It’s trip report time again! Read all posts in this trip report here.
Another 7am wakeup call, as is the New Normal. But this time I wasn’t after Individual Lightning Lanes or Genie+ slots – I wanted a place in the Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure virtual queue! Which I got, but at a time that perfectly coincided with our tequila tasting in Mexico. I resolved to check in with Guest Experience staff upon arrival at Epcot, but as it turned out it was never necessary; by park open our predicted boarding call time had moved back about two hours. Every once in awhile the system works FOR you.
Morning goal accomplished, we performed our morning ablutions and took the Skyliner to Epcot. Skyliner lines were surprisingly short all week, and we arrived at the International Gateway about half an hour before resort guest early entry. Rather than stand around, we elected to take a stroll down the Boardwalk. We made sure to be back in time for rope drop, though!
Not that we made a harried beeline for anything particularly, instead stopping on the way for some coffee and tea at a World Showcase Joffrey’s stand. We sipped as we walked, finishing up our beverages on a bench outside The Land pavilion before heading inside.
Soarin’ was of course Objective #1. We snagged a decent spot in the middle row, but at the bottom so we still saw feet. :/ Ah well. And since we were right there anyway, I insisted on a quick jaunt through Living with the Land too. The karmic positioning gods rewarded our patience at Soarin’s with a front row seat on our boat.
Believe it or not, Pat is a HUGE fan of Mission: Space, so we headed there next. We always do Orange Team, and basically walked straight into our ready room. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: I like Gina Torres but I miss Gary Sinise.
By now it was late morning and we were starting to get a bit peckish, so we stopped for snacks at the Mac and Eats kiosk and drinks from the craft brews spot in the Odyssey building. I really wish there was a mac and cheese flight, because I would’ve loved to try them all! As it was the plant-based mac I sampled was good… but then I tried it against Pat’s dairy-filled version and there was no comparison. The food tech’s not quite there yet, I guess.
We stopped for a few more Food & Wine Festival bites here and there as we made our way to Mexico. Our reservation for the La Cava tequila tasting was at 1pm, but since we were a little over 20 minutes early we figured, hey, why not do El Gran Fiesta Tour with the Three Caballeros?
Here’s why not: while we walked right onto the ride, it proceeded to break down at the end. 😂 We were stuck tantalizing close to the debarkation area, but there was nothing we could do except sit and wait.
After about ten minutes we finally got moving again, and shot across the pyramid to La Cava. Luckily they had held our reservation, and after a little time to set up we were led into the bar. This experience absolutely deserves its own post; come back soon to learn all about it!
Our awesome tequila tasting having finished, we stumbled out into the light of day and did the only logical thing: kept working our way around World Showcase for Food & Wine Festival snacks and drinks! We also poked around some of the pop-up shops, but the merch wasn’t that good this year. At least, I didn’t buy anything. Supply chain problems strike again, I assume.
Roundabouts 4pm we finally got our virtual queue callback for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, so we headed into France for ride #2. I stand by my initial review of this ride, but I will say the experience improves if you make a conscious choice not to look down. I still wish the ratio of sets to screens was lower, but it’s a fun little ride.
It was getting on toward late afternoon, and the evening crowds were beginning to show up in full force. We grabbed one or two more festival snacks before electing to head out, picking up the Skyliner back to Caribbean Beach.
Once safely back at our resort, we got some food and drinks at the Banana Cabana pool bar before heading back to our room for wind down time followed immediately by bedtime. I may or may not have eaten some of my Gideon’s cookies. (I totally did.) Breakfast AND late night snack of champions!
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