Trip Report Finally Back in Our Happy Place. A Three Week Trip With a Cruise Included

We’ve been back for just over a week from what was a wonderful three weeks. There were a few hiccups, but for the most part Disney World was just as we remembered it.

This trip was me and my two youngest daughters, Alice (18) and Lexi (15)

We stayed at Pop Century from July 7th-20th, then sailed on the Disney Magic from July 20th-25th, then French Quarter for the last three nights, July 25th-28th. For the Pop Century part of the trip we had the UK 14 day park tickets which included the waterparks.

 

[littleroo]

Best lion picture that I have seen to date

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Best lion picture that I have seen to date

We were very lucky, probably the best view of the lions I’ve ever had

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 13th July (cont)

We couldn’t leave Rafiki’s Planet Watch without petting some animals

Alice has always liked the goats here

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 13th July (cont)

We didn’t spend very long in Affection Section, it was far too hot and the animals were very sensibly staying in the shade. After we rode the train back we had some time to kill before our lunch reservation so wandered the trails around the Tree of Life

I love the animal sculptures, some are so obvious and then you get a wow moment when you spot a more hidden one

Is that the backside of water

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 13th July (cont)

I don’t think I’ve seen him before

The girls were enjoying themselves taking photos. It was lovely seeing Lexi doing this, she’s normally a ‘look at something for a second and rush to the next thing’ person while Alice and I like to linger

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 13th July (cont)

We took a lot of tree photos

 

[cgersic]

Loving the Tree of Life photos!! I see something new every time I walk the trail, and again when I see someone's photos. And little Alice with the goat is adorable!

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 13th July (cont)

The last few Tree of Life photos

We only wandered around the trail in front of the tree, we did attempt to walk the trail behind the tree but it was blocked off presumably due to the refurbishment of the theatre inside.

A view across the river, because I could just see a tiny waterfall

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 13th July (cont)

Our lunch reservation was at my favourite ‘inside a park’ restaurant

I love the theming in there

I ordered some of the yummy Chakalaka wine. It was offered in 5oz or 8oz, I’m used to ordering wine in ml in the UK so I got mixed up here thinking 5oz would be a half glass, so I ordered 8oz and got more wine than I expected. Would be rude not to drink it all though

We decided to skip appetizers because we didn’t want to be too full for our main course. If they’d had the octopus that they used to have I wouldn’t have been able to resist.

Alice went with the Shrimp and Grits which she loved

Our fantastic server, Andy, coordinated with the chef about my allergy. The chef recommended that I didn’t have any fried food because of cross contamination issues, the fryer was being used for legumes. That was fine because the dish I wanted wasn’t fried.

I split the Surf and Turf with Lexi

This was just amazing. I so regretted sharing it, I wish I’d had it all to myself. There were three large scallops which were probably the best I’ve ever eaten. A lovely sear on them and just melt in the mouth on the inside, none of that chewiness that you can sometimes get. And the spice on the beef was just enough, not overpowering, and perfectly cooked.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Sunday 13th July (cont)

The last few Tree of Life photos

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I'm in love with the Walrus photo! I've never seen that one before. I have a new mission in October

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 13th July (cont)

Since Lexi and I had shared our main course, we had room for dessert. Alice very rarely turns down dessert, especially if it’s chocolate

No surprise, Alice went for the Champurrado Chocolate Bar which she said was excellent

Lexi had the White Chocolate-Orange Crème Brûlée. It didn’t look how we expected a crème brûlée to look but she loved it

I didn’t want anything too heavy so decided on the Seasonal Sorbet Trio

Lexi pretending she’s not in the photo

The sorbets were delicious, very light and refreshing, just what I wanted. The standout was the middle one, Guava-Passion Fruit-Tomato, which sounds a bit weird but was basically POG sorbet

We all thoroughly enjoyed our meal at Tiffins, everything about it was excellent.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 13th July (cont)

We lingered a bit on the way out, taking in all the details of this beautiful restaurant

Alice is very arty so she loved all the sketchbooks

 

[cgersic]

I'm in love with the Walrus photo! I've never seen that one before. I have a new mission in October

Do you happen to be there the last week of October?

 

[Zipadeelady]

Do you happen to be there the last week of October?

2nd to last. The week of the 20th.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 13th July (cont)

Because we’d lingered over lunch, we were running about 20 minutes late for our Na’vi LL. I didn’t know how forgiving the system was and was pleasantly surprised when there was no issue

I know some people find this ride underwhelming, but I really enjoy it. I find it very calm and relaxing

 

[Tiggertoo56]

Sunday 13th July (cont)

Because we’d lingered over lunch, we were running about 20 minutes late for our Na’vi LL. I didn’t know how forgiving the system was and was pleasantly surprised when there was no issue

I know some people find this ride underwhelming, but I really enjoy it. I find it very calm and relaxing

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I love this ride! Relaxing and just so lovely to sit and look around and listen

 

[belledream]

Ooh I just love Tiffins… everything looked so delicious! And it is such a cool restaurant to look around in.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 13th July (cont)

I hadn’t been able to get a LL for Flight of Passage at short notice, and as much as we love the ride none of us wanted to queue for a ridiculously long time for it. So we headed out of AK for some quiet time before going to Epcot.

Rather than go all the way back to our resort for a nap we decided to go over to Animal Kingdom Lodge, the girls wanted to explore and I wanted to just chill in a comfy chair with the some ac.

This was the only time the whole trip that we had a problem with buses. As we approached the AK bus stop, we could see that the entire queue section was full and the line was starting to extend down the middle of the bus stop area. It was more like a park close queue than a mid-afternoon one. The first bus came, not a chance we would make it on that one. We just about got on the second bus and there were still quite a lot of people left behind.

We spent about an hour relaxing at AKL. I love this resort, we’ve stayed here and over at Kidani Village a few times, it’s so beautifully decorated and feels very calm.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 13th July (cont)

As much as I liked the convenience of getting the skyliner to Epcot it’s not quite the same as going through the main entrance, so we liked arriving by bus from AKL.

Disney bunny, so cute

Into the park

Our first Epcot LL

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

My view today

In Southampton on the Disney Fantasy which is sailing out to Norway for seven nights. So there will be a little break in this trip report as I’ll have limited internet