Mom in Florida - Day 1, Epcot

My mom arrived in Florida in the afternoon on Sunday, October 12th! I met her in the lobby of Vistana (in my lumberjack outfit) after work. It was so nice to see her, and she was really excited to see me as a Disney Cast Member. We went to Cracker Barrel for dinner, and then Walmart for some much needed groceries, and spent the night just relaxing!

The first full day my Mom was here (Monday, October 13th... Thanksgiving!) we went to Epcot for the International Food and Wine Festival! We were there just after opening, but since the World Showcase doesn't open until 11 we took the time to go on Spaceship Earth, Imagination, get Fast Passes for Soarin', and take this awesome picture!
Our first food and Wine Kiosk was Santiago Chille, where we ordered the Spicy Beef Empanada and Dulce de Leche!
Next was Barcelona, Spain!
Here we ate the Chilled Tomato and Garlic Soup and Churro with Chocolate Sauce... delicious.At Vienna, Austria we tried the Tafelspitz. It's beef with potatoes and a cream sauce. Yep, I tried it too!Our first alcoholic beverage! The Mango Fu-Te-Jia Slush (or Mango Gingerita) in Shanghai, China. Although I got the pictures with the drink it became my mom's favourite... she ordered 2 more that night ;)
Our first shared drink in a Disney Park!Next up was Cape Town, South Africa!Here we ate Durban Spiced Chicken on a Skewer... delicious and it went perfectly with the Mango Gingerita!Melbourne, Australia (where they ID'd me TWICE)... I ordered the Yellowglen Pink, a wonderful sparkling pink wine! The glass it came in was awesome too!Next we headed over to America where there was Pearville!
Here is my mom as a Pear Bear!Then we went to Hopps and Barley to get a Lobster Roll for Mom (& Mickey).We also tried the Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat Beer!I backtracked to Cork, Ireland where I ordered the Boxty with Bacon Chips and Kerrygold Garlic and Fresh Herb Butter from Cork, Ireland. Really the butter was unnecessary, but the kiosk is sponsored by Kerrygold Butter. Here I'm sitting in Venice... we managed to find two chairs in the shade where we could enjoy our food :)We were sharig the beer so my mom decided to use the (now broken) wine glass from Australia for beer... classy!The most delicious beer... it has a hint of cherry flavour...mmmm! It even came in a souvenir mug!Oh Florida weather... as we sat there we could see the dark clouds rolling in by Germany! So we made a run for it into the American quick service restaurant where we waited for the worst of the rain to pass by us! As expected, as soon as we got inside it started pouring, Florida style!When the rain cleared we headed over to San Francisco.I ordered the California Strawberry Shortcake and my mom was a little jealous!
You can see why... it was incredible!
Mom's Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese, also from San Fransisco.
Next up was Tokyo, Japan!We couldn't decide between plum wine and raspberry sake...
So we got both of them, and went to Morocco to sit and enjoy them!Part of the way through the wine we decided we might need some more food so we got a Kefta from Marrakesh, Morocco (the Kiosk, not the restaurant).
It was a hamburg patty with tomato sauce, tomato, and onion in a pita. It was really good!
Mom still wanted more food so we went to Lousiana, where she got...Praline Bread Pudding! I tried some, it was pretty good!By now we were pretty full, so we decided to halt the Food and Wine-ing for a bit, and go use our Fast passes for Soarin'. We stopped by the Canadian kiosks, went on Soarin', then came back and watched the O-Canada 360 degree movie. Mom loved the new version with Martin Short (she hadn't seen it yet). It is really funny!

After the movie we decided it might be good to get some actual food in our stomachs so we went to the quick serve restaurant in Japan. Mom had this teriyaki chicken...
and I had this beef curry. Both were delicious and it was really nice to get out of the rain and chat for awhile. After dinner we grabbed our favourite drinks (the Australian sparkling wine for me, and the Mango Gingerita for mom) and found a nice spot in Mexico to watch Illuminations. Still, there was one more thing we had to try... the Grilled Beef with Chimichurri sauce. As I said in my previous posts, it was my favourite, and mom agreed... it was one of the best items there!
After Illuminations I walked my mom out of the park and headed to backstage Le Cellier where they were hosting a Thanksgiving Dinner for all of the Canadian Cast Members. Here we are before the dinner!
The dinner was amazing... well, that's to be expected when it's professional chefs cooking it... but still, it was so filling, especially considering everything I'd eaten that day. You can tell everyone enjoyed it... not too many plates with any food left on them!
After the dinner I headed back to Vistana... and then... well, you'll have to wait for the Day 2 update! As you can tell my mom and I did a lot, so there's a lot to blog about!