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!

 

[LeighM]

The Cider House had Florida Beer Company Caribe Blood Orange Tropical Hard Cider, which I absolutely LOVED! I typically don't like cider (not a fan of apples) but I have a weakness for blood orange. Wish I could find these here in Virginia!!

 

[Songbird76]

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.
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Livin' with the Land
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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.
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Minnie loved my ears too.
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Oh my! I thought I was the only one who was talented enough to kill a cactus.
And I think you're wrong about the goofy pic....they WERE trying....to make it HORRIBLE! Why would someone do that??

 

[Balki228]

That is awesome about the survey. The location of the survey would have been payment enough for me!! Great Trip Report

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

That tour sounds great. Great pics of World Showcase!

Thanks! It was great to have all those photo opportunities and information on the tour.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

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!!

Thanks! Hopefully you'll have a chance to visit F&G this year too. Although then you'd have to leave your beautiful snow!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

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!

We had it twice and it was great both times. But some days some of that food is a little hit or miss.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

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

No, I did tell him some. But I'm going to save some for our trivia countdowns for the next trip and try to stump him!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

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!

I have issues with the incense in the back of the pavilion as well, but the area with the little museum didn't smell like anything abnormal. The tile work is amazing, I can't imagine having the patience to do that. I've tried quilting too but it take more patience that I can put in right now.

The guy that wandered closer was pretty sly about it, and we had only stopped for a brief moment in a crowded area. If he had stuck around us I'm sure our guide would have said something too.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

The Cider House had Florida Beer Company Caribe Blood Orange Tropical Hard Cider, which I absolutely LOVED! I typically don't like cider (not a fan of apples) but I have a weakness for blood orange. Wish I could find these here in Virginia!!

I did think about the orange cider but I'm not a huge cider fan. Now maybe I should have tried it. Ah shucks.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Oh my! I thought I was the only one who was talented enough to kill a cactus.
And I think you're wrong about the goofy pic....they WERE trying....to make it HORRIBLE! Why would someone do that??

I've actually killed 2 cacti, and years apart. It does take talent!

Luckily the other photographers were a better at taking pictures than the Goofy one.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

That is awesome about the survey. The location of the survey would have been payment enough for me!! Great Trip Report

Thanks! I was pretty excited about the location as well. It was some place I'd never been into at Epcot before.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

I have issues with the incense in the back of the pavilion as well, but the area with the little museum didn't smell like anything abnormal. The tile work is amazing, I can't imagine having the patience to do that. I've tried quilting too but it take more patience that I can put in right now.

The guy that wandered closer was pretty sly about it, and we had only stopped for a brief moment in a crowded area. If he had stuck around us I'm sure our guide would have said something too.

I know what you mean about quilting. I bought a book and followed the instructions and learned the hard way! LOL, lots of mistakes along the way Quilting groups have wonderful people who are more than willing to help newbies. I hope one day you find the time to try it. I hated sewing of any kind in school, but found a love for it in my 30's so you never know!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I know what you mean about quilting. I bought a book and followed the instructions and learned the hard way! LOL, lots of mistakes along the way Quilting groups have wonderful people who are more than willing to help newbies. I hope one day you find the time to try it. I hated sewing of any kind in school, but found a love for it in my 30's so you never know!

I can sew, basically straight seams. I've tried making clothes and that didn't work out to well. And I do embroidery and cross-stitch. But I hate having to line up corners, and seams with quilting patterns. The patchworks I've done are adequate but not great.. Oh and iron everything. I hate that. It is a beautiful art though and I do appreciate all the work that goes into it.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

So after eating some French snacks at Flower and Garden we checked out Impressions de France. I like this film a lot, the beauty of France and the music! I know some of the footage is dated but most of it is timeless.

Time for the show...

.

With all that travel around France, we needed some more sustenance. Time for some Floridan Fresh eats.
I got the beer sampler, and again this year the kumquat was the best.

Hubs doesn't like key lime things, so this little baby was all mine. The tart was good, but smaller than last year.

Next stop Japan.
Beef udon (so yummy!)

And some salmon thing, Brad liked it. I didn't try it.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Then we continued over to Germany for our last snacks.

Potato pancakes with ham. Good stuff!

But the pretzel with ham and cheese....fantastic!

And a beer flight.

Sadness when it was gone.

And a duck.

 

[JenniferS]

@ajrwdwgirl - if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery - prepare to be flattered.

Mike and I will be taking the DestiNations Discovered tour on 9/14, based entirely on your review.

Whether or not Mike wears this

... remains to be seen.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

We headed out of Epcot and back to the resort for a nap. We did stop at Mouse Gear for a little shopping. Well, hubs got a shirt and I browsed.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

@ajrwdwgirl - if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery - prepared to be flattered.

Mike and I will be taking the DestiNations Discovered tour on 9/14, based entirely on your review.

Whether or not Mike wears this
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... remains to be seen.

Yay! I hope you like the tour! And I hope Mike enjoys a lot of great food in those shirts!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

After our rest at the Sports we headed to the Magic Kingdom with the main goal of getting a good spot in the hub area for Happily Ever After. We did use a fast pass for Buzz and did dinner at Cosmic Ray's before getting our spot. We used the mobile ordering on the app and this was fantastic!

Got our spot!

Starting to get a little chilly

Time for the show.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Another HEA picture, it turned out a little blurry but in a way it looks kind of cool too, like sprinkles on a cupcake exploding.

After the show we let the crowds clear a bit, but not enough. We saw an altercation between two guys with strollers. There was a lot of incoherent yelling, but no punches. But it was close.

We got a snack by the train station and sat up at the train station for awhile. We ended up leaving in the middle of Once Upon a Time. It was a little chilly but I needed a little ice cream. I'm sure @Longers would understand the need for some ice cream!

And we are out for the night.