I'm baaaaack!! (finally ...)
Here it is: Day 2 - Part 2 ...
So it was time to move on to the World Showcase - and Mexico where we arrived at 10:59
I think both Delani and Alana had visiting Mexico on their priority list, and Danielle likes the Gran Fiesta Tour
So even though we had spent an hour-and-a-half in Mexico last December (while it poured gatos and perros outside
), we were back for another visit.
We started with the Gran Fiesta Tour, and even Delani must have liked it because she was snapping pictures left and right!!
After that: Shopping!! Delani and Alana decide they wanted a pin from each country among other things
So while the four older girls went shopping, Danielle and I went searching for the Kidcot station
Which had moved!!
There has been a bunch of modifications to the inside of the Mexico pavilion since December 2008. The Mexican house, etc. es no mas, and has been replaced by more shops, and there are a few other changes, too
Danielle started working on her Kidcot mask
and I kept my eye on the time, cuz we had an ADR for lunch at Akershus
After about 20 minutes I rounded everyone up and we headed outside, to find Mariachi Cobre playing
But it was starting to get hot and muggy
so we moved on to Norway after a few minutes.
And into the cool and refreshing (A/C!!) Viking Exhibit in the Stave Church. The girls actually found the Stave Church exhibits interesting, and we spent a good 10 minutes in the little museum checking them out. And Vicki and I took turns teasing Delani and Alana about which one of the Vikings were their type
So I think some of their (in particular, Delanis) protestations about being bored were just part of their tweenager act
We walked onto Maelstrom
And the girls wanted to shop immediately after exiting (conveniently into a shop
of course!) But we needed to check-in at Akershus, so we dragged them kicking and screaming (well moaning and groaning
) over to the restaurant. With a promise they could shop after lunch
We checked in and Vicki took Danielle to the Ladies Room to change into her princess-greeting costume: Rosetta! And about 5 minutes later we were called to our seats with a visit with Princess Belle to start things off
Lunch at Akershus was wonderful great food: a cold buffet with meats/cheeses/salmon/asparagus/salads/etc., salmon burgers, vegetable stuffed pasta, and Mickey-shaped ravioli (which Delani ordered and got a major kick out of
!):
Thats it for the food porn this trip
And, let us not forget Princesses!! Aurora, Cinderella, Snow White
and Ariel!!
Meeting Ariel was another first for us and with legs, too!! so that was extra special
(Its kinda sad when she still has fins, flopping around on the floor like that
)
And as you may have noticed, Ariel is signing something other than a book its a t-shirt with all of the Princesses on it
So after our lunch at Akershus, the only Princess that hadnt signed the shirt was Jasmine
an omission that would soon be remedied
Lunch ended with dessert and the girls went crazy when our waitress placed two (yes two!!) family-style dessert trays on our table, each with a heaping serving of hot apple cobbler, rice cream with strawberries, and
CHOCOLATE MOUSE!!!
While the three girls and Vicki fought over the chocolate mouse, I dived into the very good apple-crisp/cobbler, and my Mom helped herself to the rice cream with strawberries.
Sorry theres no dessert food porn, but I only had about 3 seconds before the spoons started flying
Needless to say we all left Akershus with smiles on our faces and happy tummies
And then, as the adults promised, the girls did some Shopping in Norway for a bit
Our original plan was to head back to AKL after lunch, to rest and get ready for the evening back at Epcot. Plus, we would minimize the amount of walking for my Mom and Vicki
But the girls wanted to do the Kim Possible Adventure Game
And Mom said go ahead, even though she was starting to flag
So we strolled up to the game cart, Delani handed over her MYW pass, and we got our Kim Possible ticket - with a reporting time of 2:00 at Italy (which Delani wanted to visit anyway
)
so we had about an hour to stroll over there
[A short digression: Danielle had started collecting the Toddler Princess pins last December, and she was on a mission to complete the set this trip! At some point this morning I forget when/where (maybe when meeting Daisy?) Danielle traded a CM for the Toddler Princess Jasmine pin now she only needed Ariel to complete her collection
So she was constantly on the lookout for CMs with pins
]
Walking to Italy we found Mulan literally waiting for us outside China:
Danielle wanted to go in Mulans Palace at China but Delani didnt (tweenagers!!) so Danielle changed her mind
We checked out the trains by Germany
(dodging the shoppes
)
and the African Trading Outpost (where the girls spent a few minutes shopping but not buying
)
We only needed Jasmines signature on Danielles t-shirt to have all of the Princesses so we decided to go for it and head over to Morocco
one of Vickis and my favorite countries.
By America we caught a bit of the fife and drum corps
(with a short stop at one of the outside kiosks for some shopping and buying this time, I think
)
and then
At Morocco we had a 15 minute wait for Jasmine to appear at the outside meet-n-greet area, so we visited the Gallery of Arts (A/C!!). And like with the Vikings, the girls really got into the exhibits (mostly jewelry so that was no surprise!!)
My Mom decided to wait inside the Gallery (and the A/C!! the heat, the walking, and the big lunch were taking their toll
) while we went outside. While waiting, Vicki chatted with a couple of off-duty CMs for about 5 minutes - when an on-duty CM came and told us that they had changed to location to an inside area (it was hot!!) He then proceeded to escort us back and into Morocco - and to the front of the line for Jasmine and Aladdin!!
It was then time to shuffle (literally it was hot!!) off to Italy to start the Kim Possible Game
- but first, Danielle go hold of her Moms camera and took a self-portrait
kind of
(well of her ear!!)
Fortunately, the game sent us back to Germany, so we didnt have to roam all over the World (by this point, my Mom was in no condition for that and Vickis knee was starting to bother her)
The Kim Possible game was fun and interesting, but it was tough to share one communicator with 3 kids (make that 4 kids .. )
And at that point everyone was bushed (I couldnt even get the girls to go into Mouse Gear!!) so we headed back to AKL.
Unfortunately, tired and not really paying attention, we got off at Kidani Village (we thought something looked different!)
But it was only a (hot!) 5 minute walk back to Jambo House where we arrived about 3:30.
And where well pick things up in Day 2 Part 3!!
