Disney World Vacation Highlights - May 2015

At the end of May, my husband and I spent time at one of our favorite places- Disney World!  It was a great vacation and we also celebrated my birthday while we were there.  We were both struggling with a bad cold the whole week before but luckily we had finally gotten over the worst of it by the day of our flight.  I think the Florida humidity helped us sweat out whatever was left!

We've gone on a few trips this year but this was the first longer one we'd done in a while and it was nice to have a full week off!  I have so much to share- here's a list of some of the highlights!

Boardwalk Villas

One of the major highlights was staying at the Boardwalk Villas.  We even scored a room with a great view! The best part however was that it is a resort close enough to Epcot that we could walk to it.  It is my favorite Disney World park so this was an awesome birthday treat!  Because we were so close to Epcot, we were able to make it our first stop each morning.  We'd walk over to the France pavilion for a glass of champagne before we would head to our next stop.  It was wonderful!

5 Nights of IllumiNations 

We definitely took advantage of our resort location and ended most of our days at Epcot too!  We were able to go to IllumiNations for 5 nights of our trip!  I love that show- the anticipation as you wait for the torches to go out, watching each pavilion light up, there's just something about it that feels so magical to me.  It really reminds me I'm on vacation and at Disney World and it makes me so happy!  I could watch it every day!  The one day we didn't was because we also love Electrical Parade and needed a night to do that too!  :D

Figment cake (+ merchandise!)

Another highlight of our visit was my amazing Figment inspired birthday cake!  We had asked for a cake in Figment colors and they went above and beyond by also giving the cake actual characteristics of Figment like his "eyes big and yellow."  The Boardwalk Bakery did a fantastic job! It was almost too pretty to eat- but we ate it and it was delicious! We also found some new Figment merchandise  while we were at Epcot so that was a highlight too- especially the Figment pillow pet!  

6 Parks in One Day, plus our first time at the Disney Water Parks!

 
When we're at Disney World, sometimes we set out a little mission for one of the days of our visit.  A couple trips ago it was 4 parks in one day.  This time we decided to break that record by adding in the water parks, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon!  We had never been to the water parks before so it was fun to explore them.  We used only Disney transportation so it was a bit of a challenge but we did it!  And we still had time to run back to Epcot at the end of the day!

Be Our Guest Restaurant Birthday Dinner

Another highlight was my belated birthday dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant.  We were able to try the grey stuff- it was delicious (don't believe me ask the dishes)!  At the end of our meal, I got a big hug from Beast!  

Rebel Hangar

We didn't know what to expect when we made a reservation for Rebel Hangar but it ended up being another highlight!  So many characters showed up while we sipped on drinks!  Greedo, Jawas, and even Chewbacca!  It was a real treat and I strongly recommend it if you're there during Star Wars Weekends.  We also did the Star Wars character meal at Hollywood & Vine.  The characters at that were really cute especially Chip and Dale as Ewoks but overall we thought Rebel Hangar was a much better deal since we spent a lot less and saw just as many characters!

Le Cellier / O Canada

I'd only seen the O Canada! movie at the Canada pavilion once a couple years ago.  Watching it again after having recently been to Canada definitely made it more special!  It was neat to see video of places we'd seen and remember other fun times!  We also had lunch at Le Cellier which was great too and yummy!

Trader Sam's Grog Grotto

Last highlight I'll mention for now (although there are more!) was visiting the new Trader Sam's that just opened at the Polynesian Village Resort.  We weren't sure we'd be able to check it out because we thought the line to get in would be too long but we got there at the right time and didn't have to wait at all!  We found seats at a table and were able to try the Nautilus! 

It was a fantastic vacation! I look forward to our next visit!