Three days is never enough! - A quick trip to Flower & Garden - 4/29-5/1 - Complete!

[brewhome]

Day 1 Evening Continued - finishing our stroll around the World Showcase and IllumiNations

After picking up our pastries in France, we continued our stroll around the World Showcase and decided we liked the topiaries even better all lit up in the dark! First up was Miss Piggy...



Adorable! And she definitely had quite the wardrobe to choose from...



Somehow we walked right by Kermit without seeing him, but next we found Captain Hook and Peter Pan...



In the UK pavilion, we loved Rabbit’s carrots and the beautiful Gerbera Daisies all around him...



And Pooh’s belly was nice and round!



Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet were right near Pooh, and so cute!



On the way to Canada we found sweet Bambi...



Thumper and Flower were nearby!



We found a spot to sit down and enjoy our pastries while we waited for IllumiNations to start... our last time seeing it. It really is a good show, but it’s time for a new one. We are looking forward to seeing Epcot Forever in November!



After the show, we headed out to the buses and got back our room around 10:15. After being up since 3 AM, it felt really good to lay down. Here’s a pic of the artwork in the Murphy bed - so cute!



Next up, day 2 and a visit to Disney Springs, round 2 at Epcot, and an evening at Magic Kingdom!

 

[brewhome]

Day 2 morning to early afternoon - a quick visit to Disney Springs and Round 2 at Epcot!

After a great night’s sleep, we were refreshed and ready to go to Disney Springs for a quick bit of shopping. Sis and I each had a few things we wanted to pick up so we spent about an hour and a half there hitting some of our favorite stores... World of Disney, Basin, Goofy’s Candy Company, the Christmas store, and the Marketplace Co-op. The last one we hit before heading to the buses was the LEGO Store because my sis loves their keychains! I only took one photo at DS, right outside of the LEGO Store...



I can’t wait to see what they are going to build here! We decided to hop a bus to the Beach Club and enter Epcot through the International Gateway, where we got a great view of the construction in the France pavilion...



I can’t wait until Ratatouille and the new Creperie open! Once we got through security we headed right to France, where we stopped at our first food kiosk of the day, Fleur de Lys. We got the Tarte au Chèvre: Goat cheese tart with caramelized onions on a flaky pastry crust, and the much-anticipated La Vie en Rose Frozen Slush: Grey Goose vodka l’orange, St. Germain liqueur, and white and red cranberry juice...



These were both winners! The tarte was absolutely delicious with the flaky crust, sweet onions, and tart goat cheese. YUM. And that drink! We love the orange and lemon slushes that you can always get in France, and this one is just as delicious. You really do get the essence of rose in it... hard to explain what it actually tastes like, but it’s there! These really hit the spot on what was quickly becoming a very hot day.

We stopped at our next food kiosk, Florida Fresh, between France and Morocco. We got the spicy blackened shrimp and cheddar cheese grits with brown gravy and local sweet corn relish. I forgot to take a pic of it, but it was a humongous portion! We had about six large shrimp and the dish was really well balanced with the creamy grits, the savory gravy, and the corn relish that was sweet with a kick of jalapeno. Another winner! We had a lovely chat with a couple sitting next to us while we ate... I love when we find nice, talkative people. They were celebrating their wedding anniversary with a lunch in Morocco!

We continued our tour of the World Showcase and took some gorgeous pics of Spaceship Earth and the awesome bonsai trees near Japan...



I can never have enough pics of that view. This bonsai was my favorite... a 36 year old Purple Paper Flower...



This one is a 100 year old Buttonwood...



This one is a 50 year old Green Island Ficus...



They are so cool! Then we wandered our way over to Italy where we absolutely loved the flower display on this staircase...



The Italy pavilion really is beautiful...



We stopped at the Primavera Food Kitchen kiosk and got one of our favorite drinks, the Frozen Italian Margarita with limoncello and tequila, as well as the Pizza Toscana: rustic Italian flatbread with sweet sausage, caramelized onion, mozzarella, Asiago, and Parmesan cheeses...



After this, we were pretty full, so we continued our way through the World Showcase towards the front of the park, checking out more topiaries along the way... which I will continue in the next post!

 

[brewhome]

Day 2 Early Afternoon - continuing around Epcot

After our delicious drink and pizza in Italy, we wandered around Germany for a bit, . The Christmas store there is one of my favorites and I always buy an ornament. It is such a pretty pavilion...



We continued on our way and found the Three Cabelleros near Mexico...



We worked our way into Future World and found Goofy... boy, was he big!



His pal Pluto was nearby...



We loved his collar of sunflowers. Then we headed toward the future home of Guardians of the Galaxy to see how the construction is coming along...



Those guys on the roof in pants and long sleeves had to be steaming... by this time, it was around 90 degrees and humid. We headed towards the Odyssey building to get our Passholder flower pot coffee mugs (which are adorable, but I didn’t take a pic!) and spotted some friends from Cars along the way...



So cute! Then we said hello to Woody and Bo Peep...



...and saluted Buzz Lightyear...



We really loved the floating planters all over the place...



...and the gorgeous flowers along the banks of the lagoon. The Flower & Garden Festival really is spectacular, especially on a bright sunny day!



More to come in the next post!

 

[brewhome]

Day 2 Afternoon and Evening - a last snack at Epcot, pool break, and Magic Kingdom for Happily Ever After!

It was around 2 pm by now and the sun was absolutely blazing, so we decided to work our way out of the park and back to the hotel for a much needed pool break. We headed back up to the Port of Entry area for a last snack at The Citrus Blossom food kiosk. I have a friend at work who is a huge Orange Bird fan and I promised her I’d get her the souvenir cup... so we got an orange cream slushy in the cup as well as a lobster tail with meyer lemon emulsion and grilled lemon...



Orange Bird is so cute, but the drink was just ok... it tasted like a creamsicle and was just way to sweet and thick for us. Between the two of us we only drank about half. The lobster tail was yummy... a bit chewy, but it had good flavor and the lemon sauce was great!

On our way out we swung through the butterfly house for just a quick walk through...



It was really pretty in there, but crowded and hot! We made our way to the bus station and waited a good fifteen minutes for a bus, and once we got on we realized there was no AC... on a crowded bus... with lots of sticky sweaty people... not the most pleasant bus ride of the trip, but it made us enjoy our pool break even more! We floated around for about an hour and a half, relaxed in the hotel room for a bit, and then headed to Magic Kingdom for a few fast passes. I didn’t take a pic, but we grabbed a turkey wrap at the Starbucks on Main Street for dinner and it was really tasty... nice and light on a hot day, but it was huge... definitely enough for us to split. We did our three Fast passes at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Haunted Mansion, with a few stops in between to people watch, wander in a store or two, and have a favorite snack...



Ahhh, the infamous churro. So delicious with the chocolate dipping sauce. We jumped on Pirates with a ten minute wait, and by then it was time to find a spot to watch Happily Ever After! We got a great spot in the middle of Main Street right in front of Casey’s Corner and enjoyed a great view of the show, which we both love so much.



Genie is one of my faves...



And the lanterns from Tangled...



Poor unfortunate souls... Ursula!



See the hidden Mickey in the fireworks?



I love this part when all the characters are on display...



And the amazing finale!



After the show we wandered through the Main Street shops a bit and then caught a bus back to the hotel... which the driver graciously held for us as we sprinted there! Another great day in the books! Next up, our last day of this very short trip... at Animal Kingdom!

 

[brewhome]

Day 3 - Animal Kingdom!

We woke up on day 3 of this short trip absolutely not ready to go home! At least we didn’t have to catch DME until 7 pm... so we had a lot of time to explore our favorite park, Animal Kingdom! We packed up and headed up to drop off our luggage, where we landed in line behind a tour group of about fifty teenagers... so we ended up not getting to the park until around 10:45 am. No worries though, once we got there, we made a beeline to Africa to enjoy our favorite breakfast, but of course we had to stop for a quick pic of the iconic Tree of Life...



Sis ran into Kusafiri Bake Shop to get a giant Mickey cinnamon roll and I went to the Dawa Bar to get a couple of margaritas... this combo is the breakfast of champions!



Seriously, if you haven’t tried either of these, run there! This is our tradition on every girls trip and we absolutely love the atmosphere of the Dawa Bar and Harambe Village. We got to see our favorite entertainment...



And since we chilled out there for a bit, we got to see this guy too!



Since we booked this trip around 40 days out, we were only able to get FP for our favorite rides starting around 3:30, so I was refreshing on the app throughout the day trying to move them up, but I wasn’t having a lot of luck. We never ended up getting on FOP this trip, which was disappointing, but hopefully we will get FP for our November trip... and if I can snag two on different days, I will. It’s our absolute favorite ride and I really missed it this time.

After our fantastic breakfast, we wandered through the Pangani trail... first up, the beautiful okapi!



We love that striped bootie! Speaking of stripes...



The zebras are so pretty. Next up, “scurry, sniff, FLINCH!”



I love the meerkats, especially when they are on sentinel duty...



The way they sit up and look around just makes me giggle! Next up was the gorilla viewing, and we found out that baby Grace had been born just that morning! So exciting! And the cool thing is that the day I was in AK in January, the safari had been shut down because a baby giraffe was born that day! What are the odds that I would be in the park twice on the days that babies were born? Maybe I’ll hit the trifecta in November. Grace and her mama were not outside, but Grace’s big sister was feeling a little bummed out. The zookeeper said she was sad and missing her mama.



We continued on our way and found one of the big males snoozing away...



Man, are his hands huge. The gorillas always amaze me. Next up, a trip under the sea for one of our favorite shows!

 

[thumper*]

@brewhome loving your TR writing style. Looking forward to hearing about the last of your day. So cool to be in the park twice with new baby's.

 

[brewhome]

Day 3 continued - Animal Kingdom

Hi all! So sorry for the delay in finishing up this report... it’s been crazy on the home front. But now things have settled down, we’re 101 days away from our fall trip, and I’m ready to reminisce again! Let’s see... when I left off, we were leaving the Pangani trail... as we made our way over towards Asia, it was screaming hot so we decided to see the Nemo show before our EE FastPass. Nemo is definitely one of my favorites... I love the puppets, the singing, everything!

My. Ray is one of my favorite characters of all time...



We had great seats in the second tier... I loved the close up view of the puppets!



Remember, fish are friends, not food!



I love how bright the fish tank scene is.



Look out for the jelly fish!



One last close up... I just love this pic!



I don’t think I will ever tire of that show. Afterward, we headed back to Asia for a ride on Expedition Everest. I took this pic for my hiker nephew, who is currently 750 miles into the Pacific Crest Trail...



He completed the Appalachian Trail last year, too! After our awesome ride on Everest, we moseyed our way over to the Tree of Life and giggled at It’s Tough to be a Bug. All the while I was still trying to swap my safari FP for one on Flight of Passage, but alas, no luck. We decided to grab a late lunch/early dinner at a new place for us... Satu’li Canteen! Holy delicious... it was so good!

I got the beef bowl with noodles and black bean vinaigrette... the beef was cooked perfectly.



Sis got the chicken bowl with rice and beans and a creamy dressing...



We also both got the blonde ale, which was really refreshing. We absolutely loved this meal and can’t wait to go back... it’s a great option for anyone on the QS dining plan, too. I think next time I’ll get the rice and beans with the beef... they were so tasty. I took one last pic of the cool decor prior to heading to our last FP of the day...

I

Next up, a ride on the safari!

 

[brewhome]

Day 3 Continued - Animal Kingdom

I forgot to mention in my last post that we stopped and watched The Festival of the Lion King before our safari FP! It’s another classic show that we always enjoy...

Love those monkeys!



The fire guy is always amazing...



Can you feel the love tonight?



The finale is so bright and colorful!



It was around 5:00 when we boarded our safari truck, and the animals were really active at that time of the day. First up, a beautiful crane...



We saw lots of animals crossing the roads...



I love these stripes!



The pelicans were settling in for a roost...



And the cros were lounging around...



I’ve never seen these guys so active...



More in the next post!

 

[brewhome]

Day 3 Continued - Animal Kingdom

Next up we saw some type of antelope - I can’t remember the exact breed, but what gorgeous horns!



The wildebeests were grazing really close by...



Look at that shaggy neck!



I don’t know how the Ankoli cattle hold those giant horns up!



It’s hard to see in this pic, but there were at least six or seven giraffes feeding in the trees...so peaceful.



We had a fantastic view of the rhinos... the zookeepers were close by and had just spread some hay for them.



This guy rolled in the mud for a while!



PUMBA!



And our last animal of the day... a beautiful ibex.



We had a great ride! Next up, a few closing thoughts on the trip...

 

[brewhome]

Final thoughts on a short trip

After our awesome safari ride, it was time to head back to All Star Music for our ride to the airport. We enjoyed three really full days and were so glad we were able to get away from work and home stuff for a quick break. This was the first time I’ve been there in late spring so here are a few thoughts...

Weather - it was beautiful and sunny, but man, was it hot! I am used to going in January/February or October/November. I honestly don’t know how people can stand it in the summer. I’ll probably go back in the spring again, but this trip solidified my conviction to never go in the summer.

Crowds - we were there shortly after the Easter break, and I didn’t think the crowds were too terrible. The lines for the popular rides of course were long, but we didn’t find anything else overly crowded. I think very late April/early May is a good time in between spring break and schools letting out.

Flower & Garden Festival - we loved it! Epcot is so gorgeous all dressed up, and the food kiosks were fantastic, too. There’s nothing like Epcot all decked out for any type of festival. I think the Food & Wine Festival is still my favorite just because of the time of year and the larger number of food options, but this festival is fantastic, too.

All Star Music - it was great! The renovated rooms are really nice, and for two of us, it was just perfect. The pool was fantastic and we had a short walk to the main hall and transportation. It was sparkling clean and the staff was super friendly. Buses were fine, too... typical Disney bus wait times.

Length of trip - our three days were great, but I would have loved more time, of course. We typically go for five nights and that’s a really perfect amount of time for the types of trips that we take. Someday, though, I am going for 10 or 12 days... maybe a split stay to shake it up a bit. I’d love to have one or two non-park days sprinkled in there to just relax and enjoy the resorts.

Hope you all enjoyed reading along about this adventure! Stay tuned for a new report after our November trip! It will definitely be different than this one... longer time frame, table service meals along with Food & Wine Festival kiosks, four of us crazy ladies, a little more down time for the pool, and we are going deluxe at the Yacht Club! Can’t wait to tell you all about it!