Disney World Summer 2015 - Part 1

As my birthday gift this year my parents took us to Disney! My mom's birthday is only a couple of weeks after mine so it was kind of a joint birthday adventure. They still have an annual pass from when we went in October and we took the RV to Fort Wilderness so we were able to take the dogs too :) 

Vegas, in her old age, has gotten a little weary of riding in a large moving home so we got her some anxiety meds for the ride and she did better than she has in the past. 

Yay Disney! 

On Sunday our first stop in EPCOT was the Coca Cola tasting room, I somehow have never tried all of these. I hadn't been missing out because they are disgusting!

We rode a few rides and then headed to the World Showcase. We had a snack and drinks at the Rose & Crown Pub and then went to watch the acrobats in China. They are amazing. 

We were impressed and excited that Snapchat had some cool filters for our location - the monorail saying and one for the globe

Monday morning we had reservations at 8:05 at the Crystal Palace restaurant but Magic Kingdom didn't open until 9:00. The point of the early reservation was to be able to go in before everyone else :) pretty cool! We even got a special shuttle from our campsite to the Magic Kingdom since transportation to the parks starts an hour before they open but we had to be walking in at 8am not just heading over there. So we walked in with a few others who also had early reservations but definitely not the normal huge crowd. 

More cool Snapchat filters

The other perk of going in early is that you should finish breakfast before the park even opens and can then hurry over to rides before the lines get long! We quickly rode Space Mountain twice and many other rides. 

We walked back to the Contemporary from Magic Kingdom and spotted Nana & Pop's brick along the way. From there we took the boat back to the campground. Since August in Florida isn't exactly amazing pretty much daily we would go back to the RV around lunch time, take the dogs to play at the dog park, lounge and nap inside the AC during the heat of the day and then head out again at night. 

That night we had extra special plans. For mom & dad's 40th anniversary gift we wanted to give them something that was unique and they wouldn't do for themselves. We found a fireworks cruise that leaves from the Boardwalk, tours you around that lake area and then heads over to EPCOT to see Illuminations up close and personal. 

We got extra lucky that night, Hollywood Studios was having their Frozen Summer Fun and actually did fireworks, so just as Illuminations ended we cruised over to the front gate area of Hollywood Studios and could see those fireworks too. 

Tuesday we went to check out the changing scene at Downtown Disney. They are doing lots of construction and updates. It should be pretty nice when it's complete. 

Then we headed in to Hollywood Studios. That night we got to see the Frozen Fireworks up close. Fireworks in Hollywood Studios are very close and personal as they don't have space in the "back" like Magic Kingdom does to set them off and the scraps even fall on you. 

Wednesday morning we headed into Magic Kingdom early again, but this time we were able to take the boat over. 

We had reservations inside the Be Our Guest restaurant for breakfast, just after park opening. The breakfast includes an entree of your choice, a pastry dish for the table to share and juice/coffee/soda. It was like $20 so a little pricey for not a huge amount of food but it was good food, a cool atmosphere and just a fun thing to check off the list. 

After breakfast we rode a few rides and then headed back for our mid day break!