Friday February 6, 2026 Most Recent Posts:
Disney’s Pop Century Resort The Magic Kingdom
Walt Disney World Finishing January at Silver River
Orlando, Florida
On Friday, after a breakfast of pancakes at Pop Century Food Court, we took the Skyliner from Pop Century to Epcot.
When we arrived we split up so the girls could have a Mother/Daughter day. We agreed to meet in the later afternoon for fabulous ice cream and the required dinner before desert.
I headed off to the World Showcase, through the “International Gateway” and into the United Kingdom.
I had to do some looking to find this path to Christopher Robin’s bedroom.
And there he was, my buddy Winnie the Pooh. His helper took these and many more pictures of us.
Pooh is my favorite philosopher and his wisdom has helped me a lot in my life.
He reminded me:
You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.
and
Life is a journey to be experienced, not a problem to be solved.
From there I headed over to Canada
Their film Canada Far and Wide in the Circle-vision theater had me turning this way and that to see all the many facets of their history and environment as the multiple connected screens changed.
It closed with their famous Royal Mounted Police (“the Mounties”). Anybody remember Sergeant Preston of the Yukon? Or are you all too young?
The World Showcase circles around the Lagoon, a 40 acre man made 1.2 mile body of water surrounded by 11 nation pavilions.
I visited as many as I had time for at a leisurely pace but I could definitely have spent days in Epcot.
I climbed the steps up the pyramid in Mexico. The 36’ tall pyramid is modeled after the Aztec Temple of the Feathered Serpent located in the ancient holy city of Teotihuacán (“The City of the Gods”), near modern-day Mexico City.
There is some wonderful art in Epcot including this large stone artwork on the front of the Mexico pavilion pyramid. It is a mural depicting the Aztec feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl. This carving is modeled after authentic mural paintings found in the ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacán. It represents the wind and knowledge deity
Inside it is night in a plaza surrounded with restaurants, fountains, shops and vendors.
The most fun was taking the Grand Fiesta Tour. It’s a gentle float down a winding waterway that gives you a unique view of the plaza before taking you into the jungle and through tunnels to special displays and animatronics.
In the picture below I’m in the boat looking up at one of the restaurants.
On the cruise you see the sights of Mexico and the antics of three feathered amigos. The birds Panchito, a Mexican charro rooster and Jose, a Brazilian parrot, are searching for their third caballero, Donald Duck. I wish I had done the ride twice to be able to catch all the scenes from their classic film!
It ends with a festive musical grand finale including fireworks.
Like the other countries, China has wonderful architecture. You enter the gates of the city. Unfortunately for me the sun was high in the sky.
The main building is a half-scale replica of the Temple of Heaven (specifically the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests) in Beijing. The color is exquisite but my camera just doesn’t do it justice.
The temple is gorgeous inside and out and houses the entrance to the Reflections of China theater
Inside among the displays in the Gallary are features from Shanghai Disney Land including this map of the Garden of Imagination. The trails and footbridges shown here lead to one of seven original gardens, The 7 acre Garden of Imagination is described as a peaceful green retreat. I would love to visit there, so very different from Disney World.
They also have a standing theater in the round but unlike Canada, you stand in one place and the theater screens revolve. The movie opens with the famous Great Wall of China. The story behind the movie is quite interesting.
The Circle-Vision 360 movie premiered when EPCOT opened in 1982. At the time, China had slowly begun to open to the West, though much of the country was still off-limits to visitors. After years-long negotiations, Disney was finally permitted to film “Wonders of China,” but only under strict supervision. The finished film was nineteen minutes long and showed the American audience a vision of China that most had never seen and – at the time – could not see for themselves by visiting.
After 20 years, the movie no longer represented the modern country that China had become. Shanghai had grown into a world-class city, and more of the country was open and welcoming tourists. A new 12 minute long film, “Reflections of China,” premiered in May 2003. I really wish you could choose which of the two you wanted to see or that they would run them at different times during the day. I enjoyed the newer one but would love to see the original and compare them.
The movie is narrated by an actor playing Li Po (701–762), a renowned Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty and considered one of China’s greatest poets, known for his romanticism and love of nature. In the film he guides us through scenes of the Great Wall, the Yangtze River and other sights.
I was so taken with the Great Wall that I took almost no other pictures of the more modern bustling country.
I stopped by the miniature train village and G-scale railroad located in the landscaped area between Germany and Italy. It was a favorite of David’s and how sad I am that he will never be able to show it to Colin. It’s amazing in its details.
The display is designed to look like a small German village and the surrounding landscape with three independent 45mm gauge tracks.
Look closely, if you can, at the amazing details.
There is a path that allows you to walk alongside the approximately 50 x 130 x 150 foot display and really see it.
From there I went on to Italy where there was one of Carrie’s camera guys so I had my picture taken to prove I’d been there.
Where is the leaning tower of Pisa?
By this time, I was actually on my way to meet Celia and Carrie when I walked past something called Animation Academy and drifted in. It was held in a small outdoor amphitheater. Everyone had a clipboard with a piece of paper and a pencil. The program was just starting. I wasn’t going to stay but it was fascinating.
A Disney professional animator took the audience step by step through drawing this figure.
At the end I looked at the drawings people had done and they were really good.
But I had a deadline, I was meeting the girls at Beaches and Cream which is located at Disney’s Beach Club Resort. I left Epcot through the International Gateway and walked along a very wide canal that separates multiple Disney hotels which are accessible by boats such as this.
When I walked up they were sitting on the beach in front of the hotel.
My years of coming here had taught me to make a reservation for this small but VERY popular eatery so we were soon seated.
It wasn’t five minutes until the siren went off announcing a serving of The Kitchen Sink Sundae. It’s massive and features 8 scoops of vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, cookies 'n cream, and mint chocolate chip ice cream, topped with every available topping—including hot fudge, peanut butter, brownies, Snickers, and a full can of whipped cream.
Four of them were served during the time we were there. Pretty popular despite its $40 price.
Meanwhile, our princess is hungry but trying hard to be patient. Multiple sirens aren’t helping.
The arrival of the food brings back the smiles.
The arrival of dessert, which was the whole point, brings more smiles.
I had the No Way Jose Sundae which is fabulous and I always have it. It’s described as “a Peanut Butter and Hot Fudge delight featuring Chocolate and Vanilla Ice Cream, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Morsels, Whipped Cream, and a Cherry”. It’s BIG and I ate every bite!!
Celia had a Micky Mouse Sundae. Pretty cute but I thought it looked more like a dog than a mouse.
Carrie had a S’mores Shake. It’s a “hard” shake with Amarula Cream Liqueur, Bols Crème de Cacao Dark Liqueur, and Chocolate and Vanilla Ice Cream topped with Marshmallow, Chocolate Sauce, and Graham Crackers
They also brought her a birthday cupcake and we sang Happy Birthday as she blew out the candle. Today is her official birthday.
Thank goodness it wasn’t very far to pick up the Skyway and go back to the hotel. We were stuffed and plum tuckered out.
Once back it was time to write in our journals and attempt to record all we’d done and the great time we’d had. Only one more day – boohoo.
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