Picking back up from my last post, here’s the rest of our trip!
Wednesday
We took advantage of the Park Hopper passes on Wednesday – we went to three parks! We started with Animal Kingdom, where we went on Expedition Everest at least two times, the Kilimanjaro Safari ride, Dinosaur, and of course, Na’vi River Journey and Avatar Flight of Passage. Prior to Galaxy’s Edge opening, Flight of Passage was my favorite ride. It’s incredible how it really feels like you’re flying on the back of a banshee. From there, we hopped over to Hollywood Studios to see the new Toy Story Land and of course, Galaxy’s Edge!! Katie snagged us a reservation at Oga’s Cantina (they’re hard to get – we had the best luck by trying the day before/day of) and we had some fun drinks there. It was magical to see the Millennium Falcon and walk through Galaxy’s Edge, i.e. the Black Spire Outpost on planet Batuu. I may or may not have teared up a little walking through. After we wrapped up at Hollywood Studios, we went over to Magic Kingdom for the fireworks! It was absolute chaos there – we got there right before the fireworks were supposed to start, which I highly recommend against. There were so many people jammed up to watch that it wasn’t the most fun. Harmonious at Epcot was better! We were so exhausted after that we went straight to bed!
Thursday
Thursday was my birthday and I chose to start us off at Hollywood Studios in Galaxy’s Edge! We had Lightning Lane passes for Smuggler’s Run and it was awesome to walk through the Millennium Falcon. I really felt like we were in the movies – it was an amazing experience. We got to see Kylo Ren and some of his stormtroopers too! We took a break from Star Wars and went to see the Indiana Jones show, a must-see every time I’m at Hollywood Studios. It’s such a fun show, but fair warning that the theme song will be stuck in your head all day afterwards! We weren’t able to get Lightning Lane passes for Star Wars Rise of the Resistance, so we ended up waiting on line for two and a half hours. Most of the line is indoors and Katie and I played Heads Up to pass the time, so it wasn’t unbearable. Let me tell you, this ride was the best ride I have ever gone on. I’m not even sure I would call it a ride – more like an immersive experience into the Star Wars Universe. The little carts bring you through the giant exhibition, through halls large enough to fit life-size AT-AT Walkers and a mock command center of a First Order Star Destroyer. I definitely was losing it at how cool everything was. 10000/10 recommend, it was worth the wait!
Katie was able to snag us a reservation at my favorite Disney restaurant, San Angel Inn, in the Mexico pavilion to celebrate my birthday dinner. It was delicious! To round out our day, we went over to Jellyrolls, my mom’s favorite Disney bar. It certainly did not disappoint!! It’s a dueling piano bar and the pianists were incredible. We had a fantastic waiter – I highly recommend everyone make the time to go! You can’t make reservations but Katie and I went earlier in the evening and were able to get a high top table in the back. Bring cash for tips and enjoy!!
Friday
When Katie and I went to Disney together last, we were drinking around the world in Epcot and at our first stop, France, a husband said to his then-exasperated wife, “Honey, the whole point of Epcot is to drink all day!” I couldn’t agree with him more!
We happened to plan our trip during the Flower & Garden festival at Epcot, which meant there’s specialty cocktails & drinks at each country, along with specialty food! It was perfect – we could eat and drink at the same time, which was a mistake we made last time (no food!). I still want to go during the Food & Wine festival, but Flower & Garden was beautiful and delicious. They had topiaries of various Disney characters throughout the park.
Our route was France > United Kingdom > Canada > Mexico > Norway > China > Germany. We took a break to head back to France for the new ride, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, which was so fun! It felt like we were the same size as Remy running through the kitchen. After France, we picked up again in Morocco > Japan > America > Italy. We ended with champagne in Italy and were so excited to set up in Japan to watch the Epcot fireworks show, but the universe had other plans! A thunderstorm rolled through and caused the fireworks to be cancelled – it was a bummer, but we went back to the UK for a drink before walking over to Jellyrolls again. It was more crowded because it was a Friday night, but we had such a fun time!
Saturday
On Saturday, we spent most of the morning recovering from the day before. We went to the Benihana restaurant within our hotel for lunch and then it was time to say goodbye! Katie’s flight was Saturday and mine was Sunday – I flew to Texas for work training. After Katie left, I read a book by the pool for the afternoon. I went to Disney Springs for dinner and back to Wine Bar George for dinner! I brought my book and sat at the bar. I had to have the burrata and the Mac and cheese bites one last time! I wish Katie was there, but it was the perfect way to end a perfect birthday week!
Next post will be covering my trip to Western Canada! Stay tuned for more!
aventuras de alyssa 