WDW Poly Princess
Needs a Disney Fix
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2000
- Messages
- 4,873
Day 3, Part 1
First thing the next morning, mom and I had a discussion about our plans to stay in the Holiday Inn our last two days. By now, we had decided that it would basically <i>suck</i> to have to take a taxi to all the parks, and we would really miss Disney transportation, so we decided to call CRO and see if they had anything cheap available. The problem was that on my printout from Dreams Res, it said that if you didnt cancel at least 7 days ahead of time, you would have to pay for one night. We decided it was worth the $50 to stay at Disney, and made the call. I talked to someone in their reservation department, and canceled the reservation. She didnt mention the charge, so I decided to ask her if we would be charged anything, and she said we WOULDNT! WOOHOO!
Next, I called CRO, and was hoping I could get an AP discount on a moderate resort again, but there was nothing available, so we ended up reserving a room at All Star Movies. I was happy about that, because I wanted to stay at Movies over Music or Sports, although at that point I would have stayed in a cardboard box, as long as it was on Disney property!
Having settled that, we discussed our transportation options to Epcot. We could either take a bus directly from the Lodge, or take a bus to the TTC and transfer to the Monorail there, OR, for the really scenic route, take a boat to MK, monorail to TTC, and THEN Epcot Monorail. I really wanted to take the monorail there, so we decided on bus to TTC, and then Monorail. I love the monorail ride to Epcot, especially how it circles Future World before you stop Its like a nice little teaser before you go in the park. We decided to go ahead and ride Space Ship Earth first thing, because... get ready for this... Mom wanted to! Mom hardly EVER suggests *anything*- she leaves it up to me. And of course, wed never ridden it before ;-) I know, by now youre starting to wonder if we did ANYTHING last year!
The line for SSE was about 10 minutes, but it moved really quickly. When we got to Rome, the ride stopped for a few minutes, so we joked that we would know how to speak the language by the time we left! (or at least whatever the Roman guy kept repeating!) The horses there were so real! While we were sitting there, I was thinking about how everyone said Rome smelled like Barbecue, and thought it was weird that I didnt smell anything. However, a minute later when the ride started moving again, we got to the part where Rome was burning, and the smell hit me. Ah ha! Barbecue!
After SSE is an area full of interactive technology. We searched around for something that was open, and ended up trying out one of the interactive TVs. Every few minutes, the story would stop, and you made a decision as to which direction it would proceed. It was neat, but about 5 minutes of that was enough, and we were off to conquer the rest of Epcot! Right outside of SSE, a CM paused us to take our picture in front of The Big Ball, and we made plans to go back and buy it later. We decided to stop in Innoventions, and wandered around in there for a while. Theres a booth where you can send a short video home or to your friends via e-mail, so we did that. Its funny, because you have about 10 seconds, and we couldnt think of much to say, other than Hi from Epcot at Disney World! See you soon! so we just waved like idiots for the last five seconds or so We left Innoventions and picked up fast passes at Test Track for 12:05-1:05, about two hours away. We came to the butterfly garden, and there was a lady putting cute butterfly tattoos on kids. Mom and I decided we simply had to have one, so we got them on our arms, and posed for pictures looking all tough ;-) The lady gave us a few to take home, too. Theyre so pretty!
Our next stop was Ice Station Cool, which I was really excited to check out. Its shaped like a big iceberg, and it is really really COLD inside! It even snows! There are 8 different sodas to try inside. The Smart Watermelon soda from china is *really* good! Its a bit too sweet to drink very much of though. Kinley Lemon from Israel was pretty good too- kind of like a lemonade. Diet Tai Guarana from Brazil is the only one I dont really remember anything about <blush>. The Vegibeta from Japan has a tangerine-ish taste and was another one of our favorites. Lift Apple from Mexico was a kind of apple-cinnamon flavored soda, which I know doesn't sound very good, but it was! Mezzo Mix from Germany tasted a lot like generic brand American soda. (or is it the Diet Tai that does, and its Mezzo Mix I don't remember? AGH!) I was rather nice and warned mom about Beverly before she tried it. I took the *tiniest* sip of it, and nearly gagged! That stuff is AWFUL!!!! There simply arent words to describe it! I cant imagine anyone could actually DRINK that! I didnt even swallow it! The final soda was Krest Ginger Ale from Mozambique, which tasted like.. well, Ginger Ale! As some other people have mentioned, I really wish they had these for sale! Id love to have a few of them at home- probably the Sweet Watermelon, Lift Apple, and Vegibeta. I find myself craving them occasionally, and I just have to start planning a WDW Trip Why, oh WHY cant WDW sell them!?
By now we were itching to run off to the World Showcase, so off we went to explore the world! On our way to Mexico, we stopped to watch the flamingos. One was standing with his head down by his feet, swinging it back and forth continuously! We speculated over what he might be doing-- watching bugs? Drying his toenail polish? ;-) The world may never know! We decided to explore the Mexico pavilion, and spent a few minutes inside the building browsing for souvenirs. On our way out, we saw a ton of people huddled around the door, and were able to see that it was absolutely *pouring* down rain outside! Rather than battle the rain, we just turned around and went BACK inside, deciding that a little more Mexico sounded like a much better idea! We hopped in line for El Rio Del Tempo, a calm boat ride about Mexico. It did get a bit too small-world-y at the end though!
I had decided to try to find a souvenir for under $5 from each country, and ended up finding some really cute pens in Mexico. They were wooden, and painted to look like little people wearing sombreros. They were only $2 each, so I got 2. Theyre so cute! My goal for souvenirs from this trip was to get things that I would actually *use*, or that I really really wanted.. not just things that would end up in the closet. We all know how that is! So I figured these would actually get use!
After the rain had calmed down a bit, we decided it was safe to venture on to Norway! We explored the Norway store, and I posed for some pictures with the giant trolls, wearing one of those great Viking hats with the blonde braids :-D They had a sign up by the troll dolls with info about them. Did you know that the Norwegian trolls only have 8 fingers and 8 toes? That they can have up to 9 heads? That they have tails? That they, when they feel like it, carry their head under their arm? That they live in the dark and are turned into stone when caught in the sun? Supposedly, thats where the troll dolls come from ;-) We checked out the Norwegian stuff for a while, and I searched for a good souvenir. I considered buying one of the Norwegian men working there <whistles innocently>, but ended up just getting a postcard instead. Mom bought a variety of cookies and candy from Norway, with great names like Firklover. Mmm, cant remember the last time I had a good Firklover! Or a Labab Seigmenn, which the package claims Strekker seg littl lenger! (Em, whatever that means!)
Well, as anyone with any sense of geography knows, China is right next to Norway, so that was our next stop ;-) We explored the shops, and I found some great change purses made of oriental-print material that were *cheap!* The small ones were about $2, and the bigger ones $4! I got a small one for my friend Tiffany, and then a small one to hold my change for pressed pennies, and a larger one that I now use for makeup. I remembered that last year, my friend Amanda got a really neat parasol from either Japan or China with her name on it in their language. Heh, as a side note, we had SO much trouble remembering what we got from Japan and what was from China last year, that we finally ended up collectively referring to them as Japina (No offense to anyone who is Chinese or Japanese!) Well, it came back this year! I need to find one of those parasols in Japina! Luckily, they were in China, and the debate ended ;-) I found a pretty purple one that was only $12, and they write your name on for free! Most World Showcase souvenirs seem to be really reasonably priced, by Disney standards at least! We also came to a little cart with some *really* cute little candles that were only a dollar! I found a few I liked, and dug some money out of one of the pockets in my PassPorter to pay. The guy running the booth thought it was just hilarious that I was keeping money in a book. I believe his exact words were along the lines of That is strange- you keep your money in the book so no one knows where it is! I had never thought of it being a hiding place- it was just convenient! ;-)
Moving on to Germany, we were starting to get a little hungry, and decided we would eat at Le Cellier over in Canada. The only problem was that we were half the world away! We could have taken a boat over, but that was the easy way out ;-) We browsed through Germany pretty quickly, and did the same in Italy. I paused to gaze at some nice looking Italian men, and then moved on to Japan. By now, we were going to die if we didn't eat *something*, so we stopped at the wonderful Kaki Gori place- yum! Kaki Goris are a lot like snow-cones, in strawberry, tangerine, or honeydew melon flavors (I think they have cherry now too!) I got a honeydew melon one, as that was my favorite kind last year, and we sat for quite a while just people-watching. Mom just got a coke, saving her appetite for Canada. While we were sitting there eating, I heard a lady mention Test Track, which reminded me that our Fast Passes expired at 1:05, and it was 1:00! Um, oops? Knowing we would NEVER make it there in just 5 minutes, we kissed them goodbye, and put it on our To Do list for later. Japan has one of my favorite WS shops, so we went in and shopped!! My favorite thing there was the Lucky Cats. Theyre little cats you are supposed to place by the entrance to your home, and each color brings a certain kind of luck. I snapped a picture of the sign so I could remember what they were for, but when I paid for my cats, the lady gave me a paper explaining the meaning of them. Very cool! The Lucky cat has a long history for more than 500 years in Japan. The white cat brings good luck and happiness. Black will protect you from illness and evil spirits. Gold will make your dreams come true and bring you good luck in finance. Green will bring you strength in academics. Orange will bring you good luck in your trip. Yellow will bring you good fortune in finance. Purple will bring you strength in artistic sense. Pink will bring you a romance and new friends. Silver will bring you patience, and Red will bring you good fortune for business and good health for a child I would have loved to get one of each, but they are $2.25 each for the small ones (a little over an inch tall), so I had to keep with my $5/country budget and just get two. I chose the white and pink, and mom got a white and a gold.
Next we were off to Morocco! Now, something you have to know here: I *love* camels. Perhaps obsession is a better word? Everyone has their quirks, I guess ;-) So, Im constantly on a quest to find camel stuff in Disney World! While we browsed some of the pavilion, I was thrilled to find a brass decoration on the wall with a camel on it, and happily snapped a picture. We wandered through a bit more, posing for pictures. There was a really pretty fountain, so I went to pose by it for a picture. However, I didn't notice that the ledge I sat on was *wet* until I sat down! Not a very pleasant surprise! We wandered further through the Aladdin-looking village and came across a small outdoor shop. I stuck my head in to do a quick scan for camel stuff and nearly fainted. There was a HUGE table covered in leather camel figures of various sizes. Like. hundreds. I picked myself up off the floor, and bounced in happily. I wanted the REALLY BIG one that was about 3 feet tall, but I was afraid to even look at the price tag on it! However, they did have cute ones that were only $10! I was ecstatic! Jubilant! Really really happy! In mom's little half-page of trip notes I had her type up for me, one of the things she listed was "Crystal got a camel at epcot!" Its right up there next to "We ate in Cinderella's Castle."
I waited in line to pay, and the CM there, whose name was Ali (..Prince Ali, yes it is he...)started talking to me. He asked me something like if I was buying a camel (Um, duh, I was holding one in the checkout line! But hey, it was a nice conversation starter I guess!) I said I was and that I loved camels. He said I should buy the big one, and I joked about how good it would look sitting in the middle of my bedroom. He asked if I had ever seen a real camel, and I told him about the ones we have at work in the winter. He said Oh, but not in the desert? I told him I hadnt, and he said I needed to go to Morocco. Sounds good to me! I guess Ill have to start visiting the MOR boards, at www.moroccoinfo.com tomorrow ;-) (No, I dont think thats a real website <g>) Maybe it could have Oasis Attractions and Strategy... Bazaar Tips, the Camel-munity board.. the possibilities are endless! ;-)
Thrilled with my camel, which Ali had wrapped up nicely for me, we decided to get on over to Canada before we starved. We either must have passed by most of the French shops somehow, or there really werent many, because all we saw was a wine and perfume shop. We browsed the shops in England, and Ta Da! There was Canada! We walked in to Le Cellier with no wait, and were seated immediately- yippie! Our waitress was a lady named Jen from Toronto, and even though we could tell she was quite busy, she was very nice. Mom had coffee to drink, and I had a Snowman (virgin pina colada). I *had* to try the cheddar cheese soup I had heard so much about, and it was fantastic! They brought us a basket of bread, and told us there were 3 kinds- However, I don't remember what any of them are other than the pretzel bread, because I had heard so much about it, and then it wasn't in our basket! We somehow only got 2 types of bread, so I told Jen and she got us a few sticks of it. It was great! I had a chicken sandwich with fries for my entree, and mom had a steakburger with fries. However, I was so full from the cheese soup and bread, I hardly touched my sandwich! I got a to go container for it to take it with me
First thing the next morning, mom and I had a discussion about our plans to stay in the Holiday Inn our last two days. By now, we had decided that it would basically <i>suck</i> to have to take a taxi to all the parks, and we would really miss Disney transportation, so we decided to call CRO and see if they had anything cheap available. The problem was that on my printout from Dreams Res, it said that if you didnt cancel at least 7 days ahead of time, you would have to pay for one night. We decided it was worth the $50 to stay at Disney, and made the call. I talked to someone in their reservation department, and canceled the reservation. She didnt mention the charge, so I decided to ask her if we would be charged anything, and she said we WOULDNT! WOOHOO!
Next, I called CRO, and was hoping I could get an AP discount on a moderate resort again, but there was nothing available, so we ended up reserving a room at All Star Movies. I was happy about that, because I wanted to stay at Movies over Music or Sports, although at that point I would have stayed in a cardboard box, as long as it was on Disney property! Having settled that, we discussed our transportation options to Epcot. We could either take a bus directly from the Lodge, or take a bus to the TTC and transfer to the Monorail there, OR, for the really scenic route, take a boat to MK, monorail to TTC, and THEN Epcot Monorail. I really wanted to take the monorail there, so we decided on bus to TTC, and then Monorail. I love the monorail ride to Epcot, especially how it circles Future World before you stop
Its like a nice little teaser before you go in the park. We decided to go ahead and ride Space Ship Earth first thing, because... get ready for this... Mom wanted to! Mom hardly EVER suggests *anything*- she leaves it up to me. And of course, wed never ridden it before ;-) I know, by now youre starting to wonder if we did ANYTHING last year! The line for SSE was about 10 minutes, but it moved really quickly. When we got to Rome, the ride stopped for a few minutes, so we joked that we would know how to speak the language by the time we left! (or at least whatever the Roman guy kept repeating!) The horses there were so real! While we were sitting there, I was thinking about how everyone said Rome smelled like Barbecue, and thought it was weird that I didnt smell anything. However, a minute later when the ride started moving again, we got to the part where Rome was burning, and the smell hit me. Ah ha! Barbecue!
After SSE is an area full of interactive technology. We searched around for something that was open, and ended up trying out one of the interactive TVs. Every few minutes, the story would stop, and you made a decision as to which direction it would proceed. It was neat, but about 5 minutes of that was enough, and we were off to conquer the rest of Epcot!
Right outside of SSE, a CM paused us to take our picture in front of The Big Ball, and we made plans to go back and buy it later. We decided to stop in Innoventions, and wandered around in there for a while. Theres a booth where you can send a short video home or to your friends via e-mail, so we did that. Its funny, because you have about 10 seconds, and we couldnt think of much to say, other than Hi from Epcot at Disney World! See you soon! so we just waved like idiots for the last five seconds or so We left Innoventions and picked up fast passes at Test Track for 12:05-1:05, about two hours away. We came to the butterfly garden, and there was a lady putting cute butterfly tattoos on kids. Mom and I decided we simply had to have one, so we got them on our arms, and posed for pictures looking all tough ;-) The lady gave us a few to take home, too. Theyre so pretty! Our next stop was Ice Station Cool, which I was really excited to check out. Its shaped like a big iceberg, and it is really really COLD inside! It even snows! There are 8 different sodas to try inside. The Smart Watermelon soda from china is *really* good! Its a bit too sweet to drink very much of though. Kinley Lemon from Israel was pretty good too- kind of like a lemonade. Diet Tai Guarana from Brazil is the only one I dont really remember anything about <blush>. The Vegibeta from Japan has a tangerine-ish taste and was another one of our favorites. Lift Apple from Mexico was a kind of apple-cinnamon flavored soda, which I know doesn't sound very good, but it was! Mezzo Mix from Germany tasted a lot like generic brand American soda. (or is it the Diet Tai that does, and its Mezzo Mix I don't remember? AGH!) I was rather nice and warned mom about Beverly before she tried it. I took the *tiniest* sip of it, and nearly gagged! That stuff is AWFUL!!!! There simply arent words to describe it! I cant imagine anyone could actually DRINK that! I didnt even swallow it! The final soda was Krest Ginger Ale from Mozambique, which tasted like.. well, Ginger Ale! As some other people have mentioned, I really wish they had these for sale! Id love to have a few of them at home- probably the Sweet Watermelon, Lift Apple, and Vegibeta. I find myself craving them occasionally, and I just have to start planning a WDW Trip
Why, oh WHY cant WDW sell them!? By now we were itching to run off to the World Showcase, so off we went to explore the world! On our way to Mexico, we stopped to watch the flamingos. One was standing with his head down by his feet, swinging it back and forth continuously! We speculated over what he might be doing-- watching bugs? Drying his toenail polish? ;-) The world may never know! We decided to explore the Mexico pavilion, and spent a few minutes inside the building browsing for souvenirs. On our way out, we saw a ton of people huddled around the door, and were able to see that it was absolutely *pouring* down rain outside! Rather than battle the rain, we just turned around and went BACK inside, deciding that a little more Mexico sounded like a much better idea! We hopped in line for El Rio Del Tempo, a calm boat ride about Mexico. It did get a bit too small-world-y at the end though!
I had decided to try to find a souvenir for under $5 from each country, and ended up finding some really cute pens in Mexico. They were wooden, and painted to look like little people wearing sombreros. They were only $2 each, so I got 2. Theyre so cute! My goal for souvenirs from this trip was to get things that I would actually *use*, or that I really really wanted.. not just things that would end up in the closet. We all know how that is!
So I figured these would actually get use!After the rain had calmed down a bit, we decided it was safe to venture on to Norway! We explored the Norway store, and I posed for some pictures with the giant trolls, wearing one of those great Viking hats with the blonde braids :-D They had a sign up by the troll dolls with info about them. Did you know that the Norwegian trolls only have 8 fingers and 8 toes? That they can have up to 9 heads? That they have tails? That they, when they feel like it, carry their head under their arm? That they live in the dark and are turned into stone when caught in the sun? Supposedly, thats where the troll dolls come from ;-) We checked out the Norwegian stuff for a while, and I searched for a good souvenir. I considered buying one of the Norwegian men working there <whistles innocently>, but ended up just getting a postcard instead. Mom bought a variety of cookies and candy from Norway, with great names like Firklover. Mmm, cant remember the last time I had a good Firklover! Or a Labab Seigmenn, which the package claims Strekker seg littl lenger! (Em, whatever that means!)
Well, as anyone with any sense of geography knows, China is right next to Norway, so that was our next stop ;-) We explored the shops, and I found some great change purses made of oriental-print material that were *cheap!* The small ones were about $2, and the bigger ones $4! I got a small one for my friend Tiffany, and then a small one to hold my change for pressed pennies, and a larger one that I now use for makeup. I remembered that last year, my friend Amanda got a really neat parasol from either Japan or China with her name on it in their language. Heh, as a side note, we had SO much trouble remembering what we got from Japan and what was from China last year, that we finally ended up collectively referring to them as Japina (No offense to anyone who is Chinese or Japanese!) Well, it came back this year! I need to find one of those parasols in Japina! Luckily, they were in China, and the debate ended ;-) I found a pretty purple one that was only $12, and they write your name on for free! Most World Showcase souvenirs seem to be really reasonably priced, by Disney standards at least! We also came to a little cart with some *really* cute little candles that were only a dollar! I found a few I liked, and dug some money out of one of the pockets in my PassPorter to pay. The guy running the booth thought it was just hilarious that I was keeping money in a book. I believe his exact words were along the lines of That is strange- you keep your money in the book so no one knows where it is! I had never thought of it being a hiding place- it was just convenient! ;-)
Moving on to Germany, we were starting to get a little hungry, and decided we would eat at Le Cellier over in Canada. The only problem was that we were half the world away! We could have taken a boat over, but that was the easy way out ;-) We browsed through Germany pretty quickly, and did the same in Italy. I paused to gaze at some nice looking Italian men, and then moved on to Japan. By now, we were going to die if we didn't eat *something*, so we stopped at the wonderful Kaki Gori place- yum! Kaki Goris are a lot like snow-cones, in strawberry, tangerine, or honeydew melon flavors (I think they have cherry now too!) I got a honeydew melon one, as that was my favorite kind last year, and we sat for quite a while just people-watching. Mom just got a coke, saving her appetite for Canada. While we were sitting there eating, I heard a lady mention Test Track, which reminded me that our Fast Passes expired at 1:05, and it was 1:00! Um, oops? Knowing we would NEVER make it there in just 5 minutes, we kissed them goodbye, and put it on our To Do list for later. Japan has one of my favorite WS shops, so we went in and shopped!! My favorite thing there was the Lucky Cats. Theyre little cats you are supposed to place by the entrance to your home, and each color brings a certain kind of luck. I snapped a picture of the sign so I could remember what they were for, but when I paid for my cats, the lady gave me a paper explaining the meaning of them. Very cool!
The Lucky cat has a long history for more than 500 years in Japan. The white cat brings good luck and happiness. Black will protect you from illness and evil spirits. Gold will make your dreams come true and bring you good luck in finance. Green will bring you strength in academics. Orange will bring you good luck in your trip. Yellow will bring you good fortune in finance. Purple will bring you strength in artistic sense. Pink will bring you a romance and new friends. Silver will bring you patience, and Red will bring you good fortune for business and good health for a child I would have loved to get one of each, but they are $2.25 each for the small ones (a little over an inch tall), so I had to keep with my $5/country budget and just get two. I chose the white and pink, and mom got a white and a gold. Next we were off to Morocco! Now, something you have to know here: I *love* camels. Perhaps obsession is a better word? Everyone has their quirks, I guess ;-) So, Im constantly on a quest to find camel stuff in Disney World! While we browsed some of the pavilion, I was thrilled to find a brass decoration on the wall with a camel on it, and happily snapped a picture. We wandered through a bit more, posing for pictures. There was a really pretty fountain, so I went to pose by it for a picture. However, I didn't notice that the ledge I sat on was *wet* until I sat down! Not a very pleasant surprise! We wandered further through the Aladdin-looking village and came across a small outdoor shop. I stuck my head in to do a quick scan for camel stuff and nearly fainted. There was a HUGE table covered in leather camel figures of various sizes. Like. hundreds. I picked myself up off the floor, and bounced in happily. I wanted the REALLY BIG one that was about 3 feet tall, but I was afraid to even look at the price tag on it! However, they did have cute ones that were only $10! I was ecstatic! Jubilant! Really really happy! In mom's little half-page of trip notes I had her type up for me, one of the things she listed was "Crystal got a camel at epcot!" Its right up there next to "We ate in Cinderella's Castle."
I waited in line to pay, and the CM there, whose name was Ali (..Prince Ali, yes it is he...)started talking to me. He asked me something like if I was buying a camel (Um, duh, I was holding one in the checkout line! But hey, it was a nice conversation starter I guess!) I said I was and that I loved camels. He said I should buy the big one, and I joked about how good it would look sitting in the middle of my bedroom. He asked if I had ever seen a real camel, and I told him about the ones we have at work in the winter. He said Oh, but not in the desert? I told him I hadnt, and he said I needed to go to Morocco. Sounds good to me! I guess Ill have to start visiting the MOR boards, at www.moroccoinfo.com tomorrow ;-) (No, I dont think thats a real website <g>) Maybe it could have Oasis Attractions and Strategy... Bazaar Tips, the Camel-munity board.. the possibilities are endless! ;-)Thrilled with my camel, which Ali had wrapped up nicely for me, we decided to get on over to Canada before we starved. We either must have passed by most of the French shops somehow, or there really werent many, because all we saw was a wine and perfume shop. We browsed the shops in England, and Ta Da! There was Canada! We walked in to Le Cellier with no wait, and were seated immediately- yippie! Our waitress was a lady named Jen from Toronto, and even though we could tell she was quite busy, she was very nice. Mom had coffee to drink, and I had a Snowman (virgin pina colada). I *had* to try the cheddar cheese soup I had heard so much about, and it was fantastic! They brought us a basket of bread, and told us there were 3 kinds- However, I don't remember what any of them are other than the pretzel bread, because I had heard so much about it, and then it wasn't in our basket! We somehow only got 2 types of bread, so I told Jen and she got us a few sticks of it. It was great! I had a chicken sandwich with fries for my entree, and mom had a steakburger with fries. However, I was so full from the cheese soup and bread, I hardly touched my sandwich! I got a to go container for it to take it with me
