spiderman, we left IOA and went to Universal Studios and walked on Transformers, which was pretty much the same type of ride.





I liked it but not as much as Spiderman. There wasn't as much storyline, but I did like how they called the 3D glasses "battle glasses". (They were "ogre vision glasses at Shrek). Then we switched gears and went on the ET ride through the forest. This was a lot like Peter Pan, and I liked it a lot. We repeated The Simpsons, and did Men in Black, a kind of video game/ride in which we had to zap aliens with lasers. That was a lot of fun, and we knew we had to go on it again later. Rides like this definitely bring out our competitive streak.

It was a little after 11am, and we were hungry, so we got sandwiches at the Beverly Hills Boulangerie, something that wouldn't kill my stomach. I had turkey on a croissant, DH and DS12 had roast beef and DS10 had a fruit plate. The sandwiches were fine but nothing special, but came with melon and potato salad which was good. DS's fruit plate was melon, oranges and pineapple and looked very good.

There was an outdoor Blues Brothers concert/block party starting at noon, so we went to find it. The singers looked a lot like Dan Akroyd and John Belushi and I was very impressed with the entertainment at the parks.



We took one more ride on Men in Black, where there was a short wait but it just meant we got to see the preshow, which we didn't see the first time when we walked on. By this time, it was 2:30pm, we were getting hot and tired, so walked through a Lucille Ball exhibit, did some shopping and called it a day.



Saw these guys on the way out of the park. Wish now I had taken my picture with them. Maybe next time!



We all had a lot of fun at Universal, all agreed that the hotel was fabulous and that it was fun to do some things we had never done before. There was a lot we didn't get to, but I think we crammed in a lot of the stuff we really wanted to see in two days. Personally, I liked it more than I thought I would (I am not into Harry Potter, superheroes, or thrill rides). My one bone to pick is that they should have some of the food stands open earlier than the 10 or 11am that most seemed to open. It was brutally hot and both mornings we tried to get a cold drink early and there was barely anything open in the immediate vicinity. But, we managed.

Next, we move on to Disney....

 

[Eureka]

We were kind of sad to leave Universal because we liked it a lot. Especially the hotel, since we knew that our next room was going to be a lot smaller and no frills. But, we had a PIN code and at Disney, where everything is more spread out, we really are not in the room much and would rather spend our money on doing things -- and eating . We could have stayed longer, but had no room to go back to for a break, so we decided to go ahead and check in to Pop Century.

The drive to Disney was short, so by 3pm we were checked in to Pop Century.






We got both of our room requests, the top floor and the 60s section. We didn't reserve a preferred room, but I think we must have gotten upgraded because we were right near the Hippy Dippy pool.






Our room overlooked the lake and we could see Art of Animation.





We were all pooped and wanted to do a bunch of nothing. So, we unpacked, listened to our "happy anniversary" voicemail from Mickey, and I did some laundry. We had planned to go to Epcot for Illuminations and had an ADR for Teppan Edo but cancelled it. None of us felt like traipsing to a park and hibachi-style food was not motivating us. We ended up not seeing any of the parks' night shows for one reason or another this trip, and that turned out to be fine. We had seen them all during our last trip, so while it would have been nice, it was more important to be rested for the next day.

Instead we grabbed dinner at the Pop food court. It was edible but mediocre. The boys had French bread pizzas that were soggy. My Mediterranean flatbread was OK but didn't really stand out


and DH said his Sloppy Joe was good, but not great. We don't tend to eat at counter service, and rarely in the resort food courts. But, when we have stayed at All Star Movies, I remember the food being better. More on this later.

The guys hung out in the food court while I did gathered the laundry, and when I got back, they were on to dessert. DS12 had a chocolate shake that was really good. The rest of us shared brownie sundaes which were also good. I have to say, even if Pop doesn't do regular food well, their desserts are pretty yummy.

We had to be up early for a Kona Cafe breakfast on Tuesday, so we had a quiet and early evening in the room. Nice that Pop has free wifi in the rooms; we all "plugged in" for awhile.

 

[Eureka]

Tuesday, 8/20 was our Magic Kingdom day and we knew going in that it was going to be a long one because we had breakfast reservations at Kona Cafe at 7:45am and dinner at Be Our Guest at 7:50pm. A sit-down breakfast was something I had wanted to do at least once since we never had one on the other trips, and I love going out for breakfast. It did not disappoint.

We left the room at 7:15 am and took the bus to MK, and then monorail to the Polynesian. Got a picture of the Grand Floridian from the monorail.


We had never been to the Polynesian and were running a little late because we had to wait a bit for the bus, so we didn't look around a whole lot. The resort looked a lot like the Royal Pacific in style and theming, but from what little we saw, I liked the Royal Pacific better.



The food was very good. I had macadamia nut pancakes with fruit instead of meat (pineapple on the side; I love pineapple but the acid kills my stomach).





DH had Tonga Toast. I don't like bananas but love French toast so tried some of the outside and liked it a lot.



DS12 had steak and eggs. He isn't really a big egg eater and isn't really a big breakfast eater, but loves steak. He ate a good half of it, plus the potatoes and probably half his biscuit.



DS10 had the Big Kahuna. He couldn't even come close to eating it all, but wanted to try everything. We had plenty of food for everyone to try whatever they wanted.



The strawberry compote they serve with the Tonga Toast was really good on the macadamia pancakes. DH and I ate DS12's eggs --they were very creamy, but not runny. I like my scrambled eggs well done usually, but these were very nice.

Service was excellent and efficient. We didn't feel rushed, stuffed ourselves, and still got in and out in time to make it to Magic Kingdom for 9am rope drop.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

You liked the Royal Pacific *better* than the Poly?

Tsk, tsk!

 

[Eureka]

You liked the Royal Pacific *better* than the Poly?

Tsk, tsk!

Well, to be fair, I didn't see much of the Poly, so maybe I should reserve judgement. But I really loved how open the lobby of the Royal Pacific was.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

Well, to be fair, I didn't see much of the Poly, so maybe I should reserve judgement. But I really loved how open the lobby of the Royal Pacific was.

The Royal Pacific has the advantage of being a relatively *new* resort with a lot of the architectural design that we have come to expect in this era. We all know the Poly is as old as dirt, but Disney really works wonders with what they have.

 

[Eureka]

We got to MK right at rope drop and went straight to Space Mountain. I chickened out and decided not to go on any of the mountains, but the dudes loved it. I did get to walk most of the way with them, and waited in the (air conditioned) "Alpha Lounge" until they were done. Then we all did Buzz Lightyear, where I (and DH and DS12) maxed out on points at 999,999 to become Galactic Heroes. Next we moved to Splash Mountain.



While they waited in line, I went over to the short line I saw on the way over to Splash, to have my picture taken with some of my favorites.



I got back in plenty of time to see them take the plunge. DS12 said he thought he was going to die at the drop, but liked it. DH and DS10 loved it. Big Thunder had a long wait so we rode Haunted Mansions (one of my favorite), got Fast Passes for Peter Pan, and stopped at the Tangled bathrooms. It's really too bad all this movie got was a bathroom area, but it was beautiful.





Then we went to Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. Doesn't matter how many times we see this show, I still think it's funny. They have added a few things about Monsters University in the decor and show.



By the time the show ended, we had about 15 minutes to kill before we could use our FastPass+ for Under the Sea (Little Mermaid). So, we headed that way into New Fantasyland. Stopped in Gaston's Tavern for a Le Fou's brew.

Just a little detour to mention the MagicBands. It was really great to be able to schedule some FP+ before we arrived in WDW. And since they are still testing, the regular FP machines are running for many attractions too, so we could "double dip" and use both the bands and the paper FP. Made our touring plan much more efficient. (Also helped that crowds were only in the 6's during our week). The bands themselves got a little sweaty and weren't the most comfortable at times, but I liked having all our info on them, instead of having to pull out room key cards, paper tickets and paper Express Passes like we did at Universal). Several attractions no longer had regular FP machines hooked up though, you could only used FP+ on them. I think Pirates was one, I can't quite remember anymore. So I can see once it's all rolled out, it might be a pain because you'll either have to know exactly where you'll be or risk a really long line. Now, back to Le Fou's Brew....









We shared one - DS 12 didn't like it at all. I thought it was OK - I like the flavor of butterbeer better but this wasn't as sweet so it could actually quench your thirst. I did not like the sour aftertaste of the mango foam though.

The Little Mermaid was either great or OK, depending on who you talked to.



I loved it....nothing scary or fast moving here, just lots of music and recreating of the scenes from the movie, which is one of my favorites. DH and DS10 liked it and DS12 was not too impressed. I don't care, I like it and they just had to deal, lol. Then we headed over to use our Peter Pan FP (such a classic ride, even without all the high tech stuff) and got DS10 and DH FP for Big Thunder. DS12 decided he didn't want to go on it.

Lunch at The Plaza was good as usual. We have gone there every trip and have liked it each time. DH had the club sandwich and the rest of us had grilled chicken sandwiches. The boys got house made chips and I asked for apple slices. We shared some vanilla shakes for dessert before tackling our afternoon plans.

 

[WildGinger]

Loving your reviews! You got a lot of great pictures. Looking forward to reading more!

 

[wiigirl]

Love the pics!

 

[Eureka]

After lunch, we had a FP+ for Pirates and a regular FP for Big Thunder at roughly the same time. It became clear that since we were nearing the end of the hour window (I think 2:30 and 2:40), DS10 and DH wouldn't be able to do both. They chose Big Thunder, so DS12 and I went alone to Pirates. We got right through to the loading area, where we stood for 15 minutes due to some unknown (to us) problem. By the time those rides were done, we were exhausted and hot. We decided to cool down at Country Bears.




Afterwards, the guys decided to abandon their late afternoon FP+ for Splash and Space Mountains in favor of going back to Pop for a rest. I decided to go to Animal Kingdom to see The Festival of the Lion King since we decided to do Sea World instead of AK this trip. Took longer than I thought to get there via monorail and bus, so I missed the 4:30 show by 5 minutes and had an hour to kill. Unfortunately, the wait for the Safari was too long to be able to do that before the next show, so I sat and had a drink and a paw print brownie (very good, very rich!) and listened to some live music in Africa.




I tried to find Kate (aka WishesCount; she posts on the college board) at Guest Services, but never did see her even though she was supposedly out in the field near where I was.

The Lion King show was great as usual. Love that show and glad I made the effort to get over there to see it. I would have been disappointed if I didn't.

(so hard to get good pictures though, since it's very dark in there)





AK was closing (it was 6pm) so I headed back over to MK. The guys had scheduled a FP+ from the room (love the My Disney Experience app!) for Splash and were going back over early before dinner. Again, a longer trip than expected because they were not running the Express monorail and everyone had to take the ferry. After a few "where are you?" texts and fighting our way through crowds, we found each other and squeezed in a ride on Pirates before dinner.

 

[Eureka]

Dinner was at Be Our Guest. I had read so many mixed reviews, and paired with my way of eating for GERD and the limited menu, had low expectations for the food. I was pleasantly surprised in that realm, although everything I tried was pretty salty to me. The castle details were outstanding, and I was really glad we made this reservation.














We sat in the West Wing. (No pictures of the rose or the portrait; I refused to interrupt other people's dinners since there were tables very close to them).



We got the charcuterie platter, everyone tried it, I liked the foie gras/pâté the best.



DH got the French onion soup, which they said was vegetarian, and he said it was pretty good, although they kind of forgot about it and didn't bring it until he got his entree. I got two appetizers for my meal, potato leek soup and the salad. The salad was nothing special And the soup was good but too salty after having eaten half the bowl.



DS12 had the pork, which he really liked. I enjoyed some of his macaroni au gratin. Neither of us liked the green beans, which were hard.



DS10 had the chicken Provençal with the sauce on the side. He thought the chicken was very good and ate about half of the huge piece.


DH had the steak and frites, again a good meal. I think DS12 ate most of the frites though. But funny how you compare, because although we said it was good, it was nothing compared to some other meals we had later in the week.



We all scarfed down plenty of bread with our meal too. I passed on dessert since I had eaten a lot and it was late. Of course the kids wanted cupcakes, so DS12 had the "Beast's favorite," triple chocolate cupcake


and DS10 had the strawberry one, which our server said was Belle's top pick.



DH tried the lemon raspberry cream puff which was actually sugar- and gluten-free (he doesn't have any dietary restrictions, but likes lemon and raspberry). The server prepares the plate right there when they roll the dessert cart around. The boys said the dessert was the best part of the meal.



Our anniversary was noted on all of our reservations, but we did not get any "grey stuff." (no mention of our celebration at The Plaza either). I have to say I was disappointed, because I wanted to try it. Oh well, what can you do?

Every so often, the Beast would be announced as our host and could come in to our dining room and bow.



Then, after dinner we were invited to take pictures wherever we wanted in the castle and to meet Beast in the library. The photo pass photographer took pictures and Beast's handler took some with our camera.



We had planned on maybe staying for the parade and fireworks but were worn out. I hadn't stopped going since 7:15am and everyone else only had a 2-hr break. It was after 9pm and we didn't want to wait until 10, so we went back to Pop and went to bed.

 

[Eureka]

Wednesday was going to be a "sleep until we wake up" day, and then we'd head to Hollywood Studios.





Since we had FP+ scheduled for Toy Story Mania at noon, we knew we would have a chance to ride it without having to be there for rope drop, and planned on staying for Fantasmic which would be another long day. We slept in and all felt more refreshed than the day before. Got to the park about 10:30am, and saw that Star Tours had only an 18-minute wait, so we did that even though we had FP+ for later. It was the same kind of technology as Spiderman, the Simpsons and Transformers but more tame (which was good for wimpy old me!). It was fun though, and DS10's picture was featured on the screen as being a "rebel alien."





After Star Tours, we went to the Indiana Jones Stunt Show, which we had seen during our last trip and liked. It was good this time too, with some slightly different scenes. Then it was time for our Toy Story Mania FP+. We all love this ride; our first trip was right after it opened in 2008 and we loved it back then too. Picked up a regular FP for later (return time 8:50-9:50pm), which we never ended up using. [NOTE: Many of the things we had done in previous trips, I just didn't take pictures of this time. Seemed redundant and I took enough of everything else during the week!]

While in line for Toy Story, we decided to cancel our 1:20pm Mama Melrose lunch reservation. It was hot and none of us were really feeling like a big Italian meal. Plus, since we got to the park late, we wanted to catch up on touring. But, we were a little hungry, so stopped into Starring Rolls for a snack on the way to the Beauty and the Beast show. I got a chocolate croissant, which was fine but not as good at the ones at Pop -- or actually, even my local supermarket!. DS10 had a chocolate peanut butter cupcake, and DS12 and DH shared a Napoleon. Everyone enjoyed their snacks. I had gotten the same cupcake two years ago and loved it.



Next was one of my favorite things at DHS, the Beauty and the Beast show. It was great, but what made it more interesting for me DS12 pointed out the sign language interpreters to me, which I love watching. I only know a few signs but love watching signing. (Switched at Birth is one of my current favorite TV shows) There was a pair of interpreters, a man and a woman who really got into the roles of the characters. The man was especially good with using gestures and facial expressions for the Beast and Gaston.









Our Star Tours FP+ time was approaching so we stopped for water on the way and traipsed through the park. Got a different scene, which was cool. Went on Great Movie Ride and got the Western scene. Our driver was pretty good but our cowgirl was a little wooden in her delivery. We got the gangster scene on our last trip, so it was fun to see a different one. Then we went on the Backlot Tour. The volunteers for the "Harbor Attack" water tank scene were very funny, and we like the tour too. By the time the tour was done, it was time for our Tower of Terror FP+. It was never a question for DS12 and me; we were not going on it! We sat in the shade of the Studios Catering Company and DS snacked on a chicken sandwich and fries while we waited (no picture). Need I even say DS10 loved it? He is going to be the one giving me the gray hair, lol.



The last item on our agenda before dinner was another new-to-us attraction, Lights, Motors, Action. We all thought this show was great, especially seeing the car chase ballet. I love how they showed us the "behind the scenes" stuff about how it all works. It was getting breezy and dark during the show but they managed to finish it before it started raining.



Next up will be our dinner at Captain's Grille.

 

[Eureka]

We then took the ferry to the Yacht Club. Got in to our 6:30 pm Captain's Grille reservation a half hour early, which worked for us since we hadn't really had lunch. Love the New England seaside theming. On our last trip, we took an Illuminations Cruise that left from the Yacht Club and just loved the resort. The PIN code we had just wasn't quite good enough for us to justify spending the extra money to stay here, when we had other things we wanted to do, like La Nouba, Universal, SeaWorld, etc. But we can dream.....

Dinner at Captain's Grille was my favorite meal thus far. Even though Margaritaville was fun, it was a totally different experience and the food, while good, just doesn't compare. We started with thin slices of whole grain bread and salted butter. I ordered the chef's pasta creation, braised short ribs with fennel and pappardelle. I don't tend to order beef out, so this was unusual for me, but it was really good, and satisfied the pasta craving I had been having. After eating a bunch of the beef, though, it seemed too salty, but that happens to me with a lot of foods.

(Sorry, some of my food pictures could have been edited, but I didn't have time this morning and wanted to get this up)



DH had the fish, corvina with Portuguese stew of chorizo and other seafood (?) - I don't remember what our server said. He said it was also very good.



DS12 ordered one of his favorites, crab cakes. They were pure crab, no filler at all, and excellent. We also liked the homemade potato chips seasoned with Old Bay.



DS10 got two appetizers, clam chowder and gnocchi. It came with walnuts and pears, which he ate off the top. He was not crazy about this dish ("it wasn't that good") but had plenty of chowder and bread to fill him up. I liked the gnocchi and had some.






As we looked at the dessert menu, our server Susie came out with a dome of chocolate mousse and an anniversary treat to take home- a small bag of saltwater taffy tied to balloons. Although I was not completely surprised about the anniversary recognition, I was not expecting anything that big, especially since nobody else had acknowledged it so far. We all shared the mousse, which was rich and smooth. That did not stop us from getting more dessert, however!






DH and I shared the chocolate hazelnut cake, which was delicious. It reminded me of a candy bar.



DS12 had chocolate gelato (he is an ice cream fiend)



and DS10 had a marshmallow chocolate tart with a graham cracker crust. Kind of like s'mores on steroids and REALLY good.



This meal was very good, service was excellent and I loved the atmosphere. I've noticed how the more upscale restaurants tend to have servers that are closer to my age (or older) than the college students. Makes for a totally different experience (I mean it in a positive way), even though many of the 20-somethings are very good too. Would definitely come back here another time.

Our plan was go back to DHS for the 8:30 Fantasmic show. It was 7:15 at this point and starting to rain again. We did not want to get stuck in the rain and DS12 was tired and wanted to go lie down, so we scrapped that plan. We browsed in one of the Yacht Club gift shops and picked up a few gifts for friends, as well as a shirt and baseball cap for DH. Took the ferry over to DHS and got a bus back to Pop. DS10 was not ready to call it a night, so I took him to the arcade for an hour. Love that there were some comfy benches in the middle and wifi so I caught on on email while he played.

Finally, at 10pm, it was time to rest up for Epcot and Cirque de Soleil.

 

[Eureka]

On Thursday, we got up and out for rope drop at Epcot.



We drove, so didn't have to leave until 8:30. The plan was to hit Test Track first, and to use our FP+ for a second ride. As soon as we got in, however, the standby wait time was up to 45 minutes, so we decided to just wait for our fast pass. We did a lot of The Land and The Seas during our 2008 trip, but next to nothing in the rest of Future World during our 2011 trip, so we had a lot of catching up to do. We got right in to Ellen's Energy (they look so young!) and then had a short wait on Mission Space.



We all did green the first time, and then DH and DS10 decided to try the more intense orange ride for our FP+, which it was time for immediately after our first ride. (DS12 and I stuck with green again) The level of detail amazes me, from the outside of the space training capsules to how we really felt like we we floating.

It was almost time for our Test Track FP+, so we did one of my Epcot favorites, Living With the Land until it was time. I would love to take the Behind the Seeds tour sometime but didn't want to use up an hour today. Next was a quick visit to Club Cool. DS10 actually liked Beverly! I liked the Israeli Sprite-like drink the best.



and then Test Track. It was our first time riding it, and it was awesome. I don't like heights, but don't mind speed so this was cool. DS12 and I designed a car (the pink one) and DH and DS10 did the green one. The regular FP time was already at 6:30pm, so we wouldn't get to ride again.







By now, it was 12:15 and we wanted to try to get in to lunch early because we had a Soarin' FP+ that would be tight to make after lunch. We went over to Via Napoli and got right in. The restaurant was open and airy with high ceilings, I liked it a lot.



We asked for bread



and all ordered pizza: Quattro formaggi for me



Fungi for DH



spicy sausage for DS12 (he added roasted red peppers)



and DS10 created his own with pepperoni, chicken sausage, and ham.



We all enjoyed it. We have a brick oven pizza place in DC called Matchbox that is just as good or even better than these. The individual size was pretty large but thin crust so I ate 3/4 without feeling stuffed. No mention of our anniversary, but we did hear them singing happy birthday to another table. Doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to who gets celebrated.

I will continue our Epcot afternoon another time; off to DS10's soccer game now.