Our Disney World Trip/Epcot’s Flower Festival

Friday, June 25, 2021

Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival



Our trip to Walt Disney World was beyond fun, during the 6 days we were there we visited four parks. On day one we settled in and checked out Disney Springs, on day two we went to Epcot for the Flower & Garden Festival, then day three we checked out the Magic Kingdom, day four we went to Hollywood Studios and day five we went to Animal Kingdom, as well as more of Disney Springs while we did some shopping and dining, then finally on day six we ended up back at Disney Springs to meet family for dinner and do a little more shopping. As not to make the post absurdly long, I’ll be breaking the trip up into 5 posts. One for each park, then a last one for all the amazing Mickey shaped food and sweets I found. Trust me when I tell you, Disney World isn’t just for kids. They have so many fun activities for people of all ages. The last time I was at Disney World I was around 12 years old, so as I’m sure you can imagine it was a whole different park. We touched down in Florida around 10am, so by the time we took the Magical Express from the airport to Disney, and got settled in at the “Art of Animation” resort, it was about 11:30am. Thank goodness for the online check in process, it’s super easy, not to mention it makes the process quick and convenient. Let me tell you what a fun place to be, out of the 25 resorts on the Disney property, ours seemed to be the coolest family resort. It also has the largest swimming pool of all the resorts, along with tons of fun decor themed around the Disney classics: The Lion King, Finding Nemo, Cars, and The Little Mermaid. Our family suite in particular was so much fun, all of the furniture was Lion King themed. There were two bathrooms and two beds, a living room area and kitchenette with a microwave and fridge. There was literally everything one would need, and more than enough room for a good sized family. 


There is a restaurant on the grounds of the resort where you can order some food like burgers, hot dogs and sandwiches. To do anything on the Disney property like go into a park, order food, or make reservations to eat, you will need the Disney Experience App. It enabled us to do everything and social distance at the same time, so our trip touch and worry free. One thing I can say is Disney was on point with all COVID guidelines, so we felt very comfortable and safe. 
Once we unpacked, showered and changed, we headed right back out to explore. By that time we were both hungry so we decided to take the bus to Disney Springs and get lunch. There are two ways to get around on the Disney property and they are the bus or the skyliner. Luckily both stopped at our resort, and they run from 7:30 to 8am all day until 10 or 11pm, depending upon the day. They are also free, so you can ride on them back and forth all day long. 
After eating lunch, doing tons of window shopping, and making our way back to the hotel for a nap, we headed back to Disney Springs to meet my friend Julie for dinner. She is a Disney blogger (@TheDisneyDinks) that used to live in Baltimore, her and the hubby recently moved to Orlando Florida, about 30 minuted from Disney. We all met up at a spot called Raglan Road Irish Pub, where we had some relish food and drinks, while Julie gave us some fantastic recommendations on food and fun where the parks are concerned, because she knows them inside and out. For our meals I ordered the baked chicken, Rob as always ordered the fish and chips, and Julie a turkey sandwich, paired with some great cocktails we had a great time. There's nothing better then great company, conversation, and food, I was sad we had to go. 





We took the bus back to the hotel, once we got in the door I think after 10 minutes we were in bed and sound asleep. It had been a super long day and at 8am the next morning we were were set to head off to Epcot and see the Flower & Garden Festival. You guys know about me being a floral designer, and how much I love flowers, so needless to say I was more than excited. I would say we arrived at Epcot around 8:30am, had breakfast there shortly after and headed off to see the amazingness Epcot had for us. The first thing I noticed and loved was all of the gorgeous topiaries all over the park. My favorites where the Winnie The Pooh characters, along with Kermit and Miss Piggy. We also saw Beauty and the Beast, beautiful big butterflies, and so many gorgeous flowers in every different color. There was even a butterfly tent where tons of little butterflies of all kinds were fluttering around, wow are they beautiful. 










Epcot is set up like different countries and in each area are different food and drinks, we had lots of fun exploring everything and trying all the available foods. One of my favorites was the pineapple shortcake and the pineapple on a stick, I know the second one sounds odd, but it was really good and refreshing. Especially since it was about 90 degrees, I had no idea just how hot it got in Florida. Not to mention I forgot to put on sunblock, let's just say I was a lobster by the end of the day. For lunch we stopped into a Moroccan spot that Julie recommended, and boy was she right because everything was amazing. It was a yummy chicken and pita meal with some hummus and pomegranate, so far everything we had eaten by this point on the trip was so so good. 





After lunch we ended up getting on a ride called Soarin', Oh.My.Goodness... if you guys go to Epcot make sure you get on this ride. It was so much fun and super realistic, it's like you are literally soaring over all of the most amazing places in the world. They even pay attention to details like smells and breezes in certain places. Wow did that ride blow us away!! 
After hours of walking (22,000 steps ..omg) and eating like crazy, we headed back to the hotel to enjoy some time by the pool before our awesome dinner plans. We went to a spot in Disney Springs called Wine Bar George, can I say what a spot. The food was fantastic and our waitress was super helpful. She gave us a breakdown of the menu and the best recommendations. I ordered the chicken yet again, along with some charcuterie and bruschetta. Not only were the plates beautiful, everything was more than delicious. This was definitely one of our favorite meals of the trip. 


For dessert we splurged and had a little bit of everything. We really loved the wine and chocolate experience, which was 3 different types of wine to enjoy, with 3 different types of chocolate. Wow did that hit the spot and end our second day perfectly. 
Well this is the end of day one, make sure you come back for the second post when we go to Magic Kingdom. I got some beautiful style shots as well to share with you guys. Now the Disney outfits start getting amazing so you don't want to miss out.




Read More