Day six was a day of ups and downs. My health gradually improved as the day went on, which was a blessing for which we were extremely grateful, and the lovely warm sunshine lifted our bodies and spirits in tandem. However, we also got some very bad news from Portland fairly early on in the day, and it was difficult for us to process our emotions and thoughts while in a place that is so far from home, and so entirely focused on frivolous and very worldly things. Rest assured, nobody died or anything, except perhaps a few of our cherished hopes and dreams. Actually, even that last statement isn't true, because our hopes are not rooted in people or circumstances, but in the One who is above them all. It just took us a while to remember that. Remember we did, though, and after walking, talking, and praying together, our minds and hearts settled into a somewhat subdued, but peaceful state.
We did enjoy our last day at Epcot. We didn't go on any of the more adventurous rides, or push my physical limits too much. We were mostly just satisfied that I was out of bed and we had such nice weather. We shopped a bit and bought some small gifts for the children of the friends who are providing our airport taxi service for this trip. (We live very near the Portland airport, and are often called on to do taxi service. We are always glad to do so, and it is generally no trouble for us, being so close, but it is usually more of an effort for the people we ask, because none of them live at such an easy distance as we do. We are very grateful for friends who will put themselves out for us like that, and know that while they would refuse any token for themselves, they will not turn down Disney trinkets for their children. We feel quite tricky and self-satisfied at this method of getting around their reticence to being properly thanked!) One of the highlights of the day for us was watching the newly updated circle-vision movie about Canada. They've got the always amusing Martin Short serving as tour guide, and have cut in new footage with the old to bring the movie into the 21st century. We love circle-vision movies anyway, but the upgrade made it all the more fun.
Okay, now we come to the whiny complaint portion of what is turning into a rather lengthy trip journal entry. Here it it. "Wah! I wanted French Food!" That in a nutshell is my chief gripe for the day. Let me explain: We bought into the Disney Dining Plan, which pre-pays for meals at some rather nice restaurants, and because the restaurants are very popular, requires advance reservations to get a table. No problem! We booked our tables well ahead of our trip, through the Disney Dining reservation center. The trouble is, you never really get a chance to look at the menu before you choose where you will eat. This is a leap of faith for me, because I have some rather annoying dietary restrictions (no wheat) that make it a bit of a crap shoot whether there will be anything at a given restaurant that I can eat. Some restaurants are easy--I can always eat Mexican and most Asian food, and Italian is almost always out, unless I make noodles at home from scratch. The Disney website assured us, however, that all their restaurants could handle dietary restrictions, and, thus assured, we planned to expand our dining horizons by venturing into a highly-touted French restaurant. When we actually sat down to look at a menu and talk to our waitress about what I could have, however, it boiled down to "anything without the sauce." What?! The whole point of French food is the sauce!! They said I could have escargots in burgundy sauce--without the sauce--a.k.a. dry snails. They said I could have a beef fillet in peppercorn sauce--without the sauce--a.k.a. slab-o'-meat, and they said I could have green beans. I could not, however, have any of their potatoes, including mashed. I ask you, who puts wheat in their mashed potatoes? You'd think fancy French chefs could whip up an alternate sauce using corn starch--heck, even I could do that! We just couldn't bring ourselves to pay $50 dollars per person for dry snails, a steak and some green beans, so we left. We spent the next hour walking around looking for a restaurant with an open table, and found not a one. (Sometimes I just hate what my stupid dietary needs put my husband through. He could have had the French food, and I started thinking I should have just eaten the stinking boring green beans and meat slab.) Eventually, though, we had a breakthrough. We called the magical Disney Dining central office, where they see the reservation lists for all the D-World restaurants at once, and the operator saw that there had just been a cancellation at the Mexican restaurant across the way. We jumped on it, and within half an hour we were happily dining on tilapia with guacamole sauce. Margaritas further improved our mood.
That pretty much sums up day six (at some length I might add). On to a few photos...
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