Scott's 50th Birthday in Epcot- Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018

      When we woke up, Scott was now 50 years old.  We passed on the continental breakfast being offered where we are staying and got breakfast at McDonalds instead.

     When we got to Epcot, we parked in the “Amaze” parking lot and had to pay $25 to do it.  Julie correctly said that it seems really unfair to charge for parking when we already pay so much for tickets.  Before we could get in to Epcot, we were stopped at the ticket scanners.  The tickets were “linked” (whatever that means) and we had to go to Guest Services to get them unlinked. This step was especially frustrating to Julie because she had already spent a while on the phone with a Disney representative two days ago trying to unlink them.  She had to do this step because you can now sign up for three “Fast Passes” before you even arrive at the park.  Unfortunately, even then, passes for the attractions that we really wanted- Soarin’ and the new Frozen ride- were already gone.  Julie had signed up for some others, but we didn’t even use those because we were either in line for something else or decided not to go.   The irony of the system is that now we would have to wait in longer lines for Soarin’ because we’d wasted so much time at Guest Relations.

     Before the fun began, Scott sat Julie down at Spaceship Earth for an unexpected surprise for her.  He had found her engagement ring which she had lost over a year ago.  She was wearing his big Green Bay Packer ski-gloves when she was blowing snow out of the driveway.  The ring had gotten snagged inside the glove, but the padding and the seams hid it rather effectively.   The gloves don’t get much use and had gotten put aside.  Scott finally found the left one and about three days ago found the ring inside it.  Emma thought we should save the surprise for Epcot.  This time is the third time that Scott gave the ring to her.  The first was when they got engaged in Washington back in 1990.  The second was on the 25^th anniversary of their engagement when he surprised her with a new stone in it.  Third time’s a charm.

     We went to Guest Services inside the park, because Scott really wanted to wear a birthday pin.  By telling them its your birthday, they give you a pin that says, “Happy Birthday,” and “Scott 50”.  Many times throughout the day, Disney cast members would wish Scott a happy birthday as a result.  Julie and Emma both were given buttons as well, saying that they were celebrating “with him.”  Julie ended up wearing her button in a way that made it look like she was celebrating Mickey’s birthday instead.  In fact, Mickey is celebrating his 90^th birthday this year, and we watched a TV special about it only a week or two ago.  Scott remembers coming to Disney World 40 years ago with his parents when Mickey was celebrating his 50^th birthday.  Now it’s Scott’s turn.

     Since we didn’t have Fastpasses, we went straight to Soarin’ to try to get there before the lines got too long.  As it was, we ended up waiting over an hour there.   Not only is the ride popular, but it’s basically just a theater with a small number of seats.  True, the seats are suspended in the air, but the finite nature of the presentation means that waiting in lines is almost always a given.  Julie got a Facetime from her colleagues at school while we were waiting.  They were at JFK, since her district didn’t have off today.  They told us it was really cold there and Buffalo is expecting the coldest Thanksgiving on record.  We had t-shirts on here and were enjoying temperatures in the high 70s.  When we were in the sun, at times, it was even too warm.  Anyway, Soarin’ was worth the wait.  Julie and Emma have seen this version before, but Scott has not seen this one.  He has seen the first version that flew people over sights in California, but this version goes to many landmarks around the world.   The exciting attraction was worth the wait, and seemed like an appropriate way to kick off a “Beers Around the World” day.

     Soarin’ is in the Land pavilion (for some reason) and we took some time for an early lunch.  Scott got a pulled pork sandwich and Julie and Emma both got orange chicken and rice.   Before we left Future World, we went to Journey Into Imagination to see Julie’s favorite- Figment.  After that, we were ready to spend the rest of the day in the World Showcase half of Epcot.

     We started at Mexico in the World Showcase.  We had seen enough lines this morning already, so we decided to skip the boat ride here, and spent time going through the market place.  We concentrated on shopping in each of the countries today.  So often, we’ve raced quickly through the nations that we’ve overlooked the fun of just taking it slow and looking at the details.  Emma felt that she had missed most of the countries when she was here with Anna back in January.   While we were waiting in line for Scott’s first beer in Mexico, Emma and Julie decided to get a churro for themselves.  It was at that point that Emma decided to do “Desserts Around the World,” which seemed like a fun idea.  It gave the girls something to do while Scott was enjoying his beers.

     There are a lot of people that were doing the same thing that Scott was doing today.  At Norway, we saw several people wearing “Drinking Around the World” shirts and “Conquering the World, one country at a time.”  Later on, Scott saw a guy with a shirt that said, “Wearing Ears and Drinking Beers.”  One woman cynically said, “What else do you do at Epcot?”  That seems a little cold, but it is true that the idea of a drink in each country has caught on with a lot of people. 

     The most prominent piece of architecture at Norway is probably the stave church.  In spite of the fact that it is a Christian building, the inside of it has a display on the Norse gods- Odin and Thor and the like.  It was an interesting stop, anyway.  We didn’t even consider waiting for the Frozen ride here.  It had long waits when it was just a boatride about Norway, and since they changed it to being about Frozen, they waits without a Fastpass must be ridiculous.  Scott’s beer was called “Aass Pilsner,” which the Norwegian girl serving it said was pronounced “Ouse.”  The girls shared a “Viking Moose” that was made to look like a helmet with the horns being made out of cookie.  It was in Norway where we learned that wherever they sell desserts, they also sell beer, so we stopped waiting in two lines in each country after that, and saved some time that way.

     When we got to China, Emma pointed out that you can’t go in to the real Temple of Heaven but you can walk through its replica here.  It’s neat that she knows that from first-hand experience.  While we were waiting for beer and dessert in China, Scott said to Emma that it was a lot cooler here than the real China.  Emma looked shocked because she thought he meant that the real China was not as neat as here, but he really was just referring to the temperature.  Speaking of heat, the display in China was about the new Shanghai Disney Park.  We had fun remembering what we did there, but the whole memory of that park is dominated by how overheated we were there, and how poorly the Disney design team was at providing places to cool down.  We did got to the movie about China here in Epcot.  It’s a 360 degree movie that we’ve seen many times before, but it had a special meaning for us now that we’ve seen so many more places.  We recognized the skyscrapers and the Bund in Shanghai, though Julie correctly noted that the movie needed to be updates since there were many more and taller skyscrapers that are there now.  We saw the weird hills of Guilin, and Scott was pretty sure he spotted Nine Horse Hill.

     While Julie and Emma were shopping in China, Scott was outside and saw “Mulan” walking through the area with a small girl who was dressed like her.  She was guiding her through, hand-in-hand, and was showing her little things along the way.  Scott guessed that it was about time for Mulan’s break when the little girl arrived, and since she was dressed like her favorite princess, Mulan decided to show her around as she went out.  Either way, it was absolutely adorable and everyone who was watching seemed to be taking pictures.  Scott had to describe the scene to Julie and Emma, and Emma will never forget the look on his face as he did so.   By the way, the beer in China was “Tiger beer” which ended up being an Asian-style beer made in White Plains, NY, so that seemed like a bit of a cheat.  The ice cream that the girls got was flavored like the fruit, lychee.   Emma didn’t care for it.

     The Southern Hemisphere gets cheated here at Epcot, and the African Outpost takes the place of what was supposed to be a larger African exhibit.  It seems to have grown some, but still isn’t a full-fledged pavilion.  Scott got a beer called “Safari Amber” here, but didn’t asked questions about where it came from because its name made it sound like it was a bit of a cheat anyway.  Emma didn’t try to get a dessert here because it didn’t really have anything unique for sale there, and she said it didn’t count as a country anyway.

     We had originally planned on having dinner in the Biergarten in Germany and had previously made reservations there.  By the time we got to Norway, the girls had committed to doing deserts in each country, and Scott suggested that we should probably have a lighter dinner.  It wouldn’t be worth it to pay for the buffet style dinner in Germany, even though we’ve really liked it in the past.  It was probably good that we did cancel that reservation, even though Scott was wearing his shirt that Julie got him from that restaurant.  He did splurge and got a souvenir beer mug with his Becks in Germany.  The girls got a peppermint sugar cookie.  That hadn’t realized at first that there were special Christmas cookies being sold in each of the countries for the holidays, but they decided that these could count for the deserts in some of them if they needed them to.  Emma realized later that they missed the opportunity to have strudel here, though.

     In Italy, it was fun to see Julie and Emma read “Gelato!” at the same time.  They gave each other a high five as they cheered the word. Actually, only Emma got the gealato, because Julie ended up getting a cannolo.  Scott got a Moretti Lager and we sat out by the Venetian gondola and enjoyed the view before going through the shops here.

      By the time we got to the United States, it was almost time for the American Adventure presentation.  We didn’t want to miss that so we watched that first.  Emma and Julie both took a nap, though Emma said that she lasted until after the Civil War scene and it was sad.   Ben Franklin and Mark Twain are the hosts of the show.  This time, Scott was struck by the fact that much of the show assumes a familiarity with American history, and there isn’t a lot of explanation of each scene.  A viewer is supposed to recognize what’s happening.  After the show, we ate American dinners.  Scott had a Yuengling and the girls had a sugar cookie before we moved on.

     By the time we got to Japan it was getting dark.  That’s the problem with coming in November, because it was only a little after 5:00.   We went through the shops here, but we skipped the exhibit about “Kawaii- the Japanese Cute Culture.”  Scott had a beer called “Kirin Ichiban” and the girls had rainbow shaved ice.

     Julie said Morocco is one of her favorite countries in Epcot because it seems to be filled with lots of alleyways and nooks and corners.  It also reminds her of Indiana Jones.  Scott got a beer called “Casa-beer” that is from Morocco (oddly enough for a predominantly Muslim country) and Emma got baklava.

     We sat down when we got to France.  The girls doubled up on desserts here.  Julie got a raspberry parfait for Julie and Emma got a crème brûlée. She also got an order of assorted macarons to go.  Scott got a beer called, Kronenbourg 1664, which he guesses is probably from Alsace since it has such a German name and flavor. 

     In the United Kingdom, the girls shared a package of “Jammie Dodgers,” which they knew from being featured in an episode of Doctor Who.  Scott had a Bass Ale, and enjoyed browsing the stores with the girls.

     When we got to Canada, the last country in World Showcase, we were disappointed by lack of music.  Epcot has switched to “holiday” mode.  Each of the countries has a little presentation where someone in character tells about the holiday traditions in each place. That meant that some of the usual bands didn’t seem to be playing.  Scott had been looking forward to hearing some Canadian music, but the stage was featuring “Canadian Holiday Voyageurs,” but even they had finished their last show by the time we made it around to Canada.  We skipped movie because they took out Stan Rogers a few years ago and put in goofy stuff with Martin Short instead.   Scott just got a beer here, which he thinks was Blanche de Chambly from Quebec.  The girls got a mix called “Moose Munch,” which included caramel-covered popcorn and chocolate-covered nuts.

     One little note- the old Universe of Energy building is currently being gutted while a large building is being built behind it.  As we understand it, the plans are for a Guardians of the Galaxy roller-coaster type ride.   The original World's Fair type themes of each of the buildings seems to be more and more diluted with each change that comes to Epcot. 

     We didn’t stick around for the fireworks even though our last Fastpass was for preferred seating for them.  Instead, we were among the last riders on Spaceship Earth.  The narration has changed on it a bit.  We then went to the Monorail, and rode it to the Transportation Hub and back again.  Julie and Scott like riding it into Epcot like that because it takes you around Future World and gives you a nice view of the attractions there.  It was a nice way to end the night at Epcot, and a nice end to Scott’s birthday celebration.

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