Trip Report Florida Fresh Spring March 2018

Hello all and welcome to my trip report! I've been back for about a week but I've been slow to upload pictures and I actually caught a pretty nasty cold that has had me down the last couple of days.

So here's the intro:

Who: Me (Amy) and my husband (Brad)
Where are we from?: Northern Wisconsin (So were were definitely in need of some Florida sun.)
When: March 10-17, 2018
Resort: All Star Sports (we stay value because it is the cheapest and we can use that extra $$ for good food and drinks)

Start of the journey:

We actually started our trip on Friday March 9 and drove up to Minneapolis and stayed at a hotel near the airport. Our flight was leaving early in the morning and we didn't want to have drive early in the morning to the airport. So we relaxed at the Hilton by the airport and had a nice dinner at the Mall of America. We did have a crazy experience at the pool area here...we were just getting into the pool and we saw a pre-teen girl get out of the hot tub and was walking quickly (not running) towards the pool and she slipped and her head banged like a basketball on the pool area floor. It was pretty horrifying. I was about to get out of the pool and go help her but her parents were there and helped her and got medical help. So that put a little bit of a damper on what turned out to be our only pool time of the trip but I'm sure the girl had a worse time of it then we did.

Me with my first beer of the trip at the Mall of America. It was a Surly Furious, a local brew.

Relaxing at the Hilton with a drink. A fancy rum and Coke for hubs and a Grain Belt (another Minnesota beer) for me. This was at about 7:30-8pm and we were basically falling asleep.

At the airport bright and early for our flight! The Caribou coffee place wasn't open yet, but I like their coffee so much better than Dunkin', Starbucks, or even McDonald's so I waited about 15 minutes for it to open before heading to the gate.

All aboard! We splurge a little bit and always get the big front seat when we fly with Spirit, it is almost like first class but without the booze and the meal.

Bye bye!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

After Test Track, I found some flowers in the bathroom near by. I took another picture for @Tuvalu .

Then we headed to Mission Space only to find it closed.

So we wandered over to Imagination to support Figment.

Then made our own Figments after.

And took a couple pictures of merch I didn't buy but found interesting.

 

[Gabe1]

Glad you liked my little tour review, it really was very interesting. It did involve a lot of standing and of course walking so I'm glad I didn't do it on a super hot day.

I enjoyed your tour and duly noted 'warm' not 'hot' day.

 

[MinnieM123]

With round two of drinks I switched to the Shrunken Zombie, he stayed with the Mai Tai.

The previous 2 drinks sounded strong--you two were amazing to make it through round 2! (In the previous photo, I think I'd like the drink that Brad chose (with the orange and agave fruit liquors, etc.).

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

The previous 2 drinks sounded strong--you two were amazing to make it through round 2! (In the previous photo, I think I'd like the drink that Brad chose (with the orange and agave fruit liquors, etc.).

That's why we got the food we wanted it to soak up some of the liquor! We've had the drinks before without food and while fun it left us feeling more than slightly light headed!

 

[Gurt]

Hi Amy bit behind here so forgive me for my delayed question, I assume it's probably just the angel but is one of those panda topiaries missing it's head?

 

[PirateTink]

I did stop and got another AP magnet and stopped at the Art of Disney store and admired the art for a bit. Then I hopped on a packed monorail to head to the TTC.
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Now that I'm at the TTC...which way and where am I going to go to meet up with my hubs? I left your earlier with him on a boat now I'm at the TTC. Guess you'll have to wait until tomorrow (or my next post) to find out!

Could you please share a pic of the pin you got from the tour?

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Hi Amy bit behind here so forgive me for my delayed question, I assume it's probably just the angel but is one of those panda topiaries missing it's head?

Oh my, you are right one of the pandas was missing a head. I totally didn't notice it at the time or until you pointed it out. I hope they have found a head for it by now! I took that picture when World Showcase was still "closed" to guests so maybe they popped it back on before opening.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Could you please share a pic of the pin you got from the tour?

I can post it at some point. I don't have a picture of it on my phone and I'm too lazy to dig it out right now. I will try to do it tomorrow.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

After Journey I wanted to do the Living Seas, hubs didn't but we had a decent amount to time before or first fast pass. So he reluctantly agreed. We took some pictures out front and after we did a photo pass we were approached by a cast member doing a survey. I figured it would just take a minute. Nowadays they usually ask a couple questions and then email you a survey.

Well not this survey. She asked us a few questions and then asked us if we would be willing to be part of a longer survey. We like to do surveys so we were already about to agree when she added it would only be about 15 more minutes and we would get a $20 gift card to do the survey. Sweet! $20 for us to do a survey we would have done for free, AWESOME!

So were were led into a conference area of the Living Seas. We were offered beverages, so I got some coffee and we did a survey on a computer with a view of the tanks. And did we get our $20 gift card...nope we got 2 $20 gift cards! One for each of us! We both thought she meant a total of $20 so we were really pleased, plus it did take only about 15 minutes. So this really meant $40 in "free" Flower and Garden food and drinks for us!

Inside the area we took the survey.

So happy people we were we then rode Nemo. And now by this point hubs was done with the Seas and didn't want to do anything else there. For a guy who likes to eat fish, he doesn't like to watch them.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

So off we went to Livin' with the Land. I have always been amazed with the greenhouses. I just can't get enough, probably because I'm so terrible with growing plants. I have even killed a cactus before.

Oh here are our fishy faces at the Seas.

Livin' with the Land

Our next fast pass was at the Characters. This has got to be the worst lighting picture with Goofy ever. It's like they weren't even trying. Goofy though was awesome, he couldn't get enough of the ears I was wearing, not that you can see them in the picture.

Minnie loved my ears too.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

After characters it was back to the Land for our Soarin' fast pass, but we had time for a little snack.

We went to Sunshine Seasons for our snack and I picked the Rose Gold cupcake and Brad picked the turtle brownie and we shared them. Both were just okay, I wish the cupcake would have had more hazelnut flavor.

Inside the cupcake.

After we rode Soarin', in the center section, we headed off to Flower and Garden food kiosks. And along the way checked out some flowers.

Then our first F&G food stop for today was the Honey Bee-stro.

We got the:
Local Wildflower Honey-Mascarpone Cheesecake with Orange Blossom Honey Ice Cream garnished with Fennel Pollen Meringue Kisses and the beer is Orange Blossom Brewing Co. Orange Blossom Pilsner, Orlando, FL

And Honey Tandoori Chicken Flatbread with White Cheddar Cheese, charred vegetables, Clover Honey Sour Cream and Micro Watercress

Both were good. The cheesecake was really tasty and the ice cream was a bit sweet but still good. The flatbread didn't have enough chicken of spice. Decent but the flatbread wasn't a buy again. We did share a table with another couple and they shared similar thoughts about the food as they had gotten the same food.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

A look back at the Bee-stro

Next up was Northern Bloom. Here we got :
Beef Tenderloin Tips, Mushroom Bordelaise Sauce, Whipped Potatoes with Garden Vegetables
Seared Scallops with French Green Beans, Butter Potatoes, Brown Butter Vinaigrette and Apple-wood Smoked Bacon
The beer was a flight of:

• Unibroue Maudite Amber Ale, Chambly, Québec
• Unibroue À Tout Le Monde Saison, Chambly, Québec
• Unibroue Éphémère White Ale, Chambly, Québec

The food was okay, hubs like the scallops a lot. I really liked all the beer: tasty, tasty and more tasty!

I was a little enraptured with the beer that I forgot to take a picture until I drank a lot of it. I meant to get seconds of this flight later, but sadly I did not.

Wood carvings

And pretty flowers

Then we wandered over to the UK and to the Cider House. Last year we really liked the pear braised corned beef. It was still good this year but there was too much of the topping and cabbage and not enough of the corned beef. I didn't get any beer here, but there was a Wisconsin cider on the menu from Point Brewery (Steven's Point Wisconsin) which is about 2 1/2 hours away from me and has decent beer. I figured I could get that at my grocery store so I passed on that.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Next stop France! We were both looking forward to this a lot. The food sounded so good and I couldn't wait to have a Kronenbourg Blanc, I enjoyed this beer when we went to Paris.

But first some photo pass shots with some magic!
Orange bird with my Orange Bird shirt!

Now the food! We got... (as listed on DFB's site)

• Tarte à la Tomate Provençale: Provencal Tomato Tart with Sautéed Onions, Fresh Thyme and Rosemary on a Flaky Pastry Crust (V) – $5.50, DDP Snack Eligible
• Canard Confit Aux Gnocchi à la Parisienne: Braised Duck Confit with Parisian Gnocchi – $5.75, DDP Snack Eligible
• Macaron au Chocolat en Sucette: Large Chocolate Macaron Lollipop (GF) – $4.95, DDP Snack Eligible

And of course the beer.

We had so many high hopes for the macaron. We loved them in Paris and Kayla's Cakes in Disneyland has awesome macarons, but this one was not good. It was dry and we didn't care for the pearl things on it. The beer was good though....

The duck was good, and the gnocchi was interesting with the herbs in it. It was just missing something that we couldn't quite place. But it was enjoyable though.

Then the tomato onion tart.....oh so good! We definitely got more of this another day! I was worried the tomatoes would be too watery but it was perfect, like sun dried tomatoes.

 

[fractal]

That tour sounds great. Great pics of World Showcase!

 

[Gurt]

Oh my, you are right one of the pandas was missing a head. I totally didn't notice it at the time or until you pointed it out. I hope they have found a head for it by now! I took that picture when World Showcase was still "closed" to guests so maybe they popped it back on before opening.

I keep looking at it trying to work out if maybe it wasn't a panda but I couldn't make sense of it, I hope they found it's head before they opened WS

 

[MinnieM123]

Gorgeous photos! Flower and Garden Festival is so beautiful--WDW really does such an excellent job with all the floral/plant displays, and I love the topiaries--fun and creative.

But my favorite photo (aside of the one with Minnie, of course), was the "fishy faces"!!! Love it!!

 

[sheriffwoody]

Oh man, the tomatoes on your tarte look way better than mine! I guess a lot of this stuff is better depending on the day and who is making it!

 

[DryerLintFan]

Did you spend the whole time in Epcot telling Brad fun facts he missed from the tour?

 

[Longers]

We did one survey while we were in Disney but alas no gift cards! That would have been a result and I wouldn’t have said no either!
Think of how many extra ice creams I could have bought!

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

I did stop and got another AP magnet and stopped at the Art of Disney store and admired the art for a bit. Then I hopped on a packed monorail to head to the TTC.
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Now that I'm at the TTC...which way and where am I going to go to meet up with my hubs? I left your earlier with him on a boat now I'm at the TTC. Guess you'll have to wait until tomorrow (or my next post) to find out!

I loved your view of the tour at WS. I never knew a lot of it, especially the Moroccan area. My husband can't stand the smell of that area, so we don't linger LOL I loved the photos of the tile - I find it interesting as I am a quilter and often check out the tile patterns for inspiration. Thanks for doing that.
Funny, on my KTTK tour, we had a person wander over to us and step in to listen. Our tour guide immediately stopped and asked the man if he was on the tour, as this was for tour members only. I was glad he did that, as we had paid the price to listen to all his history and secrets!