August 13, 2016

 

 

 


Day 11, August 13

 
That’s what we call fireworks - Part 1

 
It was wonderful to wake up in our home away from home. We got up around 7am, took showers and then got ready to head out for breakfast.
We did not have to drive far, not even had to leave the resort.

 
 

 
So we soon parked our car close to Hospitality House and walked over to Olivia’s. They quickly checked us in and we were seated right away. Having a breakfast at Olivia’s is kind of a tradition, so I knew what I wanted even without looking at the menu. Tom ordered some

 
  

 
coffee and I asked for some

 
 

 
Earl Grey Tea, which we were brought a few minutes later. And it did not take long for our breakfast to be delivered. Tom had decided on the

 
 

 
Conch Republic Omelet, Shrimp, avocado, and pepper jack cheese, with breakfast potatoes and a buttermilk biscuit, a Conch Flats favorite! I always have the

 
 

 
Crab Cake Eggs Benedict, two-Poached Eggs and two Crab Cakes on an English Muffin with Key Lime Hollandaise and breakfast potatoes. And both were as yummy as we had remembered them. It did not take long and we had cleared our plates, paid the bill and were out the door again. We went back to our villa to chill for a while before driving back to the Hospitality House for The Legend of Conch Flats Tour.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
We had been invited to the tour the day before by phone and thought it might be a nice extra treat before meeting our friend Michelle and her husband Vito again. So we went to the Papa’s Den and were greeted by our tour guide.

 
 

 
 

 
  

 
There were a few other people waiting and we waited until 5 minutes after the proposed time and then the guide started to talk about how Old Key West came to be, how the name of the resort was changed and what inspiration had brought the imagineers to come up with the resort. After about 10 minutes we moved outside and learned more about the population of Conch Flats and how the names of the different parts were created. It was a really fun tour and the guide was fun to listen to and he made it really interesting as well. We walked around for a bit more and got to the firepit and a special friendship palm tree that was as old as the resort. The area where the firepit is was the last stop and the guide then handed out bottles of water, some cooling cloths and special pins.

 
 

 
It was really nice especially since it was a free tour in the first place. Once the tour was over we had to hurry as we still needed our backpack and my small bag before we could make our way to Epcot. And while we were in our villa we decided that we would try to use the bus for a change. We usually drive to parks, but the bus stop was so conveniently located just across the street and we knew there was alcohol for us in the evening and we would have to get back by bus anyway. So we walked over to the bus stop, sat down, looked at the posted times and were thinking that it would be at least 15 minutes until a bus would arrive. But that was not the case. We had not been sitting there for more than three minutes and a bus pulled into our stop. It said Epcot. We asked the driver if it indeed went to Epcot and he smiled and told us to just come on in, this was where he was going. The bus was nearly empty and it was a nice short drive and we soon found ourselves at the security check. I texted Michelle, that we were at the entrance

 
 

 
and they let us know that they were at The Land, so after we had scanned our magicbands we walked right over to The Land.

 
 

 
When we arrived there we saw them waiting downstairs and hotfooted it down to Sunshine Seasons. Michelle had made FastPasses for all of us for Soarin, so after we had all hugged each other and talked for a while we headed over to Soarin. There were quite a few people even in the FastPass line, but soon we were directed toward a line and halfway down the line it stopped so we had a lot of time to chat and we talked about their invitation and that we thought it would be easier for us to just drive to their house if they wanted us to. And they were so happy we had offered that. After a few minutes the line moved again and soon we were told in which row to get. Angelina was excited to get on the ride and soon we were getting into our seats and ready for take off. This time we sat in the middle of the screen and it made quite the difference, as none of the buildings tilted to one side. When the ride was over we slowly went to a side elevator and the walked towards the exit. We were all hit by the hot weather outside, but we wanted to walk over to Test Track, another favourite of Angie’s. And while we walked towards the fountain I spotted two familiar faces. In 2009 we had experienced our first Disney cruise and had travelled with a group of Disneyfans. We became friends with quite a lot of them and I knew that John and his wife Kathy were at Walt Disney World those days. And there they were, walking straight towards us. So we stopped them, introduced Michelle and Vito and chatted for a while. Needless to say that we needed to take a photo

 
 

 
and then they went over to Soarin, while we walked over to Test Track. Michelle got new FastPasses for all of us for Soarin and we quickly brainstormed what we should do in the meantime. We went through a few rides in our minds and then decided that we wanted to try the new DVC lounge that was close by. We walked all across the park again and looked for the entrance, and when we found it, we joined the line of DVC members who wanted to do the same. Once it was our turn, we showed our DVC IDs and the cast member told us that she would put us on the waiting list. She needed a phone number to send us a text once it was our turn. I voiced my concern, because we had a foreign phone number and sending texts never works, so we asked them to send an email, but the cast member insisted they would be able to send a text. Okay then. Since they had told us that it would not take too long, we stuck around exploring the area, watching kids play and then finally checking all the merchandise. We had spent three quarters of an hour looking around and I was getting tired of waiting, especially since we saw a lot of people coming in and heading up to the lounge. So after another few minutes we decided to get in line again and just ask how long it would still take.
When we talked to the cast member again, she told us that we could not go up to the lounge twice in such a short amount of time.
Well, we have not been up yet, once, lady.
She called upstairs and the cast member who is in charge of sending the texts came down apologizing that the text had not gone through and we were welcome if we wanted to go up now. Perfect. So we went around to the back of the stairs, where the elevator was located and we went up to the lounge. We signed in again and walked around checking out the area and looking for some seats. We were really lucky as it was busy, but a family was just leaving and we could use their table and chairs. Tom and Vito went to get drinks for everyone and Michelle, Angie and I sat there enjoying the air conditioning. The lounge was lovely, so airy, even though the place is small.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
We sat for quite some time chatting away before it was time to head back down and walk over to Test Track. We scanned our magicbands and joined people in the FastPass line. It moved slowly but it moved and soon it was time to help Angie getting into the ride vehicle and off we went.

 
 

 
Once we got off, the men checked out the cars and talked about what they liked and didn’t like and then we walked outside again. We had decided that we wanted to get some very early dinner and were now on our way to Via Napoli. We all took a restroom break on the way to World Showcase and then we slowly strolled through the countries. We did not have an ADR so we were a bit hesitant when we saw the many people waiting outside the restaurant, but Vito went in and asked if they had a table and they told us that it would be a 20 minute wait, but they would get us a table. It took about half an hour until they had cleared a table that was okay for us with the wheelchair and we soon were studying the menus.  The waiter brought our drinks and Tom and I decided that we would share an appetizer and a pizza, as we had a reservation for a dessert partly lateron that day. We went with the

 
 

 
Arancini, fried risotto balls filled with mozzarella and meat ragu, which were really nice and tasty. Soon after we had finished them our

 
 

 
Pizza Capricciosa, one of their  Signature Pies, with tomato sauce, mozzarella, eggplant, artichokes, ham and mushrooms was brought out and we ate about half of it, but there was no way we would be able to finish it.

 
  

 
So in the end Michelle and Vito, who could not finish their pizza either had the rest packed up and took it home. It was past 6pm when we left the restaurant and it was time for us to say goodbye.

 

 

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