We stumbled into the World Showcase Mexico pavilion just in time to check out the musical stylings of Mariachi Cobre, who I do love dearly. I had fun getting a couple of pictures in here with fantastic blurriness! This makes them “arty”
We then rode the 3 Cabelleros ride, and according to my notes, “looked around for a poncho.” I’m not really sure why. I fell in love with a porcelain bird that I wanted to buy for my grandmother, but knew there was no way I could cram it into my suitcase at this point. I was trying not to think about how I was going to compact everything I had bought into a couple of suitcases and carry-ons.
And then as we started walking toward Norway, we ran into a delightful character! Yay, Mexico Donald!!
Here he is asking me why Alice is on my t-shirt & bag instead of him
Next we were off to Maelstrom! Pretty much a walk-on, I think. We were sitting down in the third row when someone behind us tapped me on the shoulder – it was punkin413, aka Dawn! Memom had told me that she & Erica (Vandyfan10) would be at WDW the same time as us, so it was cool to run into another couple of DISers. After the ride we talked a bit while waiting in the little village outside the theater. I think they were getting ready to go to the Halloween party that night! We had to get going to our lunch ADR so we said goodbye – I wish I hadn’t forgot to take a picture
I was just so surprised to meet some other DISers. Dawn & Erica were so friendly and it was nice to have a few minutes to talk to them. Hopefully we’ll run into them again someday! If you want to read about their adventures, their joint TR is
here
We made it to Garden Grill in time, it was very busy but we didn’t have to wait at all.
I was a bit anxious because my taste in food, as my taste in fashion, is somewhat hovering around the third grade….so I was really hoping that our waiter would be able to bring us macaroni & cheese even though it was only on the kid’s menu. He did, hooray!
The mac n’ cheese actually wasn’t that great – it was pretty buttery. The chicken and steak were relatively good. There was also this remarkable piece of catfish that looked like a fried seahorse
Overall the food here was edible but unimpressive, but we weren’t there for the food! I was excited to see my dear darling Chip
Wow, I was looking pretty beat up and run down by day 7. Yikes. Please avert your attention to the adorable rodent on the right.
Next up was Mickey, who was kind enough to sign my grandmother’s card for Grandparents Day.
Dale was next and was so much fun. He was so cuddly and tried to steal me away from Jack. We danced briefly down the aisle before realizing that Jack wasn’t paying any attention to us (in fact he was probably using the opportunity to steal bites of steak of my plate) so Dale returned me to him and went along his merry way.
It was a fun meal, I really liked the rotating scenery. Apparently I was enamored with the baby buffalo in one of the scenes, because I wrote “Baby buffalo!!” in my notes.
Did I mention how sad I was that you can no longer send virtual postcards from Innoventions? I lamented this again, and then nearly stumbled into a pillar. I was exhausted. It was about 2pm, so we headed back to the Beach Club for a nap.
Next time I go to WDW for a week, I’m going to try and work in some more downtime. With both Jakkie & Jack being there, it felt like 2 separate vacations, so I kind of forgot that I would be there for 8 whole days and would need some rest at some point!
We headed back to the World Showcase. Fiesta margarita time!
Now I had heard that the strongest margaritas could be found at the cantina, not the outdoor stand. But they only had lime, so in my quest to incorporate as many hues as possible into my beverage, I had to go to the supposedly weaker vendor. It was still delightful!
We wandered through China, the outpost, Germany. In Italy we watched the World Showcase Players do Romeo and Edna. It was really funny – the people they plucked from the audience were hilarious!
We checked out America, then spent a ton of time in Japan, which is probably my favorite pavilion. We bought candy for ourselves, some Christmas gifts for my mom & cousin, and various other assorted trinkets.
We checked out France
And the British Invasion, though we didn’t watch them long. I love them but we had to get over to the camera center to pick up our free photo, and then get back to the Beach Club. Here’s a magical wall we passed on our way back to our hotel.
It was dinner time, so we had to check out Beaches and Cream again. Gaze into my sleepy eyes…
It was pretty empty – it was getting late, and we were rushing through our meal yet again, as we had plans on Pleasure Island!
Coming up: We say hello & goodbye to the AC!
at least it's better than what ray calls it: hellcot. we had a HORRIBLE day there the first time we went and the name just sort of stuck. he actually halfway likes it now though! but he still calls it that.
. I just had another friend this past week tell me they went there and how good it was. Might be a must try anyway!
Spending some time with my family for Christmas, but a few days at home too, so I hope to finish this report by the new year! Watch this space 
I have to admit that I am a bit eager for it to end so I can start thinking about my next trip....whenever that may be! 
