Ever since my first grandchild was born, I had dreams of introducing her to a place that is very special to her Nana. And I’m happy to report that my dreams came true this year when the Jabead Party accompanied Lucy on her first trip to Disney World.
If you read my previous trip report from 2024 you are already familiar with our group. There were again 7 of us, but this time Emily and Bryan were replaced by my daughter, Allison, and Lucy, her daughter. So while last year’s trip was more of an adult-style trip, this one was all about Lucy and what we thought would be fun for her.
My husband, Don, and I drove down to Disney World, arriving on March 19th. We spent 4 nights there on our own, spending our time at Disney Springs, Epcot, and a morning at Hollywood Studios. During this time we stayed at the Dolphin for our first night before transferring to the Beach Club Villas for the next 3 nights. When the rest of the group flew in to join us on March 23rd, we then stayed at the Contemporary Resort for the rest of the trip. We had Park Hopper tickets so visited two parks on a couple of our days. Also Becca again qualified for a DAS pass so she and 3 others of our group were able to use that to schedule Lightening Lanes (one at a time) once we entered a park, which was a huge help. Don and I then purchased Lightening Lane Multi Passes and tried to match up some of our Lightening Lane choices and times to the others. This made our trip during the crowded Spring Break season much more enjoyable.
Ok, hopefully that gives you an idea of what this trip was about. I would love to have you join us for all the details. And so with that, here is…
OUR LINEUP OF REVIEWS
Resort/Room Reviews
- Dolphin Resort Room #3199 (West Wing) – COMPLETE
- Beach Club Villas Deluxe Studio (Resort View) Room #325 – COMPLETE
- Contemporary Resort Garden Wing (Water View) Room #5244 & Connecting Room #5245 – COMPLETE
Table Service Restaurants
- Rosa Mexicano Breakfast (Dolphin Resort) – COMPLETE
- Raglan Road Dinner (Disney Springs) – COMPLETE
- San Angel Inn Dinner (Epcot, Mexico) – COMPLETE
- The Cake Bake Shop Restaurant Breakfast (Boardwalk) – COMPLETE
- Spice Road Table Fireworks Dining Package (Epcot, Morocco) – COMPLETE
- Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ Lunch (Disney Springs) – COMPLETE
- Chef Mickey’s Character Buffet Dinner (Contemporary Resort) – COMPLETE
- Biergarten Buffet Dinner (Epcot, Germany) – COMPLETE
- Akershus Royal Banquet Hall Character Breakfast (Epcot, Norway) – COMPLETE
- Roundup Rodeo BBQ Dinner (Hollywood Studios)
- Liberty Tree Tavern Lunch (Magic Kingdom)
- Crystal Palace Character Buffet Breakfast (Magic Kingdom)
- Narcoossee’s Dinner (Grand Floridian)
Quick Service Restaurants
- Satu’li Canteen Breakfast (Animal Kingdom) – COMPLETE
- Yak & Yeti Local Foods Cafe Lunch (Animal Kingdom) – COMPLETE
- The Friar’s Nook Breakfast (Magic Kingdom)
- Sleepy Hollow Breakfast (Magic Kingdom)
- Contempo Cafe Lunch (Contemporary Resort)
- Contempo Cafe Breakfast (Contemporary Resort)
Bars, Lounges & Restaurant Happy Hours
- Bluezoo Lounge Happy Hour (Dolphin Resort) – COMPLETE
- Crew’s Cup Lounge Dinner (Yacht Club) – COMPLETE
- Jaleo Happy Hour (Disney Springs) – COMPLETE
- STK Steakhouse Happy Hour (Disney Springs) – COMPLETE
- Space 220 Lounge (Epcot, World Discovery) – COMPLETE
- Wailulu Bar & Grill (Polynesian Villas Island Tower)
Miscellaneous Food
- Beaches & Cream Walk-up Window Ice Cream – COMPLETE
- Epcot Flower & Garden Festival Booths – COMPLETE
- Magic Kingdom Pre-Fireworks Dessert Party
NOTE: All 6 adults of our group (Jake, Andrew, Becca, Allison, Don and myself) participated in the food reviews. Ratings of between 1 – 5 were given as follows:
1 – Really Bad , 2 – Not Good, 3 – Okay, 4 – Good, 5 – Excellent
Wednesday, March 19 – Arrival Day (Dolphin, Yacht & Beach Club)
Our drive actually began on Tuesday, the 18th, but we stopped overnight just south of Atlanta. So we reached the Florida state line just before noon the next day. A little perk of driving to Florida instead of flying is that you can stop at their Welcome Center soon after entering the state on Interstate 75 South. It is here that you can get a free cup of orange juice, as long as you are there during their Operating Hours of 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
That refreshing taste of Florida orange juice was just the “pick me up” we needed to get us through the final stretch of our drive.
So at about 3:30 p.m. we had arrived…
From here we were headed to the Dolphin Resort. Why the Dolphin you ask? Well, back in January when airfares remained incredibly high for our travel dates, Don and I decided to drive down to Florida instead of flying. Because we had more vacation time available than the rest of our group, I was able to tack on a few days to spend there on our own before their arrival on the 23rd. So initially I booked three nights starting March 20th at the Beach Club Villas. Then less than a week before our departure day I was able to talk my husband into leaving a day earlier. My ability to do this was greatly helped by the fact that I was able to get a free room at the Dolphin for that bonus night by using Marriott Rewards points that we had accumulated from staying at the Swan for a week last year. SCORE!
Review of Our Free One Night Stay at the Dolphin Resort
I rarely make dining reservations for our arrival day because you never know if your travel might be delayed, etc. So instead I usually have a loose plan to dine at places that don’t require reservations. For this trip, I decided that I wanted to do a progressive dinner on our first night. We began by having an appetizer and cocktails right there at our hotel.
Review of Happy Hour at bluezoo Lounge
For the main part of our progressive dinner we stayed in the Epcot resort area, walking next door to the Yacht Club Resort’s…
Review of Our Dinner at the Crew’s Cup Lounge
Since we were headed next door to the Beach Club for our dessert, we were walking around the Stormalong Bay, the pool complex shared by the Yacht & Beach Club Resorts. Stormalong Bay had been closed since January 2025 to undergo a major refurbishment.
It was interesting to see the progress they had made in the 2+ months that the pool area had been closed. The water had been drained from the entire pool complex and the sand had been removed from the part of the pool that had had a sandy bottom.
Resurfacing of areas surrounding the pool and of the pool floor was well underway…
This project was to continue through June 2025. This is now June but to my knowledge they have not yet announced a reopening date for Stormalong Bay.
Soon we reached the final stop of our progressive dinner…
Our Dessert from Beaches & Cream To Go
Having completed our progressive dinner and being tired after two long days of driving, we headed back to our hotel, the Dolphin. Walking from the Yacht & Beach Club we were treated to this lovely sight as we approached our hotel…
Though overall I’m partial to the Disney-owned resorts in the Epcot area, I must admit that the Dolphin is the prettiest one at night.
Thursday, March 20 – Dolphin, Beach Club Villas, Disney Springs
Before packing up and checking out of the Dolphin, we went down the escalator to the 1st floor to have breakfast at one of the Dolphin’s restaurants.
Our Breakfast at Rosa Mexicano
After breakfast we returned to our room there at the Dolphin. We had until 11:00 before having to check out so I had some time to catch up on my review notes while Don did a little work. Then it was time to pack up and move our luggage down to the hotel entrance, where I waited with it while Don walked to the Swan’s parking lot to retrieve our car.
Then it was on to Disney Springs, where we parked in the Orange lot (Yay for free parking garages!) and after going through Security we headed to our first destination…
Our First Sangria Hour at Jaleo
After walking around Disney Springs for awhile, in an attempt to kill some time and regain our hunger, we made our way to another restaurant there…
Our STK Steakhouse Happy Hour Review
While at STK I received a text notifying me that our room was ready so we left Disney Springs and headed to the Beach Club Villas…
Review of our 3 Night Stay at the Beach Club Villas
We soon left the Beach Club and drove back to Disney Springs for our 6:30 dinner reservation at…
A Birthday Celebration Dinner at Raglan Road
Friday, March 21 – Epcot
This was our first park day of the trip and we chose to visit our favorite park, Epcot. We slept in and didn’t make our way to Epcot’s International Gateway entrance (a very short walk from our room at the Beach Club Villas) until about 11:00. This was when the Flower & Garden Festival food booths opened for business. We had skipped breakfast so we were hungry and ready to try lots of the booth offerings.
Epcot Flower & Garden Festival Food Booths – 2025 Edition
Later in the afternoon we made our way back to the American Pavilion to see Voices of Liberty perform…
We are big fans of this a cappella group!
Then we were able to get last minute seats for the 5:00 concert at the American Gardens Theater…
Next up: Dinner at San Angel Inn
Peter Noone was great! We enjoyed this so much that we made a point of returning for another concert the next evening.
Saturday, March 22 – Boardwalk, Hollywood Studios, Epcot
We started our day by heading over to the Boardwalk to have breakfast at…
Our Breakfast at the Cake Bake Shop Restaurant
After our breakfast at the Boardwalk we walked back to room at the Beach Club Villas to leave off our leftovers in the fridge. Then we made the short walk to the Epcot Skyliner station to catch a ride to Hollywood Studios.
I had purchased Lightening Lanes for us to ride Toy Story Mania, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror there. Don enjoyed beating me (as always) at Toy Story Mania (I pretty much suck at both TSM and Buzz Lightyear at Magic Kingdom). Then we rode Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (the old version with Aerosmith) for what turned out to be our last time…
While he seemed to enjoy himself during the ride, afterwards he was feeling a bit nauseous and told me that was probably his last thrill ride…not just for the day but probably forever. This made me very sad and also a little surprised. I mean the man owns a powered parachute (which our kids call a “a flying go cart”) but a roller coaster makes him sick?
But anyway, I knew that riding Tower of Terror was then out of the question so I immediately switched out my Lightening Lane to one for Soarin’ at Epcot. We had Park Hopper tickets and had dinner plans at Epcot later that day so I thought Soarin’ would be a good choice and it was. It had always been one of our favorites and I’m looking forward to us riding the new version together on our next trip.
After Soarin’ and using another Lightening Lane to ride Spaceship Earth, it was time for our first of two dinners at…
Our Dinner #1 at Space 220 Lounge
The night before we went to the Garden Rocks concert at Epcot’s American Gardens Theater. We saw Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone and enjoyed the show so much that we decided to return the next evening. So after our first dinner at Space 220 we slowly made our way into and around World Showcase to catch the 6:45 show.
During the show (at about 7:00) we noticed that France appeared to be on fire…
Apparently there was a fire in a walk-in cooler in the backstage area, somewhere near the Ratatouille building. By 7:15 the fire was extinguished and there were no injuries and no damage could be seen in the guest areas of the France pavilion.
Following the show, we made our way through the exiting crowd to walk from America to Morocco in World Showcase for our dinner at…
Spice Road Table Fireworks Dining Package Review
Sunday, March 23 – Disney Springs, Contemporary Resort
Our Group of 2 becomes a Group of 7
Today was the day that the rest of our group flew in to join us. Don and I started the day by heating up the leftovers from our breakfast at the Cake Bake Shop in the microwave of our room at the Beach Club Villas.
After our in-room breakfast it was time to pack up and check out of the Beach Club Villas, as we would be staying at the Contemporary Resort for the remaining 5 nights of our trip. Once our stuff was loaded into our car, it was time to drive to the airport to pick up the first two additions to our group, Jake and Becca. We then took them directly to the water park so they could take advantage of the “Free Water Park admission on your Disney Resort check-in Day” deal that was offered then. After dropping them off at Blizzard Beach, we received the text notification that our room was ready at the Contemporary Resort so we drove there next to quickly drop off our stuff and Jake and Becca’s stuff in our room. It was then time to head to Disney Springs for our lunch at…
Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ Lunch Review
Following our lunch we headed back to the airport to pick up the rest of our group of 7…
Lucy, Allison, and Andrew
Then it was back to the Contemporary, our home for the next 5 nights…
Contemporary Resort Garden Wing (Water View) Room #5244 and #5245
At 7:00 we walked over to the Main Tower building and took the escalator up to the 4th floor concourse for our dinner at…
Our Chef Mickey’s Dinner Review
We finished up at Chef Mickey’s just after 8:30, which is when the Magic Kingdom fireworks were scheduled to begin that night. So we quickly made our way over to the Contemporary’s observation deck, located on the 4th floor on the opposite side of Chef Mickey’s. This a public, free outdoor viewing area which has a great view of the fireworks along with an audio system playing the synchronized music for the show.
Then we had to make a stop at one of the gift shops (also located on the 4th floor) for Lucy to pick up a stuffie, because her Mommy had forgotten to pack her stuffie that she sleeps with every night. Oh, Oh! Thankfully she found a new stuffie (I was able to get a 10% discount by purchasing it with my Disney VISA card) and she was content to sleep with it every night during our trip.
And speaking of sleeping, Lucy and her Mommy had brought their matching Disney themed Little Sleepies pajamas…
Monday, March 24 – Animal Kingdom, Epcot
After rope dropping Pandora in Animal Kingdom at 7:30 (with half our group riding Na’vi River Journey with Lucy and the others riding Avatar), we were ready to meet up for breakfast at Pandora’s quick service restaurant…
Our Satu’li Canteen Breakfast Review
During our morning in Animal Kingdom we took the Wildlife Express Train to Conservation Station, where Lucy enjoyed the Affection Section (aka petting zoo). She made friends with this goat…
At lunch time we found ourselves in the Asia area of the park so we decided to give this quick service restaurant a try…
Yak & Yeti Local Foods Cafe Lunch Review
A few highlights from after our lunch were Lucy getting to meet her (then) favorite Disney character, Moana…
I think this was the longest line we had to wait in on this trip but it was worth it to see Lucy’s face when she saw her favorite character come to life.
While some of us stood in line with Lucy to meet Moana, the rest of our group went on one final ride on Dinosaur before it permanently closed on Feb. 2, 2026…
Looks like they got front row seats!
We then returned to our hotel for a little downtime before heading to Epcot for our 6:25 dinner reservation at Germany’s…
After dinner Lucy, Allison, Don and I headed back to the hotel, as it had been a long first day for Lucy. The rest of our group stayed at Epcot for that night’s extended hours (from 9:00 – 11:00 p.m.) for Deluxe Resort guests. They reported that they were able to ride several things, including Guardians of the Galaxy, with little to no wait during those two bonus hours.
Tuesday, March 25 – Epcot, Hollywood Studios
Today our group headed to Epcot, which was celebrating the 30th anniversary of its annual International Flower & Garden Festival. This ran from March 5 – June 2 in 2025.
Moana and Maui topiaries were featured at the front entrance of the park this year…
As is usual during this annual spring festival, the park was beautifully decked out with flowers and many topiaries…
We had an 8:40 breakfast reservation at Akershus so we headed to Norway in World Showcase at rope drop.
The Review of our Breakfast with the Princesses at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
While in Norway we rode Frozen…
Andrew gets the prize for posing for the camera, lol.
Lucy got to meet more of her favorite Disney characters, Anna and Elsa from Frozen…
Lucy also really enjoyed playing in the Journey of Water (Moana) area…
Getting a group photo taken with Minnie and Pluto, as part of the Disney VISA Cardmember exclusive and complimentary experiences that is offered at Epcot each day from 1:00 – 6:30. This is located in the World Celebration area near the Journey into the Imagination with Figment ride.
Plus some extra time and photos for Lucy with these characters…
Another highlight from our Epcot day was getting a Pineapple Dole Whip from Pineapple Promenade (one of the Flower & Garden Festival booths)…
Then as we were leaving Epcot (via the International Gateway in World Showcase) we saw Daisy…
We then jumped on the Sky Liner at the International Gateway station to take us to Hollywood Studios, where we spent the rest of our afternoon and evening…
Next up: Hollywood Studios and Dinner at Roundup Rodeo BBQ
Taste of Disney 