Day 14: Epcot
We had a mid-morning breakfast booked at the Polynesian for the Lilo and Stitch meal. G had fun. She really likes Stitch a lot which is funny because she's still never seen the movie! I really need to get it for her. we

Anywho, after that we made our way over to Epcot. We wandered the World Showcase but, as the day progressed, it was uncomfortably cold and when the wind blew it was unbearable. The only really great thing about the weather was how uncrowded the park was. But, by late afternoon, even we diehards couldn't take it anymore and headed back to the condo.

In front of the Polynesian... so pretty! If I had lots of money, it would be my Disney resort of choice.

 Lilo and Lilo Jr :-)

 No trip to Epcot would be complete without a ride or two or three (or more!!) on Test Track!

I had big plans for the next day and I was hoping everyone would feel well enough to enjoy them. With all of us being so sick we had to play it day by day.

Day 11: Happy Birthday Bobby!!!
I love Epcot. I really do. I just don't understand people who say its boring... there's soooo much to do! We started out with a pre-park opening breakfast at Akershus for the princess meal. G loves the princesses and I really like the food. Bobby was still not feeling great but by this point my tummy was pretty happy and I was able to eat. G always wears a princess dress for these things and this time she chose to be Mulan. I loved the dress and the awesome thing is that its made out of recycled bed sheets and things so its soft and comfy... no itch.

After that we wandered around future world, rode Test Track as many time as we could and then hit the world showcase. No trip to Epcot would be complete without seeing the movie in China at least once. Georgie really enjoys it. I like it too, I just wish they had chairs.

Dinner was at Biergarten in the Germany pavillion. I'd read about it a lot and we'd never been so I was interested in giving it a try. Plus I thought it would be a nice adult oriented choice for Bobby's birthday dinner. BTDT. I was not impressed at all. First, you sit family style with strangers... so not my thing. Second, the food--other than the beer cheese soup and pretzel bread--is not very good at all. I guess some people go for the beer but we don't drink so that's not a draw for us. Third, the entertainment which is traditional German music, is just ok. G liked it well enough and had a good time out on the dance floor shaking her booty and doing her version of ballet with the other kids but for $35-40 pp we will not be looking to repeat the experience.

By that point, it was getting late. We had just enough time to stop by Karamell Kuche snack shop and pick up a Oatmeal Caramel Apple cookie. OMG, I'm not normally a big fan of anything with caramel in it but wow!! Let's just say that its so good that I don't even mind paying $5 per cookie :-)

They were advertising "Limited Time Magic" while we were there. Its special things that only last a week or two. The promotion that week was Winter in Canada or some such thing. WDW advertised that there would be "snow" and special characters. As you can see the characters were cute dressed in their winter wear but the "snow" was a complete joke. Every once in awhile you'd see a fluff of it drifting through the air. The week after we left was Long Lost Friends where they had very uncommon characters available for photos... would have loved to catch that one.

 Breathtaking...

 Georgie always enjoys her interactions with Mulan!

So Test Track was definitely Georgie's ride of choice this trip. Kind of surprising because it is really fast but she just loved it!! I think she would have ridden it over and over again if the wait wasn't so long. How funny is our white trash ride photo (you know, snapped a pic of the pic with my cell phone :-)

 I think this pic represents pretty well how Georgie felt about Test Track!

Vacation Day 12: Epcot
Slept in late... nice. When we got around to it, we made our way over to Epcot. Epcot is huge and everything is very spread out. I've never been there when it felt full but, this week, it was incredibly empty. This was good news because I don't think I could have handled the day's humidity plus crowds.

G was bummed that on our last visit a few days before we didn't hit her favorite ride, Soarin', so we made sure to do so first thing. I truly think she could ride that thing all day. Its funny that we're all the way in Florida and we spend so much time on a ride that is EXACTLY like the one at Calif Adventure located only 45 mins from our home :-)

Next stop: lunch at Le Cellier. There's really just one word for the meal... YUM!!! We then spent the next many hours traveling around the world. We rode the little rides, visited with the characters, watched the "street" performers, and wandered.

G did the pick-a-pearl in Japan again and was thrilled to get a pretty large silver blue one. Its funny because when she first saw the pearl, she was disappointed. She wasn't blatant about it but I could tell from her expression that she thought something other than a white pearl was not good. It wasn't until the girls started doing their little spiel about how great it was that she happied up. Of course, in true G ultra competitive style, she watched with great interest as the next customer's oyster was opened. When it turned out that she also got a silver blue pearl G wanted absolute confirmation that hers was bigger and, therefore, better. The kid cracks me up! She's so competitive, so much more so than Bobby, Brett, Casey and me :-)

After many hours of sweating it out around the world, it was time for dinner!! This time a character meal at the Garden Grill. The food was ok. I thought it was interesting that Disney actually grows some of the vegetables served for the meal there on Epcot property. The characters were only ok: Chip & Dale (no costume special or otherwise), Pluto (with a plaid neckerchief--big whoop) and farmer Mickey who was actually quite cute. The restaurant is unique in that it very slowly turns as you dine. Because I'm on a quest to experience every attraction/eatery/show on WDW property at least once, I'm glad we ate there but there wasn't anything special enough to bring us back.

BTW, have I mentioned how much eating we did on this trip? We took advantage of the "free" dining plan promotion. It really wouldn't seem like one counter service, one table service and a snack per day would be that much food, but it was! I know some disagree but, overall, we find the portions to be large and the food decent to tasty. But wow, it was just a lot of food.

First stop of the day was Stitch! G couldn't have been cuter in her children of the world dress from THIS SELLER. Total bargain from another IA mom. The bow seems like it was made to match but it was a lucky find from THIS SELLER.

We've been to Epcot many times but have never seen Mexico Donald which is weird because he stands out there for about 5 hrs a day. Finally got him, yeah!

Chillin' in Mexico!

These special Mickey ears from each country are so cute!



Random cuteness

G can spend unlimited amounts of time coloring her Duffy bear on a stick in each country. This gave Bobby a perfect chance to snag a few minutes rest.

Our tour of Mickey ears continued in Great Britain

and then in Canada.

In this same store in Canada, G picked up her most cherished souvenier of the trip, a stuffed Duffy bear which hasn't really left her side since. We don't really do a lot of souveniers. I think they're unnecessary and I don't want G to get into the habit of always getting something wherever we go. With this in mind, we explained to Georgie that she was allowed to get one thing from each park. I told her she could choose them on our first visit to the park or she could wait until we'd been a couple times and she had time to look around and choose, but once she got something from that park, that was it. G showed no restraint whatsoever and chose something from each park within 30 mins :-) Obviously, by this point in the trip and this visit to Epcot she'd already gotten her souvenier. But then she latched on to this Duffy bear and she just loved it so much... I caved and made an exception to my rule. Hopefully it doesn't set some sort of bad precedent.
G introducing her little Duffy to the real Duffy.

At the Garden Grill, G had fun with Pluto...

the underdressed chipmunks...

and Farmer Mickey.

Soarin' standby wait 5 mins at 5pm, woohoo!

Georgie was super excited to provide Duffy with his first ride on her favorite attraction, Soarin'. She told me that he told her that he really liked it :-)