SWW + How to Drink Around the World TR..with a Dash of PTR!

Well, I am very excited to bring my first Trip Report to life in COMBO fashion. Just think of it as a LOT of bang for your buck, and not that I am lazy and never got around to it.

In this report you will see a day trip to Epcot report, as well as my first foray to SWW AND my boyfriend and I's experience doing DIVEQUEST!!!

Now a little background, there is ME (Mel, 27) and the BF (Mark, 25)...we both live in Sarasota, FL so we often take 3 days weekends to get our Disney fixes. It makes me very jealous of everyone out there that takes 5, 7 and 10 day trips! We can't justify it because we are so close, but...to each his own! Because our trips are so small, my reports...I imagine will be short and sweet.

The other great part? BF just bought a BALLER camera and LOVES practicing taking pictures, so I think we've got some great shots of not just us...but all around WDW, so far at least.

Up first, a guide to drinking around the World Showcase at Epcot with work colleagues. Among the things you can expect to learn:

• How to not get sucked into the black hole that is La Cava de Tequila
• Correct way to tour the World
• How to stay PG since you are, after all, in Disney
• AND much more!

 

[melflip8]

An Around the World Birthday Celebration:

There are about 2 of us at my job that are Disney-philes, it was one of our birthdays (not mine) and we decided to take a weekend trip to Epcot to Drink around the World on 3/13...everyone, meet birthday princess Lauren!

Lauren is an Aries, loves longs walks on the beach and La Cava del Tequila margaritas!! Yummo!

We gathered about 12 of us and we’re in for a great time! But first, we had to usher 12 people through the ticket purchasing process...that makes us sad, because it takes FOREVER.

This was my first time organizing something this big, and its REALLY hard to get this many people corralled. My main goal was for all of us to ride Soarin together, so we headed over to...

It was probably around 11:30am by then and our return time was about 7:30pm, I quickly thought to myself that we had about a 10% chance of all of us making it to the ride at that point of the night. Will we make it? Stay tuned, my friends...stay tuned.

 

[melflip8]

Oh, if you are seeing the minty, gorgeous shirts...I know it's obnoxious, but hey, you only live once and for this day, we were THOSE people. And they read...”Birthday Drinks Around the World at EPCOT! Here’s to getting DOWN and DOPEY!” Yea, I’m witty.
Our first stop, and the way I choose to imbibe around the World is MEXICO! As I hinted earlier, you can tend to get quite stuck in Mexico, due to how amazing the margaritas are at La Cava...if you’ve never stopped in do it! Also, there is a deal to get free chips and salsa if you FourSquare or Tweet them, I can’t remember.
I’m super excited that they are adding similar types of appetizer/drink lounges like this and I cant wait to go to the new Wine Room in Italy, and we’ll see how they expand the bakery in France!
Here’s the La Cava aftermath...

And a lovely theming/architecture shot inside Meh-heee-koooo...(yay BF's awesome camera!)

We had to pick up some of these little beauties since Mexico was everyone’s favorite! I LOVE these new Country Specific hats they have now, Germany and Italy are my favorite ones!

The guy above, is Richard...and he is probably one of the most entertaining people I know...he’ll be in lots of these shots, haha.

 

[chrissyw14]

Whats your favorite margarita from La Cava? and I love your signature quote!

 

[melflip8]

Whats your favorite margarita from La Cava? and I love your signature quote!

Blood Orange! What about you?

And thanks! I love me some Llama Face Emperor! Lol

 

[melflip8]

So, after Mexico we moseyed on over to Norway to ride Maelstrom and finish the rest of our margaritas that were quickly melting in the hot, Florida sun.

Photos get a little scarce during this bit...and I apologize. After Maelstrom, we kind of blew through Germany (mostly due to the fact that we all chose to do a shot of Jaeger...which I NEVER knew they sold at WDW) and we posted up in China for a little yummy snack of eggrolls and Kirin or Sapporo, can’t remember which one.

I had 2 goals for the day, one being everyone going on Soarin and the other for us to make it our lunch reservations at Via Napoli! I figured we’d need to carbo load in order to make it all day.

My bestie and I in Italy

We made it to the halfway point! Lunch!

Let me tell you, if you have a large family or a group the value of Via Napoli cannot be beat. I think we shared 2 of their GIANT size pizzas and 2 pitchers of Sangria and our bill was about $15 a person. It was among the cheapest table service meals I've ever had at WDW.

 

[melflip8]

After we hit Italy it was AWFUL hot so I decided to shuffle everyone over to the Rose and Crown in the hopes that we could just relax...ALL in one PLACE and hang out to sing along with the Hat Lady. Mission accomplished as we got an amazing table and pretty much hung there for the afternoon.

We were feeling super cool with our table, some of us...a little TOO cool.

I love the types of people you can meet at the Rose and Crown, it is just SO entertaining to sit back and let whatever happens...happen.

Alright, enough with the drinky drinky pictures, let's get to the BF's good photography!

We saw these little baby ducks over in Canada...I usually either see ducks or baby rabbits. Hey, if I was them, that is where I would be too!

Love the gardens there!

More baby duckies in the gardens!

 

[melflip8]

We made it back into Future World for Soarin and then went over to do Nemo! Mark got some pretty cute dusk pictures I thought!

One more of the group!

Nemo and Friends in the LIGHT...

Nemo and Friends in the NIGHT!

That's about it for this day...next up a (non-drinking) Anniversary trip to Star Wars Weekends and our DiveQuest experience! Hope you guys like it, sorry for all the party pictures! haha

 

[maryszhi]

gosh this brings back some memories of when my friends and i did that for on our 21st birthday trip to the world.

 

[chrissyw14]

Blood Orange! What about you?

And thanks! I love me some Llama Face Emperor! Lol

I haven't had one yet! I'm trying to decide which one I want to get when I go in August!

I lovee Emperor's new groove! and new school!

 

[melflip8]

gosh this brings back some memories of when my friends and i did that for on our 21st birthday trip to the world.

Yep! I think everyone needs to do it at least once...this was probably my fourth. When you live in Florida in your TwentySomethings, it tends to be rather popular.

I haven't had one yet! I'm trying to decide which one I want to get when I go in August!

Oh cool! Yeah, the Blood Orange or the Guacamole I think are the most popular! Any one you get you can't go wrong.

 

[melflip8]

My First Star Wars Weekend!

Well, it was the BF and I’s two year anniversary of dating bliss so I decided to blend TWWOOO things that we love most: Star Wars and Scuba Diving!

I also invited my parents down since my Dad is a HUGE Star Wars fan as well and I thought it would be super cool for them to see us humans in the Epcot fishy tank. Oh, and we and we also brought our dog, Tucker, and my parents dog, Carley, to stay at Best Friends Pet Care! They are both the cutest Golden Retriever’s ever!

Mark and I ended up getting there a couple hour earlier than my parents, who were coming from Jacksonville. So, naturally we headed for FOOD! Has anyone had this Truffle Bacon Mac and Chese HOT DOG?! Holy Moly it’s delicious...see below face of joy.

After that we ran into the Darth MALL to check out some of the Star Wars Memorabilia. They had some pretty cool fan artwork that Mark and I really enjoyed.

Help me Obi Wan!

It’s a TRAP!

Amazing close shot of TOT from behind the Maul Mall (it doesnt get old!)

I was going to grab a Star Wars Vinylmation but the line at Maul’s Mall (ba ha ha) was entirely too long. It was the first day of Star Wars weekend, so we kind of expected it. However, the Villains shop on Sunset Blvd. had some anyway, with ZERO line. It must have been fate because I got my top choice!

MICKEY VADER! Complete with mini lightsaber!!

 

[Allie_Marie]

I love your TR! I can't wait to finish it!!!
Love the matching shirts

 

[melflip8]

I love your TR! I can't wait to finish it!!!
Love the matching shirts

Aww thank you! I'm so happy people are actually reading it! Yipeeee!

 

[melflip8]

We headed back toward Star Tours and saw our best bud Chewieeee and an Ewok. I guess they were checking out what was in Chewie’s satchel. Line was too long to meet him in person, but we gazed from afar.

We turned right around though and saw some Cantina dudes just moseying on around with no line. So, I stopped to hang with him!

After our photo ops we jetted off on our very own Starspeeder! We had to dodge these guys on the way into the ride though.

And we almost got stepped on!

I love this droid, but we never have enough time to stay and listen to him. First world problems, right?

 

[melflip8]

We had expected by the time we finished with Star Tours my parents would be here,but alas they were delayed for a few. It had also started to rain at this point so Mark and I ranover and ducked into One Man’s Dream, mostly because I wanted to see new Fantasyland model.

We said hello to our favorite honest animatronic on the way to the model...

For serious this model was HUGE and made me SO much more excited about the expansion. Mark zoomed in on his favorite part, which he calls HIS fountain, can you spot it?

My parents FINALLY made it over and we met them near the stage for HyperSpace Hoopla. People were lined up to see this show at least an hour and a half early (it was the first day, maybe that is why) and I felt awful for them because they were all soaked in the rain.

As for my thoughts on the Hoopla...I LOVED it, my Dad and BF...well, their comment was, “They just violated Star Wars.” Overall, we all thought it was entertaining, haha, and fun.

Chewy is Sexy and He Knows It!

The Emperor’s Gonna Knock You Out!

After Hoopla we headed over to the California Grill for dinner. Unfortunately, we didnt get any photos but the meal was great. I got the filet there, and I’m sorry to say while it was delicious, Le Cellier is still my favorite. Dad got Soft Shell Crabs, Mom got Halibut and Mark got Steak as well. Oh! I also got their sushi as an appetizer, and that is my FAVORITE thing about Cali Grill!

We shared the banana dessert and the chocolate bread pudding...we liked the banana more!

I LOVE California Grill though for the ambiance and the sushi, and that is what I will probably stick to from now on. Plus, having a glass of wine while watching Wishes.

That wraps up our day at Star Wars Weekend, up next DIVE QUEST!!

 

[melflip8]

Puppies, DiveQuest and Magic Kingdom!

We’ve boarded Tucker, our dog, at Best Friends Pet Care previously and have always had a good experience. It’s not as nice as some of the ones in Sarasota, but we spoil our dog and we really love having him close by when we are in Disney. Plus, he loves car rides.

My parents are even MORE protective of their dog, Carley. So, we had to stop and see the puppies and let them play before we set off to play. You are allowed to visit your dogs at any time while Best Friends Pet Care is open and let them out to play in the dog park. Best Friends is open from an hour before the earliest park opens, to an hour after the last park closes...so very LONG hours and ample time to visit your furry family member!

Here are ours!

This is Tucker

And this is Carley, doing her best Yoda impression

Tucker was having so much fun he was going CRAZY!

After his roll around in the dirt...well, a dog has to shake.

That picture is literally one of my favorite that I have of Tucker ever, haha. My poor Mom’s pants were covered in dirt. But, she was ok with it because she loves her GrandDog!

So, we drove over to Epcot and saw Daisy waiting for us with no line!

After this picture, we walked back toward The Seas with Nemo and Friends to show my parents where they could watch us do our dive. At this point we had about 2 hours until we had to be in the tank. This was also the point that I realized I left our dive certification cards, in the room. DOH!

This is my honey, I messed up face...

If you ever wondered, it takes about 45 minutes if you are run/walking to drive back to an on property hotel (Hilton Bonnet Creek in our case) and back into Epcot. We were hauling bootay though!

We met up with my parents and did Sum of All Thrills before having to meet up with our dive group. I was getting very nervous but super excited for our dive.

 

[fractal]

Love the TR so far! Disney and some booze - who could ask for anything more?

I agree with that droid in ST - very funny! Would love to hear the entire skit.

 

[melflip8]

Love the TR so far! Disney and some booze - who could ask for anything more?

I agree with that droid in ST - very funny! Would love to hear the entire skit.

I know right?! Finishing it up tonight!! Thank you for reading it!

 

[Allie_Marie]

Your dog and your parents dogs are the CUTEST dogs ever!! They're beautiful