Yoo Hoo, Disney EchoEars!
Continuing with a series of WDW trip reports from my friend Bruce Metcalf...
Metcalfs @ WDW day 12
Well, it's day 12 and the blisters have finally caught up with me.  Even
double-socks and different shoes aren't helping any more.  After limping
all day to the chant of "Hurry up!" from SWMBO, I am typing this with one
foot propped on a stack of tissues while the blisters drain.  It's like
they tell you in the army:  Take good care of your feet and they'll take
good care of you!
Today was ag day for us.  Breakfast at the Garden Grill with mice and
chipmunks.  Not bad food at all, but the RPM of the restaurant is increased
to double-speed to encourage you to eat breakfast faster.  You go around in
about 30-35 minutes at this hour.
Next was the "Circle of Life" film, the "Living with the Land" boat cruise,
and next door to "The Living Seas" exhibit.  A quick slush and we were
ready for the day's main event:
"Behind the Seeds Tour" is a $6 walking tour of the greenhouses and a
couple labs at the Land guided by gradutate students.  We got a very
knowledgable kid who had just graduated with a degree in agricultural
management systems who answered nearly every question we ten guests could
come up with.  In addition to a much more detailed view of the greenhouses
and mariculture pens seen from the boat tour, we also toured the bug lab
where they were breeding parasitic wasps and viewed the tissue culture lab
(through windows, as this is necessarily a sterile lab).
The "hour" tour lasted an hour and fifteen minutes, and was followed by
another fifteen minutes of casual questions as we walked back out.  For the
price, you can't beat this tour if you have any interest in modern
experimental agricultural technologies.
After an afternoon nap that coincided nicely with the rain and a movie (_In
& Out_, kind of a _Mr. Holland's Birdcage_, very funny), we proceeded to
dinner at the Portobello Yacht Club on Pleasure Island.  While this
restaurant is *on* PI, it isn't *in* PI--you don't have to buy a ticket to
eat, you just have to walk around the party to get there.
You may recall that a few days ago we ate at Wolfgang Puck's, loved the
food, hated the service, and decided not to go back (for a long time,
anyway).  The Portobello Yacht Club gave us bad food and the wrong wines,
but great service, and we're likely to visit again.  I guess this tells a
lot about our attitudes about what's important in dining out, huh?
We began with a pizze appetizer that was better than Puck's (hmm, I'm
starting to enjoy bashing him, wonder what that means).  The wine steward
offered us some suggestions, but couldn't tell us much about the wines
themselves.  I doubted his advice, but know so little about Italian wines
and the restaurant's cuisine that we acceeded to his recommendations.  At
first, I thought the wine good, but inapropriate to the entrees.  Later I
figured out that SWMBO and I had been served each other's selection.
I had the linguini with mussels, which turned out to be clams in drag.
Good clams, undercooked pasta.  The crab legs in SWMBO's dish were so
overcooked that instead of cracking, they just squished at the nutcracker.
The manager tried to tell us that the crab had just molted--neither we nor
our server bought the line, but as he sent out a fresh set of legs, we
decided not to call him on it.
For dessert we split a dish of cappuchino coffee ice cream with toffee
chunks.  Half a dish was plenty, but I would have happily finished a whole
dish myself if I were given the chance--excellent!
        >>> OFF-TOPIC ALERT <<<
There may be a few day's delay in these reports.  An opportunity to
interview in Boca Raton will draw us away from the property until Sunday.
I'll be back then and resume.
Bruce Metcalf,
EMuck Rufus,
mailto:bmetcalf@cdc3.cdc.net
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