On Friday we woke up bright and early for a 7:30am reservation at the new Bon Voyage Breakfast at Trattoria al Forno. Since buses don't run between resorts, we took an Uber to the Boardwalk. It was so quick and easy. {It was $10.37 for anyone wondering.}
I just love the Boardwalk area!
I had heard great things about this dining experience and couldn't wait to try it!! Some of our besties had recently eaten here, and Curran saw their pictures on Instagram and not knowing about this trip or that I had this place booked said "I REALLY want to eat there one day!" So she was excited too!
We had to wait a few minutes to be seated, but the whole experience was very fast and efficient! I was especially impressed and thankful after our very slow dinner the night before. However, I was not feeling well at all. I had not slept well in two days, and I think being just so hot and dehydrated, I just wasn't hungry and my stomach was killing me and I kept leaving poor C at the table by herself. I felt so bad about that. And C and I really should've split a meal. We are not huge breakfast eaters, and she was too distracted to eat. But despite all that, we still loved it and I would highly recommend it!
I am normally not a sucker for specialty beverages and light up things, but Curran saw one of these at a neighboring table and BEGGED for one. If you can't splurge for an $8 drink on your birthday, when can ya?
Pastries that they brought out with the food.
I always forget how C tends to clam up around the "real" characters and does so much better with the hooded characters like Mickey. Flynn Rider was trying to talk to her and she wasn't saying a thing back. Finally he said "Oh I get it. You're just like my mime friends." She thought that was hilarious!
Leaving breakfast walking to Epcot along the Boardwalk.
After we finished eating, we strolled over to Epcot and were there around 8:40am. They let us in the park {via the International Gateway} at 8:57, and I booked it across World Showcase to get to Norway. We were using our Fast Passes at Animal Kingdom later that afternoon, so we needed to be on Frozen Ever After first thing. This was the ride neither she nor I got to ride back in January and were both so upset about it. Well my speed demon-walking self got us there at 9:02 {and anyone who is familiar with Epcot knows it's spread out and hard to get anywhere quickly} and we were on the ride within minutes! I was sweating bullets already but it was worth it! :)
We loved it! So cute.
Then we booked it to Test Track and got in line at 9:20. The wait time said 20 minutes, but it switched to 25 while we were in line, and we ended up waiting 28 minutes {I like to keep track of those things}, and by the time we got off the wait time had changed to 60 minutes. That was my first time to ride Test Track and I thought it was fun!
Designing her car
We didn't get the memo about where the camera was.
We stopped at the potty after TT and then booked it over to Soarin'. Since we didn't have Fast Passes, I knew the shortest wait for the "top 3" rides at Epcot would likely be the in the morning, and we wouldn't be there later in the afternoon to ride them anyway. The wait time for Soarin' said 30 minutes, but we waited 24 min. We actually got to the boarding spot in 17 minutes but then had to wait a while there. But not bad in my book. I do not like to wait more than 25 minutes for anything. After getting off Soarin' we were going to try Living with the Land, but it said it was a 20 minute wait {crazy!}. Normally that ride has low wait times or you can just walk right on, so we didn't want to wait for that. So we headed to the Seas with Nemo and friends, which is one of our faves.
They had a diver in a tank doing a show when we got off the ride.
Curran didn't want to do Turtle Talk with Crush which surprised me. So we went to ride Spaceship Earth instead. The last time we rode that, I was nursing a baby while riding. :)
Curran was dying to do the Gran Fiesta tour in Mexico, so we went there next. There was no wait per usual, and it was nice to have some A/C.
I let Curran decide on lunch, and she picked the quick service restaurant in China, Lotus Blossom. We have eaten there before so I probably would've picked something else, but we do like it.
After lunch, she said she wanted to meet Mulan, and we were right there, but then she changed her mind as soon as we walked in the meeting area. There was a PhotoPass photographer outside so I asked him to take our picture. I just wanted one nice picture of us in China, but instead we got a full blown photo shoot. There were 13 different poses in total! I was dying of embarrassment! :) Here are just a few...
Then we walked around World Showcase and I stopped in Germany to get myself a beer. Curran wanted to meet Belle in France, but when we got there she didn't want to wait in line. It was hot and there is no shade right there. So we headed to the Disney Visa Cardholder Character Spot. Minnie and Pluto were there, and the interactions were so cute. Minnie loved Curran's dress. :)
Curran was wanting to play with this little fountain for a while for some reason.
I stopped in the UK to get myself another beer, and then we left through the International Gateway to go get ice cream at Ample Hills Creamery on the Boardwalk. I was not hungry at all but couldn't pass up getting ice cream. It is the cutest shop, and the ice cream is so yummy! I got Ooey Gooey Butter Cake, and Curran got Cotton Candy.
waiting for the bus at Boardwalk
After we finished our ice cream, we walked to the bus stop at the Boardwalk Resort to catch the bus for Animal Kingdom.
Animal Kingdom!
We arrived to AK a little before 4:00 and went towards Dinoland because Curran wanted to ride Primeval Whirl for the first time. We took a quick picture by the Tree of Life and then it started raining. We threw on our ponchos and headed towards Primeval Whirl. When we got there, they were closing the ride because of lightening in the area and the thing is made completely of metal.
We waited for the downpour to pass and decided to check in for our Festival of the Lion King fast pass early. We were seeing the 5:00 show and got in line before 4:30. The line is covered so we were not the only ones with this idea. The wait seemed to drag on and on, and I was so hot and sweaty. I was hoping we would be towards the front of the line so C would have a chance to get picked to be in the show, but no such luck. But the show is a favorite and we loved it!
After the show, we checked in at Tusker House for our 5:35pm dinner reservation. We had the Rivers of Light dining package so that gave us tickets to get in to see the 9:15 show that night. This was our first time to eat dinner at Tusker House {we've had breakfast there} and we really enjoyed it! Curran LOVES the masked characters {like Minnie, Mickey, etc} and I always forget that until they walk up. I wish I had a picture of the look on her face when Goofy came by! It was so precious! She is much more animated with these characters compared to the princes and princesses.
They brought her a cupcake for her birthday, but she was so full she couldn't eat it.
Goofy stopped back by for a picture.
She loved the "signed" card they brought with her cupcake.
After dinner, we watched the African musicians and C joined in for a bit.
Then we walked into the new Pandora- World of Avatar for our FP at Flight of Passage! I loved the walk over to Pandora- it was so quiet and peaceful and I loved the sound of birds and crickets chirping.
The wait time for Flight of Passage said something like 125 minutes, but we walked right on since we had a FP. I wasn't sure if it would live up to all the hype but it was AMAZING!!! It is my favorite ride at Disney for sure! I wish we could've done it more than once! After we got off that, it was 7:25 so we had about 20 minutes until our FP for Kilimanjaro Safari. I had scheduled it for sunset {which was due around 8:18pm} but Curran really wanted to ride Primeval Whirl. Since it was her birthday weekend, I really tried to let her call the shots as much as possible. I was torn about what to do because I just wanted to get a beer from the Dawa bar and wait around for our FP time. But she was begging, so I decided we could make it work if we hurried. WELL. This was one of those times I should've made the call.
At least it was a pretty walk over there.
Dinoland is clear across the park from Pandora/Africa where we currently were, so even though we walked super fast over there and back, we still missed the sunset on the safari. I forgot how even the FP line can get backed up for the Safari. The sun had just gone down as we boarded the jeep. It was still fun but not as good other rides we've had. I was feeling pretty bummed about that and we then had to rush to check in for Rivers of Light which was BACK towards Dinoland. I was seriously tired of walking at this point. Well when we got to ROL, I couldn't find my dining package vouchers anywhere! I emptied every pocket of my backpack multiple times and thought they must have fallen out when I got my cell phone out or something. I was literally sweating bullets at this point and was on the verge of tears. The nice cast members at the entrance let us in anyway. I had my receipt from dinner but they said they didn't need to see it. I was so relieved and thankful. The show was already super crowded at this point, but we got some decent seats. There has been lots of anticipation around this new show, so I was excited to see it. But I have to say I wasn't overly impressed. C said she loved it. And it was really neat. But I wouldn't feel like I would have to see it again. I will say that my niece Sinclair would love it! It had all kinds of projections of live animals. I just like the Disney cheese and when my heartstrings get tugged.
After the show was over, we debated riding DINOSAUR which I had added a FP for after we checked in at the safari. We've never done it, and lots of kids are scared of it, so I wasn't sure it was the best choice but I really want to try it at some point. But we were both tired and C said she was ready to go. Later I realized we should've checked the wait times for Na'vi River, the other new ride in Pandora, because Disney resort guests had extra magic hours to Pandora which we could have used that night, but I was so tired that it didn't even dawn on me to do that. So we left the park and walked to the bus stop to head back to Wilderness Lodge.
It was a great, busy, super fun first day!!
2 comments:
So glad you're picking back up! :)
That mime comment is classic Disney, I love it!
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