Our Continued Journey Around the World at Epcot

So the past two nights, Bryan and I have been so exhausted that we came back to the hotel and immediately went to bed, which is why I haven't been blogging and am a little behind.  Since we're officially done with the parks, though, I can play a little bit of catch up and blog about our time at Epcot two days ago.

First of all, it was so cold!  Okay, maybe it wasn't too cold, it was only in the upper 50s, but since it had been in the mid-80s the day before, and we'd gotten used to the warm weather, we were freezing.  Had this been the temperature our first day, we would have been find.  Also, if it hadn't been so horrendously windy, it really wouldn't have been so bad.  The wind made the trip on the skyliner absolutely miserable, and it didn't help that we stopped twice, causing me to lose my cool a little.  Bryan said he couldn't figure out why I was freaking out, because there was a day we rode the skyliner just the two of us where it seemed to rock a little bit more.  I told him that the wind whistling by made it seem worse than it actually was.

Regardless, we made it to Epcot alive and in time for rope drop.  We had 9 AM FastPasses for Soarin', but they were good until 10, so we decided to head to another ride first.  Bryan picked Mission: Space, having really enjoyed that one.  It was funny seeing all the people rush into the park, as they were all rushing towards Frozen Ever After, just like when we were in Animal Kingdom and everyone was running towards Flight of Passage.  We didn't care, as that meant the line for the other rides would be significantly shorter.

The problem with riding Soarin' after Flight of Passage, is it seems significantly less impressive.  Soarin' really is the precursor to Flight of Passage if you think about it.  That doesn't mean it's not amazing, but it just not as terrifying and thrilling.  Okay, scratch that, it is a little more terrifying if you're afraid of heights and are in the front row, like me, which means you're 79 feet in the air.  Yes, it was nice not having people's feet hanging above us, but it was also absolutely terrifying.  We were also on the very end of the row, so we had this weird fish eye thing going on.  It was still a lot of fun to ride, and I hadn't been on it since they updated it to be Soarin' Around the World, so it was pretty awesome to see all the changes.  Before, it was just locations over the United States, now it's all over the world, and, of course, you end in Epcot by flying through the fireworks.

After Soarin', we were supposed to be able to use our FastPasses for The Seas with Nemo and Friends, but, of course, it was broken down.  For the record, this has happened at each park, but the only time the ride didn't get back up and running was Pirates of the Caribbean.

While waiting, we decided to check out the aquarium, which, honestly, I'd never done before.  Let me just say, if you haven't done the aquarium at Epcot, you're seriously missing out!  There's so much to see there.  They had all the types of fish from Finding Nemo (which made all the little kids happy as they ran around exclaiming, "Nemo!" and "Dory!" while scurrying from tank to tank.  There were plenty of interactive aspects for children, not to mention a lot of emphasis on conservation efforts and how to help the ocean.  In addition to little fish, they had two manatees who are part of a rescue operation.  One was missing most of his tail and the other had been orphaned.  Apparently both had been released into the ocean before but neither one thrived, so they were brought back in the hopes that in a little while, they'll be able to take care of themselves in the wild.

There are also dolphins in the aquarium, and while we were there, we saw them playing a little game.  The dolphin was shown a hand signal on one screen, and then there was a series of three hand signals, and he had to identify the one shown on the first screen.  If he got it right, then he got a snack.  It's a way for them to test their intelligence and show off what they know.  It looked like he was having a blast doing it, and whenever he got the answer correct, everyone would cheer, which would only encourage him to keep going.

By now, Nemo was up and running, so that's what we checked out.  I thought it was a trip through the aquariums with Nemo and his friends projected onto the glass teaching you about the different types of fish.  Apparently I was wrong.  In this little ride, Marlin and Dory are looking for Nemo...again, who is swimming through different scenes of the movie, including Bruce the shark, the jellyfish and Crush the turtle (that was the trippiest part, as it didn't really feel like you're moving since the bubbles around you are moving at about the same speed).  It was a cute ride, but it definitely wasn't what I was expecting.

Afterwards, we decided to check out Turtle Talk with Crush, which, once again, I thought was Crush being projected on an aquarium.  Instead, it's a small theater that uses the same technology as Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, where there's a cast member behind the scenes talking into a mic that changes it into Crush's voice, so he can interact with the audience, answer their questions, etc.  It's much more entertaining than a prerecorded little movie.

Once we were done, we went to meet Goofy, who we saw last time were at Epcot but didn't actually visit.  The line was relatively short.  What I like about most of the characters in Epcot is that they're in their regular outfits, so when you meet Minnie, she's in her red polka dotted dress, and Mickey's in his regular little outfit.  This is the only park where that's a thing, the rest of the parks, they had different outfits on.  Goofy was very silly, and just like the Goofy in Animal Kingdom, he tried to sign the middle of our photo frame, so we had to gently remind him that he might want to try again on the edge.

By the time we finished with Goofy, it was time for our third FastPass of the day, Spaceship Earth.  It was important to me to do this, as I've heard they're going to close it down and completely update it.  There have been some small updates here and there, but the animatronics have stayed the same.  While they are nostalgic, it's definitely time for some new, much more lifelike animatronics.  This ride focused on the history of knowledge and technology as you move up the "big golf ball" that Epcot is famous for.  On your way back down is a new aspect that was fun to play with.  You got to answer some questions based on your likes and dislikes, and it gave you a preview of your future.  Mine talked about self-packing bags for trips, ways to check in on my dogs while I was gone, etc.  It was super cute.  It also made me wonder what they used to do for people on their way back down or if people just sat there riding backwards for a few minutes.  I honestly can't remember, it's been so long since I've been on that ride.

After riding Spaceship Earth, I was a woman on a mission.  I'd heard about these things called "handimals", which was an art piece part of the Festival of the Arts.  Whoever I asked about it, however, knew absolutely nothing about it.  Finally, however, at the marbleized scarf booth, someone knew what I was talking about, and they told me it was near the Thomas Kinkade booth.  The thing is, we walked right by there, and I even commented on how much I love Thomas Kinkade art, but we didn't stop to check it out.

How a handimal works is you paint your hand and put it on a piece of paper.  Then, the artist turns your handprint into an animal.  At first, I wanted flamingos, but the artist suggested we each pick our favorite animal, so I picked a giraffe, and Bryan picked a stegosaurus.  We put our handprints on the paper and were told to come back in about half an hour to pick up the final product.

With some time to kill, we went over to The Deconstructed Dish, which had the rainboba drink I wanted.  It was alright, it was just seltzer water, bobas and some passion fruit foam on top.  I've decided that I'm completely in love with bobas, but the drink as a whole was alright.  We did get cute little cups that said Festival of the Arts on one side and had Figment on the other.

We also walked around the Canada Pavilion a little, but we didn't want to go too far, as the handimals would be done soon.  Let me just say, the Canada Pavilion is absolutely stunning.  It's so underappreciated because there's not much to do there, but the setup is amazing.  I loved the little garden with the cottage and bridge near Le Cellier.  Had it not been on the main pathway to the circlevision theatre, it would be the perfect place for a PhotoPass photographer.

Finally, our handimals were done, so we went to pick them up.  Let me just say, they're absolutely adorable and so worth wandering all over Future World asking cast members where we could do them.  I'm so excited to get this home and hang it up.  This wasn't the only thing I wanted from the Festival of the Arts, though, there was a print I saw the last time we were at Epcot that I wanted as well.

Done with Future World for right now, we continued on our trek into the international pavilions with a visit to the UK pavilion.  We spent quite a bit of time there, as there were three characters I wanted to meet, a live performance and some shopping to do.

We started with meeting Alice, even though we met her two days earlier at Magic Kingdom.  Since it was the Festival of the Arts, some, but not all, of the characters had little paintings made by either them or someone else from their movie.  Alice's was a drawing of the White Rabbit.  When I complimented her on it, she said the Mad Hatter had done the drawing, and she just colored it in, so she supposed she should write his name on it super small to give him some proper credit.  While we were talking, there was a leaf in Alice's hair, and I was surprised she didn't stop me when I went to get it for her, as it was a wig that I could have pulled off (not that I would do something so terrible).  I guess she figured since I was an adult, not a small child, I wouldn't do something dumb.

Right across from where you meet Alice is the Crown and Rose pub, so we headed inside.  That place was absolutely packed, it was ridiculous.  Luckily, if you just wanted a drink they had an outdoor tap, so that's where we headed.  As soon as I saw they had pear cider, I was beyond excited.  I had pear cider in Oxford, and I've been on a mission in the 8 or so years since for a decent glass.  Let me just say, the only place that's come close is an English pub in DC called Elephant and Castle.  The pear cider I got at the UK pavilion was delicious, and I was beyond excited to get it.  Bryan got some sort of beer, I'm not entirely sure what it was, but I know I didn't like it.

After meeting Alice and getting a drink, we went back to meet Winnie the Pooh, who has a little setup in the back of the pavilion.  There was only one family in front of us, which was awesome and a huge change from when we met Pooh in Magic Kingdom.  I commented about Christopher Robin's room and asked Pooh where he slept (my mind was saying, "he's one of Christopher Robin's stuffed animals, so we stays in here", and he had to remind me that he slept outside.  I redeemed myself, however, by saying, "Even in the cold?  He won't let you come inside then?"  Nope, apparently not.  I need to learn to really think about my questions before talking to characters.

We also took this opportunity to sit and listen to the British Invasion, a British cover band that performs in the rear of the pavilion, near where you can meet Winnie the Pooh and Mary Poppins.  They were a lot of fun, very high energy, and it was the perfect opportunity to just sit and relax a little bit.  There was a lot more of that today than our first day in Epcot.

We had some time to kill before meeting our last character in the UK pavilion, Mary Poppins, so we got a drink in the French Pavilion.  Since we were in France, we went with wine, of course.  I also got some braised short ribs in a hollowed out tomato while Bryan got some brie in a bread bowl.  As we walked to find a place to eat, we heard a teenager girl say about the bread bowl, "It just tastes like bread and cheese".  I had to resist the urge to burst out laughing right then and there.  Of course it does!  It's brie.  When I told Bryan, he thought it was hilarious as well.

Done with our wine for right now, we went back to the UK Pavilion to meet Mary Poppins.  I have to say, I think this would be one of the hardest characters to play because she's so strict.  One of the families in front of us had a little girl who was super excited (she was about two) and kept running around.  Mary Poppins kept giving her firm stares and saying to the parents, "I don't appreciate this sort of behavior, please get her under control."  In the end, however, she gave the girl a quick wink that I don't think a lot of people saw.  Like I said, this has to be a hard character to play, because of course the kids are going to be hyper and excited, they're in Disney World.  You have to be strict to stay in character, but you don't want to be so strict and mean that you get the kids upset.  It's a fine line to walk.

When it was our turn to talk to Mary Poppins, I asked her for advise for getting children in line.  She said to reward them frequently when they do what they're supposed to with a spoonful of sugar or a trip to the park.  We also talked about tea.  She said her favorite type is English Breakfast Tea, which is mine as well.  She asked me how I took it, and I said with sugar.  She asked, "A spoonful of sugar?" and I responded, "Usually more than that."  When I asked her how she takes hers, she said, "A spoonful of sugar and some cream, not too much or not too little, just the practically perfect amount."  Towards the end, we talked about the weather and how it was the perfect weather to fly a kite.  She said that when she had tea with Bert that morning, he said the same thing, which is worrisome, because that meant he was right about something.  I told her that it's best not to tell him that.

Mostly done with the UK Pavilion (we went back at night for something I'll talk about later), we went back to the France Pavilion where we met Aurora and Belle.  Aurora's painting was of her dancing, and her dress was both blue and pink.  Flora originally signed her name, but then Merryweather crossed it out and signed her own name.  I asked Aurora about this, asking who really painted the painting, and she said Flora started it, but Merryweather went and added to it, including the blue color.  I pointed out that since she's wearing pink, she must prefer Flora's coloring than Merryweather's, and she said that she actually prefers green.  I told her that green's my favorite color as well, and she said she'd be sure to tell Fauna.  She said Fauna tends to stay out of the bickering between Flora and Merryweather, as she's far more laid back than the other two.

After Aurora, I continued on my quest to stump a character, this time with Belle.  When we met her, I asked her how Prince Adam was doing.  She didn't miss a beat and said he had been making her pancakes up at the castle that morning and was getting pretty good at cooking.  I was incredibly upset about this and the fact that I didn't stump her.  Bryan still doesn't get why this upset me, and he said if that stumped Belle, he wouldn't be impressed by me but instead disappointed in the lack of knowledge that that Belle had about her character.  I guess that's a little true, but it's still upsetting.

While with Belle, I also told her that we saw Gaston the other day.  She rolled her eyes and made a comment about how he was undoubtedly looking at his reflection in the mirror.  I said he was, along with acting like he was God's gift to mankind.  None of this seemed to surprise her, and it didn't surprise us either when we met him at Magic Kingdom.

On our way out of the French Pavilion, we stopped for one more glass of wine.  I have to say, the wine at the French Pavilion was alright; my favorite was definitely the chianti we had at the Italy Pavilion.  It's not that it was bad wine, it just wasn't the best wine.  We didn't go into the wine shop there, so that might be where the better wine is hidden away; we just stopped at the little stand along the pathway.

From France, we headed to the Morocco Pavilion.  This pavilion has a completely different vibe from the rest of the pavilions, as it was sponsored by the Moroccan king.  Because of this, he was given freedom to do whatever he wanted, as they couldn't exactly find a way to say no to a king.  The pavilion is stunning, with hand painted mosaic tiles all over the place.  The fact that it's so narrow lends itself so well to this pavilion, as it's supposed to feel like a Moroccan marketplace, which are known for being crowded and narrow. 

While waiting in line to meet Jasmine, Bryan got us some Moroccan wine, which was a first for us.  It was pretty good, it had a peppery taste, which I'm not a fan of when it comes to wine, but it wasn't terrible.  It was definitely a different taste than what we're used to in wine, but I would definitely have Moroccan wine again.

When we met Jasmine, I commented on the lamps on the shelves in her line.  I asked if there were genies inside, and she said I'd have to rub them and find out.  She reminded me to stay away from black or red lamps, as that's where Jafar is.  She also complimented Bryan on his beard.  Apparently in order to become sultan, Aladdin has to grow a big, white beard, but he's struggling.  They've tried using monkey spit and camel spit to get the beard to grow, but neither one have worked.  Bryan suggested he just think really hard about it, and Jasmine said she would pass that piece of advice along to him.

After meeting Jasmine, we got something to eat in Morocco.  I'd heard the food was amazing, and it definitely didn't disappoint.  We both got another glass of Moroccan wine, and then we got some food.  I got a chicken wrap, which came with lentils and couscous on the side.  The wrap was delicious, but the lentils were cold and dry.  I would definitely get Moroccan food again, and if you're looking for somewhere to get delicious food in Epcot, the quick service restaurant in Morocco should not be missed.

At this point, it was getting dark, and we were three countries away from drinking around the world, so we kept going to the Japanese Pavilion.  I wish we had been able to stop by there during the day, as it looked stunning and huge.  Since it was so cold, we went inside to eat some more, this time getting teriyaki chicken and beef.  Bryan also got hot sake, while I got another glass of plum wine.  It was the same type I got at the China Pavilion a few days earlier.  It was also wonderful getting the opportunity to stay inside and out of the wind.  Now that the sun had gone down, it was definitely cold, and Bryan definitely regretted wearing shorts (I told him he should wear pants, but he insisted he'd be fine; at least he brought his hoodie like I suggested). 

Since it's the Festival of the Arts, they had Disney on Broadway concerts going on.  I'd never heard of whoever was performing, but the woman sang "My Strongest Suit" from Aida, so, of course, we had to stop to listen.  The entire time, I kept going on and on about how much I love Aida and the fact that it's completely underrated.  I was so glad they included that in their set, as I figured they'd just focus on musicals that were also Disney movies since those are the ones people have heard about.

In order to keep up with our drinking around the world quest, I got strawberry apple cider at American Adventure.  All I can say is wow.  That drink was absolutely delicious, and, just like the chianti, I'm on a mission to find it at home as well.  I'd never had anything like it before.  If you ever come across it, it's definitely worth getting.

From American Adventure, we doubled back to the UK Pavilion to do a new nighttime PhotoPass location.  Right next to the Alice meeting location is a beautiful little garden with an archway and fairy lights hanging from it.  At night, they have a lantern with Tinkerbell inside, and I wanted to do that (although not nearly as bad as the Tangled one).  The photos came out gorgeous, and I loved the extra fairy lights hanging from the top.

We were one country away from drinking around the world, so we stopped to get a beer in Canada.  It was pretty good, nice and light and delicious.  And with that beer, we drank around the world.  Okay, we drank around the world over two days, but we still did it, and that's all that mattered. 

By now, we were pretty much done with Epcot.  We stopped to get a few pictures of us in front of Spaceship Earth at night, including some awesome slow exposure shots.  How they did this was they had a cast member take the picture while another ran behind you with a huge stick with a bunch of lights on it.  While the slow exposure, it looked like swirling lights behind you.  It's definitely one of my favorite pictures from this trip.

When we first got to Epcot that day, we planned on staying late to see the fireworks.  By the time it was time for the fireworks to start, however, we were both exhausted and cold, so we opted to head back to the hotel.  We were able to see some of the fireworks from the skyliner, so that was pretty cool.

It was an awesome day, but I realized if there's a festival going on, you need at least three days to properly explore all the pavilions, plus the festival booths; there's simply so much to do there.  Epcot and Animal Kingdom are my favorite parks because there's so much to do, you can't really get bored there.  It was a wonderful day, and we got so much done; I was sad to leave the park.