February 2017 Disney World Trip Report Part Two
So as the title implies, this is part two of my trip report. Part one can be found here. So a brief recap, Melody just had her first trip to Walt Disney World. We did plan quite a bit, but we were also open to changes. Days one and two (part one of our trip report) were spent outside of the parks. So day three was our very first park day. We decided to go to Epcot first. One because this is our favorite park as a couple. Two because we wanted to try out the Garden Grill for breakfast, and if for some reason we were unable to make it our first day, we could attempt it again later in the trip. So read all about our day at Epcot below!
As I mentioned above and in our planning post, we had plans to eat breakfast at the Garden Grill at Epcot. Our reservation was for 8:20 a.m. We wanted to make a reservation prior to park opening at 9, and this was the best time available. Of course the large negative with this time is that it would require us to get up early. I wasn't as concerned with Brad and me as much as I was with Melody. She normally wakes up at 7:30 (8:30 Orlando time). So that means we would have to physically wake her in order to make it to our reservation on time.
We woke up and started getting ready at 6:30 a.m. We woke Melody close to 7 a.m. and got her ready. We then headed for the bus stop around 7:20 a.m. A bus was there within 10 minutes and we were at Epcot at 7:45 a.m. We were the only three people on the bus that early. I wore Melody in my Ergo in hopes that she would sleep for as long as possible since we woke her up. She did sleep on the bus ride, but she woke up not long after we arrived at Epcot. Security was a breeze thankfully. I was slightly nervous since this was our first time going through security with Melody and the stroller, but they were really nice.
We got in a short line to enter the parks. People were actually already starting to line up for the park opening this early (the park opened at 9, and it wasn't even 8 am yet!). They did scan my band to confirm that we had a dining reservation. If you do not have a dining reservation or a tour scheduled, you have to wait for park opening to enter.
As soon as we got through the gates, we took a quick selfie. They did not have Photopass photographers out yet, unfortunately. Below is a selfie on the bus, and the selfie as we entered Epcot.
After our selfie, we headed over towards The Land. There was literally no one in the park. This was the first time we had entered Epcot prior to park opening. First up, we parked our stroller for the first time! Of course, this had to be documented!
We arrived at the Garden Grill around 8:05, and they had us seated within about 5 minutes. Our waiter actually seated us and took our drink order immediately. You can find all of the details here, but I will say, the characters are AMAZING here. AND, we were one of maybe seven other families. I highly recommend this character breakfast! Below are some of our pictures with the characters.
After breakfast, we went straight downstairs to get Brad in line for Soarin. We did not have a Fastpass for it, so we wanted this to be the first ride we did. Brad was in line by 8:55 a.m. While he was in line and riding, Melody and I found a spot to sit and hang out at Sunshine Seasons. As you can see below, she was in a really great mood just playing.
I started feeding Melody her bottle because she was hungry earlier than usual since she got up so early. When she finished, Brad gave me the Rider Switch Pass he got for Soarin. He fed her oatmeal while I went to ride Soarin using the Fastpass line with the pass below.
After I finished riding Soarin, we went to ride Living with the Land. We wanted that to be Melody's very first ride since it is our favorite. Of course she slept right through it!
Melody also slept through our picture outside of The Land.
It wasn't quite time for our Fastpass at the Character Spot, and Melody was still asleep. So we decided to go ride The Seas with Nemo and Friends. I really like this ride, but Brad hates it. Surprisingly, this was the longest line I had ever seen at Nemo. It took about 15 minutes to get through the line. We didn't have anywhere else to be, so we waited.
After Nemo, we headed to our Fastpass at the Character Spot. We got in line at 11:20 a.m. While in line, we decided to cancel our Figment Fastpass and change it to Spaceship Earth at 12:40. This would work out better for us in the long run anyhow. We had to wait in the Fastpass line for Character Spot 30 minutes before meeting our first character. This was extremely frustrating, but it was out of our control. Melody did pretty good with the characters. I expected her to be more giddy with Mickey Mouse, but I think she was slightly intimadated. I was happy that she did not cry though!
After we met all of the characters, we headed back to The Land for lunch at Sunshine Seasons. Brad and I have always spent so much time at The Land, but we have never had a meal here before. I knew what I wanted already, so I found a table while Brad went and ordered our food. Melody was having a blast getting people's attention by being super adorable!
We finished lunch around 1 pm, so we headed to Spaceship Earth to use our second Fastpass for the day. I took a few pictures of Melody while parking her stroller. Then we took a few selfies while waiting in line. She really loved wearing her Mickey Ears! We put them on her often because they were just too cute and she didn't mind them. Within about 2-3 minutes of being on Spaceship Earth, Melody was asleep!
Since Melody was asleep, we decided to shop for a little bit before her 2 pm bottle. We fed her a bottle and solids at the Baby Care Center. This was our first experience with the Baby Care Center. We really liked the space. This one had a changing room with multiple changing stations; a men and women's restroom; a small kitchen with a microwave, bottle warmers, and numerous supplies for purchase; a nursing room; a "feeding" room with chairs and high chairs; and a room with a couch and TV. We fed and changed Melody, then we laid a blanket in the room with the TV. We let her play and watch TV while Brad and I sat and relaxed.
We walked over to Norway to use our last Fastpass for Frozen Ever After around 3:15. When my mom and I rode it in January, we sat in the back of the boat. So during the "drop" we did not get wet or anything. Well on this ride, we sat in the very front of the boat. Melody was really enjoying the ride until the "drop". You can see our on-ride photo below. The drop terrified her. And we were soaking wet! She was in tears. I felt so bad for her!
Luckily, the tears dried (as did our hair and clothes), and she starting getting sleepy again. We put her in the stroller and decided to stroll through the World Showcase. We tried to walk through all the shops that we could to help cool us off and get in the shade. It was extremely warm and sunny. Melody fell asleep while we were walking around, so Brad and I decided to stop at The Artist's Table in the American Adventure and try a snack from the Festival of Arts. We tried the pan seared scallop (picture below). It was really good. It was a little small for the price you paid, but it was a nice snack to have before dinner.
Melody woke up when we got to Japan. We did some shopping at Mitsukoshi. I am not sure what is going on, but they had over half the store closed off with walls. They did all of that in just two weeks. I felt awful because I was bragging to Brad about how nice the store was now with the additional room they added. Then we get there and most of it was closed off. We didn't buy anything, but we took a few pictures outside. I wanted to take a picture with Melody in the same spot I took a picture 13 months prior while 20 weeks pregnant.
We found a corner in France to feed Melody her bottle at 5:45. She gets distracted easily, so we had to find a quiet place. After her feeding, we checked in for our dinner reservation at 6:20 at Chefs de France. We were seated within a few minutes. Here is a post about our experience on this trip, but here is my review from our trip May 2015.
Melody did really great at dinner. I was a little nervous having her at a nice restaurant after a full day of new adventures, but she was literally just as happy as ever!
We decided to head back to the hotel after dinner. We were all pretty tired and we knew it would be easier to feed Melody her solids in the room. On our walk back to the front of the park, Melody fell asleep. We left her in the stroller for as long as we could. On this night, we had a charter bus picking us up instead of an ordinary Disney bus. This made getting on (and off) the bus really difficult with Melody and all of our stuff. The driver was extremely rude with me when I tried to get on the bus with our stroller. I knew the stroller wouldn't fit, but they were not being helpful on what I should do with it. He told me I couldn't bring it on and that I would have to put it under the bus. So he finally decided to get out of the bus and open the bottom. It was extremely weird and frustrating. Luckily, Melody slept through most of it.
We were back at our hotel at 8:30. We fed Melody her solids and let her play on the bed with her toys before her night time bottle. Brad and I both showered and packed our park bags for the next morning.
Our first park day was a huge success. It was much warmer and sunnier than we anticipated, but Melody did so well. We tried to better plan for the heat and the sun the following days. I am glad we did Epcot first since it is a much calmer park. Look for food review and my other trip reports soon!
