Morning People Who Marry Night People…….

I am literally sitting in the dark as I write this, the only light from my laptop. It is not quite 6:30 and I gave up a little before 6:00 having been effectively awake since 5:00. My husband is of course sound asleep – thus the no lights, as he will stir around 8:00. When we are at home, this is an easy arrangement. I slip out of bed at my usual 5:00ish, go into the kitchen, turn on only the light over the stove, make the coffee and go up to my office. When we travel and there is limited space in the motel room, it’s a bit more difficult. The flip side is that I will crash at 10:00 p.m. (okay, I have been known to doze off earlier) as he stays up until midnightish, the bedside lamp and TV not usually impeding my ability to sleep. This is what happens when morning people marry night people. Once you have established that despite this very distinct difference, you can work out a system, it tends to be okay.

A gentleman collegue of mine a very long time ago looked at me bleary-eyed at 7:00 a.m. when we were working on a project that required an early appearance and said, “There is no way you and I could ever be married. You are disgustingly cheerful at this hour.”

Like most morning people, I begin to fade productively around 4:00 and when I am involved in a project that seeps into the evening, that’s when I look to others to carry the load. And late night social events? I am well past when I can party beyond 11:00. So, if you find yourself in a relationship where morning and night  patterns are obvious, accept it as one of life’s quirks and figure out whatever process can accomodate you both.

Wizards and Margaritas…….

We left Epcot Tuesday and moved on to Universal where we made our way into the Wizarding World Of Harry Potter. In the unlikely event that there is someone who doesn’t know about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, it is a major section of the Universal theme park that was added in the Spring of 2011. A very dear friend of ours feels that a mere 20 acres devoted to Harry Potter isn’t nearly enough and even on a Tuesday that wasn’t during a holiday period, it was fairly crowded. My husband is the big Harry fan, and he agreed that they did a nice job of presentation of the books and movies, although it didn’t really include much from the final two books. However, since it took nearly three years to get everything built and operational, it couldn’t include too much about the final books. Interestingly, they present Hogsmead with snow on the rooftops and yes, as you pass through the entrance the locamotive to the train and a part of the station awaits you. Since my husband is the big Harry Potter fan, please excuse any terminology errors I make.

Anyway, the wide street (still crowded) is lined with shop fronts from the books/movies on both sides, wagon kiosks selling Butter Beer and pumpkin juice. We declined to try them so I can’t tell anyone what those taste like. Only three-four of the shops are open and two had long lines to get into. However, there were a few additional spots in which to buy wands and owls.

There was no way I was going on the Dragon Challenge and waited as my husband did the ride with a couple of upside down and corkkscrew twist moves. The Hippogriff ride isn’t supposed to be quite so intense. Now you come to Hogwarts and it is impressive. You can choose to take the castle tour with the ride, or just the tour, or I think just the ride (but I’m not totally sure about that). However, if you take the ride, you need to get a locker for purses or bags. The lockers are fingerprint activated and are provided free for about an hour. Okay, we were set and began our winding way (yes a long line), through what was an excellant rendition of Hogwarts with props and film clips until you reach the spot for the ride. Once you are strapped in, Harry greets you on his broomstick and you do indeed zoom off. It was most assuredly at the peak of my tolerance, but I made the twisting, turning, action-packed ride without too much concern.

After we emerged through the gift shop, we meandered back to the entrance of Hogsmead and decided not to stop in the Three Broomsticks for lunch, but instead headed to Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville Cafe. After all, enjoying Jimmy Buffet means we didn’t have to make an immediate transition back into adulthood.

Water and Wine….

Not water into wine, mind you. The perfect weather we thought we were going to have for Day Two of the Food and Wine Festival didn’t exactly happen. On the other hand, we have been wetter for longer and for less worthy causes. The rain was mostly light yesterday and we hoisted the umbrellas and made our way from the Boardwalk to Epcot. We opted for the Living Seas with Nemo and friends, strolling among the displays of marine creatures that we dearly love. By the time we finished a leisurely lunch at the Coral Reef Restaurant, the sun had emerged as predicted. We also went over to the section Land wor the new attraction, Soaring. That was a terrific virtual hang gliding soar over parts of California.

California wine was not on our list for the Festival though as we backtracked just a bit to enjoy an Argentinian malbec and a torrentes (a nice white). Then it was South African chardonnay and sauvignon blanc before I did a German reiseling and my husband opted for an Octoberfest beer, but I could hardly fault him for that. Chianti and pinot grigio from Italy of course and French beaujelais and vouvray to round out the afternoon.

We latter enjoyed dinner at Cat Cora’s Greek restaurant, Kouzzina, and then went upstairs to a pleasant lounge that could have been the setting for a 1950s Sam Spade movie.

Did we have a good time? Yes, indeed. Does the Epcot Food and Wine Festival need to be on your Life List?  I am not certain I would say that, but what I do say is that if you are planning a trip to Orlando or Disney at some point seriously consider making it during the month-long Festival.