Our October 2012 Trip - Part IV

Today it was back to Landscape of Flavors for Breakfast. We both opted for the World of Flavors Breakfast Platter (scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, Portuguese sausage, bacon and mini Naan bread $7.59). It was strange having Naan for breakfast and while the Portuguese Sausage was quite tasty the meal was just average.


After breakfast we caught the bus to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We got there just before opening and there was already quite a crowd gathered to enter the gates. Lots of Brazilian tour groups were present, which has been a theme at all of the parks except Animal Kingdom so far. We still managed to get to Toy Story Midway Mania in time to get a Fast Pass and to ride it in the Stand by line after no more than a fifteen minute wait. Once again Donna whipped me badly. After this we still had time to wait for before our Fast Pass could be used so we went into the Great Movie ride, which was practically a walk-on. When we came out it was back to TSMM for our Fast Pass. Again Donna gave me a thumpin’ but this time I think I had an excuse. At one time my gun just quit firing, even though I was pulling the cord. From there we walked out to New York Street. Talk about being dead, nothing was open there, not even Youse Guys Moichendise. The Backlot Tour was closed today though we don’t know why so it was on to the Muppets 3D. From there we walked over to The Hollywood Tower Hotel for the Tower of Terror ride. The line said a 30 minute wait but we weren’t even inside the building in 30 minutes. It was getting close to our ADR time at The Hollywood Brown Derby and I was concerned that I wouldn’t be off the ride in time. However, as we finally got through the opening scene in the library they were looking for single riders. Since Donna doesn’t ride this I got right to the front of the line. I absolutely love this ride.

It was now time to walk back to the Brown Derby for lunch. We had avoided this restaurant for quite some time after a rather unsatisfactory meal with some friends. However, last year we decided to try it for lunch and were quite happy with our lunch meal. During that meal they told us that they were getting a new chef and that he had great things planned for the menu. So, we opted once more for lunch. Donna ordered white Sangria and I ordered a peach flavored drink. Both were quite refreshing. We decided that we would split one of their famous Cobb salads, and were quite surprised to see that they have added an appetizer size portion ($8.00) which worked just perfectly. She then ordered Potato and Leek Soup - with green onion creme fraiche $10.00 and Feuilles de Brick Napoleon of Blue Affine - with wild mushroom duxelle, grilled Portobello, golden chanterelles, and a fig reduction $11.00 for her lunch. I had been quite intrigued with a menu item I had seen when perusing online and was happy to see it was still on the menu. So I ordered Spit-Roasted Bison -with sauteed beets tossed in a herb shallot vinaigrette, forest mushroom white truffle croquette and a cocoa espresso barbeque sauce $38.00. I’ve had bison steak before but this was my first time having bison cooked this way. I had been warned that it was normally served medium rare but it was actually more on the rare side, which was fine with me. It was a wonderful meal. I also had a wonderful glass of red wine with my meal, but the name of it escapes me.


After finishing lunch we headed over to EPCOT, taking the boat from DHS. We needed to do a little shopping, both for us and for a friend. We got off the boat and walked over to the Festival sales kiosk to purchase our items. We were able to get our Food & Wine Fest pins, except for the Annual Passholder Pin, which we were told we had to go to Festival Center for. So we traipsed over that way. It was another of those hot days, and there really isn’t a lot of shade in that part of EPCOT, or any part really. The Festival Center is in the old Horizons Building, between Universe of Energy and Mission Space. It was really strange not hearing Test Track running. Inside the Festival Center you could buy special art pieces, different wines, and any of the festival items that you would see out around World Showcase. You could also attend different seminars, most of which cost money. We didn’t do any of these. Chase, the producer of the Disney Credit Card, among others, had a special center set up for card holders. We were able to relax in comfortable chairs and have a nice cold drink (non-alcoholic). We also had a wonderful chat with one of the hostesses who told us about some of the events that she assists with.


After finding our AP Pin we departed out into the heat and decided to stop in Universe of Energy and listen to Ellen learn all about energy from Will Nye, the Science Guy. I always manage to get a short nap during this one. From there it was back out to the World Showcase where we sampled a few more items, to include the wonderful Warm Chocolate Lava Cake with Bailey's Ganache from the Ireland Kiosk ($3.25 each). After a trek over to France so that Donna could get a Sparkling Pomegranate Kir ($7.75)and I could get Escargot Persillade en Brioche ($5.25 and much better than last year, IMHO), washed down with a nice glass of Chardonnay, Bouchard Aine & Fils ($5.75) (I rarely drink French White wine but this went very well with the Escargot), we walked back to International Gateway. We had our pictures taken there, looking across the “English Channel”. We opted to take the boat back to DHS and catch the bus from there as there was less walking involved between the boat and the buses than it would have been to walk all the way back to the front of EPCOT and then to their buses.


We retired to our room to watch the Dancing with the Stars results show and were really disappointed with the two that got booted off. Both were quite good dancers, while two that consistently got the worst judges marks remained.