ONE Disney Day: EPCOT Festival of the Arts First Timer FEBRUARY 2023 TR (7/12 Update)

[kittylady1972]

Having done several EPCOT Festivals over the years: many Food and Wines, a few Flower and Gardens, some of the Holidays, we had never managed Festival of the Arts.

But that's about to change.

Searching for a fun Valentine's Day trip, not necessarily on Valentine's Day as we tend not to go out on that day because it's always crazy. Still any reason to celebrate...not that we need a reason. So of course I started stalking for cheap flights.

Flights from our local airport to MCO on Spirit are SUPER cheap...especially if only going for a day or two and we've become Spirit experts. They seem to get a bad reputation but I feel like most of the people (because I was one of them) bash them having never tried them. Yes there are a lot of extra fees, all stated up front on the website so no reason to complain about them. They charge for seats up front, but if you don't pay they assign you one at checkin for free (yeah no cattle call). Free personal item (and you'd be amazed what you can pack in a Spirit sized personal item bag if you try) but you pay for carry on luggage and checked luggage. I could go on and on. However when I can buy TWO roundtrip tickets on Spirit to Florida for a quick overnight trip in February and they cost me $75....TOTAL for two not EACH...why not?

Our DVC Membership means "free" room if I can find one. No luck initially so we booked a room at Pop for about $230. Our plan was to fly early in the morning, spend our day at Universal (because we have annual passes there that cost me $200 and Disney still won't sell me a WDW Annual pass), have a nice dinner at Flying Fish (a favorite), stay overnight and then come back the next afternoon.

However I'm me...and always stalking...so when I found that I would save us $230 by booking a free DVC room...and I could get 1 Day Park tickets for about that price...why not?

Yet I still wanted some time for Mardi Gras at Universal...so I cancelled my super cheap flights...and booked a return flight the next day that was later to allow a full day at Universal...on SWA (please don't fail me now...thankfully I'll have no luggage). I have SWA points...easy. Now I just have to rebook my outbound day 1 morning flights which should cost me less than $50.

What one Disney park should we visit for the day? Well we will be getting in after rope drop, and we hope to stay in the EPCOT area (still stalking for a DVC Resort there...right now we are at Copper Creek/Wilderness Lodge), and we have dinner at Flying Fish...so EPCOT makes sense. Which means we could experience Festival of the Arts for the first time.

Gotta say I'm pretty excited about this trip, and since our plan is to visit the booths, I will try to remember to update with our experiences in terms of food and drinks. DH is a beer person, I am not (but a good cider or wine will work) so I'll see what we can try and report back here.

It's been six months since we've visited Walt Disney World, and we already have a longer planned trip in March, but this will hopefully be a fun and short getaway.

Stay tuned as I finalize our plans!

 

[kittylady1972]

So my plan to purchase my airfare to Florida last night was a bust. Airport was crazy busy when we went there, so I'll try again another day. We live only about 15 minutes from there so it's a very easy trip for us. The good news is that the flights I plan to book are still $27 per person one way online and I don't expect that to change.

Here is what we have booked right now:

DAY ONE:​

Early flight to Florida: NOPE​

Rental Car: YES​

Room Reservation: Copper Creek at Wilderness Lodge​

EPCOT Park Reservation: YES​

Spice Road Table Lunch​

Explore Festival of the Arts at EPCOT​

Flying Fish Dinner​

​

DAY TWO: ​

Breakfast at Ale & Compass​

Plans for this day are to spend the day at Universal Studios enjoying their Mardi Gras celebration (they usually have some pretty good food booths there as well)​

Somewhat early dinner at a Universal Studios Florida location​

Evening flight home: BOOKED​

Still stalking a DVC room reservation at an EPCOT Resort with no luck.

 

[kittylady1972]

Not much to update other than I finally bought our outbound flights. I decided just to buy them online instead of saving the $20 or so going to the airport. So our two southbound flights cost me $53.78. Since our return flights are on SWA, one with a gift card and one on points, that means we've spent less than $60 for our round trip flights.

No luck in my daily DVC stalking for an EPCOT area room, but we are okay with Copper Creek. It just means our travel back to the hotel Monday night (since it's extra magic hours for EPCOT for us) will be a bit longer. We'll have a car and of course we can take the bus. It also means we'll have to drive back to our resort after dinner at Flying Fish to likely change again for an evening at the park. We will definitely get our TWO rides on Guardians of the Galaxy...LOVE that coaster!

No price changes in our rental car either, other than maybe a few dollars. I even tried going through UCT last night to see if they had a good deal with their buy a ticket save on rental car...but nope.

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On another note, I'm planning another trip in March as well, this is a longer Disney trip with some neighbors who are also Disney fans like us. We've always talked about going on a trip together, as one time we ran into them at the airport in Florida as we were going home and they were arriving. That one will be about a week for us, but we'll have 4 days with them doing parks together. I've added some dining for us for that one, but honestly I'm not sweating it too much. Even though I know it's Spring Break time, we are truly okay with whatever meals we get and whatever we do. We've all been fortunate enough to have visited the parks a lot so we aren't in a rush to do ALL THE THINGS.

 

[tundra1]

Thanks for the write up! I am excited to hear how things turn out!

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

I love quick Disney fix getaways! Not to mention, that is some crazy cheap airfare. What airport do you fly out of.

 

[kittylady1972]

Thanks for the write up! I am excited to hear how things turn out!

Hopefully I remember to come back and update!!

I love quick Disney fix getaways! Not to mention, that is some crazy cheap airfare. What airport do you fly out of.

I do as well. I have done several quick and last minute trips over the years. They are super fun. Airport is BWI.

 

[kittylady1972]

Ok so there wasn't much need for a update...until right NOW!

I had an email message from Disney Vacation Club regarding my February waitlist. Now I wasn't sure which rooms I had waitlisted, I only knew I wanted something in the EPCOT area. Our preference was for a Tower room at Riviera because we stayed there once before and really liked it.

So guess what?

Yep they were calling to see if I wanted to switch to a Riviera Tower Room. YES PLEASE!

It's a few less points, which means points in my account will go on hold so I'll have to use them this year with only a 60 day in advance reservation. I can do that.

I'm still stalking a later Flying Fish reservation but now that we are staying closer to the restaurant it will be easier to have dinner, then go back to change before hitting EPCOT that night for extra magic hours.

Also we cancelled Ale and Compass for breakfast the next morning. We are heading to Universal for the day and figure we'll grab something on the drive over or at the parks there to maximize our time since we are only there for the day.

So excited for this trip which is now only 19 days away!

 

[Counting Stars]

That's a wonderful bit of luck- so glad you got what you were hoping for

 

[Echo queen]

Love the last minute energy. .

 

[kittylady1972]

That's a wonderful bit of luck- so glad you got what you were hoping for

Thanks! Me too!

Love the last minute energy. .

Thanks!

 

[kittylady1972]

14 Days to go!

Two weeks from now I'll be in one of my happy places...and hopefully out of the cold though honestly it hasn't been that bad here as of late. We have yet to see any snow other than a flurry here and there. Yet I feel it will happen...and while I'm okay with that happening while we are gone, DH is not...he loves the stuff!

So speaking of love, when I planned this trip it was for an EARLY Valentine's Day dinner as I may have mentioned we don't usually go out for Valentine's Day. Then this week I saw something about a pre-fixe Valentine's Day dinner at Shades of Green that sounded pretty good. It would be tough to do with openings at 5pm and beyond and our 6:30pm (approx) flight home. Yet it would be pretty easy and inexpensive to change to a later flight. I pitched the idea to my husband.

Did I mention I refer to him as my little enabler?

Problem is he wants to stay that extra night and fly back the next day. I wasn't on board with that, but in the end I caved...and so now we have TWO nights in Florida next month.

We booked a morning flight home on Wednesday, and so we decided staying closer to the airport would be easiest for that.

Well you can't get much closer than IN the airport, and since DH has always wanted to stay at the Hyatt inside the airport...he is getting his wish.

Hopefully we can get in an early Valentine's Day dinner. Priced at $99 per couple for salad, steak and dessert it's not bad.

So the rental car was modified for a later dropoff as was the flight. Now we have another night in a hotel. All good.

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March Update: Also this week I managed to get us two nights in March at Boulder Ridge Wilderness Lodge for our longer trip. We'll do two nights there before moving to Shades of Green for another 5 nights.

 

[kittylady1972]

Another day, another change.

So it seemed crazy to have dinner then rush off to the airport on Valentine's Day. As much as we would like to try staying there one day...we just don't feel this trip is the right time. So that room was cancelled.

We are now staying at Shades of Green for that night, which is where we plan to have dinner, so after a day at Universal parks we can come back and clean up for a bit. That will be nice. PLUS if we feel like it afterwards we can head over the Polynesian or Contemporary and watch some fireworks.

Also...checked on my rental car and managed to get a cheaper rate on that...saving me about $20. Not bad. That's with dropping it off the next morning instead of the night of Valentine's Day.

Our flight Wednesday isn't really super early, it's 8:45am and on a typical work day we are up around 5:30am. So even leaving around 6am the next day we would be fine. That is provided SWA doesn't have any issues with the flight.

On another note, anybody seen the Valentine's Day desserts around the World? Oh my gosh so many I want to try and so few days!

I've been on a healthier eating kick since the beginning of the year. I'd like to shed some pounds and also have just had a few health issues that I feel I could improve with better eating and some weight loss. I have not made a ton of progress if I step on the scale, but enough that I feel better about my overall health and that's what matters. I gave up sugar and alcohol all of January, but this week I did finally let myself have my favorite only once a year Brownie Batter Donut from Dunkin. Good stuff. I do find not having sugar that I don't crave it once I get beyond those first few days. Also really reducing my carbs and trying not to have favorites like bread and french fries. Anyway...those desserts...still may have to have a few of them, then make sure I get back on the wagon when I get home!

 

[kittylady1972]

Every day I'm SHUFFLING!

So while my neighbors are narrowing down our longer March trip, with park reservations and dining plans, I'm just waiting on my trip in 4 MORE DAYS!
Keep thinking about food and it is still possible we'll change things but I decided to drop Spice Road Table on Monday (for an early lunch) and booked Le Creperie instead. We've not tried either and we love crepes...might be a good base if we are doing the Festival food and drinks around the world. Gonna try to convince DH to share though so we don't fill up.

New Schedule:
Monday: Early flight, arrive at Riviera. Room ready, we'll drop off our stuff there...if not we'll park and ride the Skyliner over to EPCOT where we plan to spend the day. Late breakfast at Le Creperie (right now) and explore Festival of the Arts stuff. Back to room around 4pm or so, prep for dinner that evening at Flying Fish. After Flying Fish, spend the evening hours at EPCOT until closing (11pm). I have booked Beaches and Cream at 10:55pm in case I want dessert before we go back to the room.

Tuesday: Breakfast somewhere in the area or on the way as we will hit the Universal parks for the day and want to get there close to opening. Spend the day there, lite lunch there. Back to Shades of Green in the afternoon and have dinner there as of right now (Valentine's Day dinner). Evening maybe over at Polynesian for drinks and watching fireworks from the beach if it's nice enough.

Wednesday: Sadly we have to come home...we have an 8:45am flight.


Don't hold me to this, even my DH knows I change things on a moments notice. For sure EPCOT day stays the same, Flying Fish stays the same, the rest...we'll just see how it goes!

 

[kittylady1972]

I think I forgot to mention the surprise I have for both of us? I told DH this was our V-day gift (the trip and the Flying Fish dinner) but on a whim I bought us both Magicband+ for the trip. Now I'm going to have to try to remember to charge them before we leave so we can use them since our only park day is our arrival day. Hopefully there are cool things to do with them around EPCOT? I have no idea.

 

[Shrfleen]

I think I forgot to mention the surprise I have for both of us? I told DH this was our V-day gift (the trip and the Flying Fish dinner) but on a whim I bought us both Magicband+ for the trip. Now I'm going to have to try to remember to charge them before we leave so we can use them since our only park day is our arrival day. Hopefully there are cool things to do with them around EPCOT? I have no idea.

Our Magicband+ started to buzz and flash on Frozen Ever After, it flashed as we were exiting the ride for Remy and we tried to get the sound feature to work on the Figment statue but it only flashed. I think it also might have flashed as we were watching the Spaceship Earth light show in the front of the park.

 

[nerak]

My magicband+ didn't seem to do much at all unprompted. However my mom says her band buzzed/vibrated during one of the scenes while on Soarin'.

 

[kittylady1972]

Our Magicband+ started to buzz and flash on Frozen Ever After, it flashed as we were exiting the ride for Remy and we tried to get the sound feature to work on the Figment statue but it only flashed. I think it also might have flashed as we were watching the Spaceship Earth light show in the front of the park.

My magicband+ didn't seem to do much at all unprompted. However my mom says her band buzzed/vibrated during one of the scenes while on Soarin'.

Cool. I guess we can just be surprised by what happens!

 

[kittylady1972]

So we are BACK and I totally failed on doing any real time updates but it was such a whirlwind trip. Still so glad we went though.

A quick recap:
Monday flight was uneventful...we headed out after about 4-5 hours of sleep. I ended up having my bid for the Big Front Seats on Spirit accepted, more than I would have liked to spend but still nice. Headed to Riviera with our not so clean or great rental car (thanks Thrifty) and once there hopped on the Skyliner to EPCOT...but only after I gave my DH his early Valentine's Day gift...a MagicBand+ and I had one for myself as well. His linked up great...mine did not...but that's another story. We had breakfast at Le Creperie (showing up earlier than our reservation but still being seated) and then we walked around the World Showcase. A few rides and some wandering, some food booths, exploring Festival of the Arts booths, eventually our room was ready and ew headed back to check into our Tower room at Riviera...we love these little corner rooms. We chilled out, unpacked, did some ironing since we had packed into some very small bags, then headed to Flying Fish for dinner which was wonderful. Then back to the room, changed our clothes, more chilling and napping before heading back to EPCOT for the evening for a few rides. Broke Guardians of the Galaxy (sorta) and then leaving close to 11pm closing with some free popcorn...my favorite.

Tuesday was checking out, then heading to Universal for the day. Breakfast there, a few rides, and then we left to go check into our room at Shades of Green Resort. We love this place too. Some pool and chill time, then lots of debates about dinner before settling on Manginos for a fabulous Valentine's Day meal. Then back to the room, chilling, and early bed so we could get up the next morning for our early flight home.

More details and photos to come...but here are the favorites:

 

[kittylady1972]

Once again, not surprisingly, I'm behind on giving me details.
Have questions? I can answer them. It was a very short trip.

Would I do it again? For sure and I probably will, at least to visit Universal when some of their new stuff opens later this year. Disney is just killing me without being able to buy annual passes.

Right now I'm planning our next trip which is only about two weeks away. This one will be mostly Disney focused, we have 6 day tickets, and now as a bonus my daughter and her boyfriend may spend a day with us at Magic Kingdom as they wrap up their spring break in Florida. She will be starting and ending her trip at a Disney resort (GF and then Riviera) thanks to our DVC points.

As for our trip, we are still debating things like:

1. What day will we leave?
2. Will we drive or take the Autotrain (right now strongly leaning towards driving)?
3. Will we stop on the way down and where if we drive?
4. If we leave a day earlier than our current plan, will we come back a day earlier?

Things are quite up in the air, but we have our park reservations plus some dining reservations and a Sangria Tasting booked. Our neighbors are joining us for 3 nights/4 days and we can't wait to tour the parks with them as they are also Disney fanatics.

 

[rdkeim]

Wow - what a whirlwind trip but fun! Sadly I could never get my DH to do it but a little Disney is better than no Disney. Thanks for sharing!