After arriving, Samantha and I headed down Sunset Boulevard to get in line for the The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, while Grandma Terry settled at a table outside of Rosie's All-American Café to wait for us. Sam and I certainly enjoyed our time on the ride, and we even discussed riding again, but it was nearing noon and we were getting a bit hungry.

We decided to park hop over to Epcot to sample some food at the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival, but we did some shopping on our way out, hitting up the shops on Sunset Boulevard and then Hollywood Boulevard. After exiting the park, we hopped on the Skyliner to make our way over to Epcot.

We had intended to stop at the Marketplace - France to try the Boeuf Bourguignon, Purée de Pommes de Terre (which is red wine-braised short bibs with potato purée) and possibly the Crème Brûlée Vanille, Confiture Myrtilles et Citron Vert (vanilla crème brûlée with blueberry-lime compote), but the line was too long for Grandma Terry and Samantha to wait in, so we continued our trek around the world.

Since we were all getting quite hungry, our first food stop was at the Marketplace - Belgium, where Grandma Terry and I waited to order the Beer-braised Beef (which is served with smoked gouda mashed potatoes) and a Belgian Waffle with Warm Chocolate Ganache. While we waited there Sam ran over to the Tangierine Café: Flavors of the Medina to buy the Pistachio Cake (which is served with cinnamon pastry cream and candied walnuts). Of the three, I definitely preferred the Beer-braised Beef, though I didn't think either the waffle or the pistachio cake were terrible. I just don't think I would order either of them again.

Our next stop ended up being at the Marketplace - Japan, where Sam was excited by their entire menu. We ended up trying the Teriyaki Chicken Bun (a steamed bun filled with minced chicken, vegetables, and teriyaki sauce), the Osakana Karaage (crispy-fried pollock with spicy mayonnaise and a sweet-and-creamy yuzu sauce), and the Beef Wagyu Don (which is a traditional Japanese rice bowl with American Wagyu beef blend over steamed white rice served with homemade pickles, shredded togarashi pepper, and pickled ginger). I can't say I was a huge fan of any of the three, but the Osakana Karaage wasn't too bad, though it was probably more what I would consider chewy than what I would call crispy. Taste was good though. Sam really liked all of these options. While we were in Japan, we headed inside the shops so that Sam could look for a new set of chopsticks. After perusing a lot of different options, she found a set that she liked and then we were on our way to the next food option!

We kept walking around the world, and though I would have stopped at the Marketplace - Italy for the Bacetti ‘Kisses’ di Pizza, Traditional Napoli Street Food (pizza dough, pepperoni, mozzarella, and tomato sauce) again, nobody else was too excited by it, nor did they wish to wait in line. Instead we ended up at Marketplace - India, where we tried the Chicken Tikka Masala (which was served with fennel-spiced yogurt and naan bread). To me this dish was meh, and though Sam thought it was OK even she wouldn't order it again.

Up next on our food tour was Marketplace - China, another one Samantha was looking forward to trying. We ended up ordering the Chicken Dumplings (with house-made sweet-and-spicy sauce) and the Smoked Duck Bao Bun (with pickled cucumber, scallion, and hoisin sauce). I wasn't a huge fan of either, though I truly didn't mind the steamed bun from the the Smoked Duck Bao Bun , and I could see eating them if the filling inside was more to my liking, even if the duck wasn't terrible.

We went to the Marketplace - Mexico to try the Flauta de Barbacoa (fried tortillas filled with barbacoa beef topped with salsa verde, romaine lettuce, crema Mexicana, and queso fresco). This wasn't a bad choice, but there was a little too much on the inside that I didn't enjoy. The meat and shell were delicious, however. We ended up heading over to the Marketplace - Brew-Wing Lab at The Odyssey after our taste of Mexico, where we tried the Pickle Milk Shake. Despite the name, it wasn't as pickly as we thought it might be, and was actually fairly pleasant tasting. Not 100% sure I'd order it again, but it was definitely worth the sampling.

Since we were close, we decided to give a couple of rides a shot. Both Test Track and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind had similar wait times, but since Sam hadn't ridden the new Test Track yet we decided to head there first. Although I appreciate the updates to the ride, the queue is definitely not as enjoyable to wait in, and overall the ride is OK but not great. After we wrapped our time on the ride, we had planned to go over to Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind had, but at this time the wait time had ballooned to 75+ minutes (up from the 45 or so when we went to Test Track). We decided that it was already late enough that we didn't want to wait that long, so we made our way to the Creations shop to browse the goods, hoping to find something new and exciting that we would fall in love with.

We went back to sampling food, first stopping by the Marketplace - Flavors from Fire to try a couple more dishes. This time we tried the Rodizio-style Grilled Beef Skewer (served with marble potatoes, charred shallots, roasted baby peppers, and chimichurri) and Sam ordered the Swine Brine (which is Jim Beam Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, apple-cinnamon cider, lemon juice, and dijon mustard).

We then stopped at Marketplace - Canada to give Sam a taste of a couple of our favorite dishes from our last visit - the Cheddar and Bacon Soup (served with a pretzel roll), which Sam really loved, and the Filet Mignon (served with mushrooms, and mashed potatoes featuring Boursin® garlic and fine herbs cheese), which I really loved. Both dishes were devoured, and I would return to get them again!

We headed back to the France Pavilion, though we skipped the Marketplace option this time, instead heading in to Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie for a couple of servings of our favorite dessert, the Framboise (which is raspberry mousse, chocolate cake, and raspberry jam). It was as good as I remembered!

This marked the end of our tasting for today, as we were getting tired, and knew that we all had to work the next morning. We made our way back to the Skyliner to make our way back to Disney's Hollywood Studios, and then made the trek to our car (thanks to the brief tram ride!). Until next time!