Charlie's First WDW Adventure - Sep/Oct 2019 - Day 4: Epcot, Orlando Wheel & Bahama Breeze

[Lisa_Lollipop]

Index can be found here

Wednesday 2nd October

It was an early start this morning with the alarm going off at 6am. I allowed myself two snoozes before getting up, showered and dressed. There was no need to eat at the villa this morning as we were off to Garden Grill in Epcot for breakfast! We left the villa at 7:45am (not bad given we were aiming for 7:30am… our time keeping was definitely getting better as the holiday progressed!)

We arrived at the Epcot parking booths at 8am and asked for standard $25 parking but the very lovely CM gave us preferred parking (normally $45) and only charged us $20! What a lovely bit of Disney magic to start the day! Then as we were driving through to park up we were stopped by a parking assistant who was giving out free bottles of cold water! Carlsberg don’t do entrances into Disney parks, but if they did…

Given how close we were to the front of the park we were soon through bag check and making our way into the park.≈ This is the first time we have ever done a park breakfast at WDW so I was most excited to be directed through this entrance!

On making it up to the card/magic band readers Charlie insisted on tapping in with his wrist… he clearly had seen us doing this with our magic bands and wanted to be in on the action! His very own magic wrist!

It was such a beautiful, bright morning. Spaceship Earth was looking absolutely glorious in the sunshine and I was loving my matching ears (made by the lovely Jen at Characterful Crafts).

Being so early in the day it was so lovely and quiet, very different from the normal hordes of people you have to battle through when making it into a park!

Our reservation for Garden Grill was at 8:35am so we made our way directly over to The Land to get ourselves checked in.

We headed up to the check-in desk and were handed a pager and directed to the seating area to wait to be called through. Our bums barely touched the seats before a CM came out and called us through. We followed her into the restaurant and were sat at a table in the inner circle (I’m not sure how to describe it, but the level of tables closest to the middle!). Shortly after sitting down our lovely waiter came over to take our drinks order and then came back with a very large bowl of fruit and the amazing sticky bun cake!

Now I was very excited about this sticky bun cake having seen many photos in TRs and Helen always raving about it! And it totally lived up to the hype, absolutely delicious! This was basically mine and Charlies ideal breakfast right there… fruit for him and sugar for me!

We started tucking in but it wasn’t long before we were joined by Dale! I was a little nervous of how Charlie would be with the characters so early in the morning. He had been a little apprehensive when meeting Goofy and Donald in MK back on day 1… but I had nothing to worry about, he absolutely loved it! He was smiling away and giving high fives… all whilst still tucking into his fruit, not much gets in between that boy and his food! I also had his autograph book at the ready so we could get Dale to sign (and I remembered to take the lid of the pen before handing it over this time!). It all felt very relaxed and not rushed at all. It was such a wonderful start to the meal!

On waving Dale goodbye we were soon delivered our next round of food. I really love the family dining style at Garden Grill as opposed to a buffet. It was so nice just being able to sit and have your food brought to you, it totally takes away from the stress of having to time your trip up to the buffet counter just right to avoid missing any characters! There was so much food too! It was a wonderful selection of scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, tater tots and Mickey waffles. We were all in agreement that is was delicious! Charlie was particularly keen on the sausages and I of course headed straight in for a Mickey waffle!

Next to stop by our table was the big man himself, Mickey Mouse! Charlie was particularly excited by this as Mickey is a character he knows very well so there was lots of shouting out his name as he approached the table! Whilst Mickey was with us I popped Charlie out of high chair so we could get a photo with him and also asked him to sign Charlie’s book too.

After Mickey headed off we didn’t have to wait long before we were joined by Chip. I was impressed with how frequent the characters came round… there was enough time in between to eat some food but they were regular enough that we didn’t feel like we were left waiting too long.

Last but definitely not least we were visited by Pluto. This was another exciting one for Charlie as he loves Pluto! There was lots of high fiving and peek-a-boo playing that Charlie loved!

By now we had seen all the four characters that are on offer at Garden Grill so we happily continued to dig into our food… to then find they were doing the rounds once more and we would get to see them twice! I wasn’t expecting this at all, it was a lovely surprise as second time round we felt we could interact with them more as we were less preoccupied with eating at the same time!

Paul saw Dale on the approach so started writing a hello message on Charlie’s magnetic drawing board. He spotted it as he walked and was nosily peering over his shoulder, such a lovely moment!

We made the effort to get up from the table and get more photos on this second round of visits, although it was very hard to get Charlie to pose as he was much more interested in seeing what Dale was up to! He did give him some lovely cuddles though and I also managed to snag a selfie!

Before leaving cheeky Dale grabbed hold of Charlie’s drawing board and left him a little note saying ‘love ‘n’ nuts Dale’… it was such a wonderful interaction which we all really enjoyed it. This is the first time we had met Chips and Dale and I loved how cheeky they are!

Once Dale had left we soon saw Mickey approaching again. Charlie was thrilled and as he got closer he ran over and gave him the biggest cuddle. It was one of those moments in life that you wish you could just rewind and live over and over again. I thought my heart was going to explode! Feeling very teary, it hit home in that moment just how lucky we were to be there experiencing such magic with our little boy. These are memories that will last a lifetime, so so precious.

The rest of us also posed for a few photos with the main mouse!

Chip made another stop by too so we took the opportunity to get a few more photos.

At this point it was 9:30am so we decided rather than waiting for Pluto to come back around we would head on out (we couldn’t see him close by and were keen to get on out to the parks to make the most of being in early). We settled up the bill and the lovely CM gave Charlie a sticker which he was most impressed with.

It was an all-round fantastic breakfast. Not the cheapest eat by any means but absolutely worth every penny for the fantastic character interactions and the delicious food. I think this will become a must-do on any future trips! And it also meant another thing ticked off my to-do list… character breakfast at Disney done!

After a quick stop at the restrooms we then made our way back downstairs to find Soarin’ was only a 10 minute standby wait. As Charlie is too small to ride this one we stopped by the CM near the entrance and had rider swap put onto John and Paul’s magic bands as Joan and I were going to ride first. It was a great experience as always, this was the first time Joan had ever ridden (someone how we missed it on our trip with them back in 2014). It was so wonderful to see her reaction, she absolutely loved it and the smile on her face throughout was truly so wonderful to see.

We were on and off pretty quickly and on leaving we found Paul, John and Charlie in the seating area at the exit of the ride. Joan and I stayed in this area with Charlie whilst they went on to ride. Whilst we were waiting I got out Charlie’s magnetic pad for him to play with and not long after a little girl of a similar age came over to have a look and ended up playing with us for a while. She was super cute and Charlie was a little star happily sharing it with her.

It wasn’t too long before Paul and John returned and from there we made the short walk across to ride Living with the Land. This was a first for all of us, can you believe it?! I am amazed we have never ridden this in our past 3 trips, and as such this also made it onto my must-do list for this trip!

It was a nice short wait and within 10 minutes or so we were boarded onto a boat. Such a lovely little ride and Charlie enjoyed pointing out all the things he could see… particularly the fish of course! I also really liked how they sign posted ingredients that were included in offerings at the food and wine festival.

Hurray for having another thing ticked off my list!

By now it was 11am and we had a FP for Spaceship Earth booked but as we had ridden it just the other evening we decided to head over to Figment instead (one of Paul’s favourites… don’t tell Chris Rach!). On leaving The Land it was gloriously sunny but also very hot by this point!

On arriving at Figment it was posting a 10 minute standby time so we headed on in, although it was actually much shorter than that and we were loaded on in less than 5!

On leaving the ride we had a little wander around Image Works. I also didn’t realise this is where Wreck-It-Ralph and Vanellope meet and we timed it just right to see Vanellope arriving!

Whilst there I also spotted a pressed penny machine so made a stop to pick up an Epcot one.

On making our way back outside we made a restroom stop to change Charlie nappy and then decided we were all in need of a drink so made our way over to The Electric Umbrella. I didn’t make a note of what we got here but I can make a guess that it would have been water for everyone other than Paul who would have had a Coke! We also picked up a milk for Charlie as he was starting to get tired by this point so the hope was he would have that and then settle down in the pushchair for a little nap.

After a brief stop we decided to carry on making our way around the park. Charlie was so super tired at this point but was refusing to get into his pushchair for a nap. In fact he was refusing to do anything! He didn’t want to walk, didn’t want to be carried… just didn’t want to do anything! This photo sums up his mood perfectly…

We eventually managed to encourage him to move and made it as far as Mission Space. It was only a 10 minute standby wait for the orange version so the rest went on to ride whilst I waited with Charlie in the hope I would be able to get him to have a nap.

Despite my best efforts he was having none of it, and for want of a better word was being an absolutely little git! He had gotten over-tired by this point and there was just nothing I could do to settle him. It was so hot which I don’t think was helping at all so I ended up going to sit with him in the shade whilst we waited for the others.

Before long Paul, Joan and John returned and were surprised to find a grumpy Charlie still awake! We carried on moving and on making it out of the front of Test Track we found the single rider queue to only be 5 minutes. Paul was really keen to ride so suggested quickly going on now whilst the wait time was so short. I was desperately still wanting to get Charlie to go to sleep so went off for a wander with Charlie… not realising that Joan hadn’t gone on with them and was waiting outside on Test Track on her own! At this point I was feeling somewhat frazzled from Charlie being so unsettled and was not in the best of moods. That heat certainly does affect your patience! Looking back now I wish I had been a bit calmer and handled it all a bit better, but what can I say I am only human!

On a more positive note, Paul and John had a great time on Test Track! John’s photo came through to my MDE account but sadly I don’t have Paul’s!

On all being reunited it was time to admit defeat on trying to get Charlie to sleep, it clearly wasn’t happening! By now it was 1:20pm and our FP for Frozen Ever After had opened up so we made our way over to World Showcase to ride. In reality it was a good thing Charlie hadn’t fallen asleep as otherwise he would have missed riding and this was the only FP we had for this trip… so a silver lining there!

This was another new one for all of us and we all loved it… although Charlie’s face might say otherwise!

On leaving the ride we had a wander around the Norway shop where Charlie was most interested in the huge troll! I also spotted the pressed penny machine so stopped for one of those. Another thing on my must-do list was to get a pressed penny from every pavilion in the world showcase and this was the first one done!

On making it back outside Joan took the time to FaceTime Paul’s sister Tam back home and we all said hello to her and our nephew Reece and niece Izzy. My hello was rather brief as I was running around after Charlie who seemed to have caught a second wind and was now full of beans!

After saying goodbye to Tam we all decided we were rather hungry, that breakfast now felt like a very long time ago! So the decision was made to head back over to The Land to grab some food in Sunshine Seasons. We have been here to eat before and like that it offers up various cuisines in a food court style set up. On arriving over there I picked up a chicken wrap and some fruit for Charlie whilst Paul and I both went for the Mongolian beef. Joan and John shared a turkey sandwich which was huge!

With bellies full I made a quick stop in the restrooms to change Charlie’s nappy and from there we decided to head on out of the park. By now it was 3:20pm, it had been an early start and a very busy morning and we were all starting to flag a little!

On making it to the exit we spotted a photographer so made a quick stop to get some group snaps of us all. He successfully managed to get Charlie to look at the camera so this was definitely a win!

On making it back to the car and driving out of≈the car park Charlie was asleep in minutes! Finally the little monkey gave in to the exhaustion!

We arrived back to the villa at just after 4pm and on getting Charlie out of the car I took him upstairs and down in his cot without him waking up. He was absolutely sparked out! (I don't think he is going to fit in a travel cot for much longer!)

Whilst Charlie was sleeping I made the most of the free time and stuck on a load of washing… this totally goes against my normal holiday behavior but with a small child in tow this trip it really was necessary (he goes through a lot of clothes!). Rach will be most proud of me (she loves doing a load of washing on holiday!).≈FJust after 5pm I attempted to wake Charlie as ordinarily we would never let him nap this late. He stirred a little so I took him downstairs and sat on the sofa… where he swiftly fell back to sleep!

All the craziness of the last few days had clearly caught up with him so I decided to let him sleep and ended up transferring him over to Paul who was also enjoying a little snooze! These Orlando holidays truly are tiring work!

With the boys both sleeping soundly I took the opportunity to have a shower and get myself ready for the evening and then at 6:40pm woke them both up now as we needed to head out shortly so time to get tough and not take no for an answer! After allowing Charlie a little time to come round I then gave him a bath and got him dressed whilst Paul got himself ready.

By 7:20pm we were all ready to go, back out to the car we went as we were heading over to Icon Park with the plan to ride the Orlando wheel!

We hadn’t pre-booked tickets so needed to buy those. On checking out the prices we found it would work out cheaper to get our own private capsule for $99.99 (plus it would be much nicer to have a whole one to ourselves). Joan and John very kindly insisted on paying for it too as a treat, so lovely of them!

Once all paid up we headed straight in.

Before boarding you are pulled to the side for photos. We were shown these on leaving at the other end and we were all really pleased with how they come out so we ended up buying two sets so we had one each ($55 for both). They came in a lovely presentation booklet too which has lots of facts and information about the wheel. A lovely keepsake (I’m a sucker for a photo it has to be said!)

With photos done we joined the queue to board. There was a bar available so we picked up some drinks to take on with us (beers for the boys and lemonade for Joan and I).

We waited about 10-15 minutes in the queue before being loaded into our capsule. We were able to take the pushchair on with us which was handy.

The capsules are really spacious, plenty of room for the 5 of us and the pushchair and they have a little bench seat in the middle plus a digital screen with information on what can be seen whilst on board.

It was such a great experience., although I totally didn’t anticipate how high it was going to be and had complete jelly legs the whole way round! I think Paul suffered the worst though and was getting rather anxious any time Charlie got close to the sides!

≈

The views from the top were fantastic and it was great doing it at night time as everything looked so pretty lit up!

It took 23 minutes to do the full rotation. On exiting the capsule we stopped by the photo booth to collect our photos and then had a little look around the gift shop (although didn’t buy anything).

At this point we were all feeling rather hungry so the plan was to now go and get some dinner and there was only one place I wanted to go… Bahama Breeze! I have always heard great things about this place so we tried to visit on our 2016 trip but being a Saturday night there was a crazy wait for a table so it had become a must-do for this trip! Being on International Drive it was only a short drive away and by 9:30pm we were parked up outside (at this point I was grateful for Charlie’s late nap as it was very late for him to be eating but he was in great spirits!)

On arriving we were told we could be seated immediately if we were happy to sit outside. As it was late and now much cooler we were all happy with this option so were led to a table right next to where the steel drum performer was playing. It was such a great vibe, the music was fantastic and had us all really feeling in a chilled out holiday mood!

We got Charlie settled down in a highchair and the waiter brought him over some colouring which he loved. I had also bought the standard bag of tricks with us to help keep him entertained which of course included his beloved case of Seaworld animals!

The very friendly waiter was soon back with us to take orders. I had a rather lovely virgin pina colada to drink and Joan went for a similar offering that came in a very flamboyant pineapple cup!

Charlie was being an absolute superstar and happily sitting at the table with his various toys. We had ordered him a cup of milk with his kids meal which came in a little cup with a straw which he loved. It was at this point it really hit home that clearly the heat was what was causing the issue in the daytime and making him unsettled as when inside or in the evenings when it was cooler he was like a different child, he really was being an angel now!

Soon after our food arrived. John and I had the tequila glazed salmon, Joan also had a salmon dish, Paul went for a seafood risotto and Charlie had the tomato pasta off the kid’s menu. The food totally lived up to the hype, it was absolutely delicious! The portions were absolutely huge though and I could only manage half of mine… John stepped up though and finished it off! Charlie ate every mouthful of his pasta, Bahama Breeze clearly gets a thumbs up from him too!

After those giant meals none of us could face dessert (although Paul did debate it!) so we asked for the bill which came pretty quickly.

We settled up the bill and made our way out, stopping to thank the guy performing and leaving him a tip in his little bucket.

By now it was 10:50pm so pretty late but it had been a fantastic meal and a lovely dining experience with Charlie being an absolute superstar given how late it was and how long we were sat at the table. I was also very happy to finally have ticked Bahama Breeze off my list!

We arrived back at the villa at 11:20pm and I put Charlie straight to bed which was a quick and easy task as he was super tired by this point. I have no notes as to what time the rest of us hit the hay but I can’t imagine it had been much later. It had been another very busy day full of fun character meets and yummy food!

Join me for the next instalment where we visit Animal Kingdom to experience Pandora for the very first time and then head to Disney Springs in the evening for dinner at T-Rex.

Day 5 can be found here

[sheluk]

Wooooo first to comment (I’m starting to cringe now when I write that but as least I didn’t use a hashtag this time...)

Absolutely thrilled you loved GG. It’s one of our favourites for sure. Your interaction sounds fun I was a bit devo’d for you that you didn’t get a booth but sounds like it worked out well. So cute about Charlie running up to mickey <3

Yay to living with the land. Equally fun and informative

Toddlers plus heat = daily meltdown (surely?) im sure you did a fab job.

Bahama Breeze is soooo good - glad you tried and enjoyed it. Another super star meal from Charlie.

Seriously if those animals keep my charlie still for an entire meal, I’ll go to seaworld just for those

Thanks again for sharing your day - I so enjoy reading about them and they are so helpful thinking about planning our trip xx

[vics18]

Sorry, you'd never been on Living with the Land? ! Who even are you?! Very glad you've corrected that now!
Garden Grill looks great, we've got it booked for our next trip so nice to see that it looked like such a good experience.
Poor you, having an overtired toddler is no fun and you shouldn't beat yourself up about it.
You do have to let routine go, and it's hard to do isn't it! Glad it worked out nicely for you with your late meal. Love Bahama Breeze! X

[minnie52]

Ah another fab day! Charlie did so well at Epcot with no nap! Bless him he must have been shattered by the time you got back to the villa.

Garden Grill looks so lovely - its definitely a win in my book not having to get up to go to the buffet! It's definitely on our list to try next time. You got some lovely photos of Charlie with the characters.

The Orlando Eye looks like a lovely way to spend the evening followed by a nice meal at Bahama Breeze (adding this to our must do list as well lol!)

[Redrach1903]

OMG those photos of Charlie at breakfast are just priceless. So lovely

Woohoo – you did Figment! Did Charlie get a scare at the big bangs at the end?
Totally laughing at him sitting down sulking, many adults feel like doing the same I'm sure

Aww I'm glad you all enjoyed Frozen

Hurrah to doing the laundry, I am very proud indeed

The Orlando Eye looks like a fab experience and those photos are lovely! You are a salesman's dream though

I'm very upset that all the grown-ups had seafood at BB, but very happy you all enjoyed it so much hahahaha

Great read again and looking forward to day 5! xxx

[margyloveswdw]

Sounds like it was a lovely day despite the upset toddler! He did so well though and fab interaction at breakfast with the characters. Lovely day 😃

[Lisa_Lollipop]

Originally Posted by sheluk

Wooooo first to comment (I’m starting to cringe now when I write that but as least I didn’t use a hashtag this time...)

Absolutely thrilled you loved GG. It’s one of our favourites for sure. Your interaction sounds fun I was a bit devo’d for you that you didn’t get a booth but sounds like it worked out well. So cute about Charlie running up to mickey <3

Yay to living with the land. Equally fun and informative

Toddlers plus heat = daily meltdown (surely?) im sure you did a fab job.

Bahama Breeze is soooo good - glad you tried and enjoyed it. Another super star meal from Charlie.

Seriously if those animals keep my charlie still for an entire meal, I’ll go to seaworld just for those

Thanks again for sharing your day - I so enjoy reading about them and they are so helpful thinking about planning our trip xx

See more...

Ooo I didn't even notice the booths in Garden Grill, now I feel like we missed out! It was such a great breakfast though, will be a must-do for every future trips now for sure!

Those animals, best purchase ever!

Originally Posted by vics18

Sorry, you'd never been on Living with the Land? ! Who even are you?! Very glad you've corrected that now!
Garden Grill looks great, we've got it booked for our next trip so nice to see that it looked like such a good experience.
Poor you, having an overtired toddler is no fun and you shouldn't beat yourself up about it.
You do have to let routine go, and it's hard to do isn't it! Glad it worked out nicely for you with your late meal. Love Bahama Breeze! X

See more...

So excited you are going to be trying Garden Grill, Charlotte is going to love it! (as will you!). Happy we finally got Living with the Land ticked off the list too... it was a long time coming!

[Lisa_Lollipop]

Originally Posted by minnie52

Ah another fab day! Charlie did so well at Epcot with no nap! Bless him he must have been shattered by the time you got back to the villa.

Garden Grill looks so lovely - its definitely a win in my book not having to get up to go to the buffet! It's definitely on our list to try next time. You got some lovely photos of Charlie with the characters.

The Orlando Eye looks like a lovely way to spend the evening followed by a nice meal at Bahama Breeze (adding this to our must do list as well lol!)

See more...

This was such a great day for food! I will be putting both Garden Grill and Bahama Breeze on the list for any future trips... you will love them!

Originally Posted by Redrach1903

OMG those photos of Charlie at breakfast are just priceless. So lovely

Woohoo – you did Figment! Did Charlie get a scare at the big bangs at the end?
Totally laughing at him sitting down sulking, many adults feel like doing the same I'm sure

Aww I'm glad you all enjoyed Frozen

Hurrah to doing the laundry, I am very proud indeed

The Orlando Eye looks like a fab experience and those photos are lovely! You are a salesman's dream though

I'm very upset that all the grown-ups had seafood at BB, but very happy you all enjoyed it so much hahahaha

Great read again and looking forward to day 5! xxx

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I think the bangs on Figment made me jump more than Charlie... and I knew they were coming!

Haha doing laundry out there really was a game changer, and I can reveal that this wasn't the last time I did some either... I may just follow you in your addiction!

Originally Posted by margyloveswdw

Sounds like it was a lovely day despite the upset toddler! He did so well though and fab interaction at breakfast with the characters. Lovely day 😃

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The character interactions at Garden Grill were absolutely fantastic! I have heard how good they are there but was blown away!

[EJSakaAnna]

Charlie running to Mickey, oh my goodness . Breakfast looks so yummy too!

Loving reading this Lisa! Charlie is such a trooper, even in the heat xx

[Lisa_Lollipop]

That may just go down as one of my most favourite memories in life ever! So glad I managed to catch it on camera!