The Wilsons: Hoop Dee Doo!

We decided to sleep in late today- around 7:30! Before heading to EPCOT, we stopped at the hotel food court for Mickey Mouse shaped waffles and fruit. You should REALLY love Mickey Mouse, because when you come...it is Disney to the max! From the soap and shampoo, to the food. Cole's favorite lunch was a PB and J sandwich- shaped like Mickey, of course!

As soon as we made our way to EPCOT, we headed straight for Spaceship Earth again (the silver ball). As you ride around the geosphere, it begins with the age of Cave Men and takes you through every era of communications (from writing on cave walls, the making of papyrus, Guttenburg's printing press, to the modern days of telecommunication). As informative as it is for parents, it is equally entertaining for kids. As soon as you get on the ride, it asks for your native language and where you live. It also snaps your picture. At the end of the ride, there is a world map and it sends your picture to your appropriate state. We even emailed ourselves a postcard from the future! Then, we went back to Soarin'. There are three rows in each section. Each row is at a different height. It's simply by chance where you get. The first day, we only went on the bottom and middle level. Today, we rode it twice and for our last trip...we were on the highest level. It was so fun...yet scary, too! I thought about taking a picture of us hanging in space with my iPhone, yet I was afraid I would drop it. You know my history will cell phones has never been good! So I opted for a "mental" picture of our favorite EPCOT ride!

Then, we headed to the World Showcase at EPCOT! This is where different countries from around the world are represented. You can see, taste, and smell something from each country. MC loves Japan because she has been learning about it at school. With Toyota moving to Northeast Mississippi, we are learning more about the Japanese culture. Cole has always dreamed of going to China, so for our two kids, this was as close to Asia as they might ever get! We passed by Canada, the UK, France, and Morocco before arriving at Japan. Luckily it was lunchtime, so we stopped at Teppan Edo for lunch. This was a hibachi style restaurant where the food is cooked in front of you, but it seemed a little more authentic than the ones we have back home in Mississippi! C and MC had their lunch brought to them in a monorail-shaped dish. They loved the drink umbrellas and chopsticks the most! After lunch, we went to the Japanese gift shop to find an authentic kimono for MC. She is going to be a little Japanese girl for Halloween, so we were able to get the apparel she needed- shoes, sash, and parasol. We continued past America, Italy, and Germany before stopping at China. Cole was in search of a real Samurai sword. I'm sure we would have had no trouble getting past airport security with one of those! Although hey did have one, it was not meant for little boys, so Cole was a little disappointed. He wanted to be a real Ninja for Halloween. Right outside the Chinese temple was Mulan and her dragon pal, Mushu. We walked up to them with autograph book in hand. That's when Cole began his 14 Tae-kwon-do moves he has learned. It was funny to see their faces during his routine. Cole thought that Mulan was a real warrior and that his skills were enough to impress her! Luckily, they played right along with him! We also stopped by Norway to learn about the Vikings and then on to Mexico. Our basic knowledge of Mexico stems from our family dinners at Las Margaritas! The kids both take Spanish each week at school, so they knew much more than we did about Mexico! After the worldwind tour of nations, we decided that we had all the fun and learning we could take for one day, so we headed back to the hotel before dinner.

Our dinner reservations were at the Fort Wilderness campgrounds. The Hoop Dee Doo Revue is a down-home vaudeville style dinner show . This was our second time to go because Judd was so enthralled with the fried chicken and BBQ ribs the last time! The actors/actresses enteract with the audience and bring members on stage during the show. Last time, they brought Cole on stage to play the part of a little "Davy Crocket" type character. Once he made it back stage to get ready, it didn't take him very long back to realize that he would leave the acting in the family to his Dad. So they brought him back to our table in a hurry! This time, our table was right near the stage. While none of us were participants this time, we enjoyed the show (and the fried chicken and ribs) just as much as we did last time, if not more! On our way back to the hotel, we could see the Wishes fireworks extravaganza at the Magic Kingdom. And, it beat being stuck in the park with the huge crowd of people!

The Fountain at French Quarter