11/12/2011
Drinking Around the World
We woke up feeling pretty rested which was surprising, since we were out so long and late the day before! We got dressed and then called our friends to tell them we were heading to Epcot. We met up with Paul and Katie in the lobby of the Grand Floridian and hopped on the monorail. (This was my first time staying at a monorail resort, so I couldn't get over how cool and convenient the ride over to Epcot was.)
Me and Katie
Chris and Paul making a funny face...
We got to the park, went through the line, and waited for the rest of our group. Once all of our friends arrived, we ran over to get Soarin' to get fast passes and then ran back to ride Test Track since World Showcase wasn't open yet. We decided to just walk in line for Test Track because it was only a 30 minute wait. We asked another bystander if they'd take a group picture of us.:
Note the pirate hoop earring made an appearance-it's hanging off Brendan's shirt!
In the back of my mind, I had already picked out which rides I wanted to sit next to with which friends. I knew I wanted to ride next to my new brother, Paul on Test Track because he's SO funny. We split our group up into two separate cars and had a great ride. Sure enough, Paul made me laugh the whole time. He can throw this great high-pitched and lisp-y voice, so while on the ride, he was screaming, "Oh my gawd, We're gonna crash!" in that tone and I laughed until I cried.
"Oh my gawd, We're gonna crash!"
We walked out of the ride, picked up a couple more stragglers that were joining our group, and then headed to World Showcase to get some food and drinks! This happened to be the last weekend of the Food & Wine Festival, so the crowd level was already pretty packed.
We began to salivate as we walked past all the extra kiosks full of goodies. My first stop was Poland to get some pierogies and try the Belvedere Strawberry Balsamic Chiller. Both were delicious and perfect for breakfast!
A few friends hopped in line to get some pierogies, but the rest were saving room for turkey legs and beer. So, we headed on down to America to fulfill their request.
Turkey legs, unite!
After we all got some food and drinks into our bellies, we decided to backtrack to Norway and go on Chris's favorite ride, Malestrom. Everyone was getting so pumped for the ride, I think it shows in the pictures.
I have the most attractive friends…
We ended up getting a whole boat to ourselves, which was awesome! And then Chris shouted out our traditional, "I vant to go to Norvay!" saying as loud as he could, which made our group even more rowdy.
Our boat sailing away to Norvay!
The group didn't understand the ride one bit, but they loved it. The boys started to demand more booze, so we went down to Mexico to get some margaritas. We drank them as fast as we could so we could hop on the Three Caballeros ride, but first, another group picture!:
Blane looks like he is groping the newlywed! Scandalous…
We got another boat to ourselves and sailed away with Donald, Jose, and Panchito.
Mike bought a sombrero
So ridiculous...
The group didn't really express any feedback for the Gran Fiesta Tour, so I think they just enjoyed the time to sit down and cool off.
We then headed back over to Soarin' to use our fast passes. I made sure I sat next to Jackie because she loves anything to do with flying and I knew this would be a hoot. Every time our chairs moved she let out a shriek of excitement and would grab onto my arm. It was hysterical.
Then we decided to walk onto Living with the Land since it was right there. A couple more friends met up with us and joined us for the ride. One of our groomsmen asked how many more boat rides we had to go on and I just laughed.
From here, our group decided to split up. Half wanted to go back to World Showcase and drink around the world some more, while the other half wanted to go on more rides. (I was in the riding category, so those are the pictures you are going to get, haha.) We planned to meet back up at Germany a little after 5:00 for our Biergarten reservation.
My little group headed to ride Nemo, which us girls have ridden before and enjoy immensely. Can't say the boys liked it, though…
What kind of ride is this?!
But we love Nemo!
We wandered around the aquarium for a bit, took a breather, and then headed over to Spaceship Earth. This was another ride that I wanted to ride with Paul, because I knew he'd mess up "our future".
Me with my new brother
Our future!
Me & Paul
Jackie & Katie
Cory & himself
We waited around forever for our pictures to come up on the screen so by the time I got these pics, we had to leave to get to our dinner reservation. But that was alright, we were all starting to get hungry!
To be continued…
It was so cold, that Disney served hot chocolate with our snacks, when we didn't even have it on our menu. It had dipped down to a record low for that time of year and was hovering in the lower 40's! I was so surprised that our dessert party had not been moved indoors. (I mean, even some heat lamps would have been a nice gesture…) I just really felt bad for our guests who were wearing skimpy sundresses. On top of it all, IllumiNations had been pushed back to 10:00 pm that evening, so we were outside waiting for the show for over an hour! 
Pretty sure Ive gone back a few times to relive your wedding, lol!! 
