Our morning started off at the Orlando International Airport Hyatt where we had spent the night after our late flight arrived. We woke up leisurely, got ready and called for the bellman to come for our bags. To our surprise the bellman took us all the way to our car after waiting a good 30 minutes for us to fill out the paperwork and wait in line at the rental desk. Great service! We ended up with a Ford Focus which I chose from the lot. Our bags were loaded for us and we were off!
Of course, despite the drive being less than a half hour Sadie fell asleep in the car. We decided that I should check in at the resort while D and Sadie sat in the parking lot with the AC/Car on. Our room was ready so I picked up our stroller rental from baggage check and a surprise package at the front desk and I went to get D and Sadie.
This was our 4th stay at Disney's Pop Century resort and our 3rd time in the 70's (each building is a decade theme - 50's through 90's). We unpacked and opened our package. It was a box full of fun goodies for Sadie from Laurie, Heather and Ryan which included her much loved Disney crocs!
After we went for lunch and had Pizza and Chicken Penne Alfredo which is pretty much all we order from the POP food court. Our next stop was the swimming pool, followed by a nap and then we were off to Epcot.
EPCOT wouldn’t normally be our first stop on a Disney vacation but we had a 4:00 pm dining reservation at Garden Grill which is located there.. I’d heard this place was “amazing” and it featured Mickey Mouse so I grabbed the reservation, the only one available for our entire week, and decided that Sadie’s first taste (literally and figuratively) of Disney would be my least favourite park*.
We arrived at EPCOT about 45 minutes before our reservation and decided to ride Space Ship Earth. Sadie was a real trooper and loved it even though a lot of it was very dark. After the ride we realized we didn’t have a lot of time and would likely have to run for our meal. That was when we first realized that stroller parking sucks and that our stroller was no where near where we were and that a) we should have parked it in a different “lot” and/or b) we shouldn’t have exited through THAT door. The stroller, as it turns out, was a necessary evil. There was no way we could get around without it but at the same time it was allowed in so few places it felt like we were parking it and carrying Sadie half of the time. Needless to say I feel much stronger after this vacation and I think I may have lost weight from sweating profusely from the humid heat while lugging around a 30 lb toddler (who often refused to get back in her “chair”).
So we found the stroller, you know, wayyyyy over there…. And then we had to walk back wayyyy over there in the other direction. We walked quickly until we were stopped and told we couldn’t take our stroller any further so we walked wayyyyy over there again to another stroller parking lot and ditched our wheels.
We finally arrived at Garden Grill, sweaty and gross, and checked in for our reservation. You’ll notice that we look sweaty in most of our pictures and that was because it was so humid the entire time we were there. A much different heat than what we are used to when we go in May. Anyway, we were sat in the upper level of the rotating restaurant and to be honest, it kind of felt like a cafeteria, an empty cafeteria at that which was surprising since the reservation was near impossible to secure. The good news was that the food was really good and the character interaction was amazing. Each character spent a good amount of time with Sadie and we saw them all twice (Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale). Sadie wasn’t as wowed as I thought she would be (she’s an old pro) but enjoyed their company. She tried to feed Pluto and I think Chip ended up with a sweet potato fry (from her meal) stuck to his paw. This is what she does at home – she’s constantly feeding Bear (my mom’s dog) so I guess she though she should feed them too.
Our meal included Turkey, Roast Beef, Smashed Potatoes, Rice and Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp for dessert. The meal also included Fish but we asked for that to be left off our “family style” platter. It was “all you cared to eat” but we didn’t need a refill. So. Much. Food. I love how Disney doesn’t say “All you CAN eat” but that’s what most of the restaurants were. Sadie was also given a kids plate of food too but she preferred the roast beef over Mac N’ Cheese, chicken drumstick and French fries. Sadly, there was so much food that we barely even touched the dessert and it did look amazing. The vanilla bean ice cream on top of it was really good though and I ate all of it. Note: Had we paid out of pocket, this meal, for 2 adults (Sadie was Free) it would have been $70.
After dinner was over we decided to check out the park. We left Future World and started to walk towards Mexico. On our way there we ran into Duffy the Disney bear. Duffy was contrived ...er… I mean… imagined since our last visit to WDW. Duffy is essentially Disney for build-a-bear and had an odd Japanese cult following that amused us during our vacation. There was a small line so we decided to let Sadie meet him.
We ventured on towards Africa where Sadie played drums that were on display. She had a great time.
We then went into Germany which is one of my favourite shops in World Showcase and quickly realized that Sadie was too tired to be in the park any longer and and our day was about to end. We were lucky to be close to boat transportation and hopped on the SS Friendship which took us back to Mexico and closer to the exit. It was a good first day!
*I know many people love EPCOT but I find it outdated and not enough to keep kids happy. Also, it's always SO hot there and a lot of outdoor walking.
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Yay an update. Sounds like a good first day. I hate Epcot and still do after visiting in the spring. It's lame. Maybe it's good for eating and drinking if you're an adult but it's boring.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly it - if you want to eat, drink and shop, EPCOT is good. It's pretty but it's mostly lame. lol
ReplyDeleteThe best, we went TWICE. Ugh. But I'll
get to that further in the report. (;
Great report! You squeezed a lot into Day 1 - I'm impressed :) I've been to Epcot once, when I was around 10 and I remember being kind of meh on it. I did like the different "countries" and remember buying little things in each one. Looking forward to Day 2!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great start to your trip! You'd never know it was Sadie's first visit. She looks like a pro with the characters! E wanted nothing to do with them on our recent trip. LOL! Looking forward to the next installments!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I absolutely LOVE EPCOT and did even as a kid, but I get how it could be considered boring compared to the other parks. Hopefully E won't be too miserable when I drag him there someday. :-)