The Z Chronicles: Epcot Date

My parents are in town and they kindly let me and Robert get out of the house for a much needed date. We decided to head to "grown up Disney," aka Epcot. We've never been to Disney without Abby so it felt a little strange, but we left during her nap around 1:00 in the afternoon and felt giddy about having 12 whole hours to spend together.

We wanted to hit all of the rides that Abby can't do with us. First stop: Spaceship Earth. Here's a picture of our personal Utopian future at the end of the ride. I think it had something to do with eating food from our garden and enjoying the great outdoors in the mountains.

Next we headed to Mission Space where we blasted off in a simulated spaceship for a mission to Mars. Robert thinks it's one of his new favorite rides. We followed that up with a shared beer at an Irish pub.

Beautiful, right?

Here's Chefs de France where we had dinner later that night.

Morocco! I had some amazing iced mint tea.

Japan

We were very rushed the last time we were at Epcot with Robert's parents, so it was fun to have time to look around the shops in each country. Japan had Hello, Kitty knick knacks that we knew Abby would like (we try not to encourage it) along with cute tea sets and bento boxes.

Pretty paper cranes.

Here's Venice. I think Venice might be Robert's favorite city in the world. We sat for a little while and talked about all of the different places we want to take Abby someday.

Germany. I'm pretty sure I've passed through Wurzburg. (I seriously have the worst memory.)

The caramel from this place smelled incredible and drew us in, only to discover it was Werther's.

Robert liked this clock. Ummm no thanks, dear.

China

They've started construction for a new Frozen ride and this building had concept art and music from the movie.

Mexico

Another adult ride that I love is Soarin'. We hang-glided (is that correct?) all across California: over the Golden Gate Bridge, through the redwoods, across Yosemite, above orange groves (that smelled delicious!) and over the water. So much fun.

Then it was off to Paris for dinner. Our server was from Nice, France.

Robert's lobster bisque was hands down the best part of the meal.

He ordered short ribs with polenta while I had baked chicken and potatoes. I have very vivid memories of this delicious, buttery chicken I ate in Paris 11 years ago and I think I had too high of expectations. My entree was good but not fabulous.

We went all out and ordered 3 courses. Dessert didn't disappoint.

Please keep this a secret from Abby: after dinner at Epcot we jumped on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom which conveniently happened to be open until 1:00 am. One of the perks of going sans little one is staying out late to see the park at night. More magic.

Robert loves his little girl so much and has fully embraced all things pink and princess-y.

I picked up a lovely $10 Cinderella dress at a consignment store the other day. They're $70 here!

Everyone was lining up for the night parade at 11:00. I couldn't believe how many little ones were still out, many in melt down mode. Robert and I were joked around saying "you will stay up and enjoy this!" "This will be a perfect family memory." Ha!

Robert and I were up past our own bedtime and we agreed that the parade was a little trippy and weird. We didn't end up staying very long. Here's Alice.