I’m walking towards the International Gateway thinking “bed..bed.. bed” when the gift shop at the exit distracts me. A detour through there and suddenly I don’t want to go home – I want to shop!
(I said
almost want to go home. I didn’t say that I
wanted to go back. Who says that I was thinking something about a bed??? It’s in the middle of the day, I don’t truly want to go back… just having momentarily crazy thoughts.)
Back to France. Nothing of interest.
Onward to Morrocco.
The incense gets to me each time… I can never stick around the Moroccan shops for long. Empty handed I move on.
It’s the afternoon of Christmas Day.
I’m walking from the Moroccan Pavilion to the Japanese Pavilion
One of the busiest days of the year for Disney
And I’m soooooooooo not feeling overwhelmed by the crowds.
I looked around the Japanese pavilion
and was conned … I mean, talked into… buying some saki. $6.00 later I drink half of my glass of saki before tossing the rest. How in the world can people afford to drink around the world? Seriously. I’ve spent almost $20.00 on a margarita and a glass of saki. It’s
expensive!
I planned to do pick a pearl for my birthday on the 30th and I quickly find the location so that I can look at the settings. I wanted to get an idea of what I want beforehand. The area is packed with people but most seem to be observers rather than participants. The crowds force me away so I move on.
A quick peek at the American Pavilion and I spy
Nope, didn’t stop for the American Adventure. I have never seen it. Maybe one day….
Shopping done, still empty handed, I head back towards Future World a little after 3:00. It’s time to once again fly to Mars. I passed an ice cream cart on my way to Mission Space and there’s a sudden halt and a quick detour. I’ve always wanted to try a frozen banana….so I stop and purchase one. I began walking towards MS, unwrapping my banana as I do ….and splat!
My frozen banana is no longer in my hands by lying on the ground at my feet.
*sigh*
Those things are expensive! I pick it up and throw it away. The guy at the ice cream cart looks at me in confusion as I stand before him once again.
“It fell on the ground; can I buy another one?”
He was kind enough to give it to me for free. This time I
cautiously opened the wrapper and ate the frozen banana before it, too, had a rendezvous with the ground. And you know what? I find them highly overrated. Sorry to all of you frozen banana lovers out there – it just wasn’t all that good.
But Mission Space, now
that was good. I walked straight on with my fast pass. Can anyone guess what position I had?
Can you? Can you?
After safely putting us into hyper-sleep (and … uh… something else that with as many times that I’ve been Engineer I should remember…) we landed on Mars.
My question is: How did I get back to Earth so fast? I’m in the shuttle. I’ve landed on Mars. I exit the shuttle and I’m on Earth??
Weird.
I decide to walk over and take a peek at the Spaceship Earth line. It looked long but was only posted at 20 minutes. The CM assured me that it moved fast, so to the line I joined. I believe that I waited 18 minutes for it. I DISed via my iphone while in line. There were 10 million “How crowded are the parks?” threads in the theme park section that day. It was hilarious reading the trip planning boards. How many people at the parks actually wanted to take the time to check the DIS that day?
…OK! Besides me?
Honestly? The park today? Not bad. It was busy, yes, but not – at least in my opinion – crazy busy. You saw the picture. I was expecting
much, much worse.
DISing over. Line finished. I now enjoyed a trip through communications.
I thought the new changes to Spaceship Earth were nice … but then again, except for the narrator and the missing scene with the tv screen where kids are communicating with China (am I remembering that correctly?) via television, I honestly don’t know what’s new and what isn’t. I’ve never been
that familiar with the attraction.
By the time I’m off, I’m feeling a bit sick. Waaaay too many carbs and sugar all morning. Not good. I’m developing a massive headache from it all. Fortunately it’s close to my dinner ADR at the Garden Grill in the Land pavilion. Walking over, just coming out of the Innovations breezeway, I pass a character meet and greet line with Chip and Dale.
*sigh* I’m so tempted to jump in line despite the fact that it stretches all the way to Soarin’. (OK… it wasn’t really
that long. But almost.)
I check in for Garden Grill and am told that it will be a 15 – 20 minute wait time. What? My head hurts. I need food now.
*sigh*
Unbeknownst to me it’s Soarin’ (the DIS poster, not the ride) and her family’s fault that I had to wait.
Her ADR wasn’t until after 5:00… mine was at 4:45. Guess which one of us was seated at 4:45??
I’ll give you a hint:
Not the person with the 4:45 ADR.
Humph!
I stood in the waiting area casting dirty looks at Soarin for stealing my ADR time.
Actually, not really. I didn’t know that her family (successfully) tried to sneak in early. Honestly I wish that I’d know that was her and her family so I could have met a fellow DISer while there.
Instead of chatting with Soarin (the poster, not the ride), I found a patch of carpet located between an occupied bench (Soarin – was this by any chance your family on the bench?) and (I think? But didn’t look) a press penny machine. I had brought my monstrous book – Breaking Dawn. It’s 768 pages long (probably about how long this TR is going to be if I don’t learn how to shut-up). I opened my book and attempted to read as I sat on the floor, against a wall between a bench and a penny press machine (I think), ignoring all around me.
My head hurt.
My name was finally called. I have no idea how long I waited - if it was 15 – 20 minutes or if it was less. I was seated on the upper floor – second tier – and noticed that we weren’t moving. At all. No rotation for us tonight. I would love to say that I enjoyed my meal… but I just didn’t.
I liked the salad and the beef. I’m really not a big beef eater but I enjoyed the beef the best at Liberty Tree Tavern and now here at the Garden Grill. I didn’t even like the rolls and I’m a huuuuge bread lover. (Gotta have those carbs!)The characters began to make their rounds.
Like the Liberty Tree Tavern, my server was never around when the characters were there in order to take the pictures. I swear that was deliberate; they don’t want to be stuck holding a camera all of the time. Unlike the Liberty Tree Tavern, there wasn’t an over eager lady sitting at the next table to take my picture. I attempted to take a few self-photos with some of the characters… and that didn’t turn out so well.
Hey, but I got Pluto!
Chip sat down with me upon finding out that I was alone. I asked him if he wanted to join me for dinner. He shook his head yes. I asked him if he wanted me to pass the bread. He shook his head yes. He was sweet and spent some time with me before moving on.
I asked Pluto a question that was troubling me: Why is it that he and Goofy are both dogs yet Goofy gets his own house
and clothing and Pluto only gets a doghouse over at Mickey’s? It just wasn’t fair if you asked me. Pluto let his frustration at the situation be known to me and he seemed happy that I understood the injustice of it. I asked him if he wished for me to address this with Mickey and he vigorously shook his head yes.
Dessert came and I was stuffed. I really didn’t eat much at dinner but throughout the day I’d eaten a bit. I took a couple of bites and must admit that the apple bread pudding tasted pretty good. Still to full to eat more than a bite, however.
This dinner at the Garden Grill was another first for me and looking around; it seemed to be a mess with how narrow the aisles were. Not only were servers passing thru with trays of food and people constantly being seated or leaving their seats after their meal, but you had the characters going to each table where they had to find room to stop and interact with the people seated there. I wasn’t completely impressed with the set-up … but maybe it was just the headache putting a negative perspective on everything at this point. Perhaps if I didn’t have a massive migraine forming I would have found the food to have tasted better and the set-up of the restaurant wouldn’t have bothered me.
*sigh* Not trying to turn this report into a gripe-fest on anything. I feel so negative right now.
On my way back to the World Showcase I stopped off at Innovations and watched the last performance of “What’s Your Problem” for the day. Cute but once is enough. I buy a blanket at a merchandise cart (finally bought something after how many hours??) and walk towards the direction of Italy.
Dusk is falling as I approach the showcase and the scenery is beautiful everywhere I look. Lights have sprung up casting a glow on the surroundings.
My head still hurt. A lot. But I tried to take in as much of the beauty as I could as I walked around the lagoon. I managed to enjoy what I could as I walked. I was on a mission. After all, it’s 6:30 pm and what do I do?
Why camp out for Illuminations, of course. (Hence, lugging the book around with me that that day and purchasing a blanket at a merchandise cart).
As a former castmember at the Walt Disney World Resort, I must make a confession:
This will be my second (yes, you read that right)
second time to
ever see Illuminations. The first time had been on the 2006 trip. I never made it over to EPCOT in the evenings while on the CP in ’99 – besides, most evenings I was working anyway. I didn’t stay at EPCOT late enough on my one and only EPCOT day during my 2003 trip. It wasn’t until 2006 that I discovered what I was missing. For some reason I’d chosen to watch it from the Italy Isola in ’06 and I enjoyed the view.
The view
(This is off to the side – doesn’t block the view of the show)
Everything happened right between the gondolas and poles so my view was never blocked from anything important.
I decided that was where I wanted to watch the show from again. I knew that I’d have to camp out early (and there were already people holding spots when I arrived at 6:30 for the 9:30 pm performance). I managed to sit in the exact same location as I did in ’06. My recently purchased blanked provided a cushion. So, of my planning:
I planned to camp out early.
I planned on having a blanket to sit on.
I planned to read my book until show time.
I
didn’t plan on this growing headache that
would not go away.
I was miserable. Simply miserable.
But I’m stubborn. I was not leaving. I’m watching the show I tell ya.
I know that the people sitting around me thought I was crazy (and maybe I am). I spent my time back and forth between reading in dim light to bowing my head, closing my eyes and massaging my scalp in agony.
Eventually, I became a bit cold even though it wasn’t a cold night. I guess the breeze off of the water combined with not feeling well gave me chills. I wrapped myself up in my blanket and continued on with the rotation of reading a bit, rubbing my head a bit, reading a bit…
I’m certain that I was pathetic looking to everyone but I was beyond caring. I wanted the show to start and then end so that I could go home. The pre-show music began. I love the pre-show music and listen to it all the time online but instead of feeling the excitement of listening to it at EPCOT, before Illuminations, I was just thankful it began as it was an indicator that it was that much closer to the start of the show. I began wishing the music to finish so that the show could start.
Finally… the show began. A small, seated, crowed had gathered around me. When the show began and they all stood. Hmmm… crazy. Great view from the ground and that’s where I remained throughout the show. Everyone else stood. I sat.
I’m stubborn like that.
The smoke from the fireworks became pretty bad at one point and I couldn’t see the globe for a couple of minutes. It looked like the wind was carrying it all in the direction of France. Fortunately, the smoke soon cleared and I had excellent viewing once again. The show ended with an amazing Holiday finale that filled the sky in various colors such as green and red.
Then everything was silent.
I finally stood, wrapped up my newly purchase blanket, packed up my book and began walking home… snapping a few photos as I went.
EPCOT had EMH that night but I was barley able to make it for Illuminations. The
only thing left on my agenda for the evening was bed.
Man, I want a funnel cake….
You sound like you had so much fun and now I can't wait to go!!
And of course it would have been a hassle to carry it around EPCOT all day long so I had to eat it now 
It's a lot better when you dont break down in the heat room. 
)
all day missy???" Didn't you realize you would come crashing down and then feel like crap
for the rest of the day? On Christmas day no less. Dolce, Dolce, Dolce, you silly girl. Just kidding, but here's a hug for not feeling well and not being able to enjoy Illuminations.
