After a Twitter tip from Shelley Jones – that Epcot was empty yesterday we decided to go there instead of Hollywood Studios. Thank you Shelley! It was great being in the park with so few people. Since Carson had fallen asleep on the car ride over, we decided to do a ride on Soarin before hitting the World Showcase. Becca stayed with the babies while Pat and I rode. We managed to get B, front row, seats 5 and 6. Yup dead center! It was great!
After our quick ride, we headed on over to Mexico. Since we didn’t get to do The World’s for Pat’s 40th birthday, as we had hoped, we decided that we would go ahead and do our birthday drinks then. So Pat grabbed a beer in Mexico, Becca and I decided on Churos and we were off for our 1.3 mile walk around the world. We bypassed my favorite country, Norway, and kept on walking right up to China, and decided to go ahead and check out the shop there. Wow the lantern display was beautiful!
On the very end of the shop, before you get to the movie room, there were little carts with Chinese hats on it, and well of course, you know our family….
At this point Carson woke up, and had some fun looking and touching everything he could.
As Pat was almost done with his beer, we were right on time for coming up on Germany. There was a little beer cart on the walk that Pat stopped at and picked up a new beer, while Becca, the babies and I went on into the Werthers Store. MMM Yummy. As soon Pat joined us, both him and Becca immediately spotted the caramel apples and left me in the dust!
But that was ok, because after a quick little walk through of the Christmas shop, I landed in the Weinkeller. This has now become my favorite spot in Epcot! I decided to go ahead and get a glass of wine, Love those German sweet wines! Well the cast member there, David, informed me that I would get more for my money if I did the wine tasting – the Wine I had chosen was $7 for a 2oz pour, but the Wine tasting was $9.39 + tax for 3 2oz pours. Um Yeah! So I asked him to pour me the three sweetest wines he had:
Heaven in bottles, that’s what this was… The Diva was delicious, it was Pat’s preference to my three choices. The Gunderlock, which was sweetest of the three, was also quite delicious, but my heart was stolen by the Ice Wine. It was pure liquid deliciousness. The fun part of this little tasting experience, the table we carried our tray to also was occupied by other ladies who were doing tastings. They were drinking the same wines as me. They too were enamored with the Ice Wine! I did go back and get another tray, where I asked for one glass of his driest wine, for Pat to taste and two glasses of the Ice Wine. The dryer wine was not that good and we didn’t finish that glass, but I did enjoy the last two glasses of the Ice Wine. I was considering purchasing a bottle, $26.95, but David let me know I can get it at liquor stores as well.
I can’t wait to send a few bottles to a couple of my wine loving friends, my Riesling Sweet Wine Loving Friends that is. Cori, you can expect this to be your House Warming gift when you sell your home and move to Shawnee. You will LOVE it!!!!
After Germany, I was feeling pretty good and Becca was Bored… She did buy Courtney a Rapunzel Doll while we were busy “tasting” wines.
Next stop Japan! Now this is where I had time not crying. This is Gabe’s favorite stop in the World Showcase. Last time we were here with him, he had us buy him chop sticks, Japanese candy and goodies. He could spend hours in here. Becca decided to channel Gabe and taste a Japanese Drink, a mango carbonated beverage. The funny part of her experience was watching her and Pat trying to figure out how to open the bottle. It too them a good 5 minutes! I didn’t try it, but Pat did, he said it tasted like Suntan Lotion. He also thinks coconut anything tastes like suntan lotion… Becca liked it though, and that is what matters.
About the time we were leaving Japan, my wine was gone and Pat’s beer was empty… France was coming up and we decided it was time for more drinks. There was a little wine cart selling wine, beer, champagne and Grey Goose Frozen Lemonades or Orange’ades. Now we didn’t know Grey Goose was a French vodka, but hey while in France… Pat got the Orange and I got the Lemon, Mmmmm, they were delicious! I prefer the Orange to the Lemon though, it tastes like an orange creamsicle.
Becca and I were starving, as was Carson and it was coming up on 8:30 so we went ahead and stopped in the UK for fish and chips. We found a table right next door at Rose Crown and Pub. A table outdoors that is. We also met a charming couple at the table next to ours. They were celebrating her retirement from being an administrative professional in the Education field. We gave them some tips on Downtown Disney, the Boardwalk and some ideas for hotel hopping. They were very nice and we enjoyed our chat while we ate dinner.
All in all, last night was a BLAST! I love Epcot and now I LOVE Germany! I can’t wait for the Food and Wine Festival in a month, where we will really spend some quality time eating and drinking around the world.
The first time we went to Epcot my son was Coutney’s age and we had a family reunion with the cousins and Thanksgiving in Orlando. We had a great time. He’s now a Freshman in college and hasn’t been back. I’d love to go again and see it all with him. I did a week long Disney/Orlando adventure in college with my roommate and 2 friends and we had a blast. You’re never too young or too old for Disney!
my Favorite area of Epcot is the England area great for views for illuminations every year its the same place i go to and each year it still shocks and awes me and every generation of family that comes Epcot is my favorite park so illuminations holds a certain area of nostalgia for me ~danielbigdanfrazier~
That Shelley Jones is an incredible lady! Always willing to help! She’s also a great Travel Agent and does a fantastic job managing the team at Magic of Mickey Travel! 🙂