10th Anniversary Vacay - Day 1 WDW

Travel day is one of my favorite parts of a vacation. There's an air of excitement and the thrill of a new adventure that always seems to ring heavy in the air.

This travel day was no exception! We began ours early on a Friday morning with an outgoing flight at 6:30 a.m. We'd planned to land in Orlando around 9:45 a.m. and with our bags marked for the mouse's house, we were able to head straight for Magical Express.

Much to our surprise, a bus was waiting for us when we arrived and there was no line at the Magical Express counter (that almost never happens)!

Our resort of choice for this trip was Caribbean Beach (for one night...more on the resort later) and after a quick stop for check in, we were on our way to Animal Kingdom.

This was our first trip back since becoming Annual Passholders and we were super excited to use the special entrance, just because we could!

The first thing we spotted after entering the park was DiVine! Have you ever noticed her in the past? I think I've only ever seen her once or twice before. 

We also stopped for a quick picture in front of the Tree of Life, simply because we could!

Our first fast passes of the day were for Expedition Everest and Kilimanjaro Safaris. Both were fabulous as always!

After a few rides, we realized it was past lunch time! Instead of choosing one restaurant, we decided to try a couple different dishes and split them.

Our first was at Flame Tree Barbecue for the Baked Mac & Cheese with Pulled Pork.  Since we'd never noticed this item on the menu, we definitely had to try and we loved it!! This dish is a new hit!

I also wanted to try the Cheeseburger Steamed Pods at Satu'li Canteen. We weren't as impressed with these although they did have good flavor. Flame Tree still reigns as our favorite quick service in Animal Kingdom.

After lunch, we wandered through and enjoyed the scenery of Pandora.

The colors were so vibrant and I couldn't wait to return at night to see it all lit up!

I was honestly shocked at the size of Pandora (it seemed a little on the small side to me), but I wanted to experience everything Pandora had to offer before giving it my final opinion.

Up next was a little afternoon snack of the Night Blossom and the Pongo Lumpia. Again, we split both of these between the two of us.

The Night Blossom was just a tad bit too sweet for me, but the Pongu Lumpia...y'all. OMG. I would and will return to Pandora simply to have a bite of this deliciousness!!

Simply described as a pineapple cream cheese spring roll, this piece of heaven was truly amazing! In between all of that, we also managed to squeeze in a showing of Lion King which we loved as always!

Somewhere in between all of that, we spent a good half hour attempting to dodge the rain which came as a steady downpour! Thankfully we stayed relatively dry, thanks to a combination of the beginning of the fast pass queue for Flights of Passage and the floating mountains!

Mid-afternoon, we decided to return to Caribbean Beach to make sure our bags all made it to our room. With my luck, had we not gone to check, the bags wouldn't have been there...but thankfully, they were! Having our bags was especially important as we were boarding the Disney Fantasy the following day!

For dinner that evening, we stopped by Epcot for about 45 minutes to try a few Food & Wine dishes. I definitely wish we'd had more time there but oh well...

I loved how they utilized the walkway from Future World into World Showcase which made room for several additional booths!

The first stop on our list was at Canada for cheese soup and the filet. Both were delicious!

We also stopped at Hawaii so Jason could order a pork slider....

...and we finished our evening at China for pot stickers and the roasted duck bao bun. We also enjoyed these as well!

At the end of our super busy day, we returned to Animal Kingdom for our 8 p.m. fast passes for Flights of Passage.

Y'all.

This ride DEFINITELY lived up to the hype! I seriously feel as if it's the best ride at Disney World right now, hands down.

After finishing up with Flights of Passage, we made a bee-line for the Na'vi River Journey standby line. Although the suggested time said 40 minutes, we were in and out in 20 minutes which was really nice!

Pandora at night was amazing to see! We really enjoyed exploring the area at night and can't wait to return!

Don't ask how we managed to squeeze all of that into one day - I'm exhausted just writing about it! However, we had an amazing first day of our trip and loved trying new (to us) things!

Thanks for following along! Check out more from our amazing Disney Fantasy cruise at the links below:

Missed a recap? Check them out here:

• Day 1 Animal Kingdom and Epcot & VLOG
• Day 2 Boarding the Disney Fantasy & VLOG
• Day 3 Day at Sea with Remy Brunch & VLOG
• Day 4 Cozumel & Chichen Itza & VLOG
• Day 5 - Grand Cayman & Sting Ray City & VLOG
• Day 6 - Jamaica & Ziplining & VLOG
• Day 7 - Second Day at Sea with Palo Brunch & VLOG
• Day 8 - Castaway Cay Day & VLOG

Have a great day!