Wine and Dine Race Weekend - Day 3

I had definitely hoped to sleep late but by 8 am I was awake.  I relaxed for a bit in bed but I was HUNGRY!  Then it dawned on me that I had nothing to eat after the half marathon except a powerade so it wasn’t too surprising that I was starving.  I got ready and headed for a nice big breakfast at the food court.

With the races over, Chris and I had 3 full days to enjoy in the parks.  We wanted to do some things that we always say we want to do but never seem to get to.  This day we were headed to Epcot and had a 2 pm reservation for the Behind the Seeds tour there.

We did a few attractions and then went to see if we could hit some Food and Wine booths for some snacks to serve as our lunch.  The lines didn’t seem quite as bad as the day before so we got on line at the Greek booth.  I got the griddled cheese which I thought was just ok.  It was kind of stuck to the bottom of the paper container it was in so I had to pry it off. I think that was the turn off because the cheese itself was pretty good.

We did still wait about 25 minutes for that “taste” and we decided we didn’t have enough time to do enough booths to make it lunch so we went to Sunshine Seasons in the Land pavilion to get something more substantial.  I had a tasty veggie pita and then a slice of pumpkin cheesecake.  It was nice to take a sit down break too and our tour started right in that pavilion so it all worked out.

We checked in at the counter right next to Soarin and were giving name tags that would be our “ticket” to the tour.  Right at 2 pm, our tour guide came to collect us and we were on our way backstage.

The tour lasts for about an hour and you walk along a path in the greenhouses that you see on the Living with the Land attraction.  In fact, boats from the attraction were going by the whole time we were on the tour.  The tour guide gives you some more information than you get from the attraction but I think the biggest plus to the tour is that you have the ability to ask questions. 

There were some interactive elements of the tour, like getting to taste a cucumber that was grown there and smelling jars that had various plants / herbs in them and having to guess what they were.  We also got to search for all the hidden Mickey’s inside the greenhouse.

Overall, I thought it was a good tour.  Something definitely worth doing once.

After that, I wanted to check out the Disney VISA character greeting location.  This is something else that I have known about for a while but never got a chance to experience.  In one of the Innoventions buildings, there is a character greeting area that is only for Disney VISA cardholders.  You get your picture taken with the characters and then you are entitled to a free 5x7.

I found the location and there was about 10 people on line ahead of me.  A cast member saw me get on the line and came down to talk to me.  She asked how many were in my party (just me as Chris was building his own rollercoaster in the other Innoventions building) and then I had to show my Disney VISA card.  She told me that there are 2 Disney characters inside and she could not tell me what ones.  They were very serious about that part.  While I was waiting, several people came along and were really pushing to find out what characters were inside.  None of the cast members would tell.  I guess a surprise is kind of nice and I thought maybe that allows them to switch out characters and not worry about people on line waiting for a specific one.  But I can also see the guests wanting to know because they would probably not want to wait for a character they or their child doesn’t want to see.

I didn’t really care so I waited and found Minnie and Pluto inside.  I was wearing my medals and they were both pointing and admiring them.  Pluto pointed to his wrist and the cast member said “Pluto wants to know what your finish time was.”  Hey Pluto.. I’m slow ok!   I said I was slow but I finished and it was cold and wet!   So Pluto put the hood of sweatshirt over my head to keep me warm.  Very cute and then I took a picture with them and I was on my way.  

Before we did our tour, I asked Chris if he wanted to see what we could get for a dining reservation in one of the countries for that night.  I went on the My Disney Experience app and found a reservation available in the Moroccan restaurant.  We had never eaten there so we decided to give it a try.  So after my picture we took another stroll through World Showcase.  It was much quieter at the food booths further back.  

We still had some time to kill so we did another thing we haven’t done before…. We checked out the Disney VISA lounge above the American Adventure.  Again I had to show my VISA card and then we were able to go upstairs to the lounge.  It was really a good place to find.  There was soda and a few other beverages available for free.  There were tables to sit at and charging stations for your phone.  There were video games set up for the kids as well.  It was also neat to look outside from the top of the American Adventure building.  Definitely would be a good spot to escape the heat and rest for a bit.

We stayed for about 20 minutes and then headed to our reservation.  The restaurant was very well themed and we were coming in at the end of the belly dancing performance.  I believe I had lamb but I am not sure.  I do remember that we enjoyed the meal but didn’t rave about it.  Again, I am glad we got to try it but probably wouldn’t be on the top of my list to return to.

I wanted to get a dessert at the ice cream place in the France pavilion.  YUM!!  I had an ice cream sandwich that was made with brioche bread.  I chose caramel sea salt ice cream that was then placed on brioche bread, drizzled with chocolate sauce, sandwiched between another brioche piece and then pressed in what looked like a waffle maker.  It was a little odd… sort of like bread and ice cream.. but I really enjoyed it.

On our way out of Epcot, I had to stop in the photo store to pick up my 5x7 photo.  There was a huge line but it moved along pretty quickly.  I was able to look at the photos that I had taken with Minnie and Pluto.  I chose one and they printed it for me.

All in all, it was a nice day in Epcot.  

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