December 7
December 8
December 9
December 10
December 11
Monday was EPCOT day (after sleeping in and eating another Perkins breakfast).
We took basically the same route from the hotel that we did on Saturday (for Downtown Disney), but missed one turn and took an interesting side trip through the countryside. We also missed a turn closer to EPCOT, but I blame the Disney buses for that one. The signs telling about the turns are tastefully low and on the side of the road. When you’re traveling next to big bus, you can’t read them in time. They should put more of them overhead...
We finally made it. The parking lot wasn’t very full, so we kept walking past the trams and walked all the way to the main gate. We almost beat the tram there... Ticket prices are now officially outrageous. This will probably be our last time to pay for theme park entrance, sad to say.
Either we're getting jaded or the place has really gone downhill in the last few years. It was okay, but definitely not worth $71 each for the day. Probably our last time there (unless we get comp tickets somehow).
Spaceship Earth is being renovated - wonder what they’ll put in there? It was one of my favorite rides in the Future World section of the park.
We walked over towards the newest ride in the park (Soaring), debating whether we had ever ridden it before (we had - last year). The sign outside said that the line was 55 minutes long, so we kept on walking. We decided to circle the lagoon in a clockwise direction instead of our usual counter-clockwise direction, stopping when something caught our eyes.
The photo on the left above shows some of the Christmas decorations I found on the side of one of the shops located where the two "worlds" of EPCOT join. The center photo is a close up of the decorations on the street lamps in "Norway". The photo on the right shows some of the wonderful waterlilies in front of the main pavillion in "China".
The two photos above were taken in the Germany section of EPCOT. The photo on the left is a close up of the Christmas tree in Germany, featuring gingerbread men and strings of red beads. The photo on the right shows the glockenspiel in Germany's courtyard decorated for Christmas.
We had planned to stop at the Outpost to pick up some apples for lunch, but the fruit stand wasn’t there any more. We wound up getting lunch at the American pavilion. We ate healthily (veggie wrap with apple slices), but it was still a frustrating meal. For some reason, they lost Carl’s order and had to reconstruct it after realizing that he had been standing at the pickup counter for a long time and others behind him had already been served. And there was a noisy bunch of school kids that settled on all sides of us while we were eating.
The three photos above show different details of the life sized gingerbread house on display in the American pavillion.
The photos to the left and center above show the Kodo drummers that were performing in Japan. The photo on the right shows England's Father Christmas.
After finding Father Christmas in England, we walked over to the Rose and Thorn for Bottingers. It was crowded, so we got the beers to go and sat out front nursing them. About the time we finished, we saw the thespians setting up for one of their audience participation plays about King Arthur and the Holy Grail, so we wandered over to watch. Carl got tapped as King Arthur....
The three photos above were taken during the sketch. The one on the left shows Carl laughing when being told just what he is supposed to say and do whenever his name is mentioned. The center photo shows him doing his little dance. The photo to the right has Carl listening to the main actors as the story unfolds. The gentleman to Carl's left (with the yellow vest with a G on it) is another audience participant. The remaining three are the paid actors.
Continuing our story... The photo on the left above shows Carl mugging for the camera during the play. The center photo shows everyone really cracked up about something "Galahad" did or said. The photo on the right shows King Arthur brandishing the Holy Grail and saluting the public with it. The audience member picked to play the wizard is the lady in pink to the left of this photo.
The photo to the left is the final play photo. It shows Carl and his fellow audience members taking their bows and accepting the applause.
On to Canada and a performance by Out of Kilter. The band wore kilts and the lead alternated between bagpipes and an Irish whistle. Never heard rock tunes or Christmas carols (jazzed up) on bagpipes before. Interesting.... And the storyteller in Canada was a friend of Kelly’s. She had asked us to say hi for her, so, once the picture taking line had dwindled down, we went up and said “Kelly says to say hi” and he knew immediately who we were talking about! We chatted for a while until it was time for him to go in.
The three photos above were taken as twilight started. The one on the left shows Spaceship Earth and the monorail reflected in one of the many little bodies of water scattered around the park. The center photo shows a monorail train zipping along its track, reflected in the water. The one on the right shows EPCOT's Christmas tree and some of the framework for the decorations reflected in the water.
The two photos above show the Upside Down Waterfall (located near the Journey into Imagination building) lit for night viewing.
The photo on the left above shows the monorail and Christmas tree reflected in the water. The center shows the lit Christmas tree and other lights as viewed from across the water. The photo on the right is almost the same as the one on the left, but was taken after the tree was lit and has the lights reflecting in the water.
The photo on the left above shows the EPCOT Christmas tree reflected in the water. The center photo shows the main EPCOT Christmas decorations and tree. The photo on the right is a closer view of the EPCOT Christmas tree.
We stayed for the lighting of the large tree and some night photography, including this view (right) of Spaceship Earth and the large fountain in front of it, then headed for the kids' house for take-out Chinese and a round of Scene It. I can’t remember who won, but it was a fun game. I think we had as much fun discussing the movies mentioned as playing the game. When the game was over, we called up some of the tie breakers and spent some time working on them. The last one took almost an hour and a half before we started coming up dry - name movies with a character’s name in the title (like Forest Gump, Mary Poppins, etc.) Before we realized it, it was 1 am!!! We said good night and headed back to the motel.