Mother Daughter Disney Trip to Epcot

When my 31-year-old daughter, who loves to travel like I do, proposed a “grown-up girls’ trip to Disney,” I was surprised… then excited! A mother-daughter Disney World adventure – as adults?!

I looked back in my photo archives (I label and organize my photos by date, then name, so I can easily search a friend, an event, etc). It was 1998 then 2004 when we last toured Disney in Orlando as a family – the four of us with my husband and son too! So fast forward two decades… this would be different! A whole new world around the World Pavillion of EPCOT.

First things first! We reserved a hotel “in the park” to garner Disney privileges among other perks. We chose the Disney Swan Reserve, a newer Marriott Autograph hotel that overlooks the iconic Disney Swan and Dolphin Hotels.

Three things we loved about The Marriott Swan Reserve:
1. It’s a more adult luxury hotel than the Disney-themed hotels
2. Guest have access to free boat rides to EPCOT, and early Park entry
3. We could use travel points to book – Marriott Bonvoy or Chase Sapphire! There’s your Travel Tip!

Second, we chose Disney dates outside of school holidays and peak visit times. A midweek early February visit was “off peak” – perfect! Less crowds, less kids on school vacay. I was able to secure a Florida Resident Pixie Pass good midweek for the entire year, which I will use in addition to this trip – just two hours from St Augustine where I live! My daughter flew into Orlando airport from Maine (she was immediately happy to be in sunshine- not snow), I scooped her up and our magical mother-daughter trip was on!

Third, we both downloaded the Disney App…. it’s essential. While I don’t love that the Disney experience is so app-centric now (I’d rather not be on my phone on travel adventures), every ride, dining reservation, your ticket, its all on the APP! My daughter, being a techy millennial, had it all figured out for us. I adopted the technology when I realized I could have a little mermaid emoji, being a redhead – I’m Ariel in my Disney fantasy world.

Of note: I had “assigned viewing” before our girls Disney trip. My daughter said I “must see” Ratatouille, Frozen, and Guardians of the Galaxy. What a fun assignment… which I accepted! I hadn’t watched a Disney movie in over a decade, since my kids flew the nest. The anticipation only grew after viewing Remy the rat, gorgeous and brave Elsa and Sven (the reindeer?), and Star-Lord (Chris Pratt- he’s all that).

Our first night, we kicked off our trip at Disney Springs – an amusement park in and of itself of shopping, dining and drinking at over 60 restaurants, spanning 10 pedestrian blocks with bridges and boardwalks surrounding Lake Buena Vista. A lovely dinner at Summer House on the Lake, we enjoyed cocktails and shared delicious plates at the Bar overlooking the waterfront. The Summer House gives Hampton vibes, or maybe California chic – we loved it. Strolling around the shops at Disney Springs, we didn’t have that Disney-fan urge to buy kitschy theme park merch. Instead the Rainforest Café was beckoning with its blowing volcano. Passing the Rainforest entrance, we followed the molten lava flow show to the Lava Lounge below, where we enjoyed a theatrical cocktail with a Village Lake view. I remember back when Disney Springs was Pleasure Island – an adults-only pavilion that (sadly) closed in 2008. Now you have to share Disney Springs with families, kids, strollers.

Back at our hotel, we had a view of EPCOT’s 9pm fireworks from our 9^th floor room. Travel Tip: Ask for an upper room facing the Swan and Dolphin and EPCOT!

As Disney hotel guests, we could enter the park at 8:30, ahead of the rest. Stopping for a quick pic of the classic EPCOT Spaceship Earth, or as my son called it in 2004 “the world’s largest golf ball.” We were at EPCOT for rope drop, with a plan to hit the most-popular rides first! EPCOT early in the morning is quiet, so enjoyable, we walked halfway around “the world” pavilion, before 9am. Only surprise, concessions were not yet open – we both wanted a cappuccino in France, you know?!

Right on time, we entered the single lines at Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure ride, blazing by families and groups already queued up. Travel Tip: This singles’ line is awesome, even though you don’t get to ride together, it’s a big time saver. I met a nice couple from Santiago Chile in my “rat car”. Disney truly has international appeal and draw.

Now France was open for shopping, we browsed Guerlain, and sipped our cappuccinos from La Creperie de Paris!

The World Showcase is such fun, strolling the 11 country pavilions, from France’s Eiffel Tower to the US, Canada’s Frontenac Hotel, to the British streets and pubs, Morocco’s maze of markets, to zen Japanese gardens, Germany’s Biergarten, to China’s Great Wall 360, Venice Italy’s St Mark’s Piazza, to Mexico’s ruins with a convincingly fun fiesta atmosphere and mariachi band. I am a travel journalist of three-decades, EPCOT’s world showcase is a great mini-replica of global travel.

We were on our way to Norway, to the quaint cobblestone streets, Kringla café, Norse Vikings, and of course, Elsa’s “Frozen Ever After” ride. Wish there had been a singles line for this deceivingly long queue, but we had to see beautiful Elsa, Anna, Sven and Kristoff. The ride was cute, “Do you wanna build a snowman?”… though I was anticipating some big dramatic ice incident that never happened “ever after.”

We loved our lunch, RSVP via the Disney app, at Chef de France. So many of Disney’s dining feels incredibly authentic, with French-speaking (par example) waiters, befitting décor, and genuine cuisine. My ratatouille was “très bien” and the vino blanc was “vraiment équilibré”.

What’s fun about an adult Epcot trip – you can drink around the world! And we did! Stroll and sip a margarita in Mexico, savor Violet Sake in Japan, prost! with Bier in Germany and Norway, chin-chin Plum Wine in China, ciao Limoncello in Italy, santé with Champagne in France… you can sip and spend to your heart’s delight!

My favorite ride was probably “Soarin” over in the World of Nature… it’s like hang-gliding over the entire earth, so scenic, without jetlag, and no crash landing (why I don’t hang glide)!

Spaceship Earth (inside EPCOT’s signature huge golf ball) was a cool perspective of the passage of time on our earth, well done, even though the ride hasn’t been updated, it shows our evolution of communication from hieroglyphics to parchment, the Gutenberg press to typewriters and phones, to the first huge PC, and then TV – an important chronological lesson to kids born with cell phones!

Not so fun fact: rides break at Disney… Nemo was suddenly out of order after we’d waited in line for quite some time too. Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind was “closed” on the app, but suddenly re-opened and my daughter pounced on a “virtual queue” reservation via the app (though it was for hours later!). We could have paid extra for the Lightening Lane, but we both vowed we’d paid enough to be at Disney already!
Not so fun fact #2: Even mid-week non-holiday, Disney is busy… and pricey… you just have to “let it go“, to paraphrase Elsa, “the crowds never bothered me anyway“…enjoy the people parade and look for the hidden Mickey’s while you wait.

Having walked all the way around the world twice, we were happy to take the boat back to our hotel late afternoon, to swim in our Swan Reserve resort pool, rest our feet (22k steps!), refresh, rejuvenate, change for dinner. Taking the boat back to EPCOT in the evening for fireworks was easy breezy, drinks in hand – cheers! Now, it was (finally) time for our rocking Cosmic Rewind ride time. This is a wild rush of space travel with cranking 80’s tunes from the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack. Apparently, some Disney aficionados wait for their favorite 80s tune…. but we had places to go, countries to visit!

Great Britain was calling, so we walked along the waterfront enjoying the twinkling lights. Epcot is so different and dazzling at night. Sipping our drinks in the charming Rose and Crown Pub, people were laughing, toasting, the ambiance felt cheerfully British. Our English table was ready, out on the patio overlooking the lagoon and what would soon be the fireworks. Our shared Scotch Egg was “brilliant” followed by bountiful Fish and Chips satisfyingly beer battered, filling and fun! And then the fireworks had begun. Our waiter Seamus assured us “please no rush, relax, enjoy the show” from our front row! The Luminous Symphony of US was a mesmerizing show of lasers, lights, and fireworks from the Bay Lake barges, all choreographed to music and narration about our universal commonalities as humans.

What a perfect way to end our EPCOT day as mother-daughter… friends forever, enjoying each other’s company at the “happiest place on earth.” This trip was different than witnessing my daughter’s 6-year-old wide-eyes of amazement seeing the Magic Kingdom for the first time, spying Cinderella’s’ fairytale castle, and meeting Minnie Mouse and Miss Piggie. But it was no less special. Mother-daughter time, people-watching with our shared commentating (oh come on, we all do it), bonding over global beverages and cuisine, holding tight on exciting rides, and fulfilling fairytale wishes.

Can’t wait to go on African safari at the Animal Kingdom, visit MGM’s new Villains Park, and maybe muster the courage for Magic Kingdom’s TRON Lightcycle Run! We also flirted with the idea of a Monorail Bar Crawl next trip. We’d ride the free monorail connecting each stop with a cocktail – starting with an Outer Rim at the Contemporary, onto Polynesia for a Tiki Bar Tropical Punch, then the Grand Floridian finale – up to The Enchanted Rose Lounge for a Rye Not. Drinking Belle becomes sleeping beauty after that night cap!

Just because you are older, doesn’t mean you have aged-out-of Disney. Cheers travel friends!

“Laughter is timeless. Imagination has no age. And dreams are forever.” – Walt Elias Disney, 1901-1966