After many months of anticipation, our Disney trip finally arrived in early October! You may remember that our trip was originally supposed to happen in March 2020 over spring break, but Disney World–along with the rest of the world–shut down a couple of weeks beforehand. We rescheduled our rental house reservation for a year later (spring break 2021) thinking surely the world would be back to normal by then. But as March 2021 got closer and closer, we realized that Disney World, although open, would be nowhere near normal by that point. It seemed like a lot of money to spend on a subpar experience, so we decided the postpone the trip AGAIN to fall break 2021, which fell during the first week of October. Things still weren’t completely back to normal by October (and still aren’t today), but more rides and experiences were open, and we decided to just go for it. We can’t predict the future, and we didn’t want to put the trip off forever as our girls are growing up too fast. As you can imagine, we took TONS of pictures on the trip, so I am going to split up the recap into two posts. This one will cover Friday, October 1st through Tuesday, October 5th (travel days, church/swim day, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot), and the next post will include Wednesday, October 6th through Saturday, October 9th (swim day, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and travel). Without further ado…
Friday, October 1st:
I think this is the first time ever that we’ve had everything packed and ready with time to spare before we were planning to leave. We let Brooklyn and Savannah skip school today since it was the last day before fall break. Brooklyn didn’t have any tests planned, and Mrs. Pride let Savannah take her tests on Thursday instead. Mrs. Pride was so sweet to send home a special snack for Johnny Appleseed Day with Savannah on Thursday, and she even sent one home for the other girls too. Cici came over to our house around 10:30 am, and we ate an early lunch before hitting the road. In typical Grant fashion though, Abigail fell and busted her nose on the tile floor in our bathroom right before we were about to leave…so we had a bloody nose to clean up and lots of tears, but thankfully she was okay!
Ready to load up in the van! You can tell by the girls’ expressions that they were so excited :)
We couldn’t ever get everyone looking at the camera at the same time ;)
We rearranged the car seats to fit Cici on the middle row. Brooklyn and Savannah were happy to be back row buddies for the trip. Abigail took a short nap on the way there.
We made a couple of stops and got to Dothan around suppertime where we were planning to spend the night. We ate dinner at a restaurant called the Red Elephant. The pizza was good, and the girls were excited to finally catch up with Paw and Rae Rae who were driving separately.
We ate Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the hotel room before going to bed. The girls were excited to stay in a hotel since they haven’t done that too many times before. Brooklyn and Savannah slept in Cici’s room, and Abigail slept on the pull out bed in our room.
Saturday, October 2nd:
The hotel had a good hot breakfast, and the girls all had pancakes, of course :) We hit some bad traffic on the drive down to Orlando, and between that and several bathroom stops, it was about 5:30 pm before we got to our rental house. We ate lunch at Zaxby’s, and Travis picked up Chickfila for supper and brought it back to the rental house. Our first impression of the rental house was that it seemed like it would be great for what we needed!
Abigail likes to nap when she gets in a moving vehicle :)
Sunday, October 3rd:
We went to church on Sunday morning and were surprised to see most people wearing masks. Our impression of Florida was that most people were over the pandemic, but maybe not? It was the first service we’ve been to in a long time where almost everyone wore a mask. The girls enjoyed going to bible class, and I was proud of them for going when they didn’t know any of the other kids.
The girls had fun playing in our backyard pool after church and lunch. They liked playing “fish fry” with Daddy and playing with inflatable balls and pool noodles. The water felt a little chilly to me, but the girls didn’t seem to mind. It was really convenient having a pool right in our backyard!
Brooklyn and Savannah also did a pretend water aerobics class with Rae Rae :)
Daddy caught some fish!!
After supper and baths, Cici helped the girls apply some fun temporary tatoos with Disney characters that she’d bought for our trip. We got everything ready that night for our first day in the parks the next day. It was so nice having some extra adult help with all the preparations!
Monday, October 4th:
Our first park day was at Animal Kingdom, and everyone was very excited. The park opened at 8 AM (earliest out of any of the four), and we tried to get parked a few minutes earlier than that. This park was the closest one to our rental house, and I think it only took us about 10 minutes to get there through a back way.
Two happy girls :)
I thought these group pictures turned out great!
I forgot to mention that Disney World’s 50th Anniversary was October 1st, so we were literally there the first week of the 50th anniversary celebration. They put up special statues around the parks as part of the celebration, and Rae Rae found the first one of the week…Bambi and Thumper!
We went to the Pandora section of the park first to try to knock out two of the most popular rides. We did Navi River Journey first since that was something without a height restriction that Abigail could ride. It had really pretty lights, but was spookier than I realized it would be. I don’t think Savannah or Abigail loved it, but Brooklyn liked it overall. While we were close by, we hopped in line for Flight of Passage next. We’d heard it was amazing, but hadn’t ever ridden it ourselves. (It was new since the last time Travis and I were at Animal Kingdom). Savannah was just barely tall enough and told us she wanted to do it. (This is the child who hated the first rollercoaster she tried at Magic Kingdom in 2019 and refused to ride any other thrill rides after that). We didn’t realize what Flight of Passage was exactly. It was amazing but pretty intense. I was sitting right by Savannah and held her hand the whole time. Savannah said once was enough after we were finished, but I think she was glad she tried it. Travis, Brooklyn and I all loved it and so did Dad. I think it was too intense for Mom. Cici stayed with Abigail and took her to look at animals while they waited on us. Wait times have been low all morning so far! We probably waited in line for FOP 20-25 minutes, and we were moving the whole time.
I’ve heard this section of the park is really pretty at night, so I’m hoping next time we go back we can see it after dark.
By this point it was nearing 10 AM, and the girls were already ready for a snack…haha. I guess we did have to walk a long way from the parking lot.
It was also getting pretty hot by this point, so stopping to take a little break in the shade was a good idea.
Next up, we rode the Kilimanjaro Safari ride…it was nice not having to wear our masks on the outdoor rides. (They were required on indoor rides).
The girls loved seeing so many different animals!! We got to see more this time than I remember seeing when I’ve ridden that ride previously.
Abigail exclaimed, “Oooooh!!” when we saw the flamingos. It was so cute!
Brooklyn was so excited to see some lions, even though they were taking a nap ;) Lions continue to be one of her favorite animals. Savannah’s favorites were the cheetah, lions, and elephants.
The rhino seemed to be looking right at us :)
After we got off the safari ride, we walked through the Gorilla Exploration Trail nearby. We saw lots of birds, fish, and monkeys. We had to hurry through the last half of the trail because one of the girls had to use the bathroom ;)
Watching monkeys is always so fun!
We even saw an okapi on the trail!
After a bathroom break, we were all getting hungry, so we ordered some food from the Harambe Market for lunch…
We lucked out and found tables in the shade with big fans blowing…it felt so nice with the weather being so hot.
On the way to our next ride, we had to stop and take a picture of the girls in front of the Tree of Life since they are such big Lion King fans :) They were in awe of how big it was!
Next up was Kali River Rapids…getting a little wet felt so nice in the afternoon heat!
I wouldn’t have worn a poncho except that I was in the middle of wearing a 30 day heart monitor (unfortunate that it overlapped with our trip), and I couldn’t get it wet. Abigail was just barely tall enough for the ride, but cried at the end. She didn’t like it, especially the big drop.
Everyone else loved it! Brooklyn was wishing we could do it again, but we decided to try to knock out some other things on our list instead…
One thing I definitely did not want us to miss was the Festival of the Lion King. I knew my parents would love it as well as the girls. We made it to the 2 pm show, and it was a big hit!
Abigail was mesmerized by the whole thing, and Brooklyn was blown away by the guy who did tricks with fire. Savannah loved the whole thing too.
Apparently the show is back in a modified format due to COVID, but the girls didn’t know the difference, and I couldn’t remember what the old show was like anyway. We all thought it was really great!
Snack #2 of the day…a Mickey ice cream sandwich!!
Abigail opted for a strawberry fruit bar instead. She seems to prefer fruity desserts over chocolate at this point.
Our snack break hit the spot, and we were ready for our next adventure: taking the train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch…
We should’ve known Abigail would fall asleep during the 5 minute ride there–she was exhausted!! By this point, it was 3:30 pm.
We found Rafiki!
Brooklyn and Savannah enjoyed the petting zoo area. They got to pet goats and sheep and see several different animals. Abigail slept through the whole thing ;)
By the time we rode the train back to Africa, we had to book it to get to the kite show in time. Kite Tails was a new show that had just started a few days earlier. The theme of it was Jungle Book, although they apparently also have a Lion King version of the show.
It was shorter than we expected…only 15 minutes. Savannah and Abigail really liked it! Brooklyn enjoyed it but not as much as our other activities. I thought it was okay, but probably not worth the speed walk on tired legs that we did to get there…haha. It was a very unique show at least. I can’t say I’ve ever seen big kites like that being pulled by jet skis to music. It was nice to sit down too! It barely sprinkled on us a little bit during the show, but we didn’t get too wet. It actually felt good. We were thankful to have good weather on our first day!
Had to get a picture of Simba and Pumbaa!
Rae Rae and Paw headed back to the rental house at that point…we were all so tired. We got to the park by 8 am and stayed until a few minutes after 5 pm!! Rae Rae’s watch said we walked over 7 miles!!
The rest of us made a quick stop at the gift shop before leaving. The girls didn’t buy anything, but it was fun to browse. On our way out of the park, we saw Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto floating down the river on a boat. Our first and only character sighting of the day (other than the Lion King show).
Favorites Attractions at Animal Kingdom:
Brooklyn – Flight of Passage
Savannah – Festival of the Lion King
Abigail – Kite Tails (I think she said this because it was the last thing we did…haha)
Rae Rae – Festival of the Lion King, Kali River Rapids
Cici – Kali River Rapids, Festival of the Lion King
Paw – Flight of Passage
Travis – Festival of the Lion King
Erin – Flight of Passage and Festival of the Lion King
We got back to the rental house and ate some leftovers and then crashed for the rest of the night. We were all worn out but happy that our first day had gone so well.
Tuesday, October 5th:
The next day was our EPCOT day! It opened at 9 AM, so we didn’t have to be out the door quite as early as the day before. However, we did wake up early to try to snag a spot in the virtual queue for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, a new ride that had just opened on October 1st. Paw, Rae Rae, Travis, and I all tried right at 7 AM, and of all people, Paw was the one who got us the spot!! (He is still learning how to use a smartphone and had just downloaded the Disney app the night before). I couldn’t believe it! We were in Boarding Group 98, so we knew it would be a while before it was our turn to ride, but I was just thankful we would get the opportunity since you couldn’t just hop in line without having a spot in the queue.
Savannah and Abigail pretended to dress up as Rae Rae wearing her hats and bags while they were waiting on us to finish getting ready ;)
It’s always so exciting to see the big signs as you are driving up to the parks. We got there right at 9 AM when the park opened for non-resort guests, and thankfully our parking spot seemed closer today than yesterday at AK.
We took a few pictures once we got inside the park…
Grandparent pic :)
Rae Rae bought the girls these matching shirts in anticipation of our trip. They turned out cute!
We also saw Mickey and Minnie near the entrance of the park as we were walking in!
We weren’t able to get a picture with Minnie, but we did get this one with Mickey! It felt like the day was off to a great start seeing characters right when we walked in :)
I thought it was so sweet to see Brooklyn holding Rae Rae’s hand as we headed in. They are currently doing a lot of construction at EPCOT, which made it a little confusing trying to navigate which way to go, but we figured it out after one wrong turn. Travis also randomly ran into someone that he knew from his engineering classes in college…that’s the guy pushing the stroller in the above picture…haha. It’s a small world after all :)
We headed to do a ride called Frozen Ever After in Norway first. Abigail wasn’t tall enough for a lot of the rides with height restrictions, so each day I tried to make the first ride of the day one that she could do along with everyone else. Plus, she LOVES Anna and Elsa, so it was a win-win.
We all liked the ride, although Abigail said she didn’t like the “available monster” part…i.e. the abominable snowman ;) I got pretty wet and didn’t realize that was even a possibility going in. It was fun and the line moved quickly. I think the posted wait time was 20 minutes, but it didn’t even take that long!
After we came out of the ride, we saw Anna and Elsa standing nearby!! More character luck! The girls acted kind of shy, but we did manage to get a few pictures. Abigail was most excited to see them and waved!
As you can tell, it was a very sunny morning with little shade. Definitely different from Animal Kingdom with lots of trees and shady spots.
Next, we walked over to the Mexico pavilion and did the Donald Duck boat ride (Gran Fiesta Tour). We walked right on with no wait at all!
The girls enjoyed seeing Donald Duck and friends, and it was a nice relaxing ride in the A/C :)
After we left Mexico, we found a spot in the shade for a mid-morning snack. It was 10:45 AM by this point, and we wanted to knock out a couple more rides before stopping for lunch.
We saw Figment on the way to our next stop, Turtle Talk with Crush.
I didn’t really know what to expect with the show, but it was straight up HILARIOUS….for adults and kids.
I don’t know how they do the interactive part, but Crush was joking on a woman in the audience (“Amy from Tennessee”) and impersonating her slow southern accent. We all just died laughing. He took some questions from the kids (who all got to sit up front on the floor), and Brooklyn raised her hand! He called on her, and she asked him, “What do you eat?” He made some joke about eating green plants and that’s why he was a green turtle. It was just a very interactive and fun show for the adults and kids alike. We all loved it!
Next, we hopped on the Seas with Nemo and Friends since it was located in the same building. So far, all of these were things that Abigail could do with us, which made me really happy.
The girls liked riding in the clamshells and seeing the characters from the Nemo and Dory movies.
Afterward we toured the aquarium, and the girls loved seeing all the fish, sharks, manatees, and checking out the fun displays.
We found a hidden Mickey!
The girls wanted their picture taken with the baby seahorses ;)
We also got some pictures with Bruce. It’s hard to see, but Brooklyn is inside pretending to be eaten…haha
We could’ve spent even longer in the aquarium because the girls loved it so much, but we were all getting hungry by that point. (Travis says I was getting HANGRY by the time we actually got our food a little while later…haha. The girls get it honestly!).
We left and started walking toward the World Showcase looking for something to eat, and saw Winnie the Pooh come out of the woods with a net. He must’ve been looking for bees ;) Abigail was so excited!!
We walked around so we could get a closer look, and Abigail was so cute waving to him and yelling, “Winnie, what do you like to eat??” (She didn’t understand why he didn’t answer…haha). He waved and posed for pictures. It was sweet!
“Hi, Winnie!!”
Some of us grabbed fish and chips for lunch in the UK (Travis and Cici walked around to Japan to grab something), and we ate down by the water. Lunch with a view!
It felt good to sit down and rest for a few minutes too.
Next, we walked over to France, and this time I caught Brooklyn holding Paw’s hand on the way there. She was in a hand-holding mood that day, and I loved it.
While we waited to go into the theater for the Beauty and the Beast Sing-a-Long, I noticed that Savannah was making Abigail’s hair dance, and Abigail was patting her legs to the beat :)
I liked seeing all the displays in the lobby. Brooklyn acted kind of embarrassed during the show itself and said she sang quietly, but Savannah and Abigail really enjoyed it. The adults weren’t afraid to sing out…haha.
I took Brooklyn and Savannah to check out France’s gift shop while the rest of the crew ordered crepes from La Creperie de Paris for a mid-afternoon snack.
We tried several flavors, and they were all good…but the hazelnut was definitely my favorite.
Yum!!
Finally after that, it was our turn to get in line for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure (also located in France).
The line was super long and wound all around outside. We ended up waiting about 40 minutes…definitely our longest line of the day so far. It was hot and the girls were tired at this point because it was already about 3 pm. Brooklyn definitely wasn’t feeling the slow moving line.
Cici to the rescue! She put Abigail’s hair up in a ponytail since it was so hot outside.
Our little stair step girls :)
The ride ended up being so fun and not what I was expecting. You wear 3D glasses while you ride, and things pop out at you and surprise you along the way ;) Brooklyn said she didn’t care for it, which surprised me, but the other girls liked it (except for the oven part). The adults all liked it too!
After that, we walked back to the Land Pavilion to ride Living with the Land, a educational boat ride about how food is grown and especially how Epcot grows food right there in the pavilion.
It was neat to see some of what they grow right there in the greenhouses. We all enjoyed it, but Abigail really liked it! She and Cici rode it again while the rest of us rode Soarin’ (also in the same pavilion)…
We all loved Soarin’! Savannah was thrilled to see 3 polar bears right off the bat, and it was so neat to feel like we were flying around the world. It was much more of a gentle ride than Flight of Passage. I was proud of Savannah for being brave and trying it!
The girls ate a small snack afterward, and then we headed over to Test Track…the last big ride that Brooklyn really wanted to do. Savannah must have eaten a melted chocolate snack bar because it got all over her mouth ;)
Abigail wasn’t tall enough for Test Track, so we used “rider swap” so that everyone else would be able to ride it either on the first or second time. Travis stayed back with Abigail first, and they went to the playground nearby (although after a few minutes, she told him she wanted to leave and find a playground where there weren’t any other kids…haha). Then they checked out Club Cool, where you can sample different cokes from around the world. Abigail informed me afterward that she tried some drinks that were “bubbly and sour,” and she didn’t like them…haha. I’m guessing she may have tried the Beverly!
We all enjoyed Test Track!! It wasn’t what I remembered it being at all…I think they’ve updated it since I rode it in 8th grade…haha. I was shocked when we got off the ride and Savannah said she liked it so much she wanted to do it again! And Brooklyn was the one who wasn’t sure about riding it a second time with Daddy (we signed her up for Rider Swap with Travis).
After thinking about it for a few minutes, Brooklyn did end up doing it a second time and really enjoying it. Designing the car was her favorite part. Travis said their car came in 1st place in all the categories except speed, where they got 2nd. Brooklyn took it very seriously and wanted to win all the categories.
While we waited on Travis and Brooklyn, Savannah and Abigail were being silly, singing and spinning in circles. This was one of my favorite memories from the day.
Abigail also tried on Captain Paw’s hat ;)
We were missing the Dyess fam and took a picture pretending like they were there with us. They were supposed to be at Epcot that day too and we had planned to meet up at some point during the day, but they ended up sick with COVID and had to reschedule their trip. We felt so sad for them.
I didn’t take as many pictures once it started getting dark, but next we got supper from some nearby food carts (my mac and cheese was delicious!). We let the kids play in a seating area with artificial turf for a little while and they were running and having so much fun. They must have gotten their second wind from eating supper. Abigail informed a man sitting nearby, “Watch me run! But if you get tired, you can take a break.” He cracked up, and so did we.
The last thing we did was head to find a good spot to watch the fireworks. Harmonious was the new fireworks display at Epcot that had just debuted a few days earlier, and we wanted to stake out a good spot. While we waited, Cici bought some funnel cakes for us to enjoy. The girls passed the time playing games and Abigail ran back and forth between the benches we were sitting on. I couldn’t believe she was still awake so late!! The fireworks didn’t start until 9:45 pm!
Waiting for the fireworks to start was a good opportunity to admire the new lighting on Spaceship Earth that was installed for the 50th anniversary. Pictures don’t do it justice!! It changed colors every few minutes and was really mesmerizing. I think seeing that alone was worth staying until after dark.
Meanwhile, Abigail got all her sillies out and lasted until a few minutes after the fireworks started before finally falling asleep in the stroller. She just couldn’t make it all the way to the end.
We enjoyed the fireworks, although we didn’t realize that we needed have a full-on view of the barges to see the projections to get the full effect. But they were still really good, and I liked the music a lot. We took our time heading to the exit afterward, and we stopped by the Creation Shop for Brooklyn and Savannah to buy a souvenir (a lightsaber keychain). Brooklyn had been asking all day to go to the gift shop, and we hadn’t had a good opportunity to do it until then. It was crazy crowded!! We finally made it back to the car around 11 pm. It was a FOURTEEN HOUR day. We were so exhausted. Mom said we walked over 8 miles…whew. My legs and lower back were feeling it big time!! We had a blast!! We didn’t even get a chance to see most of the countries in the World Showcase, so I really think we could’ve spent a second day there with so much more to see…and so much more good food to try!! It was a fantastic day all around! I remembered Epcot being a little boring as a kid, but it was so much better this time around, and I was impressed that there was so much that even Abigail could do and enjoy. We really had a great time. It felt great to crash into our beds that night, and it was nice knowing we had a relaxing day to look forward to when we woke up the next morning.
Favorite Attractions at EPCOT:
Abigail: Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Living with the Land
Brooklyn: Test Track
Savannah: Test Track and Soarin’
Rae Rae: Test Track followed by Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
Paw: Test Track
Travis: Turtle Talk with Crush
Erin: Soarin’ and Turtle Talk with Crush
Cici: Test Track
*Stay tuned for the recap of the rest of our trip in the next post!* Thanks for reading!
