Rubbish!

Part Two Epcot...

After finishing up at Hollywood Studios we headed on over to our favorite park Epcot.  This wasn't always our favorite but within our past two visits it definitely has.  It's not because of Soarin' or even Test Track, it's the culture.  Only in Epcot can you experience 11 countries in one day; Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, United States, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada.  Everything from different foods, different entertainment, and even merchandise that belongs to that country. 

Every time we visit Epcot our first stop is the attraction Mission Space.  I sit this one out but Travis just raves about how intense and unlike anything else out there.  The reason I sit out is because the warning for the ride states that if you suffer from migraines you should not really ride it.  One of these days I will get on it but this was not that day.  While Travis was checking out Mars I headed over to Mouse Gears for some browsing.  On the way back from Mission Space Travis stopped by Test Track to pick up fast passes for later on that evening.  Our fast passes were not good until between 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM so we had 4-5 hours to kill.

Our next stop was to head to the France pavilion to watch one of our favorite performers Serveur Amusant.  If you haven't checked them out you most definitely need too. These French acrobats will certainly amaze you with their juggling and balancing acts.  We love watching this group each and every trip.  After watching these great performers we back tracked to United Kingdom to watch the World Showcase Players.  This improv group retells the great story of King Arthur and his Knights.  During their skit they also choose people out of the audience to help reenact this story.  My favorite part is whenever they ask the audience what we think of the show we are to respond with rubbish (hence the blog title).  On this trip it was our first time watching the World Showcase Players but I guarantee that it will not be our last.  The best part is that being it is improv and is heavily based on audience participation you will not see the same show twice. 

Next, we made our way to Japan to visit Mitsukoshi and discovered something new on our way, Miyuki.  Miyuki is a beautiful show to watch the sculptors makes animal out of rice dough.  They're extremely vibrant and very detailed.  After catching the end of the show we made our way into Mitsukoshi, which we could spend all day in.  There is so many wonderful Japanese items you can purchase here things like Zelda, Hello Kitty, Sake, Sushi, and Tea merchandise.  Here we bought a Zelda hoodie and a bottle of Sake to take back home.  Which the hoodie certainly came in handy it got a little chilly that night. 

After finishing up at Mitsukoshi we made out way over to Germany to get a beer, pretzel, and caramel candy.  One of my favorite shops to walk through is Karamell-Küche in the Germany pavillion the smell alone is enough to draw you in.  This place is fantastic and the food smells wonderful.  I try to make a point each trip to walk through this shop and at least buy some candy.  I'm hoping next year we can try some cupcakes from there.

Our next county on our tour, China!  Here we were tackling yet another Disney first by taking in the show, Jeweled Dragon Acrobats.  My experience with Acrobats is very limited I've only seen shows at circuses.  For that reason I was looking forward to seeing something new and different.  The show was quite amazing the costumes and entertainment was very good.  However, this is a show that we cannot see being a favorite.  Where as it was entertaining it just really was not our thing. 

Now on to our final country for dinner, Mexico!  At first we were going to eat at the San Angel Inn Restaurante located inside of the Mayan ruins.  But the wait time was about 45 minutes and we did not want to miss out on our fast passes for Test Track.  So, we canceled our reservation and decided to go with La Cantina De San Angel, which is a table service option located almost directly across from San Angel Inn Restaurante.  Travis ordered Cheese Empanadas and I ordered the beef tacos.  I have a very low tolerance for anything even a little bit spicy so I was not really a big fan of the tacos.  However, I stole Travis's Cheese Empanadas and it was amazing!  After eating I decided that this may have to become a new tradition. 

After finishing up our dinner we made our way to Test Track!!!  Only to find that they were experiencing some technical difficulties and the ride would not be back up that evening.  We were extremely disappointed but what can you do.   At first we considered staying for Illuminations being that we had not seen it but decided against it.  So, without anything left to accomplish we made our way towards the exit.  The last thing we did was to get our picture taken in front of the Epcot ball.  It is probably one of my favorite photo pass shots, pure magic.  And not only did we get our picture taken but we also left with words of wisdom.  Our photo pass photographer was a man named Regis and he said that Epcot stood for (Every Person Comes Out Tired)!!  So with that we made our way to the car and said our final goodbyes to Disney World!!

Tomrrow we head out at 4:00 AM to the take our rental car back and to take the plane back home!!  Heres to hoping all of you have a magical day and a magical week!