2020 might seem like a strange time to visit Disney World. We were certainly hesitant, to tell you the truth, but we had planned this trip over a year ago. I did a lot of research, we took a lot of precautions to be as safe as possible, and we decided to go for it! So without further ado, here is a big photo / memory dump from our pandemic vacation to the Most Magical Place on Earth...
We drove down to Disney World on a Monday. We left around 7 a.m. and arrived at our resort around 2:30 in the afternoon. Since we got there earlier than expected, we decided to add another park day to our ticket and take the girls to Epcot. After we unloaded the car and freshened up a little bit, we walked over to catch a sky bucket...
Our resort had a sky bucket station within walking distance, which made it really easy to get around. This was our first time to ever use this mode of Disney transportation, and even though I tend to be scared of heights, I loved it. So did everyone else. The views were really beautiful, and it got us over to Epcot in no time.
When we got to Epcot, we entered through the International Gateway, rather that the main entrance. The International Gateway spits you right out into the World Showcase section of Epcot. (This may not mean anything to you, but the main entrance is where Spaceship Earth - the giant, geodesic sphere - is located, and the World Showcase is where you can "visit" countries from around the world.) By this time, the kids (and grownups) were hangry. We happened to be right near the France pavilion, so we grabbed a quick dinner at the French Bakery there - Les Halles. Even though the ham and cheese baguettes and French pastries hit the spot, I was not super impressed with the atmosphere of Les Halles. It felt like a cafeteria and didn't quite transport me to a cute Parisian boulangerie. I would have preferred to eat somewhere else, but sometimes when dealing with hungry kids, you have to be flexible and make adjustments.
After dinner, we decided to explore World Showcase...
In "Germany", we looked at the model trains...
The Epcot Food and Wine Festival happened to be going on while we were there. In addition to the usual restaurants and kiosks around World Showcase, there were special food booths with drinks and dishes from various countries around the world. We wished we had about a hundred stomachs! Since we had just eaten dinner, we decided to come back to World Showcase later in the evening for dessert.
In Norway, the Frozen Ever After ride had a long wait, so we decided to come back to it later. Instead we went next door to Mexico to ride the Gran Fiesta Tour boat ride. If you look closely, you can see the stickers on the ground. Disney World had these stickers in every queue in every park to enforce social distancing in lines. My kids made a game out of staying on their stickers and pretending the rest of the ground was lava.
After we rode Gran Fiesta Tour in Mexico, we headed towards the front of Epcot. We rode Soarin' (a first for all of us) and then The Seas with Nemo and Friends. My kids love this ride, as it takes you through an aquarium of real live marine creatures. We rode it the last time we were in Epcot, and my girls specifically requested it.
By this time, it was getting late, and we were getting close to bedtime. As much as I wanted to ride Spaceship Earth (my favorite attraction at Epcot), we had promised the girls dessert and wanted to try to ride Frozen Ever After (for Esme and Alice, who love all things Frozen). We booked it back to Norway and hopped in line for Frozen. We waited maybe 30 minutes (which is pretty short for this ride), and it was definitely worth the wait. Esme's eyes were as big as saucers when she saw Anna, Elsa, and Olaf. She talked about it the whole trip, and she still talks about it now that we're home.
After Frozen, we started making our way through World Showcase, back to the sky buckets. Morgan stopped in Germany to get beer and a pretzel. For our dessert, the girls and I got Kakigori in Japan. I wish I had gotten more pictures of the rest of our time in Epcot, but it was dark by this time, and we were all pretty tired from our day of travel and marathon Epcot adventure. A few hours is not nearly enough time to do everything there is to do in this park, but we sure did try!
Arrival Day and Epcot
Resort: Pop Century
New Experiences: Staying at Pop Century Resort, riding the sky buckets, dining at Les Halle Boulangerie et Patisserie, riding Soarin' Around the World, riding Living with the Land (only Morgan and Esme rode this while I was taking my turn on Soarin' with the older girls).
Things we had to skip: Spaceship Earth, plus a LOT of yummy festival food that we were too full to consume.
Things we wish we'd skipped: As I mentioned above, I did not love the atmosphere at Les Halle, even though the food was good. I think the fact that there was no outdoor dining was a big drawback... a Parisian restaurant needs outdoor dining! And, even though Soarin' was a super fun ride, it made me motion-sick. :(
Morgan also thought Living with the Land was boring.
Favorite Treats: Kakigori in World Showcase's Japan pavilion
Favorite Attraction: Since we did not get to ride my favorite Epcot attraction (Spaceship Earth), I think the winner has to be Frozen Ever After. The kids loved it, and even the grownups had to admit that it is a pretty fun ride.
Memorable Moment: Our view from the sky buckets gave us our first sighting of the Epcot "ball", and we could also see the Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios. The girls were very excited to spot these landmarks.
Also, getting to see Esme's reaction to Frozen Ever After was priceless. Since this was her first visit to Disney world, everything was a "first" for her.
We had such a fun evening in Epcot, but we knew we needed to get a good night's sleep because the following day, we were headed to Magic Kingdom...
