I woke up at 6:30 as usual today but instead of walking the dogs, I fed them first and had a cup of tea and then laid back down. I waited till I was showered and almost ready to go before walking them. We weren’t in a big hurry to get to Epcot; we figured we’d get a fastpass for Soarin when we got there if it wasn’t too late and also use our Test Track fastpass that we got the other night. We boated over to the Magic Kingdom and got a monorail to Transportation Ticket Center and then switched to an Epcot Monorail; we got TRON! By the time we got there it was about 10:30; our Soarin return time was 1:12 which worked perfect for us. At the entrance, we encountered the turnstile challenged family, lol. I always pick the furthers turnstile to the left or right since hardly anyone uses them. There was only one family in front of us today. For some reason, they could not understand to put the right finger on the glass. First they tried the thumb, then the middle finger; the CM kept saying try your FIRST finger, the pointer finger. Then he said, whatever finger you activated your pass with will work. Well, they could not remember, so all 5 of them had to go thru all their fingers before they would work. So needless to say, our line backed up considerably. The family was joking that they were going to get kicked out, lol. I was trying to be patient, I really was, lol.
I wanted to see if the Disney timeline display was still up so we headed to the right after leaving Soarin and then made a left towards Club Cool. Sure enough, the timeline is still in there on the wall and we looked at that for a little bit. Jake had asked me if Test Track building was the same building as World of Motion and I did not think it was and these pictures proved I was wrong! I could have sworn they leveled the building but I must be thinking of Horizons. After that, we turned the corner and went in the exit of Club Cool to get some Coke from China; hey it’s free and it tastes like watermelon! We took our time walking in to the just opening world showcase and looked around in the Port of Entry gift shop. We are looking for something for a friend and Joe says we have to check every shop just in case it’s in there but there isn’t too much in that shop, the usual stuff. I love world showcase when they first open; it is peaceful and uncrowded and you can easily hear the music playing in each country. We walked over to Canada to look at the lunch menu. I was pretty hungry, only having yogurt this morning.
I checked us in and we shared some benches with a family from Salt Lake City, UT. The dad was telling me how he loved the dining plan. I said, I guess if I was on it, I would love it too but as it is now, I do not love it at all! He said they get it every year cause they love to eat, lol. I said well it is definitely for you then! Within a few minutes, all the servers came out to sing Oh Canada, the Canadian National Anthem. Joe and Jake know all the words so they sang along too; comes from watching so much hockey! We all sat down and they called US to be the first family of the day to open LeCellier! We were literally the first ones seated to walk in to the restaurant. We were seated in the Newfoundland section.
Once I told the waiter we were not in the dining plan, he seemed a little put off. I wonder if it’s cause we would not be tipping off of as large a bill as the DP people? Once we were surrounded by DP people, he was constantly coming around to them, filling their drinks, clearing their plates away. We sat there with empty glasses for a little bit and then he finally came around to get us more iced tea. We all ordered the prime rib sandwich; Joe and I also got a side salad. I noticed right away that the bun of the sandwich was soaking wet soggy from the au juice of the meat. We had ordered without horseradish sauce and it came with it on. We all got fries instead of potato salad (they would not sub mashed potatoes) and the fries were too salty to eat. I would/should have sent these back and/or reordered and got the burger but Joe and Jake said let it go and we all ate most of it; I took my bun off, it was mush. Our salads were pretty good at least. In retrospect, I should have ordered the mac n cheese side dish; it would have been plenty for me I think. This meal was SO not worth it and it’ll be too soon if I come back to LeCellier again. Both food and service were lacking and for $60+ for a lunch, that should NOT be the case. We all agreed it was the worst meal of the trip; the rest were all great!
We headed to Soarin since it was close to our fast pass time. When we got down there, we realized we still had about 20 minutes to go so decided to ride the Land boat ride which had a 5 minute wait. The line always looks long here but it takes a lot to fill the boat, so it moved fast. We came off the boat and walked the short distance to the entrance of Soarin. As luck would have it, the time was exactly 1:12, which was our return time! We walked the long walk thru the queu and got up to the point of handing over our fast pass but the guy in front of us had to dig in his backpack for his. Ok, so I am biting my lip but trying to be patient, lol. He had to have shown it at the entrance but for some reason, put it away during the walk, lol. We had wanted to get the front row but got the second one again. I noticed if you lean forward, the sensation of flying is much more realistic! I left my shoes on the floor since they are open back and yes, they were there when I returned to the ground, lol.
We headed over towards Test Track and directly in to the fast pass line. We were directed straight up to room no. 1; the same room as the other night. Once in the preview room, we walked over to the exit doors as usual. Once they opened, we walked out and through the queu but it was not moving very fast. Then they announced that inclement weather was approaching and the ride could stop at any time. We noticed that the vehicles coming in from the outside, the people were wet and the windshields were wet. I imagine going 65 mph with rain pelting you in the face would hurt! It stopped for a few minutes but started up very soon. When we got to the outside section, it was sunny. I videoed most of the ride and will try to get it on FB one of these days.
We headed out of the park at that point the same we got there; monorail to Transportation Ticket Center and then switched to Express Monorail. As we were approaching the Magic Kingdom, we passed over a boat that we thought we could catch if the monorail would just go a little faster. Then it stopped to “hold” for clearance! We finally starting moving and got in to the station; when the doors opened, Jake hurried down the ramp and over to the boat dock. Luckily, it is not far from the monorail station. The captain of the boat said he would wait. It was hot and I was tired but I tried to run and the captain said no need to run, we were 3 of a handful of people going back on the boat.
It had rained heavily over here while we were gone, the sand was soaked on the beach. We somehow keep missing these heavy rains; even when we came out of Test Track there were puddles everywhere. Joe and Jake decided to ride bikes over to Wilderness Lodge. I cooled off and had a drink and relaxed a little bit, dozing off on the couch. It started to rain again and I was glad to not be out on those bikes. Before too long, they came back and said they were stranded in the lobby til the rain let up. There were tornado warnings for the area so we stayed in and made dinner here. We had a precooked roast and mashed potatoes and it was as good or better than any meal we have had, especially LeCellier!
I cleaned up the dishes and Joe and I took the dogs on a longer than usual walk. It was such a nice evening after the storms, not too warm but still pretty humid. Jake was playing basketball for a couple hours and we headed off with the dogs to the 700 loop area; I wanted to take some pictures of some mickey lamps that I liked. We came back and put the dogs in their crate and left Jake still playing basketball; Joe and I caught a bus over to the Wilderness Lodge. I wanted one of those iced brownies they have at Roaring Forks. When we got there, I saw that there was only one left that was iced and the rest were not. Joe said would I want to share that iced brownie with him. No, I would not, lol. He got an iced vanilla cupcake and refilled his mug. I ended up giving him 1/3 of the brownie, it really was too big and very rich but very good. We sat there for a little bit, taking our time walking back through the lobby and the store and walked out to the bus area, where a Fort Wilderness bus pulled right up! We were the only two on the bus and he took us directly to the settlement area which is a short walk back to our site. Jake was back in the RV by now with two sleeping dogs.
I think tomorrow is a non park day!
