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Around the World in 11 Countries Continued:Italy, America, and Japan

Back to Epcot! Don't worry, with this post we're more than halfway around World Showcase. The end is in sight! This is more for me than you anyway, right?

The Italy Pavilion was pretty, but since it pretty much only featured wine and breakables we only stopped at the Kidcot station. More on that in a bit. Next was the America Pavilion. Why does the building in the below picture have Japanese architecture? Yeah, because I kind of didn't take any pictures of America. This may have been the only part of all four parks I didn't take a picture of. In my defense, I do have some familiarity with America. And besides, I was too busy admiring the view of Spaceship earth (Known as the Golden Ball to Elizabeth) across the lake, wondering why there were David Beckham jerseys in the gift shop (yes, I know he lives in LA. now. Wrong pavilion, people!), and being anxious to get to Japan in time for the... ...candy demonstration! There are not really many free or cheap things at Disney. This is an exciting one! This lady pops out of nowhere and starts to make these lollipop things out of rice candy. She stretches it like taffy, sticks it on a wooden stick and then makes it into any animal that you want. And gives it to you for free! Elizabeth asked for a green dinosaur, so the lady made her Godzilla: It was pretty entertaining because they all start out looking like a blob on a stick and I personally watched her make Mom and Baby pandas, a cheetah and a unicorn. I was very impressed. Elizabeth was extremely excited by her "lollipop", but let me tell you, it was fragile. The above picture was taken within moments of it being handed over, and mere seconds later Godzilla had lost a chunk of his flame and an arm. It went downhill from there. In fact, the remains are in our refrigerator right now. I really should be doing something about that.

So, I mentioned Kidcot. Another one of the rare freebie things you can find. There are stations all over Epcot for this, and at more places than just the countries, although that was enough for us. Basically, Elizabeth got a mask on the stick to color, and at every country she got a themed paper charm (teddy bear in Germany for example) added on that dangled, a stamp from the country on the stick, and at China and Japan she even got her name written in characters. It was pretty cool. Her favorite part was adding more scribbles at every stop. Next 11 Countries post, we're off to Morocco!

Posted by Rachel at 9:51 PM 
Huh, something I didn't know about Epcot! When we were planning which parks to go to, I purposely vetoed Epcot, thinking it was too mature for Sprite. Now, I'm thinking there's more to offer to kids than I planned! The lollipop is very cool!

September 23, 2008 at 9:37 AM 
There were definitely fun things there, but I think Sprite will like the other parks better, and Elizabeth would agree with her. She liked saying what country we were in and repeating how to say hello in different languages, and coloring on her mask, and she liked The Seas with Nemo and Friends and Turtle Talk with Crush a lot, not to mention the food court at the Land, but I know her favorite park by far was Magic Kingdom, and she really liked Animal Kingdom too, especially the playground and the Safari. So I think your current plan will be awesome. If you do decide to go to Epcot and they're doing the candy demonstration in Japan, ask where they are doing it and be right there when the lady comes out to have a good chance of getting a lollipop. As soon as people realize what's going on they swarm the area and they don't all get one. Cuteness helps I think, so hold Sprite up and you'll definitely get one!

September 23, 2008 at 9:53 AM