It was fitting that our first full day of vacation in Florida also fell on my birthday! What better way to celebrate than to be away on a trip, right? We decided to do around the Epcot world showcase for my 28th birthday, and I’m so glad that we did. A birthday celebration at Disney World with food and drinks from different countries is all I could’ve hoped for!
Taking in account what we learned during our trip last year, we made no effort to get to any of the parks when they first opened. We were able to sleep in and avoid some of the early morning bus crowds. That said, we were a bit taken aback when we did arrive at Epcot for the day. Holy crowds! Our time at Epcot last year was a week earlier than we went this year, and it also was rainy and cooler – that probably worked in our favor. We also went on a Tuesday last year opposed to Monday, which I’ve read is better.
But, it was my birthday, we were on vacation, and we weren’t going to let anything bother us! Standing in a five-minute line just to get a picture taken? Eh, no big! 😉 It did help that this was our second visit so there wasn’t a need or urgency to rush around to see and do every. single. thing.
Our shirts are from Etsy – the mouse ears are created from all different Disney character names!
Our first stop of the day was Soarin’. The ride wasn’t open last year while we were there, so we were extra excited! Ryan had never been on it, and it basically was a whole new ride to me since it now goes around the world to famous landmarks. We loved it, and I’m so glad that I made a FastPass+ reservation a month prior to our trip.
After that, much of our morning and early afternoon was spent in the front half of the park with all the rides and attractions. We wanted to do all of that first before heading back to the world showcase for some more grownup fun!
Now, the intention was to drink around the world; however, it was close to 90 degrees so alcohol wasn’t exactly the most refreshing. I’m also not a huge drinker, so a margarita in Mexico was more than enough for me.
Just because we didn’t drink our way around the world, though doesn’t mean we didn’t eat! Some of my favorite eats were churro bites with caramel sauce in Mexico; a soft pretzel in Germany; macaroons and a strawberries and cream tart in France; and fish and chips in England. We walked more than a half marathon this day, so I didn’t feel one bit guilty about anything! And, I think a little indulgence is a-okay on your birthday.
Overall, we had a way better time around the world showcase than we did last year. Last year’s cooler weather and rain made it hard to walk around and see everything, while this year it was a piece of cake to get lost in all the countries. We loved taking in all the details and sights of it all, especially the grounds and flowers.
And of course, being the trooper husband that he is, Ryan agreed to end our night at Epcot with the new Frozen Ever After ride! We checked the wait times for the ride all throughout the day, never seeing it less than two hours standby time. Well, there’s no way that was going to happen. But, by the end of the evening, the wait time was down to 45 minutes so we hurried back there. The wait wasn’t even that long, and it was SO worth it – even Ryan said it was a fun ride! It was the perfect end to a perfectly fun birthday.
In case you missed it last week I recapped our day at Kennedy Space Center, which is where we were on our second day of vacation. Stay tuned for recaps of our days at Hollywood Studios (where I was chased by two storm troopers …) and The Magic Kingdom!
Psst … in case you were wondering, we again opted to purchase Disney MemoryMaker. Check out this post about why you NEED to purchase this service if you’re headed to Disney. It’s worth every penny!