Bienvenue a France. Cest mon pavilion favorite du World Showcase. (My apologies if my French is wrong here, but as far as I can remember from my high school French it is).
It was clear that today would have plenty of interesting adventures- not only would we be enjoying lunch at Chefs de France as planned, but now our Kim Possible Mission would also begin in France as well.
Dad wanted to check-in at Chefs de France even though we were a good ways off from our ADR time, so the rest of us did a little exploring and took some pictures in the area.
The first sign of the day of the special guest chef we would be meeting at lunch today.
Dad got us all checked in and we were immediately added to the list. Now before the trip, we had planned very carefully exactly what our ADR time for France would be. We checked the schedules of when Remy came out and planned it exactly so we would be sure to have a chance to see him. However, the plans get a little thrown out of whack when were called to our table 20 minutes before our ARD time!
Chefs de France is one of my favorite restaurants in all of Walt Disney World, and in general we had a wonderful time there this time, but at the same time I have to say that this wasnt my favorite meal here. First, I was a little stressed out we had been seated so early and was wondering if our new dining time would still allow us to see Remy. This was likely more due to residual stress from this mornings episode of losing my backpack and getting lost in the bayou twice this morning rather than anything about the restaurant, but did impact my experience. Secondly, we were seated right very close to the door so people were walking by our table all the time. Thirdly, our server seemed to stand about five steps from our table facing us pretty much the entire meal which was a little awkward. I kept feeling that she wanted us to hurry up, which Im sure she didnt because she did have other tables in her section that for most of the time were not filled but it felt that way. Usually I hate to sound nit-picky, but really, it was not the best greatest we've ever had at the restaurant.
Of course, the good of the meal certainly outweighed the awkward and stressful. The food was good, as always. I had the Quiche Lorraine and enjoyed it. The rest of the family liked their's meals too. Buzz got the Chicken Crepes that I had last time and also really enjoyed them. I think Dad ended up getting the burger, and I don't remember what Mom ordered (maybe the Chicken Crepes as well). The restaurant was still beautiful as well. We all enjoyed ourselves despite the other circumstances which were, in reality, minor things that were a little off.
Of course one of the highlights of the meal was the appearance of Chef Remy to our table. It turns out that I was indeed stressing out over nothing because since we were seated in the middle section of the restaurant, no matter what side of the room Remy started at, we would be sure to see him. The whole experience was very clever. An attendant rolled a cart up to our table and asked if we would be interested in meeting our chef. She lifts the lid off a platter on the cart revealing little Remy! It was great, except that the moment they came to our table, the maitre d was seating another group and the cart blocked the way. They ended up stopping and standing right in front of our table and watching Remys interaction with us. It was hard to get a picture of him without of the guests hand behind him (you can see it on the left in this picture).
My favorite shot of Remy- a pretty much hand-free one (thanks to cropping and a little Photoshop on the far right edge). Remy was so adorable and fun to see. Its just amazing how almost everyone in the restaurant was so enchanted by a little rat. Well, not everyone
there were a few people in the dining room that obviously did not like rats in any form and were a bit freaked out by it, but for the most part, Remy seemed to be quite the crowd pleaser. All in all, we all had a very nice lunch at Chefs de France.
During our meal, we had noticed that the beautiful blue skies of the morning had disappeared and it was already starting to rain. Every other day of the trip it hadnt started until late afternoon, but not today, by the end of the meal, it was still pretty gray and a little wet, but not enough to keep us from starting our Kim Possible Mission.
After leaving Chefs de France, we got out the Kimmunicator once again and checked in with Wade. It turns out that the mission in France asks us to help Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable thwart the evil plan of villains Señor Senior, Sr. and Señor Senior, Jr. I wont give always the Seniors plan, but if youre familiar with the show, it sounds just like something theyd think up. As we started going around and finding clues, everyone was getting into it- even Mom who wasnt sure she would enjoy it. I knew she would like it! Theres all sorts of hidden special effects that have been added to the pavilion and Wade even lets you in on a few little secrets along the way.
One of the secrets Wade told us was the best spot in the pavilion to see the Eiffel Tower. I wont say where it is or what special reason Wade has to take you there, but see if you can figure out where this special spot it. I can assure you that well be back here on a future trip to take more pictures of it when the skies are clearer. In the end, we manage to defeat the Seniors and save France. Moments later it really starts to rain harder. We had been dodging a drizzle here and there throughout the mission, but now it was about to pour.
Turns out that we finished that mission just in time!
To get out from the rain, we decided to watch Impressions de France, the film in the pavilion and our favorite in World Showcase. While we were waiting for the movie, we managed to see the last part of the France mission, which was basically Kim thanking us for the help, and checked out a little bit of the displays in the lobby. If I can remember right, last time we were here the displays compared scenes from
The Hunchback of Notre Dame with photos from the real cathedral in Paris. Now, all reference to the Hunchback seemed to have been removed and the focus was only on the real-life Notre Dame.
Heres a look outside the main entrance of the attraction to the outside. It was really coming down now.
The movie was wonderful. Unlike the movies in China and Canada, this one has seats, and unlike the ones in Norway, these seats are really comfortable. Between the seats and the beautiful classical music than serves as the movies soundtrack, there were a few times I was so relaxed that I would zone out and then had to tell myself to watch the movie- which is also beautiful.
It was such a wonderful relaxing afternoon break.
After the movie, the weather appeared to be letting up some (not a lot, but not nearly as bad as the downpour it was when we went in). We did a little more looking through the shops, and Mom found a few things to buy (France is always one of her favorite places to find little things for the house). Once the rain seemed to let up enough to head on, we left France and continued on our World Showcase Adventure.
Next chapter: More World Showcase and Kim Possible
, have heard it's really good fun.
Still no regrets from most of us for passing that up on Day One. 
Again, I dont want to give too much away, but I think this one was the best we did so far. Lots of little surprises and clues to find. 
