Happy Holidays in WDW, 2-year-old-style! Day 10: Anna Maria Island & Epcot Date Night

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December 28, 2018
[-- Trip Index --]

Today was our planned "rest" day! I figured it was good to have a non-park day to have a break from the crowds, and in my original planning, we also needed this non-park day to make sure our tickets were still valid on the 15th day (we had 14-day Ultimate Tickets, which you can use on the 15th day so long as you have a non-park day in between). Of course, that didn't actually matter anymore, as we ended up skipping our first park day entirely due to Myla being sick.

Soo, our choices for today were: 1) do a park after all; 2) stick to the original plan of a Whispering Canyon reservation for breakfast and resort hopping to see the Christmas decorations, or 3) do something else entirely!

After chatting about it to my mom the day before, we decided a park day was out of the question - she was very tired and just needed a break. The resort hopping she liked the idea of...but still also seemed a bit tiring, and we had already seen Wilderness Lodge Christmas decorations on Boxing Day. My mom then asked if maybe we could go for a drive, allowing her to see a bit more of Florida than just Disney. The weather was looking decent for this day, sunshine and around 23 degrees, so Michael and I suggested driving out to Anna Maria Island. We'd visited here on our honeymoon, had loved it, and thought it would be lovely to show my mom and a really nice beach day for Myla. My mom loved the idea of it too, so that was a plan made! I was slightly sad to cancel the Whispering Canyon reservation - really wanted to try eating there and still haven't managed haha - but this was a better plan for everyone.

We had breakfast in the apartment in the morning, and made peanut butter sandwiches to have in the car. The temperature in the morning was still a bit chilly, so we weren't rushing to get out the door early - it may still have been too cold to enjoy the beach if we got there too early. We set off around 9:30AM, and my mom took lots of photos from the car, she REALLY enjoyed the drive:



Long drives are never a problem with Myla, she's very good at playing games on the iPad.











We hit the outskirts of Anna Maria Island just after 11, traffic was very light. By then, Myla had fallen asleep haha:


Does anyone else's kid do that, stay awake for the entire drive and fall asleep 5 minutes before you're there?

We parked in the same place we parked 3 years ago, it was very cool to be back! Last time on our honeymoon, I could only have dreamt of ever visiting again with a baby of our own, and I felt so lucky to be back only 3 years later with our toddler!



We woke Myla, gathered our stuff, and headed to the beach. We stopped in the gift shop to buy Myla a spade and shovel set to play with, and rented 2 loungers and a parasol.





The temperature today was pleasant, around 23 degrees with sunshine, but it was pretty windy, making for big waves on the beach, and making it not *hot* - it wasn't really swim weather, but with the strong waves, I didn't mind that all - the water wasn't the safest for Myla to go swimming today!

We were all hungry by now, so I volunteered to go order food at the cafe, while Michael and my mom played with Myla in the sand.




It actually took AGES to get food - it was busy and the line was moving really slowly. It took so long in fact that Michael came up as well to make sure I was OK lol! I queued for about 45 minutes, so by the time I got back to the sun loungers, we were definitely all starving! The food tasted great though, no complaints there.

After lunch, Myla wanted to get her feet wet so my mom and I played with her in the surf a little bit.










This was great fun - I mean, we live less than 10 minutes from the beach at home, so we go to the beach ALL the time in the summer, but it never gets old for Myla haha!

The wind started to get stronger through the afternoon, and by 3PM, we were starting to get a little cold, and decided to go change and clean up. I'd googled for other fun places to see in the area, and we all decided it sounded fun to drive over the island and get coffees and snacks at Ginny and Jane E's Bakery.




It was a cute drive, and after we parked, we headed in.





What a cute and usual place! Part antique shop, part bookshop, and also a bakery and cafe at the same time! We got coffees and muffins, which were yum:




Myla asked for an icecream, which it turned out they didn't actually have in there! So I took her across the street to a little supermarket for an icecream, and the lady at the till said she was so cute, she gave her a free lollypop too haha. So that was Myla happy.

After the coffees, we got back in the car, and started making our way back to Orlando. It was at this point my mom suggested maybe Michael and I weren't that tired yet and would like to have a date night that evening? Which of course we thought was a great idea, and since we had an extra park day to use, we immediately said, "Epcot! " With that prospect, we drove the 2 hours back, again enjoying the drive again.







We got back to the apartment around 6:30PM, got Myla bathed and put to bed after some food, and showered and changed ourselves. By 8:30PM, we had parked in Epcot, and hopped on the tram:

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So quick and easy without a stroller or even any bags haha! Love this park at night! We were really just coming in to enjoy each other's company and watch Illuminations, no rides or anything. We browsed in Mousegear for a while too, Michael noting I matched the merchandise haha:


Some more Photopass pictures:



We made our way to World Showcase, and were like, left or right? Where will we head to find a spot for the fireworks? We then decided we wanted to get a snack too, so turning left was an easy choice - Mexico has nachos!

I love the tile work at the Mexico QS:


Nachos in hand, we walked on a bit further and found a spot just past Norway, at one of the little fences at the very front. We sat down on the ground and enjoyed our nachos, people-watching and just reflecting on how awesome this holiday was so far, and how happy we were to see Myla doing okay again, enjoying every day and finally not coughing any more!




Everyone in our area stayed seated even when Illuminations began - such a relaxing way to watch it! I managed to video the whole thing, start to end, and I still watch it back regularly. We were back at the apartment for around 11PM, it had been such a nice day and a really romantic relaxing evening!

[Palm trees]

What a fantastic, full day, and what a treat to get a date night too.

[Rob & Jan]

What a lovely day.

[ae111sr]

A great day! We love Anna Maria Island, love Ginny's & Jane E's and EPCOT is our favourite Disney Park.