As usual, the wake up call comes at 7am and it is not time to roll out of bed. But refreshed in my mind is the knowledge of where we are going to today-epcot!
The gang is herded out of bed. I am surprised to go out on the balcony and see that the skies are clear. There is still a little bit of the smoke smell today. So we are dressed and cleaned and out of the door. I make my usual stop at the coffee corner, and db is waiting with the trusty volvo. We are pointed to wdw resort and away we go. Once again, I pull out the camera to videotape our entrance. We can see the globe with the new epcot sign. I bet it looks really cool at nite. We park and walk around the long way on the right. We stop when we get in to look at the maps and notice where package pickup is. Then I brace my family for our 12 hour marathon and away we go to test track. We get there and ds son says I have to go potty. I consult my map and reverse my course. We start looking around, but I can't find it. He starts saying, daddy, I really have to go potty! I start jogging, and encounter a cm-he points me in the right direction. We sprint in and he is ok! I gather up DS and go back to test track. DB and DF are waiting for dad and "is it ok to go on now". We have to wait about 5 minutes and then we watch the movie, and go to the loading area. I've found that they usually have problems with tt, it's just a fact of life. But it was really cool standing there waiting and watching the cars go thundering by overhead. We get on and DS starts wondering what am I getting on? We go through the testing course and then out on the track. It is cool! We're then unloaded and into the shopping area. DS makes out with the token car. We scoot across the flowered grounds to see honey I shrunk the audience. It is ok and actually ds is ok with the snake jumping out. He really likes the puppy. We go see what is left of the figment ride-I don't like it and purchase a stuffed figment for DS. One day I might be able to tell him about this. But the package is sent off and after a potty break, we go off again. We go to the entrance plaza and wait for the bus-the bus stocked full of characters- and it is loaded! They come in and do a little dance thing and then the kids and parents come out of nowhere and lines are in place in 30 seconds flat! We get all the characters we can, but are cut short with three left. We try to rush to get the next one-but we are out of luck. I try to explain to ds, but he is actually ok. We turn to mexico, and see the pyramid. We get a few pix outside and then go in. It is nice and cool, but there is a fair amount of people here allready. I had purchased a little passport for DS and after the river ride, we find a native to stamp and sign it. This was something really cool to do with him, it kinda made him feel special and he looked forward to the next country. We then go to Norway and see the boat. He wants to run around and gets his pix with DF. We then go to the boat ride, and he is ok on that, it is a little shorter then I remember from '92. They are doing a little work on it. He gets his passport signed, and we go to China. They have a character greeting here, and we wait a couple of minutes, but it is just the bus showing up again. We go and see the china movie. Of course it is beautiful, and we start getting hungry. I had noticed at the norway pavilion their restaurant, and had glanced at the prices, fairly reasonable for disney, so I turned to the gang and said-ok, here is the one really good feast of the trip. So with our hunger we went in. I had read on the dis boards this was really good, but in my culinary career, I had not had any exposure to norway cooking. We were seated immediately, and DS got a book to read, some crayons, something to color. We sat and looked around, very nice, very quiet. Our waiter came up, looking eager. He introduced himself, as Nickolai. I could tell from all my years in the hospitality industry that the poor guy had just came over on the boat and was probably waiting on his first table. We told him we were from austin texas, and were really hungry and the food smelled great. I tried to make it easy for him, and he looked a little apprehensive, like he wanted to run back in the kitchen at the first sign of trouble. I would have to say the buffet was great. DF and DB got to sample the seafood, I am not into that, but based on their review, I would recommend that also. Christopher was not to keen on the kid's hot dog, as they rolled it in the norwegian bread and not in a bun. But he did ok, and we stuffed ourselves. We would save dessert for france. Wouldn't you. We had been served well by Nickolai, the poor guy, he tried real hard to tend to our table. He came and got our plates, refilled tea, I think he'll be ok. Heck, by now two weeks later, he should be a pro. Well, I got to go to work, you know how it is. Pretty much everyone know epcot would be a two parter. So manana is a rare character greeting the japan drum fest.
The gang is herded out of bed. I am surprised to go out on the balcony and see that the skies are clear. There is still a little bit of the smoke smell today. So we are dressed and cleaned and out of the door. I make my usual stop at the coffee corner, and db is waiting with the trusty volvo. We are pointed to wdw resort and away we go. Once again, I pull out the camera to videotape our entrance. We can see the globe with the new epcot sign. I bet it looks really cool at nite. We park and walk around the long way on the right. We stop when we get in to look at the maps and notice where package pickup is. Then I brace my family for our 12 hour marathon and away we go to test track. We get there and ds son says I have to go potty. I consult my map and reverse my course. We start looking around, but I can't find it. He starts saying, daddy, I really have to go potty! I start jogging, and encounter a cm-he points me in the right direction. We sprint in and he is ok! I gather up DS and go back to test track. DB and DF are waiting for dad and "is it ok to go on now". We have to wait about 5 minutes and then we watch the movie, and go to the loading area. I've found that they usually have problems with tt, it's just a fact of life. But it was really cool standing there waiting and watching the cars go thundering by overhead. We get on and DS starts wondering what am I getting on? We go through the testing course and then out on the track. It is cool! We're then unloaded and into the shopping area. DS makes out with the token car. We scoot across the flowered grounds to see honey I shrunk the audience. It is ok and actually ds is ok with the snake jumping out. He really likes the puppy. We go see what is left of the figment ride-I don't like it and purchase a stuffed figment for DS. One day I might be able to tell him about this. But the package is sent off and after a potty break, we go off again. We go to the entrance plaza and wait for the bus-the bus stocked full of characters- and it is loaded! They come in and do a little dance thing and then the kids and parents come out of nowhere and lines are in place in 30 seconds flat! We get all the characters we can, but are cut short with three left. We try to rush to get the next one-but we are out of luck. I try to explain to ds, but he is actually ok. We turn to mexico, and see the pyramid. We get a few pix outside and then go in. It is nice and cool, but there is a fair amount of people here allready. I had purchased a little passport for DS and after the river ride, we find a native to stamp and sign it. This was something really cool to do with him, it kinda made him feel special and he looked forward to the next country. We then go to Norway and see the boat. He wants to run around and gets his pix with DF. We then go to the boat ride, and he is ok on that, it is a little shorter then I remember from '92. They are doing a little work on it. He gets his passport signed, and we go to China. They have a character greeting here, and we wait a couple of minutes, but it is just the bus showing up again. We go and see the china movie. Of course it is beautiful, and we start getting hungry. I had noticed at the norway pavilion their restaurant, and had glanced at the prices, fairly reasonable for disney, so I turned to the gang and said-ok, here is the one really good feast of the trip. So with our hunger we went in. I had read on the dis boards this was really good, but in my culinary career, I had not had any exposure to norway cooking. We were seated immediately, and DS got a book to read, some crayons, something to color. We sat and looked around, very nice, very quiet. Our waiter came up, looking eager. He introduced himself, as Nickolai. I could tell from all my years in the hospitality industry that the poor guy had just came over on the boat and was probably waiting on his first table. We told him we were from austin texas, and were really hungry and the food smelled great. I tried to make it easy for him, and he looked a little apprehensive, like he wanted to run back in the kitchen at the first sign of trouble. I would have to say the buffet was great. DF and DB got to sample the seafood, I am not into that, but based on their review, I would recommend that also. Christopher was not to keen on the kid's hot dog, as they rolled it in the norwegian bread and not in a bun. But he did ok, and we stuffed ourselves. We would save dessert for france. Wouldn't you. We had been served well by Nickolai, the poor guy, he tried real hard to tend to our table. He came and got our plates, refilled tea, I think he'll be ok. Heck, by now two weeks later, he should be a pro. Well, I got to go to work, you know how it is. Pretty much everyone know epcot would be a two parter. So manana is a rare character greeting the japan drum fest.
