Epcot & Port Orleans Riverside

Cal had not been to Disney World since our family trip in January 2020.  Thus, I asked him if he wanted to go to Epcot while he was here this weekend.  He was very interested and even though Maggie had just been there with her parents in April, she was ready for another visit.  I bought tickets for them for today and all they had to decide was if we were going to rope drop or not.  Maggie decided to leave that up to Cal since he hadn't been in four years.  He voted for making it to the park before it opened and this morning we were all out the door at 7 a.m.

Traffic was light this morning and we were able to get into Epcot before the 8:30 early entry time.  We first headed to the Land Pavillon so that we could ride Soarin' and Living with the Land.  We appreciated having no wait time and enjoyed the rides very much.  Our next stop was the butterfly garden.  There were so many butterflies out that many had made their way to the flowers outside of the exhibit.  I had used my DAS pass to get the four of us on Test Track next.  Cal and Maggie's car beat ours by just a few points.  I had purchased the two of them a lightening lane pass for Guardians of the Galaxy which they headed to after Test Track.  Doug and I rested while they were gone and I tried the cinnamon bites while waiting.  Cal and Maggie had a lot of fun on the ride, but could totally understand why I decided to skip it this trip.  There is definitely a lot more spinning than I was used to with other rides.  

The four of us met in Mexico after Guardians.  I had never seen it as packed as it was this morning.  Thankfully, Doug was still able to get his margarita and we were all able to ride The Gran Fiesta Tour.  While we were in Mexico, we watched a Mariachi band that had a familiar name on the xylophone.  Our plan from there was to tour the countries trying the food from the Flower & Garden festival.  There were a lot of delicious dishes and none of us were disappointed with what we found.  We also got to take Cal on Remy's Ratatouille Adventure ride in France.  Cal had never been on that either.  He liked Guardians a little bit better, but still had fun.  We ended our day in Epcot back where we started, in the Land.  We rode Maggie's favorite character ride, Figment, and Cal's favorite from his youth, Spaceship Earth.  We also walked through Moana's Journey of Water, a first for Cal as well.  

Cal really wanted to play miniature golf while he was in Florida.  We suggested Blizzard Beach's course as he didn't remember playing there.  He picked the winter side this afternoon and we all had a great time.  Cal and Maggie had a grudge match going as they had played two other times, finishing with one win a piece.  Maggie won the grudge match beating Cal by one stroke today. I was the overall champion, giving the girls the victory on the day.

After mini-golf we headed to our hotel, Disney's Port Orleans Riverside.  I had booked us rooms for the night so that no one had to get up too early for their Sunday morning flight.  Neither Maggie nor Cal had ever stayed there and we were supper happy to show it to them.  We ate beignets from Scat Cat's Cafe before resting in our rooms.  Dinner was in the Riverside food court and the meals were more than any of us could finish.  Our last stop of the night was the piano bar at our hotel.  Doug and I had been many times before and knew that they would enjoy the piano man, Bob.  It was so much fun and an awesome way to spend our last evening together on this trip.