guess who's back!

Surprise! It's me. I'm in a deep post-vacation depression (seriously, why do they go by so fast!?). I'm trying to get back into the normal groove of things around here, but really I'd rather be running all over Disney again. Here are some highlights from the trip!

First up was Animal Kingdom where I posed in a dino car, we discovered they sold beer in the parks (and had no problems with you drinking it in line. Awesome.), and rode Expedition Everest. We also went on a little "safari" where a bunch of rhinos got really close to our truck!

We were absolutely wiped by the end of the day (we went non-stop from 3am heading to the airport to 9pm falling into bed!).

 

 

 

Tuesday we hit up Magic Kingdom where we were DEVASTATED that Thunder Mountain Railroad was closed for renovations. They should really tell you what's going to be closed when you're booking these things. It was definitely construction season, lots of "Disney Dream Builder" signs on things.

I made Boyfriend go through the Swiss Family Robinson house because it was my favorite movie when I was a kid. Even though it's the lamest thing at Disney pretty much, haha.

 

Wednesday was the most important day. It was Tower of Terror Day. It's my favorite ride in the universe. We rode four times (we got to the park before it opened and were very strategic with our Fast Passes). It was amazing. We also did the Aerosmith coaster twice and I had an ice cream sundae with caramel corn on it. Caramel corn on it. And Mickey shaped sprinkles but everything is shaped like Mickey there.

Thursday was Epcot day, where we attempted to drink around the world and I wore silly hats. (Boyfriend: "You take that off, take that off right now you look ridiculous!" Me: "Take my picture!")

They had awesome topiaries for the Epcot flower & garden festival all over the place. This one was my favorite. Look at Lady's ears!

I just love Disney. It's so magical. Now all I want is to go on another vacation (preferably one with more roller coasters!).

What have you guys been up to?? Who's going to the Boston Blogger meet up this week?!

Vacation!

I'm off to Disney World for the week! I'll be back with magical posts soon!

sharing the magic: part 2

Phew, November is over and I am finally done writing for NaNoWriMo. I finished! I'm so proud of myself, but now I don't want to look at that novel again for a long, long time. I'll look back at it at some point, but right now - I'm exhausted. So I'm back with more pictures from Disney! On our last day there we finished up Epcot in the morning - we rode Test Track and Soarin', then hopped on the Monorail to Magic Kingdom. Of course, the first Monorail we got on was horribly delayed, wasting a big portion of our morning.

It was warm but overcast that day, but that didn't take away from our first glimpse of Conderella's castle!!  I was like a little kid when I saw it. I think I might have squealed and hopped around. It was awesome.

We had a lot of fun trying on all the different Mickey Mouse ears they had in the gift shops. They seriously had ear hats and headbands for every single occasion.

We wandered through the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse first. This was another one of my favorites when I was a kid, because I was so, so obsessed with that movie. I need to find it on DVD so I can watch it again. I used to have a worn out VHS copy that my mom threw away during her Great VHS Purge. Next up after that was Splash Mountain, which I also loved as a kid. I loved water rides. The wetter I ended up, the better. However, this day it was overcast and not that warm, so we decided to go on and just try to sit near the back of the ride. But of course, because we have the best luck, we ended up in the front. We were supposed to be in the second seats, but the people who were assigned to the first row pretended they didn't speak English and took our spots. After causing a bit of a scene in the line, and the guy in charge of directing the line not doing anything, we sucked it up and sat in the front. The people behind us in line were covered up with ponchos and they wouldn't even sit in the front. What was the point of the ponchos then guys!?

[dress - Forever 21/belt - TJ Maxx/sandals - Target/bag - Dooney & Bourke/ears - Magic Kingdom, c/o my mom]

Needless to say, we got soaked. And there were no hand dryers in the bathroom! Luckily this dress was made out of some kind of linen and dried quickly. 

Main Street USA looked beautiful all lit up, but the real attraction was the castle. HELLO. SPARKLES. I AM HOME. I nearly died when I saw this. Have you ever seen anything so splendiferous!? We wandered around Magic Kingdom the rest of the night, riding the Haunted Mansion and Thunder Mountain and a couple of other little rides before the fireworks display at eleven. ELEVEN AT NIGHT. And there were little kids that were awake! I was barely awake. Kids these days.

The trip went by way too fast, and I wish we spent more time there. I also wish we planned it so we weren't there on a weekend. Magic Kindom on Saturday was such a mob scene, while Thursday and Friday in the parks were fairly quiet. On Sunday we planned on sitting by the pool, but it was cloudy and cold so we ended up wandering around Downtown Disney. That was kind of boring, actually. I can't wait to go back again, but it probably won't be until I have my own kids to bring!

sharing the magic: part 1

Okay guys, this is going to be one huge, epic Disney post so please lower the safety bar and keep all arms and legs inside the tram.

 [Playing Angry Birds on the plane. So addicted!]

[Also - jacket - Forever 21/watch - Fossil]

We hopped on our flight from Boston to Orlando at the bright and shiny hour of 7am. We didn't want to waste any time since we were only going to be there for four days. We stayed at the Beach Club Villas right outside of Epcot. After a quick lunch at a restaurant along the boardwalk behind our hotel, we made the trek over to Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM) to start the first half of our day.

 [cardigan - Nordstrom/Mickey t-shirt - Forever 21/shorts - Express (sooo old!)/trusty red Keds/purse - Dooney & Bourke]

Everything was decorated for Christmas and it was awesome. This big tree was when we first walked into Hollywood Studios. We were all so excited to finally be at Disney!

 

Our first stop was the Tower of Terror. This is my all-time favorite ride anywhere, ever. When I came to Disney as a kid I rode it so many times. I wish I rode multiple times this time, but for some reason we didn't. Poor Jamie wanted nothing to do with this ride and my mom and I may have tricked her into going on. But if my mom will ride it, it really can't be that bad because she hates rides. Jamie ended up loving it and it was amazing. The ride picture that they take is my mom and Jamie clutching each other in fear and me trying to take a picture of the view of the park when the doors open, hehe.

I've always liked how the inside of the hotel looks when you're waiting in line. They have it all done up to look like it was abandoned. Everything is still in place - games and drinks on the table, luggage by the front desk. Abandoned buildings have always fascinated me, and even though this one was decorated to just look abandoned, I think it's cool. The last one is me right before we got on the ride! Yay!

 

Fact: I love Indian Jones. Except for the last one. That one was crap.

Not True At All: I am an Oscar winning actress. I had to cover the base with my hand because I do believe it said "World's Best Grandma" on the bottom.

We spent the first half of the day in Hollywood Studios, checking out the Pixar section and taking the Backlot Studio Tour. Then we hopped on a water ferry and cruised on over to Epcot, which is now my favorite park. I hated it when I was a kid since it's all shops and things and what kid wants to shop? But now that I'm older, I loved all the food, and the shopping and all the people with awesome accents working in the different countries. Plus, that's about as close to Europe as I will be for quite some time.

We stayed in Epcot for the rest of the night, had a delicious dinner in "Italy" and even hung around for the amazing fireworks display before the park closed and we walked back to our hotel. We were exhausted by the time we got back, but our first day was a huge success.

The next day was the most important day of all: Harry Potter Day! The trip had been planned so we could visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. We had to take a cab over there and then sprinted into the park ahead of about nine million field trip school buses, but we made it. And it was amazing. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves:

 [Inside Zonko's - they actually sold Extendable Ears, Sneakoscopes and Remembralls!]

 [Inside Honeydukes - where they had Chocolate Frogs, a wall of Bertie Bots Every Flavor Beans and even Ton Tongue Toffee!]

 [We had to get some frozen butterbeer - it tasted like frozen cream soda with whipped cream mixed in.]
[Cardigan - Forever 21/t-shirt - H&M/sandals - Target. All in Gryffindor colors ;)]

 

[Of course, seeing Hogwarts in real life was enough to make me freak out like some teenager. But it was epic.]

While we were in Harry Potter world we bought t-shirts and souvenirs, of course, and we rode the ride that takes you through the castle on a journey with Harry and Hermione and Ron and everyone, which was a truly awesome ride. The line wasn't long at all, which was almost a shame because the decorations and things they had set up to keep those people waiting in line amused were really cool. Another ride we wished we'd rode again but didn't because we were too afraid we'd be wasting the little time we had. Note to us: Next time spend more time in Disney!

Okay, I'm going to end this post here and finish up with a second post next time. Stay tuned!!

wish i could be part of your world

OMG OMG OMG.

Jen from jenloveskev mentioned she found a Disney Pandora station, so obviously I had to investigate. Not only does it exist, it is AWESOME. The first song that came on mine is Part of Your World. Which is only like, the best ever Disney song.

Today just got a million and twelve times better.

Oh Lion King just came on! It is taking all my will power not to sing and dance in my cubicle right now.