WDW Trip

Just two weeks ago, we were having a blast at Disney World. We only planned this trip sometime in the fall, after thinking about the new academic calendar at BGSU (classes didn't start till 1/28), checking our vacation budget, and factoring in a few things going on at WDW. Namely, the Festival of the Arts started at Epcot in mid-January, and while we'd never thought much about it before, since we didn't expect to ever be available for a January/February trip, once we looked into it, we decided it sounded pretty cool. Also, we learned that Illuminations, the Epcot fireworks show, would be retired in the summer of 2019. And, Spaceship Earth, one of my favorite rides, would be going down for an overhaul that would take a couple of years. So...we decided we could swing a little trip. It was definitely a bonus to visit at a different time of year, too.

We had 5 days planned, Tuesday-Saturday, which gave us nearly a full day at every park (no park hopper this trip), plus a bonus day at Epcot (mostly so we'd have time to explore the festival and see Illuminations twice). As it turned out, a big winter storm hit the Midwest on Saturday, when we were supposed to fly home. We kept an eye on the forecast, and by Thursday, we decided to book an extra night at our hotel just in case. When I called the airline on Friday, we learned we could change our ticket without any fees, due to the weather, so that sealed the deal: we extended our stay through Sunday. Here are some highlights:

Day 1: Epcot
We had a super early flight, and really smooth, efficient travel, so we were actually able to get checked in at the hotel and out the door quick enough to get to Epcot for lunch. This was actually our first time since 2007 to be at Epcot when there wasn't a festival going on (the Festival of the Arts didn't start till the end of the week). We're so used to being there for Flower and Garden that we really missed all the topiaries. On the other hand, we were pleasantly surprised to see some Christmas decorations still up (different garlands in the countries around the World Showcase). On this day, we focused on rides and other attractions, knowing we'd be prioritizing festival stuff when we returned later in the week. And, of course, we were looking forward to our second-to-last viewing of Illuminations.

Our room at Pop Century

Christmas decorations in the Mexico pavilion

lunch with a view
(though we were a bit chilled with the breeze off the water)

Christmas decorations in the UK pavilion

Christmas decorations in the France pavilion

Christmas decorations in the American Adventure pavilion 

Christmas decorations in the Italy pavilion

Christmas decorations in the Norway pavilion 

(more) Christmas decorations in the Mexico pavilion

Christmas decorations in the Canada pavilion

wandering vikings in Norway

Our fanciest meal of the trip: dinner at Tokyo Dining

inside American Adventure

the huge tree outside the
American Adventure

we always try to catch the fountain
show, but we haven't on our 
last few trips--got it this time!

Illuminations

Day 2: Magic Kingdom
We usually go here on our arrival day, so we were eager to get to the Magic Kingdom on Day 2. We arrived early and were able to ride a bunch of rides in the first few hours (our favorite touring strategy). We also caught the Muppets Present show, which is really fun (although different from the version we saw on our last trip). The major disappointment of the day was that Splash Mountain ended up being "temporarily closed" all day. We thought we'd gotten lucky when we snagged a fast pass for it mid-day, but then it never did open back up. This is one of our absolute favorite rides, so we were pretty bummed. On the other hand, a highlight was seeing the Festival of Fantasy parade, which we always love. But we were kind of tickled to notice the characters wearing warmer versions of their costumes. I should say--we had great weather for the whole trip (not a drop of rain!), but our first two days were definitely on the cool side--I needed all the light layers I brought for morning/evening.

castle welcome show

Muppets Present

Lunch from Casey's Corner 

On our way out of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
(probably my favorite roller coaster at WDW)

dinner from Sleepy Hollow

Day 3: Hollywood Studios
Here, we were looking forward to visiting Toy Story Land for the first time, and that's where we started and ended our day. It's only got a total of 3 rides, 2 of them new, but it is over-the-top cute. We were able to walk right on the Midway Mania ride twice right at park open, but we waited till evening to ride the new Slinky Dog coaster with a fast pass. I liked the new ride more than Mark did--it's definitely a fun roller coaster more than an exciting one. We skipped the other new ride; too much spinning in circles to risk it. We were able to ride all the other rides we wanted to during the day, and we caught the shows, too: Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, Frozen Sing-Along, and Indiana Jones. Of course, we also went to Fantasmic, and after that, we caught the tail end of the Star Wars fireworks show.

Toy Story Land

Mr Potato Head in the Midway Mania queue

we love the Tower of Terror!

quick service lunch (one of the few meals we didn't split)

Frozen sing-along

Indy and Marion

back to Toy Story Land to enjoy the details
(Woody talks!)

part of the Slinky Dog track

such a rebel...

The March of the First Order

Beauty & the Beast

at the Sci-Fi Dine In Theater

a terrible pic of our burger w/onion rings

Toy Story Land after dark

in the queue for Slinky Dog Dash

Fantasmic!

Day 4: Epcot
Back to Epcot, this time for the Festival of the Arts. While our top priority was experiencing the special events for the festival, we were able to ride a bunch of rides, too. Festival-wise, we were really impressed by the living statues, and we enjoyed the acrobat show (it had some flashier name than that, but I can't remember it...). The Disney on Broadway show wasn't quite what I expected, but I'm glad we got to see it. And, of course, we sampled a lot of the food from the booths. One difference here compared to what we saw at Flower and Garden was that most dishes were prepared or finished at the booths. At the time, I just thought it was slow; only later did I realize this was all part of the theme: food prepared like art as we watched. We enjoyed most of what we tried, but it was so pricey! The highlight of the day, and really the trip, I think, was seeing Illuminations again. We had a fast pass, so we were in the best spot for viewing, right in the center, looking across the lagoon at the American Adventure pavilion. I often have trouble choosing favorites, but on this trip at least, Illuminations was by far my favorite evening experience. It's such a powerful show--which sounds like a weird thing to say about fireworks--but it is! I want to look forward to whatever will replace it, but after being so disappointed by the replacement for Wishes at the Magic Kingdom, I'm having trouble staying optimistic. At least I've got the music and some videos of Illuminations on YouTube to help me cope. :-)

Figment seemed to be the festival mascot

scallop with spicy tomato sauce

trio of savory croissant doughnuts

a festival workshop (which we didn't end up staying for)

the Mariachis always make me miss Tucson... 

we spotted this new painting;
it seems there are others hidden around the World Showcase
for the festival, but this is the only one we noticed.

noticeable absence of topiaries

scallop with sausage and parmesan crisp

Japanese bean-paste pastry
(I let Mark eat this on his own,
though I did have a taste of the garnishes)

molten chocolate cake and
cheese fondue in a bread bowl

living statue: space

this was my favorite living statue

Mark's favorite living statue

the impressive acrobat act 

paint-by-number mural

chocolate mouse/cake
with pretzel peanut butter crust

one of those artists who paints live to music
(we only watched for a bit; this wasn't as interesting to us)

live chalk art--very impressive!

Disney on Broadway show

Another festival feature: life-size paintings you could get your
photo in (though we didn't ever stand in line to get ours)

quick dinner in China

Illuminations (again)

Day 5: Animal Kingdom
This was an extra magic hours morning, so we got an early start and headed straight for Pandora. It was easy to ride Navi River Journey first thing, then a couple other attractions elsewhere, eventually getting back to Flight of Passage with a fast pass. We also managed to see both the Finding Nemo Musical and Festival of the Lion King, and since we'd changed our travel plans, everything we did after mid-afternoon was like a bonus. We were especially glad to get to stay for Rivers of Light, the relatively new evening show there, which we'd seen for the first time in 2018. We had decided it was more important to us to see Illuminations twice than to see Rivers of Light on this trip, but it worked out nicely that we got to see it anyway (along with the Tree of Life Awakening). I love the feel of this park, and seeing it at night is still novel for me.

always something new to see on the safari;
this time, it was hippos actually out of the water

we think these might be new; at least we'd never noticed them

Finding Nemo Musical

Festival of the Lion King

This may have been my favorite snack on the trip;
you can get these several places at WDW,
but I noticed this time that here, at Dino Bites, they're made
with Hagen Daz (instead of Edy's/Dryer's)--a bit of an upgrade!

dinner in Pandora

Rivers of Light

Day 6: Blizzard Bonus
We didn't have park tickets, but we did have time to go for breakfast at the Polynesian--the famous Tonga Toast. It's really good, but getting there was a hassle because of how they're doing security now around the Magic Kingdom. Otherwise, not much to report from this day, but our travel all went smoothly, and we were back at our place in BG by about 6:30pm (we got some pizza delivered!). I sure was glad to have Monday off for MLK day so I could have a bit of time to catch up and transition back to the real world, especially since the next week was placement testing--one of my busiest and least favorite times at work.

we had the Monorail to ourselves for the first leg

Tonga Toast w/sausage (it's stuffed with bananas!)

sidewalk art at our hotel

I'm so glad we took this trip! We had a great time, full of old favorites and new experiences. Realistically, we can't rush down there for an unplanned trip anytime Disney announces a change, but I'm so glad everything came together for this one, as seeing Illuminations again meant more to me than I expected. We plan to wait to go back until 2021, the 50th anniversary year, so it's a good thing we have all these pictures to reminisce about in the meantime. Thanks for reading!