Day 10 - Thursday the 12th - Part 7 - Katsura Grill
So, I took photos for a good part of the afternoon until the rain came in. Unlike most of the other days, it rained in the afternoon for an hour or so and then actually cleared up for most of the evening.
I don't recall how the other groups spent the evening on this night, but my immediate family and I decided to spend the evening in EPCOT, focusing on the World Showcase.
We hopped on the monorail and made it through the Contemporary when Buddy realized that the had left his Magic Band back at the room. After some initial disappointment and thinking, we decided to split up. Princess, Pickle, and I planned to stay the course and have dinner in Japan, and then Stephanie and Buddy would ride back to the resort, grab Buddy's MB from the room, and then join up with us a little later.
It was a "daddy daughters date" for dinner. We decided that we wanted to eat at Katsura Grill up on the hill in Japan (which worked well, because Buddy isn't the biggest fan of Japanese food...but both girls LOVE it.) It was about 6:30pm and the girls were starving, so we pretty much headed straight to Japan. With a couple minor pit stops....
First, Princess wanted to grab a photo of her dad.
And second to visit the tea shop in the UK Pavillion.
(I love tea, and have at least a cup or two every day. So it's always fun to go inside and take a peak at the teas and treats. We did the Twinnings Tea Tour there a couple years ago and it was really cool.)
We browsed in the shop for a couple minutes and then headed to Japan without any additional stops.
We made it!!!
We hadn't visited it since it changed from being the "Yakitori House", but interestingly, if the sign still said Yakitori House, I probably wouldn't have noticed that it changed. The menu was only slightly different and maybe the tables were arranged a bit differently inside. This isn't a bad thing, because I loved the Yakitori House.
I think this is another one of the hidden gems in WDW. Not that the food is amazing (it is good though) but because of the location, beautiful theming, ambiance, and super friendly cast members.
The girls looked at the menu, decided what they wanted, and then grabbed a seat while I ordered our food.
Pickle made friends with a super sweet cast member named Marin. Marin made an origami crane for her.
She was so nice and seemed genuinely interested in Pickle, asking her about her favorite foods and stuff.
The girls ended up sharing a teriyaki kids meal, and then we all ate sushi too. Pickle went with the California Roll, and then Princess and I each had the "Tokyo Sushi Combo" which included 4 pieces of California Roll and 3 pieces of Nigiri (shrimp, tuna, & salmon)
Both girls love sushi, and me too!
This isn't the same quality that you'd get at California Grill or Kona Cafe, but it was still pretty darn tasty and really hit the spot (especially after having so many heavy meals this week.)
After dinner, the girls decided that they wanted ice cream. So we went with Red Bean Strawberry and Green Tea.
The strawberry ice cream was incredibly delicious!!!! I'm not a fan of green tea ice cream, but Pickle usually can't get enough of it and she really enjoyed it.
After we finished eating we went back outside to explore some more.
Before we knew it, the sun was starting to set and the whole ambiance of the pavilion was amazing. I have to say that the Japanese Pavilion is one of my favorites spots in all of WDW!
After exploring for a little while longer, we decided to head back into the shop as we had some unfinished shopping to attend to
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Pickle looked like she had a great time! Did she roar so hard that it took her off her feet! Whoa!! That is awesome! 
Isn't it sad that they grow up so quickly! That's one of the reasons I love going to Disney so much: each trip is like a snapshot in time and we make such great memories for each kid based on what they are interested in and enjoy at that particular age.
