May 2011 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 3

Day 3 – 5/23 – Le Cellier

After a late night at Hyperspace Hoopla, we decided to take it easy and sleep in a little bit. Since we had pulled DD out of school for the week, her teacher was kind enough to prepare an assignment for her to do each day. It was a travel journal with questions to answer about each day, and a place for drawing a picture.

After homework was done and we were up and at ‘em, we headed over to Epcot. After grabbing some FastPasses for Soarin, we rode the Seas with Nemo and Friends, and headed over to Turtle Talk with Crush. In the queue area are a couple of tanks with some rays and fish. This puffer fish kept coming over to DD and it seemed like it was looking right at her.

We always enjoy Turtle Talk with Crush. He’s so good with the little kids. The only thing I really don’t like about it is how they’re always telling kids to stay on the “green” part of the carpet. Except it’s almost pitch black, and the “green” carpet is more like a greenish-blue, and the other color is blueish-green, and it seems like as soon as they clear one kid from the area-which-shall-not-be-sat-upon, someone else is sitting there.

We grabbed FastPasses to Test Track on our way to the World Showcase. We were going to try to meet up with some of DWs friends. The plan had been to ride the Gran Fiesta Tour, but we got there  before them and found out that the ride was offline. So we changed up and met next door at Norway, and rode the Maelstrom.

Of course the kids had to pose by the giant troll.

  

After trying several times to get an in focus shot with just our kids, we gave up and went back to Mexico to see what the sitch was with Los Tres Caballeros. They had just reopened the ride when we got there, so we helped find Donald and learned a little about Mexican stereotypes.

We had lunch reservations at LeCellier, but we still had a little time to kill, so DD chose to do another Kim Possible mission in Norway. They really are fun, and I’m excited to see how the interactive adventure that they’re building in the Firehouse at Magic Kingdom compares. I believe it opens in 2012, and has something to do with Merlin. Despite an obvious connection, it has got nothing to do with the Kingdom Keepers books, even though you’re trying to save the park from villains.

We arrived about a half hour early for lunch at LeCellier, and despite some serious eye rolling when we asked if we could be seated early, they actually had a table for us in just a few minutes.

There seems to be two camps on Le Cellier. The lovers and the haters. We’re in the lovers camp. The Filet with mushroom risotto is so tasty. And because DD loves mushrooms and steak (DW “doesn’t care for fungus”) we ordered a side of mushrooms. Let me tell you that this is about 2 pounds of mushrooms. Seriously enough for a table of four to have all of the mushrooms they could want, and there would still be some left over. They are tasty, but it’s almost ridiculous how many they give you.

For dessert, DD asked for a fruit cup, and look how fancy they made it:

That was a nice treat. Of course we chipped the chocolate off the plate and ate it. What did you think?

With overstuffed bellies, we made our way around the World Showcase a bit. When we got to France we stopped for pictures with Princess Aurora…

…and Marie the cat (from Aristocats).

We continued around the World Showcase, stopping in Italy for the juggler’s show which we hadn’t seen before.

The best part of the show is where he gets the kid to walk all the way across the plaza with the net, and he throws a little soccer ball into it. Maybe 100-150 feet. Pretty impressive. We watched twice and neither time did he smash the kid in the face.

Continuing around the World Showcase, we stopped to use some snack credits in the new caramel shop in Germany. Everything they sell is covered in caramel. Caramel covered strawberries? Check. Caramel popcorn? Of course. Caramel-dipped huge chocolate chip cookies? Why not. Four out of five dentists agree, taking a cookie the size of your face and coating it liberally with caramel will pay for their kids’ college educations. And they wonder why the stereotypical American is overweight…

After grabbing some goodies (the caramel-dipped cookie was awesome, by the way), we used our Test Track FastPasses. I set up an app on my iPhone (Camera+) to burst the shutter so when the car went outside and picked up speed, I got some pretty neat shots.

We went over to check in with our favorite flight attendant, Puddy…

 …And then we called it a night. We headed back to the hotel and grabbed some dinner at the counter service restaurant, Mara. But before bed, a quick check on the ostrich…

Yep, still there. Up next, clams and Wishes.