Although I woke up at 7am to join the virtual queue for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, we found ourselves in group 100, which meant that we were in no rush to get out of the house this morning. Once we finally got to the park, we decided to head over to The Land building to take a ride on Soarin', which had a relatively short posted wait time. Unfortunately our boarding was delayed a bit, leading to a bit longer wait than we had hoped for. We did make it on the ride, and enjoyed it as always. Once our tour of the world was complete, we made our way over to Living with the Land, as this is one of Tara's favorites.

After leaving The Land, we began our exploration of the World Showcase. Our first stop was the Belgium booth, where we shared a Beer-Braised Beef served with Smoked Gouda Mashed Potatoes. The food itself was pretty tasty, but both Tara and I wished it was warmer (a common complaint about the food booth food, I suppose).

Shortly after eating, as we continued making our way through the countries, it began to rain. We ended up ducking into one of the shops in the Morocco pavilion to wait it out. Once the rain let up, we decided to back track a bit and head to the France Pavilion. The first thing we noticed was the lack of a line for L'Artisan des Glaces, which is the first time I can recall not seeing a line well outside the door. We decided to continue on to our original destination, Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie, for a snack. Tara decided to give the Duo Au Chocolat (a white and dark chocolate mousse cake) and a Frosé (frozen Côtes de Provence Rosé, vodka, peach) a try, while I stuck with my favorite, the Framboise (raspberry mousse, chocolate cake, and raspberry jam). All of the items were delicious!

We began our trek around the world once again, but once again the rain caught up to us. This time we ducked into The American Adventure pavilion to avoid getting soaked, and while doing so were treated to the vocal treats of the Voices of Liberty, a choral group. After the rain let up (once again), we continued our walk around the world, but didn't find any new food booths that enticed us into trying something new. We eventually made our way to the Creations shop, where we did a quick walk through looking for something that caught our eye, before heading out and across to CommuniCore Hall. We really just went to see was going on inside the hall, but Tara found two of her favorites at the Festival Favorites window - kielbasa and potato pierogies with caramelized onions and sour cream and an Irish milk shake (Guinness Stout, Baileys Original Irish Cream Liqueur and vanilla ice cream) to wash it down with (it doesn't hurt that this is one of her all time favorite drinks in all of Walt Disney World!).

As we were finishing our latest snack, our boarding group was called for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. We had a little over an hour before our dinner reservation, so we made our way over to the "Xandar pavilion" to enjoy our ride. Of course, we got stuck with Congo as our song again, but at least the ride was still a blast!

By the time we had made it through the queue and preshows and ridden the ride, it was time for our dinner reservation at the Rose & Crown Dining Room. This reservation is what provided us with guaranteed seating to the Eat to the Beat concert later. We arrived and were seated, unfortunately next to the Rose & Crown Pub, so our dining experience was a rather loud one, with the constant din coming from the bar area. Tara and I both opted for the fish and chips, and while I had a Coca-Cola to drink, Tara opted for the Cider and Fireball (Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey, Fireball cinnamon whisky, and Strongbow Cider topped with ginger ale). Our meal package included dessert, and we opted for one of each of our options - Sticky Toffee Pudding (a steamed pudding 'cake' served with warm vanilla custard and hot butter-rum sauce) and the plant-based seasonal gelato with seasonal accompaniment (today that was vanilla gelato with strawberries and blueberries). While the food was all enjoyable, we were disappointed that his was the exact same fish and chips that we could have gotten outside at the Yorkshire County Fish Shop, although we did get more fish here. Plus, the atmosphere of the restaurant really seemed like a regular walk up restaurant anywhere in Walt Disney World, except we were paying $28 for a meal here. All in all, I don't think that I would choose to eat here again.

After dinner we decided to walk over to get in line for the concert at the America Gardens Theatre. Unfortunately we were only partway there when we watched a massive storm roll in across the World Showcase Lagoon. We were stuck in the middle of nowhere, stuck between England and France with no shelter. We quickly put on our rain ponchos, but in our search for someplace to stay dry our pants and shoes got completely soaked. When the rain let up, we made our way to the line for our show time, ending up the third or fourth group in the line.

When they finally let us in, we quickly found ourselves a seat in the third row, only two people between us and the stage. Before long, the concert got underway, and the lead singer of The Fray was standing mere feet away from us. He eventually ventured out into the crowd, high fiving babies and little kids before moving out further and taking selfies and handing the mic over to a lucky audience member who was recording the action. A very cool start to the show, for sure!

The concert was extremely enjoyable, and while I was concerned that I would only know a song or two, it turned out to be the opposite - I knew all of the songs they plated except for a song or two. While I was disappointed that the show was so short, I realized that performing three shows in a single night doesn't exactly allow for a two hour show plus encores. I could definitely see doing dinner and the show again if the right band was playing, though I think that Tara & I would both choose someplace new to eat.

With the concert over, and our feet getting wrinkly from the wet shoes and socks, we decided that it was time to head home. Despite the rain, I had a great day trying new foods, seeing a concert, and of course, spending time with Tara. Until next time!