DISNEY'S PRETTY FACES

Today we're in Epcot with Abbey and Mark, lots of rides and fruity drinks for Kyle.

Could they have picked a shadier spot for picture taking? We all look like we’re going to melt in the sun. Personally, I think that Epcot is the hottest park to visit because it doesn’t have nearly the same amount of trees and/or shade. Walking through just to get to the World Showcase can be a little unbearable and sweatacular, yes… sweatacular.

And here we go again… Chip and Dale. I love that the photographer got Kyle giving Chip a hug. Aren’t they precious? Aww. 

Then Chip says "no picture for you!" and tries to hide him. Maybe Kyle didn't give him a big enough hug.

The World Showcase in Epcot is so fun. Where else can you go from England to France to Morocco to Mexico, etc? My favorite “world” is Morocco because I think the architecture is beautiful. I would love to visit the real country but that would probably cost me one skillion dollars plus is it even safe over there?

We also saw a fun show in Italy and it was interactive so I got involved. Woohoo! I am talented, I got to throw a ball to the mime-guy so he could catch it in a net. Talented, I tell you. Look at the detail on that building though (again, me with the detail). My friend, Toni, who has visited Italy told me that’s a replica of a real place but I can’t remember of what – haha. I’m thinking a castle.

In Japan, there was a woman who makes candy into the shapes of animals. There are only a few people in the world who know this art and she was taught by her family. Watching her was pretty amazing. She starts with a blob of candy on a stick and within 2-3 minutes tops it’s any animal you asked her to make. She made this scorpion in no time and look how happy he is.

The day at Epcot was so relaxed and we took our time seeing everything and having a few drinks. My newfound love for tequila brought me back time and time again for margaritas in Mexico. They have some really cool flavors like blood orange, pineapple, avocado, jalapeno and hibiscus. Kyle and I tried all of those.

The jalapeno margarita was lame and not spicy at all; we pulled out some of the peppers and they were your run of the mill green bell peppers. His favorite margarita was the pineapple one which was deliciously tropical. I tried the blood orange, hibiscus and avocado. They were all really good but the hands down winner was the avocado one. AMAZING. If there is ever a chance for you to try this – do it! It had a sweet cucumber-y, fresh garden taste. I could use another right now! 

Epcot also has a Coca-Cola station where you can try their “flavors of the world.” If you’re in need of a refreshing drink head on over because 1) it’s free and 2) Mozambique was deliciously gingery.

Our day at the park ended with a question mark. They introduced a new character and we couldn’t figure out why, what his story was or who he was. The character is named “Duffy the Bear” and he was sewn by Minnie Mouse for Mickey who was going on some big boat trip. It’s the dumbest thing and a good way for Disney to rake in more money, I guess. Abbey and I tried to rope the guys into getting their picture taken with Duffy but they wouldn’t have it.



 For dinner that night, Kyle and I met up again with Richelle and Todd for a Polynesian Luau. The Polynesian Resort is really nice and costs a ton of money to stay there so the chances of me ever staying there is slim. The luau itself was a fun; its buffet style with all you can drink beer… well, pseudo-beer since it’s Bud or Bud Light (but beggars can’t be choosers).



 There was a fun, rowdy spirit during the dinner portion; we had Phillies, Pirates and Red Sox fans all in our general vicinity so we trash talked for a good while. They also invited young kids to come up and dance the hula so of course I went, hahahaha. Not a single person in my group was surprised because I’m a crazy lunatic.

The best part of the luau came at the end when a guy came out twirling fire. I wonder how many times he burned himself during the course of learning how to do this.

 





















We topped the night off by going back to the hotel to swim but didn’t stay long. Disney has a tendency to make you tired and when you’re that close to your hotel room all you hear is it calling you… good night.

CINDERELLA CLEAN THAT UP!!!

I’m still sad that our Disney trip is over and I keep telling Kyle I want to go back “even just for a long weekend.” He tells me that a weekend is pointless but when I book us in the Yacht Club or somewhere fancy he’ll change his mind. =)

Anyway… our first full day was spent at the Magic Kingdom. Our first stop? Why meeting some characters of course! Right inside the gates in the morning there is always a ton of characters standing around; I beelined for Pinocchio since I hadn’t gotten a picture with him before. Can you feel the excitement?

During my Stitch photo shoot (gosh, I love him) I told him that I wanted to pose back-to-back like “hey, what’s up?” Well, Stitch didn’t really like me telling him what to do so I ended up with Kyle taking this picture of him being a smarty-pants.





Now a fun back story to the next picture: Every time Kyle and I have gone to Disney World and met our BFFs, Chip & Dale, they have a tendency to steal me away from Kyle. The first year they completely cut him out of the picture, the 2^nd year they looked at my wedding rings then looked at him while walking me away from him and this year? Well, we posed nice. They are the most fun to meet with in Disney because they’re personality is silly and playful whereas some other characters just stand there and do nothing.

With Chip & Dale it’s always a good time because they’re so interactive.

One of the cool things about going to Disney World in September (through November 1) is that they have all of their fall decorations out. Our friends, Todd and Richelle, were taken with the decorations since they had never seen Magic Kingdom decked out. I didn’t take too many pictures this year because I had seen them three years running now but here are a whopping two! There are more to come from the Halloween party post…

As I said in my previous post, there is a place called “Tom Sawyer Island” which is in the middle of the Magic Kingdom and you can only get there by river raft.  I had never been there before (that I can remember) and we decided to see what it was like. Honestly, it’s a pretty boring place with nothing really on it –but– that was the best part about it!

We found a big porch, sort of like an old Southern style plantation house, with wooden rocking chairs and just sat there looking at the people rushing by on the other side of the lake. It really was relaxing and I could have sat there for awhile or even taken a nap in the chair. There aren’t many peaceful places like this and I really liked that it was in the middle of chaos.

Kyle on the Tom Sawyer Island porch

This year, Kyle decided that it was time to exercise his civic duties and attend the Hall of Presidents. I wasn’t really sure what to expect but it was a good, informative movie (in the AC-ed hall). Can you see the excitement on his face? Ohhh yes. The attraction starts with a movie about American history and then a curtain goes up and the animatronic Presidents start talking.

As you’ll hear me say over and over again Disney is truly in the details and during the remainder of the show if you looked around at each animatronic you could see hands moving, legs moving as though they’re getting a more comfortable stance, heads turning to watch someone speak, etc. It really looked like they were alive from my seat.

Moving on from my “I love Disney” soapbox… The first day ended with our friends, Todd and Richelle. We met up at the Grand Floridian Hotel for a character buffet dinner with Cinderella and Co.

It had rained during the afternoon-early evening so we ended up soaked for our fancy trip to the Floridian. But we make this picture look good anyway, right? =) The food at the restaurant wasn’t the best but “Anastasia” one of the stepsisters totally made up for any poor service we encountered.

While she was standing at our table talking to us someone dropped a plate out in the buffet line and she stopped talking, turned towards the sound and screamed at the top of her lungs, “CINDERELLAAAA!!! CLEAN THAT UP!!” Then immediately turned back and continued her conversation with us. It was hysterical.

...a totally unattractive picture of me, but this is my BFF Anastasia.

Cinderella wasn’t pretty but she’s a man hoarder so I can expect that. Here she has two of her men, don’t they look so excited to meet a Princess? Hahaha.

Then Richelle and I became pretty, pretty princesses.

Coming into this dining experience was cumbersome. We had reservations but we didn’t actually get seated for over an hour. Apparently something happened to the woman playing Cinderella and she had to leave quickly. Disney had another woman who played Cinderella come in but it took forever and people didn’t want to leave until they met her… the backup of tables started there. Because of this (Todd complained) and partly because of Todd’s birthday that week the restaurant gave us free desserts. YUM!!!

Which makes for a fun and crazy time.

WHEW! We’re almost to the end of the night…

It was still relatively early when we left dinner so we decided to go to Downtown Disney for a drink. Walking to the bar you pass through most of the shopping and Disney has this gigantic Lego store. Outside was a larger than life Lego statue of Buzz and Woody from Toy Story – how cool is that?

After this point a lot of giggling on Richelle and I’s part ensued. We were on a sugar high for about two hours and went absolutely bonkers. The next day my throat hurt from laughing so hard and for so long. What a great ending to the day!

DISNEY WORLD, HOW I LOVE THEE!

[this will be a basic Disney post. Park by park is forthcoming...] 

Kyle and I love Disney World.

We both went as kids and our first big vacation together was Disney in 2007. Since then we've gone three times; 2007, 2009, 2011. I foresee an every other year vacation in my forecast. =)  The first time we went was a "go-go-go" vacation because neither of us had been there in so long and I wanted to see everything. I think I met every possible character and rode all of the rides 800 times. Now when we go it's a much different experience because we don't rush for rides or do any specific thing; it's relaxed and we are moreso taking in the details of each park. Don't get me wrong though... if I see Stitch, I go running towards him.

This year we visited Disney World with a group of friends. I won't try to give names or explain how I know each person but I met Richelle in college who married Todd who had a cousin, etc.. etc... etc...


First stop for Kyle in Hollywood Studios? The Star Wars speeder bike.

Woooo!!!

I didn't do a good job of taking pictures in this park. That's basically it, hahaha. Don't go expecting a Hollywood Studios post later because it ain't happening.

The Magic Kingdom is my favorite park out of all four that make up Disney World. To me, it's the park that embodies all things Disney and makes you feel the most like a kid. This is probably due to the giant castle at the end of Main Street, U.S.A. This year though I was getting so mad every time I entered the park because I couldn't take pictures with the castle in the background. They were working on it during park hours and the "magical crane" ruined all the pictures.

How dare they mar the perfect picture!

Another thing I love in Magic Kingdom is the amount of characters you can meet. No matter how many times I take pictures with a character I'm always going to get so excited when I see them and make Kyle take a picture. If I only posted my character pictures I'd probably have 60+.

This is Big Thunder Railroad (Mountain? I love that I don't know the name to this ride). It's probably the lamest rollercoaster since it only goes about 10 miles per hour... haha, okay, that's not true but it's really slow. However, the detail on the ride is pretty amazing.

Here you can see the "railroad car" going into the mountain. This picture was taken on Tom Sawyer's Island which is in the middle of a lake in Magic Kingdom. It was the first time I went over to the island and I will gladly do it again. There was next to no one wandering around and we were able to sit on a covered porch in rocking chairs just watching the crowds across the lake. It was really relaxing although they could have used a bar.



Kyle plays around on Tom Sawyer Island.