It had only been about two and a half months since our last trip to Disney World, and normally we'd be brainstorming when to go back, but instead, we were leaving our car at the airport long-term parking and boarding a plane at 5am again to go back to Disney World. (We got the exit row with extra leg room, ahh, nice!)
Why so soon? Well, there's a new festival at Epcot (this was only its third year) called the Epcot Festival of the Arts that we've been wanting to check out in person since it started, and now that we're Annual Passholders, we thought well...why not a shorter little mini trip? So here we were!
Every time we visit Disney World, we get new magic bands, and I paint them to theme, of whatever character we choose. Needless to say this is like...the third or fourth time I've put Spidey on Tom's band, but it's the first time I've put Figment on mine.
I was an idiot and forgot to get Disney our flight info so that we could use Magical Express for our luggage, so we had to pick it up at the Orlando airport ourselves. Then the Magical Express line was long for the first time of any trip, and the line for a Magic Kingdom bus was long too, so it took us longer than expected to get to the Magic Kingdom.
As soon as we walked in the park though, Tom said "hey!" to me, and made a beeline for....
ROBIN HOOD.
One of his biggest and most desired bucket list experiences at Disney World was to meet Robin Hood. If you recall, the only time I've ever convinced Tom to costume with me was when we went as Robin and Marian to the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party a few years back. Click here and here to see.
We had to wait in line in the shade-less sun for an hour to meet him, but eh, small price.
I asked to take a selfie with Robin and Little John, resulting in my favorite picture of our whole vacation (and trust me, there was stiff competition)
The photopass photographer got a photo of us arranging ourselves for the selfie. LOL
Robin was extraordinarily debonair, especially when I told him foxes are my favorite animals.
Poor Little John was second best, but we were happy meet him too.
Yup, these are a bunch of photos from meeting them, but this is truly a bucket list thing for Tom, so I wanted to share all the ones I loved.
A back to back buddy shot of Tom and Robin.
And then I asked to take a "four friends looking down Main Street at the castle" shot, which I love too.
Robin was an absolutely excellent hugger too. Awww.
You might have noticed above that Tom and I were both fully dressed in Merida clothes, and this time when we first got to the park was normally and traditionally when we would go right over and meet Merida (on our December trip we had our best meeting yet with Merida). Well, spoiler alert: we didn't end up getting to meet Merida at all this day. But do we regret it? Heck no. We met another archer instead, and one that Tom has always wanted to meet.
We went over to the purple wall to meet my dear friend Meg and her husband Stephen. We apologized for running late because of meeting Robin, but what were we supposed to do?
I asked if we could take the signature "fake laugh" Instagram photo on the purple wall, but we started really laughing.
Walking around with them, we had all sorts of ideas for what to do, but the lines for *everything* were just jaw-droppingly long. This moment was when I realized we had scheduled our four day mini trip for President's Day weekend without my realizing it. (facepalm)
Winter in Ohio still seems like it will never end, so I was delighted to see an abundance of flowers back by the Rapunzel rest area. Ahhhh
After walking around to a few rides, trying to find something to ride together, nothing had a realistically short queue. The line to meet Mickey and Minnie though was only about half an hour (and it was really more like twenty minutes) so we met 90th birthday Mickey and Minnie.
I was so charmed by this chest filled with all the hats Mickey and Minnie have worn in their various adventures (you can see the edge of Mickey's red sorcerer's robe too). I especially love that the Mickey and Minnie hats from Brave Little Tailor are prominently seen. (my favorite Mickey classic cartoon)
After we finished meeting Mickey and Minnie, we looked at the wait times on the phone app, and everything was still just crazy. The crowds were so thick. So we apologized, but admitted we should go back to the resort to unpack and rest for a bit.
But first, we found a nice spot for parade viewing near the exit, and watched the parade together.
Including the triumphant (if fireless) return of Maleficent. Tom and I both teared up a little bit when we saw her. The parade just was NOT the same with her gone.
We hugged Meg and Stephen goodbye, and headed back to Pop Century to check out our room. The room was one of the newly remodeled rooms. Tom and I had seen the rooms online and we weren't fans of how sterile and IKEA they looked, but I had a sneaking suspicion that they were extremely smart and practical to stay in. I was right. The wood floor was wonderful, as you didn't feel gross walking around in sock feet. There were lights *everywhere,* tons and tons of counter space, and Tom counted about 30 plugs in the room for charging things. Our only downgrade we would argue is the shower, which has two shower heads but is not as strong anymore. Otherwise, the decor isn't as fun or themed, but it's awfully practical.
Pop rooms before:
Pop rooms after:
We both ended up unpacking and then laying down for a little bit of a nap before we changed clothes and headed back to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. The crowds were a bit thinner by then.
The castle looked lovely with the almost full moon right next to it.
We had an "anything at the same level" Fast Pass from earlier in the day when Big Thunder Mountain went down, and we used it to ride the Haunted Mansion after dark (the best time to ride)
The newly redone changing portraits at the beginning of the ride looked so darn good in person, and it was delightful to get to ride my favorite ride at Disney at least that one time during this trip.
After that, we had an evening Fast Pass for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We've never had a Fast Pass for this ride after dark, so we'd never seen the beautifully lit dwarf cottage after dark. So pretty!
We had to hang around Fantasyland so that we wouldn't get trapped for Happily Ever After and miss our dinner reservation, so we went to meet Tiana and Rapunzel.
As always, I was so impressed by how every little detail of the park is themed:
When it was just about time for Happily Ever After to start, we found a good spot back near Gaston's fountain where we could see the fireworks from Beast's castle to our right, and fireworks from Cinderella's castle to our left.
Tom had a fun question to ask at dinner: If you worked at Beast's castle, what do you think you would turn into when the castle was enchanted? I thought about this long and hard throughout dinner, and ultimately chose what Tom suggested for me: an ornately carved card catalog in the library. I suggested Tom would be a suit of armor. How about you?
I adore the West Wing, and would be so sad to have to sit anywhere else for our dinner.
I mean, look at the rose!
Dinner was lovely as always, and the desserts delicious. My favorite one by far is the raspberry macaron.
I forgot to mention we were actually seated at an ample four person table! We are always seated at a tiny two person table when we eat here, so this was so refreshing. And it meant we could admire how lovely the chairs are.
It also meant better lighting to see our menus. And pretty lighting too.
I do love Be Our Guest so much. I can't help it. I mean, Beauty and the Beast IS my favorite movie ever.
I went up to the rose to see the hidden Mickey in the torn drapes again. I am so delighted to know where this is now.
I mean, just LOOK at the West Wing!
I got to meet the gorgeous blue-eyed Beast again too. I love him so!
Beast hugs is the bestest hugs.
And then we said goodnight to the Magic Kingdom, admiring the twinkling lights and beauty of the loveliest park at Disney World.
Little did I know that I would be experiencing my own dream come true the next day of our trip, our first day at Epcot. Stay tuned to see what I mean...
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