Okay, so Tuesday was Epcot Day.
But, let me take you back a bit to when we first decided to go to Disney for D-man's senior trip. We had originally been talking about heading to France, since D-man doesn't remember being there back when he was 3. Since we fly for free and we have a timeshare we can use over there, we thought we could manage it.
But, then, I just started getting an uncomfortable feeling about heading to Europe. It just didn't feel right. I don't know why exactly. Maybe I watched too much news or something. But, we had a family meeting and I shared my hesitance. D-man said that he was sort of feeling the same thing, so we decided to trash the idea of heading to Europe....for now.
By the way, we would have all needed passports, since Rainman and mine have both expired. So, for all 8 of us....it was going to be over $800 just to get our travel papers in order. (I wasn't thrilled about that either)
Anyway, we threw around some other vacation destinations closer to home and decided on Disney.
Yay!
Then we checked ticket prices. $800 for passports wasn't looking too shabby now....
Then we also realized that A-man on up, was considered an adult.
Gulp.
Then, our timeshare place calls us up and asks us to sit through an "update" presentation. No pressure. They just want to update on the changes in the company. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Right? Anybody out there actually believe that? (FYI - I didn't believe it. Rainman did. Guess which one of us was right?)
But, their carrot that they offered was lunch at Planet Hollywood AND half price Epcot tickets for all 8 of us.
Well, okay then....we said yes.
It ended up being a really good thing and a sort of sucky thing. Because the half price Epcot tickets were for admission after 2:00. So, we did end up feeling rushed.
It was also during the Food and Wine Festival thingie that they have going now, so lots of people....drinking adult beverages.
Anyway, Planet Hollywood was fun. The food was good, but really big portions that we had to just leave since we didn't have a way to put them in a fridge to bring to the hotel. (It was actually funny to see how well I have trained the kids not to waste food. Top to bottom they were all kind of horrified that we had to just walk away and leave all that food!)
I realize that this is not the most flattering picture of me (my photographer was V-girl...never a good idea to be photographed from below....), but the kids wanted me to take a picture next to this since I used to pretend to be Cousin It in high school. There is a picture floating around somewhere. Bud? Kevin D?
Anyway, we got to Epcot in one piece. Our tickets worked great and as a bonus, the timeshare people gave us a $100 Visa card to be spent as we wanted at Epcot. (Sounds like a lot of money...doesn't it?......Hahahahaha....I laugh in your face. This is Disney. ;) )
Here are the kids during our 80 minute wait to ride Soarin'. Wait was horrible. Ride was wonderful. So, there you have it. We did have a nice chat with the British couple behind us who pronounced the kids to be a "dodgy looking lot" with a chuckle.
Disney parks, in general, have lots of fun water things for the kids....and the brave grown ups to do.
(Here you can see most of my family trying to catch flying drops of water....in order to whip it at their fellow family members!)
We haven't been to Disney/Epcot in about 9 years. Back when I was pregnant with S-girl...so, a long time ago (on an interesting side note - I am larger now than I was 6 months pregnant with her. Interesting, but completely depressing. I was actually pretty cute in those pictures). Anyway, I was sort of surprised by some of the stuff that was still there....and equally surprised with what was gone.
Here is a surprise that it was still there....
Any guesses at what we are waiting for?
Yes, the one....the only....Captain EO, starring Michael Jackson! Honestly, the kids thought it was hilarious (especially the back scenes footage that showed before time of everyone in rehearsals. 80s hair is just funny. Period.)
D-man is missing from the picture only because he and Rainman were off buying Beatles shirts. I am sure that is the only reason that he isn't in this shot! ;)
We were now heading into the World Showcase and the Food and Wine dealio. This is where we spent our $100 Visa card on food samples from all over the world.
I will say that the food was really, really good. But, they were "sample" plates and "sample" sized drinks. But, the sample plates costed around $8 or $9 each and the drinks were like $5. Plus, they were samples so, the 8 of us just passed around the paper bowls and admonished the next person to just take a small bite so there was enough for everyone.
So, the good and bad was.....we probably wouldn't have gotten to eat much in this part of Epcot without the "free" money we got, because there is no way I would have spent that much money on that little food. The bad was, that we were all still pretty hungry when we left because we hadn't gotten to eat much.
That said....what we did have was really good. Our favorite was Patagonia - the empanadas and beef skewers were awesome....just not enough of them. I was disappointed in the Belgian waffles, because they were the Americanized version, not like the ones we had in Belgium. Makes me wonder now if the empanadas were the Americanized version too.....
Norway made me sad for a few reasons. No lefse. No ride on a Viking ship because they have closed it down to create the new Frozen inspired ride. And.....this picture is blurry.....
My little Norwegian babies are pretty cute....even if they are blurry!
The fireworks at Epcot were pretty good, but weirdly sporadic. It made me wonder if they were having behind the scenes issues, because they would have some, then there would be a big pause and we all looked at each other like....okay.....guess that is it....they must be done. So we would start walking to go catch the bus back to our hotel....then 5 minutes later, they would start up again, so we would stop and watch a bit and the same thing would happen.
Epcot used to be my favorite Disney park.....but this time it wasn't as much fun as it usually is for me. I am not sure if it is because we only had a half day and had to rush more than usual or because the Food and Wine Festival pretty much took over the World Showcase, but, I didn't leave with the same "that was awesome " kind of feeling that I usually do. It was fun, just maybe not awesome.
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