"Daisy is a Duck!" -- Day Four
Up early yesterday and home after 1 AM, despite my daughter’s protests, I decide she will sleep in today. I can hear my ex in my head, “Tony, you are killing the children!”
She’s probably right. I let her sleep in. Unfortunately, for me, I can never sleep in. I’m always up early and today’s no exception. I shower, dress, this time only in swimming attire, and head for breakfast. At 7 AM, I made Lightning Lane purchases for us around 4:40 PM for Guardians. I didn’t make any FastPass selections yet because I knew we wouldn’t be there that early.
Pancakes again for breakfast and Simply Orange, I find a spot near the Water Mill and eat and people watch. I love the solitude this morning. Back home, my crew is doing a parking lot for our company. I take a chance the pool is open and it is. I find a shady spot and wait for Sophia to awaken, occasionally looking at FastPass times to see when I’d like to make a selection. Around 10 AM, I head back and she’s up and starting to get ready. She needed the extra sleep. I get us a FastPass for Soarin’ around 12:30 PM. She forgoes breakfast and we catch a bus to Epcot. Today is a full day there. No leaving. Tonight, we will watch Harmonious.
Upon arrival, we immediately ride Spaceship Earth. It’s a favorite of ours. She makes all the selections at the end. Then Nemo ride. Still cute. Then Soarin’. We joke: the longest we waited for ANY ride on the trip was the FastPass lane of Soarin’. While in line, I snag a FastPass for Living with the Land, valid immediately. Soarin’ is great, but we get quite possibly the worst two seats available – the far last two on the right of the lowest level. All the optics are skewed somewhat! Off one and on the other, The Land is more informative than entertaining. Once we exit, we decide to eat at the Four Seasons Cafeteria. I get the Roast Beef sandwich. I don’t want to overstate this, but this was the best sandwich I had on property. It was delicious. I thought about it all night. I’m thinking about it now. Fresh. Tasty. Bread had so much flour. Everything was so good.
We exit and want to head to World Showcase, but Sophia asks to see the Pixar Shorts. It’s in the old “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience” theater. That’s where we get a huge highlight.
When we enter (and we are alone,) standing to the side is Mickey with two cast members. All by his lonesome. The Cast Member asks, “Would you like to meet Mickey?” and my daughter RUNS to him and gives him the biggest hug! They act like they’re old friends, hugging and swaying. “Mickey, I just love you. I just love you. I just love you. I can’t wait for you to be starring in Fantasmic again!” I take dozens of pictures. Then they say for me to join and they take pictures with my phone. It was such a wonderful, unscripted moment.
Pixar Shorts is underrated. It’s very cute. And they use the hydraulic floor slightly, just like in “Honey.” We both enjoyed it.
Time to nosh. I get the Spanakopita at Greece and Sophia gets Canadian Cheddar and Bacon soup. On our way to ride Guardians, I had grabbed a FastPass for Mission: Space. The ride is so immersive, but I miss Gary Sinise. During our ride, under extreme stress, I can hear a bearing making a lot of whining. In my business, things make noise before they break, so I alert a Cast Member before I exit. She probably thought I was goofy.
Second time for Guardians. What song would we get? We have six choices. Not Disco Inferno again. Yep!!! Disco Inferno. That’s twice in a row. Hmmm.
I had gotten us a Remy for around 5:45 or so and we make our way there. On our sojourn around the World, Sophia asks me to get her a Strawberry Daquiri. (She’s only 19, but we are on vacation.) I say, “No! For one, guys don’t order Strawberry Daquiris. I’ll lose my ‘Man Card.’” What do guys order, she asks?
Beer. Wine with something to eat. Anything Tequila on the rocks. Gin and Tonic maybe. But not Strawberry Daquiri. I tell her about the old SCTV skit, “Girl Drink Drunk.” I point out a very rugged-looking, manly man gentleman. “Do you think he orders Strawberry Daquiris?” I see your point, she said. As it turns out, all guys about my daughter’s age that she’d be interested in seem to be Strawberry Daquiri dudes. That became the running joke. “I think Strawberry Daquiri is looking at you.” Lol.
I do get us something to eat and get something for her, but I tell them to really cut back on the alcohol. After two sips, I let her finish. She tells me, I’m a lightweight and she can drink me under the table. Probably true. I rarely drink.
Remy is great and secures itself as my daughter’s favorite ride on the trip, but as we exit, it’s about to rain again, so we decide it is the perfect time to see The American Adventure. As we are entering, two females with very short hair (crew cuts,) carrying dogs in their arms enter right before us. They are politely stopped by a Cast Member, who asks if they are service dogs. They are not. He informs them they cannot bring the dogs in and the one woman goes apoplectic on him, screaming and berating him. Totally uncalled for! It’s like she wanted a scene.
American Adventure puts a tear in our eyes. I grabbed a FastPass for Frozen around 8 PM, so we go there, stopping by a few kiosks on the way. Food was so delicious. Spicy Salmon Donburi: Spicy Salmon with Sushi Rice, Shiso Leaf, Red Tobiko and Rice Pearls from Japan. Belgium Beer-Braised Beef served with Smoked Gouda Mashed Potatoes. And my favorite of the evining: Kenyan Coffee Barbecued Beef Tenderloin with Sweet-Potato-and-Corn Mealie Pap and Kachumbari Slaw (gluten/wheat-friendly. I should have taken notes.
While in the Frozen FastPass line (standby is at 70 minutes,) a couple decides to cross over lines and get into the FastPass line in front of us. One person is a modified chair. There’s a second touchpoint on this ride and their bands are not valid, so they are asked to exit out the side door. After we exit, we informed another Cast Member about the exploits and they told us, “It happens all the time. We just boot them.”
We passed that family later in the evening and a different person was in the wheelchair-like contraption. The previous occupant was now soliciting money. “Hey, do you have any spare change?” Weird way to spend an evening in Epcot.
We find a place in Italy to watch the “Kiss Goodnight.” Harmonious is good, but it left me sad for Illuminations. The latter had an original score and told an interesting story. This was mostly Disney songs, many with verses sung in native tongues, and plenty fancy water sprays, lights, and other stuff, but just seemed like a re-hash of old, refurbed into new. I don’t know. I know I wasn’t as blown away as I expected to be. Maybe my expectations were too high!
We exit with the crowd. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy those kinds of evening – when we close a park and leave with everyone. If feels like we’ve done all that can be done today.
Our bus is quick and we head back to watch more episodes of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” Tomorrow is the day Sophia has been looking forward to the most. We will spend most of our day in Galaxy’s Edge.
