The Pumpkins Dine Around Disney 2014 Trip Report Index! (And here is the Pre-Trip Report!)



Day 13: Been Around The World
Epcot World Showcase; Restaurant Marrakesh (Lunch); Frozen Fireworks
August 26th, 2014

I bet you thought I'd forgotten about finishing off this trip report didn't you?! Yes, it's taken me over a year to get it done, but just this one, another full day and our travel home day to come. I WILL get them written before we head off for trip number 4 – Halloween in the Wilderness 2015! (Oh, and that pre-trip report too!)

Now, if you've read my other days, you'll know that I didn't keep much of a diary, so much of what we did is but a distant memory now, so I'm going to be cobbling the final few days of 2014's trip together from the photographs that I took.

Today we decided to head to Epcot and explore Epcot World Showcase a little. We didn't have any firm plans for dining, so it was essentially a "do whatever" kind of day! We got to Epcot around 1pm, which is pretty late in the day for us. In fact, we had quite a few later starts on this holiday than we had in previous years. It's quite nice taking a more relaxed approach.


After entering the park, we went straight to Test Track, to use our FastPass+ time slot. Liam got to work 'building' our car on the touch screens, and we were soon sat in the car to head out onto the track. This ride is a family favourite of ours, and the best bit, by far, is when you first break through from the inside tests out onto the track!

From a plus-size rider point of view (size 28/30 on this trip) I was able to get in and out of the car without problem, and the seatbelt was fine too. We were sat in the back row, which is a little more cramped than the front.

After the ride, you walk out through, what is essentially a Chevrolet showroom, where they have several cars on display, and which we always have to go and have a look at and sit in!


We then began our move towards Epcot World Showcase. We decided to do something we haven't done before, and that is to take a boat across the World Showcase Lagoon. It was a lovely ride across, and gave a different perspective of all the countries that encircle it. I personally love Epcot World Showcase, and can happily spend a whole day here exploring!


It looks like we got the boat over towards the Germany and Italy Pavilions, and walked round towards The American Adventure where we met Chip 'n' Dale. These guys are by far our favourite characters to meet when at Walt Disney World – they're always such fun, and it doesn't matter if my son is now an older teen, he suddenly reverts back to childhood (as do we!) when in the presence of these cheeky chipmunks! They loved his Chip 'n' Dale hat, and initiated the fun poses too!


We passed through the Japan Pavilion quite quickly (we popped back later) to go into Morocco. We'd made the decision, since we were all hungry, to seek out somewhere here for lunch.

What I love about the World Showcase is the chance to experience different countries in one place. I know it's not the same, but the themeing is amazing, the Cast Members in the different pavilions are from the country they are based on, as is the types of dining and snack options too.


[Continued in next post…]

For lunch we headed into Restaurant Marrakesh, which was very quiet at 3.45pm when we dined. In fact, I think we were one of only a couple of tables in there. The service was not the best, especially if I compare it to some other Disney restaurants, but the food was tasty, and there was entertainment too – a belly dancer.


The menus themselves had seen better days, as you can see from the above picture – very worn!

As with pretty much every table service restaurant at Walt Disney World, we presented with a bread basket with some warm bread and butter, to eat whilst looking at the menu.

When it comes to the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan at a table service restaurant you are entitled to one appetizer, one entrιe, one dessert and one non-alcoholic beverage per person (usually refillable) for 1 credit per person.


Appetizers…

Me + Him: Assorted Mediterranean Salads For Two – Falafel, sundried tomatoes, hummus, roasted eggplant puree and tabbouleh. ($13.99)

The Boy: Chicken Bastilla – Baked layers of thin pastry filled with minced chicken and almonds, sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar. ($8.99)

I'm half Greek-Cypriot, so, many flavour combinations which may seem weird to some folk, but seemed normal to me. I've certainly had a lot of cinnamon in dishes over the years, and my fair share of filo pastry delights – both savoury and sweet. But I've never had powdered sugar on something savoury before! It was because it sounded unusual, that we picked it from the appetizer list. We actually ended up sharing everything.


Entrιes…

Me: Chicken Kebabs – Brochettes of chicken breast, olive salad and dried fruit sweet couscous. ($24.99)

Him: Mogador Fish Tagine – Marinated fish with olives, lemon confit, potatoes, green peppers and chermula sauce. ($27.99)

The Boy: Shish Kebab – Grilled tenderloin of beef with mixed vegetables yellow rice. ($28.99)

The food was all good, very tasty from what I can remember. I don't think it was anything out of the world extraordinary though!


Desserts…

Me: Bastilla – Crispy leaves of pastry topped with vanilla cream & sprinkled with cinnamon, powdered sugar and toasted almonds. ($7.99)

Him: Moroccan Symphony – Assorted Moroccan Baklavas. ($6.99)

The Boy: Marrakesh Delight – Fresh fruit salad, topped with mint ice cream, toasted almonds and orange blossom water. ($5.99)


There were only three desserts on the menu, so we got one of each. All were sweet and tasty, and again, like apps, we shared the desserts.

During dessert, two guys came out to play some music, and were then joined by a belly dancer. It was a shame the restaurant was so quiet, I'd imagine it would be a much better atmosphere if it was full! But she was very entertaining!


We paid up our bill and went on our way… whilst the food was good at Restaurant Marrakesh, I don't think we'd be in a rush to go back there.


We continued our tour around the Morocco Pavilion, going into the souks, and spotting a Hidden Mickey along the way!


We then noticed that a band were setting up on the stage. We decided to sit and watch them. They are called Mo'Rockin', and sadly, their run at Epcot World Showcase came to an end in 2014. What a shame! They were a 6-piece Moroccan musical act, accompanied by a belly dancer – they were so entertaining. Glad we got to see them at least once!

I think this just shows how important it is to catch the little things you think are not worth stopping for – Epcot World Showcase has lots of entertainment, and it's well worth just taking time out to chill out and watch the performances.


[Continued in next post…]

After the Mo'Rockin' performance, we walked back towards the Japan Pavilion. I wanted to get a Kakigori (Japanese shaved ice) as it was on my Disney bucket list, and since it would be the last day visiting Epcot this year, it had to be done!


I don't have a note of which flavour I got, but it's likely to have contained cherry, as that is one of my favourite fruit flavours. It was essentially a Japanese Slush Puppy! Kakigori are available for 1 snack credit on the Disney Dining Plan, or cost $3.75. (Ninja edit - just found the receipt, it was Rainbow flavour!)


Back in The American Adventure, Liam decided he wanted a funnel cake – fruit salad and some ice-cream didn't quite hit the spot earlier! Funnel Cakes are not on the Disney Dining Plan, so we paid $8 out of pocket for this chocolate funnel cake with powdered sugar.


We did buy some other snacks and drinks through the day, which I'll put together here, and cue the crappiest photo I've probably ever taken of a pumpkin shaped rice krispie treat!


By now it was early evening (around 7pm) and we wanted to start making a move towards the exit, as we were headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios to watch the Frozen Fireworks, which we hadn't yet seen.

We took the boat back across the water, and walked back into Future World. Naturally, we had to do two of the things we always do at Epcot – forced perspective photos with Spaceship Earth, and actually ride Spaceship Earth! The line was non-existent, so we walked right on. We also did our usual, pull the stupidest face possible for when they ask you to pose for a photo!


Sad to be leaving Epcot for the last time on this holiday – it's a park that we love as a family – we took some selfies, all without the use of a selfie stick – much more fun, trying to fit us all in and Spaceship Earth!


By the time we exited Epcot, drove to Hollywood Studios, parked and got to the entrance, it was 8:45pm, so just in time for the start of the Frozen fireworks! We left Epcot at around 8:15pm, just to give you an idea of travelling time (by car).


It was, as you can imagine, very busy by the time we arrived, with Hollywood Boulevard packed. We decided to just linger at the back (also giving us a swift exit when the fireworks were finished).

The total fireworks show was around the 14 minute mark, but the first 6 – 7 minutes were taken up with a pre-show, which from far back I couldn't see, but hubs zoomed in on the camcorder. Cue lots of little kids sitting upon adult shoulders so they could catch a glimpse of their favourite characters! The fireworks were set to the songs from the movie.

During the fireworks, they paused to introduce Elsa, which, looking back at the video, is actually quite annoying! But the final song – Let It Go – of course, was fab, and the fireworks pretty spectacular, made even more awesome by the addition of "snow" falling!

I'll finish this trip report off with a video of the fireworks – which I'll add in when it's finished uploading to YouTube (skip to 6:40 ish for the start of them) and photos that I took.



Read about the day before:
Day 12 – The Lion Sleeps Tonight:
Animal Kingdom; Tusker House (Character Lunch); Jiko -The Cooking Place (Signature Dining)

Read about the day after:
Day 14 – Do As Dreamers Do:
Winter Summerland Miniature Golf; Magic Kingdom; Casey's Corner (Counter Service Lunch); Citricos (Signature Dining); Wishes

Read ALL the days!

What a great day. I love your Epcot photos, they are stunning.

I'm not at all adventurous with food but I'm loving reading and seeing the pics of the different things you have eaten.

I think I have more of your previous days to go back and read.

Thank you! Glad you're enjoying reading them - you've got plenty of time to go back and read, I've got the photos to sort out for the next day still

Another great day!

We have been to Epcot many times, I didn't realise you could take a boat ride across world show case. Fantastic photos & a great video of the frozen fireworks 😄

What a lovely day in Epcot, such a nice relaxed pace. The food at Restaurant Marrakesh looked really good. My OH would love it there so good to know you can walk in and be seated easily enough!

You took some lovely photos again, especially of Spaceship Earth.

The Frozen Fireworks look great. I’m really sad they are finished when we go next month

xx

Beautiful weather today, your pictures (as always) are beautiful.

Nice to see a review of Restaurant Marrakesh, somewhere I'd love to try.

Something to do on your next visit!

That's why I love Epcot WS, it's a lovely place to have a bit of a slower paced day, but you still have the option to do rides too! When writing this day it was the first time I'd really looked at the pictures I took - there are some of my favourites here! xx

We were lucky with the weather the whole trip - barely a drop of rain compared with previous years we have been!

What beautiful photos. And nice to read a review of Restaurant Marakesh, not many people seem to eat there!

I have had a chicken bastilla from a street stall over here, and I don't remember powdered sugar on it, but it did have rosewater and cinnamon, so it was slightly sweet.