The blog that doesn't get updated much.

Friday, February 19, 2021

Disney Rides

Disney 2020

Part II: Rides & Attractions!

This is a list of the rides, attractions, and entertainment. I started with a list of places you could use your fast pass. If it's Fast Pass eligible (FP), if it's the new Tiered system of Fast Pass: FP1 or FP2. To start you can get one Tier 1 Fast Pass reservation (FP1) and two Tier 2 reservations (FP2). Magic Kingdom doesn't have tiers as of 2/22/2020 so they are just labeled FP.

In compiling this list I realized how much we DIDN'T see and do. The amount to do there is astronomical. Basically, if you miss out on something, don't worry about it. Our days were packed from beginning to end. We were up at dawn and the kids were passed out on the bus pretty much every night. We didn't ever go back to our hotel during the day. Also, it's now March and I'm still looking at pics from our trip and reminicing.

Also, I did minimal planning (compared to what I heard other people doing) and we also still had a great time. My first big tip is check out Crowd Calendars. There are a probably a ton of them. Google and find them on a few websites and pick the dates with the least amount of lines. This helped me with my desire not to plan the hell out of our vacation and I'm sure reduced the amount of time we spent in line.

Our basic structure included: eight days and seven nights of travel, staying at two Disney hotels, called a split stay, (Moderate: Port of Orleans, 4 nights, and Deluxe: Animal Kingdom Lodge: Jambo House, 3 nights), five day park hopper tickets, and a Disney Meal Plan (DDP). We also bought the memory maker photo pass and purchased trip insurance. Total cost, including EVERYTHING, flights, parking at the airport, souvenirs, etc. $8,400. To put it in perspective I looked at our trip to California in 2018 and we traveled for about 10 days and the cost of that trip was $6,800.

Day 1: Flew in as early as possible. We got to check into our room at Port of Orleans Riverside before the posted check in time. We checked in, got our buttons (my birthday, their first timers), unpacked and got settled, walked around the resort, checked out the gift shop, played at the arcade, ate some foods, got our Disney mugs (part of the DDP), and eventually took the bus over to Disney Springs. We walked around this giant open air shopping and restaurant area and had dinner at Raglan Road while listening to live Irish music. We took the river boat back to our hotel and got our things packed for our first day at the park.

Day 2: Hollywood Studios had Extra Magic Hours (a bonus for staying at a Disney Hotel) in the morning and Epcot in the afternoon. We had dinner reservations at Akersus where we saw a ton of characters and a Fast Pass for the Frozen Ever After Ride. Learned that day that I couldn't get Fast Passes for one park if I had Fast Passes for another park later that day.

Day 3: Animal Kingdom all day and arrived early with Extra Magic Hours in the morning and quickly made our way to Pandora and rode Na'vi River Journey. We had a reservation for Tusker House for a character meal and added on the Rivers of Light Package for the first show. (This ended up working to our benefit because we went back to Pandora during that second showing, learned about the parent swap, and didn't spend a huge amount of time waiting for us to individually ride the Avatar Flight of Passage. This ride was a ridiculously amazing VR ride where you felt like you were rising a Banshee through Pandora. The kids weren't tall enough to ride it yet.)

Day 4: Magic Kingdom all day and then park hopped to Epcot. (next time we will not take the monorail to Epcot with the giant herd of people, but take the ferry. We easily lost an hour moving with the crowd.)

Day 5: Rest day, slept in, packed our stuff to take to our next hotel, Animal Kingdom Lodge (Jambo House) and went to Disney Springs to play at the Lego store lunch while our stuff made it's way to the hotel and then spent the late afternoon and evening swimming, admiring animals, and enjoying an incredible dinner at Boma.

Day 6: Hollywood Studios early so we could get a Boarding Pass for the Rise of the Resistance, which we did and we were out of that park and at a Character meal at 'Ohana for brunch by 11:45am. Back to Magic Kingdom to see the parade that we missed last time and night show, that was eventually foiled by losing Zoey right beforehand.)

Day 7: Epcot for Extra Magic Hours and back to Hollywood Studios to catch their night show, Fantasmic!

Day 8: We caught the latest flight home to get home before 8pm so we got to enjoy our last day at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Magic Kingdom

RIDES!

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (FP): this roller coaster is a blast! We lucked out and got to do this one twice in a row. Some Disney Magic by a cast member who saw the glee after riding our first roller coaster hooked us up. Worth getting a fast pass.
Barnstormer (FP): a quick fun roller coaster. Like 45 second ride. We were able to hop on it the first time with a fast pass and I think we immediately rode it again with little to no line. We did it another day too with minimal lines. https://youtu.be/yodnbrL60H
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (FP): We didn't get to ride this. We had a few full days at the MK but I will make sure to get a Fast Pass for this next time.
Space Mountain (FP): the girls aren't tall enough for this yet but as a kid this roller coaster was always a favorite.
Splash Mountain (FP): this was down for renovations while we were there but every time I've ever been to Disney World or Land I have done this ride.
Peter Pan's Flight (FP): we missed this. I think it's a ride. It's really popular so I would try and get a Fast Pass next time.
Tomorrowland Speedway(FP): Dave was interested in riding this but not something he HAD TO DO. It seemed like normal go karts so not sure if the long wait would have been worth it for us.
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (FP): this is a fun interactive ride. It's a car on a track. You ride it through a few rooms that have targets and shoot at the targets. There were two guns per car you can swivel the car around too. Worth a fast pass if you can't get them for roller coasters. Photo pass on the ride. Scan at the end to get your pics.
Mad Tea Party(FP): quintessential Disney spinning teacup ride.
Magic Carpets of Aladdin (FP): this was our first ride when we got to the Magic Kingdom. Interactive and goes around a base and the riders can determine if the carpet goes up and down or tilts forward and backwards. The Dumbo ride and this are basically the same ride. https://youtu.be/5F1P4Giugdw
Dumbo (FP)

Super Slow Moving Rides:

It's hard to even call these rides. There may be a the smallest of drops but really it's about admiring the scenes and animatronics that Disney has to offer:

Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid (FP): ride around in a clam shell on a track and see some scenes from The Little Mermaid. Some parts of this were really gorgeous.
Pirates of the Caribbean (FP): quintessential Disney slow moving long ride with animatronic characters. Photopass on the ride toward the end.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (FP): we didn't wait in line for this one. We also didn't stop and see any of the Pooh characters. I believe this is also a slow moving ride that goes through scenes from Winnie the Pooh.
Haunted Mansion (FP): quintessential Disney. Photopass on the ride toward the end. We look sooo bored. Dave is eating a cough drop. I wouldn't feel compelled to ride this if the line was long.
“it's a small world” (FP): quintessential Disney. The costumes on all the animatronics are incredible. We waited abit for it but probably wouldn't have waited longer than 45 minutes. It's a slow moving boat that moves through many countries and cultures of the world.
Jungle Cruise (FP): a river guide tells bad dad jokes as you ride a boat down a river where there are older Disney animatronics along the boat ride. Meh.

Attractions and Shows:

Enchanted Tales with Belle (FP): live actors have a ton of crowd participation to tell a story of Belle. Three of the four in our family were in it. They have professional photographers to take pictures of the entire thing and you get a card at the end to add them to your Photopass.
Mickey's PhilharMagic (FP): 4D show with animatronics. You sit in a theater and have additional sensory experiences during the show.
Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. (FP): We missed this but I am pretty sure we would have enjoyed this comedy show.

Character Meet & Greets:

Mickey at Town Square Theater (FP): we saw Mickey elsewhere.
Tinker Bell at Town Square Theater (FP)
Cinderella and Elena at Princess Fairytale Hall (FP)
Rapunzel and Tiana at Princess Fairytale Hall (FP)
Ariel at Her Grotto (FP): Ariel has a gorgeous tail.

Transportation Kind of Ride Around MK:

Tomorrow Land Transit Authority (returns you to where you got on)
Walt Disney World Railroad (twenty minutes round trip but you can get off in either: Main Street USA, Frontier Land, or Tomorrow Land

Nightly show (no fast passes): Be at the front of Cinderella's castle. It is WORTH IT to scope out a spot. The first night we were there we were so exhausted we thought we'd be satisfied with the view on a bridge heading back to Main Street from Tommorrow Land but in hindsight it was not the full experience. The castle comes to life and the fireworks accentuate the show. I'm glad we came back the next night to ride a few more rides and see the show.

UNFORTUNATELY, I lost Zoey at the very front of the castle. She wanted to go up a little closer. I could see her. And then everyone was told to stand up. And she was gone. I'm not sure how quickly a cast member started asking her questions and bringing her back to the kids lost and found (at the back end of this area) but the entire front section of the castle was all calling her name at one point and she must have been determined lost pretty quickly and I got to the point of starting to freak out, even though I know this is the safest place on Earth. So, instead of getting to see the glory of the seats we had initially scoped out and saved we had a less than perfect view from the side.

LUCKILY, I found my kid and then we also caught back up with Dave and Audrey, who we'd left behind after Dave was moving slowly because he hurt his knee on the Haunted Mansion and there was such a huge sea of people in front of the castle we never found each other before the night show. ALSO! There was an extra show that night on the castle called Once Upon a Time. It was beautiful. We had an incredible shared experience seeing Let It Go at the top of our lungs along with thousands of other people.

**Currently Magic Kingdom does not have a tiered Fast Pass system but the other parks do. I'll note if they are Tier 1 or Tier 2.

EPCOT

RIDES!

Soarin’ (FP1): This is my absolute favorite ride at Epcot and one of my favorite rides at Disney World. This is a huge movie projected on the inside of a concave dome while you are sitting (possible really high up, just don't look down, you are safely belted in and the kids have an extra strap) in a long swing with about 12 other people. You fly over the world to see major landmarks and many of them have smells along with the gentle movements on the swing. This ride was just incredible.
Test Track (FP1): This ride was being renovated shortly after we arrived. They had long lines the days we were there. Dave would have definitely ridden this ride. It is supposed to be really fast.
Frozen Ever After (FP1): As far as rides go it's hard to call it a ride. It's a log ride with animatronics, and singing. Of course. There is the smallest drop and a Photopass on the ride. Don't be that guy and record the ride and have the phone in front of your face for the picture like I did.
Mission: SPACE (FP2): There are two versions of this ride. Earth and Mars. Audrey and I rode Earth. We were underwhelmed. If you don't like small spaces this is NOT the ride for you. Dave rode Mars and apparently this was leaps and bounds beyond Earth. Some crazy strong G Force took place. Height requirements: Earth: Mars: 44"
Spaceship Earth (FP2): a roller coaster in the dark. As a teenager I LOVED THIS RIDE. I didn't do it this time because the kids weren't' tall enough. Height Requirement: 44"

Super Slow Moving Rides:

The Seas with Nemo & Friends (FP2): ride along in a clamshell and check out scenes from Finding Nemo
Journey Into Imagination With Figment (FP2): Figment is EPCOTs mascot. It was a simple slow ride exploring your senses. The most fun was after you got off the ride and went into the playroom. (Met Joy from Inside Out in this space.)
Living with the Land (FP2):
Turtle Talk with Crush (FP2):
Pixar Short Film Festival (FP2):
Epcot Forever (FP1): This is the nightly show at Epcot. It was pretty mindblowing. I admit that I teared up a little bit at it's vast beauty and vastness. The show we saw had jet skiers pulling lit up kites, water sprayed into the air, fireworks, and the tops of all the countries lit up. It was just gorgeous. It says you can get a Fast Pass but it probably looks amazing everywhere.

Hollywood Studios

RIDES!

Slinky Dog Dash (FP1): this roller coaster was a BLAST and worth the line we waited in. I would get a Fast Pass next time FOR SURE!
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (FP2):
Tower of Terror (FP2): Not sure if the girls were ready for a ride that dropped like this.
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (FP1): This was fun. It was a long line, but it moved quickly so the scenery was always changing and while in line we got to chat with Vi and Manny for a bit, waved to Chewy and tried to get Ray's attention. You want to be the pilot. Audrey and I were pilots, Dave and Zoey were gunners, and some people we did not know where engineers. Dave said his ride wasn't as fun because he wasn't looking straight forward like we were as pilots. Honestly, I have no idea if the Engineers had fun or not and if it was worth the wait.
Star Tours (FP1): This was a fun ride where they ride stayed in the same general space but lurched around as we escaped the Dark Side.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway (FP1): This opened after we went.
Toy Story Mania (FP2):
Alien Swirling Saucers (FP2):
Voyage of the Little Mermaid (FP2):
Disney Junior Dance Party! (FP2):
Beauty and the Beast (FP2):

Attractions and Shows (you can get fastpasses for):

Frozen Sing-Along Celebration (FP2):
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular (FP2):
Muppet Vision 3D (FP2):
Fantasmic! (FP2): Nightly show and so good. Fast Pass likely got you slightly better seats. We got there right before the show and still enjoyed it tremendously. Some characters, some people, fireworks, light show on the water and a little fire.

Animal Kingdom

RIDES!

We had a great full day at AK but we didn't do a ton of rides or things that you needed Fast Passes for.

Avatar Flight of Passage (FP1): Virtual Reality amazingness
Na’vi River Journey (FP1): This is a slow moving ride through brilliant animatronic scenes from Avatar. (I'm surprised this is Tier 1 and not Tier 2.)
Expedition Everest (FP2)
DINOSAUR (FP2):
Kali River Rapids (FP2): I think this was under repair.
Primeval Whirl (Seasonal) (FP2): missed this

EXPERIENCES/ACTIVITIES:

Kilimanjaro Safaris (FP2): it was a delightful view of so many animals.
The Animation Experience at Conservation Station (FP2)

SHOWS!

It's Tough to Be A Bug: (FP2): fun 4D show
Finding Nemo Musical (FP2): We missed this show.
UP! A Great Bird Adventure (FP2): We missed this live action show.
Festival of the Lion King (FP2): live show with singing, acrobats, stilt walkers, etc. I enjoyed this 360° live performance.
Rivers of Light (FP2): Animal Kingdom' nightly light show. We did a dinner package and got nice seats to the show. There are two shows each night. There are no fireworks because they don't want to scare the animals.

MEET AND GREET:

Adventurers Outpost Character Greeting (FP2): Character Meet and Greet. We didn't do this as we had a Character Meal at Tucker House and met Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy.

I found this blog after I got back and it seems like a good resource for next time or someone else who is going sooner than us. : https://www.mousehacking.com/blog/disney-world-fastpass-strategy

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Non Alcoholic Drinks

water kefir: https://wellnessmama.com/2261/water-kefir-soda/
homemade ginger ale
Ginger beer
Ginger switchel
Shrubs: The term "shrub" can also be applied to the sweetened vinegar-based syrup, from which the cocktail is made; the syrup is also known as drinking vinegar. Drinking vinegar is often infused with fruit juice, herbs and spices for use in mixed drinks.

http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2011/06/cocktail-101-how-to-make-shrub-syrups.html
Shrubs are a great way to make flavorings for soda water, esp if you like tart and vinegar.

Tonic water: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014759-tonic-syrup
Rooh Afza - you can find it at Indian grocery stores. Syrupy rose water that hits the same palate as some aperitifs.
Soda water with flavored vinegars in summertime...and all the coffee!
Soda water with a drop of grapefruit essential oil. That's what I do. Need a soda stream.
Spindrift: It's naturally flavored sparkling water that has very few calories and comes in a lot of flavors!
Peychaud's!
know bitters are alcohol but depending on how strict you are, I like a couple dashes to flavor some sparkling water... probably less alcohol than kombucha.
A favorite of mine is Bosc pear with cilantro thru the juicer, a lil cucumber and/or celery lightens the sweetness. Seriously delicious.
been hydrating chia seeds (3T in a pint of warm water) and adding juice or flavored water to make my own chia drinks lately.
Vanilla Chai tea, sparkling water mixed with fruit juice
Red Zinger tea cut w unfiltered apple juice or really any juice
Mexican Aguas Frescas. They come in many many fruit and nut flavors and are incredibly simple to make (usually) and refreshing on a hot day. A couple of my favorites are cucumber and horchata!
I use my sodastream along with bitters or natural flavor extracts as flavoring to get away for the aluminum cans of la Croix I was being so wasteful with. It's Pretty cool and SO many flavors out there. Lemon & lavender bitters combined is pretty amazeballs! Ive yet to find a pamplemousse replacement yet tho (grapefruit) the bitters isn't quite right.
Shrubs! Bitters in sparkling water, a splash of fancy juice in sparkling water, and if you like brewing kombucha you could try brewing jun - fermented with a SCOBY just like kombucha but made with green tea and has a slightly different (more floral?) flavor
I also love herbal sipping vinegars and oxymels, and homemade soda (like ginger ale) isn't too tough. Oh and another fun ferment is water kefir
I’m a big fan of tamarind water or Jamaica (hibiscus) water but I don’t drink it that often because of the sugar content
Martinelli’s sparkling apple cider. We used to call it “kids wine” at the holidays. I usually water it down or add it to kombucha to cut the sugar.
The Welch's "sangria" sparkling juice is even better (IMO). I find sparkling cider to be a bit too sweet. http://juice.drinkmeiers.com/
Dark chocolate almond milk
We keep it pretty simple at my house. We like lemonades and limeade. I also like horchata.
Mostly soda water with a bit of tonic water tastes like you are drinking alcohol
Lime and tonic for me.
I like to muddle berries with lime and mint and top off with soda water. Just keeping adding soda water t the merry mix all day.
I make Kombucha but also a product called shrubs which you may find interesting. They are drinking vinegars you can add to soda water.
https://www.borobeverage.com/
Bai antioxidant drinks are tasty. Zevia is a Stevia based drink for soda fans. I like the grape flavor. I just had the Defender tea from Teavana today and really enjoyed it.
Throat Coat tea from Traditional Medicinals. It has a sweet aftertaste without having any sugar in it. - Part of that sweetness is from slippery elm which is a great all around medicinal (the glycoproteins are good for the GI tract and bladder too). The kava relax tea from Yogi teas is great too and has that nice sweetness.
BYOB Carbonators:

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Disney 2020

Part I

First off, my blogging skills and possibly the Blogger platform are super basic and not gorgeous...I followed a video to add YouTube videos as embedded links but I don't think they worked. Hopefully you can still link to them on YouTube. I started a video to make it have more than one pic wide. I couldn't finish it. So here we are... Basic blog coming right up.

Now I'm not a Disney cult member but I *am* totally in love with the Disney Experience. I will 100% go back in the next couple years. I'm glad I didn't over schedule us. I'll crunch numbers later to figure out how we may do it more cost effectively next time. I'm glad we went all out this time around and next time I think I'd do some different kinds of extras. I have so many tips I learned in the first few days.

So Many Magic moments. Here are a few in no particular order:

1. Background on this sweetness: Many people wear buttons if they are celebrating (typically received at their resort). It was my 40th birthday trip so I got my button. Dave and the kids got 1st time buttons. There were also folks with Happily Ever after buttons and probably other ones I don't recall right now. (So. Much. Happened!) Wearing your button gave cast members (and everyone else you encountered) the info that you were celebrating... And they celebrated with you. With cast members that sometimes resulted in some extra magic but then I (and many others) got swept up in the magic as well and found joy in celebrating with everyone. Strangers, now called new friends, everywhere smile and say Happy Birthday to you and you to them.

We are all here together having this shared experience and it was marvelous.

2. In the Animal Kingdom Park a wonderful soul was playing the kora. It's the most beautiful instrument. It's a type of harp and it is the sound of magic.

He got done singing and playing his song, saw my pin, and sang me happy birthday in the most lovely way.
iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5w7Z5RtTgjI" width="459"></iframe>

3. After dinner at our second resort Animal Kingdom (there are giraffes out the window!!! More on this resort overall later, hopefully!) the cast members at the hostess stand were from Zimbabwe and hung out with the four of us for at least an hour after dinner. Drums were played for us to dance to. They sang multiple Happy Birthday songs for those of us celebrating. The girls were dressed as princesses and were asked to sign and color in their autograph book. The cast members got on the floor and colored with them.

4. When we were waking through Disney Springs (not a park but a shopping district with great restaurants and an amazing Lego store) the girls were dressed as Elsa and Anna and a group of people all started chanting "All Hail the Princesses" and from that moment forward I did the same.

5. There are Fast Passes, which you can reserve way in advance. I did not. Normally I love planning a trip but there was so much to learn and so many intricacies that I got overwhelmed and frustrated and decided to mostly wing it. And it all worked out.

Audrey did a ride at the State Fair in October that stated level but lifted us up on her bench and made our butts rise and she was so freaked out I was a little worried about roller coasters. We stood in the regular line for about 30-40 minutes to ride Big Thunder Railroad roller coaster at the Magic Kingdom. She LOVED IT! We all gleefully ran off the ride to do the next thing. We were giddy. I went to ask the Fast Pass line at Big Thunder directions to our next plan but he said, "you all liked the ride? You want to go again?" And he gave us free Fast Passes to the front of the line. Was it the birthday button? Was it his joy in seeing our joy? I don't know, but we ran all the way to the front of the line and rode again.

So. Many. Princesses.

First and foremost in Epcot:

Anna and Elsa meet Anna and Elsa (Photo Pass)

We did a character dinner our first night at the parks in Norway and met a ton of Princesses. Then after riding Frozen Ever After we sought out Elsa and Anna.

Sidebar: This ride got a lot of hype... So I was a little let down. It's full on Frozen in Disney fashion but I'd have been really disappointed if I'd waited for an hour to ride it. I was glad we had a Fast Pass. I also didn't realize a photo was taken on the road so I'm taking a video and my phone is out for the Photo Pass picture 😜.

Hugs from Anna (Photo Pass)

Making Anna Laugh (Photo Pass)

Elsa Hugs (Photo Pass)

Epcot Character Dinner at Akershus hosted by Belle of the Ball:

Belle (Photo Pass)

Aurora (accidentally used the zoomed out lens)

Cinderella (Dave)

Ariel (Dave)

Magic Kingdom Princesses:

Cinderella's Castle:

Cinderella (Photo Pass)

Elena (Photo Pass)

Tiana (Photo Pass)

Rapunzel (Photo Pass)

Ariel's Grotto:

Zoey could not stop looking at Ariel's tail. 😍
(Photo Pass)

It was a pretty impressive tail!
(Photo Pass)

(Photo Pass)

Belle's Enchanted Tales

The whole family (except myself) were in the show. Dave was a knight, Audrey was Chip and Zoey was reluctantly the Wardrobe. Dave's arms got tired holding that up over his face through the majority of the story.

Photos above by Photo Pass

Photos by Me

Fairytale Garden:

Merida (Photo Pass)

Epcot (on our third visit to Epcot that week!)

Jasmine in Morocco (Photo Pass)

Mulan in China (Photo Pass)

So.Many.Characters:

Our first stop on our entire adventure was Hollywood Studios and I don't think this park was the delight it is now before Galaxy's Edge. We ended up at this park three times, and mostly because we caught on to how to do the Rise of the Resistance and had to go back... And because of that we also got to ride Slinky Dog, a ridiculously fun roller coaster, so, totally worth it. Wonderfully serendipitous!

Chewbacca (Photo Pass)

BB-8 (Photo Pass)

We saw tons of Storm Troopers all over Galaxy's Edge. I was interrogated by them while trying to find Dave.

Before

After

At Rise of the Resistance

We saw Chewy everywhere.

The girls were asked about what happened with the Storm Troopers by Vi & Manny.

We were spoken to by Kylo Ren. That is Kylo Ren, isn't it?

Rey is around but she is always on the move. The closest shot I got was a holograph of her on the Rise of the Resistance.

There was at least one other opportunity to meet Darth Vader but we passed and got a Mickey ears chocolate covered ice cream, one of many, and made our way to Epcot.