First night at Disney - Epcot

Picking up from the last post, Dave and I walked over to the International Gateway from the Boardwalk, and I tried to call Len. Note for future trips: you can't hear your phone ring in a crowded theme park. We played SMS tag throughout World Showcase, and Dave and I hit the Grand Fiesta Tour at Mexico while trying to find our friends. I have to wonder what people from Mexico think of that attraction. I love love love the Day of the Dead/it's a small world section because it's so creepy, but the video parts still look like they came straight from the 70s despite the fact that the ride was rehabbed this year. When we got off the ride, there was another text from Len saying they were going to Canada, which is where Dave and I headed.

Dave picked up some sugared nuts from the cart between Future World and World Showcase. We got to Canada, which seems a lot bigger when you're trying to find someone there, wandered a bit, and finally there was Len (I knew to look for the iPhone first and it worked) and Matt (from studioscentral.com). Handshakes all around. There were still more people at large who were planning to meet for IllumiNations. Mike Newell (from the awesome mouseworldradio.com and hereafter known simply as "Newell") found us and he and Len joined me and Dave for a viewing of the newly revised O Canada movie. We chatted about mobile phones in the queue, watched the movie, and rejoined the group outside.

Outside, Mike Scopa (elder statesman of the Disney internet community, fellow runner, and hereafter known simply as "Scopa") had showed up. You may note that "Where's Scopa?" is something that was repeated many times during this trip. He was accompanied by Masayo Kano, a podcast fan from Japan who was running the 6.5K race, and her friend whose name I unfortunately forgot. Fellow Washingtonian and all around cool person Beci Mahnken was there too. I feel like I'm missing some people, but I was pretty tired from traveling by then and my memory is fuzzy.

We watched IllumiNations from Canada. I admitted to Len that IllumiNations leaves me cold, but he decided to overlook my obviously callous nature and asked if Dave and I wanted to join him and others at Raglan Road, which we did. Everyone broke to get their respective cars, Dave and I walked back to BW to get ours. At this point, I almost bagged it. We were tired from traveling and had a long day ahead of us on Friday, but in the end we did go and I'm glad we did.

Len, Newell, and Beci were there outside Raglan Road. Pleasure Island was pretty hopping that night really. We got our table, ordered up some appetizers, ate and had a good time. Beci told us about her Adventures By Disney trip to London and Paris. Matt showed up later with his lovely fiancee, Marissa (I hope I spelled that right). Of the food, the ribs were a big hit, as were the batter-fried sausages. I can't tell you about the calamari or the scallops because of my whole seafood-allergy thing. By then, everyone was beat. We said good night, and planned to meet again on Saturday before the race.

The plan for Friday was Blizzard Beach, a trip to Punta Gorda, and to finish the night at Pleasure Island.