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.

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A Trip to the Future and Partially Around the World at Epcot

Wow, it was another wonderful, jam packed day today.  This time, we headed to Epcot for our first day there (we'll return on Friday).  There weren't any morning Extra Magic Hours today, so we got an extra hour of sleep, which was wonderful.  It's amazing how much of a difference an hour can make.  Once again, we took the skyliner, only this time it was a much longer journey to Epcot.  I do have to admit, we like the skyliner better than the bus, especially because it means we're guaranteed to have a seat.  There's an added bonus taking the skyliner to Epcot, you're dropped off in World Showcase, which is a significantly less crowded entrance, so we were through security and everything in record time.

Our first stop for the day was Journey Into the Imagination with Figment.  We definitely didn't need the FastPass, as there wasn't even a stand-by line.  It was an adorable little ride and a nice, slow way to start out the day as we explored the importance of the imagination.

When we got off the ride, we found some character meet ups we were looking for: Ralph and Vanellope and Joy.  It was perfect, because we had been looking for them before hopping onto Figment.  I love Vanellope, she's feisty and blunt while simultaneously sweet and adorable.  I seriously can't get enough of her.  Ralph was a lot of fun to meet too, and it was great to see them together, especially after what happened in Ralph Breaks the Internet.

Right across from Ralph and Vanellope was Joy.  Before all the construction in Epcot, Joy and Sadness were together, but now it's just Joy.  There was barely a line (maybe one family in front of us).  I asked Joy if Riley went on a second date (if you haven't seen Riley's First Date, which is a Pixar short, you must immediately).  She told me to keep it a secret.  We also talked about Riley becoming a teenager, and I sympathized with Joy, as I work with middle schoolers.  Everyone, including Joy, acts surprised when they hear that, followed by sympathy.  I promise, it's not nearly as bad as it sounds.  Overall, Joy was a wonderful character experience, and since there wasn't much of a line, we got to spend a little bit more time with her.

While we were in the area, we decided to see Mickey since he was nearby.  He was hiding in the Pixar Shorts lobby, and we walked right up.  There was seriously nobody in any of the three lines which was perfect.  This also gave us the opportunity to see the Pixar Shorts, which was something Bryan had wanted to do, he loves watching Pixar shorts.  We watched "Get Yourself A Horse", which looks like an old fashioned Disney short until the characters pop out of the screen.  You could tell the animators were having fun with the 3D effects.  Afterwards, we watched "Piper", which has always been one of my favorites, followed by "Feast".  Personally, I liked "Piper" the best; "Feast" was a roller coaster of emotions.

From the Pixar Shorts, we went to meet Pluto and Goofy, although we only really had time to meet Pluto, so we'll go back to meet Goofy on Friday.  Afterwards, we went to use our second FastPass for the day at Mission: Space.  Since the last time I went on this ride, there have been some changes; there are two versions, a regular version and less intense version.  We opted for the regular version.  I swear I remember Mission: Space being different; more like Smuggler's Run where you're in an actual cockpit, not a claustrophobic little chair in a line next to three other people.  Of course, that was fourteen years ago, so I could be remembering things differently.

While in Future World, we decided to ride Living the Land since the line was fairly short.  This was a ride I had never been on before, so I was willing to check it out.  It's a nice, leisurely little boat ride where you learn a little bit about agriculture and how Epcot grows some of the food eaten in Disney World.  This includes new techniques such as growing the food vertically to allow for more to be grown in less space.  It was pretty interesting, but nothing too spectacular.  If you were more into that kind of stuff, I imagine you'd like it more.

Since it's the Festival of the Arts, there are some special activities going on, including a paint by numbers mural.  You get a little paint brush and cup of paint with a number on top, and you can paint 4 squares.  Even with people only painting 4 squares, they still have to put up a new mural every two days or so.  It was a lot of fun and our way to leave our mark on Epcot.  In the end, you get a postcard of what the final product will be.  This is going to be a large rainbow.

This this point, we were done with Future World for the day and headed over to the World Showcase.  Our original plan was to go to each pavilion in order and work our way around.  In reality, however, we bounced around a lot.  We started in Norway instead of Mexico because of our FastPasses for Frozen Ever After.  This ride replaced Maelstrom in Norway.  It was cute ride that retold some of the highlights from Frozen as Arendelle gets ready for a winter party in the middle of summer, courtesy of Elsa of course.  Like I said, it was cute and fun, but it definitely wouldn't be worth the ninety minute wait it had in the stand-by line

When we got off Frozen Ever After, there was only a 15 minute wait to meet Anna and Elsa, so we rushed over there right away to meet them before the line got any longer.  We got there right on time, as the line started to pick up afterwards.  I have no idea what was up with Anna, she wasn't bubbly and didn't smile in the photos.  It was super weird.  Elsa asked if we'd met before, so now I've bee wracking my head to figure out if I know anyone working in Disney.  If I do, no one has told me.  Elsa asked where we were from, and I said, "Outside Washington, DC, so a little bit colder than here."  I completely forgot we were supposed to be in Arendelle, and she commented, "Colder than Arendelle?  I'll have to go there one day."  Oops.  Elsa was much friendlier than Anna.

Now that we were done with Norway, we doubled back to Mexico.  We got some barbacoa to eat, which was delicious, then went inside the pavilion to ride Gran Fiesta.  This ride definitely needs to be updated or something, it was mediocre at best.  Bryan's reaction was, "This was why you made me watch that movie?"  Yes, that's why we watched The Three Caballeros, which we both absolutely hated.

Next, we went back to the Norway Pavilion to look at the Norse Gods exhibit.  It was quite small but still really cool.  They talked about Odin, Thor, Loki and Freya and had some amazing artifacts that are well over a thousand years old.  Disney isn't the place you'd expect to see something like that, so it was a pleasant surprise.

In Norway, we grabbed a beer and started drinking around the world (okay, Bryan started in Mexico, I started in Norway).  The beer was alright, it tasted kind of generic, but Pilsner is good no matter what.

Drinks in hand, we temporarily skipped over China so we could go meet Snow White in Germany.  She and I had a lovely conversation.  I commented on the gorgeous painting of her that Doc made, and she said she had no idea how he found the time to such a beautiful artist.  I asked her if the dwarfs were keeping the house clean with her gone and she did express some concern, saying she wanted to go back and check on them.  I said she could come clean our house if she had the time, and she said she'd love to, and she'd bring her animal friends.  I told her that I live right next to a forest, so there will be plenty of animals around to help.  It's perfect, now we wait for her to show up.  It's also worth noting that we got beer in Germany, how could we not?

Temporarily done with Germany, we doubled back to China.  Here, we waited in line to meet Mulan, who I don't think I'd met before.  I wished her a happy Chinese New Year, and complimented Mushu on the painting he did of her (he did it with his fire breathing).  After meeting Mulan, we stuck around to see the Golden Dragon Acrobats perform.  This was something I was so excited to see, as I love Chinese Acrobats.  Personally, I felt their performance was a little lackluster.  While what they did was impressive, I've seen more stunning and dangerous stunts performed by Chinese Acrobats in the past.  Afterwards, we got some potstickers and drinks nearby.  I got plum wine, which was alright.  It was definitely fortified and reminded me of port.  It was alright, but the potstickers were delicious.

Leaving China, we went back to Germany to look at some of the shops.  I especially wanted to visit the Christmas shop.  If you didn't read my pre-trip post about Epcot, that shop has some wonderful memories for me.  When I was 8, I was too scared to see the fireworks (I had issues with sudden loud noises then).  My Pop-Pop and I stayed in the Christmas shop where a wonderful cast member took us around the shop and showed us so many wonderful things.  It was an amazing moment just between the two of us.  Going back to the Christmas shop, however, it was significantly smaller than I remembered, but it was still great to revisit.

Keeping in our path around the lagoon, our next stop was Italy.  We wandered around a little bit but spent most of our time in  Tutto Gusto, an Italian wine cellar.  This was something I'd really been looking forward to doing.  It was dark and had low ceiling, just like what you'd expect from a wine cellar.  I got the Tuscan flight, and the chianti was absolutely delicious.  I took the little slip of paper with the wine's name on it so I could find it at home.  We also got some cheese and salami.  We really took our time here, sitting down and relaxing.  It's also worth noting that my phone died at this part, and none of the external batteries I brought were working, so this is where I stop having pictures.

Having spent about an hour at Tutto Gusto, we went to the American Pavilion where we walked around the little gallery there.  There was some amazing Native American artwork on display.  My personal favorite was this stunning black and white gown and the skateboard.  Both were very modern and showed how traditional artwork is being used with modern mediums.

At this point, I hit a wall.  We just sat for a while, and I didn't feel quite right.  Bryan was super sympathetic and sat with me for a while.  What surprised me was the fact that even though I wasn't saying anything, Bryan knew it was more of an emotional wall instead of a physical one, even though I didn't vocalize it or even recognize it myself.

We rested for about ten minutes before going back outside were the Disney on Broadway concert was going on.  Immediately, I recognized the voice singing, it was Josh Strickland, the original Tarzan on Broadway.  We stopped and listened to the rest of the performance.  I was so excited to hear Josh perform.  I've wanted to see Tarzan on stage for a while, but no one does it, and it doesn't go on tour.  This was the closest I was going to get, and that was good enough for him.

After the concert, we staked out a place to watch the fireworks.  We stood on the bridge between the French and UK pavilions.  I wasn't sure if it was going to be a good spot, but that's where the boats for private parties watch, so that was good enough for me.  The fireworks show, Epcot Forever, is a temporary show while they get the permanent show ready.  I was a little upset, because I loved Illuminations so much, but it was 20 years old and time to do something new.  Epcot Forever pays homage to the past, present and future of Epcot.  There were bits from Illuminations and even Tapestry of Nations, which was the parade Epcot performed for the millennium celebration, and I was so excited to hear those little bits.  The fireworks were stunning, and the technology was out of this world.  Epcot has definitely stepped up its game.

Even though there were evening Extra Magic Hours, Bryan and I decided to head back to the hotel for the night.  We were both exhausted.  We'd ridden several rides and met eleven characters (I didn't blog about meeting Pluto, Minnie or Donald).  The next two days are going to be long days in Magic Kingdom, so we decided to get some rest so we could get as much done as possible in Magic Kingdom over the next two days.

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FastPass Day

Monday was our FastPass day, so I'm writing this a few days after the fact, but I didn't want to jump the gun with my Walt Disney Wednesday post.  I'm glad I checked the countdown on my phone, because I originally thought our FastPass day was Tuesday, so I would have done it a day late.  This wouldn't have been the end of the world, but we might not have gotten everything we wanted when we wanted.

Before the actual FastPass day, Bryan and I spent some time figuring out what we wanted and when.  Silly me, I thought this would be a simple enough activity that would take half hour, forty-five minutes tops.  Yeah, that's definitely not what happened.  When it comes to planning things, I need to be able to move things around, so I got colored sticky notes from the dollar store and arranged them on Bryan's wall in his apartment by date and time.  This gave us the ability to move things around to when we wanted them without erasing or crossing things out.

As I wrote things out and tried to figure out when we wanted to do them, Bryan had a map out on his phone (and another one on my phone), figuring out what attractions were close to each other.  The original plan for our first day in Animal Kingdom involved us zigzagging across the park, which didn't seem like the best use of our time.  This especially bothered Bryan who was determined to find a way to maximize our time.  He was a man on a mission, it was great (but also a little frustrating).  Due to this, we kept moving things around to find a way that got us all the rides we wanted, at times we wanted.  It was a mess.  Thankfully, since we had everything on sticky notes, we were able to move things with ease.  In the end, I was exhausted, cranky, and my legs were killing me.  We had a general idea as to when we wanted to ride each ride.  Of course, the times weren't guaranteed because it would be whenever the FastPasses were available, but we wanted to have a general idea.  We also started talking about some of the quick service food places we wanted to eat.  After about two hours worth of work, we had a plan, and we only changed it up a little bit after that.

Monday rolled around, and my original plan was to get up super early and get to work around 6:45ish so I could do our FastPasses, and then I would just do stuff at school for the next hour until students arrived.  Thankfully, Mother Nature was on my side, and originally we had a two hour delay, but it was changed to a snow day.  This meant I could do our FastPasses from home, which was even better.  Let me start out by saying that FastPass day is incredibly stressful!  It was a whirlwind.  Instead of going day by day, I decided to hit all the big ticket, hard to get FastPasses first, which meant I was jumping from day to day, from park to park like a crazy person.  Then, I went back and got the smaller FastPasses that are much easier to get.  It was insane.  I also kept skipping over one day for some random reason, so I had to go back and fix all of that. 

The one thing that I absolutely hated was the tier system in Hollywood Studios.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with how FastPasses work, at Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot there is a tier system where the most popular rides are considered tier one, while the rest of the FastPass attractions are considered tier two.  When you first reserve FastPasses, you can only reserve one from tier one and two from tier two.  Once you've used all three, you can book more from whatever is left.  With the exception of Star Tours, pretty much all of the rides at Hollywood Studios is tier one, which means you have to choose between Slinky Dog Dash, Toy Story Mania, Alien Swirling Saucers, Tower of Terror or Rock'n'Roller Coaster for tier one, which is an absurd amount for one tier.  Then, there weren't very many attractions we wanted for tier two because I keep reading that FastPasses for shows really isn't necessary.  This leaves a lot that we want to do for Extra Magic Hours, but I'll talk about that in a few weeks when I write about Hollywood Studios.

Overall, Bryan and I are pleased with our FastPass selections.  I'm getting more and more excited about our trip.  We're less than two months from our trip, and everything is starting to fall into place.

Because Christmas is on a Wednesday next week, I won't be doing a Walt Disney Wednesday post.  My goal is to have a post a few days later about planning a vacation in general, but I need Bryan's help for that (he just doesn't know that yet).  So keep an eye out for that post.

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A Closer Look at Epcot

Today for Walt Disney Wednesday we're going to continue on our closer look at the parks and what Bryan and I are most looking forward to doing at the individual parks.  This will be the last one until next month, as I have something else planned for next week.  There also won't be a Walt Disney Wednesday in two weeks because it's Christmas.  I'll be doing it on Friday instead with Bryan's help (he doesn't know that part yet).  As the title implies, we're going to be talking about Epcot today.

Photo courtesy of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epcot

Epcot opened in 1982 and is twice the size of Magic Kingdom.  It focuses on human achievement, both now and in the future.  The park itself has two very distinct areas: Future World and the World Showcase.  As the name implies, Future World focuses on the future of humans and their technological achievements.  This is also home to the "golf ball" for which Epcot is famous.  This is actually called Spaceship Earth and contains a ride inside outlining the achievements of humans since their beginning.  I'll talk more about this ride specifically in a little bit.  The rear portion of the park is centered around a large lagoon.  There, there are 11 pavilions, each one dedicated to a different country: Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, United States, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, Canada.  Each pavilion is a completely immersive experience with replicas of famous landmarks, employees who are from that country, authentic food, shops and art galleries.  You are supposed to feel like you are visiting that country.  When I went with my family in 2000, they also had Millenium Village, which housed smaller pavilions for many more countries.  Although the World Showcase looks incredibly crowded, there's actually room for six more pavilions in case Epcot wanted to expand.

Just like Magic Kingdom, Bryan and I will spend two days at Epcot, although they won't be back to back days.  We also haven't divided up the park like we did with Magic Kingdom, we're just going to play it by ear and eat a lot of food.  There aren't an over abundance of rides at Epcot like there is at Magic Kingdom, but there's still a lot that I want to do.  First and foremost, I want to ride Mission: Space.

The premise of Mission: Space is that you are part of a flight team flying to Mars.  Each person has a different role to fulfill, including buttons to push.  Don't worry, the buttons will light up and tell you what to do.  Even if you don't press the buttons, everything works out, the computer doesn't react or change the story of the ride (I believe there is a similar ride at Hollywood Studios that does react if you don't push a button that you're supposed to).  In order to simulate the G-forces, the ride spins you around at a ridiculously high speed.  This has actually created extreme problems for Mission: Space, including the deaths of two riders.  One was a little boy who was a little too short to ride and also had an undiagnosed heart condition.  The other was a woman who had high blood pressure and died from a stroke.  After both of these deaths, Disney created a less intense version of the ride.  Now, visitors choose between the orange version (the original one) or the green version (the lighter version).  Even though I suffer from extreme motion sickness, I didn't have trouble on this ride in the past.  I'll probably still take some motion sickness medicine before this ride, just in case.

Another ride I've gone on before that I can't wait to do again is Test Track.  On Test Track, you design your own race car and then put it through the tests that cars undergo before determining if they can drive on the road.  It sounds like a nice, calm ride, but it's actually quite fast as you zip around on a track.  When we went in 2005, we were in line forever to get on the ride, then they had to close it for the weather.  We went back later, and the guys in front of us in line were teasing us, saying it looked like it was going to rain again, and the ride would be shutdown.

One thing that is of the utmost importance for me to do is visit the Christmas shop in the Germany Pavilion.  It holds such a special place in my heart, and it will definitely be an emotional trip for me.  When my family visited Disney World in 2000, my grandparents went with me.  At the time, I had extreme issues with fireworks (I'm still not a huge fan of them, but I've gotten a lot better), and there was no way I could sit through the IllumiNations show (I saw it in 2005 and loved it).  My Pop-Pop decided to take me to the Christmas store in the Germany Pavilion instead.  Even though the store was technically closed, one of the cast members, a young woman from Germany, kept it open just for us.  To help keep me distracted, she took me all through the store, showing me different things and explaining the Christmas traditions attached to them.  My Pop-Pop was German (along with a whole host of other things), so he loved it just as much as I did.  For that reason, I absolutely adore that store, and whenever I think of it, I always think of my Pop-Pop.

There are a few new things at Epcot I want to do.  First of all, Frozen Ever After (of course).  I love Frozen so much, and I've heard the technology on this ride is absolutely amazing.  I've purposefully avoided any videos on YouTube that show the ride, as I want to be surprised when I get on the ride.

Image courtesy of: https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2016/04/frozen-ever-after-attraction-set-to-open-at-epcot-in-june/

Just like many of the rides in Magic Kingdom, this ride takes visitors through the story of Frozen as they ride on a little boat.  This ride replaced Maelstrom, which was a ride that took visitors through Norway as they learned about legends and the culture (similar to Gran Fiesta in the Mexico Pavilion).  I remember enjoying Maelstrom, especially the three headed troll, but I'm also glad to see this ride.  Frozen Ever After is Epcot's first attempt to create rides throughout the park that appeal to smaller children.  Some people, however, aren't happy about this, as they enjoy Epcot because there aren't as many small children as the other parks.

Additionally, I can't wait to check out The Seas with Nemo and Friends.  The Living Seas was at Epcot when we went in 2005, but we didn't really check it out.  The Seas with Nemo and Friends is a ride that takes you through Epcot's impressive aquarium.  As you ride, technology superimposes images of the characters from Finding Nemo onto the glass of the aquarium, making it look like they're a part of the aquarium as well.  It looks like a blast, and Finding Nemo is a bit of an inside joke between Bryan and I, which makes this ride even more special to both of us.

One thing I love about the World Showcase is how immersive the experience is.  Disney really goes the extra mile to make sure visitors feel like they are truly in that country.  For that reason, they always have a wide array of performers at each pavilion, and I want to see so many of them.  British Revolution is a rock group that does a wide range of cover songs from British rock history.  Since that's the type of music Bryan usually likes to listen to (me too), it seems like a fun place to just relax and sit after walking around the park all day.  As you can probably figure out, it's in the United Kingdom Pavilion.  Also in the United Kingdom Pavilion, I'd like to see Quickstep.  They are a quartet that plays authentic Scottish, Irish and English songs.  I absolutely love Celtic music, it's actually a bit problematic.  I've been asking Bryan to go to an Irish pub with live music for a while, but we haven't had a chance to make it to one yet.  If we don't in the near future, at least we'll be able to see this.  I also want to check out the Jeweled Dragon Acrobats.

Photo Courtesy of https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/entertainment/epcot/jeweled-dragon-acrobats/

In college I was fortunate enough to see another Chinese acrobat group in college, and I thought it was absolutely magical, not to mention terrifying to watch.  It reminds me of the abilities people have when they really push themselves.  The amount of perfection is astounding as well.  It makes all other gymnastic acts look like child's play, which is saying a lot.

Matsuriza is another musical group I want to see.  They are a Japanese drumming group.  I've never seen one before, but apparently you can hear them playing from quite some distance.  Additionally, in the Morocco Pavilion, I want to hear Sahara Beat perform.  Sahara beat is a Moroccan band that plays traditional and more modern Moroccan music.  I've never heard Moroccan music, so I'm interested to hear them perform and what the music sounds like, although I imagine it sounds very similar to Middle Eastern music.

Of course I want to see characters in Epcot as well.  Most importantly, I want to meet Anna and Elsa.  I'm a little bit torn, however, because now Anna and Elsa are in their costumes for Frozen II.  I think the costumes are absolutely gorgeous, but I had an image in my mind of meeting them in their outfits from the first movie.  I do have to admit, however that the new wig for Elsa looks beautiful, much better than the original wig.  I also love Elsa wearing her hair down in general, but I talked about that in my Frozen II blog post last week.

I do want to brag a little bit right now.  The one thing Bryan has not been able to get on board with is meeting characters.  I'm so excited to meet them, get autographs, take photos and talk to them.  He, on the other hand, keeps arguing that they're just people in costumes, not the actual characters.  When talking to Bryan today, however, I was teasing him about meeting Anna and Elsa.  After we saw Frozen II last week, he started referring to Elsa as the Avatar, just like Avatar: the Last Airbender, and he said he's always excited to meet the Avatar.  I wondered how Elsa would react if he referred to her as the Avatar, and he said there was only one way to find out.  This is the closest he's come so far to being interested in meeting the characters in any capacity.  Hey, if that's what it takes for him to get excited about meeting the characters, I'll take what I can get.

I'm also excited to see Mulan.  The only place you can meet Mulan is in the China Pavilion.  Like Anna and Elsa, Mulan costume has been updated in the past few years, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it.  Her costume doesn't look anything like her outfits from the movie.  I remember there was quite a bit of an uproar after the costume change.  In Disney's defense, the costume is more accurate and closer to traditional Chinese dresses.

Of course, no trip to Disney's Epcot would be complete without seeing Belle.  When it comes to the Disney Princesses, Belle is definitely my favorite.  She doesn't need anyone to save her, she's willing to stand up for herself, and she's a bookworm just like me.  She's definitely one of my favorite Disney characters and is my favorite Disney princess (maybe with the exception of Kida from Atlantis).

Rumor has it Stitch can also be found near the entrance of Epcot.  Of course I plan on meeting Stitch at Magic Kingdom, but there's no such thing as too much Stitch.  I absolutely adore him, but I already talked about that in my Magic Kingdom post last week.

When it comes to the last three characters I want to meet, I'm not entirely sure if they'll still be there when we go in February.  The Future World part of Epcot is undergoing a lot of renovations right now, so some things won't be open or available.  This includes the meet and greet for Joy and Sadness from Inside Out.  I wasn't a huge fan of the movie, but I love Sadness so much.  I think I relate to her because I've struggled a lot with depression, especially in the past year, and Sadness reminds me the importance of expressing my emotions and the fact that it's perfectly fine to be sad every once in a while.  I'll also admit that the movie Inside Out has grown on me since the first time I watched it.

Photo courtesy of https://hiveminer.com/Tags/baymax%2Cface

Finally, I want to meet Baymax from Big Hero 6.  This movie was definitely not what I expected, but I loved it because I love superhero movies so much.  Also, it's technically a Marvel movie, which makes it even better.  Baymax is so adorable and pure.  My favorite Baymax moment, however, is when he's running low on battery.  It reminds me so much of a drunk person, and I find it absolutely hilarious that Disney included it in the movie.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I'll be able to meet Joy, Sadness and Baymax, as their meet and greets are closed, and I haven't heard anything about them moving to another part of the park during the renovations.

Just like last week for Magic Kingdom, I asked Bryan what he's most looking forward to doing at Epcot and made him do a little bit of research.  He said he's most looking forward to riding Mission: Space.  I don't know if he wants to ride the green or orange one though, I'll have to talk to him about it before our FastPass day next week.  He also wants to check out the Mission: Space Advanced Lab Training, which I didn't even know about until he mentioned it.  When I looked it up, it looks like a hand's on activity center for all ages where you can participate in more interactive simulations like when you ride Mission: Space (minus the spinning) and send digital postcards to families and friends.  Bryan also said he's interested in (and this an exact quote), "All the coral reef stuff".  I'm assuming he means The Living Seas with Nemo and Friends and Turtle Talk with Crush, which is similar to The Living Seas with Nemo and Friends and Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor where they use similar technology to project Crush on the tank where he interacts with the audience just like Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor.

Tuesday is our FastPass day, so I figured Wednesday would be a good day to talk about the process and what FastPasses we got.  Everyone cross their fingers for us for Tuesday so we get all the FastPasses we want for our trip.

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