Day 1, Part 2: Dapper Holidays
We last left off getting ready for our afternoon in our room.
Around 12:30 we were ready to head out, and decided to take the side exit that’s right by the IG since our room was down in that area.
Our goal this afternoon was to get some food and to see the Chinese storyteller/lion since that only was on the weekends and this would be the only weekend day we’d be in Epcot.
Once in Epcot, we did our normal stop at the store at the IG to pick up the Olaf scavenger hunt map and load more money on our gift card. I was surprised the CM wouldn’t let us pick up the prize for Olaf right away, usually they have no problem with this, but this time the CM wouldn’t let us. Oh well, guess we had to start hunting for Olaf!
It was about 12:45 when we left the store, so decided to book it over to China to catch the 1:00 storyteller show.
On a normal day that would have been an easy thing to do, but being a Saturday, and Dapper day, the crowds were bonkers. It was wall to wall people around WS. Fortunately we’re fast walkers, and were able to weave between groups and made it to China at 12:58! Perfect timing.
We found a spot to watch and soon after the show started.
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This was sooooo cool, I loved this storyteller!
I especially liked that afterwards we could get pictures with the lion.
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After the show we discussed what we wanted to do. Originally we had planned to check out a few of the food booths, but the lines for the booths this day were super long, so we started to walk around WS towards the IG hoping to find a booth with a shorter line.
As mentioned previously, it was Dapper Day, and while walking it was fun to check out all the amazing outfits people had on. I was so impressed with the outfits, there were some really amazing ones and I loved how most were holiday inspired!
Eventually we made it to Italy which was the only food booth without a long line. Apparently, word has gotten out about the food there, which I still do not understand. Italian food is soooooo good, how does this booth always get it so wrong?!!?
Anyways, we were hungry so decided to give it another try. We both ended up ordering the montanara, and mom got the tiramisu stout and I got the Italina red sangria.
We lucked out and managed to grab a table just as another group was leaving!
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The monanara was good, nothing to write home about, but it wasn’t bad. The drinks on the other hand were amazing! I would get both of those drinks again!
Since Epcot was so busy, we decided to cut our visit short and start making our way out after eating. We were still a bit hungry, so hoped to find a booth on the way out that didn’t have too long of a line. But every booth had super long lines, even the line for Morrocco which is just the same old stuff every festival wrapped out the door and through the pavilion! 
We got almost to the IG and never passed a booth with a short line (other than Italy), so decided to just head out, worst case we could get food back at the hotel. We still had a bit of our drinks left though, so went down to the lower area by the water in front of France to finish those and enjoy the beautiful day!
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Once back in the room, mom decided to take a nap, but I was hungry so decided to head downstairs to the store to grab something to eat.
Once downstairs I saw the lobby crowds had reduced significantly, so after picking up a salad in the marketplace, I headed back to the lobby to get some pictures of the gingerbread, and stopped at the snack stand to pick up some treats for the room (macarons) and the gingerbread martini.
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I then headed upstairs to go rest out on the balcony and enjoy my salad and drink, and of course catch up on trip notes!
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Next up: Magnet Madness!
