DAY 3 – Saturday 3/26/22
Who: Sue (63), DVC Member
Plan: Pool/Beach, Epcot

Actual: Last night I turned in a bit earlier – by around 10. Once again, I slept well without hearing any noise at all. I do have neighbors in the connecting 1br villa but they must not have any kids over there (yay). I see the “room occupied”
sign on the door at times but have never heard anything – which is just how it should be. I didn’t set the alarm and got up around 5:18. I enjoyed my cappuccino from bed while watching the local news on the tv and a HAL ship sailing in to Port
Everglades on the webcam down there. Soon Caribbean season will be over and HAL’s ships will be redeployed to Europe, Alaska & Canada/New England.

I decided to save Disney Springs for tomorrow. Today my day is wide open so I’ll probably get the goat cheese croissant from France when they open and then hopefully it’ll be warm enough for the pool by then. Tomorrow I have lunch booked at 2pm, so
I don’t want festival food at 11. Instead I can hit Disney Springs (Gideon’s) and have a short visit at the pool before lunch.

Since I’ll be getting the croissant around 11 I decided to skip the bacon & egg this morning. Instead, I ate some of the caramel apple oatmeal cookie. Afterall, oatmeal is a breakfast food, right? I enjoyed a leisurely morning and finally got up
just before 9 to shower and dress. I put a light jacket in my bag (since I wore a skort & tank) but never needed it. Had the sun not been shining it might have been a different story though.

Since I had time to kill with nowhere I needed to be in the immediate future I first took a nice walk around Crescent Lake, in tribute to Steve Russo from RADP. He usually stayed at Boardwalk and is the one who came up with the term “Crescent Lake
snob” to good-naturedly describe those of us for whom staying anywhere else was simply inferior/unacceptable. He was a talented trip report writer with a great sense of humor, and sadly we lost him to brain cancer in recent years. Gone but not
forgotten, as they say!

My walk was very nice, and although it was around 9:45 when I paused at Boardwalk to take a picture there were few people around. Most of them were hanging out by the Boardwalk Bakery, eating breakfast – that area was pretty busy. I walked over to
Epcot and was pleased (& surprised) to see no crowds heading through International Gateway. Getting through security and then into the park had no wait at all.

By now it was only a little past 10 so I turned left past United Kingdom and Canada than walked into Future World. Checking the app I could see Spaceship Earth only had a 10-minute wait so I decided to ride that. By the time I got there the wait was
listed as 15 minutes but the line moved steadily and it was probably really closer to 10 minutes.

I took my seat and was shocked when the cast member put another person next to me, saying it’s “2 per row”. Wow – in 40 years of riding this that’s never happened before! Thankfully it was a nice young lady who was slender, so neither of us
were overflowing into the other’s seat. I had already selected English as the language, but that was her language as well so no problem. I told her to go ahead and answer the questions when it was time, and she politely declined and said I should. I
said I’ve done this so many times, I’d rather enjoy experiencing her choices and she was fine with that.

We got through the ride without constant slow-downs or stops – sometimes it happens a lot on this one. At the end she chose all health/fitness related answers and we both enjoyed “our future”. Before disembarking she thanked me for sharing my
seat and I thanked her for creating a great ending before I headed off and she rejoined her party.

I went outside and walked back to World Showcase, arriving in France around 10:40. The festival booth was not open yet and neither was the queue. I stood at a table playing with my phone and when I saw a cast member come out right before 11 to open the
queue I realized the line of people waiting extended halfway up the bridge!!!! Omigod – this is ridiculous. But, I can only blame myself – I was standing there the whole time but didn’t get in line. I waited for everyone to pass me, then joined
the queue. Before long the entire queue was filled in, with people extended beyond.

At first only 1 register was open, but eventually a grumpy-looking second cast member showed up. They should have both been ready at the stroke of 11! When it was my turn I ordered the warm croissant w/herbed goat cheese and once again the reader had
trouble with my gift card. It’s funny this doesn’t happen at any of the other locations. I tried several times and the cast member finally got it to work on her 2nd or 3rd try.

I was handed a single croissant, which was full size. I wonder now if the reason I was given 2 the other day was because one was so small. In any event, 1 is enough. I found a table with chairs outside Chefs de France and sat there to enjoy the
croissant. These are so good! Whoever thought up and implemented this menu item deserves a commendation! I had my bottle of cold water and washed it down with that – France didn’t have any wines I was interested in at the festival booth.

After the croissant I walked back into United Kingdom and ordered the raspberry chocolate tart from the Cider House. There was no wait here, and I took it to a tall table outside the garden area of Rose & Crown. It was very good – but as I recall the
first year or two it was much better (darker, richer). I’m glad I tried it this year but it’s another one and done for me.

With a full belly I walked back to the resort, changed into a swimsuit and headed out to the quiet pool for around 1.5 hours. There were quite a few people but it was nice & quiet. The few times I’d see a child they were playing quietly and not
disturbing anyone. While at the pool I checked the app a few times, thinking maybe I’d ride over to Hollywood Studios just for the heck of it, but the wait times were always crazy for everything. I knew I was not going to wear a mask so Magic Kingdom
and Animal Kingdom were off the table but I checked them anyway and found the same thing. I’ll check Studios one more time later, but may just stick with the original plan of wandering around Epcot for a bit.

Coming back inside I shared an elevator with a lady in a sparkly blue gown, man in a dark suit & tie and a lady in black on a scooter. I commented I was rather underdressed compared to them and learned they’re attending the wedding of sparkly lady’s
daughter to suit guy’s son today. Very nice! I went up to my studio and changed back into clothes, then spent time out on the balcony updating the report and doing some online stuff.

After finishing the report update I went to the ice machine to get ice and ran into the cast member who did the trash pickup yesterday. We exchanged greetings and when I got back to the studio I pulled the trash can out from under the sink. I don’t
generate much trash, so I purposely put everything in the same trash can to avoid them having to dump multiple things (had told her yesterday all the trash goes under the sink). I poured a glass of wine and took it out to the balcony. At some point I
heard the door close, and when I went back inside saw that she’d come in and emptied the trash can.

I am loving spending time on this balcony so much – it’s really surprised me! I think a big part of it is the gorgeous weather. When it’s hot and/or humid who wants to be out here? The view is nice, and it’s so relaxing. Plus, this balcony
has a built-in shelf for my wine glass!

Shortly after 3 people with noisy kids arrived at the pool. They were having a great time, but that comes with some shrieking and other noise. Why the hell wouldn’t they take the kids to Stormalong Bay?????? That’s like a mini water park with far
more fun things for the kids, yet they come here where it used to be quiet. Around 3:45 I went back inside – the ships would start sailing at 4 and my battery was less than half full at this point so it made sense to plug into electricity.

I noticed I had an online training class (biomedical waste) to take for work, so I did that. However, at the end it didn’t register that I’d completed the course (despite a perfect score), so I changed browser and did it again. That didn’t work
either so I gave up – what a waste of time!

Just after 5:30 I wandered back over to Epcot. At the Studios I would have gone over for Toy Story Midway Mania but it still had a 60-minute wait and I wasn’t having any part of that! I probably won’t be in Epcot very long but I’ll enjoy walking
around World Showcase. This time entry took a bit longer – they only had 3 lanes open (really Disney – on a Saturday night during a festival??????) and it seemed each line had someone with a problem. Thankfully my problem people cleared out and
then my line went quickly.

Inside the park it was definitely busier than before, and most of the festival food booths had longer lines. I turned right towards France and once there noticed the food booth line was actually a bit shorter than it had been right at opening this
morning. Continuing past Chef’s de France I stopped to check the menu at the booth that’s Brazil during Food & Wine. They had arepas w/queso, arepas w/shrimp & stuff, and arepas w/chorizo. When I was in Barranquilla, Colombia they made & sold
arepas on the street and I haven’t had one since then. The line was fairly long so I decided to save it for my second loop.

My timing was a bit off, as I arrived at America just as the Orchestra ended their first concert and dumped a HUGE number of people into the walkway. I was surprised to see the line for the wine cart in Italy was very small – all the other lines I’d
passed were ridiculous! I got in line and ordered a glass of prosecco, which came in a champagne flute here!

As I continued to walk I saw a couple guys carrying big pieces of pizza. Since I wanted to give the crowd a chance to thin out I headed into Italy and confirmed the pizza was from the takeout window. It’s a big piece, but honestly it’s more bread/
dough than anything else. It looked pretty good if the dough is your favorite part. Per piece it runs around $7.50-8.50 depending on the toppings.

I wandered back out and over to Germany, stopping to watch the trains for a bit. I sat on a bench for a little while, then continued walking. In Norway I stopped at the bakery but didn’t see anything I wanted. I used to love the almond pretzels w/
chocolate, but that was more than I wanted today. I still have the last piece of the cookie from Germany so that will be my “dessert” tonight.

When I came back around I decided to check out the arepas. Of course by now the line was even longer. I joined the queue and thankfully the line moved pretty well. I don’t understand why a party of 8 with 5 kids and a stroller has to ALL get in the
line vs sending a couple people in the line to get everything. Once they were out of the way it went faster.

The arepas were hot, crisp, and although I imagine many people would think they’re too bland, I really liked the cornmeal taste. I don’t know if I’ll get them again, but I definitely enjoyed them. They’re easy to eat too, so I ate them as I
walked out of the park and back to the resort. I was back “home” by 7:15.

After getting fresh ice I cut up a small plate of crackers & cheese, taking it and a glass of wine out to the balcony to finish up the report. Once it gets dark or is too cool to stay out here I’ll watch some HGTV before turning in.

Today was another lovely day – so relaxing and low key, and with perfect weather. Tomorrow is my last full day here. I plan to head over to Disney Springs to fill up the gas tank and get cookies at Gideon’s. Holli loves the coffee cake one so I’
ll bring her that to thank her for feeding our feral cats the other night. If the weather cooperates (meaning it’s warm enough) hopefully I can get a little pool time before heading to Epcot for my 2pm lunch reservation.

Sue/WDW1972

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