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Disney Birthday Traditions
You already know that Mark and I are Disney fanatics. We tried to give up the annual pass when COVID changed everything, but we couldn’t stay away for long. When we renewed our passes a few months ago, we decided to continue our tradition of spending birthdays at Disney like we have each year since moving to Florida in 2015.
While planning a big Disney celebration for Mark’s upcoming milestone birthday in November, at the last minute, we decided to splurge and go in a different direction. We booked flights for a fantastic adventure to Belize, and in turn, he surprised me with a three-day Disney weekend for my own birthday in 2021.
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Pop Century Resort for Food and Wine
We booked two nights at Disney’s Pop Century Resort and stayed in the 50s-themed area for the first time! We made park reservations for Epcot to experience the 2021 Taste of International Food and Wine Festival on my actual birthday, and it was the greatest gift of all.
We enjoyed food and drinks in Mexico, China, Italy, America, Japan, Greece, and Earth Eats, rode Spaceship Earth, and took in one of the final performances of Epcot’s current night show – Epcot Forever, ending September 28, 2021. We took the Skyliner back to our resort, swam in the bowling pin-shaped pool to wash the scorching day off of us, and turned in for a night of classic Mickey cartoons and much-needed rest!
Epcot Food and Wine Festival
If you have never been to Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival – in our opinion, it’s a must-do! Eat and drink across six continents at over 20 different marketplaces; even more are coming this fall. Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival happens from July to November each year. We find a new favorite every year! To see the full menu and venues for 2021 – check out this link!
The next morning, we had breakfast in the Everything POP dining room, and then we wandered around our resort and the neighboring resort- Disney’s Art of Animation Resort before we headed to our next park reservation – Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Next, Mark and I hopped on a bus to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, where we took advantage of our Pass holder Photo Pass and took some silly photos along the way.
Visiting Animal Kingdom
We enjoyed drinks in Africa at the Dawa Bar, browsed the incredible shops, had another drink in Asia next to Mount Everest at the Thirsty River Bar, walked through one of my favorite areas- Dino Land U.S.A. and rode Dinosaur for the first time! It was a whirlwind visit, super hot, and lots of fun, but we got hungry and went back to Epcot!
Currently, as Pass holders, we can park hop to other parks that we didn’t make a reservation for but only after 2 PM, assuming the park has availability.
Park Hopping to Epcot
After 2 PM, we “park hopped” back to Epcot, where we rounded out the current Food and Wine stands that we were most interested in (more Countries open on October 1, 2021, and we will be going back!). We visited Australia, Hawaii, The Noodle Exchange, France, Tangierine Cafe, and The Donut Shop. We looped around for one more El Tigre Margarita from Mexico, then headed to the buses for the day’s final stop of the day…
Park Hopping to Magic Kingdom
On to – Disney’s Magic Kingdom– it was the evening of Friday the 13th, and all I wanted out of the entire day was to visit The Haunted Mansion and watch the night show – Happily Ever After before they retired it in September for the Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary. We accomplished them both, and it was a fantastic night full of spooky Magic!
Hollywood Studios in the Summer
Our final day was spent at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Star Wars – Galaxy’s Edge, where we had a dining reservation for Ogas Cantina and absolutely nothing else on the agenda!
Once we arrived at the park, we started the adventure like always – at the Sunshine Day Bar near The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror for the Southside Fizz and Mark’s favorite Blackberry Moonshine Lemonade. Then we browsed some more shops (primarily for air conditioning, LOL) and headed to Star Wars – Galaxy’s Edge for our reservation at Oga’s Cantina.
We had about a 5-minute wait for our reservation after we checked in, and then we got a spot standing at the bar; the majority of it was a standing room only with very few tables. This is our third visit to the cantina and the first time they have strictly enforced the 45-minute time limit. But no worries, we have had plenty of time each visit to try several concoctions – the Jedi Mind Trick, The Outer Rim, Bespin Fizz, Fuzzy Tauntaun, Jet Juice, and the Yub Nub. All of them are seriously out of this world – zero puns intended;) This time, we ordered the Batuu Bits, and it was… uhh.. interesting! Mark wasn’t super impressed, but I enjoyed it – It’s an outer space take on chips and salsa and worth the try! If you run out of time and there’s still something you want to try, they make it super easy to take it to go!
It’s so much fun to have a great cocktail (the Blue Milk with Rum), wander around, and take in the incredible atmosphere of the park itself. There is so much to see, so many fantastic details, you can never see it all in one visit – and that is true for all the parks, hence why we keep returning! It’s so close to home yet makes you feel far away for a day or two…or lucky this time -for three!
p.s. All of the custom Minnie Ears and Disney shirts you see in our photos were either purchased on Amazon, Etsy, Hot Topic, Target, or at the official Disney stores! Find ALL of our affiliate links on our SHOP!
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