The last min bargain - Day 1 MK & Epcot

[RobynPrincess]

After a long old travel day you would think that I would sleep in wouldn’t you? I don’t really suffer the usual jetlag that everyone speaks of travelling from the UK, however this trip I woke up at 4am, 5am, 5:30am and then again at 6am when I gave up trying to get back to sleep. Sy was still sleeping next to me. I crept round the room and went to the AC unit to adjust the temperature, we obviously set it too cold last night. While I was bent over fiddling with it he grabbed a handful of my bottom :O I jumped out of my skin! He said it was my fault for it being right in front of his face haha. He also got a slap

We Skyped home to both of our parents to let them know we got there safe and then got dressed. We packed up our things and headed down to check back out of the room. We left the luggage in the luggage store room which was warm, I was glad we didn’t get to Walmart last night as we certainly wouldn’t have been able to keep stuff cool enough in there. It also wasn’t very safe, I was wary of leaving our bags in there but Sy said they would be okay, and knowing I tend to go a bit far worrying about stuff I decided to chill out and agree with Sy.

We headed out for Grand Floridian Café for breakfast, we valet parked and got the monorail over to MK to get the tables in wonderland card, just as we were walking over they started the Rope Drop ceremony so we stood and watched it, it was a bit earlier than the park was due to open so we hadn’t expected to see it, but wow, I totally cried! How have I never made it to this before? After it finished we headed over to the guest services outside of the park to get our tables in wonderland card, it was getting close to our ADR so the girl offered to call over to let them know that we were on our way which was nice of her, I don’t think we need have worried though as it was half empty once we got there. The monorail back to GF took aaaaages. We went to all of the other resorts first and then we had to wait at some of them for further clearance, I was starting to feel a bit sick from lack of food.

Once we were back at GF we walked through the lobby and saw a bride getting pictures taken, she looked gorgeous. I would love to renew our wedding vows there one day. At GFC we were seated right away, our server was good.





We both ordered the usual, American breakfast for Sy and French toast for me. I didn’t enjoy mine today as they put so much powered sugar and cinnamon on it (I HATE cinnamon!) but it ate enough of it. Sy loved his though We used our TiW card which includes an 18% tip.

This was mine once I’d scraped most of the cinnamon off





Once we finished we headed again back up to the monorail to make our way back to MK.





First thing we did was hop on the train and do a full circuit round the park this has become somewhat of a tradition of ours on our first day.





We then wandered down Main Street and got a spot for the Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it parade, we put on some sun cream while we waited. I just LOVE this parade (as you will probably already know if you’ve read my other reports). Sy refuses to dance though so we usually just stand to the side and watch everyone else boogie on down – one day I’ll have him dancing, I’m working on it









After the parade we wandered into Adventureland, stopping on the way to use the restroom. We decided we needed a drink and we were right by aloha isle so we got in the queue, and you cant queue up here and come away without a dole whip! So we got one of them as well to share we stood and ate the dole whip away from the yukky smoking area (why don’t they put the smoking areas more out of the way? You get a cloud of smoke free with your dole whip here!). I was admiring the flowers and a duck sat right in the middle of them happily sunbathing Once we finished the dole whip (I may have eaten most of it, I couldn’t possibly say...) we made our way to the jungle cruise. Our tour guide was called Robert, excuse the blurry picture of him.

 

[RobynPrincess]

He was very funny. Afterwards we headed to Pirates but there was a 15 minute queue and as its all inside (so no quick way out, meaning I would have to fight back against the queue to get back out again) I didn’t want to risk trying to do it today, in case I wasn’t well. So we decided to get more food! Like we hadn’t eaten enough today yet We stopped by the DVC stand to make an appointment for next week and then I found the elusive Liberty Market and got a baked potato I have been in search of this for years but never got round to finding it. We then went into Columbia Harbor House for Sy to get a tune sandwich. We really enjoyed the food we sat there for a little while after eating (there were plenty of tables for other diners or we would have left to free up the table), as I was feeling a bit dodgy I did feel better for the rest though



We then went to Mickey’s Philharmagic, for years I never went to see this, I didn’t even really know it was there! Its such a good show.



It was getting later in the day by now so we decided to head back toward the hotel so that we could unpack properly and have a little rest. We stopped on the way for more photopass pictures and in the art of Disney shop along Main Street. Found the perfect present in there for Libby and Ben but Sy said he wasn’t sure they would like it so we decided to think about it and see what else we find on the trip (I would come to resent Sy for this later in the trip when we cant find the picture again!!). We got the boat back to GF to collect the car. We waited an age for the boat as the first one that came and unloaded passengers was having problems and going out of service, we decided that by the time the monorail made it all the way round to GF we may as well just wait for the next boat, we weren’t in a rush. It was a busy boat though by the time the next one came and the queue got longer.



We picked up the car, tipped the valet guy and headed back to our hotel, stopping on the way to get some drinks. When we got back to the hotel they checked us back in but then there was a problem and the girl when off to get the manager (Scott) and talked in hushed tones. Uh-oh. What’s going on? He comes to explain that the guy who was checking out of the room we had been assigned is having a late check out, he’s a driver with a school trip and the school coordinator had forgot to book this with them so it was only arranged that day. So where does that leave us? He asked us what our plans were and I told him, to check into our room and unpack and shower, I think he was hoping we would say we were going out and that we would come back later but I wasn’t about to do that we unless absolutely had to, I really just wanted to relax in our room, unpack and chill out. The hotel was fully booked so he spent a good 10 minutes juggling the rooms around to get us a room now with a king bed. I was very grateful to him. The second room was pretty much exactly the same as the first but with a king bed.





Once we were unpacked and I was showered again I was feeling much happier We then headed out of the door to Epcot. When we got there we went to get our annual passes changed to the new plastic cards - much better idea than paper annual passes. We had the choice of Donald or Goofy on the cards so I got Donald and Sy got Goofy. We then got the boat over to Morocco and walked round to America to get a seat for ELO flower power concert. Now I must confess, I have zero idea of who ELO are, yeah I’ve kinda heard the name before but Sy even played me a few of their songs before we left home and I didn’t know any of them apart from one used in a recent advert. They were good but didn’t really get the crowd going much, Sy enjoyed it though





We then wandered round to Italy for our ADR in Via Napoli. We were half an hour early, they said we could wait there but couldn’t seat us any earlier which was fine by us, yet as soon as my bum touched the seat we were called. We were led to a room off to one side, it was very nice and much quieter than the main dining room.







We were brought some breads while we mulled over the menu. Sy ordered arancini to start but forgot to take a picture before he’d eaten it all, tut tut! I wish they did these without meat in, I tasted a bit of one and it was divine.



We then got the prosciutto e melone pizza to share. It had rocket, melon and prosciutto with cheese and no tomato – yay! I had half without the rocket and melon, but it also turns out that I don’t like prosciutto... and they don’t skimp on the toppings either, so there was LOADS of it.



I didn’t really enjoy my meal I only ate 2 slices - but that was down to my poor choosing and not Via Napoli as a whole, we have eaten here twice before and I’ve loved it.


We paid and made our way out of the park at a leisurely pace. Whilst we were walking out Illuminations started, so we picked up the pace a little not wanting to get caught in the rush to get out after.

Once back at the hotel I totally crashed out. Sy had a shower, went and got ice etc and I didn't even stir! I then did wake up when a group of people old enough to know better were shouting outside our room they were stood out there with drinks, they were obviously just having a good time and didn't think about other guests so I ended up putting my head out and gesturing for them to quiet down a bit – they weren’t speaking English so I wasn’t sure they would understand if I just asked outright, but they knew what I meant and looked sheepish, it was obviously a genuine mistake. I did go straight back to sleep and didn't stir until 6:30am the next day.