our january journey- day 3, MK and Epcot

[EvilQueen2006]

Our January Journey Trip Report

Cast of Characters:

Me- Heidi, Disney Planner
DGF- Lauren, my wonderful girlfriend. Going along to humor me even though she hates noise, screaming children, crowds and rides. (My mission was to convert her to a disney nut like me)
DD- Alissa- Our 10 year-old daughter.
DM- Shirley, my mom. Along to spend some quality time with DD.

Day 3 (Sunday, Jan. 7, 2007) Magic Kingdom and Epcot

The plan for today was to get an early ADR at Crystal Palace so we could be there before the park opened and have the place to ourselves for a little while. Well we showed up at MK for our 8:00am ADR we saw a huge crowd. We forgot about the marathon. Main Street was so crowded we had to cut through the shops to make our way to Crystal Palace. Once we were seated next to a window facing Main Street, it was kind of cool to watch all the runners go by. There were so many of them. I can’t even imagine running a marathon. I like to say “I only run when I’m in danger!” Anyway, Crystal Palace was wonderful. I loved the Puffed French Toast and the breakfast pizza. I wasn’t really crazy about the breakfast lasagne, the orange juice was really good too. By the time we finished breakfast all the runners had passed through and crowds were manageable again. We started out in Frontierland walked onto Big Thunder 3 times, Lauren went too and she liked it after the second time, I think she may have even opened her eyes once or twice. It was a little depressing to walk by Splash Mountain and not be able to ride due to refurbishment, but hey, it gives us another excuse to go back, right? We moved on to Adventureland and rode POTC, we got stuck at the part where Captain Jack Sparrow pops out of the barrel. We sat there for at least 20 min and then had to be evacuated out the back. We had a long walk back into the park and when we came out there was Jack sword fighting with a little boy, How did he get out of there so fast? We watched for a while, he was so good, really had Jack’s movements down to a tee. We watched the Country Bears, and the Tiki Birds, Took a Jungle Cruise and a spin on the magic carpets, and rode Haunted Mansion before noon. We went over to Tom Sawyers Island and let Alissa explore for a little while before taking the train back to the front of the park and hopping on a monorail to Epcot. When we got there around 2:00, we rode Spaceship Earth, then headed over the world showcase. We explored Canada, had a drink in the UK, had some pastries in France, we skipped Morocco because we were coming back for dinner at 6:00, went to Japan and did the pick-a-pearl. Alissa got a gold colored one, I got a pinkish colored one and my mom got twins. I got a silver ring, Alissa got a necklace with her birth stone, and my mom got earrings. Unfortunately I must have set the bag down somewhere in my travels because it didn’t make it back to the hotel room with me that night. I checked Epcot’s lost and found as well as the central lost and found a few times with no luck. My mom took Alissa back on our last day to get another one, and she surprised me with a new ring too. This time it was a black pearl. Anyway, back to our day. We headed back to Morocco for dinner and ran into Aladdin and Jasmine on our way, so we stopped to take some pictures. Marrakesh was wonderful. For appetizers we got the chicken bastilla, seafood bastilla and the Jasmina salad. I loved my salad, and tried the others too. I liked the chicken one a lot, it was a little sweet. The atmoshere and entertainment were great, although Lauren became a little jealous of all the pictures i took of the belly dancer. For dinner we had chicken couscous, chicken kebabs and shish kebabs. I don’t eat beef so I didn’t try that one, but the other two entrees were very yummy. I wasn’t a big fan of the desserts, We got some assorted pastries and a fruit salad with mint ice cream. Maybe it was because we were full from our huge mean, but none of us ate much of the dessert. This dining plan is great, but man, it’s a lot of food! After dinner we walked over to the cantina in Mexico, got some coffee and waited for Illuminations. It started raining, so we decided to go ride Maelstrom instead and try to catch Illuminations another night. By the time we got of the ride the rain had stopped, so we found a spot close to the entrance to future world and watched. We left before the finale to beat the crowds back to the buses. And so ended another busy day.

Up next . . . Animal Kingdom.

[disneydrmr]

Another fun day! I LOVE the breakfast lasagna at CP - it was one of the highlights of that meal for me. Anyway - glad you guys are having a good trip! Thanks for reporting.

[lovewalt]

You lost your pearl AGAIN ?!?!?! You lost one on your last trip ! What is it with you and the pearls?

[ChipnDaleGal]

Wow! That was a long and action packed day! I have never been brave enough to step out of my food comfort zone and try eating in Morocco. but reports like yours make me want to give it a try. Thanks for sharing your day with us.

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the report!

[faline]

Lots of nice moments. Sorry you had a few disappointments along the way!

[amorillo]

Marrakesh! My family loves this place! You should have heard the cast members voice when I was calling to make ADRs for our last trip! She was stunned to hear that my 11 year old DS chose this resturant... out of every WDW resturant... for his birthday dinner! Very Yummy!!

[KylesMom]

I don't know that you could have packed any more in today - what a great time. Sorry you lost your pearls! I bet you collapsed when you returned to the resort.

Thanks for sharing!

[mrsgaribaldi]

Sorry you lost your pearl. I'm dying to get a black one Thanks for sharing

[Bethis26fan]

Sounds like a good and busy day.

[crazypoohbear]

too bad about the jewelery.
It was nice you got another one though.
Thanks for the report