Epcot 2015

Hi! I know it's been a while. It takes a lot to put one of these posts together, and I've been super busy with work. But today my brain is scattered in 23849 different directions, so I thought, why not catch up. Or try to, anyway?



Aidan and I went to Epcot twice while on our trip. The first day, it was the two of us, and we had a good time. There was adventuring and characters and rides! There was one part that sucked, though. We were in line to meet Donald Duck when my phone started going crazy, showing me all these fraudulent charges using my Capital One. Then we were next and Donald had to go eat a taco (It was the Mexico Donald Duck.) I'd been trying to get a Donald all trip and argh. The card stuff eventually got sorted, so it all worked out. And that evening? We ate at Garden Grill and had an amazing time. Seriously, that restaurant blows me away EVERY SINGLE TIME I go, and this was my 11th time there.



We got the HOOKUP for dessert, thanks to Sam, the amazing manager. Check this out:



Can you even believe? I still can't.

We watched the fireworks with my friend Joey and he dropped us off at the hotel after which was so nice of him.

The 2nd day we went, it was our last day in a Disney park for our trip. So those days are always bittersweet. Aidan wanted a hat, but not any hat. THIS HAT:



I'd just gotten the official word that Humana wanted to hire me as a contractor, so I was happy to buy it for him from the China pavilion.

We did the Character Connection, which is always different every time we go!



Eventually, Aidan and I met up with Joey and his daughters (Bella and Victoria) that afternoon and ate pizza at Via Napoli. That pizza tasted FREAKING DELICIOUS. We rode Test Track and Mission: Space with them as well. Aidan wanted to ride Orange: More Intense and so did Bella. Joey didn't want Bella to ride it at first; I just think he didn't want her to go alone. When I told him that I was letting Aidan go, he let her go too. I love that I can let Aidan do that. I was never going to tell him "no."

Victoria and I played the games in the Mission Control part while we waited, and when that ended, I got her some astronaut ice cream, which she'd never even heard of, let alone tried!

At some point during the day, this bird somehow got ahold of a mayo packet. There was a cast member standing under the tree trying to get him to drop it but this bird was like LOL.



That night, I had to pick up my rental car. Aidan and I were crashing out at Joey's for a couple of nights before heading up the Florida coast. Joey made us dinner and let me do laundry, and we got to talk to Ricky Luna on video chat, and watch Wishes (the Magic Kingdom fireworks) from Joey's window. Then we had to go to bed. It was LEGOland the next day!

Hollywood Studios 2015

Aidan and I spent one day at Hollywood Studios, and it was a great day. We skipped Toy Story Midway Mania and Tower of Terror (which gets a resounding HELL NO from Aidan), but I got to do Rock'N Rollercoaster (yay single rider!). We shopped and watched the Muppet show they have there, and met characters and ate and rode Star Tours a LOT. We also rode The Great Movie Ride, which has a super long line all the time now for some reason. Thank goodness we had Fastpasses. The ride has been redone a bit, maybe that was the draw. Anyway,

We met Baymax and Phineas & Ferb and Goofy! Doesn't he look dapper?



We hung out and acted silly.



And we drew a picture of Mr. Frederickson from Up! Aidan's looks professional. Mine is HUGE.




Hollywood Studios may as well been called Frozen Studios. It was All Frozen, All The Time. I don't mind Frozen. Aidan is not a fan of it. At All.



There was a Frozen clavicle, where they stopped and sang Let It Go and skated around, wearing winter clothing in 90+ degree temperatures. There was also "snow." It was so strange. We did the Frozen Sing-Along which was fantastic. The comedy bits were on point (there was even an Arrested Development joke!), and the singing was great. Let It Go again. Then there was the Frozen Dance Party, where there were remixed versions of Let It Go to dance to. I left all my stuff with Aidan and joined the dancers on the dance floor. It was super fun. Then, there were the Frozen Fireworks. Which were OMG beautiful.

After Frozen-time, we watched Fantasmic! which is always gorgeous. It was Aidan's first time seeing it and he enjoyed it!



Hollywood Studios is usually a fun, easy park for me and Aidan. We don't have rides we really need to hustle for if you go on the right day (and we did! the lines for Star Tours were never more than 10 minutes the whole day), and 50s Prime Time Cafe, where we had dinner, is always yummy and a good time. So many changes are coming to the park soon. I wonder what it'll be like then?

Magic Kingdom 2015

Yay, Magic Kingdom! We went to Magic Kingdom twice. The first day, Wednesday, Aidan and I got there at about 7:40 or so, but the park was already open! I was confused until I realized that this is a *thing* they do--open super early. We'd even missed the welcome song. No worries, though. We were still there early enough to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad twice in a row, the Barnstormer twice in a row, and get some yummy things to eat!

We managed to pack a LOT into a very long first day. Haunted Mansion (Aidan finally got brave enough to try it--and ended up LOVING it), Carousel of Progress, Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, Mickey's Philharmagic, wow, so much. Character greetings (I finally got to meet Merida and she loved our hair!), general people watching, and both parades plus fireworks. And I finally got to eat at Casey's! I still didn't get a hot dog, but we shared a big order of fries and they were great. I also got my chocolate-covered pineapple, which always makes me happy. I can't even remember where we ate dinner. OH! It was Liberty Tree Tavern! Aidan loved the mac and cheese, and I enjoyed the cake.



Our second day, that Friday, we ate lunch at Be Our Guest. I had the Croque Monsieur (grilled sandwich of carved ham, Gruyere cheese, and bechamel with Pommes Frites) and oh my God yes. It was perfect! Aidan loved his pasta with marinara sauce as well. We got there TOO early (I thought the park opened at 8, nope, it opened at 9) so we spent a lot of time people watching. The park did open early again, though, and this time we headed toward Tomorrowland, which was so empty! I got to ride the Astro-Orbiter for the first time in ten years and it was as fun as I remember! And then we did Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger spin, another one I hadn't done in years. So much fun!



We didn't do too much on that second day. I did convince him to do Country Bear Jamboree, which he found entertaining (especially that Blood on the Ground song), and Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain happened again. I didn't convince him to try Space Mountain. Maybe next time! OH I did get him to try my churro and he liked it so much he wanted to buy his own! Only a rainstorm rolled in and the cart shut down. So we hung out and waiting until it was safe to open again, then we had to wait for the fresh churros to arrive. SO WORTH IT. We also met the talking Mickey Mouse in Town Hall, and Tinker Bell!

We ended up leaving earlier than I wanted. A storm was rolling in, and Aidan was getting tired and cranky. I was tired too. We headed back to the hotel to rest up. I'm always sad when I leave Magic Kingdom, but I was looking forward to the next day of nothing before heading back to the parks on Sunday.



I can't wait to go back. :)

(crossposted at anywhere is)

Animal Kingdom 2015

Our first day in the Disney Parks was Animal Kingdom. It used to be Magic Kingdom always, but I think the crowd calendar or dining reservations or something factored into my decision to start with a different park this time. It was a fun, but short day, even though Animal Kingdom stayed open until 8pm that day.





We got there and immediately headed over to the dinosaur section, where we hopped on to Primeval Whirl and Triceratops Spin. Aidan was excited to ride Dinosaur again. That ride is fun but it has a lot of jump scares which I am not a fan of, but I'll take that over Tower of Terror any day (which I used to LOVE).



He didn't want to see the Finding Nemo show ("I don't like musicals") but I dragged him to The Festival of the Lion King because I wasn't going to miss it. He liked it. We ate Pizzafari for lunch, went on the safari, and took the train over to the Conservation Station where I made him hold the elephant poop.



We watched the Flights of Wonder show and that was really cool. I'd never seen it before. I got selected to sit on stage with my camera and *try* to photograph the owl coming at me. I couldn't do it. It was fun being on stage though!

We had a minor emergency! After using our FastPasses for a second go-round on Primeval Whirl, we marveled at how much faster and spinnier it was compared to that morning. We walked along and I noticed that Expedition Everest had a 10-minute single rider wait. Aidan has no interest in riding that coaster, but it's one of my favorites. He sat down to play on his phone...and there was no phone there. He'd had it before we got on Primeval Whirl, so I deduced it had to have come out in there. Back to Dinoland USA we went, and we talked to some cast members. Sure enough, they found his phone in one of the cars. The ride was so much more spinnier it spun the phone right out of Aidan's pocket! But we got the phone back and all was well! And I got to ride Expedition Everest with only a 5-minute single rider wait.

Animal Kingdom is undergoing a lot of renovations, so a lot of what makes the park so beautiful was masked by tall fences and signs. There were some pretty parts, though.



We didn't have a very long day at Animal Kingdom. We did everything we wanted to do, and I had a phone call scheduled, so we made an early day of it. It was a super fun day, though. Not too tiring or overwhelming. After my call, we hung out at the resort. I sunbathed by the pool and sent Snapchats. Then at 7:30, I watched the Movie Under the Stars (which was Wall-E) and ate a turkey sandwich and Doritos. It was a relaxing night. We knew we'd need to rest up for Magic Kingdom the next day!



So obviously, my next vacation post will be about Magic Kingdom! So, till next time!

(crossposted at anywhere is)

It's About That Time

2013
I made the BIG payment last week--you know what I'm talking about. MagicBands have been customized for the (hopefully) last time, FastPass+ plans have been scheduled, ADRs made, and now I'm just waiting for the travel documents to show up. And in just over a month, Aidan and I will be heading to Orlando once again!

We're both very excited. I'm also a little nervous. It will be just the two of us for most of this trip. He's been wanting to do a mom-son trip for a long time, and I wanted to really do this and make it special for him before he became a teen and decided that being seen with me in public is a travesty. (I really hope that never happens but you never know.) I really hope we can spend the time to talk about anything and everything, and just enjoy each other, and have fun together.

This time we're staying at Pop Century. He really wanted to stay at Art of Animation, but the thing about that is the only room that is practical for us would be The Little Mermaid rooms and he really did not want to stay in one of those. However, we're going to be so close to AoA that I figure we can walk over and explore on our "resort" day.

I made ADRs for The Garden Grill, Liberty Tree Tavern, 50s Prime Time Cafe, and Be Our Guest (lunch). I am looking forward to having a Dole Whip, eating a churro, and having a chocolate covered pineapple. If they have brought back the Reese's Pieces covered marshmallow wands, I will have one of those as well.

Because he and I have gone so many times, and because I have the FastPass+, I feel like we can take it pretty easy this trip. It will be crowded and hot, so I'm hoping we won't feel the need to rush or cram a bunch in. Also, the longer trip will help spread things out. We don't have Park Hoppers, but I reserve the right to add them if I feel led to.

I have so much to look forward to! We'll be there soon.


2005

Ten Trips to Garden Grill

Garden Grill is my favorite restaurant at Disney World. It's a family-style all-you-can-eat place, with fresh vegetables, succulent meats, and the best character interaction in the parks. Instead of going to a buffet, they bring the food to you. And the restaurant rotates, so guests are looking over the ride "Living With the Land" for part of their meal. This restaurant also has the best character interaction in all of Epcot and possibly Disney World.


The menu changes ever so often, but they tend to keep a few favorites: turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy; some sort of beef; some variety of fish; and a type of cobbler for dessert. They're often accommodating when I ask if I can have some of the macaroni & cheese from the kid's menu. They used to use Stouffer's macaroni & cheese, but this year they seem to have come up with their own recipe.


I've been on ten trips to Disney World, and managed to eat at Garden Grill on every single one. Check out this picture history!


August 2001 - my first Disney trip and my first time ever meeting Mickey Mouse!

May 2005

September 2008 - on my DisneyMoon with Adam

August 2009 - Chip and me.

January 2011

June 2011

Valentine's Day 2012.

February 2013

June 2013

November 2014
Interesting to note how the outfits have changed over the years! Mickey got a completely new makeover from when I first saw him. At one point, the chipmunks wore overalls. See?


Some things that have not changed though: amazing service, delicious food, and awesome characters. I will continue to go back to Garden Grill.

Jammin' In The Jungle

previous posts:
epic disney world!!
a magical day.
two worlds.
a slow start for hollywood.

Our last day at Disney World took us to Animal Kingdom, which is painfully underrated in my opinion. Of course, there is the safari, and Dinosaur, and Expedition Everest, but it's just a beautiful park in itself. It's one of those parks I'd like to just go and hang out in and read or something, except there's too much to do and see to just sit! Ha.

We'd had mild weather all week, and this Friday was the first day we'd gotten to experience the true Florida summer sun. Even I wasn't prepared for it... but I still loved it.



We didn't ride much at Animal Kingdom. Aidan and I rode Dinosaur. I was really impressed he wanted to ride it--it's kind of a scary ride! I still have to close my eyes at parts... but we still had fun.

We spent some time over at Rafiki's Planet Watch. I like to go over there because I get to do things like make Falandos hold a big pile of poop.


All four of us did the safari, and there were lots of animals out. Our Fast Pass time was later than I'd normally have it, so I was worried. I needn't have.




We finished the safari just in time to see the Jammin' Jungle Parade! YAY! Now that I know most of the dance steps, the parade dancers like to come over and dance with me. It's really cool!




yay, sarah! she's one of my favorite disney performers.
This was our last day at Disney World. :( After finally making our way back to the park, it was a mad dash to meet our car (this time an Escalade!) and head to the airport. Where the travel snags started again.

Our flight was to leave at 7:45. Imagine our shock when we saw that our flight had been delayed until 11pm. And as we stood there, the numbers flipped until after MIDNIGHT. Well. We figured we'd just relax, shop, have dinner... except randomly, they gave us another flight, which left at 8:15. I was convinced we were going to miss our flight. It was 7:45 already. Security was taking FOREVER. Talk about stress... trying to make it our gate on time.... where they weren't even boarding. We made it home OK. Hungry, tired, and sad that the trip was over, but happy we had a few days together to talk about it and relive it through our pictures and stories.

So naturally, we'll be planning next year's trip soon....

That's all of the trip reports for this Disney vacation. If you want to see all the pictures, just click here! :)

Till next time!

A Day in Hollywood

previous posts
epic disney world!!
a magical day.
two worlds.

Thursday morning was a slow start for us. We slept in, took our time getting ready, and then, when we were finally on our way out the door, the rain came down with a fierceness. THEN, a friend of mine, Joey, who used to live in Chicago but had relocated to Orlando wanted to have lunch with us. So we hung around the resort and waited for them.

We played in the arcade while we waited for Joey and the gang. With our package, we got some free play time, but Falandos and I went ahead and splurged for a bit more. I'd never done that before--I feel like Aidan plays enough video games that it's stupid to go to freaking DISNEY WORLD and play more, but because we were waiting and it was rainy, we both went for it. Aidan racked up the tickets.


aidan playing fruit ninja
We had a great lunch, catching up, making new friends, hanging out. I'm not a huge Hollywood Studios geek, so I didn't mind not getting to the parks super early in the morning. (Really, the only reason to do that is to get on Toy Story Midway Mania, which Aidan and I both said wasn't a "must do", and for Tower of Terror, which gets a resounding HELL TO THE NO from Aidan.)


lunch with friends and family
We got to Hollywood Studios and the clouds were looking crazy ominous. We made our way to the Animation building and proceeded to spend hours inside, meeting characters, drawing pictures, and people watching!




By the time we got out of there, the rain had cleared up! It was a beautiful evening with perfect weather and low crowds. We rode the Great Movie Ride, went on the Backstage Tour, and saw Muppet Vision 3D. Then, it was time for dinner at 50s Prime Time Cafe.



cutest mommy ever!

aidan finishing up his drawing before diving into that big ole pile of friend chicken
My mom said this was her favorite meal out of the three table service restaurants. The food was yummy, the atmosphere was fun, and we LOVED when Falandos got reamed out by "Mama."

After dinner, we enjoyed the outside some more. The crowds were pretty non-existent. Aidan and I rode Star Tours three times in a row with barely any wait. He even got to be the Rebel Spy on one of the "flights"!

We finished off our night in the gift shops, of course!


When we got back to the resort, Aidan wanted to use up the last of his arcade points. He did and hit a lucky jackpot on one of the machines and got a TON of tickets! He got to pick out bunch of little cheap toys and candy, which made him pretty happy.

It was a low key day, but it was really fun, relaxing, and fulfilling. We all had an awesome time. :)