French Ambiance

For those of you who think we did nothing on this trip but eat...you might be right. However, we did ride rides and see shows and host of other things. We just happened to take a lot of pictures of the restaurants because that's where we had the most fun.

Above, I'm holding my dinner at the French Bistro in Epcot. The portions may look small (and they are) but this is the fourth course of a 5 course meal. Before the main dish, there was fish, salad, soup and some yummy chocolate drink. The best part about dining french is that nothing ever feels overwhelming--it's all bits and tastes and not a slab of meat the size of my head. That's very refreshing. And it makes for a far more enjoyable and diverse meal.

One of the fun parts about this meal was that we ordered a bottle of Evian water by mistake. Our waiter, who was from France and had a very thick accent, asked if we wanted water that was sparkling or still. I said still and he brought out the Evian which surprised me because I just expected water from a pitcher. In any case, this is the greatest water I've ever had. Smooth and clean, I never knew water could be so awesome. However, I couldn't drink as much as I normally did when we sat down to eat (I was downing between 5-7 glasses of water per meal per day because of the heat) but man, was the water good.

Here's the view from our seat. It looks out across the lake that sits in the middle of Epcot. If you look closely, you can see a bit of the huge ball in the background.

As a fun side note, our waiter was astounded when we didn't want any wine and we told him that we didn't drink. He asked where we were from and we said Utah, and he said: "Oh! You're Mormon!" But say that with a French accent. It's a lot more fun. We've been saying "Mormon" with a French accent since!

Morrocan Food!

Angela will laugh because I put the belly dancer first, but hey...it was pretty cool! In any case, here we are at Restaurant Marrakesh...the same place that I ate at with my family when we visited Disney World nearly 20 years ago. At that time, the restaurant was still relatively new. But now, after 20 years, it remains much the same as I remember it. The belly dancing, the music and the food! Oh, did I mention how good the food was?

I had a dish of authentic shish kebob and Angela actually had a leg of lamb (which she enjoyed!) The food was wonderful, but the dessert was better. It was a nice flaky, caramel-y concoction that literally melted in your mouth. Mmmmm....I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. But, believe it or not, this was not our favorite restaurant of our trip. It lands in third behind the Irish Pub and the French Bistro. But still, it was wonderful.

One of the great parts of the restaurant is the live authentic music. The musicians and dancers are all very proud of their culture and it shows. That makes for a "real" experience--as real as can be in Florida--and truly adds to the uniqueness of our trip. An interesting fact that I learned while reading the menu: Morocco has the longest unbroken treaty with the United States...dating back to 1791. Who knew?

Wilkommen!

For dinner one night, we went the German restaurant named Biergarten (gee, I wonder what that translates into?) In any case, this was most definitely our least favorite of the restaurants that we visited. Fortunately, though, it wasn't because of the lack of entertainment or the tremendous atmosphere. As you can see from the picture above, we had a great time taking in authentic German music and dancing--complete with liederhosen! In addition, everyone, and I do mean everyone, drank beer at this place. How do we know?

Well, this restaurant does buffet style dining along with forced socialization--meaning that you have to eat your meal with complete strangers. And since we don't drink, we were immediately asked why. This of course gives you a great opening to talk about the gospel (which we did to a small degree) but mostly they're surprised that anyone could live without beer. I'm wondering how anyone can live with it.

In any case, the folks we met were all nice (one was a Broncos fan from Ohio or something--the other was from Gaithersburg, Maryland. And yes, Catherine. We did talk about you quite a bit. :)

But even though this was by far the worst food, we still enjoyed ourselves. The entire inside is decorated to appear as if it's Oktoberfest--with the leaves on the trees being the appropriate colors. In addition, they invite everyone up for dancing during your meal. Mostly the kids go up there and strut their stuff and that's fun to watch. And while it was still fun, we know that we won't be going back.

On Safari

One of the coolest things about Disney's new Wild Animal Kingdom is the Safari ride they have in the park. They've re-created a version of the Serengheti Plains in Africa and the result is stunning. As you can see from the picture above, it's almost as if you were really in Africa and watching all the wild animals! What's even more amazing is that the preserve allows all the animals to roam freely and interact as they would in the wild--which means that lions and other carnivores hunt the other animals in the park just like normal. And, just like normal, there is little human interference in the area. There's certainly a road for the safari to go through, but that's it for man made structures. It's truly an awesome sight.

Here's an ostrich that was brave enough to come up near the bus. As there are no fences throughout the area, you can see most of the animals right up close. But be careful! Since this is the wild, many of them don't know how to act around humans. It is fun to see them this close though.

If you look in the upper right hand corner of this picture you'll see the nose and ears of a hippopotamus peeking out from under the lake. As it was June when we visited, the temperature was extremely hot and so the hippos are doing their best to keep cool. Personally, I think they have the right idea, although I'm not sure I'd want to go swimming in that lake.

Here's another animal keeping cool in the shade--an Antelope. We saw several out on the open plains, but only this one was lounging about. We took this safari in the late afternoon, when it's the hottest during the day, and of course, none of the animals were out. We did see some elephants very far away (including a cute little baby elephant!) but the pictures were so bad since all the animals were hanging out in the shade, that I can't even tell why I took some of them.

Finally, we had a female giraffe come out into the middle of the road and stop our bus as it sat there. We waited and marveled at the beast (yeah, it's huge in real life) and then saw it's baby come out and get in a good meal as you can see from the picture above. The amazing part? I could have reached out and touched them they were so close. This safari was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.

Disney's Wild Animal Kingdom

I know this is a little hard to see, but this is Angela with her "Bug Eyed 3-D Glasses." The reason she has them on is because we're about to go into "A Bug's Life 3-D Adventure." It's a really cool show that is totally interactive and loads of fun. Essentially, you sit there while certain bugs "show off" their stuff for you in the hopes that we humans will better understand them and then, not kill them. Of course, things go a little haywire and you get sprayed with "bug spray" and smells and nearly get stung by a swarm of bees. But that's not the worst of it. At the end, they ask that you remain seated so all the "grubs and other young bugs can exit the theater first." They then do something in your seat so it feels like several little bugs are crawling all over you. It's most disconcerting.

Following a ride on the wild roller coaster at Mount Everest (the most freak roller coaster I've ever been on--it goes backwards to avoid the abominable snow man at one point) we went to see Finding Nemo: The Musical. Since I'm such a huge fan of the Nemo movie, I thought the musical might be a bit of a cheap thrill and possibly some corny fun. Nope.

It. Was. AWFUL. So bad, in fact, that I actually fell asleep at one point. The only good thing (besides when it ended) was listening to the audience react to the enormous set pieces that were trotted out during the show. They would "ooo" and "ahh" as if they'd just seen something amazing. Maybe it's just me, but I've seen amazing stuff on stage, and this musical was not it.

As you can see, Angela felt the same way. She at least stayed awake.

Lunch at the Rose & Crown Pub

Here's a picture of me outside the Rose and Crown Pub in the recreation of an English village at Epcot Center in Disney World. Of course, during our trip to Disney World, we ate at as many of the countries' restaurants as we could. It made traveling back and forth to Epcot for lunch AND dinner every day a bit of a trial--but the food made it worth it.

This is my plate of Bangers and Mash--that's Sausage and Mashed Potatoes to you. It was quite good and was, as far as I could tell, rather authentic. We even had a fruit and cheese plate for desert--complete with stinky and totally inedible cheese!

Angela, of course, went with fish and chips. At the time, this was our second meal that contained one of us eating a fish and chips meal. By the time the trip ended, we had fish and chips on three separate occasions. And, while this set of fish and chips was the largest, it was by far our least favorite. The other two times took place at Raglin' Road--an Irish Pub located in Downtown Disney. We ate there twice (the bread pudding is TO-DIE-FOR) and had fish and chips there both times. Believe it or not, Irish fish and chips are better than the English version--at least in Disney World.

Hi-Ho! Hi-Ho! It's Off to Disneyworld We Go!

Here's Angela on the Ferry (yes, ferry) into Disney World. Obviously, the Florida park is built a little different than the California park, but our initial initiation into the transportation around the park was this ferry. When you first arrive at Disney World, you're taken to the ticketing and transportation center--a massive structure that has bus stops, monorail stations, walking trails, ticket booths and this ferry that crosses the lake and dumps you right into the Magic Kingdom. It's by far the best way to get into the park (the line for the monorail was infinitely larger) and it's kind of fun to cross this huge lake and watch Cinderella's Castle float towards you through the mist of the humidity. It's, well, kind of magical.

Anyway, more in posts to follow.