Tag Archives: Epcot

Day 73- Epcot’s Italian Flag Throwers

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It is beautiful today! There are blue skies on this nice 70-degree, breezy day! We are going to Epcot and see the new Flag Throwing Show, Sbandieratori Di Sansepolcro, in Italy. I love the Italy Pavilion with all of its beautiful buildings and detailed architecture. There are even a few statues and a fountain. It is so pretty.

Here we go! We get to the parking area and park way down on the end. So, we decide to walk to the entrance. Some other families are heading for the tram, but it is about the same distance to the tram as it is to the entrance today. We arrive at the front gates, get our bags checked, and scan our MagicBands. We find that it is not very crowded for a holiday week. It is very busy, but there is still plenty of room to walk.

We go to the right and walk beside Spaceship Earth! It is crowded and we have to stop a couple of times really quickly as little ones suddenly stop in the walkway. I laugh, we tease that you should be quick on your feet, ready to dodge and jump aside for those moments since people will sometimes stop without warning. It is good to be kind, it seems that the visitors who are aware and nice to everyone have so much more fun!

We stopped at Starbucks, the kids got to talking to the cashier. Seems she was from Texas too! It was nice to meet a fellow Texan!

The Christmas tree at Epcot is beautiful; we head for it on our way around the World Showcase Lagoon. Now, we go to the left and make our way around through Mexico, China, The Outpost, Germany, and now we are almost to Italy. As we are getting closer, we hear the whistle! Sergio the mime is there and it performing a really a good skit! He is so interactive with the crowd, and kids love this! Even the adults are clapping and laughing, it is so fun! We watch behind the line of people.

In just a few minutes we hear the new Flag Throwing Show, Sbandieratori Di Sansepolcro, starting. They march in with a drummer and two trumpeters on their way to the stage in Italy. The show is absolutely incredible! They twirl, throw, and battle with the flags. Wow! This is truly a must see!

Tooti lets me know that we have already walked 2.3 miles to Italy in that short time. After she show, we are off to France. We leave Italy and pass through The American Adventure, Japan, Morocco, and arrive in France. Our friend we’ve made at Guerlain is there today, so we stop for a moment to say, “Hello!” She is one of the sweetest ladies you will ever meet.

Now, back to making our way around the World Showcase Lagoon. We cross the bridge into the United Kingdom when we see HIM!! It is a penguin from Mary Poppins! I have never seen him, ever! We start toward the line and find that he is supposed to leave soon. We totally understand, and are disappointed, but find that he will be back out in 45 minutes. We walk around the United Kingdom Pavilion for a few minutes and decide that we will stay and wait because the penguin is rarely ever here! I am so glad we got to wait!

As we saw the penguin coming over the hill, the attendant smiled since we waited and soon we met the penguin! It is so fun to get penguin hugs, and he is adorable! After our hugs and pictures, we thank the penguin and all wave bye!

We go back through the United Kingdom on the way to Canada, and then walk through the Showcase Plaza, by the Christmas tree. It is really cold and breezy. Now, back to the entrance and out to our car.

We had a blast today, and we took so many pictures for so many people! Sometimes one right after the other! But, with all of the fun, we walked 3.8 miles today (and that was a really short afternoon)! I love days like today, and am so happy we got to meet the penguin!

Day 69- Epcot and Chefs de France

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Today is overcast with a light, drizzly rain. It is in the lower 70s with a light breeze. So, we grab our lightweight rain gear and debate on which shoes to wear; sandals or sneakers? We are going with tennis shoes, since cold, wet feet are not fun!

As we get to Epcot, we see that we get to park close! We are close enough to be within the Monorail track! We hop out, walk to the entrance, get our bags checked, and scan our Magic Bands. The Mickey and Minnie Christmas topiaries are so beautiful. People are taking quick pictures in the rain. When it rains, the PhotoPass Photographers stand under the entrance awning to keep the cameras out of the rain. The front garden is so beautiful!

I was timing how long it took us to walk to the France pavilion. Since we parked fairly close, it took us 5 minutes to get to Spaceship Earth. From there, it was a 5-minute walk through Canada and the UK to get to the bridge that crosses over to France. From the bridge, it is only three minutes of semi-fast walking to get to Les Chefs de France.

We have reservations for Les Chefs de France and are seated quickly. We love Les Chefs de France. We are seated beside the windows, our favorite! I love watching people walk by. Our waiter is great. He brings us our drinks and takes our order. He brings us gluten free rolls with butter to enjoy. Soon, our French onion soup is served. They have the best gluten free French onion soup. The French onion soup is topped with Gruyère cheese, roasted to perfection by the master chef. I forgot how wonderful this soup is – I love it!

GF French Onion Soup

We finish our delicious soup and get back into the misty evening. There is the perfect amount of people to be busy, but not too crowded. It is nice. We go to Guerlain to see what is new. We love this shop!

On our way to the bakery, we see the new Christmas decorations. I love these glittery snowflakes! We went to Les Halles Boulangerie & Pâtisserie to get a crème brulee for me and Tooti, and a macaron for Twinkie. We sit for a minute and enjoy our desserts. As we come out of the bakery, the ice cream parlor, L’Artisan des Glaces, is so cute!

As we pass the The Tea Caddy in the UK Pavilion, we hop inside to take a quick look around. We decide on some of Twining’s Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Loose Leaf Tea Blend in a cute little blue and gold tin to brew when we get home.

We make our way back to the front entrance. As we are leaving, we are shed our rain jackets; the air feels warmer tonight than it did earlier. It a pretty night, complete with a light, misty rain.

Day 67- Epcot

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It is a chilly day and we are off to Epcot! We bundle up and head out for the parks. As we are passing through Disney property, we see 10 Osceola Wild Turkeys, and they are huge! We get to the Epcot parking lot, catch the tram, and are off to the front entrance of Epcot.

There are a lot of people going through bag check, we get our bags checked, scan our MagicBands, and enjoy seeing the new Christmas topiaries near the entrance! We see a young mom taking a picture of her son, and he is not smiling much. After she took the picture I offered to take a picture of both of them, they both smiled really big for a great picture. The Christmas decorations are so nice!

As we walk through Canada, I see that the Canadian Lumberjack Show will start in just 7 minutes. So, we walk up to The Mill Stage and wait to see them. They are really fun and did a great job today. They even carved little chairs out of a log with chainsaws! The chairs were so cute!

As we walk through the UK pavilion, I see Mary Poppins’ beautiful dress as she kneels down really close to a little girl, who is sitting on the tiny garden border. They are talking and the little girl is so shy. It is the most beautiful thing I have seen, Mary Poppins kneeling to speak to the little girl face to face. I love Mary Poppins and her love for children.

Now, off to France! I love seeing the Eiffel Tower as we walk up to the bridge. France is a beautiful pavilion and it has plenty of things to see. There are perfume stores, a most wonderful restaurant, an ice cream shop, a bakery to grab pastries and sandwiches, and plenty of places to shop! I sit for a minute as the kids take pictures of the Christmas decorations! There are so many people coming and going; it is fascinating to hear all of the different accents from all over of the world.

We realize it is suppertime, and try to get a reservation, but the soonest is an hour from now. A quicker plan is to go to The Land Pavilion and get dinner. We walk back through England, Canada, and the Showcase Plaza, then up and around to The Land. Yes, you can walk a few miles in just a couple of hours. Epcot is huge!

When we walk into The Land, it looks like a city. There are so many people walking and riding up and down the escalators, it really does have the feeling of a city. As we ride the escalator downstairs, the lower level reveals even more people! There is a pleasant bustle with all of the things going on. We get our meals at Sunshine Seasons and sit in the open area. It is busy, but there are several tables available. We enjoy our gluten free meals. I got the Power Salad, Tooti had the salmon, and Twinkie had the baked chicken. Their gluten free meals are spectacular, both in flavor and variety.

It is cold outside and Spaceship Earth is always so beautiful. It has been a great late afternoon at Epcot, and it is time to say, “Goodnight!”

Day 65- Soarin’ at Epcot & Planet Hollywood at Downtown Disney

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Happy 86th birthday to Mickey Mouse! We’re so happy the weather has gotten cooler so that we can wear our vintage Mickey Mouse “ugly sweaters” to the parks today! The temperatures have plunged from the 80s yesterday to the mid 60s today for the high. It is windy and there are a few raindrops, but not many. What a great day to go to Epcot! Our goal is 365 days in a row at Disney World, and we are to 65, which means we only have 300 more days to go!!! I am so excited!

We arrive mid-morning at Epcot and it is very nice! I love going to the parks early, it is less busy and the atmosphere is much lighter. We are going to Soarin’ and our FastPass+ check-in is about 30 minutes from now. We talked about getting coffee, but decided to grab breakfast instead, since we only ate fruit earlier this morning.

We went to The Land Pavilion and journeyed downstairs to the Sunshine Seasons restaurant. We have not eaten breakfast here before, so we take a minute to look around. Oh my, they have this round pizza-pie-looking breakfast, it is about 3 inches tall, and it looks awesome. I do know that this is NOT gluten free! When it is our turn, we let the lady know that we have an allergy and she calls the chef. This chef is one of the fun chefs! He says, “Rootin’ tootin’ gluten? That seems to be the common allergy today!” We ask about the Breakfast Platter, and he says that they will cook our breakfast in another kitchen, would we like gluten free waffles? Yes! In 5-6 minutes we have our food and it looks great! The food was really good and a great value for breakfast!

Now, off to Soarin’! We scan our Magic Band in the FastPass+ line and make our way up to the ride. A young man began walking with me and asking if we had ever been on Soarin’ before! He had been sitting with his younger sister, she is 7, and she was not going on rides since she went on some of the scary ones in Hollywood Studios. Oh, I am so sorry! He continued talking and was really a fun, intelligent kid! I turned and didn’t see anyone following him, and we kept talking until we caught up to the line. His mom and the rest of his family caught up and we had so much fun talking to all of them! I love days like today, days you meet some really fine people. They are from Alabama. They ended up following us to our requested first row. We had fun riding with some fellow Soarin’ fans, and had a blast.

I need some hot coffee on this chilly day! We were going to go to Starbucks, but it was completely packed. We couldn’t even get into the door. I looked at my kids, and they looked at me, and we decided to pass on coffee. We talked about hopping on the Monorail and going to Magic Kingdom to grab coffee, but decided to get coffee on the way out at the Joffrey’s coffee stand. Twinkie said that it was a really good cup of coffee.

The kids have a friend, with friends, in town and they are going to Downtown Disney tonight for supper. We decide to go home and get ready for tonight.

It is a beautifully coldish day, and tonight it will be very chilly!

Now, I will turn this over to Twinkie, who went to Downtown Disney last night with Tooti and their friends:

Downtown Disney is an amazing place to explore, hang out, and eat. Our first stop was the World of Disney store. There is so much Disney merchandise for sale inside that they have actually divided the store up into departments like Women’s Apparel, Accessories, Men’s Apparel, Souvenirs, and so on. You can find a vast assortment here, so if you don’t get to make it to the parks, but find that there is something you’re looking for, chances are that World of Disney may have it!

After World of Disney, we made our way to Planet Hollywood, where we had reservations for dinner. First, however, we had to make our way to the Lego store. Outside of the Lego store, you can see a giant Lego Loch Ness Monster in the lake, a Lego Prince Phillip fighting Maleficent’s Dragon, and a Lego scene featuring all Seven Dwarfs! Inside of the Lego store, you can find a Lego Hulk, and a Lego Woody and Buzz Lightyear, complete with a backdrop for pictures. Too fun!

We made our way around to Planet Hollywood, checked in, and had our photo taken in front of a green screen. Once we walked inside the doors, we were informed that we would be dining on the second level, just up the stairs. We made our way up to the second level and were greeted by props and memorabilia from incredible movies. We let our waitress know that had to eat gluten free, so she brought out the chef. He was so nice; I ordered the Kobe burger with steak fries, and Tooti had the spinach and peach salad. Delicious! Great food, great service, and great friends to enjoy it all with. Before we left, someone came by with our picture and explained the package to us. It was a great photo of all of us, and our good friend decided to get the photo package.

After we ate, we looked at some of the various props, including Cousin Itt and Baby Cousin Itt from the Addams Family. They even had a GIANT Woody doll from Toy Story sitting up on the third level. What a fun place to eat!

We left Planet Hollywood and went to explore Downtown Disney. There is so much live music here at night! First, we heard someone playing Mele Kalikimaka and sang along in passing. Then, we ran across a Latin dance party where a lady was leading a group dance, so we joined in on the fun. After that, we passed by a guitarist with a cool pipe-like instrument; we clapped for him and he threw his guitar pick to one of our friends… woohoo! Free souvenir!

We went back into the World of Disney store so our friends could pick up some souvenirs for the people back home. When we exited, we saw that the dance party was going on the stage right outside. They had a singing competition for the little ones, and one little girl was singing, “Let It Go.” Frozen is our jam, so of course, we had to stop and listen. This little girl could really sing! It was great. After that, they had all four of the kids sing, “Do You Want to Build a Snowman,” so we sang at the back of the theater. The DJ called for a couple (anniversary, first date, or a couple) to act out “Love is an Open Door.” All of a sudden, we hear one of our friends yelling at the DJ, “All four of them (all girls), know it! They know the song!” The DJ zeroed in on us and said, “If you can pick two, come up here and act it out.” I looked at one of our friends and said, “I’ll be Hans,” and we made our way up to the front. What a blast! We even got buttons to commemorate the occasion. This was so much fun, especially considering that Tooti and I hadn’t seen her in a year and a half!

After that, we made our way down to Disney’s Days of Christmas store. If you are looking for some holiday cheer, year-round, this is the store for you! Just about every Disney ornament you can imagine is available for sale here. They have stockings, tree skirts, plushies, and even a separate room for Frozen merchandise!

Finally, on our way back to our cars, we spotted the guys on the really tall stilts. They are dressed as toy soldiers for the holidays! Of course, we had to get pictures with them! One of them had just finished doing yoga poses (on stilts!) and jumping jacks with the family in front of us. Next, it was our turn. The stilt-man graciously agreed to take a picture with us and then talked with all of us for a bit. If you ever spot the stilt walkers, ask to take a picture with them, they are so nice and funny to interact with. We thanked the stilt-man, watched a bit of the dance party that was still going on, and turned to make our way to our cars.

When we passed the World of Disney store, a cast member was handing out punch-out Frozen ornaments, to promote the Frozen Sing Along Editions that came out this week. How fun! Little snowflakes to decorate our tree!

We said our goodbyes, got our hugs and selfies, and made our way home. What a wonderful evening with wonderful friends!

Day 63- Magic Kingdom & Epcot

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Today is an absolutely beautiful day. We are expecting it to be in the lower 80s today and even hotter tomorrow! The sky is a beautiful blue with a few puffy clouds floating by. We are going to Magic Kingdom today.

Magic Kingdom is bustling as we get our bags checked and our MagicBands scanned. We have until 7pm tonight, that is when Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party begins and you must have a separate event ticket. We plan to go later this season, we went in 2012 and it was so much fun.

As we entered by the train depot, the Festival of Fantasy parade was going down Main Street USA. After we watched the parade pass, we waited a few minutes and started down Main Street USA. What’s that I hear? It’s the Dapper Dans quartet singing! Their singing makes you feel like you stepped back in time. Then, we heard the Main Street Philharmonic a little bit later! I love all of the music on Main Street USA.

We headed for Tomorrowland to the Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. I love this ride, and there are so many people today that I am glad we have a FastPass+. The FastPass line moves quickly and soon we are on the ride. I got over 100,000 points today, that makes me smile!

Our next stop is the Main Street Bakery for some coffee. I know we are backtracking a bit, but that is not unusual when you go to Disney! As we step in and order, the cast member remembers us from a few weeks ago. He recaps our story and tries to remember Tooti and Twinkie’s nicknames. This is always fun, today he tries to recall and calls them Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. We chuckle and compliment him on remembering our story of 365 at Disney. We get our drinks, then go to sit and enjoy the Dream Along with Mickey show in front of Cinderella’s Castle.

After we finish our coffees, we head toward the front of the park to ride the Walt Disney World Railroad! We watched and waited as they refurbished the train recently, so this is the first time we have ridden on it since the refurbishment! I am so excited! I love trains and we get to sit at the very back; that is usually full during really busy seasons, so it’s extra special today. Twinkie gets to ride on the very, very last seat! Soon we are off and chugging down the rails! We stop at the Frontierland Station where some people get off and new folks get on. Twinkie heard that the girl who made her Paperman Ears was in Fantasyland, so when we got around to that stop, we got off. She was able to say, “Hi!” and then we made our way to the front gates once again.

We were all a little hungry, so we decided we needed a Power Salad at Sunshine Seasons in Epcot. We hopped onto the Monorail and went back to the Ticket and Transportation Center, where we changed to the Epcot Monorail and were off to find some supper! We met a wonderful family on the Monorail and had a fun time talking and sharing a few tips. The dad was trying to convince his daughter that Spaceship Earth is really made out of chocolate; if you peel back the wrapper you can go up and take a bite… just be sure to put the wrapper back down, though! I like that idea! They were going to be at Disney for eight days. How much fun they will have these next few days! I am so excited for them! They were a really nice family.

We walked down the ramp from the Monorail and got our bags checked, scanned our MagicBands, and we were officially in Epcot! YAY! I love being here and seeing so many happy people. The crowds are thinner than they were during the Food and Wine Festival and it is really nice! As we walk to The Land, there are several people who need directions to various parts of the park. I am always glad to help them and shout, “Have fun!” I hope they have as much fun as we did on our first trip to Walt Disney World!

As we walk up to The Land, Twinkie reminds me that the building is in the shape of a volcano! Really? That is so cool. Also, the sidewalks up to the building are colored to represent hot lava and cooled lava flowing down from the volcano. Now, that is really cool. As we walk up, a couple asks if Soarin’ is near here. Tooti told them to enter, go to the right, take the escalator down, turn right at the bottom, and you can see the Soarin’ sign.

Soon, we are finished with supper and we are back outside going to see the Epcot Christmas Tree. It is beautiful.

After an afternoon and evening of walking in two parks, I think it is time to call it a day! I have met so many nice families whose children were so kind and smart! What a wonderful day!

Day 61- Epcot and Journey into Imagination with Figment

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This morning was overcast and cool, but this afternoon is warm, with a few clouds in the blue, sunny sky! We are heading to Epcot to see how it looks after the Food and Wine Festival, since it ended on Monday. We walk from our car to bag check, and soon we are in the gates. I love seeing all the smiling faces and the excitement of getting to be at Disney’s Epcot.

Instantly, we notice you can clearly see Epcot’s iconic Spaceship Earth!  The Festival signs are no longer there, and this area has all new flowers! That is a lot of planting.

It is lunchtime and Tooti suggests a Power Salad at Sunshine Seasons, Twinkie agrees! I love these and I love the truly quick service! Off to The Land pavilion, it is a good hike up a hill into the building. Once inside, you turn to the right and walk down to the escalator, which takes you to the bottom level, and if you continue around, you will find Sunshine Seasons. There is a great picture menu as you enter, and we choose to go to the salad section.

It is busy, but the lines move quickly, and we all three order the Power Salad. It is so nice to have a quick service restaurant here with a great selection of gluten free options. Usually one of us orders the half chicken with yellow rice and black beans; it is gluten free (but please, do let them know if you have an allergy just to be on the safe side). Really, I cannot express how wonderful it is to have really delicious food at a quick service location! Sunshine Seasons is a great place to eat, and one of our favorite quick service restaurants. We enjoyed our wonderful lunch break.

Power salad!

Next, we have a FastPass+ to Journey into Imagination with Figment! I have been on this ride several times and it is so much fun, especially for kids! After the ride ends, there are plenty of interactive activities in the ImageWorks lab! This is definitely a fun place to explore with little ones.

We enjoy all of the beautiful palm trees; the birds of paradise are in full bloom, and the tall, tropical plantings look amazing. I love the beautiful landscaping that you can enjoy as you walk around the park.

It is perfectly busy and fun to be at Epcot! I thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful, warm day!

Day 57- Big Bad Voodoo Daddy at Epcot & Building Homes for Veterans

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Today is cool and the high is almost 70 degrees! It is overcast and perfect for the last day of the Food and Wine Festival. The band for tonight’s Eat to the Beat Concert is Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

As we arrive, we see it has just rained, and we are on the far end of our row for parking. That makes it good for finding our car later, and since we are at the very end of the row, we decide to walk. From where we are parked, the walk to the Epcot entrance is about the same as the walk down the row to catch the tram. Those are some really long parking rows! I enjoy our walk and we get to the gate in about 10 minutes.

We get our bags checked, scan our MagicBands, and I see all of the excited faces of first time visitors to Epcot. Their smiles are always amazing, it reminds me of our first days at Epcot! Everyone is full of excitement, ready to explore all that Epcot holds within its dreamy borders. I see a lady sitting in front of one of the Food and Wine signs; her husband is taking a picture, so I ask if he would like to be in the picture. She begins talking to him in another language, and soon he agrees, thanks me and sits by his beautiful wife. 1, 2, 3, smile! They laugh and thank us for their picture. I love getting to help.

Now, I am checking to see if the Friendship boat is at this port near Mexico at the World Showcase Plaza. Yes, it is! I ask if they are still boarding, the First Mate looks at us, chuckles, and says that they are! Do I look too happy and excited to get to cross the World Showcase Lagoon on the boat? We go aboard and it is mostly full. Soon we are off, crossing over to Germany. As we are docking the boat, I see that they are letting people in for seating at the American Gardens Theater for the concert. Oh, my, it is so very crowded as we cross through Italy. I love Italy!

People are still being seated as we walk to the back of the theater and wait for the ropes to drop. We sit fairly close and have a great view. We waited to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy until tonight, the last night of the Food and Wine Festival, in hopes that the crowds would be less on a Monday. And, sure enough, the crowds are perfect at the concert.

The first song is finished, and the announcer comes on stage to honor our veterans. He calls for those who have served to stand and the audience explodes with cheers and clapping as we look around at so many people who have sacrificed and served our great country. Then, he announces that they are giving two military families their own mortgage-free homes. It is the coolest thing to see as the families come on stage and are given the homes from Building Homes for Heroes.

The concert was a blast and listening to the music is almost like stepping back in time!

After the concert, Twinkie and I get a Kaki Gori to eat on the way to France. Oh, it is getting really chilly and this shaved ice is so cold! But, they are so good that it is worth being extra cold on this chilly night!

We go to Guerlain and find they have a new perfume called French Kiss. It is so perfect, so soft, and so on my Christmas list! Our friend is working tonight; she is an amazing lady, always so positive and encouraging when we get to talk. She was asking how our move is going and how wonderful God is when he moves us into the right place. I love her friendship so much! We hug and say our goodbyes for now.

We make our way back through France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and to the front gates. The breeze is perfect and I am glad we brought our warm jackets as we walk to our car. What a fun, chilly evening!

Day 53- Epcot

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This evening is beautiful as we arrive at Epcot. There are quite a few people arriving late this evening.

We are getting to Disney late today because we got to go and see a Steve Harvey Show taping! He is in Orlando this week and we got to be a part of the audience for the taping of the Steve Harvey Show! We arrived at 11:30am for the 3pm taping. A staff member let us know that being in line early did not make a difference in where we would be sitting, so feel free to go and enjoy lunch or something until 1pm. We got coffee and sat in a really cool Starbucks.

We get back to the check-in at 1pm and the line is very long. It was moving fast; soon we had our bag checked and were admitted into The Groove to wait to be seated.

At 3pm we were called by the numbers on our tickets and were seated. Then, we got rearranged and ended up on the end of a row. We could see Steve Harvey really well and totally enjoyed the taping! Being there was so much fun and it was so exciting to see an icon of our time!! We left at about 5pm and started the drive to Disney’s Epcot Park!

There is a line for bag check and then a line to scan our MagicBands. We are here for supper and I didn’t make reservations ahead of time, so, we chose to go to Sunshine Seasons in The Land. They have great walk-up food stations with a good variety with several gluten free choices. The chef is called and comes out quickly to let us know that our Power Salad is perfectly fine as a gluten free choice.

We enjoy our time eating, and watching how many people there are in this area.

Time to eat!
Cheese!
Yummy Power Salad disappeared!

It is getting dark earlier tonight and it is so pretty with the full moon. Twinkie stopped to look at pins, and we had a nice chat with the cast member.

What a fun day!!

Day 50- Akershus Royal Banquet Hall at Epcot

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Today is a sunny day in Florida! Disney’s Epcot parking lot is busy… Oh, look! We are on the very last row, facing away from the other cars! I didn’t even know this row was here! 😀 The parking attendants are alternating, parking cars to the left, and we are to the right!

Now, we cross over to the front of the line of cars, and walk to the tram! We are seated and the family behind us is chatting about their grandson, who decided to walk to the entrance. The dad said that his son thinks he can make it to the front before we make it on the tram. So, I just had to say, “It’s a race!” They chuckled. We watched as we got closer and yes, we won! It was a close race, though; the grandson was about to cross the road and had to stop to let the tram pass, just as we turned. I love hearing fun things like this happening!

We are celebrating our 50th day in a row at Disney! This is a day to celebrate with the Disney Princesses at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Norway!  We get to Norway and have a little while to wait, so we go to the Frozen inspired Norsk Kultur Gallery, shop in the Norway shops, and then sit for a minute to enjoy the cool breeze.

Now, we are right on time to get checked in and get in line. It is just a few minutes, and we are called to enter into the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. We are escorted to get our photo with Belle. She is so beautiful.

We are seated, and soon the chef comes out to let us know what not to eat on the banquet’s “cold buffet.” Our gluten free dinners are ordered and we soon have our first pictures with the princesses at our table.

Menu
The “cold” buffet
Lots of great foods and cheeses!
Norwegian Meatballs
Roast Beef Sandwich and warm potato salad
Salmon and salted cod potatoes

Our first princess picture is with Cinderella. She is an absolutely beautiful princess and so kind. Quickly, Aurora was chatting with us. She was so cute as she talked with us and took our pictures with her. Then, Ariel was asking us how we liked walking on our legs today. Aren’t legs absolutely wonderful? We giggled and had our pictures taken with her! To my surprise, the most beautiful Snow White touched my shoulder and began asking Twinkie, “Did the bluebirds do your hair today, too?” So cute! What a wonderful experience to get to meet so many princesses today! As we enjoyed a wonderful celebration, our photo with Belle was delivered to our table.

After we finished our delightful meal, we were back on the walkway around the World Showcase, and chatted about how much fun it was to meet all of these princesses. In no time, we were exiting through the front gates. The tram ride was quick and we recognized the driver. Now, we will easily find our car on the last row of the parking lot! 😀

The sky is so blue, with pretty white clouds on this mid-70-degree day! What a fun way to celebrate the 50th day of our 365 at Disney journey.

Day 49- Epcot: La Hacienda de San Angel, Canadian Lumberjack Show & Spaceship Earth

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Happy Sunday Morning! It is cool and breezy on this sunny day, so we threw on our ugly sweaters and headed for Epcot!

We arrive at the park and ride the tram to the front gates, check in at bag check, scan our MagicBands, and head for Mexico! We have lunch reservations at La Hacienda de San Angel. We are seated quickly and look at the menu. Tooti has been talking about the Queso Fundido cheese dish at La Hacienda de San Angel. We are served chips and 2 salsas, the red one is hot, and the green one is not. Soon, we have our tacos and Queso Fundido, gluten free. It is a nice lunch.

There is a concert tonight with 38 Special. I was not the right age for this group, but the concert is packed out with people standing along the edges! We took a minute to listen and see the huge amount of people watching. Already, the line for the next show is growing.

Our next stop is the UK Pavilion for a Chai, and next-door is the Canadian Lumberjack Show! I have tried for a couple of weeks to be here at the right time to get to see them. It is a great show, and very fun! At the close of the show, they said they are going to be available for handshakes and pictures. The kids got a picture with them!

Next, we have a FastPass+ for Spaceship Earth! It is a very chilly walk, and I am so glad that the ride is much warmer inside. I really like Spaceship Earth and the story of how communication began and transformed over the years. Then, near the end of the ride, they put together a little video specific to you and your choices to the multiple-choice questions they ask. It is really cute and fun.

Now we are off to the front gates, it is dark and even cooler outside. The tram is very full, to the point the tram attendant said, “We are full, so full that I have to say there is no more boarding, since there is no more room.” I agree, we have 3 of us already in out row, and then a very tall, large couple got on our row, and kept scooting us over. I put my arm behind Twinkie, and the lady kept pushing me over, saying, “Excuse me!!!” I had to not laugh, there was room for 1.33 of them and they were 2+. We kept ooching over until they both fit. If I had the breath to chuckle, I would have. I did enjoy the family behind me, and I had to tell the grandmother, “I love your accent!!!” She was bashful and said, “It is not much of one,” in a very thick British accent, “It is not very good, not very sophisticated.” I said, “I am from Texas and this is what I have!” She laughed so hard, “Texas?” “Yes, but we moved down here in the summer!” “Oh, so you are living the dream!” she said. We laughed and then it was time to disembark! We all shouted, “Have a wonderful evening!” and we were off to walk to our cars. Nice to be in the warm car on a cool day!