Our Disney World Honeymoon - Day 5 - Animal Kingdom and Epcot

Hey there princess!

Thursday was our last day visiting the parks (Friday we went to Disney Springs for shopping and Chicken Guy, and then flew home). We made sure to make the most of every moment, while also not pushing ourselves too hard in the process. 

First things first, we were still so enchanted by our dinner the night before that we decided to go back to the Polynesian for breakfast at their quick service location, Captain Cook's. The scrambled eggs were amazing - I have no clue how they got them so fluffy! This was a huge hit for us, and I would recommend trying quick service dining locations at the different resorts if you have the opportunity. Our return to the Polynesian also gave me the opportunity to poke around in their gift shop again, and I picked up a Lilly Pulitzer dress that I had been eyeing the night before as a souvenir. Now every time I wear it I think about this incredible trip!

In the morning, we visited Animal Kingdom and got to experience all of the changes that they have made since my last visit when I was a young teen. The air was hot and incredibly humid, but I was so happy to see so many animals out and about rather than hiding underneath the shade. 

We started our morning off on Kilimanjaro Safaris, and we were blown away by how close the animals were able to come to our car. Our driver was incredibly sweet, and we were able to hop on with no wait at all! A true Disney miracle. 

Next, we rode Expedition Everest, and then we made our way to the new Pandora area based on the Avatar movie. I hadn't see the movie until after this trip, so honestly a lot of it went straight over my head. We weren't able to get a FastPass for Flight of Passage (and I just couldn't justify waiting in the sun for three hours), but we were able to get on Na'vi River Journey, which was really fun and beautiful. 

We knew that we had a dining reservation waiting for us, so we hopped back on the bus and headed to Epcot to enjoy the second half of our day!

We settled in for an early dinner at San Angel Inn and had a delicious and quiet meal in front of the volcano at Rio del Tiempo. I loved getting to sit in front of the candlelight, and taste all of the incredible food that we were served. Something to keep in mind is choosing places to eat where you can really cool down before heading back out into the Florida heat San Angel Inn is perfect for that!

After dinner, we stopped by the Japan pavilion and Niles picked a pearl for me from Mitsukoshi. This is such a special and beautiful keepsake from our trip, and I love having something that I can always wear and keep with me. Keepsakes and mementos have always been important to me - since I was little. I tend to associate little items with special memories, and love to keep them with me. This little pearl is perfect to wear on any normal day that isn't too "Mickey Mouse" but still gives me lots of sweet mushy feelings remembering this special time in my marriage. Do you ever do anything like that?

For the rest of the evening we strolled around all of the different pavilions and watched the fireworks as we road Spaceship Earth one last time. This is scheduled to be refurbished with new theming in 2020, so we ended up actually getting Spaceship Earth into this trip on 3 different occasions! It ended up being one of Niles' favorite rides of all!

I am so thankful for our incredible honeymoon in Walt Disney World. It was the absolute perfect way to start of a new and exciting chapter in my life, and the life of my husband. Since this trip, we have had lots of little adventures together (including spending the past five months social distancing together). I can't wait to see what adventures await us down the line!

Sparkle on!

Our Disney World Honeymoon - Day 2 - EPCOT

Hey there princess!

Our second day at Disney World started in the absolute most perfect way, with Mickey Waffles! I had been dreaming of these bad boys for a long time, and it was so fun to finally get to eat some. Things have certainly changed since the last time I was at Caribbean Beach Resort (probably about 15 years ago) and I loved all of the renovations that they have done! Most of all, I love that the reports still give you a refillable mug at check-in, because that bad boy got used a lot!

Once our tummies were full, we donned our sunscreen and hopped on the bus to head to Epcot. This is Niles' first ever time going to Disney World (he is a California boy and grew up going to Disneyland), and being in Epcot was such a fun and new experience to share with him. Since it was the middle of August, the most important things to us were keeping cool! We dressed in lightweight clothes, brought hats (mine with the new monogram) and wore tons of sunscreen. I also found some neat cooling packs off of Amazon (click here to see) and I threw them in my purse to help us not get overheated.

One of those special Epcot-only attractions is The Land, which is one of my all-time favorites. Even just the smell is something just incredibly special that stays in my memory. I can almost feel the breeze coming off of the water now while I type this. 

When planning our honeymoon there were some very specific things on my "must do" list, particularly involving food. One of my favorite places to eat in Epcot is the Garden Grill, which sits directly above The Land attraction. Garden Grill checks off so many boxes - it is a character dining experience, it sits directly above one of my favorite attractions, and you can look out over the balcony to see people passing by, and the food is phenomenal.

When I say the food is good, the food is GOOD! It is family style, so there is a little bit of everything and you don't have to worry about a menu. Dessert is included, and Mickey, Pluto, Chip, and Dale stop by periodically to check on you and take pictures. I am seriously still thinking about how amazing that turkey is! For me - I want to have at least one opportunity to have a character interaction on my trip, but I don't want to wait in line or have to use a FastPass. Character Dining is the perfect solution to this, and Garden Grill gives you both great food and personal interaction without too high of a price tag. 

Of course, no trip to Epcot is complete without riding Spaceship Earth. We actually ended up riding it three times since it is being closed for changes to the story in 2020 - 2021. Who knows what it will be like when we return?! 

Of course, we also had to get some cute pictures in front of "the ball" to commemorate the trip. If you look closely, you can see that I have changed clothes. About halfway through the day I was totally exhausted, and decided to beat the head by taking a nap in our room. During that break, I also made a stop at the hotel gift shop and bought a cute little nap time sweatshirt!

Before calling it a night, we made a quick stop at the Mexico pavilion, and were totally blown away by the incredibly Coco inspired Dia de los Muertos decor. This is my absolute favorite pavilion, and always spend a substantial amount of my time in Epcot exploring this slice of fun! What is your favorite EPCOT pavilion? 

Tune in tomorrow for more fun adventures!

Sparkle on!