A brief history of three weeks

[binkytell]

lovin ya report

 

[scarletlancer]

Day Nine

After our trip away from the cosy confines of WDW property yesterday, today was to be the full Epcot experience. As had become our custom, we grabbed a bite to eat in the room and then headed out to catch the bus to the park. I know I have already waxed lyrical about the much maligned WDW bus system but I think it would bare saying again that our experiences of it were really really good and that we never waited more than about 10 minutes for one. Once we got to Epcot we headed straight into inoventions and signed up for the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure. Since our start time was an hour or so later (and since World Showcase wasn't open yet) we spent the first part of the morning in Futureworld checking out a little of what inoventions had to offer (Annabel loved the piggy bank challenge, which forthwith she insisted was called piggy progress) and then rode what she referred to as Figment Imagination. Now, since I am old enough to have visited Epcot when it was still Epcot Center, I remember the original Journey into Imagination and while this version is fun (and one that Annabel liked a lot) it is really not a patch on what the Dreamfinder revealed to my 16 year old eyes. For that matter, as much as I really like Epcot now, I would love to have been able to show my daughter the old attractions. The incomparable Horizons was, in my humble opinion, the greatest theme park ride ever created (certainly much better than Mission Space) and World of Motion was also a fantastic, immersive experience, ahhh things aint what they used to be! Anyway, nostalgia notwithstanding, we all had a lot of fun in Futureworld 2009 until it was time for us to head on over to Italy to pick up our Kimmunicator, while of course finding time for a little Beauty and the Beast action along the way.

After all my earlier musings about the merits of the glorious Epcot of my memories, the addition of Kim Possible to Word Showcase is an absolute masterstroke. Once we picked up our Kimmunicator we were directed to Japan for our first mission, and after a false start in which the whole thing crashed (my wife always observes that for a complete gadget hound I seem to somehow be jinxed with anything electronic - I of course know the secret that it is my Electro-Magnetic super powers that disrupts them) we got really into the mission. I will not describe any of the effects or interactions in the Kim Possible missions, as I would not want to spoil them for anyone who has not had the chance to play them yet, but what I will say is that they are incredibly well done and show exactly the kind of attention to detail that makes Disney so special. We enjoyed our first mission so much that we ended up spending quite a while doing the ones in China and the UK alongside our World showcase wanderings, with a promise to Annabel that we would come back and do all the others before our holiday was out. We did of course find time for a little lunch between bouts of saving the world, and this time we opted for the Tangerine Cafe in Morocco which we all really enjoyed. Although saving the world is a very serious business that requires ones full attention there was still enough time in our busy schedules to meet a few friends along the way.

Having spent a good few hours wandering around World Showcase the time had come for us to head back over to Futureworld to meet up with the rest of our company under the shadow of Spaceship Earth. Much to all of our surprise once we met them Annabel decided that she wanted to ride said geosphere with her aunties so the three of them squeezed into one time machine while Sarah and I hopped into one behind them. As a sensitive little soul who gets a little frightened of the dark, we had fully expected her to decide that this experience was one that she did not want to repeat but beyond all expectation she absolutely loved it and really enjoyed playing the games in the post show area.

By now it was time to stroll on over to Canada for our early evening ADR at Le Cellier, something that I had been eagerly awaiting after all the rave reviews that I had read about the place. I am pleased to say that those rave reviews proved to be totally accurate and that this was one of the nicest meals that we ate on this holiday. My wife and I shared the Cheddar Cheese Soup for a starter (I liked it more than her, which is odd since I don't really like Cheese and she does ), she had the Salmon with a side order of Mushroom Risotto, which she informs me was to die for, while I had the New York Strip Steak (of the Scopa special for any of you who listen to WDW Today) which was, quite simply one of the most delicious steaks that I have ever tasted. Much as I had planned to finish it all off with a little Whiskey Cake, the steak was just soooo filling that all I could manage was a couple of scoops of the excellent coconut sorbet. However, my sister in law did have the Chocolate Moose, which was apparently very good, while Annabel enjoyed constructing her own sundae.

After our meal and a viewing of Oh Canada we spent the rest of the evening wandering around World Showcase before heading back for another ride on Spaceship Earth. It had been our intention to head back to the ranch after this, but since time had flown so quickly and, to my shock, a quick glance at the watch confirmed that it was a quarter to nine we headed on back towards World Showcase lagoon just in time to finish the day by viewing Illuminations. We were slightly wary of watching this show as we had tried to do it two years earlier when Annabel was only 3 and had to leave after the first firework because she was so frightened, but despite her jumping out of her seat to roughly the height of the Eiffel Tower when the first big bang came, the 5 year old Annabel enjoyed it a great deal more. After the show, which was as wonderful as ever, we flowed with the crowds out of Epcot, only pausing to enjoy the magical twinkling pavements outside inoventions, boarded the bus and returned tired but happy to SSR.