01/29/10 Day 2: We Meet Lumpsalot

Mickey woke me up right on time at 645am. I got up and showered and amazingly Steevin got up shortly behind me and got ready. We headed to the Everything Pop for breakfast. Two Breakfast croissants later and we were on our way to... EPCOT! It's my favorite park.

 

Waiting for the bus

Steevin seemed to be having a hard time getting into vacation mode this morning so I was hoping a little Epcot was just what the Doctor ordered.We hopped off the bus and went through Bag Search security. As soon as that big beautiful Spaceship Earth came into view, Steev's spirits seemed to lift. He noted how he already thought this was a very well designed park.

Our first stop was a ride on Spaceship Earth (or Starship Earth as Steevin kept calling it.) Since Steev didn't want to know anything before hand, before we went on I explained to him that Spaceship Earth was a white knuckle thrill ride. LOL! Aaaahh... Spaceship Earth with your delightful BBQ smell and hot afro-haired chicks with awesome boots I wish I owned. We did the little Siemens (snicker) video and I looked like I had some strange growth erupting from my head because Steevin put his head too close to mine while they were taking the picture. Not that Steevin looks like an erupting growth usually. By the time we finished our trip through history and the future, Steev was in Vacation Mode and ready to party. Disney Magic at its finest. We tried the futuristic car driving and operation performing. I'm happy to report that Steevin did save the world through his driving skills and together we helped put together a man's body that's limbs had been torn off by what I can only assume was a wild muskrat or something. Steevin rated the whole Spaceship Earth experience an 8 out of 10 Earl of Sandwiches. That's pretty intense.

See our future! - Click it!

We headed off to Test Track next. I didn't tell Steevin my own distaste for the ride because I didn't want to taint it for him at all. Let me tell you that January/February was such a great time to go to WDW. This was the longest line we had the whole time and it was maybe 25 minutes. Steevin said that he thought the ride was fun but he didn't like the smell of the line. LOL! I guess it does smell rather... industrial. I've never noticed before. He also said all the test dummies all around creeped him out. He gave the ride a 7 but said that he felt his own drive to work was scarier. Having ridden with Steev many times before, I can attest to that. (Just kidding, Babe!) (Psst... guys... no I'm not kidding. Sometimes its scary.) LOL!

We headed to Innoventions and learned how to keep our home safe in the event of a hurricane... which we will probably never have to deal with since we live in San Diego but at least we're prepared. Spanish tiles are not the way to go in a high-wind prone area! Steevin also saw the Kim Possible game there. We signed up and were told to pick up our communicators at 11am. Then we learned how to be engineers and created our very own roller coaster which we then rode with all four of its inversions. Clrearly, we are now fully trained engineers.

With our in-depth training completed we were off to the World Showcase. We first stopped in France to visit with Marie the cat and Cinderella. Then Steevin got to see his all time favorite princess... Belle. She commented that my Prince was hairy like hers, Beast.

 

Here Kitty kitty!

Cinderella and I shared appreciation for each others headbands.

Steevin and I often argue over who is the Beauty and who is the Beast in our relationship.

Then we got our Kim Possible cell phones so we could once again save the world! The phone would give you clues and then you would use your phone to activate hidden things around the Showcase. It was pretty cute. We didn't actually play through the whole game. Steevin figured out how to change it for whatever Pavilion we were in so we'd do a few before we moved on.

 

Saving the world is serious stuff

"This would be a lot easier with an iPhone..."

We had lunch plans at the Biergarten in the Germany Pavilion. Its a German buffet with large family style seating. We were seated with a family of four. Steevin and I sat next to each other so we could talk and hear each other. An older couple was then sat at our table and complained that they couldn't sit across from each other. And since Steevin and I are model citizens and hate to hear people whine we were good sports and moved our seats. Our host was an adorable guy named Joshua with an even more adorable accent. I don't remember our waitresses name but she was very sweet. I'll call her Greta. The food was great though Steevin did discover he was not a fan of cold meatballs. The Om Papa Band was fantastic. Oh, and for dessert there was this berry/vanilla cream thing in a cup which was such a yummy dessert. Even Steevin liked it and he has a fear of fruit and berries. (Don't ask me... even he can't explain his fear to me other than to say "Fruits never taste the same so you never know what its going to taste like.)

We headed off to Japan to again save the world for Kim Possible AND to do some shopping in the best shop ever in any Disney park that I've been to. There is always something I want at the shop in the Japan Pavilion. This time was no exception. Japanese candy, sodas and a cool postcard that looks me. And then, of course we got to see the cool drums.

Next we decided to explore Morocco. As soon as we walked past the Tangerine Cafe, Steevin got to hear a man say "gy-ro" instead of "yee-ro". He felt complete. That was another thing he was looking forward to. Hmmm... he's an odd one. Sandwiches and mispronunciation of words are what he wanted to experience in Orlando. LOL! At least he's easy to please. We both loved Morocco. The feel of the open air markets and the smell of incense. Steevin looked at me and said "I really like this park. We could come back here tomorrow too and I'd be okay with that." HURRAY!

After looking at belly dancing gear, we wandered until we got to Norway. YES! Maelstrom! I explained to Steevin that this would be another white knuckle thrill ride.  We boarded our viking ship and rode up the hill of twirly lights, past the trolls, backwards down the hill, past the Lost polar bears and past the off-shore oil rig onto a small fishing village and then hopped off the boat. The look of confusion on Steevin's face was priceless. "So" I asked, "What did you think?" He just sputtered for a second and then finally got out, "Kinda dumb." But he scored the ride a 5 out of 10 sandwiches. He said the weirdness of the attraction bumped it up a few points. And since he survived the thrilling Maelstrom, I thought he deserved a treat. Schoolbread! Mmmmm!

We headed to Mexico and decided to relax with some Margaritas. We checked out La Cava del Tequila which was just opened for last years Food and Wine festival. Wow. Steevin got a Pineapple margarita and I tried the Avocado Margarita that the bartender suggested to me. I love margaritas. And this was the best margarita I've ever had. Steevin liked it better than his own pineapple concoction. We got a table for two and just sat and enjoyed each others company. Steevin isn't a big drinker so he was adorably toasty and giggly (I mean that in the manliest of ways...) after his drink. We explored the rest of Mexico and got a good laugh from the "authentic" Tostitos tortilla chips sold at the Pavilion. We rode the Gran Fiesta Tour which Steev gave a 6. He said the score would have been higher but he felt the ride was lacking someone trying to sell him chicle. 

We were off to The Seas With Nemo and Friends which we both liked more than Disneyland's Finding Nemo Subs. It was cool because we got to see scuba drivers in the tank too! Steev said this was a 9 sandwich ride and I got to hear the cute little Nemo song at the end. We checked out the aquarium and watched the dolphins. I wanted to see the Blub Blub Manatees but they were apparently asleep. So we did the next best thing which was ride Mission Space on the Orange Team. We knew Orange Team would make Lieutenant Dan proud. This ride freaks me out a little bit because I'm claustrophobic. Okay... if freaks me out a lot. But I wanted Steev to be able to experience everything. Actually, the ride has gotten a lot easier for me to do since I've done it a few times. I even enjoyed myself. Maybe that's because I got to be commander and I loooove being in charge! Steevin loved this ride. He said it got a 10.

See Steevin and myself in space! - Click it!

After spinning ourselves silly we tried sodas from around the world and then stood in a long line with lots of children to get our pictures taken with multiple characters. And it was well worth it!

Me and two Goofies

 

"Back off my man, Minnie!"

"Mic, you wouldn't be so friendly to him if you just saw him hitting on your lady."

We headed to the UK for Steevin's first ever Fish and Chips. I guess they don't have Fish and Chips in Colombia. We both enjoyed our fish drenched in malt vinegar and watched the first part of Illuminations. Then while the crowds were entranced by the fireworks we headed into the stores to get some candy from the UK. We decided to try and get candy from each of the Countries on our next visit to Epcot. The Cast Member at the store had such a lovely accent and was super sweet. When we walked out of the store I told Steevin "I was trying to think of more questions to ask her just so I could hear her talk!" and he said he'd been trying to do the same. We headed to another store and fell in love with a stuffed purple heffalump. We got him and made him our trip masscot and named him Humphrey B. Lumpsalot. (The B stands for Bogart)

Lumpsalot enjoys some Schoolbread

 

  

Fighting over Lumpsy.

The park was closing (we stayed for Extra Magic Hours as well) so we hopped on our bus and went back to The Pop. When we got to our room there was a cute autographed picture of Mickey and Minnie waiting for us for our anniversary. So far, the trip was a success.... Steevin was loving WDW and I was loving being there with him!