August 20, 2002 Stormalong Bay Pool EPCOT Ice Cream Social

The rain had all but stopped by the time we walked over to Epcot.  Just a few sprinkles remained and it did that on and off for most of the afternoon and evening.  We grabbed lunch in the Land building food court and before we ate I grabbed fast passes for the 'Living with the Land' boat ride.   The food court has a nice varying selection of items.  I ended up with corndogs for the girls (Kristen included) and Chicken strips for me.  We all saved room for our upcomming Ice Cream Social.  After we ate, it was time to use our Fast Passes for the boat ride.  I love this ride, and the girls seemed to enjoy it.  As we got off, Food Rocks was just about to start.  We headed in and waited about 3 minutes for the show to start.  Madison and Brinn love this show, and its a 'must do' each visit.   It ended right at Ice Cream Social time so we headed upstairs to the Garden Grill.  We had to wait a few minutes for our table, and then we were seated in one of the large booths on the outside edge.  Great spot.  For those who don't know, the whole restaurant spins and you see varying scenes from the Land ride.  I think we finished up right around one full revolution. They brought out our Ice cream within a few minutes.  The children's sundaes are a bit different than the adults, but similar.   We all loved them, and soon our first character stopped by.  It was Mickey dressed up in his farmer outfit.  He was very playful, and helped Brinn complete the word search puzzle on the coloring sheet they gave the kids when we sat down.  We got some good pictures while he was there.    Off he went and the girls dug back into the Sundaes.  Next Pluto stopped by.  More good pictures, and he was soon followed by Chip, Dale and another quick stop by Mickey.  We finished up and headed on out.  The girls didn't know the characters would be there so they were happily surprised.  We had a good time.

We finished up at the Land pavillion and headed over to the Living Seas.  We all love seeing the fish, turtles and dolphins there.  Next we headed over to the Imagination building to see Figment's updated ride.  Very cute.  The girls liked this one.  Skipped the 3D movie there and headed on over to Body Wars.  Brinn thought this was scarier than Star Tours and Madison agreed.  I think they are pretty much the same, just a different story line.  Fast Passes were all gone at Test Track (no surprise there) and the girls aren't too keen on this ride anyway,  probably just save it for a future trip.  I've done it a couple times, and can live without it this year.   Snooped around the new Mission Space Pavillion - this looks like it will be nicely themed.  Can't wait til it opens!  Grabbed a couple shots of the Monorail in front of Space Ship Earth.  Then we headed in to World Showcase just as the Tapestry of Dreams parade was starting.  We all love this parade, so quickly jockeyed for position.  Kristen found a good spot for her and Maddy, and I stood behind several people and held Brinn on my shoulders so she could see (no one behind us).  Worked out great.  Kristen had the camera, and got some really good shots. I have to agree with those who like the Tapestry of Nations parade better.  This one is good, but the music was much better in the first version.  After it was over we started to make our way through the countries.  We made it to Germany before Madision was starting to fall asleep (no nap today).   We were all tired, and it was coming up on 8pm.  Really enjoyed the sunset as we headed back to the room.  Ordered a room service pizza;  $17 plus $1 per topping, $3.00 delivery charge and 18% gratuity for a 16 inch pizza.  It was actually pretty good and there in less than half an hour.  We had plenty left over for the next day.  Gotta love that refrigerator  Speaking of which, we have been freezing our insulated water bottles (about 3/4 full) each night and then filling them the next morning and during the day.  The ice lasts well into the early afternoon.  Doing this we've ended up spending quite a bit less on water this trip. Time for bed.  We have the Princess Storybook breakfast tomorrow.  Depending on the weather, it may be pool day, Part II.

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