Let The Memories Begin! – Day 15
We returned to Epcot today, with an important mission. Ashley needed the autographs and photos with Elsa and Anna.
As we made our way there, we felt rather sad that this would be our last 4 days in Walt Disney World, visiting one of the 4 parks each day. It felt like yesterday when we just checked-in. Epcot was not too crowded, compared to last week when we were there. We stopped at Sunshine Seasons for breakfast. Ashley missed the Drury eggs and ordered a breakfast platter. Jarod had the Key Lime Pie, ZA had the Cinnamon Roll while I had the Whoopie Pie. After breakfast, we grabbed FastPasses for Soarin, redememed a Starbucks Latte with our snack credit and proceeded towards the World Showcase once again.
We went right towards Norway where the Frozen characters were. But before we even got there, we already saw a line snaking towards Mexico. Bad news! That was the line indeed so we stood in queue with other doting parents. The cast member advised that the line was now for the 1pm meet and greet and we were the last family for the 1pm line. I looked at my watch and it was only 11.30am. Nevertheless, we were glad that we need not wait till 2pm, which is the next greet. The cast member added that the line was almost 4 hours yesterday. As we only needed one of us to stay in line, ZA brought Ashley for a walk. Jarod and I stayed behind, enjoying our Latte. It helped that we chatted with other parents in the line with that same important mission to fulfill. Soon, ZA returned with Ashley. She was happily clutching a Duffy bear which she had been eyeing for the last few days. They had walked all the way back to the FutureWorld to get it. It was indeed a good time for merchandise sales as we saw many people walked out from gift shops holding their purchases. The father in front of us commented that Ashley is very fortunate to have such a good brother. We couldn’t agree more! Jarod has been faithfully pushing her around throughout in her stroller and accommodating her wishes. We are indeed blessed! After a long wait, it was finally our turn. Ashley was thrilled to finally meet them. We do not usually take photos with the characters together but since we have waited in line for so long, we took one as a family. With the important mission accomplished, we set off for lunch.
(ZA: Some more pictures of Epcot World Showcase)
We stopped at Katsura Grill in Japan for lunch. Ashley had the Tempura Shrimp Udon while the rest of us had Chicken Cutlet Curry. Although Ashley misses her Asian fare, she took well to food here. We enjoyed our curry too, have not had that for a while. For our desserts, Ashley had a cookie, ZA had Azuki and Strawberry Ice Cream, while Jarod and I had Greentea Cheesecake. Although the food was good, we would not have dined here if we had to pay out of pocket. This meal cost USD 80, while we could dine at a table service restaurant at an additional USD 40. How we love Free Dining!
After lunch, we took a stroll along the World Showcase before we proceeded to our ride, Soarin. On our second ride today, I noticed that Disney actually also incorporated scent with the ride. We could smell the pine trees, the rushing wind and the ocean while soaring above them. It was enjoyable. Next we went over to Test Track. We already have a FastPass+ booked. The standby time was still 80 minutes and we walked right in. Ashley wanted to team up with Jarod again to design the most powerful car. They succeeded and their car was the overall most powerful car for today’s ride. They could not get enough of Test Track and wanted to do it again but the next FastPass return window was between 8.30 to 9.30pm, just before park closes. ZA promised Ashley that we would return to do it after dinner.
We went over to Epcot Character Spot to meet Mickey, Minnie and Goofy. Ashley had collected all the Mickey Mouse characters’ autograph except Donald Duck. We were booked for Chef Mickey’s on our last night where she could meet all 5 but had a change in plan. We wanted more park time instead. So we went back to the World Showcase where Donald was meeting at Mexico. While we were at Mexico, we repeated our boat ride – Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros. There was no line and we had the entire boat to ourselves!
With no more time to spare, we hopped aboard the Monorail to Polynesian Resort where we had a dinner reservation at ‘Ohana. ‘Ohana, means family is a Hawaiian themed restaurant. Food is served family style, everyone in the restaurant — including us — are “cousins,” and the Hawaiian entertainment is aimed at bringing everyone together to participate in common activities. As we entered, the server told Ashley to greet us ‘ Welcome family’, it was really cute. We were given flower leis at Ashley’s request.We were ushered to our seat and in our view, a large room wrapped around a massive fire pit, which is the origin of our food for the evening. The room is edged with nearly floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the Polynesian Resort grounds, Seven Seas Lagoon, and Magic Kingdom icons like Cinderella Castle and Big Thunder Mountain. ‘Ohana was full of energy with the cooks in plain view preparing meals over flame as the restaurant pulsed with tropical song and rhythm. Shortly after our drinks arrived, our Welcome Bread – delicious freshly baked pineapple bread arrived followed by salad. Just as we’ve dug into our salad, large plates of lo mein noodles with broccoli, dumplings drizzled with a sweet and sour sauce, and honey-coriander chicken wings showed up on our table. While Ashley loved the dumplings, we really loved the chicken wings. This is the best chicken wings I have tasted. Although we were hungry, upon seeing some of the meat being served all around us, we quickly learned to enjoy these sides in moderation. We were entertained by a Hawaiian ukulele singer serenading honeymoon and anniversary couples through a romantic slow dance, leading the restaurant in Hawaiian renditions of “Happy Birthday”. She also emceed a coconut race for children which Ashley took part in and earned another lei. Finally, our servers come by with the main event — grilled meats stacked high on skewers. This is a show in and of itself! One meat will come to your table at a time: asian BBQ meat, marinated sirloin steak, and spicy peel n eat shrimp. The meats are accompanied by three sauces: peanut, spicy mustard, and sweet n sour. The more we ate, the more food arrived. Lastly, our dessert ‘Ohana bread pudding a la mode with bananas foster sauce arrived. This was really good and we regretted not saving more room for it. We walked out feeling extremely satisfied.
(ZA : The bread pudding rocks! btw, that’s the idotic smile I always have when Ashley takes my pictures)
We arrived back at Epcot at 9pm and only had enough time for our last activity – Test Track. Jarod was feeling full and cold but obliged to Ashley’s request to ride it again. We braced ourselves for the cold as our car reached 65 miles an hour. As we stepped out of our ride, we were greeted by the magnificent sight of fireworks from Illuminations. We concluded our trip to Epcot and bade goodbye.
(ZA : Ashley is very lucky to have such a nice brother)