A Spring Stroll through Disney World – Epcot, Day 1

Welcome back to my trip report!

When deciding our park schedule, we evaluated the park hours/extra magic hours/events, etc.   We decided to start at Epcot since the main reason for this trip was to experience the Flower & Garden Festival.  The themed topiaries are the main draw, but they now also offer food booths similar to the ones they have during the fall Food & Wine Festival.  I was initially very excited about this, but quickly found that most foods were not our taste and we do not drink a lot of alcohol (especially in the heat!!)

Here we are at the main entrance 🙂

We headed straight for the World Showcase, saving the rides in Future World for Tuesday’s visit, and our daily Fast Passes (FP+) for the Magic Kingdom that night.  Right before our trip, WDW changed the policies on FP+ to be able to get more once you used the initial 3 but it is based on availability once you get to the 2nd park (or what’s left if you are staying in the first park) via a kiosk.  We didn’t want to risk not riding something so we opted to not change ours around.

We stopped to look at several topiaries and flowers along the way~ (photo credit: Mike)

Once you reach the World Showcase, do you typically go left or right?  We had high hopes for the food booths in Mexico and China so we opted to go left.

This troll was in Norway~

The panda bears in China~ (photo credit: Mike)

Topiaries of Lion King characters~

Some of my very favorites ~ Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs!

(below photo credit: Mike)

Kermit and Miss Piggy were across from Snow White~

We stopped to read menus in Mexico and China but none of the food struck our fancy until we reached Italy. We shared Three Cheese Manicotti and Torta di Ricotta from Primavera Kitchen.

To be honest, they were just so-so…and quite small for the price. We each had like 2 bites.

Also in Italy~ (photo credit: Mike)

Lotso from Toy Story~

Woody from Toy Story~

Mike decided to try the Pulled Pig Slider from The Smokehouse Barbeque and Brew.  I had a small bite. It was very tasty and plentiful for the price! No picture of it though…I evidently forgot to take one!

We haven’t seen the American Adventure show so we thought we would take a break and see it. Before the show, the Voices of Liberty perform in the lobby area.  They were wonderful! I would definitely like to see them again.

(photo credit: Mike)

The animatronics show was somewhat cool…although I had a really hard time paying attention. I had been up since 4 am and only had about 3 hours of sleep so sitting in the dark, in an air-conditioned room just begged for a nap LOL

Bonsai in Japan. This is just a few of them. I had a picture straight on but then they all blended in with the background.

I got to meet Belle in France!  Yes, I planned it well wearing that shirt LOL!  We watched Beauty & the Beast for the first time before our trip last September and now Belle is one of my favorite princesses…I had no idea she was a book lover until that movie and we tried so hard to meet her last time and couldn’t so it was on the top of my list for this trip. She loved my shirt and I told her we were having dinner with the Beast later so she said to tell him hello.  It was one of the best character interactions I’ve ever had. I usually have a hard time talking to the face characters lol…much easier just to smile and wave at the ones that don’t talk!

I adored the topiaries of the movie characters!

Mike took this one of Chip and Mrs. Potts~

Sleeping Beauty and her prince~

Cinderella and her prince~

Winnie the Pooh and friends in the United Kingdom~

Mike took this cool pic of Peter Pan and Captain Hook~

We found Bambi and friends in Canada~

In addition to topiaries, we also found a sand sculpture! (photo credit: Mike)

We weren’t planning on it but we made it through the entire World Showcase in one afternoon…rather quickly though so I decided we would walk through again later in the week at a slower pace to really enjoy the details.  On to the monorail to Magic Kingdom to ride a few rides and have dinner at Be Our Guest!

In case you missed a recap:

1. A Spring Stroll through Disney World – Our Resort