Day 2 – Epcot
Often regarded as the red-headed stepchild of the Disney parks (mainly by me), Epcot was actually one of the parks we were most excited to visit. Two reasons: 1) Melanie used to work there and thus had a tangible attachment to the place she spent so many days and nights; and 2) BEERZ. We hit Epcot right in the thick of the International Food & Wine Festival and, lemme tell you, we lapped it all up. Literally.
The sheer array of food, snacks, desserts, beverages and other delectables at the 29 or so countries had our heads swimming, and we initially thought we’d be fortunate to hit half of them during our week in Florida. Enter our destiny in the form of a 3″x4″ pamphlet/”passport” through which you could chart your progress during the festival. Each country had its own, unique stamp which would mark your passport after placing your order and this tapped into some diseased portion of our brains that forced us to ensure we hit each and every station over the course of the week.
More on this later but I’ll leave it for now with an estimation we consumed our weights in food, wine and beer over the course of the week, and probably won’t have digested everything until well after New Year’s. Upon arriving in the park, however, we first met up with some past coworkers and present friends of Melanie’s, two of whom still work in the Disney array of parks and attractions. Jay and Zack played great hosts, starting us off with lunch at a restaurant in the Italy area of Epcot’s World Showcase. We loaded up on fire-grilled pizzas while rehashing some of Melanie’s exploits back in the days she and her friend Erin worked here — easily embarrassing her in the process.
We spent the rest of the day travelling from country to country, consuming so many varieties of food and drink it’s a miracle we stayed alive to complete our vacation over the course of the next seven days.
Like I said…lucky to be alive after this day.
The IllumiNations fireworks spectacular — an amazing show held each night over Epcot’s World Showcase Lagoon, one that Melanie clearly loves even after having witnessed it 300 or so times over her career here. The perfect way to cap off a fun-filled Day 2 in the parks.
Pretty sure Melanie was crying her eyes out in joy as the fireworks lit up our shining faces from above.
Great trip log. I smiled and laughed (and peed my pants) at the thought of seeing Potter world! Definitely a place to return….and see all I haven’t seen before….
LOVED it. I laughed and wished I was there.You guys are so cute
Oh man – that trip had EVERYTHING! Super jealous of you guys!