Once Upon a Golden Birthday: My 22nd at Disney World

Watch the full video HERE!

There’s something so magical about celebrating your birthday at Disney World, but this year felt extra special because it was my golden birthday! ✨ On my 22nd on July 22nd, my brother Micah and I started our day at Animal Kingdom, hopped on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT, and ended with a beautiful dinner at the Grand Floridian. Like any good storybook, this birthday had its own chapters, and I captured it all on video so you can come along for the ride with us! You can watch the full day unfold in my YouTube video, but for now, let’s turn the page and step into the magic together.

Ever since working at Animal Kingdom, it has become my favorite park at Disney World. In 2022, I was a Photopass cast member at this park, and I am actually going back to Animal Kingdom to work in Pandora attractions starting next week! Last year I spent my birthday at Animal Kingdom and ended with a dinner at one of the Monorail Resorts, and I had to repeat history this year.

We started our day off super early by going on the Safari. We saw so many of the animals but the lions are always my favorite. It’s nice to go in the morning because a lot of the animals are out before it gets too hot in the middle of the day. After the safari, we stopped for some strawberries before heading to Pandora.

Since I was wearing my complimentary birthday pin, I got a lot of “Happy Birthday"s. There was a group of high school students at the park that day and one of the girls came up to me and gave me a hug and asked me about my birthday. It was so sweet and definitely one of the highlights of my day. If I could give a cast compliment to a guest, I would have for her.

We did both Navi River Journey and Flight of Passage in Pandora. Navi River is so relaxing. Whenever the questions “If you had to sleep on any Disney ride all night, which would it be?” or “If you had to spend 24 hours on any Disney ride, what ride would you go on?” come up, my answer is always Navi River Journey. It’s dark. The music is relaxing. It’s peaceful. It’s slow-moving. Truly, I don’t think there is a better answer to those questions than that ride.

Of course, I had to take pictures in my DisneyBound! Last year, I went as Rapunzel in this same corset-and-skort combo (in purple, naturally). Since Rapunzel and Ariel are both my favorite princesses, this year I decided to channel Ariel. Pearl earrings and all! Instead of her classic purple-and-green look (or even the purple dress), I drew inspiration from her blue dress.

We watched the Festival of the Lion King which is always fantastic. And then we went to Rafiki’s Planet Watch for the Animation Academy! Again, went last year on my birthday where Michal and I drew Nala from The Lion King. This year, Micah and I drew Goofy! The Animation Experience, and Rafiki’s Planet Watch in general are some of my favorite hidden gems at Disney. I want to draw as many characters as I can there this year. Maybe I should start a book of them.

Everybody in my family (except my dad who doesn’t like this ride) had a Lightning Lane for Guardians before our dinner so we park-hopped over to Epcot. This was Micah and my third time riding it on this trip and for the third time in a row, we got One Way or Another. But no complaints because this is still my absolute favorite ride at Disney World.

After we got off Guardians, we RAN to the monorail because we were definitely going to be late for our dinner reservation at Grand Floridian. Which, AGAIN, happened last year! We were late for my birthday dinner reservation at Polynesian. But this time it wasn’t our fault because the monorail was temporarily closed and Michal and I were stuck at Contemporary. BUT, my lovely friend Yeltsy was already at Grand Floridian waiting for us so she was able to push the reservation back 20 minutes!

We all had dinner at Grand Floridian Cafe. I was so lucky to have so many people who I love show much come celebrate with me. My parents, my sisters Amelia and Gracie, their significant others Jack and Keira, Micah, Yeltsy and Nate, Jean, Kendall, Violet, and Brandon. I felt so loved and so lucky to be surrounded by so many people who I love so much.

I started with the vegan crab cakes which is my favorite food to get at Grand. Jean actually put me onto these last year and I can’t get enough of them. I also had the tofu and vegetable stir fry for my main course which was delicious as well. And I was gifted a vegan apple cobbler and a card signed by all the servers at the cafe! The cast members absolutely made my night and I couldn’t have asked for a better dinner.

And then we watched Happily Ever After from Grand! They play the music at the Beam Resorts, so we were able to see the fireworks and hear the music from the show as well.

And then… bar crawl time! We started at Enchanted Rose where I had my usual Island Rose. Which just tastes like juice but makes me tipsy after 3 sips. Just how I like my drinks. And then we got on the monorail to the Polynesian (my favorite resort!) My friend Noah was actually piloting the monorail and he made an announcement to everybody that it was my 22nd birthday! Our car was packed and everybody cheered. Definitely a highlight of my night, so thank you Noah!

We went to Trader Sam’s where I got my favorite drink on property: The Tahitian Torch. This also tastes like juice but gets me tipsy in 3 sips, and is even more delicious than the Island Rose, in my opinion.

Overall, we had a fantastic day. I am so lucky to have spent my birthday in my favorite place surrounded by my favorite people. Thank you to everybody who spent the day with me. I love you all!

If you’d like to see the whole story come to life, be sure to watch my YouTube video!