Japan
The Japan pavilion is absolutely gorgeous and serene. It was fun watching this pavilion transition from dusk to night with it's golden lights contrasting against the blue of the darkening sky.
This was one of my favorite passport entries, they write your name in Japanese (this time I said my name was Katherine so it would be longer) and draw the cutest tsum tsum character tower
Inside one of the buildings is a number of exhibits on different aspects of Japanese culture. I took a class in college about Japanese culture and it was one of my all time favorite classes, this country is so unique.
This was one of my favorite exhibits, I'm a fan of all adorable things.
Then it was time to explore the shops! The Japan pavilion is one of Laura's favorites and she has quite a few items she likes to stock up on when she visits. It was hard for me to choose what to get, there were so many adorable and fascinating things. I was seriously tempted by this sushi candy ...
We thought a picture in front of the kitty display would be appropriate since we are both cat ladies at heart.
A special sidewalk chalk art display, yet another perk of visiting during the first ever Disney arts festival
Morocco
It was so much fun visiting the Morocco pavilion at night, it is a stunning sight all lit up. We arrived just in time to catch the last few songs of this Moroccan band's set.
Eastern art and architecture, especially moorish design, is one of my favorites. I am consistantly drawn to anythings that has those very distinct design aspects and patterns, thus making this pavilion one of my favorites.
I could have spent forever in the bazaar like shops in this pavilion, I wanted one of everything. I ended up with a small, golden oil lamp that looks quite similar to Aladdin's magic lamp
The guy stamping and signing passports was so adorable and shy, he told me what he wrote but I was a dum dum and didn't write the translation down. I feel like it was something more than just "welcome to Morocco", I think my name might be in there.... if anyone out there can read it and let me know what the translation is in the comments, I will love you forever.
France
We rolled into France exhausted and hungry. We had just walked all around the world and visited 20 countries and it was getting pretty late. We got dinner at the patisserie and enjoyed a long sit down while we enjoyed our meal. We had visited the France pavilion earlier in our trip when we came over for dinner one night, so we didn't feel the need to explore it as much as the other countries since we had already visited.
I wanted everything they had so while I did restrict myself a little, I still ended up with quite a large spread .... I got a ham and cheese croissant sandwich for my main course with a raspberry macaron for a side of fruit. For dessert I had to try the chocolate filled beignet and I got a box of macarons to take back to the room to enjoy for breakfast the next morning.
The ham and cheese croissant was absolute heaven, I could eat it for dinner everyday and never grow tired of it's buttery goodness. The raspberry macaron was everything I wanted it to be, soft, chewy, sweet, fresh, delicious. However, I wanted more from the chocolate filled beignet, I felt like it was too dry and didn't have a ton of flavor. I was also sorely disappointed in the box of macarons, they were stale and had no flavor, I ended up throwing most of them away .... tears.
After dinner we rushed to try and find a good spot for the Rivers of Light firework show that takes place in the middle of the lake. It was a totally unique show with lasers, a glowing globe, balls of fire and fireworks.
The show ends with all the countries lighting up in golden twinkle lights, it really is quite spectacular. At this point we had one country left, The United Kingdom, we debated going over there just to get it done, but decided to come back another day and really take some time to explore and enjoy it when we weren't totally exhausted.
Even though our hotel was just a relatively short walk away from the France pavilion, we opted to take the water taxi back, we had walked well over 20,000 steps and we weren't totally sure we would make it if we walked.
Such an epic and amazing day! The World Showcase is definitely one of my favorite parks in Disney World, it may be tied for first with Animal Kingdom.
Next up, United Kingdom! Plus a couple of revisits of a few countries.
Loved the Japan pavilion, captures so much of that Japanese mystic and beauty. I can see how you would love the Moroccan one given your collection of lanterns! I think you should definitely return to Spain to savor the Alhambra's beauty...preferably on a cruise that also stops in Morocco, just across the Mediterranean Sea, and not that far. Most have one stop, but you could look for one with two stops in Morocco.
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