Florida Surprise: Epcot

Months ago I started writing about the surprise trip I took Elia on to Florida. (Parts one and two of the trip.) Now, six and a half months later, the trip is nearly a year and a half in our rear view. Still, I want to finish up my posts on that trip. I have a bad habit of blogging half a trip and while I know no one is waiting with bated breath, it's nice to have a complete record to look back on later.

So, without further ado, let me take you back to April 2018, to one of the most fun trips I've ever taken. We visited my aunt on the Space Coast, then headed to Walt Disney World where we explored Disney Springs, Magic Kingdom, and now we find ourselves in Epcot.

As a kid, I just loved Epcot so I was excited to explore it again as an adult. The World Showcase is just the best. Even though it could be criticized as a caricature of cultures, I think it's a great introduction to the countries showcased at each pavilion. I was excited to experience it again and enjoy it with Elia.

We got to Epcot before it opened for the day and made our way as quickly as possible to the Norway pavilion so Elia could meet Elsa and Anna. I'll take a bow as I tell you we were the second or third group in line to meet them.

After meeting them we stopped by the Kidcot Fun Stop location in Norway and get Elia a Duffy, a paper bear that served as her activity passport for the day. She was excited to earn stamps on it by doing different art projects around the park. After leaving Norway, we realized (well, I realized) that the World Showcase wasn't open yet beyond the Norwegian pavilion. We found plenty to do in the rest of the park while we waited for it to open. We happened to be at the entrance to World Showcase, in anticipation of meeting Belle, when it was time to open at 11:00. The cast members let Elia, along with some other children, open the World Showcase for the day, which was very exciting for her.

One of the biggest draws for Elia at Epcot was meeting characters. She loved meeting each one and I was again so impressed by how lovely every one of the characters were to each child they met. 

Who We Met:

1. Elsa
2. Anna
3. Belle
4. Mary Poppins
5. Mickey
6. Goofy
7. Minnie
8. Daisy
9. Donald
10. Mulan
11. Snow White
12. Aurora
13. Cinderella
14. Ariel
15. Jasmine
16. Alice

Five of the characters that we met were at a character lunch that we booked. We met Mulan, Snow White, Aurora, Ariel, and Cinderella at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in the Norway pavilion. The food was fine, not great but good enough yet the princess experience was wonderful. Elia was in the height of her princess phase and she was completely enchanted by being able to meet so many princesses. Each one came to our table and spent time with her and Snow White even chose her to help lead the princess parade around the restaurant with her. Elia was over the moon.

The annual International Flower and Garden Festival was also happening while we were there. It meant some interesting food options were available and there were beautiful topiary throughout the park. Both of us enjoyed the food and seeing the character topiary.

What We Rode and Did:

1. Frozen Ever After
2. Explored the Aquarium
3. The Seas with Nemo and Friends
4. Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Tres Caballeros (twice in a row, maybe three times - no line for the win!)
5. Kidcot Fun Spots
6. Watched the Jeweled Dragon Acrobats

Epcot is not a ride heavy park anyway and we spent a lot of time pursuing character meet and greets so this is a short list. I was happy to do run around but because of the timing of the meet and greets and the layout of the park, it meant a ton of walking. Some characters were on one side of the lagoon and others were near the entrance and my feet were so tired by dinner time. Thankfully, Elia was beat too so we went back to our hotel for dinner and went to bed at a reasonable time so we could catch our very early flight home the next morning.

Epcot was just as fun as I remembered it. It would be easy to spend several days there enjoying everything it has to offer.

That wraps up our surprise Florida trip back in April of 2018. We had a blast I can't wait to visit again soon! 

Florida Surprise: Magic Kingdom

We woke up early to get to Magic Kingdom before it opened for the day to squeeze every possible minute of magic out of the day. We were able to quickly gobble down breakfast at our hotel (Mickey waffles, of course) and catch the resort bus to the park, arriving before it opened.

We got through the security lines and into the park fairly quickly. This allowed us to enjoy part of the daily welcome show and get some photos in front of Cinderella Castle before Main Street was too crowded.

From the minute we stepped into the park, Elia was enchanted. I loved watching her take everything in. I knew we would have fun but experiencing Disney with her was more fun than I could have imagined. I decided that we would just do whatever she wanted all day long and it paid off. Seeing what she was interested in and what rides she liked and what attractions and characters she was drawn to was the best part of the day.

What We Rode:

1. Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
2. Enchanted Tales with Belle
3. Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid
4. Peter Pan's Flight
5. Dumbo the Flying Elephant
6. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
7. Mad Tea Party (aka, the Magic Tea Cups)
8. Magic Carpets of Aladdin
9. Jungle Cruise
10. Swiss Family Tree House
11. It's a Small World
12. Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid (Again)

Because we were staying at a Disney resort, we were able to book our FastPasses up to 60 days ahead of our trip. If you're not familiar with FastPasses, you basically go into a special line during a reserved time frame so you get into rides without such a long wait. You can book up to three at a time and once you use them all, you can added more, one at a time through the My Disney Experience app, throughout the day. I snagged FastPasses for Enchanted Tales with Belle, Journey of the Little Mermaid, and Dumbo ahead of time and shuffled some things around during the day to get more rides in.

My favorite ride was Peter Pan's Flight, same as when I was a kid. It's nostalgic for me, Peter Pan was by far my favorite Disney movie as a kid plus I remembered the ride fondly from childhood trips to Disneyland and Disney World. To my delight, Elia loved it too, deeming it her favorite ride in Magic Kingdom.

Another highlight of the day was seeing Elia meet different characters. Before the trip, I did not think she would be interested in meeting any characters but got her an autograph book, just in case. She was a little hesitant at first but meeting characters ended up being one of her favorite parts of the trip. While we didn't meet so many characters at Magic Kingdom, meeting characters became her main goal at Epcot but more on that later.

Who We Met:

1. Belle
2. Ariel
3. Anastasia and Drizella
4. Aladdin
5. Tinker Bell
6. Elena of Avalor
7. Cinderella

I was really impressed by the character meet and greets. They were more that just photo ops, each character spent a good amount of time with each child. They were so friendly and made Elia feel so comfortable and special.

Elia says her favorite character to meet was Elena of Avalor because "She's the best! I love her!" but she hadn't heard of her before we met her so... who knows. Elena was very sweet though. In my recollection, Elia liked meeting Tinker Bell the best. Tink told her that she was in the middle of a game of tag with Peter Pan and asked Elia to tell him he was "it" and stick out her tongue at him. Elia thought that was hilarious.

We had a very full day and after much fun, we headed to our dinner reservation at Tony's Town Square, inspired by the restaurant in Lady and the Tramp. We were happy to rest our feet for awhile and the food was pretty good. After dinner, my mom and Linda departed, they both had to get ready to head home. We had such a fun day exploring the Magic Kingdom with them!

Elia and I weren't quite ready to call it quits so spent the next few hours exploring more and meeting a few characters I mentioned above. We also decided to stay for the nightly fireworks show. It was a beautiful show but too loud for Elia so we ended up sneaking out part way through. We headed back to the hotel for the night and collapsed into bed, exhausted and happy.

What a fabulous day we had at the Magic Kingdom!

Next up, I have more magic to share about our day at Epcot. See you real soon!

Florida Surprise: Disney Springs + Pop Century Resort

As you read in my previous post, after a great few days on the Florida coast, we were off to Disney World! Elia, my mom, and I set off to Orlando with my Aunt Linda just behind us. We arrived in the late afternoon and headed straight to Disney Springs for our first taste of Disney Magic.

We ate outside at The Edison, a great start to our Disney experience. It wasn't busy and we got a table overlooking the lagoon. We watched car boats go by as we enjoyed a late lunch and I indulged in a colorful cocktail.

I was really looking forward to checking out the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM so Elia and I made a beeline towards it after lunch. She was so excited to pick out her cupcake and watch it come out. It's a fun and unique concept and next time we're in Disney Springs, we'll definitely repeat the experience.

After wandering around Disney Springs a bit more we went to our hotel to check in. We stayed at Disney's Pop Century Resort. Pop Century is one of Disney's value resorts and I was really impressed. When we were there, most of the rooms at the hotel had recently undergone renovation. We stayed in one of those refurbished rooms and they felt so new and fresh. Elia loved that she got to sleep in a Murphy bed and the Disney themed room decor.

On top of the lovely room, the theming at the hotel was over the top. Elia definitely could have been convinced that our hotel actually was Disney World. I kid you not, we could have just stayed there for the next two days and she'd have been none the wiser. There were huge one- and two-story tall figurines from Disney movies and different large scale versions of popular toys such as a Rubik's cube, a gigantic foosball table, and Mr. Potato Heads throughout the property. I didn't take very many photos but you can click here to see photos of the grounds.

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon getting settled in, exploring the hotel and swimming. After we were sufficiently tuckered out, we ordered a pizza to our room, and got ready for bed. Another great feature of staying at Disney resorts is that they start playing a bedtime story on the TV a few times every hour in the evening. The story features Duffy, a bear that Minnie makes for Mickey, and Elia just loved watching the story from her Murphy bed as she drifted off to sleep. Even without experiencing the parks on our first Disney day we were off to a great start and ready for a good night's sleep so we could wake up bright and early to squeeze as much fun as possible out of our day at the Magic Kingdom.

Next Up: We visit the Magic Kingdom.

P.S. You can watch video of Elia getting her cupcake from the Sprinkles ATM on the Facebook page. Click here to "Like" the page and watch!

Florida Surprise: Space Coast

I meant to write this post about nine months ago but with spring break on the horizon, I figured now is as good a time as any.

For spring break last year, we didn't have any big plans so when my mom came up with the idea that we visit her sister (my Aunt Linda) in Florida, I jumped at it. I decided to bring just Elia with me and thought it would be fun to make it a surprise for her. We didn't leave until mid-spring break week so on Wednesday morning, Elia woke up and I asked her what she wanted to do that day and then suggested we go to Florida. Needless to say, she was very surprised and very excited. I was, too. Our bags were packed and ready to go and we went off to the airport to meet up with my mom and begin our adventure.

My aunt lives on the east coast of Florida in the region known as the Space Coast. She lives near beautiful beaches and waterways, and isn't far from Kennedy Space Center. During our visit, we spent our time enjoying the warmth, exploring the city and neighboring towns, and enjoyed a dolphin cruise and visited Kennedy Space Center. We packed so much into our time on the Space Coast!

We spent one morning enjoying a two-hour dolphin tour and it was so much fun. We set out on the Indian River and it wasn't long before we started to see loads of dolphins following the boat and jumping alongside it. We also saw pelicans, which I find so beautiful, and we spotted a few manatees as well. Our tour guides were really friendly and I'm so glad we did the tour. My aunt had taken the same tour before and I'm we got to learn more about the ecosystem and wildlife of the area.

Elia was just shy of her fifth birthday on the trip and was looking forward to her space-themed birthday party in a few weeks. When I realized how close we were to Kennedy Space Center, I knew we had to go. I had been there as a kid and all I remembered was walking around outside and that they had carts selling Dippin' Dots everywhere.

The Space Center was way cooler than I remembered it being. I was so impressed by the size, the way they presented information, and the fact that it felt like such an authentic space travel experience. Elia loved seeing the space shuttle and rockets and while we learned a lot it never felt boring.

We really had a blast there and I'd definitely recommend spending a day at the Space Center if you find yourself in the area with kids.

Believe it or not, we packed all of this into just over two days of our trip. We had so much fun exploring eastern Florida and visiting Linda, she's such a gracious host! 

As the first photo of Elia and my mom suggests, our fun didn't end there. After a few days on the coast, we packed up and headed towards Orlando for Elia's first Disney adventure. I cannot wait to share all about that trip so stay tuned for more posts very soon. Spoiler alert: it was completely magical.

Do you have spring break plans this year? What's the best spring break trip you've ever been on?

Spring Break - Kiawah Island

If you follow me on Instagram you know that we just spent the most wonderful week in South Carolina. This was Elia's very first spring break so we decided to take advantage of her time off from school and join friends and their families in renting a house on Kiawah Island.

Kiawah Island is about 35-40 minutes outside of Charleston. Todd and I have planned to visit Charleston multiple times over the last few years and just haven't actually made it for one reason or another. We were thrilled when friends proposed renting a house so close to Charleston so we could finally explore the area.