What are we celebrating? Everthing! A January 2018 Trip Report - THE END - New TR link added

Our next stop in the World Showcase was back in the land of good ole' USA. There was one thing I wanted to see at the American Adventure and that was the Voices of Liberty. I had seen several You Tube videos of the group and really wanted to hear them live and in person. When we got there, the group had just started their set, so we hung in the back and watched. As expected, they were fantastic.

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The auditorium was just so pretty. After the singing, we were asked if we wanted to see the show. It was warm in there, and I had some grapes left over from lunch, so yeah, let's see a movie. We went up the elevator and into the theater. There was about a 10 minute wait for the movie to start, so we ate our snacks and enjoyed the warm room and nice scenery.

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I enjoyed the movie, but honestly I like Hall of Presidents better.

Time to pick up the pace now because the sun was setting and we still had half the world to see. So to save some time, we opted to say "ooh" and "aah" at the different buildings, snap some pictures and we moved on. First was Italy.


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And then zip zip zip, we were in Germany.

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This is exactly why you need two days in EPCOT. There's just not enough time in one day.

Up next - the rest of the world showcase, dinner and a rocket launch.
 
That's a lovely, cozy picture in front of the fountain!
Have you ever tried an item or two at the French bakery? Delightful...

We did not stop at the bakery. It's on my mental list for next time. The list is getting longer as I type this up and realize how much we didn't get to do.

I always say that I'm going to stop for one of those adult slushies but so far have not followed through. It looks so good, though!

Oh girl, you must stop for the slushie. Totally worth it.

Great to read another update. Hope you are on the mend now, illness who needs it....

I love walking round the world showcase, and that slushie looks delicious. I'm surprised you didn't indulge in one of those lovely buns from the patisserie in France, we always seem to stop there!!

Yeah, there's a lot of eating in the world showcase we didn't do. Next time I'm thinking no lunch and just snacking. It would be the only way to use up all the snack credits we didn't use at the end of the trip.

Just found your trip report and read all of it. Really enjoying it so far. Can't wait to read more.

Thanks for joining in the madness!! There is more story to tell.
 


When I started writing this, I had no idea it would take so long to come together. It never occurred to me that life would get in the way of my trip reporting. I hope my readers are still with me! Let's press on with the rest of the World Showcase.

When we last left off, Tony and I were scooting around the rest of the countries, just to be able to say "we were there". It was absolutely not how I wanted to see the rest of WS, but time - and day light - was working against us. I did manage to snap a few pictures to prove that we were actually there.

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The sun was really getting low at this point and of course, it was getting colder out. We decided to head over to Japan to check in early for our dining reservation and just look around their huge stores. I felt very bad for the hostess ladies who were standing outside checking people in. There has to be a better system when it is cold. We checked in and looked around the store. There was a lot of really interesting stuff there. So let me set the scene. I'm looking around and Tony is off looking at whatever, when he comes back to me and exclaims that he has found something that he wants to bring home. He asks me to follow him. And I do, because it seems like an adventure. We go past the pearl section and for just one tiny second, I thought he was going to buy me jewelry. Nope, moved past that. Saw some pretty flags and wall hangings and I thought, oh something nice for the house. Nope, moved past that too.

Any guesses what he had his eye on?

Nobody?

He wanted a sword. A big shiny Samari sword.

So I asked why he needed something like this and his reply was to protect me from Ninjas. Hard to argue with that logic honey, but if I cannot bring home a giraffe, then the sword stays in the store. A few minutes later our pager went off and we headed upstairs to Tokyo Dining for dinner.

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Both restaurants are upstairs from the shop, which is downstairs. We were taken thru the main dining room to the back corner, where we had the most fabulous view (this is not my picture).

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The dining area was only about half full and if we wanted to see Illuminations, our dining spot would have been perfect. Our choice of this dining option was our love of all things sushi. Although appetizers are not included in the dining plan, we started with "Uramaki - California Roll - inside out roll. 8 pieces. crab meat, avocado, cucumber, smelt roe and Japanese mayonnaise".

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Tony's entrée was "Lobster Tempura - lobster and vegetables with cheese fondue".

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And I got "Shrimp and Crab Tempura - lightly fried seafood and vegetables with flavored sea salts".

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The entree's were good, but we really should have gotten the Bento Box. It was a variety of so many different things. Unfortunately we did not notice it on the menu, but saw a neighboring table have it and regretted not getting it. The sushi was delicious and we were full and took a hard pass on dessert.

After we left the restaurant, the weather had gotten even colder and I couldn't convince Tony to stay for Illuminations. This really bummed me out because I had never seen it before. But it would have been at least an hour wait and that was a little more than he could handle. So we made the long journey back towards Future World and to the busses. We were close to the international gateway bridge where we saw several people randomly looking up at the sky. So I asked what they were looking at and they said that a launch was getting ready to go off from Kennedy Space Center and we should be able to see something. And sure enough, just a few minutes later we saw what looked like a shooting star and then a tiny fireworks explosion. It was pretty neat to see.

It was a long EPCOT day, so we were glad to get back to the resort, fill our mugs and head to the room. The next day was our last park day - back to Magic Kingdom.
 
I just love the Voices of Liberty! We saw them at Christmas time and they sang some holiday songs!

Despite the holiday décor that was still up, they didn't sing any holiday songs. But that was okay, because to be honest, by that point, I was really done with all the holiday festiveness.
Thanks for the train photo in Germany. When DS was small, we spent many minutes there.:thanks:

We spent a few minutes looking at it. There is just so much to see.
 


I'm still reading along! You completed one of my bucket items - viewing a rocket launch! My family and I tried to see one a few years ago but it was scrubbed.

Also, I can't blame anyone for wanting gift shop items. It all seems like such a good idea when you are there...
 
BIG BIG BIG NEWS

So remember several pages back when I said that we were going back to Disney in April, 2019???

Well I got a unique offer code in the mail.

Guess who's going back to Disney in 7 weeks?

And arriving on July 4th?

I'll give you a minute to try and guess.

Enter Jeopardy music.

I know!!! It's us!!! I'm so excited. Two trips in one year. And then again next April.

I'll continue the trip report more tomorrow. I just had to share in my joy.
 
Well I tried four times yesterday to put in an update and got kicked out every time. Let's see if I can get it back up today!

I'm very excited about our upcoming trip in less than seven weeks. It is motivating me to get this one wrapped up. When we last left off, we were waking up to our last full park day. We were headed back to the Magic Kingdom. It did not seem to be as cold today. I didn't even bring a sweater with me. Of course Tony had all of his cold weather gear with him, but it was not needed for the majority of the day. When we got to the Magic Kingdom, I really wanted to get some more Photo Pass pictures in front of the castle. Can you hear Tony grumble? I gave him my super duper sad puppy dog eyes and promised this was the last day of non-stop pictures. So I got a half smile.


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Thanks for watching over us Walt - we've had a great time.

After pictures we headed to our first destination of the morning - breakfast at Be Our Guest. I was happy for a breakfast reservation since it was a counter service credit only and it would allow us to see inside the mysterious castle of the beast! We checked in at the first gate and were ushered up to the second gate. Our breakfast was pre-ordered (this was a huge time saving move), so they confirmed our order, gave us a rose and told us to find a seat anywhere. We decided to go to the furthest room to the right.


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It was pretty dimly light, so the pictures were not fabulous, but it was so pretty inside. We got a table, got our beverages and utensils and waited on the food. Each breakfast meal starts with pastry.

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They were fresh - pretty much what you can get at your local bakery or Panera. My order was Feast a la Gaston - Scrambled Eggs, Roasted Potatoes, Bacon, and Chicken Sausage served with Fresh Fruit and Tony got Assorted Cured Meats and Cheese - Alpine-smoked ham, Serrano Ham, Sopressata, and Cheese with Marmalade, Fresh Fruit, Toasted Baguette.

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So let me be honest. I was disappointed in the food. It was just average. And if I had been paying out of pocket, I would have been disappointed and irritated. BOG is a one and done for me. I saw the inside, which was the draw for me. And of course afterwards, we had to pose for a picture. Yes, I torture my husband. Tee hee hee.

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We actually didn't have a lot of plans for this day. We obviously had some fast passes, but I wanted to spend time just wandering around and doing whatever seemed interesting. And then out of the corner of my eye I spied the most wonderful thing - a relatively short line to meet Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. I told Tony he didn't have to wait in line with me, I would do this one myself. But friends, I have the sweetest husband and he decided to stand in line with me. The line - while not too long - moved pretty slowly. And all of a sudden, the sadness and grief that I had kept bottled down the entire trip just got to me. Mom absolutely loved Pooh Bear and Tigger. We were in line to meet them. We had been having tons of fun all week long. And mom wasn't with us. So I started to cry. Not big gloppy tears, but I was upset. So I started texting my BFF who helped calm me down and I was able to pull it together. Because after I calmed down I realized that mom wouldn't want me to be upset. I was - and am - a very lucky woman to have had such a great mom. Even though she loved Tony way more than she loved me. He was her "favorite son-in-law".

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Up next - I cried again - but for an entirely different reason.
 
I'm still reading along! You completed one of my bucket items - viewing a rocket launch! My family and I tried to see one a few years ago but it was scrubbed.

Also, I can't blame anyone for wanting gift shop items. It all seems like such a good idea when you are there...

The launch was cool to see. I'm glad the folks on the bridge told us about it.

I'm all about a good gift shop buy - but a sword?? If I cannot get a giraffe, he cannot get a sword.


I don't comment much, but still reading along!

Glad you're here!!!

I found your report and have been enjoying reading along!

Thanks for hanging out with me!

The tempura and sushi look yummy. Rocket launch - how exciting! That would have been so fun to see.

The food was good. The launch was pretty cool.

Your dinners look delicious! We've never tried Tokyo Dining- we've eaten at Teppan Edo a couple of times.

We did Teppan Edo the last time we visited. Also good and of course, entertaining.

Wow! :yay: Are you beyond happy? What a nice treat!:jumping1:
Can you share any details?

July 4-9 staying at All Star Music. Four park days only and one day at Disney Springs. I am so excited. We did our dining and FP+ last night.

Congrats! So, so happy for you guys!!!! Do we get to look forward to another trip report from you?! : )

I will probably not do a pre-trip report since the planning was quick and painless. I'll probably add on the details at the end of this report and start a brand new one when we get home.

You must be addicted! Great news, where are you staying? :cheer2:

All-Star Music - I like the value resorts

Congratulations on the code. Any trip to Disney is worth celebrating but being able to go a little cheaper is :woohoo:

I stared at the e-mail with the code for a week before I clicked on it. After that, there was no stopping me! Tony always gets a little worried when I call him and say "honey I have an idea"!

Great news on the Bonus trip!! Can't wait to hear the details!!

July 4-9 at All-Star Movies. Bring on the warm weather!
 

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