The J. Thalman Family: Oh, how I love thee - EPCOT! Day 5

Epcot is probably my absolute favorite Disney spot. I seriously loooove it! Maybe because it feels like "safe travel" - everyone does speak English, you know, albeit a bit broken up sometimes. I guess is goes with the explorer part of my personality, I would travel to each country for real, if possible . . . maybe someday. Anyway, I was so excited for this day to come. Honestly, the kids really did enjoy it as well, I think I had prepped them enough on the fact that it is not all about rides at this park, so they were pretty much okay. Oh, and I must not forget that it has my FAVORITE Disney restaurant - one of my favorite all - time, anywhere restaurants - Le Cellier in the Canadian Pavilion.

Jared and Jake by the Epcot entrance - the big silver ball. Maybe this is why Jared hurt his back so badly - Jake was like 60 lbs. He looks excited though, right? (Don't worry, it didn't last long. :))

One of the best parts of Disney at Christmastime, is the fun decor that they have - Jaxon liked this Pluto with his doghouse. I liked that it was surrounded by poinsettias. The only signs of winter that are visible are when you look at the trees and they have no leaves. Disney hides it well. However, this day was probably our warmest - we all wore shorts and short-sleeve shirts. Perfect. (Jaxon wore his BYU shirt a couple days, it was interesting that we saw a few other people there with BYU apparel).

So, entering we knew we had to get fastpasses to "Soarin" quickly. (In Dland, it is called "Soarin' over California," in Dworld it is just called, "Soarin'" - it is exactly the same ride). The fastpasses here go super quickly, like within an hour. We also wanted to get on "Test Track" first thing. So, most of us headed there, while someone (Gma or Gpa) went to get fastpasses for "Soarin." Unfortunately, the line for Test Track was sooo long - maybe our longest line - which is weird, I don't even think it is that great of a ride. Too informative, maybe - really, who wants to learn something while on a ride? Not me. The best part is when you go really fast - I like that part. And, there is a cold section that I usually love when it is hot outside - this time not as much of a thrill. Anyway, after that ride, we decided to go over to "Ellen's Universe of Energy." Last time Jared and I went to Florida, we got to see an "Ellen" taping at Universal - it was so fun, I even danced with her. I find her quite humorous. Anyway, we hurried in there, it is kind of a long attraction, older, but I still love it. I am a bit nostalgic, however, and I do remember this ride for as long as I can remember. Somehow, all of us got separated from Gpa and Gma. Oh, and how could I forget!, Sara came on this day. It was so fun to have her there - Ry was still with us for a few more days as well.

So, there are Ry, Sar, and Jaxon coming out of Ellen's show. Mom got this picture and I am so glad she did. It is the only picture we have of the strollers. There are lines of strollers everywhere - outside of every single attraction. And, we spent a good part of everyday getting our strollers back, parking the strollers, getting out of the strollers, and in, etc. We had 2 this day. I decided that these days were getting long and Jainie was ornery because Jake kept "stealing her stroller," so I rented one for Jake, Josh, and Josie to share. Everyone likes to sit awhile, right? Jake ended up using it 98% of the time though.

I won't bother giving a play by play of each ride we went on and when for the most part, I wouldn't be able to keep it straight at this point anyway, but I will add in things when I can. That being said, next we went to "Mission: Space" - uugghhh! Not one of my favorites - I am a little too claustrophobic - plus, I don't care what the cast members say, I can feel it spinning . . . spinning . . . spinning (that is how I show an echo). You can decide if you want to go on the spinning side or the non-spinning side. This time, the line was longer on the non-spinning side. Jainie and I didn't care, we were going non-spinning. Until, everyone else lined up for the spinning side, so we acquiesced and went with them. Then, the best part (imagine sarcasm) was that somehow Jake, Jainie and I all got to go together, with no one else. WHAT!?! Keep in mind that I do get sick on this ride and almost lose it every time (meaning throw-up). Jake doesn't do too well and Jainie doesn't do well at all. But, we made the best of it. None of us liked the ride too much, I swear I couldn't breathe - I couldn't wait to get off. Although, I am glad I went, you know, the experience. No one wanted to go back on that ride however.

After this, we decided it was about time to head over to World Showcase. But, first, we wanted to stop in one of the Innoventions and pick up a "Kim Possible" cell phone. We didn't get to spend much time in Innoventions, but decided to come back later. So, we got our K.P. cell - "Kimmunicators" and headed off. Our K.P. mission started in Norway, so we decided to head there first.

This is Josie in front of the Vikings exhibit. I love how all the buildings are unique to each country they represent - the architecture, I mean.

This is where we get our yummy Norwegian desserts - School bread, danishes, lefse, cloudberry horns, and sweet pretzels. My favorite is the school bread. Anyway, I thought it was so great how they had grass on the roof. Underneath is where we sat to eat our treats - there was even a sprinkler up there! Ah, the ingenuity. I want grass on my roof - can you imagine a better place to sunbathe? Unless you have a steep roof, then you'd fall asleep and roll - that wouldn't be good.

Jaxon and fierce Nordic viking!

Oh, and did I mention the best ride in World Showcase is here - in Norway? So, we also went on that, it is called Maelstrom, there we see Vikings, trolls, waterfalls, and stormy seas. I used to go several times a day during trips when I was younger. I loved it! It is the most exciting ride in W.S. It could probably do with a little update. Ah, but I miss it!

We did get our K.P. mission plan here, but it sent us somewhere halfway around the world (heehee) so that was about all we did with it this day. In fact, we forgot we had it and took it home with us. We did bring it back the next day - the staff was grateful - but not that grateful, I think it must happen a lot. I wonder if they charge you for it or something? I guess I'll never know.

So, Le Cellier is like the hardest spot to get a reservation at in Dworld - it and Cinderella's Castle - which is a wonderful experience as well. Anyway, you seriously have to book 180 days in advance and be on the phone as soon as they open the lines for the exact day you want. Other than that, you can hope for a cancellation, but they are very rare, especially for so many people - there were 11 of us. Anyway, I tried to get ressie's when we decided things permanently - which was only a month and a half"ish" out. Luckily, most restaurants had half of the restaurant reserved for "Candlelight Processional" priority seating customers. That basically means that half of the restaurant wasn't full yet, you can only book those on a certain day, which was about a month before we went. Then, you get the reservation, priority seating at the Candlelight Processional (will explain more later) and priority seating at the firework show, Illuminations - Reflections of Earth. To get these elite ressies, I was on the phone at 4:00 am one morning, I laid on the couch and redialed for over an hour before someone finally picked up! Hallelujah! And, then it was perfect - they had Le Cellier and on the day and time I wanted. Unfortunately, my phone person wasn't fast enough, so we lost it! AHH! Luckily, she found something else a day earlier and a different time, but I was happy. I couldn't believe it - she said I was about the last one for Le Cellier total - the whole time in December! Wow! Am I lucky! Too bad my kids didn't fully appreciate the toil and turmoil I had gone to to get these reservations! Anyway, our reservations for lunch were at 2:00 and we were supposed to arrive 1/2 hour early, so we headed toward Canada.

On our way, we passed Mexico and these guys were out singing - it was beautiful! As they were leaving, they saw Josie and Jainie, who both had Birthday buttons on, and serenaded them with their own "Happy Birthday" song. It was darling! I hope they will remember it always, they really were great singers - I was hoping they had some sort of CD available in the Mexico pavilion - but I didn't see one. Which reminds me, we went in the Mexico pyramid - Chitzen Itza? at this time, and went on their new ride - well, new to us. It was really fun - the 3 Caballeros took us on a gondola ride. We didn't get to spend much time there, unfortunately, I really like Mexico - we never got back there either. Still feel bad about that. It will have to be my first stop next time!

So, when we got to Canada, they gave us a beeper for when they were ready for us. We had to stay close, so we'll just say we had quite awhile to explore everything about Canada except the shopping and the movie, "O Canada." Here, Josie and I were trying to admire the cool waterfalls and rock sculptures that they have. You can tell Jake has had his limit - always, however, he did get in the picture. :)

Every country has a Kidcot Fun Stop where kids can sit and color their bear - can't remember his name - apparently he traveled to the USA from Paris Disney, where he is really popular? I have never heard of him. Anyway, and you'd get a stamp from each country. Luckily, these 3 found this very entertaining for quite awhile.

I love this picture of Grandpa and Joshua enjoying the little river and the gardens in

Canada - they are supposed to be a small representation of the Butchart Gardens in Victoria, Canada.

Here you can see Jaxon, Ry and Sara enjoying as well - maybe enjoying the sunshine too.

After awhile, Jainie got bored with coloring so she performed a beautiful little dance for me and dad.

This restaurant is so small that they couldn't even put tables together to fit us all in. After waiting about 45 minutes, we didn't care too much. The last time Jared and I went to Dworld we ate here and I have always remembered the delicious steak and the best mashed potatoes I have ever had! I was dying to get them again. So, I ordered the Mushroom Filet Mignon - mmmmm - with wild mushroom risotto, white truffle and herb butter sauce - mmmmm! So good! Jared and Jaxon ordered New York strip steak with bercy butter, served with Gruyere-Yukon Gold potato gratin. Josh had to eat off the kids menu the whole time there, which he didn't mind usually, he is very picky - they did have steak for him today though. I have no idea what the other two kids got - probably pizza. I am ready to go back!

Josie was the lucky one who got to sit at the grown-up table. She ordered a Chicken Crepe - it was pretty good too - she agreed. She also got Canadian Cheddar Cheese soup - which she wasn't too fond of. We all got yummy drinks too - the red ones are "Red Maple" - raspberry smoothie with a splash of Sprite. The orange ones are "Niagara Refresher" - mango smoothie with a splash of Cranberry. They were tasty. Then, everyone got desserts too. The kids all chose ice cream sundaes - they could make themselves. The rest of us got these cute chocolate mousse in the shape of a chocolate moose! Clever. The maple leaf cookies were good too. Most of us ate these during the fireworks later that night.

If you noticed from the above picture, Jake wasn't too happy about taking breaks to eat. Luckily, he loved this Kim Possible "Kimmunicator," it was his turn to hold it - so it kept him distracted for quite awhile during dinner.

This was probably my absolute favorite meal the entire time! I just love it! I wish I could go there every single time! Good thing we had that dining package, it would have cost us more than an arm and a leg! :)

After feeling super full and content, we decided to go use our fastpasses for "Soarin," so off we went back to Future World. Of course, this is always a favorite of ours - one of Jainie's absolute favorites. We all fit across one row and off we went. We even saw the hidden Mickey head on the golf ball - scares Jainie every time. All the kids favorite part is the smelling times - oranges and forest. I would go a million times if I could.

Jainie enjoying sitting and relaxing for a few minutes in a busy day.

It was almost 5, so time to head over to the Candlelight Processional - it is a retelling of the Christmas story - the Birth of Christ - taken from the Bible. Read by a celebrity, different ones on different nights - with a choir in the background and 4 of the "Liberty Singers" as well (Disney's employed singers for the American Pavilion). I was pretty excited to see it - I never have before and I thought it would be a perfect way to get in the true meaning of Christmas while we were back there. Unfortunately, it is held at the "America Gardens Theatre" which is on the opposite side of the world by the American Adventure pavilion - whew! So, we pretty much had to run! We got there in time, which was great and found that people had been waiting for hours, literally. If we wouldn't have had our priority seating, there is no way we would have been able to see anything. We rushed in and got seats toward the back, but it wasn't very big so it didn't matter. Then, they let 4 people in from the stand-by line, that is the total number of how many they let in. They said they had been waiting since 10 am - it was 5pm! What - that is crazy! It was because of our narrator/celebrity - it was Whoopi Goldberg. I don't have any feeling really toward Whoopi, I loved her in "Ghost" and "Sister Act" but haven't been too impressed with her time on "The View." Apparently, I am in the minority, I figured out that is why Epcot was so busy that day. Crazy! I had no idea that many people would come to see Whoopi. Anyway, there were thousands of people standing behind us trying to catch a glimpse. (We walked past on Tuesday when we were there and there was a different narrator, I think Steven Curtis Chapman? and it was full but really no one standing. I would have been fine with him.) To me, it wasn't who was narrating but the story itself, the time, the season and showing my children that priorities are priorities and the gospel and Jesus are always the MOST important thing, no matter what! Anyway, it was beautiful - I loved the long trumpets they played. And, I thoroughly enjoyed the message.

You can see Whoopi in the middle of the picture - we didn't have the zoom on the camera because
it was too dark, so this is really about how far we were, I think we were actually a bit closer.

After finishing our magnificent performance, we decided to just start going around the world from where we were. So, Italy was next. Another thing Epcot did for Christmas was that they had storytellers from each land who would tell a story about who brings presents to their children at Christmas time or Christmas traditions - or some of the countries that weren't Christian told stories of other traditions their country has. In America they told of Santa Claus/baby Jesus, the story of Hanukkah and Kwanza. In Italy it was the story of La Befana - we listened to the whole story, which most of the kids thought was interesting and then we got this picture with her.

Jake enjoyed the story, but also loved the fountain to play in. Italy is a pavilion where you really feel like you are in Italy, you go in and can't see anything else once inside. It also doesn't have an attraction at all so it is very chill. I bought my beanie there - it says "Italia" and is Puma brand, which the Italian sales rep told me was a brand from Italy. :) I will always love Italy. And, now that there will be a temple in Rome, another excuse to go visit, right?

So, Josh was being a buckethead and wouldn't let me take any pictures of him this day. But, we got this cute one - I think Jared actually took it, he is sitting by Jared's feet - you can see the cool cobblestone street.

I can't remember who this is, but this is their fountain of luck. There were lots of coins in it, you can see water coming out of the fish's mouths. Josie was the only one at this point who was willing to get a picture.

The newest restaurant in Epcot is in Italy - Via Nappoli. Jared and I had eaten in the older one and one of my early Epcot memories was eating in Italy and flirting with the cute Italian waiters - yes, before I was married. Anyway, it is gone and this one has replaced it - I was showing these guys the cool open wood ovens they cooked their pizzas in, they go in these men's open mouths - they are supposed to represent 3 "gods" of Italy - volcanic mountains maybe? Anyway, it is supposed to be delicious - they fly everything in from Italy, including the water they use to make the crust. We were too booked to fit it in, maybe next time.

The Germany pavilion was next and a lady told stories about Papa Noel and showed us Advent Calendars and Nutcrackers, which both originated in Germany. Then, they had this giant Nutcracker come out to take pictures with us.

China is the next pavilion, which we went to, but we missed most of the Acrobats, which are the coolest part, we did get to see the movie "Reflections of China," which I remember being quite boring growing up, but now I love the movies. Love seeing the different cultures. The thing I remember best about this one is the Great Wall that surrounds you - it is a circle theatre 360 degrees. We also got to see the little statues that guard the tombs of the dead.

Then, we were back in Norway, which we had time to check out the shops - this big troll has ALWAYS been one of my favorites and the kids loved these cool hats to try on. We couldn't buy them, they would be too hard to get home. The funniest part was that Jake was, once again, being very difficult so everyone was already in the picture besides him. When he saw they were doing something fun, he wanted in - he ran and grabbed a helmet, not noticing the crooked horns. It was perfect - totally shows his personality - a bit kooky. :)

We were freezing after this time but needed to get back to the right spot for viewing Illuminations, my favorite firework show. Somehow we ended up back in Norway, not sure how. I think we went back to go to the movie, which was indoors. But, left early because we wouldn't get out in time to see Illuminations. I did buy a sweet blanket there though that we used the rest of the trip. Anyway, this is Jake's favorite spot. He fit perfectly in this crevice, he slid his feet back so you couldn't see him at all. Then, people would walk on that bridge you see around the corner and there he would be standing still as a statue. I think it was one of his favorite things on the trip - he loved making the ladies eek in surprise! Silly boy.

The show Illuminations was more amazing than ever. It was a special holiday edition and they played the song, "Let There be Peace on Earth," unfortunately, they didn't sell the CD of that either. But, I loved it, one of my favorite things there. I watched it all 3 nights that we were in Epcot. I really loved it. Afterward, everyone was exhausted - it was 11:00 - Florida time, which is only 9 - Utah time, but I guess some of us had adjusted.

Jainie was completely out - absolutely. Jake was mostly asleep - and heavier than Jainie to carry, so he got the stroller, which meant we had to carry Jainie dead weight. You wouldn't think it would be that hard, but I tried it and it was tough! Luckily, Uncle Ry was there to help us get her to the van. Thanks Ry.

Another picture I am glad Grandma got. This is a picture of the bedroom - cabin"ish" right? It really was fun. I think Sara must have slept on the other bunk and this night was Josie's turn to sleep over.