a disney “week in the life”: day 1 Epcot

I thought it would helpful to blog a little more about how our days go at Disney. I get plenty of questions about how we fit it all in or what it’s like with little ones (especially a two-year-old). So for this years Disney recap, I’ll be doing a more day in the life style post. What it looks like for us from wake to sleep and what we can and can’t fit in a park day, how we manage things like long lines and Fast Passes. Let me know if you have any other questions and I’ll take care of those in a Q&A post when we get back home!

We made it to our room at the Animal Kingdom Lodge around 2:00 AM, quickly unpacked and we were asleep by 3:30 AM. The alarm went off at 7:30, we needed to catch a bus by 9:15 to be sure we would make it to our 10:30 breakfast reservation at Epcot. I didn’t expect us to be that late (or early) getting in, but we were and we decided to just roll with it. Side note: The kids both had plenty of sleep, the adults that were lacking.

So here’s what our first day looked like:

Out the door at 9:20 (so close) to catch the bus for Epcot. I am a believer in comfortable clothes at Disney, so I opted for tennis shoes and athletic clothes.

shoes / shirt + tank  (both 40% off right now with the code MINE) / crops

We just missed the bus, so we spent the next 15 minutes waiting for another bus, I’m not complaining, I love being able to park my car for the week and let Disney take care of everything, so I’ll happily wait a  little while.

Jud’s shirt was a steal at Old Navy for $3!

We arrived at Akershus just in time and wait a few minutes to be seated. By 10:45 we’re eating breakfast and it is delicious. A buffet of pastries, fruit, smoked meats and cheeses, and plenty of eggs, bacon, sausage, and potato casserole to share at our table.

Akershus is a favorite because you meet and get a photograph with a princess upon arrival, then four other princesses rotate during your meal. It’s fun one-on-one time and it’s nice to avoid lines and not feel rushed. I was thrilled to see BK’s eyes light up when the princesses came to our table. Jud was enamored, he just looked at them and smiled the entire time.

We were finished eating by noon and had about 20 minutes to spare before our first Fast Pass. There’s a great spot to meet Mickey, Minnie and Goofy at Epcot, so I grabbed a Fast Pass for it when I was planning. On our way over, we spotted Pluto with only a handful of people in line and snagged a meeting with him, too!

Jud was giddy with excitement. (Also, I found those in bigger sizes for this trip)

We made our Fast Pass, right on time, and the excitement continued…

At 12:45 we were standing in line at Starbucks (remember how we were going on just a few hours of sleep).

BK loves Club Cool, it’s fun to taste drinks from other countries and she reads all about them and tells us what to try, we stopped by while waiting for our next Fast Pass.

We walked out of Club Cool to see the American Music Machine performing in front of the huge fountain, they have some amazing a capella talent and it’s hard not to stop and listen to their entire set.

It was 1:40 at this point, and we could use our Fast Pass for Frozen Ever After. Of course, it was a huge hit.

There is also a new place to meet Ana and Elsa and when we came out of  Frozen Ever After the wait time was only 15 minutes, we quickly got in line and I’m so glad we did. They were great, dancing >and singing and making great conversation.

By this point, it was nearly 3:00, so we went to The Seas With Nemo. We love several other Epcot rides, like Test Track and Soarin’, but Allen’s parents will be here Monday and we’ll spend another 1/2 day at Epcot with them, so we’ll squeeze those in on Wednesday.

At this point, Jud was getting tired, even though he would never admit that…

We decided to head back and check out the resort, grab something to eat, and get in bed at a decent hour. We were back and eating a quick dinner (wraps and burgers, for the win) by 5:30.

We spent time exploring our resort.

Grabbed these for dessert….

We have an early day tomorrow, so I spent time getting everything in order and ready for our day tomorrow.

Epcot is usually one of my favorite days, it’s super laid back, there are tons of places to stop for live entertainment and the Kidcot stops provide good entertainment, too! It was pretty crowded today, but we still managed to fit a good bit into our day, it was a big success overall!