One of the benefits of being a Florida Resident and a Disney Passholder is that you can visit the parks when you want, depending on your pass type of course. Our family recently decided we are going to take a little break from Disney World and enjoy our Universal passes for the next year. So when our Disney passes got ready to expire at the beginning of June, I wanted to make sure we had one last visit to the most Magical place on Earth.
Day one we headed to Epcot so we could catch the International Flower and Garden Festival before it ended. If you have never been, this annual festival at Epcot is full of topiaries, beautiful gardens, and yummy food. There are even daily concerts that take place at the America Gardens Theatre in the American Adventure Pavilion. This is one of my favorite events at Epcot.
I am not sure what part I enjoy more, the topiaries or the creative cuisine that you can find at all of the outdoor kitchens throughout the park, especially the World Showcase. Where else could you experience something like a violet lemonade? Eden’s favorite, by the way.
Day two we were off to Magic Kingdom where I think the strolling characters were the highlight of the visit. Chicken Little ran away with my daughter and both kids got to play hide and seek along Main Street with Chicken Little and his friend Abby.
From here, we headed toward Frontierland to visit Tom Sawyer Island, which we discovered had closed for the day. As we decided on our next move, a cast member in the middle of the street kicked up his heels, let out a whoop and starts dancing. One by one, cast members joined in, along with with the area appropriate characters including the Country Bears, Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar and Br’er Rabbit. For the second time that day, off my children went with a Disney character, this time Wendell Bear, where they participated in what I later discovered is the Frontierland Hoedown. This flashmob style show is not publicized and you just have to be lucky enough to catch it.
These character encounters really add to the Disney magic experience and are very different than the encounters you have when you use a Fast Pass or wait in the queue to see a character. Of course, we did that too. It has been years since you could get a photo op with BOTH Mickey and Minnie together. However, now through September 30th, in celebration of Mickey’s 90th birthday, you can get that photo op at Mickey and Minnie’s Surprise Celebration at Magic Kingdom.
At this point, we were only two days into our 4-day park adventure. Next up, Hollywood Studios. Hollywood Studios used to be a pretty laid back, dear I say a somewhat empty park, but since the opening of Toy Story Land and with the upcoming opening of Star Wars Galaxy Edge, this park has become super crowded. It also happens to be home to my son’s favorite roller coaster, the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. This was the ride where we discovered our son’s love for thrill rides. Of course, no visit to Hollywood Studios would be complete without character interactions.
So after using our Fast Pass for Toy Story Mania, an interactive 4-D ride, and one of my favorites, we made our way to the beloved Toy Story Characters. You can meet Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jesse, and they have even recently added Bo Peep. My personal favorite is interacting with the Green Army Patrol. The troop marches through Toy Story Land several times a day, but you can also find them throughout the land looking for recruits and possibly playing a game of “Sarge Says” with the park guests.
By the end of day three, we were pretty exhausted from the heat and all of the walking we had done but that wasn’t going to stop us from finishing our 4 day 4 park adventure. So on day four, off to Animal Kingdom we went. Animal Kingdom has a special place in our hearts because we spent a lot of time here when the kids were babies. We loved pushing them around in their stroller, checking out all of the animals and there is plenty of shade in this park, so summer heat isn’t as brutal. This was the perfect place to end.
I had two Animal Kingdom items on my Disney bucket list for this trip. Guess what? They were of course character encounters. I really wanted the kids to have the chance to meet Kevin, the bird from Up. Since she is a bird, she doesn’t have any specific location you can meet her, she simply wanders around Discovery Island. It wasn’t the easiest pic to snag as she is always on the move.
Then there is the most elusive character of all, one I had not ever seen in all of my ten years of regularly going to the Animal Kingdom. Somehow we have always missed her. Her name is DiVine. That doesn’t sound like a Disney character, now does it? DiVine is part human, part tree and very easy to miss as she blends into the scenery around her. I was super excited that on the last day of our trip we had an encounter with this beautiful non-speaking creature.
Our day at Animal Kingdom wouldn’t be complete without a ride up Mount Everest, a safari through Africa, the Up! aviary show and a river rapids ride courtesy of “Kali Rapids Expeditions”. We finished up at the bar in Africa with a beer from our favorite bartender, Bob, who has been there over 10 years. In fact, he was there in our stroller pushing days. We would often stop for a drink while the babies were sleeping.
The memories we have made at Disney over the years are enough for multiple lifetimes. There are people who save their entire lives to take their family one time, and not only did we just do 4 parks in 4 days, but we have these four parks in our backyard essentially, where we get to experience magic anytime we want. Although the family is taking a break to explore Universal for a while, we will return, because there is nothing quite like the magic of Disney World.
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