The BEST Disney World Trip our Family has ever done!!! (August 6-12 2016)

I just binge read your trip report over my lunch break so thanks for the entertainment!

I must say I love the teenager's perspective. I ROFL that you had 8 plates of food at the Biergarten. :rotfl2:

And your parents needing coffee all the time, I hear that!

Thanks for sharing.
 
I just binge read your trip report over my lunch break so thanks for the entertainment!

I must say I love the teenager's perspective. I ROFL that you had 8 plates of food at the Biergarten. :rotfl2:

And your parents needing coffee all the time, I hear that!

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks. Yeah the 8 plates of food at Biergarten was hilarious. I think you would ROFL even more if even saw me after that. I could hardly move and walked slowly to the exit of Epcot.
 
Chapter 5: THE MOST HOT AND SUNNY DAY


First Things:

We woke up quite late today around 7:15am. Because of what happened yesterday, I took a quick shower first, and then went down to the World Premiere Food Court to get my parents coffee so they wouldn't be so tired in the beginning of the day. That seemed to have worked well, as they weren't as tired as yesterday. We stepped out of our room at 8:45am and it was HOT and SUNNY. It was expected to be a beautiful day with no rain. We were running quite late so we arrived at our bus stop by 8:55am but thankfully the bus was just pulling in when we arrived at the bus stop.

Epcot:
We arrived at Epcot around 9:10am. We went streight to Test Track, and it seemed that the ride was opening a little late. There was no wait time posted, but the line was all the way out the door shifting to the right of one of the standings. My dad and sister didn't want to wait that long, so they decided to skip it although I did tell my sister I planned to ride it a second time with her after the first time, so what we did was my mother and I decided to wait in line to ride it, while my dad and sister went to Starbucks to get a second cup of coffee. Test Track actually opened the ride at 9:20am, and pretty much after that the line started to move. We waited about 60 min for the ride. To tell you the truth Test Track was a fun ride, especially the time when it went really fast, but my mother and I were quite disappointed that it wasn't better especially considering how long we waited. So after the ride we met my dad and sister outside the exit, and I was about to go again with my sister. But it was 10:30am at that time, and the line was posted 80 min when we had an Fastpass+ for Soarin 10:50am-11:50am, and I was worried we would miss the FP+, and plus as I just said it was a little disappointing and not really worth waiting 80 min for at all, so we decided to finish there with TT. My sister was a little disappointed but after my mom and I told her that it wasn't that good of a ride, she didn't care that much.

So before it was time for Soarin, we went to the Imagination Pavilion and Rode Journey into Imagination with Figment. Figment Ride was a walk on and was a little boring in some parts, but other parts we thought were cute. After the ride, we stopped to take a look at Image Works (the place that Figment loads out before going outside). Image Works was quite cool actually. My dad and sister really enjoyed the part where you can jump and the movie records you in some cool way (don't remember exactly what happened, but it looked cool). So after that we headed to the Land Pavilion because it was time for our Fastpass+ for Soarin. The standby wait was 60 min, but we waited around 5 min with a Fastpass. Now I must say Soarin Around the World was just AMAZING and FASCINATING. We all LOVED that ride. I especially liked the part where we could smell the grass, and we were soaring over the egyptian pyramids as well as the icelandic mountains. I think Soarin was by far our favorite family ride on this whole trip. It seemed so real, and the feeling of flying was amazing. So after Soarin, we planned to have lunch and then do Living with the Land. Now let me say, we probably did the stupidest/most bravest thing EVER!!! I was thinking we should just eat lunch at Sunshine Seasons because it was convenient, but we all really wanted to go to Tangierine Cafe. And I will tell you, we did it, in that HOT and SUNNY day, we walked all the way to Morocco Pavilion just to have lunch at Tangierine Cafe. My sister didn't think it was worth it at first, but I am glad we did it. Moroccan food is not something you can get just anywhere, and Tangierine Cafe is SOO GOOD we remembered from 5 years ago, so we ate there. My sister and I got the chicken shwarma platter, and my parents got the kofta sandwiches. I must say that Tangierine Cafe is really the best counter service place in all of WDW.

After we finished lunch, yes we went all the way back to the Land Pavilion because we had Fastpass+ for Living with the Land. I must say you really need to LOVE Moroccan food to be able to walk all the way from Future World to Morocco and Back again just for lunch in the EXTREME HEAT and HUMIDITY. So Living with the Land standby was posted 20 min, but we waited like 2 min with FP+. Now Living with the Land was really good for my dad and sister, but my mom and I didn't enjoy it as much. I really LOVED the indoor part, but the outdoor part with the hydroponics wasn't very interesting. However my sister really loves science, so she thought it was really fascinating. After Living with the Land, we went to the Seas Pavilion and Rode the Seas with Nemo & Friends. That Ride was also a walk on, but honestly wasn't that interesting to any of us. We had a FP+ for Turtle Talk with Crush at 2:00pm but it was 1:30pm when we finished the Seas with Nemo & Friends, so I went to a Fastpass Kiosk to try and make it earlier. I got a time for 1:45pm to see Turtle Talk with Crush, so I changed it for earlier. When we were waiting, we all took a look around the Aquarium which my sister really loved, but the rest of us just enjoyed being in the air-conditioned room. At 1:45pm we went and Saw Turtle Talk with Crush. My sister sort of thought Crush was cool, but the rest of us thought it was kind of lame. I honestly wasn't that interested but I am glad we all gave it a try. At least it was fun watching the little kids talk to Crush. After the show, I went back to the Fastpass Kiosk to see if I could get an additional FP+ to Ride Soarin again, but as I expected they were all gone, so we thought maybe we will check the standby line at 8:00pm.

So it was 2:15pm and we started to tour the rest of the World Showcase from Canada to Italy. The Canada Pavilion was quite cool, especially the waterfall. We took a few pictures there as well. I must say that Canada along with many other pavilions had so many cool buildings from the outside but I wish I could go INSIDE all of them, but most of them are just to look at from the outside. We saw O Canada which was a good movie, and it was good to get back in the air-conditioning again, because it was extremely hot and humid.

We pretty much moved onto the United Kingdom after the movie. Now the UK had a band playing at the time, so my parents went to the back of the pavilion to watch the English performers play music, while my sister and I explored the pavilion. I have been to England around five times in my life, so it was quite fun talking to the cast members from the United Kingdom about many places in England. I had a huge discussion with one of the cast members from Sunderland, England about the Premier League and English Football (Soccer). We were discussing our favorite clubs in the BPL and our predictions which was quite fun. I also went to Rose & Crown Pub and asked if they offered discounts to people who have visited the UK over five times. Of course the answer was no, but I was just asking for fun and curiosity anyway. So after that my sister and I went to join my parents to watch the rest of the English Band. The music was a little fun to hear.

At around 3:25pm my parents told me they were ready to move to France, so we did that. The first thing we did was found a seat at Les Halles Boulangerie Patisserie to have some snacks and coffee. My sister and I went to the kiosk called Crepes de Chefs de France to get some ice cream, while my parents tried the french pastries. My parents said that those pastries were really good. They stayed a little longer at the Patisserie to drink some coffee, while I went on to explore the pavilion. The France Pavilion honestly has some really cool displays, especially the Eiffel Tower. Again I have to say that its a shame you can't go inside these things because it would just be so much better if we could actually go inside the Eiffel Tower. I used to take french when I was in middle school, so I practiced my french a little bit with some of the cast members at the shops. After I interacted with them a bit, I realized I forgot quite a bit of french, but it came back to my mind. I was able to refresh my memory and learn some new words in french. Out of curiosity I stopped at Les Chefs de France just to look at the menu, and also find out if they accepted walk ins at that time. I was there between lunch and dinner time, so they weren't accepting anyone until 4:00pm I think it was, but they said walk ins are possible that day. We weren't planning to eat there or anything, I was just asking out of curiosity. So after that I met up with my parents and sister again, and we went to see the Impressions de France show. Impressions de France was the best show I have seen at the World Showcase so far. Better than Canada and China for sure and it was really interesting.

So after the show, we moved onto Morocco. So as I think I mentioned before, we used to live in Egypt, and I speak a little arabic, so it was fun interacting with all the Moroccan cast members in arabic. The displays in Morocco Pavilion are just gorgeous, especially the arches, and the indoor building. Morocco is a really unique pavilion, and is different from the others by quite a bit. As I said before, we ate lunch here at Tangierine Cafe earlier which had very good food. I also checked out the menu for Marrakesh, and some of the foods there seemed like dishes that would be great to try some day. My mother was exploring this pavilion like crazy and took tons of pictures of the arches and displays. My dad was watching one of the music bands playing at the time, and was recording it. The funny thing is my dad could understand a lot of it because he also speaks good arabic.

It was about 4:55pm at the time, and my sister said she was ready to move to Japan especially because Japan was the pavilion my sister was waiting to see the whole time we were at Epcot, as she thought it would be her favorite. Now I will say the same thing about Japan. There were a number of great buildings on display, and I was just so wishing to actually go inside them. Especially the Pagoda, I just wanted to actually climb all the way to the top. However there were a number of places in the Japan Pavilion to go and explore, in fact I think Japan had the most places to explore of the whole world showcase. I had some fun looking at the shops, and I also went to Teppan Edo and Tokyo Dining just to see how they looked like. I also checked out the menu for those two places for curiosity. My sister did spend a good 25 min looking at the shops, but she was quite disappointed with the Japanese Pavilion. I think she expected more displays and again she also really wished she could climb the Pagoda Tree. At this time the weather was getting better, and there was a good breeze blowing so it wasn't as humid, and it was cooler. We were ready for a small break, so we sat down for awhile and watched the japanese band perform right in front of the Pagoda Tree.

So after our break, we moved onto The USA Pavilion. The United States was extremely interesting in terms of history and there was a lot of quotes from presidents displayed. We planned to see the American Adventure Show which the next one started at 6pm, so we decided we would hang around and explore, see the American Adventure at 6pm and then go to Italy because we had an ADR at 7pm for Tutto Italia. Anyway it was quite fun exploring all the historical quotes from our previous presidents. My mom was really fascinated with the displays. The USA is just different from any other pavilion because there are no shops but are so big on the history of the country which is something my mom really loved. At 6:00pm we saw The American Adventure Show. I must say that it was a great show, but my mom was the only one that got everything from it. There were many parts of the show my sister and I didn't actually understand completely but we still enjoyed the show.

When we finished the show, it was 6:35pm so we thought we should move on to Italy, so we have time to explore the pavilion before our ADR at 7:00pm. Now ITALIA is my favorite pavilion in the World Showcase. I think part of it is because I just love Italy the country, but I really like just talking to italians, they are just so cool with their culture and everything. So first thing I did when we went to Italy, was explore the shops. Then I talked to MANY of the italian cast members. It was really fun to interact with them as well because I really love soccer and its a huge sport in italy. Not to mention I follow the Champions League and Serie A a lot and my favorite team is Juventus (an italian team). I had tons of fun talking to the italians about the Serie A and also the Italy National Team which is who I always support in the World Cups and European Cups. We were talking about which players should be promoted to the senior team, and also a lot of the italians there were Napoli fans, and as a Juventus fan, Juve and Napoli are rivals in Italy especially recently when both are the top teams competing for the title. I must say I had a little fun mocking them because a week before our WDW trip, Higuain (arguably Napoli's best player) betrayed the team and moved to Juventus, so it was fun mocking them a bit. They were all funny though and great to speak to!!! After that I took a lot of pictures in various places throughout the italian pavilion. I took a lot on the fountain. It is actually against the rules to go inside or climb the fountain but I did that without knowing it wasn't allowed to get pictures taken. The fountain was very special to look at actually. I also took some pictures in front of the entrance of Tutto Italia and many other places in the pavilion. Then we saw an italian performer show his talent with the soccer ball and we watched that until dinner. So at 7:00pm we made our Dinner ADR at Tutto Italia. Now our waiter at Tutto Italia was named Andrea and he was amazing to talk to. I must say he was a Roma fan in soccer, and I kind of mocked him as well because Roma is quite a rival of Juventus, and I teezed him a bit with Andrea Pirlo who now plays for NYCFC but he used to be a star at Juventus, and since his name was Andrea it was quite funny. He said he didn't like him obviously because Pirlo was at Juventus and he was a roma fan. My mother said "Uh Oh son, now he is gonna burn our food." It was just fun to talk to him. So now back to Dinner: My dad got one of the chicken dishes and my mom got the Ravioli. I must say my sister and I were both stuck between the Lasagna and the Ravioli, so what we decided to do was My sister and I got both Lasagna and Ravioli and than we would split both in half so we could try two things. The bread and breadsticks at Tutto Italia were so fresh and hot, it was incredible. After about 15 min our dinner arrived. Honestly my mom, sister, and I FELL IN LOVE with the food quality there. It was honestly the BEST ITALIAN FOOD WE HAVE EVER HAD!!!!! My mom wished she could order a second dish but it was a little pricey for that. However we all enjoyed our food, and after the meal my sister and I were really glad we decided to get both Lasagna and Ravioli and split it so we could try both. I must say the portions there are not Huge but they are a good size and EXTREMELY HEAVY AND FILLING. At the end of our meal when we were waiting for the check, our waiter stopped over and taught us some italian phrases. They were quite fun to learn. The one I remember well is "Boun Apetito" meaning Bon Apetit in french meaning have a good meal. I also have to mention that the atmosphere at Tutto Italia is really gorgeous with all the italian paintings. The food was just SOO GOOD, my mother and sister cried when we left the restaurant.

So after dinner, my parents were getting tired so they went back to the hotel, but my sister and I planned to Ride Soarin a second time, and stay for Illuminations. So we started making our way back to Future World. We arrived at Soarin around 8:10pm and the standby line was posted 30 min, so we decided to wait and ride a second time. Quite surprisingly we only waited 15 min. I will say again, Soarin is really our Family Ride in WDW. I was disappointed that my parents were too tired to ride a second time, but my sister and I enjoyed it for the second time. Soarin Around the World is just something else. It really is a great ride. When we were done with Soarin, it was around 8:50pm so my sister and I were looking for a place around the World Showcase Lagoon from the Future World side to watch Illuminations. I was considering going all the way back to Italy Pavilion because I expected it to be less crowded and a better view, but at the same time I was thinking ABSOLUTELY NOT because I didn't want to be trapped in crowds after the fireworks and Italy is at the completely opposite side of the park, so we decided to just stay in front of the border line between Future World and the World Showcase Lagoon. So we saw Illuminations: Reflections of the Earth at 9:00pm. It was quite fun, and the fireworks sound were quite loud and a little scary at times. After the fireworks we paced back to the entrance because there were crowds behind us that we didn't want to be trapped in, especially without our parents.

As soon as we exited the Epcot, we RAN to the All Star Movies Bus Stop. We waited about 10 min for the bus to come. While we were waiting one of the cast members was telling us that the driver that will take us to All Star Movies is his friend, and his name is Colin and he is from London. It was quite funny. So anyway we got on the bus and arrived back at All Star Movies Hotel around 9:45pm. When we arrived, we went streight to bed in order to get up early for our last day.


So thats Day 5. I again apologize for the long wait, but it has been a busy week for me, and I had to catch up on tons of stuff which delayed this. I hope you are all still reading this. I will have Day 6 posted within the next few days!

You are amazing. Loving your report!
 


Just read your report. Very nice! It is great to read a report from a teen's perspective and unique. Laughed a little each time your parents got more coffee and more lost opportunities to climb.
 
I cannot believe I just now found your report. It was a wonderful read! A good trip report is like a good steak. A good steak does not require steak sauce, just like a good trip report requires no pictures. You are obviously very mature, and I appreciate your positive perspective. Your longingness to explore warmed my heart. Quite honestly, it was the only thing in your report that indicated you are a teenager, IMO. I love how you took time to read restaurant menus and inquire about wait times even though the family wasn't "planning on eating there." I appreciate how badly you wanted to climb/go inside the buildings at Epcot. Thank you for posting this. Your parents I know are very proud. You did a wonderful job planning and executing the trip, and I also appreciate the time and energy you put into writing and completing this report. Great job! Thanks again for sharing.
 
Loved reading your trip report! Thank you for taking time to share it with us all.
 


What a nice family trip! I am sure your parents appreciated all of your planning. And I loved how you kept having to drop them off at Starbucks
I also stuff my face at Biergarten.. I love it! We go every trip ever since we discovered it 8 years ago.
 
What a wonderful report. Thank you for sharing. You did a great job planning it all out...it is so much work, especially so far ahead. We are a family of 11 going in January, I have been trying to plan it out, at least ADR but it's so hard to know in 6 months what everyone wants to do or eat. I need to just plan like you did and hope for the best.
 
Hey, just now seeing this actually. Back in 2018, I went one day with friends to Epcot and another day solo to Animal Kingdom mainly to checkout the new rides at Avatarland. I can't recall if I posted a trip report of those two days or not, but it was more just days I was in Florida and decided to take a couple days, and not really a well planned vacation.

I am not sure when my family might return next, but it probably won't be anytime too soon. We'd like to wait for Covid protocols to be completely over and the new roller coaster at Magic Kingdom to be done before we go back.
 

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