We don't club hop, we park hop.

Today was such a good day!

My two suitemates, Chrissy and Erin and I had the day off so around 2:00 we all decided to do some park hopping! Since I had never been to Animal Kingdom and they really wanted to go, we decided to make that our first destination. The first thing we did after parking in the Unicorn section of the parking lot was go to Guest Relations to get "We're Celebrating" buttons and "First Visit" buttons. Chrissy and Erin wrote on their buttons that they were celebrating their Disney College Program while I said I was celebrating a beautiful day!

Afterwards, we decided to walk around some of the shops, and it was really cute because all of their merchandise fits the theme of Africa, the safari, and the outdoors. I then realized that you could meet Pocahontas in Animal Kingdom and since I had never met her before, I really wanted to do that. So we found out where her meet and greet was and went there to get in line. It was at Camp Mickey Minnie, which was an adorable outdoor area where you could meet tons of characters from Mickey and Minnie dressed in Safari outfits, to Baloo from the Jungle Book, to Rafiki from the Lion King, and so on.

We got in line for Pocahontas, who had yet to arrive, and this performer came on stage and started singing improvised songs about the people around him! He began by singing about a little girl in purple boots and then he said that he would sing about any subject someone gave him. Some kids walked up to him and asked him to sing about their cat and their hometown, and the performer even made the songs rhyme! He sang a song about a guest who was learning to walk! It was great! Then Pocahontas came out and we finally got to meet her! Poca wasn't looking so great today for some reason; something was off about her, but she was cute nonetheless! I had her do a shout out video for my sister, Becca because Pocahontas is the only Disney movie she likes, then I got her autograph and we took a group photo with her!

Afterwards, we went to Kilimanjaro Safari because it was closing soon and that's one of the best attractions at DAK. I loved that ride!! I've read about how they make it so that the animals will stay where where they can be seen, and whatever Disney is doing to make that happen, they're doing it right. We saw so many animals! My favorite was the giraffes that we ran into. They walked and ate right next to us! I'll post some photos but they aren't the best quality because they're video stills.

I didn't even have to zoom in on this giraffe. She walked right passed us! 

When we were done with Kilimanjaro, we got drinks and walked to Festival of the Lion King. It was SO good! It was interactive so they had kids come up before the show and the singing and choreography was phenomenal. The music is prerecorded but a lot of the singing was live; it felt like a Broadway show. I didn't take very many pictures of it because again, I wanted video footage of some of it. This is the only picture I got that isn't blurry.

Since the park was closed after that show, we decided to leave and go to EPCOT. We drove over and the first thing we did was ride Spaceship Earth! It was the first time I had ever ridden it and I really liked how educational it was. My only problem with it was that it went from the Renaissance period to what looked like  the 1920's or something. But overall, it was a good ride!

After that ride, we walked over to World Showcase because we were hungry. We originally wanted to get a snack or something quick, but then we decided we wanted to eat at a full service restaurant in Italy. We ran into some problems at a few places because we didn't have a reservation, but one restaurant told us to come back at 8:30 and we would have a chance of being seated. Since it was only 6:00 or so, we walked around to the other countries and Chrissy and I got some delicious funnel cakes in the America pavilion. Erin and Chrissy then said that they wanted to ride Figment, something I had never heard of until they told me about it.  We walked over to the attraction and when we asked about it, a cast member told us it was closed for the day. Since it's such an unpopular attraction, they close it down a few hours before the park closes.

Then we went to the Mexico pavilion to look for a restaurant because we didn't feel like waiting until 8:30. Unfortunately though, the only good restaurant was booked for the night. In an attempt to kill time, we walked around the pavilions a little more and when we got to Germany, we decided to meet Snow White! I've met Snow White before and the first time, she was okay; maybe she wasn't feeling well that time. But this time she was perfect! We thought she would just kind of walk over to us and make conversation since we are three adults, not little kids. But she walked over twirling her dress and she said, "Oh look, princesses!" and she asked if we were there to find our true loves. When we said no, she asked if we had already found them, to which we all said no again. Then she said, "Wanna know a secret?" and we said yes. She said, "Promise not to tell?" and she walked us over to the wishing well and told us to repeat after her. She then sang "I'm Wishing" from the beginning of her movie and we echoed her. Once we were done, she said we were sure to find our true loves now. She was so sweet and polite, just like in the movie. We took some photos and then left, extremely happy with how the meet and greet went!

The second photo is of us at the wishing well. I like how you can see the band aids on my feet.. not.

After walking around some more, we went back to Italy and asked if we could be seated at the restaurant we were looking into. When they said they were still full at that time, they suggested another restaurant called Tutto Gusto Wine Cellar, which had the same menu. We walked over and they had availability! I love that all of the cast members in each country are from that country. Our waiter was so cute with his Italian accent and his big smile. I decided to get lasagna and it was delicious! We also told him it was my birthday because we heard them sing "Happy birthday" in Italian to other people! I got a free chocolate mousse that was set in a chocolate shell or something and a candle on top. The food was really good by the way if you're ever at the Italy Pavilion and you want something to eat. Of course I took photos of what I ordered!

Afterwards, the park was closing so we walked around the different countries again and headed towards the park exit. Chrissy talked about how much she wanted to be friends with a character and she did her best Goofy impersonation. She walked like Goofy for at least twenty minutes and sang Princess and the Frog songs in her most soulful voice. It was really funny! And while we were walking, a custodian walked passed us and you would think he would have said something about the way Chrissy was walking or talking but he looked at me and said "pretty dress." I don't know why but I thought that was the sweetest thing ever because he didn't have to say it and he genuinely meant it. I wish I would have stopped to talk to him but it didn't occur to me until after it was too late.

We left the park soon after and went home! Overall it was a really great day! I think it helped that we didn't have to take the CP buses at all which can be kind of a buzz kill because they're so inconvenient. I also really love hanging out with Chrissy and Erin. A lot of the time I'm not in the best mood because work is really tiring or overwhelming, but days like today make it all worth it.