November 2023 Trip Report - Toothsome and EPCOT
In this week's trip report, you get two days in one! That's because the first day was quite uneventful, but we did go to our new favorite restaurant in the Orlando area.
Tuesday - Rest Day and Toothsome Chocolate Emporium
The conference would not yet be in full swing until Wednesday, so the husband had the day off but he wanted some time to get work done, and my daughter wanted some time to get some schoolwork done, so it was largely a "rest day" while they stayed in the room on their laptops. We slept in until 8 AM or so, then went down to the coffee shop at the hotel to grab some breakfast. The coffee shop is basically a Starbucks by another name, but it was pretty good and had a selection of not only coffees and teas, but also fresh pressed juices, coolers, and smoothies. And, of course, pastries and bagels.
After this, I went down to the hot tub with a book for a while and got some lunch at the pool bar, which was a routine I fell into on rest days. The pool would be very quiet in the mornings, so that's when I went and got some sun. Despite the days being warm, the pool water was almost always frigid (the pools here were unheated), so I never really swam and instead rotated between the hot tub and reading in a lounge chair. Around noon, it would get hot, so I would go up to the room, change out of my swimsuit and into regular clothes, and relocated to the "fishing hole" which was my favorite spot of the entire resort. I don't fish, but it seemed nobody else did either, and in reality, the fishing hole was a lovely shaded pier with two benches that jutted out into the large pond at the resort. There was so much wildlife there every day, and pretty much nobody else ever came down there. I saw lots of birds (ibises, cormorants, some sort of large brown bird that stood like a stork), geckos, turtles, and one day, an alligator. Anyway, I fell in love with this spot, and I read for hours and hours out there.
My happy place, the Fishing Hole at Rosen Shingle Creek
At around 4 PM, it was time to get a Lyft to Universal Citywalk for our reservation at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium. I'm not a huge Universal fan like I am a Disney fan, so this place wasn't really on my radar until last year, when my daughter asked if we could eat there, and I found its reservations were already all taken up. So this year, I was smart, and made reservations for it more than 60 days ahead of travel. And I'm really glad I did! The ambiance is "steampunk", and the menu is both sweet and savory, and their specialties are these large and glorious shakes, and of course, an extensive dessert menu. But the savory food is also so good! I strongly recommend starting your meal with the chocolate almond bread. It's savory with just a touch of sweet and is served warm with a salted caramel butter which is just amazing. I could've just eaten that for my meal. For entrees, I had chicken bourginon, which was just okay, husband had braised short ribs which he said were amazing, and daughter had a pepperoni flatbread which she did not care for because the crust was like a cracker. But she also had a huge chocolate shake, so... We shared a chocolate creme brulee for dessert. I would give this place a 4/5 just because my chicken was dry but had I ordered something else, I think it would easily become a 5/5. Probably our best meal of the trip.
Toothsome Chocolate Emporium at Universal Citywalk
Wednesday - EPCOT
I woke up before 7 AM feeling refreshed (yay for rest days!), and made my Genie+ purchase and Lightning Lane selections. Tip about Lightning Lanes, especially at the beginning of the day: If you get a return time you don't like, it can pay to refresh a few times and see if you get an earlier return time offered. I have to credit this tip to Adamhattan.com, and I used it twice to much success. When I was given a Remy's Ratatouille Adventure return time of 1:30 PM, I refreshed, and was served a much better return time of 10:20 AM that morning, saving me 3 hours and 10 minutes of waiting.
We left our hotel around 8:30 and summoned our Lyft. Our Lyft this time was a Toyota Prius that was done up as the Back to the Future Delorean. The guy driving was an artist and it was a really interesting and fun ride. The EPCOT Lyft drop off spot is definitely not as convenient as the monorail or skyliner, but is closer than where the Disney buses drop you off, so that was nice. We were a little big later than opening, but that was just fine. The park opened at 9 and we arrived around 9:15, thus avoiding the worst of the entry plaza crowds.
The first thing we did was walk through Moana Journey of Water. There was no line, people were walking right in, and there was plenty of space for us to interact with each interactive element.
Looking at the geosphere from within Moana: Journey of Water
Thoughts on Moana
Because Journey of Water just opened last month, I want to take a moment and share some thoughts.
First, it was definitely more of an attraction than I was expecting it to be. When I first heard it was a walkthrough exhibit, I just thought it would be a landscaped area. There is something about the music, the hidden characters, and the interactive elements, though, that make it just delightful. Is it a headliner attraction? No. Would I wait hours to get in to it? Absolutely not. But it's a really very pleasant diversion that I would explore when I have the chance, and exploring first thing in the morning was a really nice way to start the day since I couldn't rope drop anything and our first Lightning Lane wouldn't be for a while. Lots of chances to play and laugh, both as a family and with other guests, and everyone in there was smiling.
My other major thought is that it feels like someone took a chunk of Animal Kingdom and dropped it into EPCOT. The Moana Journey of water area is lush and densely themed, whereas the rest of EPCOT relies on broad concrete walkways and clean lines. It seemed a little out of place right now. Though we have yet to see what it will feel like when the World Celebration neighborhood opens, because it seems they are adding a lot more trees to that area as well, which could make EPCOT overall feel more lush than it currently feels. We will see. But I feel like a better home for this might have been the Animal Kingdom theme park, where the Dinoland carnival currently lives.
Back to the program, after enjoying Journey of Water, we headed on over to the Land and rode Living with the Land which was a 5-minute wait. Coming out of this, I was a little hungry, so I picked up a fruit and cheese cup at Sunshine Seasons (Disney has the best healthy snacks!) and ate that on the way over to France to ride Remy.
We rode Remy, then daughter was hungry/ had been holding out for pastries at Boulangerie Patisserie Les Halles, so we went there. There was a HUGE line out the door at 11:00 AM, not surprisingly, and no mobile order, but the line actually moved fairly quickly and I would say we had food in hand in 15 minutes. Daughter got a croque monsieur and a fruit parfait, and I got a creme brulee, which was perfect. We found a bench by the fountain at the front of France, and sat down and snacked.
When I tour with my daughter, she really enjoys World Showcase and taking it slow through each country. She values the shopping and the snacking that each country has to offer in World Showcase, so this is what we did the majority of our time at EPCOT. Food & Wine was going on, so I knew from last year's experience, that if we wanted to have a leisurely time in World Showcase, we needed to do that earlier in the day, and be sure to clear out of there by 4 PM when the crowds get more intense as people seek dinner and drinks at the festival groups, and people start to get intoxicated. So, thus commenced an almost five hour tour of World Showcase (yes, daughter truly likes to explore every single detail).
From France, we headed to Morocco, walked into the way back of the pavilion, and poked our heads in some shops. Then, Japan, which is where we spent a LOT of time. To be fair, Japan is one of the better pavilions, in my opinion. My daughter spent an hour or more in the Mitsukoshi department store where we finally ended up buying a studio Gibli art print, and some Japanese gummy candy. We took a brief detour to the American Adventure to watch the 12:30 show which I hadn't seen in years, then back to Japan to explore the gardens, which we love, and get some kakigori (shaved ice).
The Japan pavilion, from inside the gardens
We carried on to Italy hoping the Via Napoli pizza window would be open, but it was not, so we continued to Germany and walked through the shops there. Between Germany and China, I stopped at the India Food & Wine stand and got some crispy curry cheese which was delicious. Found a bench in the Chinese gardens and ate it there while we rested our feet. Then, we went to the very back of the China pavilion and looked at the shops, then went into China for the Wonders of China show.
This is where we hit a wall. I had forgotten this was a standing show, and I guess the standing really hurt my daughter's feet after all the walking we'd done, so she was just feeling DONE after this show. We went outside and found a bench near Norway, and the crowds were already intense because it was late afternoon. We just wanted out of World Showcase at this point. We made a feeble attempt to explore the Mexico pavilion which was intensely crowded inside, and really we only looked at the Oaxacan carved wood animals before we decided we were done even with shopping. It was time to get out for a bit to salvage our moods.
So at 3:30ish, we held hands and pushed through the gauntlet of crowds in Mexico, Canada, and UK without stopping (sorry, countries, especially UK which I adore), to get to the skyliner station. The minute we got on the skyliner, daughter relaxed. The quite was very necessary. We got off at Riviera, and went to Primo Piatto where I got a charcuterie plate and daughter go ta cookie. We sat in the lovely air conditioning and ate and calmed down. Went out to the yard, and daughter insisted we play a game of giant Connect Four, so we did that, then got back on the skyliner because I had seen a pin and a necklace at the Art of Animation store that I wanted, so I went and picked those up.
The skyliner station between Pop Century and Art of Animation
We entertained for about two seconds the idea of walking over to Pop Century to see what it was like, but as we approached the skyliner station, we decided our feet were already pretty tired, so we just got back on and rode all the way back to EPCOT. Upon arriving, the line at the International Gateway was larger than I'd ever seen it with people coming for Food & Wine, I'm sure. It was close to 6:00 PM, so I can kind of understand it. It was just bad timing. The crowds this time were worse. Again, we held hands and pushed back through UK and Canada pavilions to get back to World Nature where I had a 6 PM Lightning Lane for Soarin'.
An Unpopular Opinion About Food & Wine at EPCOT
I like the idea of Food & Wine. I like trying food and drinks at all the little festival stands. But the number of drunk people in World Showcase as the evening wears on makes it really unpleasant to be there. I'll get pushback for this, but I wish Disney would limit the drinking through perhaps a drink ticket system because there is a major difference in the feel of a crowd that is sober (Christmas party is an example the next night), and a crowd that is mostly some level of intoxicated.
Back to Soarin'. Soarin' was Soarin' Over California for a limited time for the Disney 100th Anniversary, and I'm such a sop I cried basically all through it from the moment I smelled the cedars in the first scene of kayaking on the river. Soarin' Over California has the BEST smells.
After Soarin', I had a Lightning Lane for Spaceship Earth (I MUST ride Spaceship Earth when in EPCOT. That's just how it is.). Then, I had an Individual Lightning Lane for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, and unfortunately, this is where we found my daughter's rollercoaster tolerance limit. I noticed while riding that I was whooping throughout the ride and she was just silent. She wasn't sick, but she was really scared of how fast it was going. Now that a few days have passed, she says she'd ride it again if I wanted to, but I'm quite sure she didn't like it, which was too bad.
After this, I had a Lightning Lane for Frozen which my daughter had requested, but she didn't really want to ride anything anymore. I think she was a bit shook. She also didn't cherish the thought of stepping back into the madness that was World Showcase at this hour, so instead, we went to Connections and grabbed a bit. She had a "slice of pizza" which was about half a pizza, and I had a Kung Pao chicken salad which was amazing. While we were there, there were also paramedics quietly tending to a guest in the corner who had passed out, which further shook my daughter.
Then we went over to Creations for some shopping and I bought a couple Disney 100 ornaments. I was not impressed with the Disney 100 shirt collection, sadly. I wanted one, but none of the designs looked like something I would wear.
We were very close to the time for EPCOT Forever now, and we were having a bit of a battle of the wills because I really wanted to see it, and my daughter was just SO DONE with the crowds and had no desire to step foot back into World Showcase, so we compromised and found a spot just outside of the Odyssey Restaurant building facing World Showcase. There was no one there, and there was a great view of the fireworks. The lagoon was obstructed by the buildings there, so we couldn't see things happening close to the ground/water, but we could still see all the torches, the lights on the pavilions, and the fireworks, and it turned out to be a great spot to watch because we could just sit on a bench in peace. So, this is a new recommendation: If you're just done with crowds and don't want to deal with World Showcase for fireworks, you can watch a partially obstructed, but still good view, from the Odyssey Restaurant. Keep it to yourselves, friends!
EPCOT Forever as seen from the Odyssey restaurant building
EPCOT Forever was nice. It was a show on the shorter end, but I really liked how they played music from the original rides such as "Tomorrow's Child" and "If You Can Dream It".
After the show, we thought we might be smart to try to catch a Lyft from the Riviera rather than from the EPCOT entrance. We were wrong. We found later that getting a Lyft at park closing was not as hard as we thought it might be. But on this night, we went to the skyliner and waited in the line that went almost to the Beach Club resort to board it. Then rode to Riviera, and then got our Lyft, returning back to the hotel around 10:35 PM, so I would say the whole ordeal of exiting took about an hour.
Summary
Remy's Ratatouille Adventure
Moana Journey of Water
Livin' with the Land
Boulangerie Patisserie Les Halles
The American Adventure
Wonders of China
Lots of shopping in World Showcase
Skyliner break
Soarin' (Over California!)
Spaceship Earth
Guardians: Cosmic Rewind (we got the song "I Ran")
Dinner at Connections
EPCOT Forever
Temperature: 85, sunny all day
Crowd Level: 6
Felt like crowd level 8 at World Showcase, 4 in the rest of EPCOT
Walked: 10.58 miles
Thanks for making it through this long blog! It was certainly a long day at EPCOT, but we did everything we wanted to do. Next week, we have a magical night at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party! Until next time...
Comments