Walt Disney World - Day #3 Epcot

WARNING: Photo intensive blog post!

Today we woke to picture perfect weather, just right for exploring Epcot and enjoying the Epcot® International Flower & Garden Festival. Our first stop was Spaceship Earth which we always enjoy even though we've done it several times.

Since you are constantly moving through the display, getting good photos is always a challenge but here are a couple.

The next order of business was breakfast. Stu searched through the Disney World app before we headed off. I was doing much better with the scooter and felt energized after a good night's sleep.

We opted for the Garden Grill restaurant, a sit down character spot that we thoroughly enjoyed. The dining area revolves over the Living with the Land ride/tour. We didn't realize it was a character breakfast until this cute little guy showed up to visit.

The food was delicious and plentiful with constant refills of whatever you wanted. First was some fresh fruit along with some delicious monkey bread.

Her name wasn't Alice but she was a great waitress and we enjoyed talking with her.

Pluto was REALLy interested in the cinnamon bread!

We would definitely do this again...delicious scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, tater tots & Mickey waffles.

Stu wasn't the only one getting a visitor!

After our meal, we took the Living with the land tour. It had changed a LOT since we last took five years ago, always evolving.

Then it was time to take in some of the beautiful flowers that dotted the landscape. And the topiaries were awesome! Click each thumbnail to see the larger image. (There are a gazillion more in our SmugMug album.)

And my favorite - Goofy with his namesake.

After all that walking, we stopped for a quick lunch, opting for some cheese and fruit. It was really good and we swore we'd remember to do that again.

Our next Fast Pass was to Soaring around the world....the closest I'll ever get to a roller coaster. For me, this was a thrill ride and probably my favorite in the park. No photos except when we first got seated, before we rose into the air. Yes, there were times I had to close my eyes, and yes, there were times I really had to fight the urge to pull up my feet. Don't miss this ride!! This shows the row in front of us and the next row over to the left.

The other Fast Pass for the day was for Stu, Mission Space, while I waited in the shade enjoying the view.

On our walks, we managed to find a shady spot to watch (from behind) the Garbage Can Band. Be sure to watch the little boy on the left...he was jamming!

...as was this little princess!

We did browse a few shops as well...

Our final visit was through the various lands before our dinner in Japan. When we stopped to rest while Stu enjoyed a beer, we had a wonderful chat with a young military couple waiting to literally fly to Japan.

What it really looked like...

After they left, we had a couple of "fowl" visitors.

Finally, it was time for dinner, hibachi style. The show was fantastic but unfortunately, the food was a bit lackluster.

Stu did enjoy using the chopsticks...I stuck with a fork.

And in honor of our anniversary we got this...and got sung to!

A walk back to the bus in the dark and after a long day, we headed to the room. Tomorrow is Hollywood Studios!

Ciao for now!

Walt Disney World - Day #2 Animal Kingdom

The day started off slow - the scooter we had ordered for me (which was supposed to be there yesterday at 5pm) was late arriving. It wouldn't have been a huge issue except we had a Fast Pass reservation for the Na'vi River Journey in the new Pandora area (from the movie Avatar). Once it arrived, I had to learn how to use it. Not much time since our bus was coming! Well, guess who learned how to parallel park a scooter. LOL! (Yes, it got easier each time I did it.)

We made it in time for the ride and really enjoyed ourselves. It was very reminiscent of the movie and I tried to take some photos. Some turned out good, some, not so well. Here's a couple...

The section of Animal Kingdom set aside for Pandora is quite an achievement. There were a couple other rides but they were either booked solid for Fast Pass or had a several hour wait.

It rained off and on, sometimes quite heavily. We just donned our raincoats and slogged it through. By the time our Fast Pass for the Kilimanjaro Safari Trek arrived, the rain had mostly stopped. We were lucky we could take the scooter all the way to the platform set aside for them. Saved me a lot of walking and standing.

We didn't anticipate seeing much in the way of animals with the cooler, wet weather. Boy, were we ever wrong! We saw more animals than on any other time on the ride (5-6 times at least). Unfortunately I wasn't on the outside so it was hard to get some of the pictures I would have liked. Then toss in bumps on a rough ride and there is more fuzz than I'd like.

We ate lunch at Tiffin's...it was delicious and I got to try some great cheeses that I'd never eaten. I forgot to get photos of the meal. Oops! We did a little more wandering but by 4pm, we were both beat and headed back to the room. We ate at the resort and crashed very early.

Tomorrow it's on to Epcot!

Ciao for now!

Walt Disney World - Day #1 Disney Springs

No April Fool's joke - it was the first day of our mini celebration in honor of our tenth anniversary. We had a pleasant drive down from Folkston, GA where we spent the winter and got checked into our room at All Star Movie Resort.

Who doesn't love a Minnie-van?


Our room was really nice, definitely renovated since we last stayed in one with granddaughter Jesse back in 2013.




Magic bands stickered and armed, we headed off to Disney Springs.


Over the years it has grown immensely and gone by many names.

1. Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village (1975–1977)
2. Walt Disney World Village (1977–1989)
3. Disney Village Marketplace (1989–1997)
4. Downtown Disney (1997-2015)
5. Disney Springs (2015-present)

Our first priority was to get something to eat. We had a late breakfast and had skipped lunch on the drive down. We splurged for our anniversary and got the deluxe dining plan in our vacation package. That gave us three sit down meals a day. Linner ended up at Planet Hollywood where we had a little drinkiee and a lot of foodiee.






Stu's dinner...


My dinner... Can you believe this was a lasagna?


Then it was time to walk off some of what we ate (you note we aren't sticking closely to our new low carb way of eating...). The weather was good, a slight drizzle had passed through and left it a bit cooler. This was our first stop...I've wanted to do this since I first saw it offered but this was the first time it was running AND we had time.






We took a bunch of photos while up in the air, you can see them all and a short video HERE.

I also managed to get some good shots of Rainforest Cafe volcano erupting. Never realized it even did that!






A few parting photos as the sun was setting...






Tomorrow is Animal Kingdom!

Ciao for now!