A day of shopping and a Canadian dinner

We slept in a bit today and only got up around 9am, took showers and got ready to go out.

Earl of Sandwich was our choice for breakfast, or better an early lunch. We parked towards the far right end of the parking lot, not far from Earl of Sandwich. We got in line and ordered our sandwiches, diet cokes and desserts. We decided on sharing our sandwiches and got an Earl's Club - roast turkey, smoked bacon, Swiss cheese, lettuce and tomato and an All American - roast turkey, cranberries, cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomato, buttermilk Ranch.

They were both very nice. Our desserts were the 3 Berry Muffin Crown and a Brownie. Both were saved for later consumption.

We then went back to the car to drive to the Florida Mall. Tom had accidentally packed the wrong charger for our video camera and we needed to pick up a new one. So the Florida Mall was our first choice since they have a Disney Store as well. We arrived at the Mall shortly before 1pm and started out at the map of the Mall to find an electronics store. There were several and we went to the nearest one. No such charger there. We then went on window shopping, browsing some shops and finally found another electronics store. No luck there either. But there was another one just opposite and they had one.

Even though it was far more expensive than what I would have paid at home we got it just to have finally found one. Next stop was the M&M’s World. What a fun store. Next time we need to go there just for that store. We picked up some Pirates of the Caribbean T-shirts, M&M’s style.

Then we found a new schoolbag for me and a few other bits and pieces, including some cards for our catsitters and Kristy, our American friend, who had just gotten engaged. The store is huge and has lots of different areas and we spent quite some time there. When we headed towards the cash register we were surprised to be offered a pound of M&M’s for every 60 dollars we had spent. Made 3 pounds of M&M’s!

We were really surprised of what Disney stores looked like this time. They looked old and shabby and had lost most of its magical appeal. Hope they get it back to what it was like pretty soon. But some of the stuff they were selling was pretty neat. We picked up a few more items and went back to the car. It was time to head back to the resort, but we made a detour to the Disney outlet store, which is close to where the Dixie Stampede used to be. They had a few more items we liked, so we shopped some more.

We got back to our resort and were pretty hungry but we knew we still had the reservation at Le Cellier. So we stopped at the Riverside Mill and picked up a “Make Your Own” Salad, mixed leaves, tomatoes, sweet corn, olives, parmesan cheese and a light Italian dressing. Since we used a Counter Service Credit we picked up a Carrot cake and some coke and went back to our room. We shared our late lunch and to relaxed for a while before we got changed and had to get to our 7.50 reservation at Le Cellier in Epcot.

We parked at the Yacht Club, since we intended to have some ice-cream lateron at Beaches and Cream and enjoyed the walk over to the International Gateway. We had a little time to spare, so we explored the shops in England and Canada and even made it over to Mouse Gear. By 7pm we checked in at Le Cellier and were told that they were running behind and it would take about half an hour until we were seated. We decided to wait inside and after a few minutes even got a seat.

After about 15 minutes we were seated. We had a rather nice large table and it didn’t take long for our server Patrick to appear. Now he’s a charmer and really makes dining at Le Cellier an experience. Like all the other servers he explained what we could order on the dining plan. We mentioned our DDE and he was happy to ring up a second bill for us. We ordered our drinks, diet coke for me and a Mango Smoothie with a splash of cranberry for Tom and before he went off to get the drinks he asked if we had a favourite bread. Yeah, we love the Pretzel bread. He just winked and came back a short while later with the drinks and some extra water for Tom and 4 Bread Sticks. The multi grain, the sourdough and TWO pretzel sticks. We then ordered our starters. Tom had the Spicy Chicken and Chipotle Sausage with Roasted Corn Polenta and Sweet Onion Jam and I had the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup made with Moosehead Beer and Smoked Bacon. When he brought it out he told us to try the sausage with the soup. Well, we did and he was so right it was to die for. The spicy sausage and the creamy cheesy soup were a marriage made in heaven.

For our main courses Tom had the New York Strip Steak with bercy butter, balsamic red onions, watercress, and roasted Yukon potatoes and I chose the Le Cellier Mushroom Filet Mignon with wild mushroom risotto, white truffle and herb butter sauce. Both are old favourites of ours and were as good as always. All the time Patrick made us feel very welcome and pampered. Glasses were refilled in an instant and empty plates cleared away in no time.

Our desserts were the Seasonal Sherbet for Tom and the Maple Crème Bruleé for me. Very yummy treats. While we waited for our desserts we could hear that Illuminations had started. From our table you could see the greeters in the entrance. We were watching them smiling, as they were dancing along to the music. Unfortunately when they saw US watching THEM they stopped on the spot. I wish they had just enjoyed themselves as much as we did. Patrick brought the bill, unfortunately he had forgotten we were on the DDP, so he had to do it again, but he didn’t seem to mind doing it again. We settled our bill and left him a very generous tip and one of our Disneyland Paris pins for the extra service.

He thanked us with a handshake and told us to ask to be seated in his section again when we came back about two weeks later.It was fun because we had been seated in his section three times during our last few visits. When we left the restaurant Illuminations was already over and we walked towards the International Gateway again. We left Epcot and slowly walked over towards the Yacht Club. We were too stuffed for Beaches and Cream, so gave it a miss, but enjoyed the evening at the Beach. We stopped for a while and watched the Beachside Movie which was “Enchanted”. We then headed out towards the car, opened up the Convertible and drove back to our resort. Like every day we were greeted by the resident frog, or Froggie as we named him. We went to our room and again fell onto our beds, watching TV for a while before we fell asleep.