Weekend in Orlando

A couple of weeks ago, we decide to spend the weekend I'm Orlando. I had to use my hotels.com account and Orlando is just a short drive away. We decided to stay in the Downtown Disney area since we didn't have plans to visit the theme parks. Emma is obsessed with Mickey and Minnie Mouse so I wanted to give her a "Disney experience" without the long lines or the summer heat. I decided that the best was to find a character dining restaurant. At the same time, it was Andre's birthday and it was. A good excuse to over pay for a breakfast. 

I tried to get reservations with Chef Mickey, the restaurant where Mickey Mouse is. Apparently there is only one Mickey and you need to book several months in advance. We found a reservation at the Cape May Cafe located in one of Disney's hotels. The characters at the Cape May Cafe were Minnie Mouse, Donald and Goofy. I have to say that the food was really good! I wasn't expecting good food with this experience and I was surprised. I can easily say that it is probably the best breakfast buffet that I've ever been to. 

Emma was a little scared at first. I really thought that she would run towards Minnie instead if hiding from her. She did give kisses to all of the characters and we took their pictures several times. It was hard to get a good one. We had to seat in a room with poor lighting. I told the host that it was Andre's birthday. We sang happy birthday and he got a cupcake with a candle and a card signed by Minnie, Goofy and Donald. It was really nice. 

The rest of the weekend we spent it at our hotel pool, taking naps with Emma, and walking around Downtown Disney. There are many things to see and do there. My favorite is just to walk around, eat something, have a Ghiradelli ice cream for dessert and shop at the biggest Disney store (The world of Disney). I used to go to Bongos, Gloria Estefan's restaurant, a long time ago. They have a live band and the food is good. I haven't been since 2010 so I hope that it is still as good as I remember. There is also a permanent Cirque du Soleil show, "La Nouba", that is worth watching if you are ever in Orlando. I have seen other Cirque du Soleil shows and  La Nouba is still my favorite. 

We had a great time in Orlando. It felt like a nice vacation. Next time, I want to stay at a Disney hotel. We loved the Beach Club Resort. This hotel has a beautiful pool, a beach, movies outside, bike rentals, restaurants with characters, transportation to the theme parks and everything was just picture perfect. I will keep an eye for Florida resident specials during low season. I'm sure that we will be back many weekends to Orlando. It never gets old. 

Epcot: Around the World in One Day

Andre and I went to Orlando a couple of weeks ago. Our Disney Annual pass is now expired. We didn't renew it for another year since we don't go to Orlando often enough to keep it. Maybe in a couple of years we will get the Disney Annual Pass again. For this year, we decided to get the Busch Gardens/Sea World pass. The main reason was the Viva La Musica festival this month and also because we live 20 minutes away from Busch Gardens. There are several Spanish singers that will be performing in Sea World and Busch Gardens during Viva La Musica.  Also, I've never been to Sea World and Andre hasn't been there since he was 5 years old. We always like to have at least one theme park annual pass, and I'm saving my vacation days for an upcoming trip to Chile and Argentina I have to make the most out of the weekends.

Epcot's Spaceship Earth

The last weekend of our Disney pass, we went to Epcot. We walked around the park taking pictures of the character flower sculptures, walked around the world showcase, and got fast passes for Soaring and Mission SPACE. Every time that I go to this park, I find something new and fascinating. This time it was the Japan Pavilion. I always walked by and never went into the stores and gardens. I was surprised by how big the main store was. They have hundreds of Hello Kitty items and Japanese candy that we  bought in Hawaii. I'm obsessed about Hello Kitty since I can remember. Everyone knows that I love Hello Kitty and I'm not ashamed of it. Probably because when I was growing up in Colombia it was hard to find merchandise. When I moved to the United States, I was finally able to get all the Hello Kitty that I ever wanted. I loved Japan, however, my favorite pavilion is still France. The boulangerie and the wine tastings are hard to beat. I really love to walk around Disney's version of the 11 Countries from the World Showcase. I always complain because they don't have any Country from South America, but I have to admit that the Countries that they have are all special. This park is probably the most adult friendly of all Disney World parks. "Where the dreams come true" for adults is to have a culinary (and wine) experience around the world. If this sounds like something that you would enjoy, make sure that you go to Epcot's Food and Wine Festival in the fall.

We asked several times for our picture with Mickey but they always cut off his head

Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival

If you want a picture with Mickey you have to wait at least 30 minutes...

Paris, Disney

Morocco, Disney

Japan

Japanese Candy

Venice, Disney

China

China Pavilion

Mexico

Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival 2012

We were exhausted at the end of the day. This park is twice as big as Magic Kingdom and in my opinion the best of all 4 Disney World theme Parks. We didn't stay in Orlando that night since our dog was waiting for us at home. We always enjoy our trips to Disney and I am sure that we will be back soon. If you want to read more about Orlando and Disney click here and here to see older posts. 

Orlando for Floridians

Last year was the first time that I got the Florida Resident Walt Disney World Annual Pass. We bought it because we were saving our vacation days for the wedding and honeymoon. Orlando is only one hour away from Tampa. Sometimes if we find a good hotel deal we stay there. It is always nice to spend the night in Orlando after a long day at the parks. I feel that if I sleep in a hotel, I'm on vacation. Disney was a good option for us since I hadn't been to Magic Kingdom since 2000 and to Epcot since 2007. I had never been to Animal Kingdom or Disney Hollywood Studios. Andre's last visit to a Disney park was in 2008 when his family visited from Ecuador. In the past 11 months, we've visited each Disney Wold park once.

Epcot is my favorite Disney World theme park. My favorite part is the World Showcase with shops, attractions and restaurants from 11 countries: Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, United States, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada. My second favorite thing in Epcot is "Soarin". This simulated ride makes you fly over California. This is probably the only ride where we waited in line for over 1 hour. We don't do lines that are longer than 15 minutes. What I love about the annual passes is that there is no reason to do a 90 minute line because you can return any other day. The pictures below are from our previous visit to Epcot.

Epcot's Flower & Garden Festival 2011

Japan

Venezia

Paris

Epcot's Flower & Garden Festival 2011

I want to go at least one more time to Epcot and once to Animal Kingdom. If you want to see the pictures from our last visit to Animal Kingdom click here. 

I have to be careful with Minnie next time

Our Disney pass will expire in April. Until then, we will make a few more trips to Orlando. I don't think that we will be renewing it. I want to buy the Busch Gardens/Sea World Annual pass. I love Busch Gardens and I have never been to Sea World. It's time to meet Shamu.

Hand feeding the giraffes at Busch Gardens (2005)

There is a latin music festival, Viva la Musica, every April where famous latin singers/groups play at Busch Gardens and Sea World. This year El Grupo Niche will be playing in Sea World. They are a salsa group from my hometown in Colombia. They sing many songs about Cali and La feria de Cali. Cali is known as the Salsa capital of the world. When you live far away these songs make you very nostalgic. My sisters and I are big fans and we will be there to see them. Andre doesn't like to dance. We went to a party in Cali where El Grupo Niche was playing, and Andre enjoyed it very much. I'm sure that the aguardiente that night had a lot to do with it. He might come with us just to get out of town.

There are many other things to do in Orlando that I haven't done like the Blue Man Group show or having a drink at Ice Bar. I love going to Downtown Disney to walk around, or to have dinner at Bongos (Gloria Estefan's Cuban Restaurant). Cirque du Soleil has a permanent show, La Nouba, that I've seen several times. This show is probably the best of all the Cirque du Soleil shows that I've seen. Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure will probably be the season pass that we will like to buy the following year. I have been countless times to these parks, but still haven't been to the Harry Potter attraction. I have heard many good things about it and after watching the 8 movies I want to visit Hogsmeade. Orlando will always be a great option to change our routine and it is less than 80 miles away. 

Disney's Animal Kingdom

Since I requested 17 working days for the wedding and honeymoon, I will be Florida bound for the months before and after the wedding. I know that it will be worth it, but I get bored if I don't take a break from Tampa. I can't complain because I was out of town all of the weekends in May. Last weekend was Memorial Day weekend which is the first Monday off that we get in the year!! We have the Disney's Florida resident annual pass. We bought it in April because we knew that I can't take any more days of from work this year. So far, we have used it twice. We went to Epcot to the Garden Festival in April, and last Sunday to visit Animal Kingdom. This was my first time in the park and I was very impressed by it. I was never interested in visiting the theme park because we have Busch Gardens in Tampa, and I thought it would be almost the same. I was wrong. I love Busch Gardens and now I also love Animal Kingdom. Here are some of my favorite pictures of the day.

My favorite ride of the theme park: Expedition Everest

The tree of life - Animal Kingdom's symbol

For Lion King lovers: Simba means lion. I had no idea :) 

The safari was great!! worth the 80 minute line

My sister scared of Everest

The Galapagos's tortoise

picture with Mickey Mouse

My nephew and sister with Minnie Mouse