Day 2, Part 1: Why do they call it nitroā¦oh.
Hope everyone had a good weekend! This baby is currently kicking me so much I'm starting to wonder if she can kick her way right through, Alien style. That can't happen, right? *nervous laughter*
We woke up on time, and according to my notes, actually made it out of the room and on our way to Epcot in a reasonable timeframe, by about 9:30, which is unusual for us. Usually it takes more than an hour for us to get up and get ready, let alone leave the room and make it to our destination!
Before we left, of course, we ate some breakfast, which included hard boiled eggs with our recently acquired mayonnaise packets.
I may have mentioned this before, but we are absolutely not rope drop people. I used to be, back in the days of paper Fastpasses and welcome shows. But now that both of those things are history, Iāve found it works better for us to just take our time in the morning, and not put pressure on ourselves. In fact, this might have been the earliest we made it to a park during our whole trip.
We made our way towards The Land, and I stopped at the Canada food booth on the way to grab a couple of festival passports. I think a few people thought I was cutting the line, because I got some glares. Oh well!
Iām also not a āget to my Fastpass ride as soon as my window opensā kind of person. I mean, if Iām there when it opens, sure, but Iāve learned not to stress too much about it. I guess it helps that weāre lucky enough to go so frequently, but even when Iām with people who donāt go often I donāt worry. We always make it there if we want to!
On our Epcot days, I try to schedule our Living With the Land and Soarin fastpasses back-to-back. That way we can ride one towards the end of the window, and when we get off, we can ride the other and not have to worry about coming back if we donāt want to. I love The Land but itās a bit of a hike up to the building entrance, so itās nice to knock out both attractions at once.
We rode Living with the Land first. I donāt know why, but this is like the third year in a row weāve tried to look through our festival passports on this ride. It always seems to be the first attraction we go on and the right kind of ride to look through the book. But the lighting isnāt great and thereās so much to look at, so I often give up partway through. I was excited to see the new video! Though I will miss the fabulous 80ās hair of the Epcot employees in the old version.
Next was Soarin. My dad LOVES Patrick Warburton so he really never gets tired of this ride, at least not the pre-show. I love him too. In fact, I snagged this picture and made this post on FaceBook while we waited.
We were in a really un-optimal viewing spot. Third row, all the way to the right. But Iām past the stage now where I want to wait for a better seat, unless Iām riding with someone who hasnāt experienced Soarinā before.
On our way out, I asked to do a little photoshoot. I love the original Land theme song and wanted to snag a pic for another Facebook post.
And of course, a father-daughter selfie.
We decided to hit up some booths. My dad claimed he wasnāt very hungry (a common theme), but I was pretty puckish (also a common theme). Since we were nearby, I decided to get the cheese plate from the Wine & Dine Studio, which my dad of course shared with me.
We loved it. Sadly I had to skip the wine pairing this year, but one thing I found during this trip was that since we went a month earlier than normal due to my dadās work schedule and the high holidays, it was much hotter out, which meant I didnāt miss day drinking nearly as much.
Dad loves dark chocolate, so we got the nitro chocolate truffle from the Chocolate Studio. Iād actually never had this before! Iām not a big fan of caramel so itās never been on my radar, even though I know itās very popular.
One funny thing was as we were waiting for the truffle, my dad asked aloud why it was called nitro, just as the cast member was taking the truffle out of nitrogen so she could smash it with a hammer!
Itās not the prettiest treat once itās been smashed, but it was yummy! I think we should have let it sit for a bit, though. It was so cold!
I do really love the area with all the Studio booths. And on this particular day it wasnāt very crowded. In general, it wasnāt a crowded trip at all. We lingered for a bit and enjoyed our treats before moving on.
It was time for our third Fastpass, Spaceship Earth, so we made our way to the front of the park. This is always a must-do for us, but Iām glad itās being upgraded. Love Judy Dench but itās time.
Hard to believe, but it was already time for our DVC tour! We were told to meet the shuttle at the bus area of Epcot at 1:40, so we headed out of the park at about 1:30.
There were two DVC shuttles there, but we quickly figured out which one was the correct one, and soon enough we were on our way to the DVC preview center at Saratoga Springs.
We checked in, and it took awhile. Not because of a line or any issue, but because the cast member complimented my dadās Indian Motorcycle shirt, so of course they had to talk about motorcycles for a little bit. I actually had found out earlier in the day that heād been in an accident on his bike a few weeks before! And still had a nasty wound on his elbow. But he was still riding and still eager to talk about motorcycles with anyone who would listen.
We were led to a little waiting area after that, with drinks and small pastries for refreshments. They had coffee and such, but I immediately went for the POG juice. We donāt typically eat at restaurants that serve it, so I was eager to get myself a glass. I also got a couple of pastries. Almost as soon as we got stuff, though, a woman came out and said anyone touring the model would be leaving in two minutes, and we were not allowed to bring food or drink there. So I tried to scarf it all down, figuring we would be in that group.
But as it turns out, we werenāt! Since we were already owners, our original sales rep, Eric, came out to greet us. That was a really nice surprise. Heās a great guy and it was nice to be able to continue our relationship with him. He said we could get more refreshments if we wanted, and then led us to an office down the hall.
I wonāt bore you with the details here, but we basically went over price points, concerns, how many points we thought we would need, etc. Then we went over to the model villas, which were in a building across the parking lot.
My dad and I took a ton of pictures here, so Iāll just dump them all for you. We got to see both a Riviera studio and one bedroom. We were really impressed with both. I had some concerns when information about the Riviera was still being released. It didnāt look like very interesting theming to me, and I wasnāt sure about the location.
But once we were in the villas, I felt much more comfortable. First, theyāre much bigger than the average villas in those same categories. I think Eric said the studios are the third largest on property (after Polynesian and Old Key West), and the one bedroom was clearly bigger than the model at the Boardwalk. Seeing the rooms in person also really helped me appreciate the theming more. It was subtle, but elegant.
One thing I really loved though, and my dad did too, was that the second bed is a murphy bed, not a pull-out couch. Thereās still a couch and a coffee table, but the murphy bed actually folds down neatly onto both. Our biggest gripe about studios is that we lose space when we have to put the couch cushions and the coffee table aside when we pull out the bed, and with this there is no longer that concern. So not only is the room itself bigger, it also has these conveniences to save even more space.
My dad has always been against us getting a one bedroom, which I understand. Itās double the points for the same number of people as a studio. But he did really like the one bedroom, especially the kitchen space and the whirlpool tub. He understood how that could come in handy at the end of a long park day. We may end up booking a one bedroom in the future now that weāve seen it, but for right now the studios are going to give us the best value for our points.
After the tour we got our stuff from Ericās office and got a shuttle to take us back to the Boardwalk. As of last week, we did end up purchasing 125 more points at the Riviera, so that tells you how impressed we were! I can't wait to stay there!
Up Next: The rest of Day 2: Resort time, more Epcot, and an unexpected activity!