Hettie
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2001
The was a Photopass opportunity just outside Yak & Yeti and Asher had a lengthy photo shoot. The photographer was a great sport and his poses were hilarious.
By the time we finished lunch it was past naptime so we booked it out of there to get Asher back to our room for some rest. On our way out, we overheard a conversation between two CMs coming in to work and picked up a new quote that we will use repeatedly for years to come: “She is alvays grumpy and does never smiles!” You have to say it with a thick German accent to get the full effect.
Back at the room, Asher was out quickly and I was out the door right after as I had big plans for some solo Epcot time.
It was so nice to have a leisurely stroll over without rushing to get anywhere or worrying about anyone else’s entertainment, thinking about it makes me look forward to my solo trip even more. My first stop of the afternoon was L’Artisan des Glaces for this fun little treat:
I went with the seasonal macaron sandwich, which had a blend of strawberry sorbet and vanilla ice cream inside a strawberry macaron. I loved this and thought it was a perfect small and lightly sweet treat. I’m a sucker for strawberry flavored desserts.
In keeping with the pink theme, I went for this next:
Watermelon Cucumber Slushy with Tamiami Florida Gin – $11.75
I was on gin kick and I loved this drink. The flavors were great together, I just wish it were bigger as the price was pretty steep for a thimble sized drink. They should sell this in a full size somewhere.
I sat and people-watched while enjoying my drink and observed that there were large groups of grown-up cheerleaders drinking around the world. Otherwise World Showcase was gloriously empty and I hoped they wouldn’t get too rowdy and ruin the peaceful atmosphere. I saw security talking to a couple of the groups, but I didn’t personally witness any super obnoxious behavior and they all disappeared to party somewhere else early in the evening.
Next I tried a beer:
Central 28 Brewing Company Sunshine Greetings Orange Hibiscus Wheat Ale -- $4.25
For a beer with such a ridiculously long name, this didn’t have much flavor and didn’t appeal to me. I reluctantly finished it anyway.
I decided I wanted a nice glass of wine to wash away the yucky beer and headed over to Germany. After waiting for some French cheerleaders to down shots I asked for a dry white wine and I think it ended up being a dry Riesling, but I don’t remember. The CMs were unpleasant in the wine shop and I got out of there quickly.
I picked up a hat that Chad wanted and then started walking back toward the IG since I figured Asher would wake up soon. The boys met me in England and Asher hugged and kissed me repeatedly as though we hadn’t seen each other in days.
We looked on MDE for a dinner ADR and pickings were slim, presumably because the restaurants weren’t fully staffed since it was not busy at all that evening. I thought we should try to get to Biergarten this trip so Asher could see the band and that’s what we ended up booking even though we weren’t really feeling it.
We strolled slowly around WS toward Germany, stopping at our last remaining scavenger hunt spots and a couple of booths along the way. I tried another beer at Florida Fresh.
Tampa Bay Brewing Company Quat Seasonal Fruit Ale -- $4.25
I enjoyed this much more than the wheat ale from earlier, the kumquat flavor was fun.
We had been wanting to try the burnt ends has from the Smokehouse and picked up one to share.
Beef Brisket Burnt Ends Hash with White Cheddar Fondue and Pickled Jalapeños – $6.50
This was just okay, a bit of a disappointment as the whole thing seemed kind of soggy. Maybe just an off night as there was nobody in line at any of the booths and the food was probably sitting under lamps for awhile.
We checked into Biergarten and had a bit of a wait for our table. We presumed we would be seated with the family that had some kids running around like crazy which was cause for some apprehension. It’s always a gamble here.
We were finally seated by another grumpy CM and one of the kids was still being rowdy. Chad and I gave each other wide-eyes and took deep breaths.
Chad ordered a giant Warsteiner and I had a nice glass of Villa Wolf Pinot Gris. I don’t have photos of the drinks but it doesn’t matter because the few photos I took are terrible quality due to the lighting and my old iPhone.
My first plate consisted of salads:
We’ve always enjoyed the salads here and they were mostly as we remembered with a nice assortment to choose from. While we started on our salad plates, Asher was concerned that the matriarch of our tablemates wasn’t in her seat and he kept asking, “Where’s Granny?” They became fast friends when she returned and we ended up enjoying talking to our new friends immensely (the boy had chilled by this point). They were a mom, three kids, and a grandma from NYC and chatting with them was the best part of the dinner for us.
At some point the band performed their last set, which seemed short and was a bit of a let-down. We were in the last seating group of the night and all the CMs seemed on the grumpy side, I guess they were just having that kind of day in Germany. It wasn’t as festive as our past experiences.
We got ourselves some hot foods:
I can’t even tell what that plate consists of, but I wasn’t impressed with any of it. The flavors were duller than I remember and the ingredient quality just wasn’t great. It all just kinda fell flat. I’m so glad that Asher’s meal was free because all he ate was a wiener, some bratwurst, and yellow mustard.
Chad felt the same way about the food, it just wasn’t as good as we’ve had in the past. We would have been better off just visiting more booths and enjoying the low crowds in WS, hindsight ya know. We won’t be returning to Biergarten for awhile after this lackluster experience.
We nibbled on some desserts that were just okay and then it was time to say goodbye to our new friends and head out. We had missed Illuminations and the post-show music was playing which inspired Asher to perform interpretive dances the entire walk from Germany to the IG. I’m so glad he gets it, only someone who really loves Epcot would do that, I’m pretty sure I’ve done it myself a time or two.
It was an evening EMH night and I would have loved to stay longer, but alas it was time to get the boy to bed. We had to pack the next morning and wanted to do so early enough that we could finish up our to-do list at Epcot.
Next up is our last day.
By the time we finished lunch it was past naptime so we booked it out of there to get Asher back to our room for some rest. On our way out, we overheard a conversation between two CMs coming in to work and picked up a new quote that we will use repeatedly for years to come: “She is alvays grumpy and does never smiles!” You have to say it with a thick German accent to get the full effect.
Back at the room, Asher was out quickly and I was out the door right after as I had big plans for some solo Epcot time.
It was so nice to have a leisurely stroll over without rushing to get anywhere or worrying about anyone else’s entertainment, thinking about it makes me look forward to my solo trip even more. My first stop of the afternoon was L’Artisan des Glaces for this fun little treat:
I went with the seasonal macaron sandwich, which had a blend of strawberry sorbet and vanilla ice cream inside a strawberry macaron. I loved this and thought it was a perfect small and lightly sweet treat. I’m a sucker for strawberry flavored desserts.
In keeping with the pink theme, I went for this next:
Watermelon Cucumber Slushy with Tamiami Florida Gin – $11.75
I was on gin kick and I loved this drink. The flavors were great together, I just wish it were bigger as the price was pretty steep for a thimble sized drink. They should sell this in a full size somewhere.
I sat and people-watched while enjoying my drink and observed that there were large groups of grown-up cheerleaders drinking around the world. Otherwise World Showcase was gloriously empty and I hoped they wouldn’t get too rowdy and ruin the peaceful atmosphere. I saw security talking to a couple of the groups, but I didn’t personally witness any super obnoxious behavior and they all disappeared to party somewhere else early in the evening.
Next I tried a beer:
Central 28 Brewing Company Sunshine Greetings Orange Hibiscus Wheat Ale -- $4.25
For a beer with such a ridiculously long name, this didn’t have much flavor and didn’t appeal to me. I reluctantly finished it anyway.
I decided I wanted a nice glass of wine to wash away the yucky beer and headed over to Germany. After waiting for some French cheerleaders to down shots I asked for a dry white wine and I think it ended up being a dry Riesling, but I don’t remember. The CMs were unpleasant in the wine shop and I got out of there quickly.
I picked up a hat that Chad wanted and then started walking back toward the IG since I figured Asher would wake up soon. The boys met me in England and Asher hugged and kissed me repeatedly as though we hadn’t seen each other in days.
We looked on MDE for a dinner ADR and pickings were slim, presumably because the restaurants weren’t fully staffed since it was not busy at all that evening. I thought we should try to get to Biergarten this trip so Asher could see the band and that’s what we ended up booking even though we weren’t really feeling it.
We strolled slowly around WS toward Germany, stopping at our last remaining scavenger hunt spots and a couple of booths along the way. I tried another beer at Florida Fresh.
Tampa Bay Brewing Company Quat Seasonal Fruit Ale -- $4.25
I enjoyed this much more than the wheat ale from earlier, the kumquat flavor was fun.
We had been wanting to try the burnt ends has from the Smokehouse and picked up one to share.
Beef Brisket Burnt Ends Hash with White Cheddar Fondue and Pickled Jalapeños – $6.50
This was just okay, a bit of a disappointment as the whole thing seemed kind of soggy. Maybe just an off night as there was nobody in line at any of the booths and the food was probably sitting under lamps for awhile.
We checked into Biergarten and had a bit of a wait for our table. We presumed we would be seated with the family that had some kids running around like crazy which was cause for some apprehension. It’s always a gamble here.
We were finally seated by another grumpy CM and one of the kids was still being rowdy. Chad and I gave each other wide-eyes and took deep breaths.
Chad ordered a giant Warsteiner and I had a nice glass of Villa Wolf Pinot Gris. I don’t have photos of the drinks but it doesn’t matter because the few photos I took are terrible quality due to the lighting and my old iPhone.
My first plate consisted of salads:
We’ve always enjoyed the salads here and they were mostly as we remembered with a nice assortment to choose from. While we started on our salad plates, Asher was concerned that the matriarch of our tablemates wasn’t in her seat and he kept asking, “Where’s Granny?” They became fast friends when she returned and we ended up enjoying talking to our new friends immensely (the boy had chilled by this point). They were a mom, three kids, and a grandma from NYC and chatting with them was the best part of the dinner for us.
At some point the band performed their last set, which seemed short and was a bit of a let-down. We were in the last seating group of the night and all the CMs seemed on the grumpy side, I guess they were just having that kind of day in Germany. It wasn’t as festive as our past experiences.
We got ourselves some hot foods:
I can’t even tell what that plate consists of, but I wasn’t impressed with any of it. The flavors were duller than I remember and the ingredient quality just wasn’t great. It all just kinda fell flat. I’m so glad that Asher’s meal was free because all he ate was a wiener, some bratwurst, and yellow mustard.
Chad felt the same way about the food, it just wasn’t as good as we’ve had in the past. We would have been better off just visiting more booths and enjoying the low crowds in WS, hindsight ya know. We won’t be returning to Biergarten for awhile after this lackluster experience.
We nibbled on some desserts that were just okay and then it was time to say goodbye to our new friends and head out. We had missed Illuminations and the post-show music was playing which inspired Asher to perform interpretive dances the entire walk from Germany to the IG. I’m so glad he gets it, only someone who really loves Epcot would do that, I’m pretty sure I’ve done it myself a time or two.
It was an evening EMH night and I would have loved to stay longer, but alas it was time to get the boy to bed. We had to pack the next morning and wanted to do so early enough that we could finish up our to-do list at Epcot.
Next up is our last day.
Kings Estate Pinot Gris is one of my favorites and almost every drink you ordered I've had my eye on (Pink Himalayan FOR SHO). I am also dying for the CG brunch! I just don't know if I can cram it in my trip. 
She was right, it was very strong and would made a nice after dinner drink.
)
