Thursday

We weren’t in a hurry to get up, but we managed to be at Epcot by 11:15 or so.  We had 12pm reservations at San Angel Restaurante, which is inside the Aztec pyramid. 

I had eaten there *cough* *cough* 19 *ahem* years ago with Kathy and another girl from high school when we were there with our marching band.  Anyway, it was as cool as I remembered it.  And the food was really good.  I had a chicken ensalada bowl, which had avocados, cactus strips, and a yummy dressing on it.  Then I had flan for dessert.  Everyone else’s meal was good, too.  The girls loved the atmosphere of the place.

After dinner, we rode the boat there in Mexico. It wasn’t thrilling, but it was okay.  After lunch, we headed to see how long the wait would be for Soarin’ or if we could get Fast Passes.  The wait was long, and the Fast Pass was for 6:30. 

We spent a lot of time wandering today, and that was frustrating.  Eventually, we saw “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience,” which was cute, but not as good as the bug show.  The girls, Craig, and I rode Mission: Space, and that was really neat!  I would’ve liked to have done the more challenging training mission, but Katie wasn’t sure she could do it.  Sarah either.  We stood in line for the girls to get signatures from and pictures taken with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, and Goofy.  Then we took a boat ride across the lake and started in Germany, working our way toward the front gate.  (We missed a little less than one half of the loop that way.) 

Morocco remains one of my favorite spots.  I’m not sure why, but I just like the feel and smell of it.  The mosaic fountains are beautiful. 

We ended up eating in France, which was another quick service meal that was fantastic!  I had a ham and cheese quiche and a raspberry schuss.  (YUM!)  The girls had croissants, which were good. 

I enjoyed the UK, too, but we bypassed Canada.  We were all feeling really tired and footsore by then. 

(Sarah wasn't with me at this point, so I only have pictures of Katie in the UK.)

We made it back to the hotel, and I’ve been typing this and downloading pics while Judyan, Craig, and the girls went swimming.  I’m done for the day!

Friday

Today we went back to the Magic Kingdom, this time a little more focused.  We went directly to Tomorrowland and got our fast passes for Space Mountain.  Then we rode on the transport ride to get an overview of Tomorrowland. 

Craig, Sarah, and Mom waited in line for Buzz Lightyear’s ride, while Katie and I went to the Carousel of Progress.  (It was getting too hot to stand in line for long periods of time.) 

Here is a cute ducky that was outside the Carousel of Progress:

Craig, Judyan, and Sarah said they had a good time; Katie and I had a good time, despite getting stuck on the Carousel of Progress!  (It was the Carousel of Non-Progress.)  We had to listen to the 1920s twice.  It was actually kind of funny but had the makings of a horror movie.

(Speaking of which, this whole Disney thing has all the trappings of a serious sci-fi B movie.  I mean, the employees are all very cheerful.  Everything is done very efficiently.  Everything has been thought of.  It’s just kind of creepy really.  Do they drug their employees to make them all happy?  Do the employees actually turn into flesh-eating zombies at night?  Do park guests occasionally get taken hostage during “It’s a Small World” and are then forced to dress up as the creepy dolls?  Are the employees all really animatronic robots bent on world domination?  Do people enter the Haunted Mansion and never leave?  Is Space Mountain actually that thing from Logan’s Run that zapped the people when it was their turn to die?)

These things go through my mind, but then I am seriously corrupted by Mystery Science Theatre.

ANYWAY...!

After that, we rode the Indy Speedway cars...

and then the Mad Tea Party teacups (without barfing, though Mom came close). 

By that time, it was time for Space Mountain, and Craig and the girls bravely rode it while Mom and I bravely stood by and saw them off.

We then said goodbye to Tomorrowland and journeyed to the Plaza Restaurant where we had a late lunch.  It was really good! And we had a lovely view of the castle and the parade that was going down Main Street.   (All while sitting in a comfy chair in the nice air-conditioning!)

When we were done stuffing our faces with our yummy ice cream desserts, we waddled…er, walked over to Adventureland where we rode the Jungle Safari boats for their silly cruise.  It was silly, but nice.

When we got off the boat, we decided to hit one more roller coaster.  At first, we were going to go on Splash Mountain, but the wait was too long.  So we decided to try for Thunder Mountain Railroad.  Before getting in line, we all decided one more trip to the bathroom was a good idea.  In the meantime, the wait time for Splash Mountain decreased by an hour, and we decided to do that after all.  We still waited for a good bit of time, but it was fun.  I managed to avoid getting seriously wet.  No one else cared whether they got wet or not.

By this time, it was getting close to park closing time, so we got on the railroad that takes you around the entire park and headed back to the entrance.  It was a fun train ride, too.

More swimming for the others and more picture downloading and writing for me.  We had a good dinner here at the resort and now we’re all heading to bed.

Oh, two final things.  We had some skywriting a couple of days.  The first day the skywriter wrote this:

(Love God)


And the next day:


(You can barely see it.  It was a smiley face and Jesus Loves U!)