Disney Day 1: Epcot and the Candlelight Processional

We arrived at our hotel just after lunch on Sunday, got checked in, and immediately made our way to Epcot for our early supper reservation.

Using the monorail was easy as pie from the Contemporary, and we made it to the Garden Grill with 10 minutes to spare.

Our reservation was at 4:00pm. The restaurant was not crowded at all. Our waiter was very nice and immediately brought us rolls with homemade maple butter. Yum!

The family style dining was very nice. We were served turkey with dressing, blackened tilapia over diced squash and zucchini, and steak with mashed potatoes. Our favorites were the vegetables and the steak, which our waiter brought more of three times! We also liked the fish.

Blair’s meal included all of her very favorites (this restaurant was meant for her!): chicken drumettes, mac and cheese, broccoli, and sweet potato fries. But, she didn’t eat much because she was so into the characters!

The character interaction at Garden Grill was the best we had of our three character meals. I was skeptical about our reservation after reading the reviews, but I would definitely go back here. Each of the characters – Mickey, Chip, Dale, and Pluto – came to the table at least 3 times, and each time they spent time with the kids. Each time Blair also acted like she had never seen them before! It was so cute.

The dessert was just okay. We had a berry skillet cake with whipped cream on top. Not bad, but not my favorite.

We got tons of pictures, and the whole experience was a great way to start our Disney vacation!

After supper, we stopped by to see Donald the Duck. Blair was really getting into the character thing!

We made our way around to the theater just in time to be seated for the Candlelight Processional.

It was beautiful. Our narrator was James Dinton from Desperate Housewives. He was very good.

The music was amazing. Blair, however, was not. I thought her love of music would keep her interested, but she was clearly too little and too busy for the Candlelight Processional. We’ll have to try again in several years!

We headed on back to the hotel after the show. Our Animal Kingdom morning was going to come early!

Beautiful views of Epcot!