DECEMBER 13, 2011
Day 9, Part 5 In Which I Am A Repetitive Depressive Eater
So much for finishing this thing before Dec 14!!! I'm just so busy. It's lame.
A year ago today... I WAS IN DISNEY! Hopefully I will be back next year for Disney Halloween AND Disney Christmas so I don't have to go through these awful holiday withdrawals. Once you experience Disney Holidays, non-Disney Holidays just seem... meh. I mean, if Mickey Mouse isn't involved, what's the point?
Ahem.
Anyway.
After joining in to the All That sing along outside of Germany, my mom and I made our way around the WS and hung out in Japan.
In a World Showcase of lovely pavilions, Japan has to be one of the loveliest.
Not that my camera fully captured that... but you get the idea
Can you see SSE and the Christmas tree in that one? Ahh I love it! I miss that beautiful tree. I wish I was standing under it right now!
After enjoying the outdoor areas of the pavilion, we headed into Mitsukoshi. Of course, we wanted to buy everything. My mom had a mini-meltdown in here the same way I did in the UK shop. There were just so many things that she was interested in that it was hard to even focus on one thing because then she'd see something else and run over there. It's a fun shop!
It just keeps going back and back and back too. That place swallows you up. The most fun area though, is of course the Pick A Pearl!
For those not familiar, let me explain. They have live oysters here and you can choose one. The Japanese Cast Member then (VERY EXCITEDLY) opens the oyster and out comes the pearl. You choose a setting and they make a piece of jewelery for you right there. It's pretty awesome.
The CM in the picture above was so good at her job, I just wanted to hug her. This girl was born to work for Disney. She was just so happy. She was so bouncy. SHE WAS SO EXCITED. You would think that she was getting paid one million dollars an hour to pick these pearls. She got the whole crowd into it, not just the person picking the pearl. It was so fun to even be there watching. I don't know where she is or what she's doing now, but I hope she works with the public, because it would be a crime for her jolliness to be kept from the world. Seriously. She was a ray of sunshine!
My mom thought it was extremely cool and asked if I wanted to do it. I told her that I thought we should plan to definitely do it next time, since I really wanted to find the perfect setting. A lot of Dissers recommend buying a setting of your choice before arriving at Disney, to save money and have a larger selection. They will set your pearl in anything you want, it doesn't have to be purchased there. So we decided to pick out settings before our next trip and do it then! Yet another thing to look forward to.
That's the guy who places the pearl in the setting for you. He was extremely jolly as well. It was just lovely to see. I love Disney. Everything is made into an experience. You don't just buy jewelry like everywhere else, you have it picked out of a live mollusk right before your eyes. SIGH.
After lingering in Mitsukoshi for awhile, we were getting quite hungry. Originally, I believe I had planned for us to finally try Paradiso 37, but we changed our minds yet again!
We had been talking about how much we loved the food at T-Rex, and so we decided we'd go back. It seems kind of silly to me now, because there are just so many restaurants in Disney that I want to try that doing the same one twice in one trip seems a bit unnecessary.
But dude. We LOVED T-Rex. When we first went it just hit the spot so perfectly. My mom was craving the steak we had and I wanted to try one of the million other things on the menu that sounded awesome. SO we (slowly) journeyed back in time 65 million years to dine with pterodactyls.
We walked through the International Gateway to the Beach Club as Illuminations exploded in the sky above us, and sat down on the beach to soak in the atmosphere for awhile. I took my Crocs off, dug my feet in the sand, and took a load off.
It was a perfect moment. You know... just one of those "We're in Disney, and I feel at peace, and my feet are in the sand, and I'm staring at the Boardwalk, and fireworks are going off, and I'm about to eat more awesome food, and I never want to leave, and this is the best place in the world, and this is where I belong, and I love everything" kind of moments.
Before long, we headed into the lobby because I really wanted to show Mom the Christmas decorations, especially the gingerbread carrousel and house. I took a lot more pictures of them than I had the other day, but as I explained, I don't have them.
Here's a picture I stole from Google though!
Just so you can get an idea.
My favorite thing is the nautical theme on the trees. I would like to do a tree like this someday.
Eventually, we headed out to the bus stop to catch a bus to Downtown Disney. At this point I started to get really super overtired and really bummed out that we were leaving. The whole thing was very
womp womp.
Once we got to T-Rex, it was pretty late and almost empty. We were seated in the middle of the restaurant and had a pretty solid view of the Ice Age room changing colors.
(These are from Google too!)
SO PRETTY. I really want to sit in there and eat but I feel like it would be too distracting and I would just look around saying
"ooOOoOoOoOOOooOOh" in the Toy Story green alien voice the whole time. And then I'd have to start doing "You have saved our lives! We are eternally grateful!" too, and it would just never end.
So instead, we dined under a pterodactyl. Which is normal for us, but I mean, it was still cool.
My mom ordered the same thing as we both got the other night: The Triceratop Filet - Charbroiled center cut aged tenderloin filet, topped with a stack of butter and served with garlic mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables. She said it was not as delicious as the time before, but still good. Also... I recently checked out the T-Rex menu and they have REMOVED THIS. No no no no no NO. Don't you hate when that happens?
I got the Triassic Tortellini - Tri-coloured cheese tortellini with sun-dried tomatoes, peas and mushrooms tossed in an Alfredo cream sauce. YUUUUUUUUM. Omg, I loved this. Oh so much. I asked for it without mushrooms though because I am not a fan of eating fungus (????????) I actually (sort of) have a photo of it I can show you:
I say "sort" of because that is not my food. I got this on Google. Sorry if you are one of the people who's photos I am mercilessly stealing. Anyway, there were LARGE shavings of parmesano reggiano on top of mine which made it all the more perfect. SO GOOD. The Alfredo sauce wasn't as flavorful as it could be though, but I never really expect much when I order pasta at a non-Italian restaurant, so I wasn't really surprised and it didn't bother me.
Anyway... the experience wasn't as good our second round at T-Rex, but it was never going to be. I was super depressed about leaving. Really, I think I sighed a total of 100 times.
My mom doesn't really get why this happens to me. Even though she loves Disney, it can't compare to my overwhelming Disney obsession, so she doesn't become depressed about leaving. She's a normal non-obsessed person that can just go, enjoy it, and then go home without falling into an endless pit of sorrow. I mean, it's not like she wants to leave or anything (let's not get crazy) but you know, she accepts that vacations end. I don't. I just become delusional and try to figure out a way to get back to Disney in like... a week.
I posted on Twitter:
I honestly think I'd be okay with leaving if I could stay like just another 3 weeks.
I remember saying this to my mom and I think I got a pretty big eye roll. LOL. She's always reminding me that I get to go to Disney so often compared to so many people who have never even been there, and that I am so lucky. And I know that, and I appreciate that. But... you have to be a true Disney devotee like myself to understand. There will never be enough time in Disney, and when you have to leave, it's just painful! So yeah...
womp womp.
I remember at one point, we started talking about real life things back home and about our coming week and work and blah blah and I was like NOPE. NOPE. Still in Disney. When you're in a restaurant called "T-Rex", you can't discuss your work schedule. You just can't.
After leaving T-Rex in a depressive fog, a little angel in the form of a human boy appeared and cheered me up sooo much. This was one of the cutest little boys I had ever seen. He was one of those kids who is only like four, but somehow seems like an adult... just a mini adult.
He was sitting next to me on the bus back to Pop Century and was staring at me for a while, very intently. I smiled at him and he smiled back and said hi. He then rested his head on my arm, like we had known each other for more than two minutes or something.
IT WAS THE SWEETEST THING EVER, IT NEARLY MADE ME CRY. His mother immediately apologized for him resting on me and I told her I didn't mind. She apologized again and told him to move but I repeated that it was fine and he didn't move anyway. LOL.
He had a really Christmassy red and green shirt on, and a whole lanyard full of pins, so I told him how much I loved them. He seemed very proud and pointed out a new Simba one he had just traded a Cast Member for. He had traded an Incredibles pin that he really liked, but not more than The Lion King, which was his favorite, so he was happy with the trade. SO PRECIOUS.
He was so thoughtful and well spoken, I swear he couldn't have been more than six but he was like a little grown up! My heart was melting! And it was so cute how he was comfortable enough to rest on me. Maybe he was my son in another life. LOL. My heart broke a little bit when I had to say goodbye to him, I seriously wanted to adopt this kid.
Once back at Pop, I suddenly got a burst of energy and so I decided to shower, pack and get everything together. This way, I didn't have to worry about doing it the next day and could spend more time enjoying the last moments of Disney (or at least trying to!).
I was pretty sad while scouring the room and packing everything away. At the time, I thought I probably wouldn't be able to go to Disney in 2012, so I was extra upset since I figured I wouldn't be back for over a year.
HAH! I ended up having a smaller gap between trips than ever before, returning 10 months later and then being STUCK IN DISNEY!!! Isn't life funny?
Up Next: How many parks can I pack into my last Disney hours? You shall soon find out!
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Ahh I wish I could go back! 
Ah well, I will try again next trip.
Did you get a flu shot? I never used to, until I got the flu a few years ago and had it for 2 WEEKS, and ever since, I've been getting the shot, and luckily, it seems to work! I hope I never get the flu again, it's awful being that sick! I hope you feel better soon! 
I'm glad you have so many possible Disney trips coming up this year, that's exciting! 
I mean, to walk where Walt actually walked and visited and rode the rides...I can't even imagine the emotional mess I will turn into when I go there for the first time...
Probably should just suck it up and get one though.
