So when I last left you Alexander and I had waited in a hideously long line for Test Track that was not worth the wait from our point of view. By then we were both pretty hungry. Since we were right beside Electric Umbrella we decided to stop there to eat. I know, I know, with all the wonderful places in Epcot to eat why stop at a burger place. Well, two reasons. It was close and Alexander is picky. I would have liked something else but this was it for us.
I got the bacon double cheeseburger with strawberry cheesecake and Alexander got chicken nuggets. He liked his but my burger was just blah again. I couldn't eat very much of the cheesecake because it was just gross.
After our less than stellar dinner we went to Mouse Gears and braved the funky smell they've got going on in there. Alexander bought a Mickey Luke Skywalker toy and I got some of those Mickey Mouse family vinyl stickers for our Expedition.
We decided it was then time to head to World Showcase. First we stopped for some photopass pics.
Not sure what was up with Alexander's crooked head pose but he did that in all the pictures we had made here.
A picture before heading to World Showcase.
Some large turtles in the water I've never noticed before.
We took the ferry to get to World Showcase, something we've never done before. Our first stop was France. As we were walking up to France we saw Sleeping Beauty but there was no way we were going to see her. Alexander has zero interest in seeing any princesses.
We had hopes of seeing Marie in France. Now let me tell you this. It's true that Alexander isn't interested in anything remotely girly. He won't see the princesses, he won't even see Lilo. Minnie and Daisy are okay with him because they are more classic Disney. But my boy is in love with Marie. She is about as girly as it gets but he doesn't care. He collects Marie pins and still loves Aristocats. So it was a big goal of ours to see Marie. So it was great luck that just as we arrived in France out came Marie. He would have pushed any kid down just to get to her. Okay, not really but he was excited!
There were only a few people in line in front of us and Alexander was as giddy as could be while we waited. Finally it was our turn and Alexander ran up to Marie and gave her a big hug.
Here's a little story from 3 years ago which was the first time we met Marie. We had just seen Miyuki (the candy lady) in Japan. Alexander had a cute little giraffe made. He was so proud of it but absolutely insisted on carrying it, even though we told him that was a bad idea. Now what do you think is going to happen with a 6 year old carrying an extremely fragile piece of candy art? He dropped it of course and it shattered into many pieces.
He was devastated and so were we. He literally had it less than 5 minutes. He was a crying mess and there was nothing we could do to console him. We tried to make him feel better but nothing was working. For some reason we were walking towards France at the time and who do we see - Marie! Alexander had been hoping that he would get to meet her and here she was right at the perfect time. We dried the tears as best as we could and he ran up to her just like he did this time. He was wearing his lanyard with his Marie pins and had a fun time pointing out each one to her. She would clap and jump up and down. It was a wonderful moment for Alexander and she was probably the only thing to bring him out of his sadness for dropping the giraffe. Needless to say, we all love Marie!
Okay, back to 2010. Alexander got Marie's autograph and took some more pictures and we moved on.
We spotted this photopass spot and took some pictures.
Alexander did the kidcot stops in France and Morocco and we went to Japan to get a pearl. I am making a charm bracelet for Mia when she gets older and have decided to always get a pearl for it on every trip we take. I let Alexander choose the oyster and told him that I had heard that you should choose the ugliest, hairiest oyster to get the prettiest pearl. He liked picking one out and I have to say that it was pretty ugly.
I just love all the enthusiasm the cast members have who work in Japan at pick-a-pearl. They have to be the nicest people in the world. They make such a show out of everyone's pearls and make you feel like you have just chosen the best pearl ever. They asked Alexander if the pearl was for me but he said no it was for his sister. Apparently that was a very nice thing he was doing for his sister.
Here is the lady who opened our pearl. You can just see the enthusiasm on her face.
The pearl Alexander chose was a 7 1/2 mm. Last year we got a 7 mm pearl. I chose a charm with a shoe on it because Mia just loves shoes. I got her some of those plastic princess dress up shoes for her birthday and she loves them. She walks around like a real princess in them too.
We had to wait about 20 minutes until our pearl was ready to be picked up so we went to the kidcot stops in Japan, America, and Italy while we waited. We also saw many photo opportunities.
Alexander made me wait until this duck was right in front of him before I took this picture.
Alexander said here he was trying to look like a dog. Silly boy.
We backtracked to pick up the pearl and then went back to Germany. We spent some time looking at the mini village. Alexander just loves this and we always have to stop and watch the trains.
Look closely, there's a giant bunny attacking the small German village.
Then we finished up the remaining kidcot stops that Alexander needed for his mask. We had a little bit of time before the park closed so we thought we'd ride Maelstrom. We've never done it before so I really didn't know what to expect. It was a good thing I wasn't expecting too much. It was alright but seriously, people get fastpasses for this? I'd ride it again just because it's there, but I wouldn't wait in a long line for it.
It was getting close to the time for Illuminations and I asked Alexander if he wanted to watch it and he said no. Either way was okay with me so we started to head out of the park.
We stopped for these pictures which I love.
Before we left we decided to ride Spaceship Earth. We had a fun time on it and I let Alexander pick our future. I took some pictures of our future but don't worry, I did not use the flash. We both made crazy faces when we took our picture. Alexander did the crooked head thing again.
We exited the ride and I emailed a postcard to myself from the future.
When we were on the bus going back to CBR we saw fireworks from both Epcot and MK. They were beautiful!
When we got back to the room Mia was already asleep. Dave told me that they had spent the evening strolling around the paths, going to the marina, and played on the beach. He said he also had a burger for dinner. Apparently his was better than mine. They ate outside of Old Port Royale and had plenty of birds all around them. At one point he said that all the birds were lined up side by side just staring at Mia. She didn't like that at all. I guess she was afraid they were going to fly at her and steal her food. After their dinner they went to the room and watched some cartoons and Mia fell asleep. It sounded like they both had a pleasant and relaxing evening, which is probably what they both needed.
Up next: Back to Hollywood Studios and our first time to ride Toy Story Mania
and we waited and we waited! It's my favorite ride but there were many times when I thought about giving up. Good for you for hanging in for Alexander!
Alexander doesn't usually like waiting in long lines but he really wanted to ride Test Track so we really had no other choice.
Great updates!
Loving your report...my DS9 and I were at Epcot the same day as you guys were! Your pictures are awesome! The weather was great that week, wasn't it? We had a great trip and it looks like you guys did too! 
Thanks a lot family! Dave said it's because I usually don't eat breakfast. Yeah, but I also usually don't have a chocolate croissant available to eat for breakfast either. Oh well, I could have gotten another one but decided not to.
