March 6 – 13, 2021 – Kathy birthday trip – day 1

Saturday 3/6/21

We were supposed to be going for Star Wars races in April, along with a bunch of people including our kids, where they were supposed to participate in their first RunDisney races. But when Disney “canceled” them and turned virtual, our kids didn’t want their first races to be virtual and frankly I didn’t blame them. So they canceled their trip and we moved ours to March, much cheaper and more in line with Kathy’s birthday at the end of the month. We were hoping it would be a little less crowded too, just on the cusp of potential spring break times for schools, such as they are. We had the first flight of the day out of Detroit, with a planned MCO landing of 9:25 a.m. Well we were able to leave a few minutes early and actually landed almost a half hour early! We did have a rough descent due to clouds, turbulence, and weather in the area. Not having checked luggage helped a lot and we actually got to DME before our scheduled landing time! We walked right up to empty queues and onto a bus within a couple minutes! They were assigning seats and keeping rows in between parties open. We pulled into Pop by 10:15 and got in line at Bell Services to drop off our luggage. Just after we dropped it off, we received the text that our room was ready, at 10:30! If only we had gotten it 5 minutes earlier! But that’s okay, it worked out anyway. We purchased our refillable mug and went to the Skyliner for EPCOT. The trip to CBR wasn’t too bad but the line for the EPCOT line was insane! Down the ramp, along the sidewalk, pretty close to the parking lot of CBR! this only solidified and confirmed why we never ever go close to rope drop, nope early for us anytime! It took us a half hour from the time we got off at CBR to boarding the EPCOT line. But still, we couldn’t complain, we never expected to be there that early. We were on the EPCOT Skyliner by 11:25 and in EPCOT by 11:40. It’s very efficient once you’re actually on it! It’s just getting on it at park open that takes quite a bit of time.

We were hungry after an early flight and the weather was turning out much dryer and better than expected. It was supposed to be a complete washout and cold, but it turned out we only got a few sprinkles and the temperature was actually pleasant! So since it was dry we stopped at Yorkshire County Fish Shoppe and had some delicious fish and chips by the water. We rode Imagination with Figment with a very minimal wait after and got some really nice and fun Flower & Garden photos before going to the Seas ride with no wait. They were feeding the manatees so we spent some nice time in there watching the boys. After leaving the Seas we found a jersey for Chloe, and a pin set that she had been wanting, double score! We went to meet Aimee, @acamm , and Kevin via Canada side as they were at the American Pavilion and we were on that side. Oh my gosh, they were so fun! We spent probably a good hour or two with them, just like we’d been friends for years! We heard Mariachi Cobre and Voices of Liberty from our picnic table while we talked. We said our goodbyes so they could continue their eating around the World and meet up with some friends and we went inside to check out the jazz display. When we came out we got to see the princesses cavalcade as we continued around via Germany, Norway, Mexico side, grabbing more topiary pics along the way. We worked our way up to Spaceship Earth on the Test Track side so we could see the new entrance. Oh man, it is so cool! Well done Disney! We just love the pillar statue with the fountain! The new entrance music is great too! We got the entrance topiaries and saw SE was listed at a 15 minute wait and wasn’t half that. Ah, it felt good to thank the Phoenicians again! We were feeling hungry and given our location decided to head into the Land Pavilion for Sunshine Seasons. It had been a number of years since we had the opportunity and it was delicious as always! I had a great dinner of salmon, green beans, and rice and Kathy got a pepperoni flatbread and pasta salad. The pasta salad was better than I expected! Living With the Land was a complete walk on! We saw that Soarin was listed at 45 minutes wait but I really wanted to get Kathy on her favorite ride at EPCOT since we had ridden my Spaceship Earth. It wound up about 40, not horrible. Not only did we get row B-1, but absolute dead center for Kathy! A perfect way to kick off her birthday trip! After Soarin we browsed Mousegear, there was a small wait to get in but even though the line looked a little daunting, it was just a few minutes. We then looped back around WS from Mexico side, stopping in Germany to check for sunglasses for Lauren, but without luck. We left EPCOT around 7:30 and were home to Pop by about 8:00. We got milk for the week and filled our mug. Bell services had delivered our luggage to our room! That was really nice! So our room not quite being ready in the morning worked out just fine for us! We had unpacked by 9:00 and relaxed and stretched out a bit before bed after a very long but very fun day! We were tired, we were happy, we were Home!

I’m adding a new stat, calories burned. I wonder why I’m always so hungry at WDW. I don’t eat nearly like that at home, and if I did I’d weigh about 400 pounds! I think the category of calories burned, as measured by my Fitbit explains it pretty well.

Steps: 26,540
Miles: 11.96
Calories burned: 4148
Spin: 5