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!

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.

summer summary

Just checking in after months away from the blog. Needless to say, this summer has been full, busy, and oh so fun.

Some highlights...

a joke from elia

Last week, Todd and the kids were having breakfast while I got ready for work. Wells was covered with at least half of his breakfast and Elia blessed our morning with this little joke that we found legitimately funny.

Elia: Good morning, Cheerio!

Todd: Good Morning, Wellsy-O!

Elia: He's not Wellsy-O, he's sucio!

Okay, I realize this is going to take a little explanation. I speak Spanish with the kids and sucio means dirty in Spanish. Get it? He's not Wellsy-O, he's dirty. 

You have to admit that's pretty clever, a sweet little bilingual joke. Cue pride swelling in Mom's heart.

august so far

Note: As I am writing this, Wells is asleep. He is, at the moment, approaching ten hours of sleep overnight. This is the seventh day in a row where he has slept at least seven hours overnight. I realize this might be boastful but I am so glad he is sleeping through the night that I had to share! We are so relieved to be sleeping again!

We ended July and kicked off August on Mackinac Island. I say this every summer: Mackinac Island is my favorite place to go.

There are many reasons to love Mackinac but, I think my main reason for loving it is the timelessness of the island. In a world that is moving so quickly, you always know what to expect on Mackinac. There will be bike rides, it will smell of horses, there will be fudge, there will be great lake views, there will not be cars, and there will be charm in spades.

And every August, there will be Neckers there. It's fun to see how much Elia grows from year to year and watch her experience the island in new ways and I look forward to doing the same with Wells.

We've gone to Mackinac with my parents and my aunt's family for the last five years and normally stay in the middle of the island, at some condos I grew up going to. Since Wells is too small for a bike, we opted to stay at Mission Point Resort this year, on the far side of Main Street. It was fun to stay somewhere new and we were so thankful that we weren't walking several miles into and out of town for meals.

During our weekend we spent time with our family, swimming, visiting with my college bestie Jess and her family who were on the island Saturday, and Todd and I even got to have a cocktail hour sans niños one day.

Saturday evening, we went to The Woods for dinner and bowling, a family tradition. We took a taxi there and it was far less slow than I remember it being in years past. As a bonus, Elia was fascinated by the ride. We ate and bowled, duck-pin style, before heading back into town for the evening. The Woods is such a unique and beautiful spot and we love eating time there every summer.

Mackinac never disappoints and I love creating new memories there with my family.

That was last weekend and this weekend we hosted Todd's college friends and their families at the lake house. This is a tradition that formally began two years ago, making this our third year running. Since the first year we have almost all grown to be families of four and watching our kids run around together is incredibly entertaining. The crew was slightly smaller this year but we still had a ball. I'm always grateful that Todd has such a solid group of friends from college, they're such lovely people and I always enjoy spending time with them.

With so much fun packed into the first third of August, I can't wait to see what fun is in store for us the rest of the summer! 

luna de bebé: puerto rico (part three)

Día 4

After a few days of outdoor adventure, we opted to dedicate Wednesday to urban adventures. 

Before we left for PR, Todd realized that the Serie del Caribe (Caribbean Series) would be going on in San Juan while we were there. The Caribbean Series is a baseball tournament that's basically like the World Series of Caribbean baseball. Todd is a huge baseball fan so going to a game was a no-brainer. I was hoping to catch a Cuba game but on Wednesday afternoon Venezuela was playing the Dominican Republic and that sounded just as good. I was only in it for the hot dogs anyway.

We had to buy tickets when we got to the game. Simple. Well, it was simple once we got to the front of the line at least. The lines weren't particularly long but the transaction times were inexplicable. Ours, two bleacher tickets for right now, por favor, was fast enough so we headed to the gate. Turns out the general admission gate doesn't include the riff raff from the bleacher section so we were sent around the side of the stadium to a less glamorous entrance because you're not allowed into the interior of the stadium at all with bleacher seats but they had one carnival style food stand that offered hot dogs. Score.

We bought our dogs and made our way to the bleachers and joined a smattering of other fans to watch the game. The game was fun but the sun was extremely hot and we hadn't received the "bring your umbrella for shade" memo so we only stay for about an hour but that was long enough to see some good baseball action and get a feel for the Puerto Rican baseball experience. 

After the game, we headed toward Old San Juan, a historic part of town that I had really been looking forward to exploring. One of my favorite things to do is wander through new places and Old San Juan is the perfect place to do just that. 

We parked our car and immediately sought out Chocobar, a restaurant that features chocolate in almost every dish. If you know me, you know that I love chocolate and I couldn't pass up a snack there. I ordered a choco frío (cold chocolate) and churros con chocolate. A perfect snack. 

The menu featured all sorts of other things that I'd like to have tried like a grilled cheese and chocolate sandwich, chocolicious mega waffles, and a dessert called the floating brownie. All sounded heavenly.

After Chocobar, we took to exploring the streets of Old San Juan. The buildings are all painted in various colorful shades and the effect is sort of magical. I wish I'd taken more pictures of the building but street parking was prevalent and cars obscured most of the views.

We wandered our way up towards El Morro, a 16th Century fort that served as a lookout point for the city for hundreds of years. The walk from town up to the fort was impressive with green space stretching out before it.

We explored the upper levels of the fort, reading about the history and various uses of the spaces over centuries.

After the fort, we headed back towards the dock, soaking up the feeling of the old city as we went.

After a long stroll we stopped for a drink. Margarita for Todd, virgin piña colada for me. 

Mmm, refreshing.

Our final stop that evening was dinner at Verde Mesa, a local vegetarian restaurant. After several days of heavy foods - Puerto Rican cuisine seems to favor frying as its cooking method of choice - it was the perfect choice. 

Our brussels sprouts were perfectly roasted with a delicious combination of yogurt and eggplant sauces and that tiny loaf of bread was one of the best I've ever had, a delicious crusty loaf with a wonderfully light and soft center. The salmon and chocolate cake were great as well.

Our day in San Juan was definitely one of the highlights of the trip and I'd highly recommend spending a day or two here if you have the chance, there was much more that we didn't have time to explore.

Read part one here.

Read part two here.