EPCOT Escapades

My family went to Orlando, Florida a lot when I was growing up. We also went a lot after I had grown up. My favorite part of the Disney experience was always EPCOT. It was a world showcase right in my own country, what more could I ask for? There was food from around the world, makeup and clothes from different countries, and of course, foreign hotties.

One of my first experiences with an EPCOT employee was when I was maybe 15. I wasn’t exactly a catch at this point in my life. I remember entering the Canadian pavilion and wanting to get some popcorn. In EPCOT they will assure you that popcorn was created in Canada. This bit of info seems wrong. Even my Canadian husband has pointed out that Canadians couldn’t have been the first people to heat up kernels. There’s no way.

At the popcorn stand was a super cute guy named Sean. He was blonde and tall and just my 15-year old type. He looked like Barbie’s Ken. After that, I looked at him from afar and pretty much stalked him for the rest of the trip. Exhilarating.

A couple years down the line I was wandering through the Morocco pavilion when a Moroccan guy, not much older than myself ran up to me. He told me that I was beautiful and wanted to see me again. His name was Amine (pronounced ah-meen) and we became instant lovers. And by lovers I mean that we held hands and walked around a theme park together.

One night we decided to watch the fireworks. I could feel my phone vibrating in my purse but I didn’t want to interrupt this romantic moment we were having. I was basically Jasmine and he was my Aladdin. When I was leaving the park, I called my mom only to find out that she thought I was kidnapped. My brother had been out looking for me and even asked Amine’s manager where he was and when he had last seen him. My mom is basically Liam Neeson.

When is she gonna learn that no one will ever want to take me?

You would’ve thought I’d learned my lesson to answer my phone but I didn’t. Years later a similar scenario happened. I wonder what my life would’ve been like if I grew up in a decade without cell phones. I guess people would’ve just assumed I was dead after every date.

My last and most exciting EPCOT lover was from the UK. On this trip I was with my friend Janna and we had been walking around for a while when we ran into my mom. She told us there was a really cute guy in one of the shops in the English pavilion for Janna. My first thought was, “What about me?!” So we met this guy and talked to him and he invited us to go to a club with him—yes, Disney has clubs. There, we met up with him and his friend Christopher.

Of course Christopher wasn’t as cute as Janna’s guy (I forget his name) but he was funny and I wasn’t picky. We ended up dancing and making out until midnight. I knew I had to be back at midnight because I was basically Cinderella. After that trip I realized that it’s less work to just admire guys from afar at EPCOT.

Especially the guys in the Norwegian pavilion.

Memories in Perfumes

You know how the scent of something can bring back a flood of memories? I feel like there’s a term for it but I don’t remember what it is and I don’t want to Google search for hours. It can be any kind of smell. For instance, certain types of cigarettes remind me of my grandpa’s lake house and going to concerts. Smelling funnel cake takes me back to my brother’s elementary school carnival. I remember that time clearly because I got in a fight with a carney. She rudely said during the fight, “It looks like you got that sweater at the Salvation Army” to which I replied, “It looks like your life is from the Salvation Army.”

For me, perfume holds the tickets back in time. I’ve worn so many and been around so many different perfumes in my lifetime that my brain can’t help but to link the fragrances with memories.

Burberry Brit was a staple for me in high school. I wore it a lot when I dated my first boyfriend, Kyle. Burberry smelled the best in the winter because it had notes of vanilla and spice. Did I really just say notes? Who am I? But seriously, I remember wearing this so much that when we broke up, Kyle asked me what perfume I wore so he could get some for his new girlfriend. How precious.

Anais Anais is a perfume that my family likes to refer to as Anus Anus. This is an uber floral perfume and I didn’t really like it the first couple times I smelled it. It’s almost got a baby powder smell like Love’s Baby Soft. This perfume reminds me of college and new places. I moved to Utah for my first year of college and it was a big change for me. The other day I was standing behind a woman in line to get tickets for a movie and I could smell it on her. I asked her if she was wearing Anais Anais and she was so scared and replied “I didn’t realize I was wearing that much!” I blamed it on my amazing sense of smell, but really she was wearing a lot.

Ralph Lauren Romance reminds me of Canterbury. There was a lot of romance going on during that time for me so there was really no better choice. Romance smells clean to me. The bottle is also very clean and sleek looking. I would always go into the department store Debenham’s and spray loads on me so I could walk around smelling like a ball of class.

Lola by Marc Jacobs is a fairly new, fun scent. It reminds me of summertime. It’s light and bubbly. The bottle is very in-your-face with magenta hues and a big, plastic flower as the top. I wore it a lot when I was planning my wedding with my mom. Well, she planned it. I just sat there and watched, really. Maybe I can plan my own daughter’s wedding and then she can plan her daughter’s and we’ll have a never-ending line of girls not planning their own weddings. And they can wear Lola to remember it.

Chloe Eau de Parfum  is perhaps one of the best and strongest scents that I’ve smelled. It’s beautiful. I wore it a lot when I first moved to Canada. It reminds me of trying to find my way and learning new things. It also makes me feel rich when I wear it. Chloe is one perfume that’s very recognizable. Whenever I would go into a store people would ask if I was wearing Chloe.

Lastly, my all time favorite is Laila by Geir Ness. This is the hardest perfume to find in the normal world. In the world of EPCOT however, I know just where to get it. The Norway pavilion is drenched in the smell of Laila and it’s just glorious. My mom and I have purchased many a bottle. One time I went there and I actually met Geir Ness, a personal hero of mine, and he rubbed lotion into my hands. True love.

Do you have any favorite perfumes or scents? Stella McCartney just came out with a perfume called Lily so I guess that’s on my Christmas list now?

Canadian Showcase

This is a product sold at Epcot.

I realize that a lot of people don’t get the luxury of going to Disney World more than once in their life. Some people haven’t ever been. And I have to wonder why their parents haven’t been locked away for cruel and unusual punishment.

Disney World (Let’s be clear: the one in Florida. Not that lousy excuse for all things magical in California.) includes 4 main parks (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios (formerly known as MGM Studios), and Epcot. I also include the 3 water parks and Downtown Disney as part of Disney World, but I won’t get technical.

Epcot is one of my favorite parts of the Disney experience. Basically, Epcot is also known as the World Showcase. There are 11 countries with pavilions displaying traditional architecture, food, and goods from each nation. It’s a brilliant idea if you ask me. Once you go to Epcot, you feel like you’ve actually visited the countries on display. More importantly, you only experience the good parts of each country. And you don’t have to travel there. AND you’re actually in Florida. It’s a win-win-win if you ask moi.

The cool thing about Epcot is that everyone who works at a particular country’s pavilion must reside in that country. Each “cast member” is dressed in traditional clothes (Yes, in Germany they were lederhosen) and their name tags say specifically where they are from. Good idea Disney. Epcot is really just a great introduction into stereotyping.

Now, the moment you’ve all have been waiting for: There is a Canadian pavilion. It’s so embarrassing and awesome. The American one is just as embarrassing, but whatever.

It’s obvious that Canadians have no traditional clothing. So the workers at Disney decided to dress the cast members in red and black flannel shirts and khaki shorts with mounty hats. This is a disgrace. While most countries are dressed up in their finest outfits, the Canadian’s are stuck with flannel in Orlando. Rough.

Just no.

The store that’s in Epcot’s Canada includes a lot of clothes from this Canadian brand, Roots, which I actually like. They also have candy from Canada. And some weird night shirts. So that’s always alarming.

Usually, there are bars in each country where you can grab an authentic alcoholic beverage specific to that country. In Mexico they serve Margaritas, in France, champagne, and in Germany they serve everything. In Canada however, they serve popcorn. And whenever you get some, the workers always tell you how popcorn originated in Canada which I’m pretty sure is a lie.

Welp, there it is.

The restaurant in Canada is Le Cellier, a steakhouse. The food is definitely the worst out of every country. And I’ve eaten at the Norway pavilion.

They just haven’t made anything special in the Canadian section of Epcot and this makes me sad. I mean, it’s just not up to par with the rest of the showcase. There is a waterfall though, but it’s only cool for about 5 seconds.