Pin Trading, Pineapple Bars, and Italian Wine, OH MY! Sept. 2010 TR UPDATE 8/20 pg 9

[Belle_princess]

Love the pictures of the MSEP. Elliot was always my favorite part of that parade too! We used to watch Pete's Dragon constantly when I was a kid. One of my favorites.

I'm so glad to know there is a fellow Elliot lover out there! Like I said, Pete's Dragon was a staple in our house when I was growing up! Enjoy the MSEP pictures- it is an AWESOME parade!!!!

 

[Belle_princess]

That's right; I'm back!
(Extra points to anyone who knows what movie that is from- I guess it could be from several, but I have one particular one in mind!!)

I know it has been a while. . .Thanksgiving week was crazy! Phew! Anyway. . .where was I??

Oh, yes! We were leaving the Land Pavilion on our way to. . .




. . . .wait for it. . . .





IMAGINATION with Figment. . .of course! We can't go to EPCOT without a spin with our favorite purple dragon!! Here are a few decent shots!

Nikki and her best friend:

After our visit with Figment, we decided to explore the World Showcase at night. Honestly, there weren't too many rides at EPCOT we really wanted to ride. The World Showcase was where we really wanted to be.

We started in Canada

We did a little shopping and pin hunting, of course!! Nikki talked to some of the CMs about Hockey while I explored the store taking pictures and just enjoying the nearly non-existent crowds!

Canadian Candy:

Nikki really liked this shirt!

We walked to the back of the pavilion to see the waterfall and to find a few CMs at the Canada show to check their pins!!

We passed through the UK pavilion, but all the pictures I took came out blurry. Oh well. We made our way to France.

Before arriving at the French Pavilion, we stopped at the bridge and looked out the World Showcase from the fireworks viewing area. I shot lots of pictures while Nikki look out over the Lagoon. I tried all kinds of settings, but good night photos just don't happen unless you have a tripod. Even setting my camera on the rail wasn't sturdy enough. *sigh* This was the ONLY time at WDW I really wished I had the sense to purchase a tripod- even a cheap one. Just for these pictures. However, I would have had to carry it all day. Oh well.

There was no one around, so we just meandered through the world showcase taking in its nightly beauty. At times, I would get ahead and other times Nikki would go ahead while I was shooting pictures. It was very relaxing.

Oh, Italy. . .you are beautiful even at night!

And, yes, Nikki stopped for some Italian wine (Rosa Regale). I decided not to spend the $7 this time around!

In the German pavilion, we scoped out CMs with pins. Nikki traded for a Doug (from UP) pin, I believe. It was a very tall and dark-haired CM who was quite attractive. (He comes into play later!)

We finished up our trek through the World Showcase. By this time, EMH were over, so we made our way out. It had been a long day!

The ride back to ASMu was uneventful- well, I didn't write anything down about it, so I guess it was uneventful. Seeing as it has been over two months since my trip, my memory on mundane things is a little fuzzy!

We arrived at ASMu where we collapsed in our room, did as much of our end of the day activities as we could before falling asleep.

My pin trades for the day!!

Not bad for one day- three parks and a character breakfast! There is only one other day on our trip where we got as much done!

 

[Belle_princess]

This isn't a 'real' update, but I wanted to upload a few of our Photopass pictures to catch you up. I will only put here pictures from the first four days. The rest will be included in the day's description!!

Wednesday, 9-22 (EPCOT day)

Thursday, 9-23 (MK and HS day)
This is probably the photo I will use on the cover page of the scrapbook whenever I do it!

Friday, 9-24 (O'hana, HS, MK, EPCOT day)

You are all caught up, now. There were tons more Photopass pictures, but I didn't want to boar you!

 

[Belle_princess]

Let me say, I'm extremely sorry for my absence! I hope you can forgive me. I will picking up with my TR as soon as I get some pictures edited. The holidays really threw me for a loop- they were here and gone before I knew it! (Working retail really takes you time up!! WOO!) Now, I'm back and ready to continue with this crazy trip! Please stay tuned!!!

See you very, VERY soon!

Kristin

 

[davebon23]

Kristin,

Just found your TR. I am especially interested in your info about Nikki's gluten free dining experiences. This is my first time going GF at Disney. I was lucky to convince my teenagers to go again, especially because they take care of us GF eaters so well. Well, it wasn't hard to convince DD. LOL.
I am glad you both had so much fun. I think that is what I need a trip with just a girlfriend or two.

I look forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.

 

[Belle_princess]

HEEELLLLOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it is I! I'm back! Woo-hoo! Just as I promised, a real update from my trip back in September. Yes, Yes. . .I know, it has been a while. With the holidays and all the craziness that has been my life the last two months, this is honestly, the first time I've had a chance to edit photos and write an update. I promise to try to do better in the coming months!

Ok. . . . . .if you are new, go back and read all the exciting things Nikki and I did in our first four days at Disney World! We are onto day 5- Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and ending with. . . . .wait for it. . . . . . . .

LE CELLIER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here we go. . .

Saturday, September 25, 2010
(Forgive me if I have forgotten the tiny details. . .it has been a while!!

We got up Saturday morning ready for our first day at Animal Kingdom!! I had scheduled the whole day there and after AK closed, we were going over to EPCOT to see what we could before our dinner reservations at 8:55pm.

As we were walking into the park, we saw this poor little guy:

The duck was wounded. He had flown into the ticket buildings and the CM we talked to suspected his wing was broken. They had called the CMs to come get him. Nikki noticed if an animal was to get hurt anywhere on Disney Property, AK was the best place. The CM agreed and said they would take him to the Animal Care Facility (in Rafiki's Planet Watch area, I believe) to fix him up.

(Notice the CM in the picture is holding out her lanyard. . .yes, while Nikki was talking to the CM about the duck, she was also checking out her pins. . . we are crazy pin traders, remember????)

We walked into the park and followed the maze of confusing trails until it ended in front of the Tree of Life.

We got our photopass pictures taken since we hadn't done them at AK yet.

Woo-Hoo. . .we got the balloon pictures. I didn't even think to ask about the Baby Simba pictures. Oops. . .sorry Nik!

We were on a mission after the photos- straight to Expedition Everest. We would ride it if the line was short or we would get FPs and come back later. AK confuses me! The paths all seem to look the same and I can't ever remember how to get around and which direction to go! Nikki knew this park like the back of her hand. She lead almost everywhere in this park.

We headed toward Everest.

LOVE this sign:

There it is!!!!!!!!

If I remember, the line was pretty long, and I think the wait was about an hour. However, the FP return time was also only about 1 hour away. Hmm. . .stand in line or get FP and come back? Riding the ride at about the same time? Hmm. . .Um, yeah, we went with the FP. So much easier.

We back-tracked into the park again. On our way, we saw a little food stand that had the wonderful pineapple bars. Naturally, we stopped and got two. It was before noon and yet we were already hot and tired. AK is BY FAR the hottest park- no matter what time of year you go!

We chomped on our Pineapple bars as we continued walking. Of course, we had to stop and watch these guys:

So cute! What a life. . .they just swing around and watch all the people coming and going and watching them! While watching the monkeys, we decided to do one of the trails with the animals. Nikki said she had done one, but she couldn't remember which one. She told me she didn't remember seeing Tigers, so I told her we needed to do the Maharajah Jungle Trek. She wasn't sure. After some convincing, we made our way to Asia to find the entrance to the Maharajah Jungle Trek.

We went in following the signs toward the animal areas. We saw some animals. As we went on, I saw this sign, and for some reason, it totally cracked me up:

Before got to the tigers, though, we saw these guys:

I'm not normally a flying-rodent kind of girl, but I LOVE these bats! They fascinate me immensely- maybe a little too much! Anyway, we stood and watched them for a while.

This guy was actually crawling down the line. It was awesome to see!!

There were two little babies fighting over territory. It was almost cute!

We continued on the Trek. This was another viewing area to see the Bats (I just thought it looked cool!):

We saw some type of deer:

And these items were just there on the trek like someone was exploring and left their gear behind for later! Gosh, I love Disney details!

Going on, we saw these Asparagus Trees- check it out!

Don't they look like mutant asparagus! I thought it was cool. I felt like Alice in Wonderland when she shrinks. . .HUGE Asparagus! Yeah!

I was nearly jumping out of my skin. . .I LOVE tigers, and I knew we were getting close to their enclosure. Here it is. . .these paintings are so neat. They remind me of the illustrations in a book I used to read love as a child.

This big guy was hogging all the attention. Everyone was standing close by getting pictures and staring at him!

We continued on the trails that went around a corner and into a small room with windows. I didn't think much of it until I saw some tigers in the area beyond the windows.

He came right up under the window and then paced away again. It was a very small area, but I'm sure the animal people knew best. However, the tiger seemed irritated that he was shut up.

There was one tiger asleep in the grass. Do you see him?

. . . .more to come.

 

[Belle_princess]

After watching the tigers, Nikki and I moved on. We went into the bird area. There were birds of all sizes, shapes, descriptions, and colors!! This was a neat little bird house in the enclosure:

The birds were just roaming around free wherever they wanted in the enclosure. Some were overhead and flying around while others were walking on the floor in the plants. . just wherever. Toward the end of the area, we run into this little guy strutting his stuff:

A Victorian Crowned Pigeon! Yep! He's good-looking and he knows it! He wasn't afraid of anyone. He just strutted around. It was quite funny!

At the end of the Maharajah Jungle Trek, we checked the time. It wasn't time to redeem out FPs for Everest, yet, so we decided to try to get on the Dinosaur ride. Nikki lead the way, of course. We stopped and did some shopping and pin-checking- out on our way. This sign made me do a double-take:

Somehow footwear and spices didn't seem to go together. . .anyone in the market for some toe-jam to add to their meal? LOL!

The easiest way to Dinoland was through Asia and past Everest, and we had to stop for the Kodak Moments:

We past Everest and took the bridge over to Dinoland. When we got to the Dinosaur ride, the wait time was pretty long and was going to cut into our FP time at Everest. We couldn't get FP for Dinosaur either since we still had them for Everest. Ok, so back to Everest we went.

Back through Dinoland and over the bridge back to Asia!

We hopped into the Everest FP line and whizzed through the waiting area. Nikki had said she'd ridden Everest once and wasn't impressed. She said it was kind of tame, but we decided it was because she was sitting in the middle of the coaster car. This time, we decided to request the back!! We got to the loading area and begged the CM to put us in the back. No problem- she pointed us to the last loading bay.

It seemed to take forever for our time to ride! We were loaded in the car and strapped in. I was ready and probably bouncing in my seat a little! We took off. . .BEST . RIDE . EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, at Animal Kingdom anyway. I loved it! I couldn't tell you if the Yeti was actually working or not. He was there, but I"m not sure I know what, exactly, he is supposed to do.

We got off! Check it out:

Fun stuff. We perused the gift shop briefly before decided to go get a FP for Dinosaur now that we could.

So, back over the bridge and through Dinoland to the Dinosaur ride.

On our way, we noticed CMs were putting up ropes. What for? It was too early for the parade. It was for the Nemo Musical. That meant it was almost time to get in line for the next show.

We got our FPs for Dinosaur, but we decided to go into the gift shop to see if they had any water. We were hot, again! (I suspect it might have been a pin ploy for Nikki to check out pins, though!) She got our waters while I checked our the Vinylmation display. Yes, I'm hopelessly addicted.

Look, Vinylmation fossils!

Nikki was running out of pins to trade. I told her I would buy her a set just to trade with. We asked the CM in the Dinosaur dump shop where we could get pins. He told us there was a place in Chester's and Hester's to get pins. That is where we went. I was a little unsure. . .what about Nemo? Nikki said we had time because the theatre was huge!!!

We went into Chester and Hester's to find the store. Before we got to Disney, I had read the back story of Chester and Hester's. It was supposed to look like an old gas station that was turned into a theme park. I had no idea! I always thought it was cheesy and oddly placed in AK, but after reading the back story, it all seemed to make sense. I had a new appreciation for Chester and Hester's now!

As we made our way to the shop to find pin sets, I saw this sign:

If you look closely, you can see it was an old embossed gas sign that they painted over to make a tourist sign. DISNEY DETAILS! I LOVE IT!

Inside the store, we found some pin sets. I told Nikki I would buy her one set, but with one condition: she had to trade ALL the pins for other pins she wanted/needed. The only way I knew without a doubt that she would trade all the pins was to buy her a set of pins that were all TINK. (Don't flame us, but Nikki and I don't see what all the hype is about Tink. I admit, I didn't like her until I saw the first Tinkerbelle movie. Then I realized she wasn't so bad. However, Nikki was still unconvinced, so I knew she'd trade the whole set for pins she wanted.) I bought us each a Tink set of pins STRICTLY for trading!!!! Yep. . .Disney has done it again. . .we bought MORE pins to trade for the CM pins! Brilliant marketing, Disney! Brilliant!!!

We made our way quickly through Dinoland- stopping only once. . .to check out the pin cart for the Nightmare Before Christmas pin set Nikki bought at the Poly the day before- no such luck! (It had a secret pin. . .Nikki had bought a set but had started to trade the pins away. She kept one secret pin and was going to replace the other pins.)

We made it to the Nemo line just in time! We were ushered in.

more to come. . . .

 

[NateNLogansDad]

WELCOME BACK!!! Good update and looking forward to some more!!!

 

[princess&her4princes]

Great updates Kristin! Glad you're back!! And that I haven't missed too much too!

Your AK day is off to a great start, love the pictures of Everest! Can you believe I've never been on?! What fabulous pics though, just beautiful!! I forget, what kind of camera do you use?

I have to agree that no matter what, AK is ALWAYS deathly hot! Don't blast me, but we're not big fans of AK, our kids always have melt downs so we didn't go our last trip and don't plan to until they are WAY older...it may be due to the heat though.....lol!

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Belle_princess]

WELCOME BACK!!! Good update and looking forward to some more!!!

Thanks! I'm glad you came back. . . so sorry for the delay! Hopefully I can get another update done soon, but I'm so busy right now. . .

Great updates Kristin! Glad you're back!! And that I haven't missed too much too!

Your AK day is off to a great start, love the pictures of Everest! Can you believe I've never been on?! What fabulous pics though, just beautiful!! I forget, what kind of camera do you use?

I have to agree that no matter what, AK is ALWAYS deathly hot! Don't blast me, but we're not big fans of AK, our kids always have melt downs so we didn't go our last trip and don't plan to until they are WAY older...it may be due to the heat though.....lol!

Can't wait to hear more!

Hi Kristen! I can't believe you've not been on Everest! It is the BEST!!!!

I believe the camera I was using that day was my Nikon D80. I had both that one and my little Sony Cybershot, but I made sure to have the Nikon with me on at least the first day of each park. Toward the end of the trip, I was tired of carrying it, so I simply used my Sony. I still managed (between the two cameras) to take around 2,000 pictures! Sad, isn't it???

Nikki and I aren't huge AK fans. We didn't get too much done there, and that was ok by us. We still both got to do things we had never done before, and that was the whole point of the trip. If I were to travel alone, I could probably spend a half to a full day at AK (depending on crowds and wait times, of course) and get everything done I would want to. (Please, don't flame me!! I'm sure not everyone loves EPCOT or MK like I do. To each his own!)

I hope to be back soon with another update, but I have to do some regular life things first. . .you know. . .like grocery shopping!

 

[Belle_princess]

Hey, I don't have a lot of time, so this might be a quick update. . .

When I left, we were being ushered into the Nemo theatre for the musical! I was very excited! Nikki said this was a very cute show, and I didn't have much of an idea of what it would be like. We found some seats. While we waited for the show to start, Nikki and I took our Tinkerbelle trading pins out of the package and put them on our lanyards, so they would be easily accessible for trading! It was a bad idea. . .we almost lost pins and pin backs. Oh well.

The show started. It was so cute! I was amazed at how they did everything!!! Truly incredible! (not all my pictures came out since I wasn't using a flash- here are the best ones!)

The show was very lively! Nikki and I went out singing and repeating lines! It was just fun!

When Nikki and I were planning our trip, Nikki said we absolutely HAD to eat at the Flame Tree BBQ because it was some of the best BBQ she'd had! I agreed, but while researching, I discovered it was closed for reburb! Ok, no big deal. . . then I found out after I'd made our schedule that it was due to open the ONE full day we had planned at AK! Oh yeah. . .major Pixie Dust!

We made our way to the restaurant. It wasn't super busy.

(This picture was taken later because we were both so incredibly hungry! )

We both ordered the 1/2 slab of St. Louis ribs. Nikki couldn't eat the corn muffin that came with it, so we both got cole slaw.

For dessert, we both got the Key Lime Mousse.

(Yes, we didn't notice until AFTER we got it that it had a little crust on the bottom. Nikki simply ate around that as much as she could. If I remember, it didn't cause her much trouble!)

It was all delicious! I shot a few pictures while we were eating/resting!

 

[Disneyfreak616]

Hey there! My name is Kristen too and I am really enjoying your TR! I recently visited the World on a girls only trip with two of my best friends and we had a ton of fun!! We stayed at the Yacht Club and loved it. I loved Chefs de France when I went there in July, and I think we sat a couple tables over from where yours was. I haven't tried Teppan Edo yet, but it is a definite must do for my next trip! I am loving all your pin trading stories, and although I have never really gotten into it, it looks like a lot of fun and you may have inspired me to start!! I love the Main Street Band as well and they always bring a smile to my face Thanks for the review of the Cantina in Mexico, I definitely want to go there on my next trip! I love love LOVE to explore the WS as well, and go on character hunts. I have never seen Peter Pan there, though...I'll have to look for him next time! I love him he's so precious! I loved that pic of you guys "flying" haha. And yay for the schoolbread I love it it's one of my favorite things to eat in all of WDW!!! The MK pics are great! I love the fall decorations there! I love when the wait for Space Mountain is short! Makes my day! That ride is alot better since the re-imagining. Sci-Fi looks awesome! I've never eaten there but I really want to try it! I think my sister would absolutely love it! Maybe I'll get there for lunch on my trip in August... The single rider lines are great, aren't they? I always go with those when there aren't FPs and the stand-by line is really long. That's a bummer about Fantasmic, but I wouldn't wait that long either. The Vinylmations kinda throw me off, I just can't get used to them, but they are cool! Hopefully I will eventually! I haven't finished reading, I'm only on page 3, but I'm so excited to finish! Great report

 

[Belle_princess]

Kristen!! Nice to have you on board!!! I'm going to include my thoughts in your post!

Hey there! My name is Kristen too and I am really enjoying your TR! I recently visited the World on a girls only trip with two of my best friends and we had a ton of fun!! We stayed at the Yacht Club and loved it.
I've never stayed at the Yacht Club! Sounds like you had an awesome trip!

I loved Chefs de France when I went there in July, and I think we sat a couple tables over from where yours was.

I thought it was very good! I would love to have some of the Onion soup again. . .YUM!! Nikki wasn't as impressed because they didn't cater to her Glutten free diet quite as much. We still enjoyed the meal!!

I haven't tried Teppan Edo yet, but it is a definite must do for my next trip!

You MUST try Teppan Edo. It was Nikki's choice, and I wasn't sure if I'd like it or not. It was wonderful!! Our chef was hilarious! I hope you get a chance to go!!!

I am loving all your pin trading stories, and although I have never really gotten into it, it looks like a lot of fun and you may have inspired me to start!!

Believe me, once you start, it is a complete addiction. Ask Nikki. She had no idea when we got to WDW that you could trade pins. I brought some of my pins to trade, and I gave her half. I created a monster. That is why the pin-trading stories are included because it became a MAJOR part of our trip!!!!

I love the Main Street Band as well and they always bring a smile to my face



Thanks for the review of the Cantina in Mexico, I definitely want to go there on my next trip!

Nikki and I live in Texas, and we have Mexican food ALL the time. However, this stuff was really, really good!!! Just as good as the authentic stuff here (not Tex-Mex. . .I mean real, taco-stand-on-the-corner good!)

I love love LOVE to explore the WS as well, and go on character hunts. I have never seen Peter Pan there, though...I'll have to look for him next time! I love him he's so precious! I loved that pic of you guys "flying" haha.

Peter Pan was all by himself at the International Gateway between the UK pavilion and the France pavilion. There wasn't a soul in line to see him! It was cool!

And yay for the schoolbread I love it it's one of my favorite things to eat in all of WDW!!!

THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!


The MK pics are great! I love the fall decorations there! I love when the wait for Space Mountain is short! Makes my day! That ride is alot better since the re-imagining.

I love MK and the new Space Mountain was wonderful!!!! Had a blast!!

Sci-Fi looks awesome! I've never eaten there but I really want to try it! I think my sister would absolutely love it! Maybe I'll get there for lunch on my trip in August...

Yep! Sci-Fi was fun! Worth a Table Credit. . .especially for Nikki. The chef there was AWESOME! He did everything he could to help her have a great meal that was Glutten Free. That was her first sandwich in like 6 years!

The single rider lines are great, aren't they? I always go with those when there aren't FPs and the stand-by line is really long.

So good to ride RnRC as a single rider. . .we got to ride it more times!

That's a bummer about Fantasmic, but I wouldn't wait that long either.

Yeah, oh well. WE had to get up early on Friday to get to our CHaracter meal which was worth going to bed early for!!!!

The Vinylmations kinda throw me off, I just can't get used to them, but they are cool!

I'm addicted, but only to certain series. THere are some series I just don't like! At least check out the D-STreet store at Downtown Disney!

Hopefully I will eventually! I haven't finished reading, I'm only on page 3, but I'm so excited to finish! Great report

So glad you are here!!!

 

[IheartDDuck]

I love Finding Nemo! I have to admit that I'm a huge dork and I totally have the soundtrack! Every time I go, can't stop singing....

 

[Belle_princess]

I love Finding Nemo! I have to admit that I'm a huge dork and I totally have the soundtrack! Every time I go, can't stop singing....

That's awesome! I didn't know they had a soundtrack available for that! It was just so much fun to see!

 

[Disneyfreak616]

I love Finding Nemo! I have to admit that I'm a huge dork and I totally have the soundtrack! Every time I go, can't stop singing....

Hahaha it's funny that you say this because I totally have the soundtrack too It's on my iPod. And a theme of my recent trip down with just the girls was me running around and singing "Just keep swimming!" ALL. THE. TIME. I also have other crazy park music that I only know one other person who has it, such as the loops for Pinocchio Village Haus and the entire Dream Along with Mickey show. Let's see, and then the entire loop for the Seas with Nemo and Friends which is an hour long! And then the Paradise Pier music from DLR which is longer than that! I'm nuts.

 

[davebon23]

Kristin, I hope you are not done. I have really enjoyed reading your report and all the fun you and Nikki are having.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Hahaha it's funny that you say this because I totally have the soundtrack too It's on my iPod. And a theme of my recent trip down with just the girls was me running around and singing "Just keep swimming!" ALL. THE. TIME. I also have other crazy park music that I only know one other person who has it, such as the loops for Pinocchio Village Haus and the entire Dream Along with Mickey show. Let's see, and then the entire loop for the Seas with Nemo and Friends which is an hour long! And then the Paradise Pier music from DLR which is longer than that! I'm nuts.

Oh yeah, it's totally on my iPod too.....along with Four Parks One World, and all of the Classic Disney CDs with the music from the movies. Disney freaks unite!

 

[Belle_princess]

Kristin, I hope you are not done. I have really enjoyed reading your report and all the fun you and Nikki are having.

I'm not done! I just don't always have a ton of computer time, so my updates are kinda far between! No worries! I hope to do another update today!!

Oh yeah, it's totally on my iPod too.....along with Four Parks One World, and all of the Classic Disney CDs with the music from the movies. Disney freaks unite!

I tend to fluctuate between Disney songs and non-Disney songs. When I'm in the Disney mood, I have Classic Disney Movie songs along with my Four Parks, One Word CDs. Plus, I LOVE the Millennium Celebration music- during that time, I got a free CD from Kodak or something which has about a 10 minute excerpt of music! I LOVE that one!!! Yep! Disney Freaks need to unite!!!!!!

 

[Belle_princess]

After out yummy lunch, we made our way towards the Dinosaur ride. We, of course, did a little shopping on the way. Seeing nothing exciting, we moved on to find a restroom before we rode Dinosaur. I think we were killing time before out FPs were good. As we made our way to the restroom, I got a kick at looking at the details. . .look:

That's Restuarantosaurs. . .do you see the old trailer that's painted with Eat Here and an arrow? It fits with the whole Chester and Hester's backstory. I just found it very funny!

After our restroom break, we headed to the Dinosaur ride

As we were walking in, we heard some commotion behind us. Look who was there:

Pluto and Goofy were walking through the park-probably at the end of their meet-n-greet time. They passed us waving and exciting kids as they went.

We hopped in line and were ushered through the que.

I wasn't exactly excited to ride this one. It was Nikki's choice. I rode it once in 2002 and didn't think it wonderful. OH well. . .Let's just say, I knew where they dinosaur came out and I did the silly, little girl thing of closing my eyes and lowering my head! Um, so yeah, our ride picture looked a little silly! Oh well.

After our ride, we decided to leave Animal Kingdom and head over to EPCOT. We had heard earlier in the week about a very special Pin Cart that was brought out at EPCOT around 5pm. We had 8:55pm reservations at LeCellier, so we decided to get to EPCOT early in the hopes of catching the pin cart.

We hopped a bus to EPCOT. We were NOT about to miss a pin trading opportunity!!! I think we arrived at EPCOT just before 5pm. We rushed through bag check and made our way, quickly, to the Pin Center behind Spaceship Earth. We didn't see a pin cart. . .ok. . . . Maybe it was running a little late. No big deal.

There were several people at the pin trading tables with their pins on display. We checked out all the pins. Remember, Nikki and I trying to complete hidden mickey sets and to find whatever cool pins we can find. Nikki was looking for Wall-E, Up, Finding Nemo, and Nightmare. I was looking for Belle, Mickey, Stitch, Up, or anything that struck my fancy!

We asked each of the pin people about a pin cart. They knew nothing. They suggested the pin board that the CMs bring out. You can trade pins off of that. We checked the board and even asked the CM, but he had no idea what we were talking about.

We talked to two of the people for a long time. He had an entire set of the Nemo characters in their plastic bags:

Nikki had found a couple of those pins and was anxious to find the others. I shot that picture, so we had a reference of which pins she still needed. I think we found out that those pins were pretty old and hard to find. Those two pin people had all kinds of information we didn't know about pins. It was very well-spent time.

After spending time at the Pin Station, we decided to go check out the pin board at Mouse Gears. When that pin board didn't offer much, we checked all the CM pins. We probably made some trades. . .I can't remember!

When we left Mouse Gears, the fountains were spurting with the music.

We watched the fountains. It was very cool! I think it was choreographed to the Theme music from the Rescuers Down Under- which I Love, so we had to watch to end! We decided to try ONE MORE TIME over at the Pin Center. We asked the CMs one more time about the Pin cart. Still, no one knew what were talking about. We decided to blow off the search for the pin cart!

We had plenty of time to kill, so, naturally, we decided to explore the World Showcase more! We just roamed through the countries. . .we explored more shops little alcoves. We just love the World Showcase.

I think Nikki decided to buy her dress from the large store in the Chinese shop.

Cool lily pad from the Chinese Garden!

We checked out all the CM pins, pin stands, and pin boards we knew of! We passed through Germany. Remember, on the EMH night we spent at EPCOT (which was Friday night, and it is Saturday evening), Nikki traded pins with a tall, dark-haired guy in the Germany Pavilion? Well, as we made our way through the Germany Pavilion shops, we saw him again. He remembered us. . .well, he remembered Nikki. We talked to him about pins and pin trading. His name was Marc-Phillip. He told us we should check out Downtown Disney. We told him we were going over there on Monday. He seemed disappointed. He suggested we go on Sunday. He said he would be hanging out with some of his friends Sunday night at the House of Blues. He invited us to come. We said that might be fun and we'd see.

We moved on to Italy where we got. . . .

yep, you guessed it:

OUR ITALIAN WINE: Rosa Regale! Yum!

After we got our wine, I decided I needed to pick out my Italian Mask that I get every time I got to Disney. I went into the Mask store and looked and looked. I had it narrowed down to two masks. I could decide. One was blue, red, and black decorated with gold filigree and music notes on staffs. The other was more elegant with music paper collaged on the mask and decorated with light filigree and some decorative fibers. I couldn't decide. I asked Nikki which she liked better. She liked the elegant one better, but she told me she didn't want to sway my decision. I was really leaning toward the other mask. I considered, VERY briefly, buying both, but I really couldn't afford it. Finally, I decided on the blue, red, and black one with all the music filigree on it. I purchased it and had it sent back to the resort.

We moved on through America and into the Japan Pavilion. We decided to get some plum wine like we'd had at Tepan Edo our first night. Somehow, we got separated. I went into the little Japanese bar that is at the back of the pavilion. I looked at all the Saki and the Plum wine. I couldn't decide and none of the wine looked like the stuff we had at Tepan Edo. I picked one, but the CM suggested one that had actual plums in the bottom of the jar. She said it was better. I agreed. She poured my glass and asked if I wanted a plum, too. Why not? She added it.

I wasn't really impressed. It wasn't what I'd had before. Oh well. Nikki finally found me, and we made our way onto the Morocco Pavilion. We checked the shops and then decided to sit for a little while. I'd finished my wine an decided to try the plum. I ate it, but it tasted like drunk fruit! It was very alcoholly. I didn't like it. Nikki tried it. She said she liked it and ate the whole thing.

While we were sitting there, we started talking to Safa. She had been in America working at Disney for one month. She was a lot of fun to talk to. We laughed and carried on until some guests came to talk to her. She had to go. We really enjoyed that.

I shot this picture while we were sitting there:

We moved on through the WS. As we walked through France, I spotted some Beauty and the Beast topiaries. We both swore they weren't there before! We had to take pictures.

(whoa!!!! Chip, lay off the collagen!)

On to the UK pavilion. I knew one of my high school friends was working at Disney as a Chef. I found out she was at the Rose and Crown Pub after being at LeCellier. I also knew she was working Saturday night. We went into the Rose and Crown Pub, but I didn't see any CMs I could ask. No one at the Bar really knew the Chefs. We went outside and asked the CMs who were checking people in for their reservations. They said she was there. They went to get her. I hadn't seen Meredith in over 12 years. I was a little nervous.

She came out and we talked for a little bit. I introduced her to Nikki. It was a little awkward, but it was nice seeing her again.

After seeing Meredith, Nikki and I decided to go to find the Chessire cat in the little British toy store again. We found him sitting on top of a display right by the door:

We presented him to the CM at the register. He wasn't really sure what to give us. He finally decided to give us a Magical Moment card. He started to fill it out. First, he put the wrong date on the card. He started another. He messed that one up, too- I think by spelling our name wrong. Ok, so he handed each of us a card to put the other person's name on it. Then, he filled out the rest of it- including putting the date on there like the Brits do it: date-month- year! It was funny!

We finished the World Showcase, but we were still an hour early for our reservations.

. . .more to come