Fashion At Disney World

Jo-Lynne over at Musings of a Housewife has posted a helpful tutorial on proper fashion at Disney World.

I have to admit, I've had my fair share of Disney fashion disasters. I could have used a post like that many years ago. Instead, I have a parade of some embarrassing and maybe not so embarrassing photos to share with you.

Look at this mess:

August 2001

Nothing cute about this.
Although compared to the people around me...
I guess I'm not so bad!

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May 2005
To be fair, I think I did OK on this trip.
I wore a lot of pink.
It is one of my favorite colors, after all. :)

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September 2008
Adam and I went to Disney World for our honeymoon.
I think I did really well here.
(If you ignore the bridal ears)

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August 2009
This is the year I ran into some trouble.
BIG trouble.
I have no clue what I was thinking, buying those shorts.
Or what Old Navy was doing, selling the ugly ass things.

NO NO NO NO!!!!
The shirt.
The hair.
The shorts.
THE POSE.
ALL SO VERY WRONG!!!

This shirt could have been cute....
IF I HADN'T BEEN BUSTING OUT OF THE THING.

I have no words.
Only shame.

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January 2011
This was a tricky time of year because the weather was SUPER unpredictable.

This is mostly what I wore, give or take a hoodie or heavy duty coat.
I mean, I know it looks crazy.
But a sister had to keep warm, you know what I'm sayin'?

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June 2011
Summer time. When I knew it'd be hot
...and I could redeem myself for the ugly ass Old Navy shorts!
By now, I'd learned some stuff.
NO MORE UGLY shorts. ABSOLUTELY NEVER ALLOWED.
Also no shapeless, boxy tee-shirts!
It's possible to look cute and be comfortable!
(Although I refused to give up the Keens.
Ugly as those suckers are, they're really comfortable and much cuter than Crocs.)

LOVE my look here!

Meh. Not bad, but definitely not great either.
I'm trying, dang it!

I remember this day.
I was quite cranky at parts.
Probably cause the tank top was a lot less flattering than I'd hoped.
Oh well.

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February 2012
This was the trip when my luggage got lost.
Unless I wanted to spend a fortune in gift shops
...my choices were very limited.

You're going to laugh.
But this was my favorite outfit from that trip.
I do adore this striped sweater!

I think I look pretty OK here too, thanks to my friend Keri, who brought me clothes! NICE clothes!

So there you have it. I wouldn't take ANY fashion advice from me, because clearly, I'm too hit or miss with the whole thing. Instead, hop on over to Musings of a Housewife and listen to Jo-Lynne. Although I disagree with her opinion on that adorable Mickey Mouse shirt, everything else is SPOT ON.

And darned if composing this didn't make me homesick for a Disney Park. ANY Disney Park. Soon, my friends. I'll be back there soon. :) Til next time! :)

A Few Of My Favorite Things

There's no question that I think Disney World is amazing. I wouldn't keep going I hated it, right? People often ask me what I like the best, but I don't think I've ever broken it down in a blog post. Therefore, inspired by this week's All Ears newsletter, I decided to make a list of my favorite things to do at Disney World.

Arriving. There's nothing like getting to Orlando International Airport, hopping on that little tram, and rushing down to the Magical Express. Once you're on that bus, the vacation really begins. They play a video as you take the long journey to the resort, and then once you drive under that gate, the rest of the world falls away. All I can think, when that happens, is, "I"m here! I'd better check in on Foursquare! YAY I'm here! And I have XX number of days left! YAY!!!" The anticipation is delicious!

Eat! I love the food there. Our favorite place is Garden Grill, but I also really like Columbia Harbour House, ABC Commissary, and Pizzafari. Yummy!



Listen to the announcements on the buses. I love it when they say "You'll be home soon." The funny music they play on the buses when we pull into Magic Kingdom. And I always laugh because they're so formal, calling the buses motorcoaches and saying they "depart" instead of "leave". In Chicago, I am no stranger to buses and they definitely don't call them motorcoaches here!

Take in the atmosphere. I love to smell the scents, hear the music, look at the people. So many different types of people. Every time I go, I am more amazed at the things Walt Disney thought of, and the things the Imagineers continue to do. Just little things, like the ground changing as you go from land to land in the Magic Kingdom, to there never being more than 30 steps between trash cans because Walt actually counted how many steps it took people holding trash before they'd throw it on the ground. That meticulous attention to detail amazes me because that means there's always something new to discover on a Disney trip.

Meet the characters! I've definitely calmed down from this, but I used to be a HARD CORE character meeter. I used to stalk them. Now that I've met most of the characters I wanted to meet, I don't see any reason to stand in long lines now... unless it's someone rare. For example, on Valentine's Day, the princes were out with the princessess. So even though I'd met Aurora and Snow White before, I'd never met Prince Philip or Snow White's prince.



I'll also go meet a character if there is barely any wait, and I ALWAYS have to meet Mickey Mouse at least once when I go to Disney World. I mean, how can you go and NOT meet Mickey every single time, right?



Experience the attractions. There are a few attractions that are must-dos for me. Like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I missed it my last trip, as it was closed for refurbishment. There are some that I just have to do at least once, like the Carousel of Progress.

See the parades. I used to wonder why people would sit and stake claim on parade spots up to an hour before the parade even started. I mean, they could be riding rides or seeing shows or buying stuff, right? But then, one night, I lined up to watch Spectromagic. And THEN I GOT IT. Just so you know, Spectromagic was this huge light parade that ran nightly, sometimes twice nightly. IT WAS EPIC. And let me tell you, that's a heck of a parade to experience as your first one. The music STILL GIVES ME CHILLS and I even have it as my ringtone.


full spectromagic video

Everything is lit up. The costumes! The floats! Everything. It's beautiful! And when they replaced it with the Main Street Electrical Parade, I was like "OK. I've never seen this one, so I'll give it a shot, but I hope they go back to Spectromagic before long!" Well, they're still running MSEP, so I have no pressing need to stay late for the Magic Kingdom parade until they bring Spectromagic back. I love that parade so much that I bought the soundtrack as soon as I could.



So yeah. Parades are the thing. Especially when you get to BE IN THEM!!!



Shop. Duh! Gotta get some souvenears (you see what I did there?) and pick up postcards to send to friends and family back home, right? I buy at least one new pair of earrings every trip. I also collect pins, ornaments, and magnets commemorating that particular trip. I always get one for the year we're there for sure, but if I fall in love with a new attraction or something, I'll get a pin for that as well. I love to look around the shops and let myself get tempted to buy things I don't need. :)

Being immersed. There are many reasons we stay on site at Disney Resorts, even though it's usually cheaper to get a suite off site. Those reasons are a.) Dining Plan b.) Disney transportation c.) Extra Magic Hours d.) Total Disney immersion. That means no chain stores or dirty sidewalks. No fast food chains to tempt me or dog poop all over the place. It's a complete and total escape and I LOVE IT.

I hope to get back really soon!



That's all I can think of for now. Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into a few of my favorite things about Disney World!