{ Disney World Tips & Walkthrough Guide: Epcot }

Well, I'm picking this up where I left off here. I talk a lot. Sorry. Except not sorry ;)

You can see my other Orlando posts here: Magic Kingdom and Hogsmeade trips (9/2012) and my Diagon Alley post  (9/2014). I share a lot of photos and tips in all of these.

In the last post I covered our resort (Port Orleans Riverside), MagicBands, FastPass+, the Disney Dining Plan, and general Tips. This post will be more park centric and I will break it down park by park.

This post will be dealing with Epcot.

Epcot

I loved Epcot.

I know a lot of people don't, but I thought it was very awesome. There are fun rides in Future World but I loved roaming the World Showcase most of all. Although Future World did contain my new favorite ride.

Future World

Soarin' takes you on a virtual hang glider flight over California. You'll see, hear, and smell the different regions. It was awesome.

The girl's favorite ride (in all the parks) was also in Future World, Test Track.

While you wait in the queue for this ride, you get to virtually design a car. This is one of the cars we made. Classy, right? As you ride, your car is pitted against the others in nearby groups and you get to see how well your design did. Fun stuff. Plus, once you hit the outside portion, the ride speeds to 65 miles per hours!

We also rode Mission Space, which, as a claustrophobic I do not recommend. The ride itself was enjoyable, but I did not like the tiny space they put us in and I very nearly banged on the door in panic, but somehow refrained. It is a  motion simulator. Mission Space has a Green and Orange mission. Green is the less intense mission (this is what we did). Orange is the more intense.Choosing Orange you will experience 2.5 Gs of force over an extended period, and simulated weightlessness. In this mission your ship spins. While the Green still bounces you around, there is no spinning (or the G force or weightlessness). If you get to the park and can't remember which color is which, just ask the cast member for the less intense ride and they will be happy to point you in the right direction.

The Seas with Nemo and Friends is a fun little ride that takes you through the movie as you ride in clam shells. After the ride, you are let out into a mini aquarium, which is neat. Be sure to watch during the ride though, there are live fish in there along with the animated ones!

Turtle Talk with Crush is also housed here.

I think Spaceship Earth is underrated. Of course it is very much a learning ride, but I thought it was fun and interesting. It takes you on a ride through time. (Sorry for the blur, low light, cell phone, and motion don't mix well).

Other rides in Future World (that we did not go on): Captain EO, Ellen's Energy Adventure, Journey into Imagination with Figment, and Living with the Land.

For lunch we went to the much praised Sunshine Seasons. It is in The Land pavilion (the same place as Soarin'). It was very, very good. Bean is very picky though and there is nothing at Sunshine he will eat, so, he went to The Electric Umbrella. The Electric Umbrella is a little way from Sunshine Seasons, but not too far. You could grab food there for your pickies, then head to Sunshine to eat, but they are teenagers, so they ate there and met up with us after. I've heard many bad reviews about Electric Umbrella, but both of the kids liked it. While Sunshine Seasons has food like Mongolian Beef with Vegetable Fried Rice, Grilled Fish Tacos, Roast Beets and Goat Cheese Salad, and Spicy Thai Green Curry Shrimp, Electric Umbrella has burgers, chicken nuggets, and fries. There were no complaints from my two.

One thing we did in Future World that a lot of people seem to totally miss is stopping by Club Cool. Club Cool is behind the fountain and right beside Starbucks.

In Club Cool, you can sample complimentary Coca-Cola soft drinks from around the world. There are self service machines, tiny cups, and interesting flavors. Try the Beverly... if you dare! The rest of Club Cool is jam packed with Coca- Cola items for sale, which thrilled Bean. He loves Coke.

Now, on to my favorite... The World Showcase!

The World Showcase

Upon entering the park, the kids bought World Showcase Passports. While these are a lot of fun and the kids LOVED doing them (in fact, Bean says it's his favorite souvenir from the entire trip) , they ARE time consuming though. In each country you have to seek out the person who signs the book, and is very often tricky to find. However, they will stamp your passport and write something in their language. The passports are around $11. They are also, potentially, more for little kids with the stickers and such, but both of these 17 year olds enjoyed it very much. The passport person is usually in or near the KidCot stations in the countries.

Here they are getting it signed in Morocco

Let's tour the world, shall we? Ok, and away we go...........

Mexico:

Inside of the pyramid, there is a twilight marketplace which is fun to explore. There are also a few restaurants inside: La Hacienda de San Angel (Table Service), San Angel Inn (Table Service), Cantina de San Ángel (Counter Service), and La Cava del Tequila (tequilla bar- Dining Plan not accepted).

Along with this there is Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros boat ride, which led to an embarrassing moment when I thought we were outside. It was was a twilight ride. As you can tell from the photo of the pyramid which I snapped right as we went in, it was NOT twilight in real life. So, yeah.

However... the ride was cute.

Viva Donald!


Norway:

I loved the look of Norway. It was so pretty. We were able to ride Maelstrom (we enjoyed), which will  be closing next week (10/5/14). They are moving it to a Frozen theme. We actually saw a bit of the Frozen theme in the Stave Church already.

The Kringla Bakeri og Kafe is home to many tasty treats, but probably most popularly, School Bread. School Bread is my favorite treat of the week. School Bread ( “Skolebrød”) is a sweet bread that is filled with custard and topped with icing and toasted coconut. Delish and something I need to figure out how to make. 

Norway is also home to Akershus Royal Banquet Hall (Table Service), which is a princess character dining location. Princesses that frequent the Akershus are Cinderella, Jasmine, Aurora, Ariel and Belle.

Norway is currently (Sept 2014) not home to a Character Spot, Anna and Elsa were here a few months ago. They are slated to return to Norway this fall/winter.

China:

Disney really outdid itself in World Showcase. Every bit of it is gorgeous.

In China there are two eateries: Nine Dragons (Table Service) and Lotus Blossom Cafe (Counter Service), shopping, and live entertainment (Dragon Legend Acrobats).

China is a Character Spot for Mulan.


Germany:

Germany is home to Karamell-Küche, which is a delicious smelling snack shop. In there Darla & I got a massive Rice Krispie Treat covered in caramel and chocolate and the girl got sea salted caramel covered in milk chocolate. Amazingly delicious.

We spent a fair amount of time in one of the shops picking out our tiaras!  I can't remember the name of the shop, but there is huge amount of sparklies to choose from.

Also in Germany is shopping, Biergarten Restaurant, a buffet (Table Service dining credit), Sommerfest (counter service), don't miss the miniature train display (it's easy to walk past), and the ever popular Glockenspiel.

Germany is the Character Spot to meet Snow White.

Italy:

I loved the architecture in Italy. The buildings are supposed to present a Venetian, Roman, and Florentine feel.

In Italy there are a couple stores, for dining there is Tutto Italia (Table Service) & Via Napoli Pizza e Ristorante (Table Service), there is also various street performers.

The American Adventure:

The American Adventure is just one large building which is designed Colonial style. Inside of the building is the animatronic The American Adventure show. Also, in the pavilion rotunda, if you are lucky enough, you can catch The Voices of Liberty, an 8 member  a cappella group. They are dressed in Colonial style as well. We had just missed the last performance of the day when we arrived. I have watched them on YouTube though and they are very impressive.

The American Adventure show last 30 minutes and is housed in a blessedly air conditioned theater. It's an awesome way to relax in the cool air for a while and watch our country's history as told by Audio-Animatronic versions of Mark Twain and Ben Franklin. Much of the show is told on a large screen as well.

Up until last week (Sept 27, 2014), you could enjoy the Drum and Fife band. Sadly, they are no longer.

Also in the pavilion is Liberty Inn, a counter service restaurant that serves American fare like cheeseburgers, crab cakes, and hot dogs. You will also find a small gift shop.

There is a funnel cake stand at the very front of the area. It it housed in a little gazebo type building.

Japan:

We were pretty excited about Japan. One reason is that for months and months Darla and I talked about doing the Pick a Pearl in Mitsukoshi department store. Bean decided to do this for the girl's birthday as well (she'd been waiting since July to find out what her gift was), so all three girls got to pick a pearl! Fun.

Here are Bean and girl picking her pearl. There is a whole show that goes along with it. You choose an oyster, then the girls working there make a big production out of all of the proceedings. It's super fun.

photo by Mr. Bakingdom

Here I am (with Darla and some stranger man) pointing to the oyster I want. Don't judge me too harshly, I'd just walked around 1/2 the park in the rain for Fish and Chips in the UK with Mr. Bakingdom while our smart families stayed behind in a dry restaurant (it wasn't raining when we left, nor did we realize how far it was!).

After you pick the pearl, you can just take it home in a baggie, or you can pick a setting to put it in. We all got necklaces. There are also earring settings and ring settings. To pick a pearl is almost $18. The settings start around $20 and go up to over $200 (possibly higher). The chains are sold separately from the settings (mine was around $18).

These are our necklaces:

Mine is the lotus blossom, the girl's is the top, and Darla's is the bottom. All very beautiful and we all love ours very much! I highly recommend it. You have a wonderful keepsake that is very functional and beautiful.

In addition, the teens are HUGE Pokemon fans, and Mitsukoshi department store is FULL of Pokemon and other anime/manga and related items. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time in Japan.

There are also a few different eateries: Teppan Edo (table service), Tokyo Dining (table service), and Katsura Grill (counter service). There is a collection of Japanese art in the pavilion as well. One of the most popular entertainers in World Showcase, Miyuki, a candy artist, sadly retired in November of 2013. However, you can still catch the Matsuriza drummers.

Morocco:

Morocco was gorgeous. Pretty much all of The World Showcase is gorgeous, but Morocco was so alive with vibrant color.

There is a good bit of shopping in Morocco. There is also three eateries: Spice Road Table does NOT accept Disney Dining Plan, Restaurant Marrakesh (table service), and Tangierine Cafe (counter service).  On Sept 27, 2014, Mo-Rockin' had it's last show in Morocco. It was rock and roll music set to an Arabian beat.

The character spot in Morocco is where you can meet Aladdin and Jasmine.

France:

France is very lovely. It has a great 'feel' to it. However, there isn't a lot to do. There is shopping, of course, and food. In fact, you can totally get yourself a rockin' beret in France, because France.

There is killer gelato at L'artisan des Glaces.

and this view, of course

and this hedge is quite fun (though the better one is in UK, I'll get to that next!).

The restaurants in France are: Monsieur Paul- which is a signature restaurant. On the Disney Dining Plan it will cost you 2 table credits per person. In cash, it will cost you a lotta! Les Chefs de France (Table Credit), and Les Halles Boulangerie & Pâtisserie (quick service credit with a selection of snack credit pastries).

For entertainment in France there is a film entitled Impressions de France and  Serveur Amusant which is an balance/acrobatic routine by waiters in front of Chefs de France.

France's Character Spot is home to Aurora & Belle.


United Kingdom

It's no secret that I love the UK. I love Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Downton Abbey, Sherlock, Broadchurch, Call the Midwife, and much more.

So, I was very excited to shop amongst these stores. I went in every single one.... and bought nothing. LOL. I think I was too overwhelmed by it. So many wants.

As I mentioned in the Japan section, Mr. Bakingdom and I did have the fish and chips from Yorkshire County Fish Shop. It was very good. It would have been even better if we didn't have to eat it hunched over the condiment cart (there is only outdoor seating with umbrellas, all of it was taken). Yorkshire County is a quick service restaurant. The other eatery in the UK is The Rose and Crown Pub, which is a table service restaurant.


There is a hedge, as I mentioned. This one is a maze. Upon seeing it, we laughed. It is only about thigh high. Not the tall, classic hedge we were expecting. However... I totally got messed up and couldn't find my way out. Yeah. That happened.

Sadly, we hit UK as it was getting dusky. None of my photos are excellent here (or Canada, which is up next).

This photo is taken from inside of the maze. The hedge you see at the bottom of the photo is part of it.

This is a very popular photo op area:




The UK is home to character greetings for Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, and... the girl's very, very fav... Mary Poppins.

Off Kilter, a Celtic Rock Band played between the UK and Canada. Their last show was Sept 27, 2014.


Canada

Canada is our last stop on this trip around the world.

We are at the end of the world already? Sigh!

Canada is very picturesque. It has a canyon, pond, waterfall, totem poles, and gardens.

The main attraction in the pavilion is O Canada!, a Circle-Vision 360° film of Canada's cities and scenery.

There are a couple shops in Canada and one restaurant, Le Cellier Steakhouse. Le Cellier is another signature dining restaurant, costing 2 table service credits per person on the Disney Dining Plan, or out of pocket entrees will run you around $30-60. It is one of Disney World's highest-rated restaurants, but I have never personally eaten there.

That brings us to the end of the World Showcase. It is about 1 1/4 miles around the World Showcase from Mexico to Canada!


Illuminations: Reflections of Earth

Illuminations: Reflections of Earth is the Epcot closing show. It is full of lasers, fountains, and fireworks, of course! It's a fun show. Not as impressive as Magic Kingdom's fireworks, but definitely worth a watch.

On your way out in the evening, be sure to look for the twinkling sidewalks. They are near Spaceship Earth (the Epcot ball).

I found many other 'hidden gems' in this post.

I very much loved Epcot, and it is a park I cannot wait to go back to. We spent a day and a half here and there is still SO much to see. I've heard a lot of people say it's not a great park for younger kids, and I can see why, but I can't help but love every inch of this park. There aren't that many rides, especially for younger kids, and a lot of Epcot is just looking and shopping. The World Showcase really only has 2 rides (The three Caballeros and Maelstrom- which is soon to close and be re-themed). There are a lot of entertainers and movies in World Showcase, along with the 'feel' of being in the countries. All of the workers in World Showcase are from the country in which they work, which is really cool!

If you are tired or just want a relaxing few minutes, hop aboard a Friendship Boat. There are two stops for these boats. One is by Mexico and the other close to Canada. The boat from Mexico will let off in Germany and the Canadian boat will drop off in Morocco. 

There are also various carts with items or food for sale that I didn't mention. I'm sure I missed a lot of things. 1 1/2 days was definitely not long enough for me!

Be sure to check Disney's official website for character greeting & show times.


Happy World Touring!

Tina

{ Disney World Tips- Post 1 }

You knew it was coming, didn't you?

After I posted my Magic Kingdom and Hogsmeade trips 2 years ago and my Diagon Alley post a couple weeks ago... you had to know it was coming. Clever Hobbitses.

As I mentioned in my Diagon Alley post, I decided to keep my big camera at the hotel for most of the trip. A few of these photos will be from my DSLR, but most are from my iPhone 4s. Leaving my camera behind? Great idea. No regrets!

Resort:

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside (POR). It is a very nice resort. Quiet, pretty grounds. But. And yes, there is a but. It is GINORMUS. It's so very big. If you decide to stay there, request the preferred rooms. They are much closer to the Lobby/giftshop/restaurants. If you don't ask for the preferred rooms, be prepared to do a lot of walking, which is something you may not enjoy after long days at the parks.

There are two sections of POR. Magnolia Bend (aka mansion rooms) and Alligator Bayou. Within Magnolia Bend there are 4 - 3 story buildings of mansion rooms. Acadian House, Magnolia Terrace, Oak Manor and Parterre Place. Oak Manor and Parterre Place contain Royal Rooms (or Princess Rooms). These are styled in a castle type motif. You all know by now that I met up with my BBF, Darla, at Disney World. Darla stayed in one of the Royal Rooms. It's very sweet and has a lot of awesome details. The normal mansion rooms are decorated in an Old South type style. Clean and elegant.

We stayed in the Alligator Bayou section of POR. The nice thing about Alligator Bayou is that they have a Murphy Bed so that you can fit at 5th guest. We took Bean's girlfriend, who is a tiny little thing, and she slept on the Murphy Bed. She said it was perfectly comfortable.

The Murphy Bed IS small though. It is 63" inches long, so it is definitely suited only to children or small teens/adults. When not in use and folded, this is a padded bench. The Alligator Bayou section of POR has a rustic look to the rooms with wood log type furniture. The standard size beds in both sections of POR are Queen. This is designated as a Moderate resort (there are also Value Resorts and Deluxe Resorts on Disney property). All of the rooms at POR have a small dorm sized refrigerator.

Since we stayed in the two different sections of the resort, our room was VERY far from Darla's room. It had to be at least 3/4 of a mile to 1 mile away. We very much would have enjoyed spending some time together, perhaps in the lounge at the lobby or whatever, but again, it was such a long walk we never really met up anywhere at the resort except to eat.

There are several pools scattered about the resort. There are 3 in Alligator Bayou, 2 in Magnolia Bend, and the main resort pool, just behind the lobby, is called Ol Man Island. It is very large, has a waterslide, and also has a wading pool and a hot tub. All pools at Disney World are heated to 82 degrees year round.

Along with the pools you can also go fishing at POR, there are carriage rides (for a fee), and a water taxi that will take you to Downtown Disney and back (for free). There are also nightly Movies Under the Stars at Disney Resorts.

There are two restaurants at POR: Boatwright's Dining Hall which is a sit down restaurant, or in Disney terms- a Table Service restaurant, and Riverside Mill food court which is a counter service/cafeteria type (or Quick Service in Disney terms) restaurant. We ate at Riverside Mill several times. It has been voted Disney's #1 resort quick service. We found it very good. We did not eat at Boatwright's.

Upon our arrival we found the much talked about "towel art".

Sadly, it was the only one we saw all week. I've heard people say they got new creations every single day. We didn't. And yes, we did tip our Mousekeeper. Our Mousekeeping was generally not great the entire trip though.

You can find a lot of detailed info on Port Orleans Resorts at this link: Port Orleans.org

Overall, I think Port Orleans Riverside is a nice resort. It's definitely not outstanding, but it's nice. Clean and quiet. Too big though, far too big. Our last night there, we traveled to the sister resort, Port Orleans French Quarter. It's much smaller and I think I would stay there before staying at Riverside again.

Disney Meal Plan:

Please note for 2017 that the Dining Plan will be changing somewhat in format. See info here.

The Disney Meal Plan is a program where you basically prepay for your meals. There are three levels of the plan. Quick Service Dining, Regular Dining, and Deluxe Dining. 

The Quick Service Plan -per person per night: 2 counter service credits and 1 snack credit per day.

This covers any quick service location. For each dining credit you get 1 entree and side, 1 drink, and 1 dessert. Plus one snack credit per day. 

Regular Dining -per person per night: 1 counter service meal, 1 table service meal, and 1 snack credit per day.

You get 1 counter service meal- 1 entree and side, 1 drink, and 1 dessert. Table Service allows you to eat at the sit down restaurants. You also get your entree and side, drink, and dessert. All Character Meals are table service, so if you plan to do these, this is probably your best bet. You also get one snack a day on this plan.

Deluxe Dining- per person per night: 3 meals (table or counter), 2 snacks a day 
You also get appetizers at sit down restaurants on the Deluxe Dining plan. 

Here is a great breakdown of the Dining Plans for you.

Personally, I'm torn. We did the Quick Service plan. It was super nice to just tap our MagicBands and pay. You can pick whatever you want off the menu, price doesn't matter. However, every meal comes with a dessert, which we probably wouldn't order normally. A lot of the meals are large enough to share. You can also get free water at counter service restaurants, so you wouldn't always need to buy a drink. We had a hard time using up all our snack credits too because we were always so full from the large meals and desserts with every meal.

If you want to do a lot of character meals and a lot of sit down meals though, you might price that out. They are very high and you might come out ahead with the Regular Dining. Please note that tips are NOT included in the dining plan though. If you have 6 or more, they will add 18% automatically as well.

Every meal you get a receipt, at the bottom of the receipt it will tell you how many dining credits you have left. This makes it easy to keep on track.

Here is a very cool Dining Plan Calculator to help you decide.

At certain points in the year, they offer the regular dining FREE. This is usually a slow times in the park. This is a MASSIVE value if you can get it.

Snacks are available at almost all eateries on Disney property. In order to use a snack credit, the item usually has to be $5 or under and will be marked with this insignia

This is also an awesome resource for learning about the dining plan: Maximizing Disney Dining Plan Credits.


For most character meals and sit down restaurants it is VERY important to make reservations. If you are staying on property you can start making these at 180 days before your trip. It is very often impossible to walk up and eat at a full-service restaurant at Disney World.

MagicBands:

MagicBands are given to all Disney Resort guests. If you aren't staying on property, you can still use them, but you will need to purchase them. They are around $13. 

I both loved and hated the MagicBands. It's VERY cool that everything is tied to your MB. Your park tickets, your FastPasses, your dining reservations, your meal plan, your band IS your room key, and you can tie a credit card to your band as well. You just tap your band to the reader for all of these things. For any purchases, dining plan or anything you want to charge to your credit card, you will have a PIN number that you set up on check in. This keeps your information safe, if you lose your band no one can use your credit card or dining plan.

Sounds great, right? Why did I hate it? Well, they aren't very comfortable. They are kind of bulky and not fabulously bendy at the front. They get pretty sweaty and gross underneath in the Florida heat as well. They do sell covers for this reason, but they are kind of high and kind of weird looking. LOL.

If you lose your band (happily, that didn't happen to any of us), go to Guest Services at the parks or the concierge at your hotel and they can get a new one for you. 

FastPass and FastPass+:

If you are staying on Disney property, each day you are allotted 3 FastPass+ (FP+). This is 3 total, not 3 per park, so if you are planning to Park Hop in one day, you'll have to choose which park you make the FP+ for. You can make your FP+ reservations 60 days in advance, and like the dining, it's advisable to do so to get good fast passes.

Fast Passes allow you to skip most of the line. You are given a one hour allotment of time. As long as you are there between the two times, your FP is valid.

You must use ALL of your FP+ reservations before returning to the FastPass kiosks in the park to make more. We learned this the hard way. We had 2 morning FastPasses and our third wasn't until the afternoon. When we tried to set up another at the kiosk in the meantime, weren't able to make another until our afternoon FP was used.

Here is more info on the FastPass+ system:  FastPass+ Overview, Tips, and Advice

Quick Tips: 

Orlando water is pretty horrible. Sorry, Orlando! I bought Brita filtered bottles. I bought the children's size because they are so much easier to fit in a backpack than the regular sized ones. They do have kind of childish designs, but that didn't bother me.

All bags (purses/backpacks) WILL be searched upon arrival at all parks. To make things quicker for everyone,  consider unzipping your zippers (careful you don't lose anything out!) before the security guard gets to you.

WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES. Disney isn't the place to try out cute new shoes. Make sure your shoes are comfortable and broken in. I've tried an assortment and still get blisters. This time I ended up in Crocs (that my friend Lori overnighted me from Amazon! Yes, you can have packages delivered to your hotel) and wicking socks. I didn't even care because they didn't bother my old blisters and I got no new ones!

If you are on the dining plan, always order a large drink. It comes with the meal but they will generally give you the regular size if you don't ask.

Find dining plan desserts that will travel, like cookies, brownies, and krispie treats. Carry a few ziploc baggies with you for this and snack on them when you get hungry.

I like using a small sling backpack or a crossbody bag. Regular backpacks are a pain to take on and off to get things out. The slings and crossbodies are easy to access because you can get into the bags without having to remove them first.

This is an itinerary that I made prior to leaving. I just folded it up and kept it in my backpack. It was handy to remember times and highlight certain things to do. You can do one like mine, a fancier one, or even just plain text. It was very helpful to have.

I bought Frog Togg chilly pads (Amazon/sporting good stores) to take. They are a towel that stays cool as long as they are wet. I kept them in a ziploc baggie. They are quite big (long), and easily cut down. Use these to wipe down when it is 110 degrees in the shade (and it was!).

I always recommend taking over the counter medication, Advil, Pepto (tablets), etc. Also, band-aids and moleskin for blisters. Precut the Moleskin in your hotel room, it will not tear. There are first aid stations around the parks too in case you need them.

I bought a portable charger before leaving. It's called Anker (I bought mine on Amazon). It's slightly bigger than my iPhone (but fatter). My phone has a terrible battery, so this was a great resource for me. Since I was using my phone for the main part of my photos, it was extra important to make sure it didn't die. I charged it before we left home and it lasted all the way until Saturday night (a week later) with it being used many, many times throughout the week (at least daily).

Orlando is notorious for rain. It rains pretty much daily, but it normally doesn't last long. I bought ponchos at home for $1 each. They are thin, clear, and since they are only $1 you can pitch them and not have to worry about folding the wet thing back up and carrying it all around.

We meant to get the "Mickey's Pants" sundae at Magic Kingdom, but totally forgot. So, later in the week we made a special trip to Beaches and Cream to get it there. We did NOT. While they lowered the insane price of $22.99 at Magic Kingdom to $14.99 (still $3 more than Disneyland), they did NOT lower the price at Beaches and Cream. It is still $22.99 there. So, we passed on that. Exact same sundae both on Disney World property with a $8 difference. No thanks.

The best food I ate all week was at Wolfgang Puck's Express at Downtown Disney.  I got the 1/2 chicken and mashed potatoes and the Creme Brulee which was DE.VINE. The portions are HUGE (far too much, honestly).

Character meals can bring out the kid in teens and big kids. The two 17 year olds I was with were WAY more excited to meet the characters than I thought they'd be.

 Then there was Darla.

If you don't do a meal, at least try to seek out the one character that stands above all others for your party members. For Bean that was Woody, but we were at Hollywood Studios at the wrong time. He got his Toy Story fix though by riding the two Toy Story Rides (Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Sping-Magic Kingdom & Toy Story Midway Mania- Hollywood Studios) and eating at Pizza Planet (Hollywood Studios)!

For Darla, it's ALL about Donald. She was super excited to meet several others, but Donald is her main squeeze.

For the girl, it's the practically perfect Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins is her favorite, favorite, favorite! So, we kept it a super secret that Mary was even available. We took her without her knowing and made her stand in line. When she caught sight of Mary.. well, to say she was excited was an understatement! (FYI, Mary is at a character spot in the UK in Epcot's World Showcase).

Since this post is so long winded- I'm going to be posting a follow up dealing with EPCOT! Look for that very soon!

Have a magical day,

Tina