Pop, Pop, Poppity-Pop! A November 2014 trip report

[missangelalexis]

Your shoes look great! So cute that they gave Abi a Lumiere to hold, never seen that!

That's realy weird that they gave you such a hard time about Abi's food! I'm glad they finally brought her the soup though.

So fun that they brough Maddy some more grey stuff and a card!!

What a great dinner, I'm glad it lived up to all your expectations. It really is an amazing place to eat.

I loved those window displays.

 

[annegirl]

Yay for recovering the PP pictures!!! Glad you enjoyed the meal at BOG!

Yeah. I was so relieved and grateful! We all really loved BOG.

Your shoes look great! So cute that they gave Abi a Lumiere to hold, never seen that!

That's realy weird that they gave you such a hard time about Abi's food! I'm glad they finally brought her the soup though.

So fun that they brough Maddy some more grey stuff and a card!!

What a great dinner, I'm glad it lived up to all your expectations. It really is an amazing place to eat.

I loved those window displays.

Thanks! I love those shoes. I actually wear them all the time. They are really comfortable too which is what I was most concerned about when I bought them to paint because I got them at Walmart for $5. But they are awesome.
I know. I was surprised by the CM there too... but everyone else at the restaurant was great that night and the next time we were there too. I think maye that girl was new or having a bad day. Who knows. But it all worked out in the end.
Maddy was definitely spoiled by everyone for her birthday.
It really did live up to my expectations and more!

 

[annegirl]

Saturday we met up with my mom and dad at around 7am and caught the bus to Epcot for our 8:30am breakfast at Akershus!

We were so good to get in before the park opened and have such an empty park to walk around in.

We love that.
I had the girls dressed in a Small World theme with the skirts I had made and shirts with Small World iron ons.

Walking toward the park entrance...

Our first view of Spaceship Earth for this trip.

Walking to Norway...

After getting the picture of the moon over the castle a few days before, I wanted to get this picture with the moon over the geosphere.

We were happy that the Christmas tree was out already.

We got to Akurshus, checked in, and got in line.
Maddy immediately made a friend as they bonded over their same hairstyle

Such a pretty area...

Maddy and her new friend checking out all of the little kids on the apron of Maddy's skirt.

Akershus....

Upon having our name called we were able to go in and meet Aurora and have our picture taken with her.

She was so sweet.
Maddy was staring at her and then asked "Are you real?"
Aurora giggled and said, "Yes. Of course. "
And then she asked Maddy if she would like to touch her hair and hands and face.
She took a few minutes letting Maddy do that.
It was so cute.

We were then taken to our table.
They were doing the princess parade a few minutes later so Maddy joined in.

Our server was great. She was from Norway and told us about her family and home (as we asked her questions) and how they ate the food.
Abi, of course, had more strawberries with yogurt.

So Maddy did too...

I got the brownish cheese (can't remember what it was called) and put the jam on it like our waitress told me to. She said that is how they eat it at home. It was... interesting. Not as bad as I thought but not something I would eat a ton of.

Breakfast was great as expected.

The princesses were all a little more rushed than on our last trip but were all very sweet and we had a good time.

Our adorable waitress brought Maddy a birthday cupcake and another signed birthday card.

By the time we were done with breakfast it was around 9:20am.
We were ready to explore the park!





​

 

[missangelalexis]

The bun sees another day!

Love all your empty park pictures. And so cute that Maddy made a friend.

I didn't realize Aurora meets at the entrance, I thought it was always Belle! I love her winter wear. Great princess pics!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

reading along!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

When did it change from Belle to Arrora? Yay for pre opening entry to Epcot!

 

[annegirl]

The bun sees another day!

Love all your empty park pictures. And so cute that Maddy made a friend.

I didn't realize Aurora meets at the entrance, I thought it was always Belle! I love her winter wear. Great princess pics!

Yes! Loved that bun. Made getting her ready in the morning so easy!
Maddy makes friends everywhere. It's so cute.
I was expecting Belle! She was the princess that was greeting the last time we were there.

reading along!

Glad to have you along!

When did it change from Belle to Arrora? Yay for pre opening entry to Epcot!

I don't know when it changed! Our last trip was in 2010 and it was Belle then. So we were actually really surprised. Belle wasn't at Cinderella's Royal Table this trip either. So we met her at her storytime but couldn't get autographs there so we had to seek her out later to get her autograph.

 

[annegirl]

After breakfast at Akershus we were going to go to Test Track but it already had long lines and we needed to make sure we got to Soarin' in time for our fast pass. So we skipped Test Track and headed straight to Soarin'.

Maddy wanted to be the leader.

Loving the views along the way...

At the Land!
Ready to ride.

Even with the Fast Pass we still had a wait of about 20-25 minutes.

About to go....

Maddy ended up being scared the entire time. She didn't scream or cry- just kept a grip on my arm and hid her eyes sometimes.
The rest of us loved it.
After the ride we went to Club Cool for some free soda.
My parents didn't get to experience this last time so I was excited to have my mom try Beverly.
(In my opinion it tastes like cough syrup. )
She made this face so I thought she didn't like it but then she said, "Not bad. "
What?????

Then Abi tried it.

And... she liked it too!
I couldn't believe it.

Most of us agreed that the best were Guatana (Brazil- which we have had before at home) and the drink from Peru.

After bring refreshed we went toward Mission Space for our fast pass.

Doug said he didn't really feel like going on so he stayed off with my dad and Maddy.
My mom, Abi, and I went on together.

Abi was able to reach the controls this time and loved it.
We all had a great time.

​

 

[Gracefulskinny]

How funny that they liked Beverly. It happens from time to time. But I have to say I might just be a tad disappointed if Little miss actually likes it!

 

[annegirl]

How funny that they liked Beverly. It happens from time to time. But I have to say I might just be a tad disappointed if Little miss actually likes it!

Exactly! I was waiting for the gross expressions and funny reactions. No! So anti-climatic.

 

[missangelalexis]

Wow, still a 25 minute wait even with FP. But I'm sure it was worth it!

I can't believe your mom and Abi liked Beverly!

 

[annegirl]

Wow, still a 25 minute wait even with FP. But I'm sure it was worth it!

I can't believe your mom and Abi liked Beverly!

It was definitely worth it!
I know! I really didn't think anyone would like it!

 

[annegirl]

After riding Mission Space we wanted to start exploring the World Showcase.

We had a few countries that we wanted to go to today because it would be my parents only Epcot day but we would have two more days here the next week. We talked to them before the trip about what countries they wanted to stop at today and which ones we would walk by.

Our first stop was Mexico.

Somehow on our last trip we completely missed this. I thought it was only a restaurant in the pyramid but there is so much more! Shops, a ride, plus the restaurant.
The inside...

We went to ride the Gran Fiesta Tour starring the Three Caballeros.
I have heard others refer to it as the Mexican Small World and that is pretty accurate.
We rode in little boats.

Riding past the inside pyramid....

​

It was a fun little ride.

Afterward Maddy wanted to get a pressed penny.

I bought the Epcot passports for the girls to do so they pulled those out to put in their Mexican stamps and get them signed at the Kidcot station.

We planned on eating at the La Cantina de san Angel for lunch.
We weren't as hungry as we thought we would be because we had a pretty big breakfast.
But we didn't want to come back around to Mexico later so we decided to stop anyway.

It was really crowded and we couldn't find a table but then someone pointed out to us that there was inside seating! I don't know why we didn't see that to begin with but there was hardly anyone inside and we were able to get nice big booths with views of the lake.
I had the nachos. So did my parents. They were actually really good. I couldn't eat much of them but that was only because of not being very hungry.

Doug got the empanadas con queso. He said they were okay. He also got churros. They were not that great. Very plain taste.

The girls both got chicken tenders that came with tortilla chips and churros.
They also didn't eat too much.

Overall, I think the place was good and we would definitely go there again. But only if we were really hungry so we wouldn't be wasting the food.
We walked right by Norway since we had already been there this morning...

And onto China....

At this point for some reason Maddy got mad and wanted to go back to Norway. She just walked off.
You can tell from the picture that it was quite the sassy walk.
We just stood there, took a picture, watched her for a minute, then she turned around and came back.

 

[annegirl]

We hoped to visit Mulan but she had a really long line so we decided we would catch her next week.

This ceiling.

So beautiful.

We went in to see the movie.
It was a standing movie but the girls were too tired to stand there the whole time so they laid on the floor in front of where we were standing.
After the movie we walked through the shops.
Both girls picked out little panda stuffed animals.

Next we stopped at Germany.
My mom wanted a Nutcracker so while she picked one out I took the girls to the toy store to get their passports stamped

Then they found the girly swords, shields, and crowns.

And a sword fight broke out...

They had so much fun.
It is so much fun to just walk around looking in the World Showcase. Everything is done so well.

When we were ready to move on, we stopped for a few minutes to watch the trains.

​

 

[annegirl]

After Germany we stopped for a few minutes to get some pictures taken.

The girls were not that into it!

Our next stop was Japan.

We had a special destination!

Pick a Pearl!

On our last trip we did the Pick a Pearl in Japan for Abi.

This trip I wanted to do it for me and Maddy.

But then I decided I would just keep Abi's pearl from last time and that way she could do it with Maddy.

My mom also wanted to get one.

We all got matching carriage pearl holder necklaces on ebay that we would be able to put our pearls in afterward.

I heard that the uglier the oyster the better the pearl so I told the girls and my mom about that before they picked theirs.

They put on such a fun show as they are doing this. The girls were a little overwhelmed but had fun.

Showing Abi her pearl...

Getting Maddy's pearl...

Abi's pearl measured 7 and 3/4

And Maddy's measured... 7 and 3/4!!
We couldn't believe they were the same size.

Then my mom picked her oyster out.

She opened it up... and my mom got
TWO PEARLS!

​

 

[Rock Strongo]

Aaand, I made your trip report again. Red shirt, Winnipeg Blue Bombers hat, standing behind Grandma when she's showing off her Coke. This is insane!

 

[annegirl]

She measured her pearls.
One was 6 and 1/2 and the other was 6 and 3/4

We had a great time!
We also spent some time shopping in the stores. My mom bought each of the girls some Hello Kitty stuff.

Our next stop was France.
We got some Photo Pass pictures.

And we went to the movie.

Next we walked over to the bridge to the UK.
We checked the shop for Doctor Who stuff but there actually wasn't much.
The girls got their passports stamped.

We stopped in Canada to get drinks and Abi got some popcorn in a cute bucket.

Then we left the World Showcase and went straight to Spaceship Earth for our fast pass.
Abi rode with Doug, Maddy rode with me, and my parents were together.

We all enjoy this ride.
Maddy was really nervous when it started going up but then she ended up just loving it.

At this point we had to say goodbye to Epcot and head to the monorail to head to our dinner reservation for the night.

We rode the monorail to the TTC (ticket and transportation center) and switched monorails to go to the Polynesian resort for our reservation.


​

 

[annegirl]

Aaand, I made your trip report again. Red shirt, Winnipeg Blue Bombers hat, standing behind Grandma when she's showing off her Coke. This is insane!

Wow!! Crazy!

 

[ach222]

I love the interaction with Aurora, the 'are you real' is adorable! Seems like a great meal!

We loved the pavilion in Mexico and the boat ride, that was one of G's favorites. You are so right, it is gorgeous in there!

Love the Pick a Pearl pics, big bonus the girls got the same size pearl! And fun for your mom to get 2! Great updates!

 

[missangelalexis]

SOunds like a fun time in World Showcase! The Mexico Pavillion is so cool, and I love pick a pearl!!