The window is open, so’s that door.
I didn’t know they did that anymore.
Today we had decided to have a more leisurely day and so no alarms were set which made a pleasant change. We had a quiet breakfast before going out after saying goodbye to Barry & Ellie who were taking themselves off to stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort for a couple of nights. We were off with Neil to play what is known as the World’s hardest miniature putting course at Fantasia Gardens. This is next to the crazy golf course we had played the previous weekend.
It was a quick drive and park and there was no wait for us to get on the course. The course deserves it’s title. It is laid out as a miniature version of a full-size course, except that the contours from where you start to the hole are just ridiculous. They go in all directions seemingly at the same time. It really is just a hit and hope with the first shot. The course rule is that you can have a maximum of 6 shots per hole. I carded the maximum 6 several times. By the 18th though Neil and I were tied for the lead. I had a chance for a 2 but missed it and so it ended up all square.
The early afternoon was spent in and around the pool before we headed off out again after deciding to revisit Epcot and in particular the World Showcase.
I may have mentioned once or twice that I hate paying for parking, especially here where it is $25 a pop. So, I decided to gamble by trying to park at the Boardwalk and walk into Epcot from there. Amazingly it worked without even a question from the security guard. One up to us.
We wandered into the park. Neil went to get himself a cider and despatched us to watch the band playing in the UK gardens. They called themselves ‘Command Performance’. Right from the start Karen insisted it was the same band she had liked from Disney Springs the night before where they were called The M 80’s. I of course told her she was wrong and mocked her for thinking that. Of course, later on I found she was absolutely correct and so had to eat humble pie (at least it was free).
When back in the villa earlier I had found that Ellie had left behind one of her trolls that she likes to create stories about on social media. I had put it in my pocket and started to take pictures of his adventures without her. Neil was very unimpressed by this and thought we were wasting valuable seconds doing this as we walked around. That made me grumpy.
Our first ride was Frozen in the Norway pavilion. I enjoyed it but had not anticipated getting as wet as I did.
Now for many months Epcot had been holding its annual Food & Wine Festival. Neil had planned his way around the world with different snacks. I hadn’t and had no real intention to do so. In fact, I would still say that my maxim for 90% of theme park food is still ‘double the price for half the quality’.
I accept that some of it is because Karen & I are fussy what we eat but we like what we like. Neil bought himself some of the items he had planned like seasoned pork rinds and then cheese from India. I know he wanted us to join in but neither of us really wanted what was on offer or were prepared to pay the price being charged.
This led to me getting grumpier and hungrier and snappy with everyone. I was also quite tired and my back was hurting. It also wasn’t helped by the fact that the park was so flipping busy. There were just people everywhere and it was quite manic in some places. I had planned I would get us some food from the American Smokehouse but when we found a table and looked at the menu Karen decided she didn’t like the sound of any of it. So, we went without and planned to just get Fish & Chips from the UK pavilion much to Neil’s distain.
We were then in time for our next ride which was Remy at the France pavilion. This was great and I really enjoyed it. Such clever use of technology and such a lot of fun.
I then used the mobile ordering to purchase 2 lots of Fish & Chips. Actually, the fish wasn’t bad and I closed my eyes as I paid for them trying to not read the price, which for theme park standards wasn’t too bad but still too high. We found a table and ate them in silence as befitted a UK family on holiday with a grumpy person amongst them. The food did though give me another spurt of energy.
We were then joined by Barry & Ellie who had managed to find us for a quick catch up. They had caught the Sky Liner from their resort to Epcot for the evening.
It was then only 30 minutes until the fireworks and light show. Barry & Ellie went off to explore more lands, whilst Neil decided that he wanted to watch the show from the Japan pavilion. I really didn’t fancy walking halfway round the lake again and have to stand to watch the show when I had a perfectly good seat and reasonable view from where I was. Karen went with him and I was left alone.
When the show started, I moved slightly from my seat and even though Neil disagreed with me afterwards thought I had an almost perfect unobstructed view of the whole show. I could see everything at ground level better than I had seen before. I enjoyed it even if I was being a ‘Billy no Mates’.
I met Karen & Neil directly after the show at our designated meeting point. We finished our walk around the Boardwalk before heading back to the villa.
It had been a good day despite me having an unnecessary grumpy patch.
