Day 2 of our trip to Walt Disney World for 2016 Flower and Garden Festival! Check out Day 1 if you missed it!
On Friday morning, we woke up bright and early to get to Epcot before the park opened. Even though it wasn’t technically open yet, we headed straight back to World Showcase to spend some time walking around the parts that weren’t roped off yet, taking pictures without people in them, and getting a closer look at the topiaries without the crowds.
Once World Showcase officially opened, we started with our mission for the day – eat or drink something from every single food stand that was open for the festival. It was a tough goal, but we were confident in our eating abilities. The festival food and beverage offerings this year are BOMB. We especially loved the bbq offered at The American Adventure, The La Vie en Rose in France, and the coconut rum spiked Dole Whip at Pineapple Promenade.
The day was unnaturally hot for spring, so we ducked into The American Adventure for some air conditioning and national pride. We did some more around-the-World Showcase exploring, and then decided on a mid-afternoon nap to escape the heat. Napping is one of our top Disney tips. We love getting to the parks early and staying late, which is typically impossible unless you catch a nap in the middle of the day.
We headed back to Epcot around 5 pm, and did what we always do during golden hour (aka sunset) at Disney World – ran around trying to get as many pictures as humanly possible. The light is so pretty during those hours, that it makes for the best photos. (You’re welcome, blogging world.) We also got to meet Baymax, which was probably our favorite character interaction of the trip. Hugging him is like hugging an incredibly cute air mattress. We decided to eat dinner at The Land, which is always a winner. They recently added fish tacos to the menu, which is one of my favorite food items of all time, and I was curious to see if they would be any good. Well, online world, they are amazing, and a great value for the money. We left dinner, and started getting set up for nighttime photos. (Have you realized that we took a lot of photos on the trip?!)
It was time for Illuminations, so we set our tripod up behind some topiaries to watch and photograph it. I love Illuminations – not as much as I love Wishes, however. To me, Wishes is a flawless show from start to finish, and Illuminations is great, but I think it lags in the middle. I actually stop watching it during the globe scene, because I find it really boring. It has a great ending though, and a great message that leaves you wanting to go unite and make the world a better place.
After Illuminations, my favorite part of the evening began. People often ask how we get empty park pictures – well, after fireworks there’s usually a massive park exodus, and this trip was no exception. David and I channeled our inner salmon, and embarked in the opposite direction of the crowds to the back of the park. We went all the way around World Showcase and enjoyed the evening calm and the empty pavilions. After strolling to our hearts content and taking photos of almost every pavilion, we headed back to our hotel and into a deep, deep slumber.
