Chasing Adventure

We are both Disney kids and have only been able to get to a park once a year, at most, for the past few years. In the past 6 months, we have been on Disney property FOUR times and can’t wait to be there again in May!

We got to experience Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival in August, which is my favorite festival in my favorite park. I even ordered matching shirts! Yes… we are THAT couple. #hearteyes

We stayed at one of our DVC home resorts, Beach Club, which allows us access to walk into the back of Epcot. Even though we have annual passes, Greg needed to work in the mornings, so we stayed at the hotel until just after lunch time and then ate lunch, dinner, supper, 2nd lunch, dessert and 2nd dessert in the park.

The first day, my shirt says “We finish each other’s” and his shirt says “Sandwiches”. Can you name that movie?? It was really hot and humid that day (well, all week TBH), so I had the sleeves rolled up within an hour. We grazed like cows around the World Showcase, enjoying the filet from Canada, dumplings from China, and smothered sweet potato fries from Flavours of Fire, to name a few. We also checked out the Eat to the Beat concert schedule and noticed Phillip Phillips was playing. We loved watching him win American Idol and thoroughly enjoyed his fun concert.

The next day, he wore his Epcot shirt and mine says “Today’s Forecast Epcot with 100% chance of day drinking”. Minnie was talking pictures when we came in the park, so we had to stop and get one! Funny story, we were taking a picture with Minnie in Magic Kingdom years ago, when we noticed that Minnie had hairy legs as we were walking up to the character. Greg whispered to me ‘maybe Minnie is a dude’. Minnie heard us and shushed us, then laughed!! Fun times.

Today we had the apple strudel with vanilla sauce from Germany, Sangria flight from Spain, Focaccia Ripiena and Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake with vanilla cream and strawberry compote (OMG) from Italy, and the Roasted Lamb Chop from Australia. We definitely stopped for my cider from the Rose & Crown pub (thanks for that recommendation Terrie!) and Greg’s tangerine beer from the Refreshment Outpost. We enjoyed a German band playing a set (and I got a picture and we exchanged a few words in German!) and then watched the storms come in from the bridge between France and England (the same one Greg proposed to me under!). Another successful day – full bellies and cheeks hurting from smiling and laughing so much.

The third day, we were able to get a photo with Pluto in our matching shirts. His said “I buy the beers” and mine said “I wear the ears”. I actually bought new ears off Etsy for this trip and I got SO many compliments on them. They are so pretty with the purple (no shock) and white flowers and then there is a baby Groot in one of the ears. At night, there is a switch on the back where I can turn them on! Greg said it was good because he could always find me in the crowd. 🙂

We ate the Passionfruit cheesecake from Hawaii (meh), Raclette Swiss Cheese with potatoes from the Alps, barbequed beef from Kenya, and the Curry Cheese sticks from India (meh). We also tried several other beers and wines from various countries, but had our favorites we returned to from the day prior.

Since we have been to Epcot numerous times, we wanted to take the time this week to visit way deep into the countries. The level of detail Disney has put into each country shouldn’t shock me, but always does. My favorite little piece of information came from Morocco and it was a display of the all-female road rally through the desert, called Rallye de Aïcha des Gazelles. The ladies are called gazelles and the point is to get from A to B each day, over nine days. Sound simple, it’s not. Apparently, they get a book each day that tells them where their checkpoints are with geographical headings. They get that book, a compass, a map, and that’s it. I want to do that so bad!

On our way through Norway, we went into the little bakery we had never visited (shocking, I know) and asked what they recommended. School Bread. If you have not tried this, you haven’t really been through Norway. It’s a sweet roll filled and topped with custard and coconut on top. The workers told us it got the name from kids always taking it to school as their dessert. We took a couple home and now every time we go to Epcot, we bring home School Bread!

The next day, I wore the special Disney dress I also ordered off Etsy. It is purple with the doors from Monsters around the bottom. I sent a picture of me wearing it to the lady I bought it from and she now uses it for showing what the dress looks like online! I’m famous! lol… Greg had a traditional castle with Walt and Mickey in front to wear. We got the best picture with the Epcot ball and the monorail in the background!

We ate the crispy duck buns and dumplings from China, and the griddled cheese and lamb gyro from Greece. I think today was our best overall food day! The griddled cheese had pistachios on it and it was SO delicious!

Our final day, we wore our matching, not matching, official food and wine taste tester shirts. We ate the chicken bun and the beef don from Japan, Brazilian cheese bread, beer braised beef from Belgium, and the smoked corn beef from Flavours. We definitely went back for a few items that we loved this day!

Maybe next year, I’ll have us in matching shirts, but take pictures of the amazing foods we ate and drinks we tried. Until next time!

~Katie