On this day, we arrived at Epcot shortly after it opened.
We got some great pictures of the characters.
Right away, we went on Spaceship Earth. We couldnt believe it. There was no wait! Then, we Fastpassed Soarin and headed over to Test Track. Afterwards, I bought another Disney cap and then, we went on Mission Space. We really did well with getting on as much as possible, before it got too busy.
Since we would be leaving soon, my DH suggested that we head over to Journey Into the Imagination and see if Figment would be making an appearance that day. Not only would he be making an appearance, he was just coming out!!! I was on cloud nine. I dont know what it is, but he always reminds me of my childhood trips. I was like a five year old, running up to Mickey for the first time, only it was a great big purple dinosaur. My DH laughingly said to me, That picture is the happiest I have seen you out of all our pictures this trip.
He was right. He said he would make me a copy of it to bring to work.
Next, we headed over to one of the Disney Vacation Club booths, to get some info, since we talk about becoming members so much. We made an appointment for a tour, for after lunch.
Lunch was at Teppan Edo. We love Hibachi Japanese food, but hadnt been back here, since the changes. We were the first ones to arrive, so we saw how they start their day. The entire staff comes out, into the waiting area, and stand in a semi-circle. They then speak to all of us who were waiting for our tables, in English and Japanese, welcoming us to their restaurant. Then, they all bow. It was great and everyone clapped. Thats one thing we noticed right away. There is A LOT of bowing by all the staff. We found ourselves bowing our heads in response, most of the time, since we were always sitting. We also noticed that most of the cooks (at least as far as we could see) were females, including ours! Having eaten Hibachi more times than I can remember, both at home and in Epcot, we were surprised to see female cooks, let alone so many of them.
Our chef was amazing!
She was so funny. She made a Mickey head with the onions. The typical volcano that is done with the onions, she had transformed into Mickey. It was so cool. She basically made Mickeys snout as the volcano, with two more circular onion pieces as the ears. Then, she told us that we would soon see Main Street and when she made the volcano steam up, she began pushing it across the grill, saying, Choo-choo!
Too funny.
She hadnt been in the U.S. that long and didnt know much English or much about the culture here, yet. So, she was very eager to learn. Her goal, when she arrived at WDW, was to work in the Japan section. But, she explained that she had to work her way up to it, since her English had to improve. She was so happy to finally be where she wanted. She shared how she has a boyfriend in Sweden, how shes 29 years old and hes 28, and how she wants to marry him some day, but that Swedes arent big on marriage. She would ask us all questions to learn more about American culture, like she confirmed that Christmas is on the 25th, and she wanted to know how we all traditionally celebrate the holidays.
The food was the best we had ever had, anywhere!
For appetizers, we got the shrimp cocktail and the tempura basket. For our main courses, I got the steak and chicken combination and my DH got the steak and shrimp combo. For dessert, we got the chocolate/ginger cake.
Afterwards, we headed over to our meeting spot for the DVC tour. Les, would be our van driver. He was great, and you could tell he loved his job. He was sharing a lot of Disney knowledge with us, as he drove us around. Ricardo became our DVC coordinator. Ultimately, we ended up being there much longer than the normal tour timeframe, and didnt leave for 3 ½ to 4 hours later! But, we spent a lot of time talking about all the details.
The tour was at Saratoga Springs. We noticed how Ricardo greeted every guest with, Welcome home! We thought that was cute, but wondered if that would get on our nerves, after a while. As part of the tour, we saw the AKL Villas mock-up, including the studios, the one-bedroom and the two-bedroom. They actually recreated the entire experience, including recreating what the hallway would look like. Walking through it was neat.
So, what happened? We were accepted as DVC members at the AKL Villas!!!! We were so excited. We didnt have all of our down payment that day, so we put some down, with the rest to be paid at the end of January. We had been talking a lot on this trip about how we would love to visit WDW annually, either the parks, the cruise ship, or both. Now, we could! Also, we could stay at our favorite resort, as our first choice. Right now, the AKL is using the top two levels of their lodge for DVC, while they continue building a whole new portion for just DVC members, to be done in 2009. Its going to be amazing, with its own restaurant and not just a pool, but a whole childrens play area similar to what you see at water parks.
When it was over, Les was actually the one who came to bring us back to Epcot! Apparently, this is highly unusual, but we were glad, because he was so easy to talk to. We didnt eat the all-you-can- eat free ice-cream you get at the end of the tour, in their ice-cream parlor, because we actually had to head to dinner soon. I told you we were there for a long time. However, we did meet a worker there who is actually from our town!
She is in Florida for college, and since we live in a small town in NJ, she was amazed to meet us.
When we got back to Epcot, we headed over to Tutto Italia for dinner. We arrived earlier than our reservation, because we were hungry. Surprisingly, they took us right away. The place was beautiful and the food was good. They bring out bread and oil for dipping, at the start of the meal. I ordered the Pasta Fiagioli (I dont remember if Im spelling that right) for my appetizer, along with lasagna for my main entrée, and pastry puffs filled with gelato and topped with whipped cream. My DH ordered the tortellini in chicken broth for his appetizer, and the rest of his meal was the same as mine. We enjoyed everything, but thought the menu was much too small. We hope that once they have been running a while longer, they expand the menu.
After dinner, we walked around the countries some more and listened to Morockin perform. They were good! Then, we headed back to our resort happy, knowing we had become DVC members.
ADDITION TO ABOVE: Since originally putting this installment together (I actually created these installments after our trip, and have been piecing them together with the pics, a bit at a time.), we decided to not accept our DVC membership. When you sign up, you have a certain amount of time to back away. We are making some plans in our life, and being DVC owners right now, doesn't work well with our plans. We're sure we will become DVC owners in the future, and we aren't sure if we are going back to WDW this summer or further down the road, but we know we're definitely going back!
UP NEXT: Our Fake MK New Year's Eve
Our trips were always
I would need a helicopter to make two shows in different parks 
So, stay tuned. 
