Chapter 24: Epcot - World Showcase & pool time!
Day 9 - 1st November, 2006
Today we were NOT rushing to a theme park! Yay!! As
MNSSHP was the previous evening, I had planned for this to be our World Showcase day. Thank you Disney gods for deciding on 11 for WS opening time. A couple of hours rest without Im-missing-out-on-Disney guilt.
So the plan was to spend a little bit of time exploring WS before our lunch ressie in Akershus at 11.45pm. We took our time getting ready and had a light breakfast - famine mentality, remember - weve got TS credits for lunch and were sure as hell gonna make the most of them!!
The reason I chose Akershus was because, being the Mom of a sweet little girl, I reckoned it would be nice for her to meet the princesses in style while, at the same time, not actually re-mortgaging to afford the ghastly prices at CRT. When shes older well do CRT if shes keen (and we have the money!). I remember reading a TR where the Mom took her two little toddler girls to CRT and they slept through lunch - she thought it was cute. I thought it was tragic. Financially tragic I mean.
I must say I admired her attitude though.
So I could have sworn I read that Snow White was one of the princesses at Akershus. I know Disney doesnt guarantee any particular character appearances but in all my research I thought Id often heard about Snow White being there. With that in mind, today was the day for Alice to wear her Snow White dress.
I was never a princessy girl myself but the exception was Snow White. I always loved that story and movie and I have vivid memories of
[DIGRESSION ALERT. DIGRESSION ALERT] a special school treat more than 30 years ago..... the day we broke up for our Christmas break the nuns showed Snow White & The Seven Dwarves in the little school hall on a reel to reel. Oh wow! It was magical. I remember seeing the opening credits roll and knowing we were about to see something magical As a result, Ive always had a soft spot for Snow White and the Seven Dwarves is its the story I most often tell Alice when Im settling her to sleep, when I have time
[MOMMY GUILT ALERT. MOMMY GUILT ALERT]. I need to make more time for that sort of thing.
So anyway, off we walked to the International Gateway. This was our first time making this trip and we loved it. One minute we were on the Boardwalk and a few minutes later, well I couldnt believe it, there in front of us was the entrance to Epcot! Its a very pleasant walk, passing near the Beach Club and then coming onto a lovely bridge.
We went through the turnstiles and a CM came over to us, full of smiles and admiration for Alices Snow White dress. She called us into the UK store, asked what Alices name was, and gave her a Magical Moments certificate saying something like Epcot Princess of the Day. It was lovely!!
I forgot to mention that in MK the day before, when we came out of Tonys, the staff in that little store just off the restaurant asked Alice to help them get Tramps lunch ready. 
They asked her to throw a little plastic bone into his bowl from a few feet away. She did it so she got her first Magical Moments certificate there. It was really sweet!!!
So, our princess in tow, we were ready for our World Showcase day!!
Garth got this pic, which I love, of 'Alice'. I think he has a GREAT eye for photography. What do you think?
We were really looking forward to touring World Showcase. We totally missed it on our first trip (well with the exception of running to and from an ADR in Rose & Crown prior to Illuminations one very wet night) so it was a priority on this trip. Unfortunately we were running late this morning and, as it turned out, didnt have time to really savour the wonderful sights of UK and Canada. I wanted to put my head down and run through it instead of spoiling any wonderful sights before we could truly enjoy them properly. While I didnt quite do that, I did suggest to the boys that we focus now on making our lunch reservation and wed have plenty of time later to look around.
We saw Norway up ahead and went directly to the restaurant to check in.
There was a little line but in no time at all, it was our turn to meet Ariel. I didnt realise that you meet Ariel first in a special alcove for a photo. But it was nice. We bought the photos cause I couldnt resist them. Here they are......
We were shown to our table by our server and got our starters from the buffet. Plenty of choice and especially good for vegetarians with plenty of breads, salads and cheeses. I think we ordered baked pasta for our main course, cant quite remember, but whatever it was it was great. Dessert was a platter including strawberry cheesecake and a couple of other bits.
But thats all about the food, what about the characters? Well, when we first arrived I looked around frantically for Snow White and couldnt see her. Noooooo!!! So I asked the server and he confirmed that she wasnt there today. Oh no!
My disappointment quickly vanished though just as soon as the first (well the second if you count the photo with Ariel) princess came over Aurora. She was so funny. She immediately referred to Alice as my friend Snow White and, looking at Wayne and Garth, said to her I see you brought Grumpy and Dopey with you today.
The boys got a great kick out of this!
Here's Alice meeting Aurora
Next up was Jasmine. Its years since weve seen Aladdin so I must say Im not too familiar with her but, like the rest of the characters, she was great! Alice didnt know who she was (as shes never seen the movie) and was a bit shy at first but took a shine to her after a little while!
Then it was time to meet Belle who was adorable ......
...... and last, but not least, Cinderella - Alice was quite shy with her and didnt quite take to her the same as the others but that could have been character fatigue!!!!! lol!
Surprisingly, we all really enjoyed Akershus. I didnt think the boys would like it much (with the whole Princess thing) but they really did. It was terrific the atmosphere and surroundings were first class and our server was very efficient and accommodating.
10 out of 10!
When we finished we went outside to meet Mike and K (which we had arranged to do the night before) and there they were in front of us and Mike produced a big bag of gifts for us. Oh no! Well, oh yes, wonderful, but oh no! Ill be honest, it never even crossed my mind to bring gifts for them. Had I known Mike longer I think I would have thought of it but meeting up with him and K was such a casual arrangement, I didnt think of it. Their generosity astounded me. Theyre such nice guys. They gave *each* of us a t-shirt from Atlanta along with a wonderful History of Disney book and some little nick nacks including a fridge magnet. Wow (!) but also *ouch* - how embarrassing!
Should I say oh we left your gifts back at the villa, how silly of us (and then run to the nearest store and buy something) or should I come clean? Well I opted for the latter and just said we didnt get you guys anything, sorry.
They said they didnt mind but I still felt bad.
The boys were getting restless and anxious to see things so DH took them to Maelstrom while Alice and I stayed and chatted with the guys. They recommended the little pastry café so we went in there and I treated us all to coffee and cakes. Um, yeah, like thats gonna make up for all their gifts and I even used my snack credits for it. Oh God!!!!!
I feel kinda ashamed to admit this, but Disney time is so precious, while I very much enjoyed chatting to Mike and K, as time ticked by, and it was increasingly obvious that they were happy to sit and relax with us for hours on end, and part of me was calculating all the things we were missing and thinking about my
plan and how our desire to see World Showcase was kinda falling apart. Is that awful? By now the boys were back and busied themselves playing with the ship in Norway. But I was conscious that they were getting sick of hanging around. In the meantime, I was tired and asked the kids if theyd like to go back to The Boardwalk for a swim and wed catch up with World Showcase later. They agreed! So we said our goodbyes to Mike and K and agreed to meet them later for Illuminations! Excellent - we have a plan again - heart rate decreasing, blood pressure stabilising.
We were back in the Boardwalk in no time.....
If you look closely youll see Wayne and Garth up ahead in the distance.
We got our swimming gear and went to the pool, via a quick stop off at the Boardwalk General Store. I had promised Alice a little treat and she chose a battery-operated Nemo lollipop holder. The man at the checkout was very much taken with her and we had a very nice chat about this and that. Love those Disney CMs!!!
After that, straight to the pool. It was a dull day today - still hot as hell of course but just a bit overcast. The boys went to the big pool and had a ball.....
Can you spot Garth under the water? 
Once I was certain they were settled and safe, I took Alice to the little teeny kids pool. But first, I treated myself to a glass of wine from the pool bar - a rare treat - and I didnt know if I looked like a mom relaxing on vacation with a nice glass of vino or an irresponsible cretin drinking with a toddler in her charge. Just in case, I kinda half hid the glass under the sun lounger.
The kids pool is very small but Alice enjoyed herself and liked the elephant alongside it. Theres also a lovely playground just a few feet away which she loved too. We stayed in this area for quite a while.
The battery-operated Nemo lollipop holder ultimately met its doom here!
An odd thing occured at one point - Alice asked where Garth was and why he wasnt here playing with her. She loves her brothers so much and is too young yet to understand that they have other needs and desires that exclude her. They do devote an incredible amount of time to playing with her. [
Heaven help any girl they might bring home in the future cause theyre gonna have mighty stiff competition for the boys attention. Yikes!!! lol! ] So anyway, at one point, she just got out of the kids pool and marched with intent over to the big pool saying Im going to swim with Garth. Um, yeah, okay. She (being a very gentle, cautious little girl) wouldnt just walk into the big pool would she? Nah! Well, just in case, I was hot on her heels, running self-consciously in my bathing suit, not having had time to throw even a towel over myself.
Sure enough she headed confidently for the main pool, right to the edge, and had I not picked her up, Im pretty sure shed have jumped in. But all was fine. I called Garth over and asked him to take her in his arms while I clumsily hopped over the side, sploshing myself in with no class at all.
I then took her off Garth and she and I had a ball splashing and laughing. It worked out great actually as the boys took turns holding her too and I got to have a much-needed swim!!!!
Shortly afterwards, DH joined us and we had a hell of a time moving Alice from the pool area. But, tantrums-a-plenty we did it. As soon as we were in the hotel, she was quite happy to go back to the room. We were starving by now but the plan was to get straight back to Epcot and eat there as it was now 6ish on our WS day and basically we had only seen Norway and glanced at the UK and Canada. So off we trotted for our wonderful evening at WS.......
To be continued soon.....
Something to do with the clash in time zones and accents. Sorry. It's right there in the paperwork.
That will teach me not to read the fine print. 
etc. 
Your wish is my command! New chapter above, 'specially for you. Oh, and er, for Shark too. 
The princess lunch sounds good. 
Can't wait to read more!!!
So nice to hear your account of the princess breakfast; we're planning to do that next trip! I love reading about all your family fun...
Thanks Deb for making a great Sunday even better. I loved your latest installment. I know I've said it over and over but your "Alice" is absolutely beautiful. The photos with the princesses are just precious. I also loved the "Grumpy and Dopey" comment. 
He cracks me up.
