Food & Wine Trip: Day 2

Food & Wine Trip: Day 2

Even though we intended to be in Epcot most days, we did also plan for other parks and made FastPasses other places, so we started our 2nd day in Hollywood Studios.

We knew from the beginning we would likely walk any time we went to or from Epcot or Hollywood, so we started our walk from Beach bright and early and were rewarded with quiet and stunning views.

When we arrived in Hollywood, we got in line for a PhotoPass photographer with only 1 family in front of us. It was that family’s turn, the photographer told them where to stand, and then he just walked away. He was sort-of in the area, never said anything, kept talking to another Cast Member, but not saying anything to the family who was expecting to be photographed, or any of us in line. Sooooo we went to the next photographer and were rewarded with some great shots.

We couldn’t remember where the official entrance to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was supposed to be, but we started wandering into the park.

We thought it would be by where the old entrance to Toy Story Mania was, so we went that way and discovered we were wrong, so we turned back and went between the Hyperion Theater and the ABC Commissary and eventually found our way.

Let me start right off by saying that I grew up on the original Star Wars trilogy and loved it but have not been as into the newer movies. But, Galaxy’s Edge is ridiculously cool!

I started losing my mind when we got in view of the Falcon. I just kept saying, “The Millennium Falcon is. right. there. It’s right there!!”

We snagged some photos by the Falcon before hopping in line for Smuggler’s Run.

We wanted to try to ride Smuggler’s Run but didn’t want to wait in a long line, so we’d already decided we were going to do the single rider line and I’m glad we did. The stand-by wait was 45 minutes when we got on and up to 80 by the time we got off, and we probably waited no more than 10.

I got to be a Gunner and I think Lori was an Engineer. I had a child as one of the pilots on mine so we bumped around A LOT and the ship took lots of damage. If you get motion sickness, you definitely need Dramamine and, to be honest, you may still have trouble. Lori was unlucky enough to have someone on her mission who didn’t want to participate so they were shirking their responsibilities onboard her ship. It’s an interactive experience and lots of fun, so make sure you’re ready and willing to do your duties if you ride.

After the ride, we found the PhotoPass that does the cool zoom out picture and I’m totally not looking and I’m so mad. But, we did get a nice regular photo from that spot!

Ya know, just a casual Tie Fighter hanging around.

We wandered through some shops and got to see R2-D2 in real life! He was interacting with the customers and it was absolutely amazing! He’s also for sale, but I didn’t see anyone jumping at the $25,000 price tag…

After coming back to earth through Toy Story Land, we saw that Toy Story Mania only had a 25 minute wait, so we had to take advantage of that since we both absolutely love that ride!

Next up, we had a FastPass for Rock ‘n Roller Coaster, so it was down Sunset Boulevard for us.

I love this ride. Forever and ever it will be one of my very favorites and I hope they never change the band.

After our backstage passes to the Aerosmith show, we shopped our way back down Sunset and down Hollywood Boulevard and right on out of the park. I know that seems like a pretty quick trip, but we grabbed some other FastPasses in Hollywood for our last day so we knew we’d be back.

I was interested in riding the Skyliner but didn’t want to push Lori to since she’s afraid of heights, but she’d been giving it a lot of thought and really does like to try everything in Disney at least once, so we took our maiden voyage to get on over to Epcot.

The Caribbean Beach station is the central hub for everything and everyone must exit when arriving at that station.

When you arrive from Hollywood Studios, you can go right to get to Art of Animation or Pop Century resorts, or go left for Riviera Resort or Epcot (or Hollywood Studios, but we’d just come from there).

We hopped on our new car and were on our way! It stops at Riviera and the doors open but you do not need to exit, then you go right back up in the air to head on over to Epcot. All-in-all, I loved the ride. Lori survived, but I think she’ll stick to ground transportation in the future.

By the time we got into Epcot, we were hungry, so we hung a right again from the International Gateway and went straight for the Belgium booth (near Morocco). We both got the Beer-braised Beef served with Smoked Gouda Mashed Potatoes and it was really good and we both thoroughly enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t say it was anything earth-shattering.

We also both got the Golden Malted Belgian Waffle with Warm Chocolate Ganache and Whipped Cream and, again, it was good, but it was just a waffle with whipped cream and a little chocolate sauce.

I will say, though, that this was one of the more affordable stops I had at a festival booth. The 2 items together were under $10.

We were still hungry so we headed to Italy, which had been at the top of our list from the get-go. In case you haven’t noticed yet, we have pretty similar tastes, so we both went for the Ravioli Carbonara: Parmesan and Pecorino Ravioli, Egg Yolk, Cream, and Bacon and each also snagged an Italian Margarita with Limoncello and Tequila.

Let me start by saying Italy totally wins because it’s the only place I got carded the whole trip and I was a gross, sweaty mess the whole time so it was a nice self-esteem boost.

There were 5 ravioli in this portion which made it one of the more sizable ones of the festival. The Italian Margarita was SO delicious and a really good size for $10.

We grabbed a table kinda in the sun (it was behind a cloud when we got there) but the view was so perfect for enjoying our amazing food, it didn’t even matter how outrageously hot it was when the sun emerged from behind its cloud.

One of the things the Yacht and Beach Clubs are known for are the amazing pool area they share. So Lori and I knew we absolutely wanted to hang out in the lazy river while we were there, so after we were done eating, we headed back to change into our bathing suits and head down to the pool. I left my phone in the room so don’t have any pictures, but we enjoyed the lazy river for quite awhile and then just hung out enjoying the sand bottom of the pool.

Dinner that night was at Wine Bar George in Disney Springs. We’d both decided we wanted to wear maxi dresses down there, because, why not? So we went back to our room to shower and change, and then we actually went out for a bus for the 1st time since we’d been there.

1st up when we got to Disney Springs was the Christmas store. We both always love to buy ornaments each trip, but neither of us really found anything we loved. Then we wandered through the Co-Op and found some beautiful pieces at the Wonderground Gallery. I was on the fence and put my pieces back but decided immediately after we left that I was going back for them because 1) I couldn’t stop thinking about them and 2) I forgot I get an Annual Passholder discount.

We’re both obsessed with Basin, so that was obviously next. I made sure to stock up on body butter for the winter while I was there and snagged some shower bombs, too. Then it was off to dinner!

We ordered the Crispy Mac & Cheese Bites for an appetizer, even though we were going all-out for dinner.

Pinot Grigio for Lori, Sauvignon Blanc for me, and The Big Board for us to share.

Neither of us are fans of Bleu Cheese, so we had them give us double the Manchego, instead. In hindsight, we wished we’d doubled the cheddar, instead, but we still enjoyed the hell out of that dinner.

After dinner, we headed for Uniqlo, World of Disney, and back to Wonderground to get my 2 prints. And then we hopped a bus back to Beach Club and called it a night.

Thanks for reading along! Come back next week to read about our 3rd day!