Disney Divas Xmas 2009 - Day 3

weather: 45 degrees at 7am...warmed up to about 56 during the late afternoon, dropped down to low 40s around 9pm.

We decided to wait until after 10 am to head to Hollywood Studios as it was supposed to break 50 degrees by then. LOL. The bus situation this trip has been a pain. I don't know if they don't have enough buses running or new drivers or what but we have spent more time waiting on buses than ever before. Three Magic Kingdom buses came with not a single bus to another park! Finally got a bus to Hollywood Studios about 40 minutes of waiting at bus stop. It was crowded but we were able to get a seat as our bus stop was the first so most of the people on it were getting off at later stops at our resort. By the time we made the loop and headed out....it was wall to wall people standing room only.

Getting off at the park was not much better. It was reasonably crowded going through the bag check line (we decided to bring a backpack today with extra sweatshirts LOL). I renewed Tey's annual Pass - yay they are still offering the Florida Resident 3 months free on an annual pass promo. So her pass is good until March 2011..I renewed my pass back in October. Once we got to turn styles it was crazy people everywhere and once inside.....wow! Should have known then and left but we didn't. It was far too many people! Tried to ride Toy Story but the standby line was 90 minutes, no thanks. And all of the fast passes for the whole day had already been given out! Wow! We went to Studio Catering Company for lunch and both got chili dogs with chips and chocolate cake. This dining plan is killing us with all the food LOL.

The hot dogs under the chili were burned to a crisp in places but we did not feel like fighting the crowds to go back up and complain so did not eat those parts. The chili was bland...basically beans and meat with no spices or flavor but it did the job. The chocolate cake had peppermint flavored sprinkles on top and was surprisingly moist and choco-good!

I did notice that they had closed the High Octane Drinks that was right next to Studio Catering...booohoo! I loved their Red Hero (Meyers dark rum, blackberry brandy, banana liqueur and juices) - would've been great way to warm up LOL!

Anyways, we wandered down Streets of America and went to Youse Guys Moychandise (love that name! LOL) to look around and found our annual Xmas pin - we buy a new Holiday themed pin every year to commemorate our trip....AND surprise surprise everything was half off! So even better! We wandered by The Little Mermaid and the line was ridiculous so then headed to the candy shop on Sunset Blvd and used snack credits to buy a bag of cotton candy and Tey got a large cup cake that was mostly frosting LOL!

We sat and watched the traveling players do a skit and laughed our heads off. We decided to go ahead and head to EPCOT since the park was so full. The boat came just as we walked up and it took about 30 minutes (with the 3 stops in between) to make it to EPCOT. EPCOT was busy but not congested like Hollywood Studios. Whew! WE walked through France and hear Pere Noel. Then saw the newer terrace garden at Morocco. I got a sangria and el kiddo got a hot mint tea from Morocco stand. The tea was basically green tea poured over mint leaves. We then hit the stores in Japan and Tey bought herself a small Daruma doll (it is basically a roundish head with large eyes and no irises. you paint in one eye when you make a wish, you then paint in the other eye when that wish comes true). Be sure to listen to the Daruma Doll Maker storyteller if you are at EPCOT during Xmas time. We also got to see the candy maker, Miyuki, create a yellow dragon lollipop. Nice! Also stayed for the Japanese Taiko drummers - Matsuriza.

From there it was off to the American Adventure and the Kwanzaa storyteller. Tey gets a kick out of that every year as she wants to start celebrating it and knows all the days and principles. The line for santa was long but not horrible. Also noticed a stand that was closed but that had a sign saying it sold hot spiced cider and other holiday goodies Yum! Next was a quick jaunt through Italy. There was a large crowd there so we bypassed it. At Germany I got some GlubWien - which is a warmed, spiced wine. It was very good! While I sipped on that we listened to Helga
tell the story of Martin Luther and the first Xmas Tree and talk about nutcrackers and she lead us all in a round of O' Christmas Tree. There is a surprise visitor during her story but I will not tell!

Off to the African outpost to look at hand carved canes and masks. We took a break to shoot a quick trip account on my video camera LOL. At this point we were both cold and tired and decided to forgo the Monkey King in China and head back to hotel to rest a bit before 7pm ressies at Restaurant Marrakesh in Morocco. One quick stop at Club Cool to sample coke products from around the world (we never get tired of this one)



We relaxed at the hotel until about 5:45 and headed back out....ok the bus situation was even worse. No buses for a while then finally at about 6:10 ended up with Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and EPCOT all coming at once but the driver of the lead bus (HS) was having issues with wheelchair ramp so that took another 6 minutes to straighten out. And then had a repeat at each of the remaining 3 bus stops in the resort before finally heading out to EPCOT at 6:35! Drove me nuts LOL! But it is Holiday time so it is all good. Just meant we would take the boat across lagoon to Morocco instead of walking. Got to EPCOT around 6:45...talk about cutting it close. Timed it just right and made it through Future World and to the boat launch just before boat left. Walked into Marrakesh with 1 minute to spare LOL.

The girl checking people in was rather rude and curt. And I saw several people giving her the evil eye after she spoke with them. We waited about 10 minutes to be seated and while our table was not right on the floor where the band and belly dancer perform, we had a great view. Tey got some more mint tea and I ordered a Tangiers Breeze (vodka, midori, pineapple juice) garnished with a date and a cherry. For our meal Tey got the Couscous M'Rouzia Fass: braised beef served with caramelized onions, raisins, honey, almonds, and eggs while I got the chicken kebabs which came with couscous with raisins and spicy marinated sliced olives. The olives were divine and I could have eaten a ton of those! The bread served was soft and warm and delicious. Even the water was crisp and clear and good.

Our waiter and busboy team, Amine and Rashid, were very nice but disappeared for long periods of time and not good about refills. We arrived just as the belly dancer was finishing a set but she came back out during our dessert. It was very entertaining.


For dessert we both ordered the Bastilla (crispy leaves of pastry topped with vanilla cream and sprinkled with toasted almonds and cinnamon)...all I got to say is WOW!!!. The cream reminded me of an unset custard and the dish was huge and looked kind of a mess but when you put it in your mouth? Holy cow!! Could not stop eating it! Amazing. I also ordered coffee and I have to say it was about the best cup of coffee I have ever had on Disney property!

We finally wobbled out - over stuffed but happy. Walked back around to Future World as the boats had stopped in prep for fireworks. The temp had dropped and neither of us felt like waiting around for the fireworks in the cold so we just headed for the bus....we ended up standing as it was packed but thankfully it was a short trip. We were both pleasantly exhausted.

Tomorrow: Magic Kingdom, Grand Floridian Gingerbread house, Sanaa