No Splashing Allowed! Jan 2018 – Day 1
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Alright, so outside of our food, I didn’t take too many pictures because I’m a live-in-the-moment kind of guy and I don’t think to.
Our Wednesday began with a 2:30am wake-up call
We drove to BWI Airport at 3:20am and arrived at 4:20am. Traffic was light…everything else was dark 
We parked in the express lot which means the shuttle picks us up where we park our car and drives us to the terminal. It’s only an extra $2/day for a considerably less transit time to the terminal so I think it’s worth it.
We grabbed a Chick-fil-A breakfast and our flight on Southwest left promptly at 6:15.
The flight landed ahead of schedule at MCO and we soon got in line for the Magical Express. It was probably a 20-minute wait before the bus left the airport. Not bad considering I’ve waited 45 minutes before
Wilderness Lodge was the first stop and when we were dropped off we rendezvoused with my parents who had taken the Amtrak Auto Train down the day before. Online check-in worked out, so we just headed to Epcot while we waited for our room to be ready. I had scheduled FPs for Spaceship Earth
and Soarin’ 
at 10:00am when we got there, had a 40 minute wait! Thankfully the FP+ got us on in 5. Soarin’ was a solid 10 minutes with the FP+. We wanted to see Living with the Land but the line was 40 minutes there too When we finished Soarin’, we stopped by Club Cool for some Fanta Melon Frosty 
Next was our Lunch reservation at Restaurant Marrakesh. We’d never been there before, so this was much anticipated. There were so many things we wanted to try, so we worked out getting just the right combos so we could try most of the menu. I ordered the Royal Feast and Christy ordered the Sultan Sampler. We all got the Mint Tea of course! The tea, served hot or cold was refreshing either way
Pictures are as follows:
1. Bread (standard with all meals) and Jasmina Salad (first course of the Royal Feast)
2. Lamb Meshoui which my dad ordered.
3. Lamb w/ Couscous which my mom ordered.
4. Sultan Sampler (Chicken kebab, beef brewat roll, vegetables, chicken bastilla, and couscous)
5. Royal Feast (Lamb Meshoui, Chicken kebab, vegetables and couscous)
6. Bastilla dessert for Two
7. Marrakesh Delight
8. Baklava (comes with Royal Feast)All of this in some way had a surprising taste that was very good. That is, we didn’t expect it would taste a certain way, but we loved it! The Baklava was some of the best I’ve ever had. The lamb in any dish was spectacular and fell off the bone! The chicken kebabs were good too, but easily duplicated on a grill at home. The Marrakesh Delight is mostly fruit, which was fresh and good, and some Mint Ice Cream which was WHOA minty! In short this ended up being tied for our favorite meal of the trip!
If you don’t mind having a belly dancer around for part of your meal, I highly recommend this place for the mildly adventurous eater. After lunch we saw the American Adventure and strolled the rest of the way around World Showcase. Christy and I tried Mission: SPACE Green for the first time since they changed it, and it was pretty cool
To be continued on another post in this thread…
Next we went back to Wilderness Lodge to move in because our room was ready!
This had to be one of the best rooms we could’ve gotten. It was a 2-Bedroom Villa in the Boulder Ridge section.
The pictures are:
1. The amazing view of Bay Lake over the cabins!
2. The Master Bedroom
3. The first part of the the Master Bathroom
4. More of the Master Bathroom
More of our Wilderness Lodge Room:
1. The second part of the Master Bathroom
2. The 2nd Bedroom
3. The 2nd Bedroom Vanity
4. The 2nd Bathroom
After moving in, we took a nap for a couple hours…I mean c’mon, true to Wilderness Lodge fashion, the room was too warm and inviting not to!
Later we ventured into the Magic Kingdom for Happily Ever After and the Extra Magic Hours. We stopped at Casey’s Corner for dinner. My parents and Christy split 2 footlong hot dogs between them. I got the Footlong Mac ‘n’ Cheese dog with bacon bits, and added some sauerkraut to the ends that weren’t covered in amazingness! It came with fries which Christy helped me with. With offerings such as these, the line for Casey’s was well out the door and barely moving, but we spotted one line to the far left that everyone was ignoring so we hopped in it and boom! 3rd from the front! I seem to remember when Casey’s offered sub-par hot dogs for a ridiculous price, but the foot-long beauty I ordered was so good…too good! I wanted to find the person who came up with it and simultaneously shake their hand and slap them!
It was the first time my parents got to see the new fireworks and they were impressed. But, ugh, some people! This one family, clearly foreigners, rammed the back of my dad’s legs twice with their rented stroller
Fortunately my dad, is a rather tall individual and didn’t budge. They finally went around him and forced their way into the crowd much to the chagrin of everyone nearby. Then they proceeded to wave a lightsaber in the air to flag down their friends. Where the trash did they think they were going to fit anyone else?! Fortunately their friends never tried. Then the fireworks began and same family had kids on their shoulders to block everyone’s view. Another guest not so kindly told them to let their children down or get out of the way. They obliged, surprisingly, for a time, then back up the kids went Rude guests can be seen on every trip, but this was pretty ridiculous.Well after the fireworks, we went for rides on Pirates of the Caribbean
and the Haunted Mansion 
before heading out of the park. The waits at other attractions were just too long and we longed for more rest at our very comfortable room, so we left for Wilderness Lodge on the boat…which by the way is another wonderful part of staying there. Pictures:
1. Our kitchen
2. The Living Room
3. Footlong Amazing on a bun (half eaten of course )!
Awesome start to your trip report!!
The Marrakesh food pics look delicious… I ate there only once about 15 years ago, but its totally on my list to try again! Thanks for your honest review of the food!
I’m sorry about the rude people at Happily Every After… that is the WORST
I mean, there is no excuse for bad behavior!!!That view is TO DIE FOR! And of course all I could think was how nice it would be to run around that lake!
Mmm Chick-fil-a breakfast
Living with the Land tends to have high waits around 11:00-2:00 due to the people dining at Sunshine Seasons.
Mission:SPACE Green is so nice!
What an awesome looking room!
I wish some people knew how to be courteous. That family just sounds like the kind of people who go just to ruin everyone else’s visit 
I don’t know if you mentioned dates anywhere but when was this exactly?
My trip was January 10-15 (Wed-Mon).
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