Walt Disney World – Page 2 – Hoots of a Night Al

Disney, Disney World, Married Life, Travel, Walt Disney World

Disney World 2013: Part 5

January 15, 2014 2 Comments

It felt like our trip flew by, but you sure can’t tell from these ridiculously long blog posts! Sorry for so many recaps, but I want to try to remember every detail. 🙂 December 7th was our next to last day in the parks, and we had a full day planned! Our first stop was Animal Kingdom bright and early to get in a few expeditions to Everest…

We somehow narrowly escaped the yeti, YETI again. Hahaha. We also went to see the Finding Nemo musical for the first time. It was cute and funny. Finally, we grabbed lunch at Flame Tree BBQ again because it’s our absolute fave. Yum-o.

Next, we made our way over to the Magic Kingdom with a quick bus swap at Port Orleans. We’ve vowed to stay there on our next trip…it’s so pretty!

We arrived at Magic Kingdom to see the filming of the Christmas Day Parade on ABC. YES, SPOILER ALERT: THE PARADE IS NOT LIVE. Neil Patrick Harris was hosting, so it was cool to see him. Also, there was a fun spoof of Darth Vader showing up in Santa’s place. You’re so crazy, Disney. Apparently the parade filming lasted allllll day. We only caught about 30 minutes on Main Street, but, according to some of our friends, they saw us for a moment on TV! We didn’t watch the parade, but that sure would be neat if we had a cameo!

The park was pretty crazy that day, so we enjoyed strolling around the park, and stopping into Gaston’s Tavern again for a snack for Louis.

I seriously love all of the Beauty and the Beast areas in New Fantasyland. The detail is amazing, and it’s cool seeing one of my favorite movies brought to life.

Louis was sweet enough to let me ride Peter Pan’s flight despite it being pretty slow moving and mega boring. I can’t help it; I love it!

Who doesn’t appreciate this aerial view of London!?

After getting off of our flying boat, we wandered over to Haunted Mansion. We never get tired of this classic favorite. 🙂

Keeping with our theme of experiencing new things this trip, we decided to see the Hall of Presidents next. It was so awesome! I’m sure some people would consider it boring, but we loved it! They had a small museum before the show with different presidential momentos. My favorite was a pair of boots worn by George W. Bush at his inauguration…God Bless Texas! The show was also really neat. They had audio animatronic versions of EVERY United States President. Each one was introduced, and a few even gave speeches. Louis and I love America because it’s awesome, so we definitely enjoyed the show.

Right after the show, we had to hurry over to Be Our Guest for our dinner reservations. I didn’t think we’d get to eat there at all our trip, so considering we had our Fastpass+ lunch invitation AND the dinner reservation I snagged, I was so happy!

We arrived for our reservations and got our pager to wait until the Beast was ready for us.

We were happy to wait and enjoy views of Beast’s castle on the entrance bridge.

When our pager finally went off, we headed up to the castle and were escorted in by one of Beast’s servants.

It was crazy how much the restaurant had changed since lunch. All of the soda machines were hidden, the lights were dimmed, and instrumental versions of Beauty & the Beast songs were piped in.

We were seated in the ballroom with an excellent view of the Christmas tree and snow falling outside the windows.

I’m sorry if you’re sick of seeing pictures of these chandeliers, but they’re just so stunning! They’re even more impressive in person!

The mercury glass candle holders also added to a romantic dinner ambience. The theming went all the way down to the napkins, which were folded to look like roses.

Louis added a paper stem and leaf to mine to make it look even more realistic. 🙂

SHOCKER: Another chandelier picture…

This was our view for our delicious meal.

Louis made sure to create a mustache out of his straw wrapper because…how else would one act in a castle?

First, they brought out some DELICIOUS mini baguettes with sea salt butter. Oh my gosh yum. I could have just eaten 6 of those for dinner. They were so fresh and flaky and goodness gracious. I wish I had one right now. We both decided to order the Grilled Strip Steak with Garlic-Herb Butter and Pommes Frites for our entree, so I had to quit stuffing myself with bread to save room.

It was soooo good. We typically don’t splurge on sit down meals at Disney World, so this was a welcome change from our typical fare of chicken nuggets and fries. You may have noticed our “Happy Anniversary” buttons by this point…time for full disclosure: We’re frauds. Our anniversary isn’t actually until March. However, I had heard that the only way to try “the grey stuff” was to be celebrating a special occasion. For that reason, we pushed our 2nd anniversary up by a few months. Sorry, we’re not sorry. The grey stuff was TOTALLY worth the small fib. We each got our own plate, and it was the delicious just as the song said. According to The Disney Food Blog, the grey stuff is “a cookies and cream panna cotta that’s been whipped into a creamy dessert.” Whatever it is, it’s scrumptious. We both just about licked our plates clean.

Oh what’s that? You thought that was our only dessert? Nope. We’re oinkers and didn’t know when we’d get a chance to eat at Be Our Guest again, so we splurged and got a Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcake to split.

Yes, that is Louis with both his plate of grey stuff AND our cupcake. Whatever. We were on vacation. And that cupcake was delightful.

After stuffing our faces, we explored the West Wing. It was dark and spooky, so it was hard for me to get any good pictures…sorry!

This portrait of the Beast changes every 20 minutes from the Prince to the Beast. Scary magic.

The enchanted rose was, of course, in the West Wing, too! The petals were slowly falling, but we knew better than to try and touch it…didn’t want to Beast kicking us out of the castle, you know.

Once we finished exploring, we headed to the study to meet Beast and thank him for the delicious dinner. He was such a gracious host. Sucks that he’s a Beast instead of a human again though. Didn’t want to ask him about it because I figured it was a touchy subject…

It was an awesome experience, and I definitely recommend it to anyone able to get a reservation there! Great food, awesome ambience, and so fun and unique!

We left the castle in the mood to hang out with more royalty, so we headed over to Princess Fairytale Hall.

We were happy to meet Cinderella and Aurora who were both happy to see us.

By then it was time for us to get a spot for Celebrate the Magic and Wishes. Celebrate the Magic is where they project awesome images and videos on Cinderella Castle set to music…I tried to snap pictures of several of the scenes:

Wreck It Ralph

The Lion King

“Let It Go” from Frozen

Elsa singing “Let it Go” from Frozen…such an amazing song!

Stained glass? I’m sorry, I honestly can’t remember…oops. 🙂

Castle covered with poinsettias

Cinderella Castle wrapped up like a present! Best gift ever!

Gingerbread ~~House~~ Castle

As you can see the show has tons of amazing elements, and it’s mind-blowing how they’re able to transform the castle! I’m excited to see what other special effects they add in the future. After Wishes, we stuck around for the Electric Parade, which is an old favorite.

We spent the rest of the evening enjoying a few more rides and strolling around the park. It was another full, fun day with great rides, amazing shows, and delicious food. The next day was our last full day in the parks, so we headed home to get some rest!

Miss a Disney Trip Recap? Catch up here!

Disney World 2013: Part 1

Disney World 2013: Part 2

Disney World 2013: Part 3

Disney World 2013: Part 4

Disney, Disney World, Travel, Walt Disney World

Disney World 2013: Part 4

January 7, 2014 3 Comments

We woke up bright and early (surprise) and decided to spend the entire day at Epcot. We typically write off Epcot and think it’s boring because there are only a few rides there. However, we always read about people raving that Epcot is their favorite park and how there’s so much to do. We figured maybe we hadn’t been giving Epcot enough credit, so our goal was to really experience the park and try new things we hadn’t experienced! It was a PACKED day, so we spent lots of time strolling and admiring all of the unique scenes and experiences at our own pace.

One of our first stops was “Club Cool.” Coca Cola products are served at all of the Disney parks. At Club Cool, they offer free samples of Coca Cola products from around the world! We grabbed a few of the adorable tiny cups and got to tasting!

Louis tried all 8, but I was too scared to try Beverly from Italy because I had read that it tasted like earwax…not worth the experience to me. 🙂 Some of the others were really good like the Melon and Pineapple Fanta from Greece and Thailand. They were delicious, but way too sweet to enjoy with a meal, I thought. It was neat to see what other countries drink!

We had to snap some pictures in front of the gedesic dome of course! Or the “giant golfball” as most refer to it. 🙂 We strolled past the rose garden and decided to ride Journey Into Imagination with Figment since we’d never ridden it together, and Louis had never ridden it at all! I had him pose awkwardly in front of it because that’s just the kind of wife I am.

After Figment we headed over to the Land Pavillion where Soarin’ and Living with the Land are housed along with some other attractions and restaurants. We had gotten a Fastpass+ for Living with the Land, which we joked about because there’s never a wait. Thank goodness we did! There was an hour wait! That should be proof of how packed it was at the park that day. We breezed through the Fastpass+ line and enjoyed the slow boat ride past 9-pound lemons (that Louis repeatedly asked me if I thought he could get or grow) and Mickey-shaped vegetables. It’s not a thrill ride by any means, but it’s one we always enjoy. 🙂

We skipped out on Soarin’ because it’s identical to the one in Disney California Adventure that we rode this summer and will ride again in a month! Also, the line was THREE HOURS LONG. No thanks. 😉

We did, however, stop at Sunshine Seasons for some lunch! We both got the Mongolian Beef, and I don’t think Louis has stopped raving about it since. That’s a miracle in itself because he is a lifelong Asian food hater. With our bellies full, we decided to wander over to Canada to start our journey around the World Showcase.

We stopped in Canada and saw Oh Canada! narrated by Martin Short. We always make it a point to admire their waterfalls there, too. So pretty!

While on our way to next country, we ran into some familiar faces, so we stopped and snapped a couple of selfies…

Each pavilion is so unique and beautiful. If you can’t afford a trip around the world, Epcot is probably the next best option. 🙂

Mary Poppins greeted us as we walked into the UK pavilion. Louis was excited to visit the Twinnigs Tea Shop because he’s been super into tea the past couple of years. We explored the shop looking at the various teas and beautiful tea sets.

As you can see by the Eiffel Tower in the background, France was next after the UK.

I shared our visit to Morocco in a previous post, but here’s a daytime shot of us in front of the entrance. It is a seriously beautiful area!

We strolled towards Japan where we were greeted by these AMAZING Japanese women playing the drums. The drums were huge, and the women were so talented. I wish I had taken a video! We also wandered through the Japan pavilion store where they had tons of adorable Japanese foods, clothes, and trinkets. I’m not sure how authentic any of it was, but it was very fun to peruse! Their tea sets were even more beautiful than the ones in the UK!

How could we journey around the world without visiting our wonderful home country?

We happened to arrive just in time to see the Voices of Liberty perform. They are a Dickens-style choral group, and they were AMAZING. Seriously, hearing them perform was one of the best experiences of our trip for me. They were insanely talented, and I can’t wait to see them next time we visit.

By then, we were close to Italy and getting hungry after our world travels. We had reservations for dinner at Via Napoli, so we headed that way.

It was a beautiful night for a delicious pizza in Italy!

One of the coolest thing about the World Showcase is that the castmembers in each pavilion are actually from the respective countries. It’s always fun to us to chat with them and ask about how similar the pavilions actually are to their homes. We had a super friendly waitress at Via Napoli from Italy, so we liked asking her about how authentic the food was.

Authentic or not, it was no doubt the best pizza either of us have ever eaten. It was soooo good. It looks gigantic, but it wasn’t THAT big. Haha, I mean, it was big enough that we weren’t able to finish it. And trust me…we tried!

The pizzas are cooked with flour imported all the way from Italy…maybe that’s why they’re so yummy! They are fired up in these three giant ovens, that cook them to perfection.

We were definitely satisfied and will be making a trip back there next time for sure!

The entrance of Germany was marked by this adorable miniature town.

They had different shops and restaurants in Germany as well as this Christmas shop with a Christmas tree full of pickle ornaments!

We also found this little Swarovski covered castle for $37,500 if anyone’s interested.

I loved the feel of the German pavilion! It was so pretty at dusk.

Karamell-Küche, which is full of amazing Werther’s Caramel desserts, is also located in Germany. We didn’t splurge on a dessert because we were still so fun from our pizza, but we did indulge in a free sample of their fresh made caramel corn. OHMYGOSHYUM. It was just scrumptious.

From Germany we headed to China, where we saw Mulan and more beautiful tea sets as well as some authentic kimonos and samurai swords.

I laid on the ground to get this picture, and it was totally not worth it. The ceiling was beautiful though. 🙂

In front of China there is a little stand called the Joy of Tea. Here they serve various teas as well as Chinese snacks and slushes. Louis tried the Strawberry Oolong Tea Slush and was immediately hooked! I have to agree, it was delicious! Louis drank two back-to-back! Haha! He’s always saying how he wishes we had the recipe, so we could enjoy them at home!

We headed to Mexico and went on the Gran Fiesta Tour featuring the Three Caballeros. It was a cute little boat ride that was a first for us, so we enjoyed it!

We grabbed an early spot for the Holiday Illuminations fireworks again because they’re our fave!

I included a video I captured of the finale…sorry it’s a little blurry and cuts out most of the action. 🙂 I was watching the show myself instead of worrying about video quality obviously!

We decided to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours afterwards and went on Test Track again. The car we designed performed excellently. 🙂 We also decided to go on Spaceship Earth, which is the ride inside the giant golfball. Here’s a clip of what mine and Louis’s future looks like, according to the ride…

I know it sounds like all we did was eat at Epcot….which is kind of true. Haha! We really enjoyed exploring the shops and educational areas in each pavilion and learning about the different countries (that includes which foods they enjoy 😉 ). I’m so happy we gave Epcot a chance and spent time exploring the park. It was one of my favorite days of our trip because it gave us a chance to experience so many new things together! We’ll definitely be enjoying time in Epcot on future trips! 🙂 With that we were halfway through our trip already! Isn’t it flying by? It felt like that to us too…

Disney, Disney World, Married Life, Travel, Walt Disney World

Disney World 2013: Part 3

January 2, 2014 6 Comments

On December 5th, we woke up bright and early again and enjoyed another Pop Waffle and bacon. We were excited to head to Magic Kingdom for the first time since our arrival! We hopped on the first bus that arrived, but about halfway to the park we started to slow down. Our bus broke down! It’s the first time that’s ever happened to us, but I made sure to capture Louis’s reaction on camera.

We only had to wait about 10 minutes before another bus pulled up finish our trip! We arrived and headed straight in to the Magic Kingdom! After being at Disneyland all summer, Cinderella Castle looked EXTRA grand and beautiful! For comparison, Sleeping Beauty Castle is 75 feet tall, and Cinderella Castle is 189 feet tall…

..obviously at over 100 feet taller, Disney World’s is a little more impressive! Both have a unique charm and appeal, though. 🙂

We stopped for a quick picture in front of the castle. The pole Louis is by below is where we stood to call our families after Louis proposed on Main Street 3 years ago! One thing that was a bit of a let down was that the ABC Christmas Day Parade was being filmed that week, so all of the Main Street Garland and giant Christmas tree were taken down for filming. Main Street and Magic Kingdom are beautiful either way, but those decorations are just another special thing about going during Christmas.

We headed straight for Big Thunder Mountain because it’s one of the attractions we’ve been able to experience the least on previous trips due to refurbishments taking place. It was even more fun than we remembered, and we went on the ride it SEVERAL times during our trip!

Be Our Guest is a restaurant that is part of New Fantasyland, and it is based on Beast’s castle in Beauty and the Beast. They offer quick service lunch and table service dinner. By some miracle (okay, lots of time on Disney forums looking for canceled reservations), I was able to snag us a dinner reservation during our trip about a month before we left! I was hoping to try their lunch menu as well because they offer totally different foods and the experience is different. However, there are no lunch reservations and wait times can get up to 2-3 hours! Just to eat! We had written off enjoying lunch there, but on our 2nd day of the trip, I received an email asking if we’d like to try Be Our Guest’s new Fastpass+ system! We got to pick a time slot for lunch, show up during that window, and wait about 5 minutes before being welcomed in to the restaurant! I felt a little bad for the hundreds of people waiting to get in, but I’m so happy we were offered the opportunity. We couldn’t pass it up! I think Louis laughed at me for calling this an “opportunity.” It’s funny that I get so wrapped up in the Disney bubble, that I feel honored they “invited” me to spend more money at one of their restaurants! Haha! Regardless, after riding a few rides that morning, we strolled over to Be Our Guest and signed in with our confirmation number.

These giant statues and beautiful mural are the entrance to the castle at the end of a long bridge over a babbling brook. When you walk in for lunch you go down a hallway where suits of army are moving and talking just like during Belle’s castle tour during the movie!

I HAD to sit in the Beast’s wingback chair in his study! Glad he didn’t get mad at me like he did Maurice.

After ordering (Carved Turkey Sandwich for me, Croque Monsieur for Louis), we wandered out of the study into the ballroom where my jaw dropped.

I can’t lie…I definitely teared up a little! The scene was so picturesque and just like the movie! The imagineers did such a great job on this project! The chandeliers were so beautiful…the center one was over 12 feet tall!

There were so many details including these themed ornaments on the Christmas tree!

The frosted windows behind us looked out into the mountains and had snow falling behind them! So picturesque. Perhaps the best part of all was the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack was playing the entire time! Another neat thing was that we simply got our drinks and found our table and moments later our food was delivered to us on a covered cart by one of Beast’s “servants.” We were able to select any table, and they were able to find us thanks to our Magic Bands! The tables must have some sort of technology on them that allows them to sense our bands…very cool!

We chose to sit in the ballroom, but the Rose Gallery was another option. This room had portraits of Belle and Beast’s memories together, as well as a giant spinning music box Maurice gifted them.

You could also sit in the West Wing, but didn’t explore that room until we returned for our dinner reservations! The food was delicious, the atmosphere was (LOUD, but) amazing, and the surroundings were beautiful! Definitely a MUST DO for anyone visiting the Magic Kingdom!

We were even able to finally get an acceptable Christmas card photo! ^^^

This mosaic looks identical to the movie! Beauty & the Beast is my favorite Disney movie and one of my favorite movies PERIOD, so I was giddy pretty much the entire time!

Here is the view from the outside walking back up the bridge…you can see Beast’s castle in the distance! The entire landscaping and presentation around the castle were so beautiful, too. They created basically an entire forest and village around the entrance…so spectacular. After lunch, we stuck with the Beauty and the Beast theme and headed to Enchanted Tales with Belle. Side note: EVERY time I say that out loud it comes out “Enchanted tales with ‘bayle.'” And Louis laughs so hard at me. Every. Time.

The coolest part of this new attraction was the amazing technology! The idea is that you enter Maurice’s cottage and Beast has gifted him a magic portal he can use to visit Belle in the castle whenever he wants. The portal is this mirror that somehow transforms into a screen that somehow transforms into a door?! It’s impossible to describe, but it was incredible to see! The new animatronics in this attraction are incredible too! They were so smooth and realistic, I almost though they were real! Who am I kidding? They ARE real. Lumiere welcomed us into the library where we had story time with Belle. It was definitely geared more towards children, but it was still really neat.

We always love Philharmagic, so we swung by there right after Tales with Belle. It rarely ever has any wait time, which is crazy because we love it!

Louis is determined to pull the sword out one day, so we make sure to visit and try each trip.

The front of the castle is beautiful, but I also love all of the windows and detail on the back!

Oh..uh…I also love the side apparently. 🙂 Is there really a bad angle for this castle? I think not.

We hadn’t enjoyed any Mickey ice cream that trip, so Louis got a traditional Mickey bar and I got a Mickey ice cream sandwich and we munched on them during the afternoon parade in front of the castle. Are we cute or what? 😉

For the first time this year, they added some holiday decorations to The Jungle Cruise and made it The JINGLE Cruise! The changes were cute, and we enjoyed our riverboat cruise through the jungle!

We tried to make a point this trip to ride some attractions that we always deem a waste of time or skip over because they don’t seem interesting. One on our list this trip was Stitch’s Great Escape. Louis had never been on this ride, so we figured we’d give it a shot! We both sort of liked it, but I’m glad Louis got to try it!

Another of our favorite attractions is The PeopleMover. This ride is so relaxing, and it’s nice to sit and enjoy the breeze while you get glimpses of the park and Tomorrowland.

After riding several things in Tomorrowland, we realized it was time to get our wristbands for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. We’ve been to Disney World during Christmas before, but we’ve never splurged to attend the Christmas party. Yes, even as expensive as Disney is, there is an ADDITIONAL ticket you have to purchase to attend this Christmas party. If you’re at Disney the week of Christmas, some of the perks of the party are shown for free (Holiday Wishes, Christmas parade), but there are a few that are unique to the party. We try to make each trip special in its own way, so one of our “firsts” of this trip was attending the party!

The day of the party, you show your ticket for a wristband to wear around the park that night. That way it’s easier for castmembers to identify which guests should no longer be in the park. We lined up on the bridge by the rose garden to get our wristbands, and I think it was one of the longest lines we waited in our entire trip! At least the view was pretty…

After we got our bands we ~~waited around awkwardly until we could find someone to take our picture~~ headed for more rides! Another “first” for this trip was riding Disney World’s Dumbo together! It was fun to ride it at night because the lights were beautiful!

We then wandered back over to New Fantasyland to explore Gaston’s Tavern, ride the Little Mermaid ride, and meet Princess Ariel.

“I use antlers in all of my deeeeecorating!”

By the time we finished chatting with Ariel, the Christmas Party was in full swing! The crowds were cleared out significantly thanks to the ~~$60+ tickets~~ wristbands and castmembers, so we were able to enjoy everything! One perk was “free” snacks wherever there was a giant candy cane. They had snickerdoodles, apple juice, hot chocolate, and apple slices, and we made sure to enjoy them all.

Our first cup of apple juice (it was a little too warm for hot chocolate…though I did try some and it was delish!) with our snickerdoodles in the background! Louis was more excited, than he looks I promise.

We wandered around enjoying the extra decorations and rode a couple of rides before we found a spot for the Christmas parade and fireworks. I didn’t get any good pictures of the parade, but here’s a great shot of the castle for you to enjoy. 🙂

I also took a short video of some of the Holiday Wishes fireworks. No one does fireworks like Disney, that’s for sure!

We waited for too long for a picture with the 7 dwarfs because they’re rarely all together out of the mines, but it turned out a little blurry. 🙁 I am so excited because Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is a new ride opening in 2014, and I can’t wait to try it! We could see a lot of the progress while we were at the park, and it looks super fun.

The rest of our evening was spent enjoying snacks, admiring the decor, loving the Christmas music, and riding some of our favorite attractions. I’d definitely encourage anyone who has considered attending Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party to go for it! The next time we’re there during the holidays, we’ll definitely be going!We spent the ENTIRE day in Magic Kingdom and never ran out of things to experience together! I don’t know if I can pick a favorite park, but I think the Magic Kingdom is definitely the most magical because of the ambience and nostalgia I always feel there. We were sad to leave that night, but we knew we’d be returning later in our trip!

P.S. Sorry this post is a billion years long. 🙂

Disney, Disney World, Married Life, Travel, Walt Disney World

Disney World 2013: Part 2

December 23, 2013 5 Comments

Our first morning at Disney started bright and early when we headed to Animal Kingdom for rope drop. We rushed straight to Expedition Everest and rode it multiple times before there was any line! After we got our Everest fill, we headed over to Dinosaur and went on a prehistoric adventure back in tiiiiiiime. Eventually we made our way over to the Africa section of the park and enjoyed Kilimanjaro Safari.

My goal this trip was to get a suitable picture for our 2013 Christmas card, so I couldn’t pass up a picture with Mickey and Minnie in holiday attire! (Side note: Please excuse my bizarre hair waves, untied shoelace, and the weird haze from a fingerprint on my camera lens. Needless to say, this was not our Christmas card photo.)

Already in picture taking mode, we snapped a few (of SEVERAL) shots in front of the Tree of Life.

We were getting hungry for lunch, so we headed to our FAVORITE quick service location in all of Walt Disney World: Flame Tree BBQ. Yum. I could eat their shredded BBQ pork sandwich everyday. The view’s not too bad either. 🙂

After some Expedition Everest selfies we posed for a few more Tree of Life pictures sans Ray Bans..

If you remember from my last post, each park has its own themed 65-foot tree. Animal Kingdom’s had (SHOCKER) animal ornaments all over it. I snapped the shot below on our way out of the park for the day.

We left Animal Kingdom and arrived at Hollywood Studios, where I got a picture of their Christmas tree. Theirs has traditional holiday ornaments but a distinct film reel base.

We were excited to arrive because Hollywood Studios is one of our favorite Disney parks! It has several of our favorite rides that we were ready to enjoy!

We hit up Tower of Terror and Rockin’ Rollercoaster right away because those are two of our favorite (and some of the only) thill rides at Disney World! Also, we had used our Magic Bands to book some Fastpass+ passes for some attractions, so we were excited to use those.

We made sure to ride one of my favorite classics, The Great Movie Ride. I know it’s a little outdated, but I still love “being in the movies!” The Animation Academy is nearby, so we walked over there to get a picture with Wreck it Ralph and Vanellope Von Schweetz. Right before we took this picture, Ralph stepped on my foot, and was trying to apologize (which is difficult given the fact that he can’t talk or move his fingers). I told him it was okay since it’s his job to wreck everything, and he seemed to not feel as guilty.

Eventually we made our way over to The Backlot Tour. We wanted to make sure to ride it because there are rumors it will be torn down soon to make way for a Cars Land expansion similar to the one in Disney’s California Adventure. This ride is always a fun one, and one of the best parts is the exhibit at the end where they have movie props from over the years. I was SO excited this time because they had the traveling clothes and marionettes used by JULIE ANDREWS from THE SOUND OF MUSIC on display! I’m such a huge fan of Julie Andrews, so to see the actual props was very exciting for me! I’m sure Louis thought I was being ridiculous 😉 I mean…I only stared at them for 15-20 minutes…it could have been a lot worse. When we left the Backlot Tour we ran into the one and only Goofy! He decided to dress up like Santa for Christmas, and we couldn’t resist taking a picture with him. Well…I’m sure Louis could have resisted, but I couldn’t 🙂

We were able to use our Fastpass+ passes to bypass the 2-3 hour wait for Toy Story and get on Louis’s favorite ride. My score wasn’t too great, but Louis’s was super high as always! Once it finally got dark, we worked our way over to The Osbourne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights! No, not THAT Osbourne family. The father of THIS Osbourne family ~~doesn’t need subtitles when he talks~~ set up a Christmas light display for his daughter several years ago at their home, and it just kept growing. Eventually it go so large that families were trying to sue them for the congestion on their street and the (obviously) bright lights. Finally, Disney stepped in and the entire display was moved to Hollywood Studios and has grown even more over the years! There are millions of lights that are synced up to Christmas songs, and it miraculously “snows” in Florida! It’s definitely a beautiful sight to see! We had a great time enjoying the lights, but it was PACKED, so we didn’t linger over there too long. The rest of our time at Hollywood Studios included more of our favorite rides before we closed down the park. The bus lines were crazy again, so we hopped on another Art of Animation bus. While there we grabbed a snack in their amazing food court to enjoy on our way back to the hotel. I got a chocolate chip cookie and 1 liter of bottled water (even in December the Florida sun can drain you!), and Louis got a beautiful vanilla cupcake!

It was another successful, exhausting day in the parks. I know the clock in the picture above only says 8:30, but when you wake up at 6:00 AM (5:00 AM Texas-time), and spend all day power-walking 10-20 miles to get to all your favorite attractions in the Florida sun you get drained fast! And this was only our first full day! We still had lots of fun to come 🙂

Disney, Disney World, Married Life, Travel, Walt Disney World

Disney World 2013: Part 1

December 22, 2013 5 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, Louis and I enjoyed our 4th trip together to Walt Disney World in Florida. As always, it was so fun and magical, and we enjoyed it during Christmas, which is always extra special. We flew out of Bergstrom Airport in Austin on December 3rd, which frustrated me because it was my first time to fly out of that airport, and I was no longer a Bergstrom! 😉 We ate Salt Lick BBQ while we waited for our flight, and I started rereading Mockingjay, while Louis began a recently purchased Ender’s Game. We also tried the Toy Story antibacterial hand sanitizer I purchased just for our trip, and unfortunately realized it smelled like garbage (literally, like a dumpster). Shame on you, Walgreens $1 shelf.A little after we tossed the hand sanitizer, we boarded our plane to head to Orlando! A few hours later we touched down in sunny, HOT Florida! We slipped on our Magic Bands that we had been selected to test and checked in to board our Magic Express to our hotel. (So much magic already…) We picked red and green Magic Bands to celebrate our Christmas trip!We were greeted by a beautiful Florida sunset on our trip to our resort! We checked in at Pop Century and quickly headed to Epcot. It was going to be open late, and we wanted to catch their amazing Christmas fireworks show: Holiday Illuminations.

Before we could get into the park, we had to upgrade our Disneyland Annual Passports to DISNEY PREMIER PASSPORTS. We are BIG TIME, y’all. Basically, this pass allows us to visit any of the Walt Disney World or Disneyland theme parks for a full calendar year. I feel stupidly honored to be this type of passholder. Disney Nerd Alert. (In case it wasn’t obvious yet.)

Our first stop (after the obligatory entrance shot), was the newly redesigned Test Track. Well…new to us! I think it’s been remodeled for over a year now, but we were excited to try it out! The track is basically identical, but all of the inside elements were changed. It was a lot more modern, and lots of the special effects were really cool! Our favorite part of the remodel was the ability to design your own vehicle to be tested through each of the trials during the ride. You get to pick everything from the design to the engine to the tires to the color! Louis obviously let me pick the color :). After Test Track, we realized it had been quite awhile since we ate lunch, so we headed to Mexico in the World Showcase to enjoy some “authentic” Mexican food. We ate at La Cantina de San Angel, which was PACKED, but we were able to snag a table right by the World Showcase Lagoon. I enjoyed some yummy nachos, and Louis chowed down on some beef tacos. After dinner we rode Maelstrom in Norway and decided to stake out a spot for Illuminations. During Christmastime, this is probably our favorite nighttime show at the parks. After the regular Illuminations show there is an incredible fireworks finale set to “Let There Be Peace On Earth” that drops our jaws every time. We love it so much we made a point to see it twice on our trip, so I’ll try to add a video in my next post about Epcot! After Illuminations the park was clearing out, so we took a little bit of time to explore some of the empty showcase pavilions. We strolled around Morocco for a long time, and realized we have never noticed the beautiful architecture and details. Each of the countries represented in the showcase are fully or partially designed and funded by their respective country. Apparently, the KING of Morocco personally selected items and details to be part of the Morocco pavilion in Epcot! I’m not sure if that means there just isn’t much going on over there or if he’s super into Disney, but either way, their pavilion is beautiful! We made a quick stop in Canada for some obligatory phone booth pictures as well. Apparently, you can actually call the phones in these booths, so if you’re ever lonely or want to check the weather at Epcot give them a ring. Each of the 4 parks has its own 65-foot Christmas tree full of lights and ornaments. Epcot’s tree had ornaments representing all of the countries and twinkly multi-colored lights!

We were pretty pooped at this point from our long day of traveling, so we hopped on the bus back to our resort…sort of. Pop Century’s bus line was crazy long, so we took a bus to the adjoining Art of Animation Resort and simply walked from there back to our room. Aren’t we such savvy Disney travelers? 😉 The Art of Animation is a brand new value-level Disney resort, and it’s really fun! We loved the details and enjoyed exploring the resort as we strolled over to Pop Century.

We were, fittingly, assigned to the 1990’s section of Pop Century, and laughed at many of the pop culture references to the generation we grew up during. I snapped a picture of the stack of floppy disks, and we joked about how most kids these days only know floppy disks as “the save button.” They’ll probably never realize it was something we actually used to use! We had 5 full days left of exploring the parks, so we quickly hit the hay! I can’t believe we packed so much fun into just a few hours at our first park! It was a great sign for the days to come…

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