Disney 2005: Day 7

In which there is resting(ish)

We spent the morning hanging around the hotel, doing some initial packing, and getting ready for the upcoming big day.  We had lunch scheduled in EPCOT, and went over eventually.  Anabelle (as per usual) fell asleep as we got there, so we took turns on Spaceship Earth.  I tried to take pictures, almost none of which came out. (Someday I shall figure out Rosa’s secret of getting good pictures while in motion, or at least be smart enough to get her to take them.) I was attempting to document what EPCOT is supposed to be: educational, animatronic filled, dark rides; not all these newfangled, thrill packed, doo-hickeys.  Hey, maybe I'm old and crusty, but you never read about anyone dropping dead on "Horizons" did you?  Ah ferget it…grumble grumble.

While I was on the ride, Anabelle learned the danger of being in a store with Mami and a lot of hats.  She seemed to enjoy it, and we got a lot of pictures, so it worked out for everyone.

Lunch with the Princesses in Norway was another success.  Anabelle gave big hugs to Alice, Belle, Cinderella, Ariel (post fins version) and Aurora.  Her hug for Aurora was a tad too big, as I caught the princess sneaking back through the door to the coffee break room afterward to reseat her crown, and the hair under it.  We had a great amount of Norwegian food (lots of fish, but oddly, no potatoes).  Anabelle discovered that she really likes Rye crackers, like Daddy does.  Although unlike Daddy (as she has never fed the animals at the Catskill Game Farm), she does not see goats when she eats them. (Mami, however, made a face like she'd eaten a goat when she tried them.)  We also bought a foolishly overpriced bottle of Norwegian sparkling water, because that was the only way to get anything close to seltzer.  We tried to order it several times during our digestive adventures, receiving looks indicating that the beverage, and indeed the very concept, was foreign to these people.  After a quick stop in China to buy a new fan each, Rosa took Anabelle to the baby changing room, while I was determined to finally try Test Track.

I had a fast pass, and went into the single rider lane, which shot me through the entire queuing area straight to the front of the line.  As I got there, they shut the ride down due to "technical difficulties and rain".  Ooh, great thrill ride, biiiig thrill.  This never happened to Magnetic Levitation Man.

The good thing that came out of this was that I went on the virtual R&D tour that is after test track.  This was not good because of the tour itself (which was astoundingly lame for a Disney park feature), but because it killed enough time that we caught the character bus on the way out.  Anabelle went to see Daisy for the first (and only time) with Donald too.  Then it was back to Minnie (of course).  After a return visit to Chip and Dale, she even pet Pluto a little and let Goofy tickle her.  Our child was actually enjoying the Disney experience…yay!  (These would be more of them moments I mentioned.)

We left early to go downtown and do some shopping…and we did, a lot. Anabelle made out very well, with a pile of birthday, Christmas, and just because we're here presents (as did Rosa and I).  We had dinner, but Anabelle fell asleep right as we got to the Wolfgang Puck Express.  I was worried we'd be there too late for her, and thought we should wake her up to eat.  It turns out that it took far longer to calm her down after waking her up than she would have slept.  Good move Daddy.  Anabelle saw a fountain as we were leaving downtown.  This made her rabidly excited to get back to her fountain by Goofy.  Unfortunately, thunderstorms (no doubt from EPCOT, where we started this day…cursed!) caused the pool and fountains to be closed.  She was pretty devastated, but was receptive to go to the arcade.  Her favorite game was spinning the cushion on the bench that looked like it was made out of giant skittles.  While this game was free, it didn’t dispense many tickets.  However, besides that game, she also played enough "Punch the duckies", "Steer the penguin", "Push the botones" and "Catch the fishies" to amass a decent amount of tickets. She decided to trade them in for a small pad of paper, a smiley pencil, and a giraffe eraser.  This was so she could continue one of her other favorite Disney pastimes.  Whenever we'd enter the room, she'd run to the phone, pick it up, grab a pen and paper and say, "I’m taking messagegegeges." Then she'd look thoughtful, say "uh-huh" a lot, and scribble notes on the pad.  

We took the long way back to the room, and ended up discovering the "Big Giant Roger Rabbit" which we both thought was pretty cool.

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