Note: Min's trip report is in Coral and Bill's comments are in Blue.

Click to Read:   Intro  -  Part 1  -  Part 2  -  Part 3  -  Part 5  -  Part 6

Part Four

October 24, 2003 - Friday

We were up on our way around 8 AM. First it was the bus to the Magic Kingdom and then the monorail to the Contemporary. We had a PS at Chef Mickey’s for breakfast. We were seated amongst the children, lots of children and it was loud. The food was good. Bill likes breakfast here because they have smoked salmon, he eats it with red onions and capers. He told me about putting smoked salmon on a bagel with cream cheese. I tried it and liked it.

Well at least she liked the cream cheese and bagel part. I noticed she left most of the smoked salmon on her plate.  :)

The characters were great and we got some good pictures of us together thanks to the family that sat next to us, there was about ten of them. Grandparents, two sets of parents and four kids.

Yep, they really took care of us when it came to pictures with the characters and we did not even have to ask them, they volunteered to help us. The grandfather took pictures of us with Mickey, then with Minnie and when he was away from the table, the grandmother took our picture with Dale. Then when we went to get a picture with Goofy in the lobby, one of the folks that was sitting at the table on the other side of us took the picture. Two groups of really neat folks.

After breakfast, we caught the monorail over to the TTC and then switched over to the Epcot monorail. On the way over to Epcot, Bill and I talked about riding Test Track. Neither of us had ever ridden and Bill was trying to determine if I was ready to make another first time ride conquest this trip. We decided to go on it and headed straight for it after passing through security. There was no real line and we were in the "pre-show" after about a five minute wait. Then we rode it. It was neat. We decided to skip the picture but Bill bought me a pin as a memento of my conquest.

Another attraction that Min had been scared to death of, conquered. I was very proud of her. Oh yeah the reason we skipped the picture, Min had her head down when it was snapped so all you saw was her hair.  :)

We had some time to kill before the World Showcase opened so we walked through Mouse Gear. After that we headed to the World Showcase for the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival. We crossed the bridge in front of the Odyssey and headed for Mexico.

Since we had just had breakfast, we skipped the Greece and the Fresh from Florida booths. I wanted some baklava and souvlaki but it could wait until later in the day.

We had the watermelon water at the Mexico booth, it was very refreshing. We decided to skip El Rio del Tiempo and headed for Norway. It was a little too early for Corn Beef and Cabbage, so we skipped the Ireland booth. We rode Maelstrom and looked around the shops in Norway. Then we tried the ricecream from the Scandinavia booth. It was good. Too sweet for me, so I let Bill finish mine.

I liked the ricecream, it is something I would definitely do again.

We decided to skip the China movie even though we have not seen the new one, yet. Bill sometimes gets dizzy during 360 degree movies and did not feel up to Reflections of China this morning.

I don't know what it is but I really have to psyche myself up to watch 360 degree movies without getting dizzy and today was not a good day, too much breakfast me thinks.  :)

We also skipped the China food booth and continued onward to more new food experiences. We tried the kielbasa and pierogies at the Poland booth. It was my first time eating pierogies, they were good. We skipped the South Africa booth, so our next stop was Australia. We shared a shrimp on the barbie skewer and an Australian tenderloin with BBQ sauce skewer. Both were very good.

I especially loved the BBQ sauce on the tenderloin. It had a good flavor with a bit of zip to it. Wish I could find it back home in our neck of the woods.

We passed on the Oktoberfest, Italy and South America booths.

We were coming back to Epcot tomorrow, so I made a mental note to try the Jaegerschnitzel from the Oktoberfest booth and the Chipotle-spiked Bonaito Mash from the South America booth when we came back.

It was still too early in the day for alcoholic beverages, besides neither one of us drinks that often, so we passed on the Specialty Beer Garden booth. American VYBE was not scheduled until later in the afternoon, so we skipped the American Adventure and headed for Japan. We passed on the Champagne and Sparkling Wine booth. We were getting a bit thirsty though, so Bill got me a diet coke and got himself a "Bee Sweet" honey lemonade from the United States booth.

I liked the honey lemonade, Min didn't.

We took a walk through the Mitsukoshi store for the first time since the remodeling this summer. When we came out, the Disney Characters on Holiday bus was out front. We got some pictures with the characters including a couple we had never gotten pictures with before. After the characters moved along, we headed over to the Japan booth and tried the Yasai maki. It was pretty good.

Agreed.

At the Morocco booth, Bill got a kafta kabob. We found a spot in the shade and sat down to rest and let Bill eat. MO'ROCKIN' started performing while we were resting so we watched them for a while before moving on. Bill said that he was stuffed and did not want to eat anything else for a while. We started a leisurely stroll towards the front of the park. We stopped in England and Bill got pictures of me with Tigger and Pooh as well as Mary Poppins and a penguin. We got pictures with Belle and Beast in France.

Skipped the France booth, mental note creme brulee and maybe the goat cheese and tomato tart tomorrow. Skipped the Great Beers of the World booth, is there really such a thing as a great beer? Skipped the New Zealand booth, definite stop for tomorrow. Skipped the Cognac, Port and Brandy booth. Skipped the Spain booth, maybe some paella tomorrow.

Our last stop was the Canada booth. I wanted some of the cheddar cheese soup and Bill decided to have a piece of maple fudge. The soup was good.

So was the fudge. Skipped the Russia and Eastern Europe booth, maybe a potato pancake or beef stroganoff tomorrow. Skipped the Southeast Asia booth, maybe something tomorrow. Skipped the Colorful Eating booth, maybe tomorrow too.

Bill decided to check out the Food and Wine Festival merchandise shop. He ended up picking up two Food and Wine Festival pins. The first one had Lilo and Stitch on it and the second one had Belle and Lumiere on it. Then we headed for the bus. On our way to the bus we stopped at guest relations and got me a birthday button from Epcot. After the quick stop for the button, we headed back to the hotel for a rest. Once we got back to our room, we found that those Mousekeeping folks had been at it again. The two Ladybug Minnie were trick-or-treating trying to talk the Vampire Pooh into sharing his candy. Additionally, Elly had found a new friend, a turtle.

Really neat stuff, I was glad that Elly finally got a "chair-mate."  :)

After our rest we caught the bus to the Magic Kingdom and then the monorail to the Contemporary. We had a dinner PS at California Grill. We got there a little early and a had seat in the lounge. While waiting to be seated who should come in but Laurie, the RADPer that we had met a few days earlier at Animal Kingdom. We said hi again and talked for a little while. It seems she had had the same idea as me and Bill, dinner at the California Grill followed by Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Shortly there after our name was called and we were seated at one of the window tables on the west side of the restaurant. Dinner and the service was wonderful. We started with a three cheese flatbread. Then we both had a hearts of romaine salad. The green goddess dressing was great. We both wanted sushi, so Bill ordered Yoshi's Deluxe Sushi Platter, a shrimp tempura roll and a "Peeky Toe" California Roll and we shared them. The shrimp tempura roll had strawberries and mangos in it, wow! About half way through our meal the sun started going down and they opened the window shades. The sunset and the view were awesome. We finished our dinner with a molten chocolate cake. It was a small chocolate cake with a "molten" orange flavored chocolate core and white chocolate ice cream on the side, it was yummy.

I would call this meal, the highlight meal of our trip. The sushi was by far the best we have ever had. The service was excellent. I love the two servers to a table style service. There was always someone there to wait on us, yet the servers were not it the least bit intrusive. Finally the view with the sunset, the Seven Seas Lagoon and the Magic Kingdom at night, was truly magnificent. This was the second time that we have dined at the California Grill. God willing and the creek don't rise, it will not be our last.

After dinner, we hopped on the monorail and headed to the Magic Kingdom for the party. Our first impression was that there were less guests in costume compared to last year when we went. We stopped at the Emporium and bought two of the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party pins from that evening's party. Then we made our way over to Liberty Square to find a place to watch the parade. We got a spot right in front of the Liberty Tree Tavern.

While waiting for the parade to start, we talked with a couple from Alabama, who had brought their four year old son. It was his first trip to Walt Disney World. It was a really neat way to pass the time. Then, we listened to the tale of the headless horseman.

Shortly before the parade, the headless horseman rode through Liberty Square with sparks flying from the hoofs of his horse. We had a great view of him as he thundered past.

This is definitely one of the best parade starters I have ever seen. The horseman with his jack-o-lantern head in his hand and the sparks flying from the hoofs of the horse, amazing.

The parade was great. I loved the characters in their Halloween costumes, the villains celebrating "their" night and the Halloween hoedown. After the parade, we rode the Haunted Mansion. Then we had our Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party picture made. Then we did a little trick-or-treating. We watched some of the fireworks from Fantasyland, while waiting in line to ride Dumbo. Then we rode Dumbo, it was another first time attraction for me. Bill had not ridden Dumbo since he was a kid. Next was Snow White's Scary Adventure. The lines to get a picture with Cinderella or Fairy Godmother were way too long of a wait, so Bill just took a picture of me standing beside Cinderella carriage. We headed for Mickey's Toontown Fair. On the way we saw that Pooh and the gang were posing for pictures in their Halloween costumes at the Fantasyland Character Festival. Bill took pictures of me with each of them.

"Fantasyland Character Festival" equals the old queue area for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

There was a really great photo op involving the couple that was in line behind us. It occurred between the couple's little daughter, who was maybe two at the most and was dressed as a ladybug, and Piglet, who was dressed as a flower. When Piglet bent down to interact with the little girl, she kissed him on the nose. It was precious. Next, we checked out The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh but the line was way too long. The attraction was so crowded that they had the Fastpass machines running during the party. We talked a bit and even though I was getting tired, we decided to continue on to Mickey's Toontown Fair.

We had to go on, there was candy and characters waiting just around the bend.

We trick-or-treated at Minnie's house and Bill got a picture of me with Minnie. Next, we stopped by Mickey's house and Bill got a picture of me with Mickey the Scarecrow. Then it was on to Donald's boat but he took a break right as we got in line and we decided it was time to leave. As we were headed out we saw Goofy and we each got a picture with him. It was a little before midnight when we got to the bus stop. After a short wait, we got a bus back to the resort. The gift shop was closed, so we got our nightly cold drinks from the vending machine on the way to the room. We were in bed a little after 12:30 am.

A fun day followed by a great but somewhat long evening.

Click to Read:   Intro  -  Part 1  -  Part 2  -  Part 3  -  Part 5  -  Part 6