Fireworks at Epcot

22 Dec 09--Yesterday started out a little rough, Jabba woke up with an upset stomach for some reason and was pretty sluggish all day. We hadn't planned on going out till later in the day, so it all worked out by the time we were ready to leave. This is her earlier in the day...sick, yes....but oh so cute! Isn't she just like a little baby?!



We had one more free pass to the parks, so we thought we would go to one and then take the monorail to the others to see all the Christmas lights. We decided to start at Epcot because we were told they had the best fireworks at the end of the night, but as soon as we got there we found out that only 2 of the parks were connected by the monorail, and for the others we would have to take the Disney bus. So we decided to just stay put and instead spend more time in the different countries that we weren't able to see much of the other day. It was pretty cold...as you can see we are all bundled up!




We headed straight to the part of the park that has the different countries and decided to get something to eat in Morocco. (I figured "when in Rome...", plus this is where the belly dancing was the other day so I was drawn to it. haha) I was really hungry so I decided on the Mediterranean Sliders Combo. I have had Hummus before, one time actually, and didn't really like it, but I have never had Falafel or Tabouleh, so I thought I would give it a try. Live and learn! The Falafel was alright, but not something you would crave. And the Lentils and Tabouleh were not good at all. I even tried the Hummus again, figuring I just had a bad experience the first time...wrong! Overall, I left Morocco still hungry, but a little wiser! haha



From Morocco we went to several other countries, beginning with Italy. Read the scroll if you can, it tells the story of how the Italians approach the Christmas story, which I think they actually celebrate on Jan 6.



I loved being in Germany. They had a lot of great stuff in their stores, including this $37,500 bejeweled replica of the Magic Kingdom. Then there were more nutcrackers, of course, so I made sure I got pictures of some of them for Kaleigh. I just hope Kaleigh is seeing these, so I am not wasting my time. haha



From Italy we made a quick stop in Africa.



And then on to China, which was far and away the most interesting. They had a display that was a replica of actual statues used to guard the emporers back beginning around 200 BC. The actual statues numbered more than 6000, all had unique faces, and stood approximately 6 feet tall. The last picture shows how the actual excavation went.



This 1st picture shows what one of those soldiers would have looked like when originally painted about 2000 years ago. And the other 2 are dolls on display and for sale. Aren't they cute!



From China we stopped quickly in Norway. I was feeling pretty girlish here!



And then we wrapped up things in Mexico. Look how there are faces painted on the animals in their folk art. Almost creepy! haha



So now we were ready for the fireworks, and they were really great. It's really hard to get good pictures of fireworks, but they had them out on the water, where they rolled out a globe of the earth and even split the globe about half way thru and had fireworks shooting out of the center. The finale had them playing "Let There Be Peace on Earth" over the loudspeakers while the fireworks were going off, and I must admit I had a tear in my eye. It was really beautiful!