Dorky Disboutiquing DiserSistas:Destination Disney HeatherSue's(best)version OVER1/27

[DisneyMom5]

I liked the update, because I really enjoyed the tour of the house.
I go to the rental websites and tour houses just for fun.
What I need is a house like that, for that price, ON WDW property.

I can dream, can't I? LOL

Looking forward to the next update. Maybe Disneygirl and I can update my report tomorrow, while Daddy is watching football.

 

[twob4him]

Hey...what a great day it turned out to be! I love the condo tour....very nice.....'sept the white walls....who wants to vacation with white walls? I love color and my DH loves white walls...so my walls are all boring off-white.

Anyways....I am so impressed that you remember your way around Kissimmee and can get to the malls and such. I wouldn't have a clue. The girls are just so sweet and generous....its very heartwarming to hear of their kind gestures to adults and each other. And I love the pics of them being "goofy" at the end!

Can't wait for more!!!

 

[teresajoy]

A ruined custom is NEVER EVER a laughing matter!

I'm glad you liked my timeshare! It is very pretty out back, isn't it! I think they are replacing the whirlpool tubs this year too. That will be nice.

Arminda is so sneaky with those presents!

I love that necklace Mom bought Dad! When she wears it at the meeting, I always forget it's a Mickey, and then am pleasantly surprised when I remember!

There use to be a Golden Corral around here, then it CLOSED!!! I know, I am shocked too!

Aww, I miss Grandpa too.

I didn't know you took pictures of the girls in the restaurant! Funny, I don't remember much of what we did in there either, but I do remember having a really nice time. And, it seems like Tessa was really funny in the bathroom, but I don't recall what she did!

I think you made this installment quite interesting! I enjoyed it! And, really, doesn't my opinion count above anyone elses??????

 

[minnie2]

What a nice day you had!
We used to love Golden Corral when we lived in GA then the last yr we were there they had this huge food poisoning issue and they shut down alot of them and found rats. It was gross! So we vowed never to go back even though we liked it. Now with Nik's Celiac we can't do buffets .
Though they did open a Golden corral up here not to far away so we may go back on our vow if Nik isn't around ....

 

[HeatherSue]

I liked the update, because I really enjoyed the tour of the house.
I go to the rental websites and tour houses just for fun.
What I need is a house like that, for that price, ON WDW property.

I can dream, can't I? LOL

Looking forward to the next update. Maybe Disneygirl and I can update my report tomorrow, while Daddy is watching football.

Wouldn't that be wonderful if Disney had rental houses on site? That would be perfection!!

Hey...what a great day it turned out to be! I love the condo tour....very nice.....'sept the white walls....who wants to vacation with white walls? I love color and my DH loves white walls...so my walls are all boring off-white.

Anyways....I am so impressed that you remember your way around Kissimmee and can get to the malls and such. I wouldn't have a clue. The girls are just so sweet and generous....its very heartwarming to hear of their kind gestures to adults and each other. And I love the pics of them being "goofy" at the end!

Can't wait for more!!!

I'm with you on the white walls. Henry likes white walls and I need color. So, we compromised. The walls in the laundry room are white.

I do NOT know my way around Kissimmee!! Teresa was our bold and fearless leader. I think we would have gotten hopelessly lost without her!

I think our kids are pretty great, too! Thanks for agreeing!

A ruined custom is NEVER EVER a laughing matter!

I'm glad you liked my timeshare! It is very pretty out back, isn't it! I think they are replacing the whirlpool tubs this year too. That will be nice.

Arminda is so sneaky with those presents!

I love that necklace Mom bought Dad! When she wears it at the meeting, I always forget it's a Mickey, and then am pleasantly surprised when I remember!

There use to be a Golden Corral around here, then it CLOSED!!! I know, I am shocked too!

Aww, I miss Grandpa too.

I didn't know you took pictures of the girls in the restaurant! Funny, I don't remember much of what we did in there either, but I do remember having a really nice time. And, it seems like Tessa was really funny in the bathroom, but I don't recall what she did!

I think you made this installment quite interesting! I enjoyed it! And, really, doesn't my opinion count above anyone elses??????

Yes, your opinion does count above all else. Although, I really like it when other people comment on my TR, too!

What a nice day you had!
We used to love Golden Corral when we lived in GA then the last yr we were there they had this huge food poisoning issue and they shut down alot of them and found rats. It was gross! So we vowed never to go back even though we liked it. Now with Nik's Celiac we can't do buffets .
Though they did open a Golden corral up here not to far away so we may go back on our vow if Nik isn't around ....

I refuse to believe there were rats and food poisoning at Golden Gorral. Lalalalala...not listening....

I have my next installment written. But, I don't know if I'm awake enough to post it at the moment.

 

[HeatherSue]

May 15, 2008
Epcot World Showcase

Teresa and family were going to the Kennedy Space Center, I don't recall what Mom and Dad were doing, and we were going to do the World Showcase at Epcot! I hadn't explored the World Showcase side of Epcot since I was 12 years old or so. I never liked it and thought it was incredibly boring. All I remembered of it was lots of circle vision and standing up to watch boring movies. But, Teresa assured me that wonderful character interactions were ours to be had in the wonderful World Showcase of Epcot. So, we were going to give it a try. She was right!!

We had seen Mary Poppins when we popped over to that side of Epcot a few days earlier, so this time I was prepared and had Tessa wear her Mary Poppins outfit. Papa John thought it was pretty darn cute, so he whipped out the camera to get some pictures of her. She kept jumping off a chair with the umbrella, but we didn't get any cute shots of that.

She wore the pettiskirt just for the pictures and then took it right off. She refuses to wear it.

Here we are checking out the pictures with Dad.

We got to Epcot at 10:30 since we only planned to do the showcase. It wasn't very crowded at all! We stopped for a photopass picture. I would like to point out the shirt that I bought at the outlet store for a rediculously low price (about $2). It matches the frame!!

I look so stiff 'cuz I was trying not to tilt my chin down because I knew that would give me about 20 chins in the picture.

I was happy that everyone was in the picture, no heads were cropped off, and that we all looked fairly happy to be there.

We checked on Soarin' since we were a little early, but the line was WAY long already and we'd have had to wait at least an hour. The fastpass return was for several hours later, so that wouldn't work. So, we headed over to the world showcase a little early.

On the way, we passed a man and woman who appeared to be dressed as tourists riding around in a golf cart. The woman got out, pointed at Tessa and screamed "It's Mary Poppins! Hi Mary!" She went on like this for a little while and Tessa just buried her face in my leg. It was pretty cute!

We got to the Mexico pavillion right as they opened it.

Wow, I was duly impressed! It really looks like Mexico at night time in there. Actually, I've never been to Mexico. But, I've been to Arizona and I've been to Texas, so that's pretty darn close!

We were on the 2nd boat of the day. We had it all to ourselves! I don't remember ever riding this ride before. I probably have, but I have absolutely no memory of it. So, it was really cool to ride it for the "first time"!

It started out really pretty. This part reminded me of the San Antonio Riverwalk.

Then, it got slightly cheesier.

It was like It's a Small World, but not so torturous.

Check out my feet. Whole boat all to ourselves...yeah baby!

Look at this beautiful painting...of Donald...

Sawyer was in awe.

Tessa and I were having a magical moment. We were really enjoying this nice family time together.

After the ride, I talked Henry into standing there for a minute so I could get their picture together. He was very sweet and humored me for a minute (like he did most of the day). Notice Tessa's "modeling hands".

Wonderful Character Interaction #1:

We saw a little line outside when we exited Mexico. I immediately hopped in it, not knowing what character it would be. We were happy to see that it was Donald! I was hoping for some further smoochin'!

I got it!!

Sawyer even liked Donald. He didn't fuss at all when he gave him a kiss, too! Tessa thought he was pretty funny and kept giggling.

Next, we came to a sea of princesses. I knew we must be in Norway! There were tons of little princesses waiting outside of Akershush. Tons of cuteness everywhere we looked! The last time we were here, there was a tornado warning and we didn't even know it! It was raining really hard and we were freezing and wet. But, we had a great time eating at Akershush with the princesses. I must share some of those pictures because they crack me up. We got our money's worth of character interactions, let me tell yah!

First up, eating bread instead of talking to Belle:

Then, eating turkey instead of talking to Aladdin:

That was all right, Mommy didn't mind talking to Aladdin for her.

Next up, drinking milk instead of talking to Mulan:

Finally, Jasmine got her attention. Perhaps it was the sparkling jewels (right Angela?).

Okay, back to 2008...

We waded through the princess sea and made it back to the Maelstrom. I liked this ride the last time we were here. I think it's because I was expecting it to be totally lame, but it was more exciting than I thought it would be.

This time...it was totally lame and not as exciting as I thought it would be.

Next page

 

[HeatherSue]

But, I do have this shot that Tessa took. This one's just for Karen!

And this one of Sawyer who did not enjoy the ride too much.

When the ride was over, Tessa said "That was it?" We walked through the movie. As I mentioned earlier, I have bad memories of watching the boring country movies.

We walked through the gift shop. I was looking for the nose-pickable giant troll, but I couldn't find him. I thought it looked like they changed the troll, but now I'm not so sure. There were lots of little princesses in there, so we didn't get any pictures of the kids with the troll.

We walked along a bit and found a pretty little garden with a play structure inside. Sawyer was fascinated by these giant marigolds.

Henry made some comment about the size and shape and how they were more than a handful.

The kids had fun playing for a while. It was getting pretty hot, as it did most days of this vacation. So, I didn't mind staying in the shade and watching them for a few minutes.

I'm not sure what the point of this "rock formation to nowhere" is. Was Sarah Palin involved somehow?? :

Next, we went to China and walked around looking for Mulan. I've always found her to be one of the friendliest princesses, so I wanted to see her! There was no sign of Mulan, even though the little schedule said she should be there. So, we hung out and waited for her.

Little did I know this was where Teresa had seen "The moon over Epcot" several days before...

Wonderful character interaction #2:

Eventually, we spotted her!! Mulan started walking by! Tessa ran up to her and she took Tessa's hand and led her to the greeting area.

She was just too sweet and chatted with Tessa and Sawyer a bit. She even signed the autograph book to both of them, instead of just signing her name.

We love Mulan!

Next, we went to Germany where Henry spotted a sign for brats. We decided to eat there. Although it was far from my first choice, I thought we should do something Henry would enjoy. I got a $6 hot dog. Henry bought a brat and the kids got some pretzels and another $6 hot dog.

As Henry and I were chewing, and chewing, and chewing our food- our eyes met across the table. A sly smile spread across his face and I returned it. He said, with passion in his eyes, "Honey, this tastes like cardboard." I passionately agreed. YUCK!! That was the blandest meal- EVER! The kids enjoyed their pretzel, but wouldn't touch the $6 white hot dog.

The cardboard food did produce one of my favorite pictures of this trip. Would you look at these cute kids?

Tessa carried the kissing a bit too far...her brother got slightly irritated.

After consuming mass quantities of water to wash down our cardboard, we visited the potties.

I had to get a couple of pictures because Henry and the kids looked so cute sitting on this bench.

Well, besides the sun being in their eyes, that is.

I'm thinking this is when we had-

Wonderful Character Interaction #3

There was a short line, and just beyond it, Snow White!

I could NOT find a pen, so I asked Snow White's "handler" if I could borrow one of hers. She graciously let us use it.

Honestly, Tessa was happy to see her. LOL!

Snow White was so sweet and I thought she looked an awful lot like she did in the movie.

After getting her autograph, Tessa ran over to return the pen to her "handler". She seemed really surprised that Tessa was returning her pen. She told her what a nice little girl she was for bringing it back. Tessa returned to me with an extra skip in her step for that nice compliment.

We headed to Japan and saw a bunch of people standing around waiting for the candy lady. We saw it was a few minutes before she'd be back, so we looked through the gift shop.

I was totally freaked out when we first walked in. There were 4 women standing on either size of the doorway and they bowed to us as we walked in. It was a very socially awkward moment for me. What do you do when 4 women bow to you? I didn't want to ignore them. But, I didn't want to bow. How does one bow? Would I do it wrong and offend someone? So, I just said "Hi!", waved, and walked through.

Next Page

 

[HeatherSue]

It was inside this store that I was hit with a wave of nastalgia.

MONCHICHI!!!!

Monchichi, Monchichi, so soft and cuddly! I always wanted a Monchichi! If you are too young to remember Monchichi, watch this fascinating commercial on youtube. But, make sure you come back to my TR. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN1-s6fc-88

My friend Susan had a Monchichi, but I did not. She also had a freaky looking Cabbage Patch Kids Koosa cat thing named Fluffy. I didn't want that thing.

Anyway, we awkwardly passed the bowing women again, with a nervous wave and a "bye" this time.

The candy lady was just starting when we got outside and the only spot to stand was behind her (in front of her was already filled up before we went in the store). This woman cracked me up! She talked nonstop in a monotone drone. I did not stand there laughing, but I was giggling on the inside. She made some really cool candy animals. It was really neat to watch her do it. Pretty amazing!

Tessa wouldn't stop whining that she wanted a candy animal, so we left. I knew she wasn't going to get a turn because there were a LOT of kids there.

Next, we scoured Morocco looking for Jasmine and Aladdin. We came up empty! We waited and waited for one of them to show up and we asked several CMs. They all acted like we were nuts. : We waited and looked some more, but no Jasmine and Aladdin.

Next, we scoured France, hoping to see Belle or the Beast, or even Marie!! But, there were no characters there, either! We couldn't find anyone to ask, so we waited around for a while. Then, we gave up and moved on.

The kids were getting tired, I was really hot, and Henry was barely keeping his "happy" face on.

So, we headed over to the UK, hoping to find Mary Poppins!

There was no Mary in the garden, where we had seen her the first time. Henry plunked himself on a bench while Tessa and I looked around and Sawyer took a little nap. We searched here and we searched there.

No Mary! We asked a CM if he knew when Mary Poppins would be there. He said that there is no schedule for character greets. Oookay...

A few minutes later a CM came up to us and said "Oh my gosh, she MUST meet Mary Poppins! She's scheduled to be here at 1:25."

No schedule, huh?

So, we waited around for a while, not knowing exactly where she was going to be. Then, we spied her!!!

Wonderful Character Interaction #4:

She walked out, stopped dead in her tracks, and said to Tessa "Where did you get that beautiful dress?" Tessa said "My mom made it."

Mary took Tessa's hand and asked if she'd like to go for a walk. She led Tessa around the garden, chatting away.

Then, she led her to the meet 'n greet spot. There, she spent a ton of time just chatting away with Tessa.

Tessa showed her the bows on her dress and told Mary that I had got them from Build-A-Bear. Mary laughed and looked at me with a wink.

She told Tessa to sit by her for a picture.

Then, she chatted with Tessa some MORE! Tessa sang "It's a jolly holiday with Mary" to her. It was really cute! She had been talking about singing that to Mary for months. I had to remind her, though.

Well, I might as well show you the VIDEO! After I got over my initial giddyness, I realized I should be videotaping this! It looks like a blank box, but click on it, it'll work!



Yes, we didn't have the autograph book! I had waved Henry over when Mary came out. But, he "didn't see me". So, he continued to sit on the bench.

Mary then showed Tessa just how to stand so they would look JUST alike.

She gave Tessa a big hug and told her how happy she was that she got to meet her.

Let me tell you, people. Tessa and I were on after this. It was SOO magical!! She now considers Mary Poppins a close, personal friend. I just couldn't believe the amount of time she spent with Tessa. I think it must have been around 10 mintues. I'm sure the other people in line weren't too thrilled about it, but we sure were!!

We were due for a little Disney magic and I am so thankful to Mary Poppins for giving us some special time.

After our magical encounter, we decided it was time to go. We were all tired and we didn't want to overdo it.

But, we thought we'd walk through Innoventions first. Tessa did a little fire safety game and she LOVED it. She knew the answers to all the questions and knew just what to do in a fire. I'm pretty paranoid about fires and I was really proud of her.

We headed towards the front of the park. But, we swung by Soarin' to see what kind of wait there was. The fastpass return was 3 hours away, so we just headed out of the park.

Sawyer was a bit sleepy.

Tessa was tired, but still being really good.

I had a truly wonderful day! I can't say the same for Henry, but he put up with it. I don't think the kids liked the world showcase all that much, either. Tessa didn't show any interest in doing the Kidcot stations and I was glad because wrangling Sawyer while she colored masks didn't appeal to me.

We all loved seeing the characters, though. They were all so friendly and spent extra time with us at Epcot! It was a great day!!

We were pretty hungry by the time we got to our rental house. So, we decided to drive into the next town to find a place to eat.

We passed this interesting landscape where Henry made the comment "Look, it's a Charlie Brown Christmas tree farm!"

We were looking for Cici's pizza because Henry swore he had seen one a few days earlier when he was looking for the local police department (he was hoping to do a ride along since he just passed his police course).

Well...it ended up being a place called Cecilia's, which was not a pizza place.

So, we ended up eating at Long John Silver/Taco Bell. I must explain that this is a novelty to us. There are no / restaurants in Michigan, at least not where we live. No Pizza Hut/Taco Bell, no KFC/Pizza Hut/Taco Bell, no such thing.

We were all in really good moods and having a really nice time together.

Tessa took my camera and decided she was going to do a "review". Let me explain. I do reviews for expotv.com and she sees me do this all the time. So, she thinks anytime you use the video feature on the camera, you are doing a review. So, here is Tessa's review:



As you can see, Sawyer likes to eat anything that is not in front of him.

After Long John Silver/Taco Bell, we spotted a Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins (yet another / novelty). There was a big sign saying they were offering free iced coffee. Henry is not one to pass up "free" anything. So, we stopped.

We got our iced coffee and it was HORRIBLE. It tasted burnt. It was bad. We went over to the Baskin Robbins counter where I spotted a sign for the Reeses sundae. I have been wanting to try one of these for over a year! The last time we went to Baskin Robbins we were in Chicago. I was all excited to try one because I love me some Reeses. I ordered it and they told me "We don't have any Reeses." So, I said "Could I just get a sundae with the peanut butter sauce?" So, they said "We don't have the sauce". Ugh!

I was all excited that I was going to finally get a Reeses sundae! I ordered it and they told me "We don't have any Reeses." I asked about the sauce "We don't offer Reeses sundaes here." SO WHY DO THEY HAVE THE FREAKING HUMUNGOUS SIGN with a picture of a Reeses sundae, positively dripping with deliciousness? SHEESH!!!

I took off in a huff and we got some donuts for the next morning from the nice people who gave us free burnt iced coffee instead.

We got back to the house with plenty of time to play in the pool. It was a really nice day. We had a great time, besides the Reeses sundae incident. One day I will get a Reeses sundae!

Up Next: My little girl is a Chip off the old block! (our last Disney day)

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Great update. I love, love, love the Mary Poppins dress. I think it is my favorite one so far.

It sounds like you had a great day at EPCOT! Thanks for sharing.

 

[HeatherSue]

Great update. I love, love, love the Mary Poppins dress. I think it is my favorite one so far.

It sounds like you had a great day at EPCOT! Thanks for sharing.

Thank you! The Mary Poppins outfit was a pretty easy one to make! I was happy with the way it turned out. I really did get those bows from Build-A-Bear, too.

 

[PrincessLeighsDaddy]

Tessa looked so cute as Mary! And what a wonderful moment for her! Love that dress!

I liked the "review" that Tessa gave. I heard her say "I was trying to make you some money" at the end! Too cute!

 

[HeatherSue]

Tessa looked so cute as Mary! And what a wonderful moment for her! Love that dress!

I liked the "review" that Tessa gave. I heard her say "I was trying to make you some money" at the end! Too cute!

I'm thinking the Mary encounter was even more exciting for me than her. I was giggling like an idiot for the majority of the time. I had to cut that out of the video because I sounded like such a dork!

I thought the part where Tessa said she's making me some money was pretty cute, too! She reviews all sorts of things at home- the dog, her brother, etc...

 

[Hedy]

As always, I'm amazed by you and your sister's sewing skills.
I love Tessa's review.

 

[HeatherSue]

As always, I'm amazed by you and your sister's sewing skills.
I love Tessa's review.

Thanks Hedy!
------------------------

I'm thrilled that people are still reading my trip report. I was starting to wonder!! It's almost done, I promise. I'm thinking there will be 2 more installments.

Look at my ticker, it's under 4 months until I go to Disney again!

 

[DisneyMom5]

Tessa looked so cute as Mary! And what a wonderful moment for her! Love that dress!

I liked the "review" that Tessa gave. I heard her say "I was trying to make you some money" at the end! Too cute!

I was giggling about that too! LOL

Love the dress! It worked equally well in the Mexico pavillion, where the girls wear the white dresses, at least they used to.

Very nice character interaction!

I have seen Alladin/Jasmine/Genie either next to the water, or in the back of the store. But never sure which place they will be.

Same with B & B or Aurora, who are the French characters (Marie was a new one on me!)

You are correct, Snow White is Germany (???).

Really great report of a very nice day! Isn't soooo nice not to be worrying about fitting it all into 5 days?

We're trying to figure out a way to go for 10 again, if we go next year.

Are you watching the Feb. Codes thread???

The sales for Feb. should break around Nov. 1st. (You ARE staying onsite for that trip, aren't you???)

Later!

P.S. - The New Year's Party is only around 90 days away!!!
You are officially our first invite. LOL

 

[jham]

Tessa looks so pretty in her Mary Poppins dress! Tell her Luke thinks she looks very beautiful in a pettiskirt We love Mexico Donald! I can't wait to go inside the Mexico building! I never have! I love the tiny Tessa pics! I love the picture of the kids with the pretzel! It so reminds me of Luke and Lily! I don't think we've seen a character in World Showcase other than Donald (and dining at Akershus) obviously we weren't looking. Next trip I want to do WS character-style! All of your characters you met looked like they really should, KWIM? Hey! I remember Monchichi! I didn't have one either I did have a pot-bellied bear though Tessa and Mary were SO cute together! And I love that girl for singing to her. I'll bet Mary did too! I love the end of Tessa's review. "I was helping you make money"

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

Wow great update. The Mary Poppins dress is gorgeous. It looks so cool with the pettiskirt.

I can't believe you didn't ride Soarin' it is my all time favorite ride!

Looking forward to the last couple updates. . .

 

[twob4him]

Hi Heather! I loved the update of Epcot! The kids are just so darn cute! I haven't been around the world since I was in college. I got a little taste of it two years ago when we went to Norway for dinner. I loved following you around looking for characters! You really found a lot! So funny about the bowing ladies...what do you do about that???? Oh I was just tearing up over the Mary Poppins meeting....how magical and wonderful. Tessa's dress is just beautiful! I am so glad they got to meet and chat and sing! You really should have gotten a Fastpass to Soarin on your way in and used it on the way out. So what is up with the Reese's Sundae???? I think I have had one at Friendly's. Do you have one of those near you? I tell you what, when we are at Disney in Feb it is going to be my goal to get you a Reeses Sundae!!!

 

[minnie2]

Great update!
The MP dress was gorgeous! You made me really excited to go to Epcot! Epcot is usually my least fav park but George loves it and this yr I actually want to go!

 

[HeatherSue]

Love the dress! It worked equally well in the Mexico pavillion, where the girls wear the white dresses, at least they used to.

Very nice character interaction!

I have seen Alladin/Jasmine/Genie either next to the water, or in the back of the store. But never sure which place they will be.

Same with B & B or Aurora, who are the French characters (Marie was a new one on me!)

You are correct, Snow White is Germany (???).

Really great report of a very nice day! Isn't soooo nice not to be worrying about fitting it all into 5 days?

We're trying to figure out a way to go for 10 again, if we go next year.

Are you watching the Feb. Codes thread???

The sales for Feb. should break around Nov. 1st. (You ARE staying onsite for that trip, aren't you???)

Later!

P.S. - The New Year's Party is only around 90 days away!!!
You are officially our first invite. LOL

You're right, she did match the women in the Mexican pavilion!

Yes, I loved having 10 days! I didn't feel guilty about leaving the parks early, or worry that we were missing stuff. The 10 day ticket only cost about $20 more than a 3 day ticket, so we weren't wasting money either (besides the rediculously high parking fee, that is).

Yep, I subscriped to the Feb codes thread. I'm anxiously awaiting a code! We're staying at Pop again. I love that place! Although, if I can stay at a monorail resort for the same price, I may change my ressies.

I can't wait for the new year's party! If everything works out, I may be bringing a fellow Diser (Stephres) and her 2 kids. You don't mind me inviting strangers to your house, right?

Tessa looks so pretty in her Mary Poppins dress! Tell her Luke thinks she looks very beautiful in a pettiskirt We love Mexico Donald! I can't wait to go inside the Mexico building! I never have! I love the tiny Tessa pics! I love the picture of the kids with the pretzel! It so reminds me of Luke and Lily! I don't think we've seen a character in World Showcase other than Donald (and dining at Akershus) obviously we weren't looking. Next trip I want to do WS character-style! All of your characters you met looked like they really should, KWIM? Hey! I remember Monchichi! I didn't have one either I did have a pot-bellied bear though Tessa and Mary were SO cute together! And I love that girl for singing to her. I'll bet Mary did too! I love the end of Tessa's review. "I was helping you make money"

I told Tessa what Luke said and she said "Oh" and looked VERY embarassed.

I don't remember ever going into Mexico before either. It was so cool! I would have liked to explore more, but Henry was antsy.

You have to look for the characters over there. They are all around! There's even a schedule for when they should be in their designated countries!

We were poor, Monchichi deprived children, weren't we? I don't know what a pot bellied bear looks like. But, I did have a Cabbage Patch Kids horse named Charlie.

I was so proud of Tessa for singing to Mary. I thought she'd get too nervous to do it, but she was just as calm as could be!

Wow great update. The Mary Poppins dress is gorgeous. It looks so cool with the pettiskirt.

I can't believe you didn't ride Soarin' it is my all time favorite ride!

Looking forward to the last couple updates. . .

Thank you!! We rode Soarin' twice a few days earlier. I LOVE Soarin', too!

Hi Heather! I loved the update of Epcot! The kids are just so darn cute! I haven't been around the world since I was in college. I got a little taste of it two years ago when we went to Norway for dinner. I loved following you around looking for characters! You really found a lot! So funny about the bowing ladies...what do you do about that???? Oh I was just tearing up over the Mary Poppins meeting....how magical and wonderful. Tessa's dress is just beautiful! I am so glad they got to meet and chat and sing! You really should have gotten a Fastpass to Soarin on your way in and used it on the way out. So what is up with the Reese's Sundae???? I think I have had one at Friendly's. Do you have one of those near you? I tell you what, when we are at Disney in Feb it is going to be my goal to get you a Reeses Sundae!!!

You are right!! We should have gotten a fastpass on our way in. I don't know why I didn't think of that! Where were you when I needed you?

I am really looking forward to my Reeses sundae in February!! Really, anything Reeses would do. But, they're even better when mixed with ice cream!

Great update!
The MP dress was gorgeous! You made me really excited to go to Epcot! Epcot is usually my least fav park but George loves it and this yr I actually want to go!

It really is pretty fun. Epcot is still my leave favorite park, but I loved looking for the characters over in the World Showcase! MGM is a close tie for my least favorite park, but there are a few rides I love over there, too.