The Finished at Last Trip Report - DAY 2: Only the eavesdropper’s paying attention

[Poohshoney]

The Cast:
Roland (37, German) – World’s best husband.
Carol (42, British) – Trying to live up to him.

Monday, 1 December - DAY 2: Only the eavesdropper’s paying attention .

We suffered really badly with jetlag last year and weren’t looking forward to it at all this time. Well guess what, travelling all day the way we did meant we coped much better this time! Whereas last year, we’d collapsed by 8 pm, this time we didn’t get there till 8ish so we were forced to go to bed (completely exhausted) at a `normal´ time. And instead of being wide awake in the early hours, we slept till a normal time. Sorry WHSmiths but we decided we were completely sold on the idea of changing planes in America in the future.
We did both wake up at about 3ish though. I fully anticipated not being able to go back to sleep so I thought I might get in a little late (!) planning. Because we were up so early last year, we did AK on our first day. We’d hoped being there early would guarantee us more animals. As this logic still applied, I thought maybe we’d do AK first again. But then this gloriously wonderful idea crept over me - why didn’t we do our favourite parks first? We could do MK for me in the morning, then move on to Epcot for Roland in the afternoon. Ok, so MK was reputedly very busy on Mondays – what did we care, we had ten days! The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. And the more I liked it, the happier I became. Happiness must be the best sleeping pill there is. Next thing I knew, it was going up to 7.

Roland woke up just after I did. By mutual agreement, instead of leaping out of bed and off to the parks, we snuggled up and had a lovely whispered conversation about what we were going to do today. Roland had never really believed I didn’t have a plan anyway, so I think he thought MK and Epcot was actually it. He loved the idea much more than AK, just because we went there first last year. So up we got and off we went to the food court for breakfast.

Now if I had had a plan, this wouldn’t have been it. My plan would have been to eat in our room like we did last year, saving time and money. Course, not doing a grocery stop put paid to that anyway. But did I mention that I always forget one thing? This year it was our plastic plates, bowls, etc. I could’ve kicked myself but it would have been an even bigger kick if I'd had raisin bran and nothing to put it in. Life lesson: be thankful for small mercies.

The food court wasn’t too busy at all so we wondered round at leisure, trying to decide what to have. Mine was a token wander: I knew I was going to have bagel and cream cheese before I set foot in the place. Roland eventually decided on the same so that was what we got.
We’d been very good Mousefans the day before – we’d bought new mugs. I admit it, I brought last year’s with me. And I don’t care who wants to lynch me for it. But when we saw that this year’s were a different colour, we got new ones. I could pretend it’s because we’re such law-abiding citizens but the real reason was that we didn’t want people pointing at us and saying “Oooh, send for the Mug-Police!” Of course, it’s unlikely that anyone would have really said anything. We saw old Riverside, Dixie Landings, Caribbean Beach and water park mugs and never saw a soul say anything. We even saw definitely non-refillable flimsy plastic cups from the food court being refilled and nobody said anything. However, if you were there at the same time as us and saw a couple looking pointedly at your illegal mug whilst smugly waving their own legal ones, that was us!

Right, let the magic commence! I still wasn’t warm so I decided I'd wear my fleece. The sun was bravely breaking through though, so I was quite hopeful. That turned out to be my mantra every morning. “It will be warm, it will be warm…´ There were quite a few people at the bus stop, most of whom were wearing shorts and insubstantial tops. And sitting in the shade. I refused point blank to leave the little sunny spot I'd found. No matter how much I told myself I was in Florida and it’s warm in Florida, the goosebumps denied all knowledge. I thought I'd be better off when the bus came but no. Contrary to expectations, there weren’t many people wanted the MK bus so we got seats. Freezing cold hard plastic ones. The goosebumps screamed.

My jiggling turned into a happy dance though, once we got to the MK! I was sooo happy that we’d decided on this. And it was a little warmer. We happily merged with the throng, me trying not to race ahead. Roland may have the longer legs but I'm a nifty little mover.
I'd had quite a thunk on the bus about whether we ought to stop and take a look at the 75 mouse figures in front of the MK. I needn’t have bothered. I wish I'd seen pictures beforehand and known what to expect. We were both very disappointed in them and never did bother looking at them in detail. I think we’d just expected too much.

Clutching our AP vouchers, we hurried up to the Guest Relations window to get our passes. We got a CM who was earning his ears. He was such a sweetie! He explained everything to us in great detail and – wonder of wonders – he had no difficulty understanding me! I go terribly British when I'm in America (think Mary Poppins) and people don’t always understand me. This holiday was the most successful so far though, so maybe I'm improving. Or people are getting used to me. (Oh how I long to go often enough for people to get used to me at DisneyWorld, sigh).

And THIS year I never had one single problem with my AP – such a novelty! Having got through the turnstiles, beamed at the castle, hugged each other in pure joy, laughed in delight, what was the first thing we did? Yep, the first thing we always do – I went to the loo and Roland took photos of things. We have a whole range of photos taken when I'm in the loo. Some of these turn out to be real gems. But if I go to the same one too often, it can get a little repetitive. Not to mention that we don’t always know what it is. “What’s that?” “Dunno, you were in the loo.”

Once back together again, Roland asked me what I wanted to do first. Oooh but he’s a lovely man! Took me a whole second to decide - Fantasyland! I figured that that would be the land that got busiest quickest so we’d better get it out of the way first. It was only 9:15ish so I was hoping it wouldn’t be too bad. We passed all sorts of characters on our way through, both in front of the station and the castle hub. If we had littlies, we’d definitely make sure we got to the MK early, it was heaven for autograph hunters and special piccies.

When we went past the castle, I saw people going in for Cinderella’s breakfast. Now we don't really want to do that and none of the lunch or dinner meals appeal to me, so I was really hoping they’d leave the doors ajar so that I could catch a glimpse of inside but no such luck. In fact, I'd swear the CIA was organising some kind of high security event in there by the way they were whisking guests through the door so that nothing was revealed. Oh well, never mind. I do like the way you can go in the Paris castle. And I adore the dragon underneath!

And then the big moment had arrived, we were IN Fantasyland! It took my breath away, as it always does. Whether it’s the one in Florida, Paris or California, this is the bit of each park that is my dream come true. I'm even typing this with a smile on my face and a tear in my eye. But not only were we actually here, Walt had waved his magic wand just for us. It was practically deserted. I have photos to prove it. Course, I'd have had even more photos if the batteries hadn’t run out after the first three piccies. Panic! I know now that I'd recharged that lot wrongly but at the time I was very worried. What if the other batteries were the same? WDW batteries cost a bomb! You’ll be happy to know they were fine, but I didn’t relax about them till we were on the plane again.

Right, what do you do when confronted with a near empty Fantasyland? The choice was overwhelming. Then we noticed the new 3D movie, Mickey’s Philarmagic had no wait. I do like an easy decision! Especially when it’s such a good one. We both thought it was just wonderful. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it so I'll be a bit cryptic here. If you have seen it or when you do see it, the `mummy´ broom was my favourite bit. I don’t often laugh out loud but that had me positively chortling!

When we came out, Fantasyland was a leeetle busier but still only barely. I gazed round it and felt one of those moments of inner peace and happiness that doesn’t come along often enough in life. I looked and Roland and he beamed at me in recognition, so we shared a hug to celebrate. I feel so sorry for the people who don’t get Disneyworld.

I was still in the driving seat so I told Roland what I wanted to do next – the Haunted Mansion. Yes, I know, it isn’t in Fantasyland, but the pull was too strong to resist! We took the scenic route though, sauntering round in a circle past Pooh which was listed for 20 mins so we got a Fastpass. We also looked at Peter Pan, another of my favourites, but that wait was listed as 20 minutes, too. Now we’ve seen 2+ hour queues for this in DLParis but this holiday was different. We were SO spoilt with short waiting times that anything above 10 minutes seemed a waste of sunshine. And on our first day, we could afford to put things off anyway. Bliss!

I was surprised when we got to the Mansion as there was no Fastpass running. We couldn’t have got one anyway but still… The posted wait was 20 minutes and we actually waited that long – shock horror. I spent my time doing what I always do. People watching. And people listening. I just can’t help it. There are worse vices… aren’t there? Anyway, this eavesdropping will forever stay with me as a lesson to listen to the person who’s talking. I mean, if I could listen to the young man, why couldn’t the older one? They were actually part of two couples but the men were doing the talking and the subject was horses. I have a horse-mad friend so it seemed a shame not to see if there were any tips to be gathered. It was all very light and airy at first, mostly about how to move them about the country. Chatting to Roland about Leonora’s tombstone (I saw her!) meant I missed the transition to wars but my jaw hit the floor when the older man asked the younger one if he knew about a certain battle and the younger one very quietly said yes, he’d lost his brother there. There was a choke in his voice and his wife very gently took his hand. The older man never even noticed. He was so into the sound of his own voice, he never caught it. Or the ensuing silence. I think he thought he’d wowed his audience into silent appreciation. We moved into the Mansion then with the younger couple moving as far away as possible, leaving the old man looking confused. So sad.

My favourite Haunted Mansion’s a Manor – Phantom Manor in Paris, but I'll take any one I can get! I was particularly pleased with myself this time for spotting the plates on the dinner table that look like Mickey; I'm usually in too much of my own happy little world to remember Hidden Mickeys! And I was in a happy little world zooming round in my buggy. My smile couldn’t have got any bigger.

It was only 11:30ish when we came out but our tummies were completely confused and ravenous! Remember I said there’d been no planning? Well none whatsoever isn’t the whole truth – we’d looked at the menus on WDWIG and narrowed our choice down to 12 restaurants we’d like to try. With only 11 days and me not enjoying more than one big meal a day, we knew we weren’t going to do them all. We each had a short list – they differed, what a surprise! Mine included the Liberty Tree Tavern, Roland’s didn’t. I was good. No subtle manipulations of my hubby here, tempting though it was… What I did was say that the choice was his, LTT or Columbia Harbour House. We were close to both, which one did he fancy? Then I crossed my fingers behind my back and held my breath. It makes talking hard but it’s my own little way of trying to make the universe do what I want it to. Roland looked at the LTT menu (ok, I was a bit mean here: I knew he wouldn’t remember saying `But there’s not much I fancy here, just the turkey´. And I did try not to sound too enthusiastic when I said it had a very good reputation, especially the turkey.) Roland said we really ought to have a proper meal, we hadn’t in a while. Yes, my darling, whatever you say! Happy Carol!

We’d no idea what to expect inside but we fell in love with the LTT the minute we saw it. We were asked for our name – we have a really awkward German surname, even in Germany. I tried it once in California and we’ve been the Carol family ever since. The lobby was pretty deserted when we sat down and after a couple of moments, the Carol family from Germany made an enthusiastic way up the stairs to the left. “My but you’ve come a long way for lunch!” The lady in the mob cap quipped. Brilliant!

We were served by Rory – seldom have I seen a lovelier smile, even at Disney! He treated us with such kindness, explaining everything we asked – and that included what he and his colleagues had been singing at a table on our left. Now I'd heard that birthday people were serenaded at Disney but it never occurred to me they’d get anything other than the obiquitous Happy Birthday – but that wasn’t what we’d heard. Seeing as Rory had such a nice smile, I asked him what the words were. And Rory, being a wonderful man, didn’t just tell me, he sang it for us. And then he sang the birthday song from the Grand Floridian. Such a nice man! Now this is a secret between you and me (ok, Jennifer knows) but I really want to spend my 50th birthday at DisneyWorld. (Yep, I'm back in planning mode!) And I know just where I want to eat, too, the LTT. And if I could please have Rory’s lovely smile and singing for my birthday, I will be one happy woman!

Just in case you’re wondering, the food was every bit as good as I'd hoped. We both had the Pilgrim’s Feast, aka the turkey – guess that, did you?! Roland had a gorgeous salad as well, with a strawberry dressing that surpassed even it’s excellent reputation. It was delicious!

Actually, now I think about it, we did have one complaint about the food. For all Dr Who fans, it was like a tardis on a plate. For the rest of you, the problem was the amount of it. I made the mistake I always make in America – when they put the plate down in front of me I wonder what all the fuss about large portions is. Then half an hour later, I'm wondering how they make the huge portions look so deceptively small. I swear, I ate and ate and ate but the delicate little pyramid on my plate didn’t seem to get any less. By the time I'd defeated it, I knew I'd never eat again. (No laughing out there!) Rory’s friendly question as to dessert was met with an audible groan. Mind you, we had eaten ALL the bread he brought us as well. Sweet little rolls they were, he seemed surprised that they’d disappeared. Too scrummy not to eat!

But the people at the next table obviously didn’t have the same attitude to food we do. We’re really locusts in human form; they were obviously struck by the same curse as the Pirates of the Caribbean. Well, it was the only reason I could find for the indecent amount of food they ordered and didn’t eat. It’s funny but I noticed a lot of `cursed´ people at DisneyWorld. Such a waste.

When we staggered outside into the sunshine, we noticed that the waiting area was packed. That made me both pleased and worried. I was glad we’d eaten so early and missed the crush. But was this a sign to come for our PS-free days? Only time would tell – I wished it would tell me immediately!

Soooo, we’re back out in the Happiest place on earth and we’re mighty full. Let’s meander for a while, shall we? We rolled past the Country Bears Jamboree, thinking we’d catch that later. Which we never did. Then it was over to Big Thunder Mountain. I'd proudly told Roland that one of his favourite rides was up and running again after a rehab. Only it wasn’t. Running, that is. It was down again. We waited a fair while at the lookout point to see if things would change but they didn’t. I was torn on this. Roland loves it but it makes me queasy. Roland was insistent that we needn’t do it this holiday and bless his socks, he stuck to that the whole holiday. I was so happy. Course, I felt horribly guilty too!

As we were loitering around BTM, a Spanish-speaking family asked me if I'd take their photo. It was one of the highlights of my holiday. I get a real kick out things like that. Here’s me, a foreigner, there’s them, also foreigners and we don't even speak the same language. But with a lot of smiles and nods, everyone makes themselves understood and goes away with fond memories. I like that! If only international diplomacy worked as well. Maybe they could have the summit conferences at DisneyWorld; it couldn’t hurt.

We had a look at Splash next. We’d loved it the year before, when we’d been absolutely drenched. Only it had been baking then, not pleasantly warmish like today. Yep, we chickened out! We said if it got really hot, we might brave it but it never did, we kept on clucking.

I started getting impatient next. We were this close to one of my favourite rides and Roland was taking in the scenery. But, but… Pirates is round the corner!!! Pleeeease, I need my pirates. I nearly didn’t get them though. Roland thought the sign outside meant the wait was 40 mins but I managed to convince him it meant from the actual point of the sign. Phew! On we toddled, walking non-stop up to the bit where you can see the boats. And with nobody behind us, we got a boat to ourselves. I adore that ride. It’s just beaten by the Mansion and Peter Pan but it’s a very honourable third place. I remembered to look to the right this time so that I didn’t miss my favourite scene – here doggy! By the time we got out, the song was firmly stuck in my mind and I was even more desperate to see the film. We like to see things in the original so we usually end up waiting for DVDs to come out. There were Pirate DVDs all over DisneyWorld but we knew we couldn’t play them on our DVD player. Sigh.

Hmmmm… what should we do next? I know, Buzz Lightyear! Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it, you have to keep doing things at the opposite end of the park on your first day! Buzz was a walk on and was as absolutely fabulous as ever. I did my best but I didn’t get as many points as Roland. I thought I was going to beat him but I was just being lulled into a false sense of security. Shouldn’t be allowed! Up until the last second I was well in the lead but when we stopped, blow me down if Roland hadn’t wiped the floor with me. How’d he do that?! If only I'd been able to memorise the list of secret targets I saw on the Dis… We had a huge laugh at our ride photo. Roland’s looking about him, all blasé: I have a look of intsense and very grim determination. Wonderful!

The discovery of the day was made on leaving Buzz. What, the Timekeeper is OPEN?! And so is the Carousel of Progress?!!!!! Oh wow… We did Timekeeper first. We did it many moons ago in Paris and really enjoyed it. We both think we saw it in French so this time was an improvement in that respect. But I missed the bit with Gerard Depathingy as a porter-type at the airport, I liked that. When we came out we decided that it was an attraction we liked but one we’d only ever do once per visit. Which is probably why Disney closes it all the time. Wrong logic. Ok, it’s not like a Mansion, something I'd want to do repeatedly, but it is still a show I would go to every visit.

Huge highlight next. And I mean HUGE. Cof P. Well, what can I say? This show put my list of favourites in serious peril. This isn’t just a show I'd want to see once over, this is something I would even queue a long time for. EVERY time we went to the MK! I LOVED it! (Can you tell?) I sang the song all holiday and still haven’t stopped. I absolutely adored the animatronics and the storyline and the revolving (I think) audience bit. Please, please, please let it be there forever.

Ok, despite my falling in love with it, we only did Cof P once. It was only our first day, after all (did I mention that? We were SO happy about it!). We’d only done a little of what MK had to offer but we decided the time had come to move over to our other favourite park. We passed yet more character greetings on our way out. I took a photo of Donald and Daisy for the simple fact that I'd read that you didn’t see them together very often. I had an unpleasant experience with a Disneyland Donald and haven’t been keen on him since. But there was Daisy and a wall between us, so I felt safe enough!

We had to decide between going straight to Epcot on the monorail or calling back at Riverside first. One of my main priorities for this trip was sitting in the front of the monorail so it was very very tempting to see if we could. But common sense won out. I had my fleece but Roland only had a rain poncho and anyway, I wasn’t convinced after last night’s cold that just a fleece would be enough. We were holding up quite well, maybe we’d even manage Illuminations and if so, we wanted more clothes. So back to Riverside we went, looking longingly at the front of the monorail as it passed overhead.

We were both surprised at how well we were holding up. We’d had zombititis and desperately needed a nap after AK last year but we both felt we could still go up and at ‘em this time. We decided it was the lack of heat that was working in our favour (bet you never thought you’d hear me say that!) It had been very humid mid tohigh-90s the year before and it had really drained us. However, I changed my mind as the holiday continued. I really missed our mid-afternoon naps and was tired much earlier each night. I was beginning to think heat=sunny for longer wasn’t so bad after all because napping would have meant missing out on the best sun of the day, a definite no-no. So on we battled.

Yet another aside. Happy Holidays! CMs wished us it all the time and we loved it. We even started wishing it back to people. And on one occasion were even daring enough to say it first! It took us back a bit the first time we heard it though. We thought it meant have a nice holiday, as in vacation. But then we twigged what they really meant – we thought. Because at first I thought it meant Merry Christmas. Halloween’s just emerging here in Germany so I never think of it and Thanksgiving doesn’t exist at all, so we don’t have anything like Happy Holidays. It was the first time I really grasped the concept of just how much more fun the last few months of the year are in America. Wow!

Sooo, where was I? Oh yes, on the bus to Epcot – there aren’t many sentences nicer to type than that one! The bus was practically empty, always a good thing, but we’re not sure why it drew up where it did. Perhaps the bus driver thought everyone needed the exercise. He’s probably right, calories abound at Disney! It was a long slog to get to the entrance and the bit I was dreading. My rucksack now held every bit if warm clothing I could stuff into it and had a turning circle of half a mile. Searching it wouldn’t be easy. But the security guard didn’t complain or make any comments about me being in Florida, not Alaska. Course, it took me heaven knows how long to get it all back in again… I said it last year and I'll say it this: I have no objection whatsoever to security checks – if they’re good. The ones at Disney are not good. All they are is a waste of everyone’s time. But at least the security guards have a job.

Once inside Epcot, we shared another blissfully happy smile. We both love Epcot and it’s Roland’s favourite. I was hoping for a go on Spaceship Earth but there was a queue so we put it off. Roland was pleased because he really wanted to enjoy the sunshine and just wander round. So we did! We had a little wander over to Mission:Space. I'd thought about it long and hard and decided my motion sickness wasn’t going to stop me trying it. Roland wasn’t so sure. He wasn’t worried about himself, he’s not travel sick. But the idea of me being didn’t appeal to him, for some strange reason… We’d both agreed that we’d put the great experiment off until we were sure the jetlag wasn’t going to make things even more dodgy.

The sunshine as we strolled round the right-hand side of the lagoon really was worth savouring. Even I felt warm and we both got some excellent photos. We loved the Christmassy arches, the carols being played and the Christmas tree in front of the lagoon. Roland took a long look up at it and then made the first of many similar comments. “It’s too warm for Christmas.” Ok, so he was right, but oooh, it felt gooood!

When we’d come last year, it had been the Flower and Garden Festival, which we’d enjoyed. But as that was our first ever visit, it was difficult to know what was normally there and what was just for the festival. We were pleased to see that the gardens in Epcot might be lacking some of the larger pieces but they were still very lovely and obviously well-tended. Just moseying about in Epcot was as much of a delight this year as it had been the last.

Canada first. Home of our beloved beanie, Moose. We bought him here last year as a brother for our original beanie, the most handsome beanie in the whole world – Mickey! These two little bundles are a huge part of our life – you can’t imagine how expressive their little faces are or how inventive Roland and I can get when it comes to doing silly things with them. I'd carried Mickey round with me last year, which he’d enjoyed. (Honest!) But this year they’d all elected to stay in the room as Moose is a bit of a scaredy cat. I swear being mad is the only thing keeping me sane…

We went in the Canadian shop as I just had to check and see if they still sold Moosies. I told Roland that if they did, he was under no account to tell Moose. I know him, he’d only start worrying we were going to replace him (see what I mean?) but they didn’t – I was so pleased! Well they did sell moosies but they were a different kind and not a patch on our beloved. I smiled pityingly at them and we left. I think that was Roland’s idea. They had these adorable husky stuffies and I think he thought the family might grow again if we stayed too long.


One of the things I'd been determined to do was catch ALL the entertainment going in Epcot, (particularly anything specially festive) so I was over the moon when we ran into the Showcase Players in the UK – pure bliss! One of the women looked strangely familiar but I never did work out why. They were doing a rendition of The Holy Grail – definitely one of the best versions going! Roland didn’t want to be seen anywhere in the vicinity of the audience in case somebody thought he might actually want to participate – no thankyou! - so he stayed at the back. I started off there but gradually moved forward as it was just too good to not see properly. The two aucience par-ti-ci-pa-tors were gut-wrenchingly funny! Unintentionally at first, then they got the hang of it and hammed it up for all they were worth. Marvellous! The timetable said they were going to be doing A Christmas Carol a little later. I fancied coming back for it but in the end we wandered too far away for it to be practical. Never mind, lots more days to go!

And then we wandered into France, as you do. We somehow managed to find our way into the bakery – heaven knows how we got there. It was heaving with French-speaking teenagers. Behaving well wasn’t top of their priorities list. So back out we went. It looked lovely in there though, as always.

I got all excited when we got to the front – Père Noel was due on in a few minutes. Ooooh! I managed to grab a seat for us both, just a little offside and maybe a bit far away. I hoped he’d talk loudly. Well, he’d need to, being as half the bakery was squawking around us. I tried not to watch the girl and two boys and what they were doing with an éclair opposite us. Ugh. Luckily, by the time Père Noel appeared, they’d finished eating and after a couple of minutes, wandered off for more exotic delights. I'm glad we didn’t. This was our first Christmas storyteller and he was quite possibly my favourite. He had such a wonderful voice, I could have listened to him all day.

You’ve probably guessed where we went next. Yep, Morocco, what a surprise! I love Morocco. It’s just so tranquil. Even when Mo’rockin are belting out a tune, the architecture is so cool and peaceful. For some unknown reason, I decided to take lots of photos in Morocco. The digital camera was still newish and I was still experimenting. How long does it take to get past the experimental stage? I don’t think I ever will. Fun though! After wandering round the shop and me deciding no, I wouldn’t be able to get one of those large baskets home, darn it, we sauntered on to Japan.

How the heck do those drummers do it? I'm darned if I know. We were well impressed, I can tell you. Though they did become a standing joke. It seemed that whenever we were in Epcot, we could hear the Japanese drummers. Didn’t matter where we were. And if we were really lucky, we could hear Off Kilter as well. Talk about two countries who know how to belt out a tune! Never failed to put a smile on our faces.

I was looking forward to seeing the American Pavillion because that was where the Candlelight Processional takes place. I'd heard a lot of rave reviews of the CP and had intended getting the dinner package. Then when it came out, there was no retail discount attached and I had a rethunk. We prefer to eat our main meal during the day, weren’t keen on tying ourselves down and weren’t sure we could get to the speakers we were interested in. So the dinner package got the thumbs down and I got nervous about missing something wonderful.

Well, when we walked past the pavillion, I got a bit panicky again. There were people queueing already and the show was ages away. (Ok, I admit it, I can’t remember how long away, just that it was long enough for Roland to say, disbelievingly, “HOW long?! They must be mad!”) There was no way we were going to queue that long, especially not on our first day, so on we sauntered, on to the country we like the least, Italy.

Roland had mnanaged to convince himself in the previous year and a half that he really did like Italy. My turn to look disbelievingly. He told me how he liked the buildings. Well so do I but they’re just not enough. And I hate the fountainy thing. I think it’s ugly. Give me thirty seconds in Italy and I'm tapping my feet to the Japanese drummers.

We went into the shop with the venetian masks – I love those. I found a particularly beautiful one and showed Roland how lovely I'd look in one, but my heart wasn’t in it. I knew even if it made me look like Miss World, I'd still talk myself out of the expense. Well maybe not if I looked as good as Miss World…

Then we went in the boring shop on the other side. I think this is the only shop in the whole of Disneyworld where I actually ask if we can skip it. I needn’t have worried though, as soon as Roland remembered why I call it the boring shop, we were out of there. And then we looked at the fountain. And Roland decided I was right, we really didn’t like Italy much. So we moved onto Bavaria.

I know, not all of the German pavillion is Bavarian but SO much of it is! We tried having a little peek in the Biergarten to see what it was like but you couldn’t see much. We play two games when we’re in `Germany´. The first is – Oooh, look at that! The second is – Huh??? Which translates as I've never seen that before/heard of that. It’s an interesting little game, we play it in the UK too, surprise, surprise. We played the first game looking in the Biergarten’s windows where we could see all sorts of bits and bobs we recognised. Then we went in the shops and mostly played the second game.

I want a Steiff teddy. Not one of the really huge ones but not one of the teeny tiny ones either. A middling one will do me nicely, thankyou very much. Even a smallish middling one, so long as it’s one of the traditional ones. Everyone I know knows I love them but somehow the prices put them off getting me my heart’s desire. One day, I'm going to stop dropping hints and buy one myself! But it won’t be in Epcot. I might be wrong but the prices there seem even higher than at home. So I just drooled longingly at them as usual and admired all the wonderful things around them. Roland in the meantime was doing his usual cuckoo-clock manta “Why do people buy them? They’re horrible. Why would anyone want something that ugly on their wall?” He does this every time he sees a cuckoo clock. Thankfully, we’ve never encountered one in anyone’s house. Pleeeease, pray we never do. Even if he manages not to do the mantra, his face will say it all!

He was very impressed by the wine selection though. Not that either of us knows anything about wine. But we did think that the selection was very representative. Cheaper here though! We spent a happy few minutes looking for bottles that had started life near where we live.

Then we played the second game in the Christmas and sweetie shops. Ok, most of the Christmas stuff is available here, but it’s not the stuff that’s most readily available, the stuff that Germany’s really famous for. And as to the Christmas gherkins… I used to tell people that you couldn’t get them here. Then we had an American visitor and I was shamed into silence. I had never ever EVER seen one here – and she found them everywhere we went! BUT, in my defence, when I show any and all of my German friends and relatives the pictures from Epcot and tell them the story that goes with them, they laugh. My FIL actually had tears running down his face when I told him. So, whoever does this tradition, I don't know them! And – more defence – a woman I know asked a German CM if she’d ever heard of them and, after a shifty glance around, she admitted she’d never heard of them till she worked at Epcot. See, I'm not making it up!

I was on a mission in the sweetie shop. I kept reading about chocolate pretzels – guess what we’ve never seen over here! I looked at all the bags first, mistake. I finally saw them behind glass at the counter. I'd intended getting us some to try (and maybe asking the CM if she’d ever seen them back home!) but there was a family there really harrassing the poor girl. They were being as awkward as poss about what they wanted and taking a long time doing it. The CM looked close to tears, which worried me but as I turned away, another CM with a grim look on her face was beetling over. I hope she sorted them out. I thought we’d come back another time to see what they were like but we never did. We never went back into Germany at all. This may have been because we didn’t need another look at home. On the other hand, it may have been Roland’s attempt at keeping me away from the teddies. Or maybe me not wanting to hear the cuckoo-clock-mantra. Again!

Remember how we were never going to eat again? It lasted until I found a heart’s desire. Well, I thought I did. I'd been lusting after a frozen banana (honest!) since I'd heard of them. As this was just after we returned from WDW the last time, I hadn’t been a happy bunny. But I saw a man selling ice-creams and saw the frozen banana sign. Yes!!! Then I came back down to earth. How come nobody ever mentioned they dipped them in hazelnuts? Guess what I can’t eat. My bottom lip was quivering, doom and despondency was descending. Ok, so that’s an exaggeration – I was in Epcot, I wasn’t that down! But Roland was obviously afraid things were heading that way so he saved the day. He sultrily whispered the words every woman wants to hear in my ear. “How about a rice cream?” Oooh, yes please! We got hooked on these last year, they are soooo delicious. Needless to say, we skipped the other countries and headed for Norway!

Have you found the rice cream recipe on WDWIG? We have! I'm now quite adept at it and it’s very popular with our visitors. But I have to admit, the Epcot version knocks mine into a cocked hat. We sighed in sheer pleasure as we savoured every mouthful. Bananas? Who needs ‘em!

By this time the sun was slowly sinking over the lagoon. It was so beautiful. We scraped the last little bits out of the dishes and then sat some, just watching people pass by. It was so peaceful. Ok, it was a little too peaceful. Ever noticed that as soon as you slow down, you start to notice just how tired you are? We did, but it was a nice happy tired. By mutual consent, we decided that Illuminations would be lighting up the sky without us. Slowly but surely, we wound our way up past Mexico, towards the exit. That’s when we found the lighted archway.

I know this has a name but I'm darned if I can remember it. But I do remember how pretty it looked. I think coming round the corner and seeing all that prettiness with the music playing in the background, the water softly lapping and the great golfball lording over it all, might just be one of my very favourite memories. I've got that smile and the tear in my eye again.

Leisurely is the only way to describe our exit from the park. It took a fair while to get even to the fountains as I needed to watch the lights change from as many angles as I could. And then we just stood together, watching it some more. And then we watched the fountains. What had looked like weird metal dandelions in daylight became a fairy’s playground after dark. And just when we’d dragged ourselves away from there, I reremembered the sparkly pavements on the way out. You know, first days didn’t come any better than the one we’d just enjoyed.

We didn’t do badly, waiting for a bus. There were some over-tired littlies but we’d seen worse. The lack of heat at this time of year is sooo much better for littlies. I struggled to keep my eyes open on the bus. I'm pretty sure I lost the fight a couple of times! We got off the bus at our stop and picked up the mugs. We were still strolling leisurely but it was beginning to be on automatic pilot. We got ourselves some drinks, Roland got some nachos and I got – a bagel. Well there’s a surprise for you! I can still feel how heavy my eyes felt when I was eating it. But the sweetest CM sold me it. He tried so hard to talk me out of it because he was worried it would be stale. “We don’t like selling them at this time of day. It will be a bit hard, are you sure you don’t mind?” I didn’t, I was too deprived the rest of the time, too full for anything else and too tired to look! But I did appreciate the thought.

Then it was back to the room. We went the long way round and I played my favourite night-time game at the resort. Trying to see the inside of the Bayou rooms. I never like them as much as the Mansion rooms and I always find it reassuring to know that I am where I'm happiest!

We fell into bed at a little after nine. Roland was sawing wood within a very short time, I lasted about ten minutes longer. But then, I was watching The Nanny. We love the programme, but we’d never seen it in English. What a voice! Wow… The German version isn’t quite as… I can’t think of a word. But even Fran wasn’t enough to keep me awake and I soon followed Roland into the sweetest of mousey dreamworlds.

 

[roberrl187]

Great report. Looking forward to the next one.

 

[KayleeUK]

Lovely detailed report, I felt I was there with you

 

[WDWfan uk]

Brought back great memories of our December trip !

We certainly found that it warmed up considerably in the daytime and our visit to Epcot was positively hot!

The Lights Of Winter is the name they give to the canopy of lights

 

[Poohshoney]

Thanks Shirley, I've been trying so hard to remember! It's 34° here today - we'd love it to be Epcot in December again!