food glorious food (day 16)

We didn’t set an alarm this morning, because we decided to go terrorize… ehm, I mean visit, the land section of Epcot, rather than go on rides. It’s something we mean to do every year, but we never quite manage. This year I was blister free and we’re tired, but still reasonably fit… so this would be the year to do it.

Previous years I’ve gotten blisters the size of silver dollars (not even kidding) on my feet, and I would limp through my whole holiday. But thanks to our new life style, where we walk and exercise a lot, we’re actually okay with all the walking (now the heat is a whole different matter)

Anyway, I’m digressing. I have to admit my head is half stuck on the journey back home, and I’m starting to feel the nerves already. This means the Zippidee is fading and I’m now really feeling the ‘Doo-dah’ so to speak. When I’m nervous, Elora really picks up on that, so we’ve been getting on each other’s nerves a little today. It’s not been all bad, we had some great moments too, but it’s a bit up and down right now.

I had read something wrong, and the different countries didn’t open until 11… while I thought 10 am. Now, it took us a little while to get there and we were a bit late anyway, so we only had to wait about half an hour. When it was 11 am the Kringla bakery opened, and we decided to get a schoolbread to share. Those things are DELICIOUS. There were a few sparrows looking for crumbs, and one was so bold, it actually ate from Elora’s hands.

We walked around the different countries, looking at stuff and eating the lovely morsels they had to offer in different places. We shared everything, which meant there was room to try more. We still have about 9 snackpoints to spend tomorrow, so we’re good. I do love the dining plan.

It was in Japan that Elora lost her heart at the pick a pearl counter. She was staring at it with the wide eyed wonder that only children have. We decided that we could spoil her a little bit, and she got to pick a pearl. Of course there was a line, because it’s Disney and Disney LOVES LINES!!!

It was rather magical, and she loved it. She picked out a charm for her  ‘golden pearl’ (she’s convinced it’s super special) that was totally out of her budget… but it was a horse shoe, so we couldn’t refuse. It’s her lucky necklace now.

Unfortunately we had to pick it up an hour and a half later, and it was already quite late. We decided it was best just to pick it up before dinner, and go home. By the time we left it was almost 2:30, and we were starting to feel parboiled.

Our downtime was only an hour, because we had reservations at 5 pm, and the walk to ‘Germany’ was at least twenty minutes. Plus we needed to get Elora’s pearl who had not stopped talking about the damn thing since we bought it. Of course that’s not annoying AT ALL *twitch*.

The Biergarten was okay. The look of the place is kinda cool, and the food was very decent… but the atmosphere was meh. I was still full from all the snacks, so I didn’t eat much. Elora ate mostly desserts, and since we’re masochists, we like to watch our hyper child fill her system with sugar.

Yup… that’s how we roll.

I had a few fastpasses for some rides, so we gave Epcot a proper goodbye. The people in line were staring at us as we did our own Do-si-do at the Mission Space. Elora couldn’t decide what role she wanted in the ride (I think it’s Navigator, Commander, Pilot or Engineer) and so we kept swapping around. Daan and I got silly and turned it into an actual dance. I think we scared some people.

Our last ride was Spaceship Earth, which is kinda tradition. Then we said goodbye to Epcot, and Daan and I suddenly noticed we’re starting to get the ‘going home blues’. As much as I look forward going to my own home again, and having a bedroom to myself (seriously, privacy is underrated when you have an 8 year old) I’m sad that we’re going. I didn’t realize this was going to hit me hard again, but it is.

It’s 8:30 now, and I’m going to put Elora to bed. Tomorrow we say goodbye to Magic Kingdom, and that’s going to be our last day at the parks. It’s been so wonderful, and I hope we can fight the blues and really enjoy our last day.