Another morning, another missed rope drop. Indeed, my notes tell me we woke up at 9:17 am – practically lunch time! After showers and a leisurely breakfast of cereal and coffee, all four of us piled into the Malibu and headed for Downtown Disney. My grandmother was on a mission to buy some wine glasses with etched Mickey heads (a Christmas gift for my aunt), and she was determined to take advantage a free shipping offer she had seen advertised. The problem was, the offer had very fine stating that the size of your purchase must be over $500, but the glasses were purchased anyway.

Oh hai...

After waiting for her to finish her purchase, we all went to the DVC kiosk to inquire where my grandparents could get new DVC member cards. Andy, the DVC rep, was a very nice guy, but also very insistent on getting me and CP to take a tour while the four of us would be at Saratoga Springs to get my grandparents’ new cards. Not gonna happen, sir – maybe in a few years.

So, we drive to SSR and enter the DVC offices. CP remarks under her breath that it feels like being in the living room of a place where you’d pick up ladies of the evening. A crass joke, but she has a point – people are nervously waiting on couches for their “guide” to take them into a small room to be….well, you get the picture. While the cards are printed we drink lemonade and eat cookies, and soon we’re all on our way to Epcot.

On tap today at Epcot is a lunch my grandparents requested. They love, love, love Les Chefs de France, so I booked a reservation for all four of us.  We park in Discovery 13 and walk in the hot midday sun to

Gazing across the Lagoon, where their lunch awaits.

the front entrance, whereupon I suggest that we cut down on our walk and take the boat across the Lagoon instead. Everyone is happy to oblige, so we arrive in France quickly and watch Serveur Amusant before we’re called in to our table. Our server is a lovely gentleman from Burgundy, who tickles my grandparents by pronouncing “Detroit” in the most charming French accent ever.

All of us decide to have the prix fixe lunch; I’m the only one to have wine (when in Rome, right?). I have the french onion soup, croque monsieur, and profiteroles with a glass of Bordeaux. The grandparents each had the lobster bisque (and pronounced it quite good), the quiche, and profiteroles. CP also had the french onion soup, the croque monsieur, and the chocolate mousse cake for dessert.  The sandwich was a bit greasy, but overall I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the meal, and for a decent price.

Sadly, health code regulations prevented Remy from dining with us.

The best part of lunch, of course, was when a lovely “French” gentleman named “Armand” (I think he’s neither French nor named “Armand”) wheeled a cart to our table, upon which sat a sterling silver cloche. He lifted the lid of the cloche and revealed…Remy! I had completely forgotten about this and was delighted. In fact, all of us were delighted – Armand was charming (especially to my grandmother, mais oui), Remy adorable.

After lunch, the four of us walked to the American Adventure to try and catch the 2:15 performance of the Voices of Liberty. My GM and CP took bathroom breaks while the GF and I browsed the National Heritage Gallery. Even I have to admit that the Voices of Liberty were pretty terrific. Normally I find them a bit..twee? But today they sounded wonderful, and it’s hard to resist the charms of a capella Christmas

Man on Wire.

music.  Afterwards we all headed to Italy to browse the shops and watch Sergio the mime, and then we boarded the boat from Germany back to Mexico. And there again was Duffy, fanning himself at the International Gateway. By this time we were all tired and full, and walked out back to the car and headed to OKW to rest. One of the best parts of vacation? Consistent afternoon naps!

CP and I headed out again around 5:20, gassed up the car at the Hess station, and then we were on our way to the Magic Kingdom. On the docket for this evening was another first for us, a Wishes dessert party. The interwebs are full of conflicting reports on the value and enjoyment of a dessert party, but I figured we had nothing to lose by trying one – the prices to attend were pretty low for the off season.

Beautiful.

We arrived at the MK parking lot and parked in Zurg 108, which I think was our first time in a Villains lot. We took the resort monorail to the front of the park, and then quickly wished we were somewhere else – the place was MOBBED. As a seasoned veteran might expect on an EMH night. We knew this going in, but somehow seeing the mob is different than thinking about it beforehand.  We made our way up Main Street by ducking through the stores on the left side of the street, and then headed to Tomorrowland to check in for our party. I can’t say the hostess who checked us in was the friendliest Cast Member I’ve ever met, but I really didn’t care once I saw the lovely two-top table she brought us to, right by the railing with a dead-on view of the Castle.

The dessert offerings were pretty decent, if not stellar. Lots of “shooter” style desserts, tiny tartlets, truffles, brownies, and cookies. The tiramisu was quite tasty, so I might have made a few return trips for more of those.  In any case, it was lovely to sit and snack and watch the Magic, Memories and You show, which surprised me in its elegance and its technology.  We ultimately weren’t able to pull our chairs right up to the railing as I had hoped, but in any case we didn’t experience any pushing or shoving to keep a nice spot right in front. The wind was also blowing away from us, so our view wasn’t obstructed. Would I do the party again? Maybe not, at least not in a peak(er) season. But I’m still glad we did it once. Some of what we saw:

Progress City!

After the party we took a quick spin on the people mover, and then walked to Fantasyland, where something weird came over me: I voluntarily agreed to ride the teacups.  Not once, but twice! Amazing! I can be prone to motion sickness and usually avoid this ride, but as long as CP didn’t spin us too

Round and round...

violently, I was okay. And it was all worth it to see the joy on her face: this is absolutely her favorite ride at Disney. Once off the teacups we headed to the Haunted Mansion, where we waited in a line longer than my liking – but again, to be expected on an EMH night. We capped off our evening with a quick tour of the “heritage” store, in which I uttered the word “really?” over and over again, and then a visit to the Christmas store. By this point we were beat and beaten down by the crowds. We were outta there.