Jana say Disney: Day 6 Epcot

Tuesday was a SLEEPING IN kind of day. With no Mo keeping us up all night like the nights before, we slept SO well. She just wasn't used to somewhere other than her own bed I guess.

Our plan today was eat somewhere off Disney after picking up Mo from his mom's, then Epcot, but the words "let's not make this an all day day" slipped out, as if we weren't going to go balls to the walls again. As if.

We made our way to his mom's and Mo was not really eager to see us. I guess she was getting used to living in luxury. Too bad, missy, we picked you to be in our family not the other way around! You've gotta live with us!

After we left, we decided to drive down the highway to find somewhere to eat, preferably a Bob Evans or such. We found a very, very sketchy Shoney's. I was ready to go and really didn't want to drive all over looking for a place to eat. It was STILL $45 for us to have breakfast. Wow. At least we were full. And of course Mo loaded up her pants as soon as I sat down to eat. Yes, she has impeccable timing.

We got to Epcot around 10 a.m. Our goal was to ride Mission Space first, then Test Track and Soarin'. These are the 3 big rides there, so we'd have to get FPs for one of them. I told LP I'd go get a FP for Soarin' while they all got ready to ride Mission: Space. (I was not interested in riding a ride that requires barf bags) Soarin' was ALL the way on the other side. I can honestly say I have a very good judge of character, and in this case, I knew instantly Epcot was not going to be my favorite park. But of course I was willing to give it another chance!


LP, Rug and Al went to ride Mission: Space and Mo and I walked over to "Innoventions" which to me just seemed like a lame science center. I did find a place to email postcards of our faces, but couldn't remember anybody's address! I tried to let her walk around, but there were just too many people. So we walked back to the entrance of Mission Space but noticed a small crowd gathering. It was yet another 'street acting' thing, but this different. They were three men, dressed as sanitation workers, with garbage cans, brooms, sweepers, but they stopped in the middle of the walkway and started playing music a la STOMP. I let Mo out of her stroller (FREEDOM!) and she just went nuts. She was jamming and shaking her tush all over the place. Afterwards, a woman came up to me and told me she was the cutest thing she'd ever seen! One of the men gave her a sticker for being a 'junior jammer'. She is going to be my jivin' mamma.



I took them into Innoventions and we attempted to email another postcard, not sure if it even worked. Nobody ever mentioned it, and there was a couple in front of us that sent 5 different pictures to about 1000 different people. Not worth it!

All morning LP kept talking about how it was going to just downpour. As though he was an old man and felt it in his knee joints. It never rained. Not a drop. Maybe his knees are just predicting good weather and he doesn't realize it.

Epcot is divided into two areas: Future World and World Showcase. Future World is where we were, and where all the rides are, as well as the big Epcot ball. World Showcase has pavillions for several countries.

Since LP was CONVINCED it was going to pour, he wanted to go to World Showcase before, as he put it, 'the skies unleashed all hell'. I was irritated with all the lines at Epcot anyway, and was just not feeling it. Future World did not make me feel promising about the Future. At least our IMMEDIATE future, at Epcot.

The first country we visited was Canada. Yeah, really exotic right? I think we were hitting a total lull and all of us were feeling it. The crankiness had set in and was rearing its ugly face.

I'd read on my favorite Disney website (wdwinfo.com) that at the beginning of your 'journey' at Epcot you can get a mask, and as you make your way around the countries, each will have a place to do a craft, get a stamp and a 'symbol' of that country to attach to the mask. This ended up being the coolest souvenirs my kids got, and it was F-R-E-E.

Ah but first we had to pick what color. And since there was crankiness there was 'mom she copied off of me' to be done. But I sat them down at the table, in the a/c (it was hot...no rain) and they made designs on their masks. Even Mo got one. We didn't stay long in Canada because, well, it was Canada. But after a few minutes relaxing, all of us were recharged, and realizing that the World Showcase was a LOT different than the Future World.

In each country I told the girls to pretend that they were natives of that country. I didn't get much effort.
Canada:


We were also hoping to see Brother Bear but he wasn't around. Next up was Britain. I could NOT get LP out of the stores there. I thought for sure he would get a pint but he didn't. He was fixated on the coats of arms. Of course he bought one. They also had a ton of soccer jerseys in there so he was in heaven. I did enjoy the Beatles store and trying to explain to my poor misguided children about how the Beatles impacted my life. They were too busy begging for pennies for the penny press. Mo got to hear a lot about the Beatles. She listened. Here the girls perfect their British waves on the streets of London:


And Mary Poppins was visiting, and told the girls they were much too giggly and would have to try to get them down from the ceiling if they didn't mind.



By this time Mary Poppins had made us all feel supercalifragilisticexpialadocious and we were truly enjoying World Showcase. It ended being one of the highlights of our trip. The Say Quas are not ones for lines and gotta go and do everything kind of mentality. We like to take it easy. Slower paced, that's our style. This was great. I could breathe again.

France was incredible. I could imagine that there were truly parts of France that had the feel of this pavillion. The French music in the background, it was gorgeous. We had wanted to sample foods from all the countries, but we figured Canada and Britain were pretty close to America, so we started with France. I took the girls to get their masks done and they were totally enamored with the French boy who spoke with them. (all CMs in the countries are usually if not always FROM that country) He was quite a cutie. We then went to the French perfume shop and I had to seriously hold myself back from buying some. Across from there was a small wine shop, and I had a sample of Riesling. It was just what a Mamma needed. I could have probably gotten pretty ripped if I wanted to. Oh the girls also saw Aurora, aka Sleeping Beauty:



We walked across the 'street' and LP got a table outside and I took the older girls into the Boulangerie Patisserie, a French bakery and we ordered four things for all of us to sample. The girls chose a strawberry tart, Raspberry Schuss, and I got a chocolate croissant and something called 'Pralineige'.

This is what I will remember for years and years to come. This was Magic.



Once we finished I took a few more pictures and the girls spotted Belle and the Beast signing autographs. They waited in line while we sat near the lake. A couple passed by with St. Louis Cardinals gear on and of course I had to chat them up. Turned out they were from the same grade school I went to as a kid!

The girls came back and we headed to Morocco. I have a feeling Morocco smells and looks similar to this as well. When I said, 'act like you're in Morocco!' Rug really did not know what to do.


We started heading towards Japan. I love the culture of Japan so we really took everything in. They had a very interesting display of antique Japanese tin toys. I also wanted to get some sushi, but I saved that for later. We went into the VERY big gift shop and immediately the girls fell in love...with Monchichis. Seriously? Are you kidding? I had one of those when I was in 3rd grade! So since they had their OWN souvenir money, they each got one. Wasn't my rule no more stuffed animals? Eh, nobody ever listens to me. LP and I both got a pair of hand painted chopsticks and the girls enjoyed having their names signed in japanese on their masks by the CMs. Those masks again, were such a valuable souvenir. The girls learned a little about each country and were able to meet and listen to people from each country. They were so thrilled.

Since we had FPs to Soarin still, we decided to take the boat across the lagoon, back to *YAWN* Future Showcase and ride Soarin' as well as Test Track. When we were done we'd head back to World Showcase and finish our travels around the world.

The boat ride was fun and we sat by some Germans, this time very NICE Germans and had nice conversations with them. Mo fell asleep and we went straight to Soarin'.



Next: Soarin', Test Track and Lp's Dream Car. Also, what is a BEVERLY????