Disney Trip Shirts!
According to my Disney trip ticker, we’re 1 month, 1 week, and 3 days away from our trip!! Squeee! 
So, this week, I decided to make the personalized shirts I mentioned earlier for it! For materials, I shopped at Hobby Lobby, AC Moore, and Target. I got:
- cheap blank t-shirts (some long sleeve and some short) in black and gray. I actually needed to make 2 trips for these. After I washed the first blank shirts, some of them shrunk quite a bit, despite drying them on a low heat, so we needed bigger sizes.
- light shirt iron-on transfers (intended for the gray shirts, but only used on 2 shirts because they were turning out too transparent). One note here – I tried Printworks and Transfermations brands – Printworks was much better in terms of printing the designs. The Transfermations paper jammed every time. As for wear (fading, cracking, etc.) I have no idea yet.
- dark shirt iron-on transfers (I tried both above brands here too – I didn’t notice a difference this time, either in printing or ironing, but again, still don’t know as far as wear is concerned.)
- a cardboard t-shirt form
- a cheap iron (I left our better one at home. Hahaha, like I iron things anyway!)
- sticky Mickey head patches to sew onto the sleeves (like Champion shirts, lol)
I also used a cookie tray at some points because I didn’t have a flat/hard enough surface to iron on (not supposed to apply the iron-ons on the ironing board, and while the cardboard form was useful in centering iron-ons, it was leaving ridges in the print, so I needed something solid).
Because I’m not terribly good at creating decent patterns myself using only MS Paint, I got my patterns online at Disboards.com (there’s so many helpful and fun forums there, but I looked in the Creative DISigns forum specifically). I did have to make a few alterations to a couple designs (adding names and stuff), but most of the hard work was done by the lovely people on the forum.
So, without further ado, here’s the finished products!
Shirt 1 - Baby Mickey and Minnie, customized with our names and year of our trip! So cute! Mine is long sleeved and Chris's is short sleeved. Done on dark transfers. Slight boo-boo on the top of this one (mine) and Chris's got a little burned, but we'll just call it "aged", lol (his shirt was 50/50 cotton/poly while mine was 100% cotton - the iron-ons said ok to use with 50/50, but I guess you have to shorten the time you iron, which it didn't say).
Shirt 1 - Little Mickey heads on the backs. Chris's is red and black mini Mickey heads and mine is red and pink hearts. Done on dark transfers.
Shirt 2 - Chris - Personalized Mickey name on left chest. Used a light transfer for this - Mickey's a bit too transparent for my liking, but overall, still cute. If we had done it on dark transfers, the background behind the name and within the Mickey head would have been white, which I'm not sure would have looked that great. I wanted the background to be clear, but I wanted the Mickey to be vibrant, too. Oh well. Guess you can't have both!
Shirt 2 - Mel - Personalized Minnie name on left chest. Used a light transfer for this, like Chris's.
Shirt 2 - Little Mickey heads on the backs. Chris's is red and black stars and Mickey heads and mine is red and white polka dot. On dark transfers.
Shirt 3 - Chris - Personalized Mickey head with Mickey on the side. On dark transfer.
Shirt 3 - Mel - Personalized Mickey head with Minnie on the side. Done on dark transfer.
Shirt 3 - Little Mickey heads on the backs. Chris's is a blue starry pattern and mine is a pink and white swirly flowery pattern. Done on dark transfers.
Ta-da! Haha, well, I’m pretty happy with how they turned out, especially for my first iron-on experience. I did have a few errors, like the uneven top on that first shirt – I think I must’ve pulled up on the shirt somehow in the middle of ironing it, and slightly singing Chris’s version (which isn’t pictured) – but I’m not sure I could’ve known about that one. I followed the directions exactly. Also, I think a few might be slightly off-center or tilted, but I don’t think it’s too noticeable. I can’t wait till we get to wear them at Disney World!
Trans-Siberian Orchestra!!
We went to see TSO for the 3rd year in a row in Greenville this past weekend. We were 6th row, center and once again, it was fabulous. The first half was mostly the same, but since they have a new CD out this year, the second half had some new songs, which was exciting. Also, the lighting seems to get more impressive every year. There seemed to be more lights set up and more effects. The only people changes I noticed this year were 1) Roddy Chong has either gone solo and doesn’t tour with TSO anymore (I’d hear this earlier this year, but I’m not sure because he’s still on the website) or he’s gone over to West and 2) One of last year’s singers (I unfortunately don’t remember his name) was replaced by Rob Evan (who, by Chris Caffery’s intro, seemed to be back from being gone). Apart from the pretty cool violin duel last year, I don’t think the changes made too much of a difference.
The one definitely positive development was that Johnny Lee Middleton, the bassist who I complained about last year, was much more entertaining this year. Maybe he just had a bad day last year. He seemed more into it this year. So…no longer a complaint in my book. 
Also! Since we went to the later show this year, we got to stick around for the meet and greet! Yay! It seemed a bit rushed this year, which was unfortunate because I get flustered when I’m rushed. I wanted to be able to tell at least some of them I enjoyed the show and that we were repeat visitors, but I only managed to blurt it out once or twice. But some people stuck out in my mind as really trying to be personable, which I really appreciated – the drummer Jeff Plate, Johnny Lee Middleton, one of the singers James Lewis, and the violinist Anna Phoebe (who asked me a few questions!). Chris also spoke to Alexa Goddard, one of the singers, and Chris Caffery. Sadly, Alex Skolnick, who I was most looking forward to talking to, seemed distracted, but did respond when I told him I enjoyed the show. Plus, I remember him being nice the first year we went, asking me questions, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Overall, though, it was really cool to see them all up close and even just say hi. And I got a few more guitar picks to add to my TSO pick collection!
Here’s some pictures from the Greenville concert (sorry for the blurriness. I gave up trying to get decent pictures halfway through. I don’t know what the problem was – the pictures were much better last year. I think I need a new camera. A DSLR! Hint, hint. ):
The Stage
Johnny Lee Middleton
Chris Caffery
Anna Phoebe
Alex Skolnick and Chris Caffery
Anna Phoebe and Chris Caffery
James Lewis
Steve Broderick and Alex Skolnick
Jodi Katz
Signed TSO program
Assorted TSO stuff - Promotional cards, 1 signed ticket, 1 blank ticket, 3 guitar picks (gray=Chris Caffery, purple=Alex Skolnick, yellow=Johnny Lee Middleton (even though he doesn't use a pick))
And here’s a video (which actually came out decent):
So, we had a really good time and I can’t wait to see TSO West in December!! It’ll be exciting to see the different group (and Chris Altenhoff!! Squee!).
Life Update
Well, I haven’t really posted a whole lot since our anniversary Disney trip and there was a reason for that. I didn’t really know if I wanted to write about it or not, but since things have turned around, I feel more comfortable doing so now. So…
After we got back from our trip (literally, the next week), Chris found out he was getting laid off along with a bunch of other people from his plant. It really sucked. At first, we just felt shock and sadness. He had just gotten his 5-year gift from the company (well, he had just ordered it. It didn’t actually arrive for a month or so) and despite the bad economy, he was pretty much told about a month earlier there’d be no layoffs. Some people were put on furlough the month prior, but Chris wasn’t. So, it really did seem to come out of nowhere. Though we both had some rough moments where it felt like that period in our life would never end, Chris worked really hard to get a new job. At first, we had somewhat narrow search parameters – trying to either stay here, or at least somewhere in the Southeast or Texas. After a couple months of barely anything coming in from the recruiters, we removed all location preferences and Chris started getting more openings to apply for – though some were in bumble (like the one in Death Valley) – and he applied for everything. After a few dashed hopes from companies who really liked Chris, but didn’t have a job to offer him (why are you interviewing him then??), Chris finally got 3 job offers, 5 months after initially being laid off. We weighed the pros and cons of each and actually ended up with what we initially wanted – a job for him in the Southeast. We don’t get to stay here, since the job is outside of Charlotte, a good 1.5 – 2 hours away, but the feel of the area is somewhat similar.
Unfortunately, that means we have to sell the house and move. Our first house. 
We put the house up for sale at the beginning of the month and we’ve had several showings already this week with 3 more scheduled tomorrow, including one second showing (let me go on a ranty tangent for a second here – to any of you touring houses, please don’t track mud through the house. It’s incredibly rude. You wouldn’t do that in your own house – and this may one day be your own house – and the owners go to a lot of trouble to make sure the place is sparkling just for you to see it, so don’t ruin it! Ranty tangent over.), so we’re hopeful it’ll sell quickly. We got positive feedback from the first showing (though I don’t think that’s the one that’s coming back since we were told they’re probably waiting to buy thanks to a lease that doesn’t end till next year), so we just need someone to be ready to buy. The realtor is optimistic, too – she says the house is “darling” and we priced it appropriately, although we’ll be lucky to break even as far as money is concerned, which kind of sucks since that (minus commission and taxes and fees) eats into our next down payment (not to mention we’re kind of hoping to upgrade a tiny bit, which necessitates a bigger down payment). We also can’t get a new house till we have a down payment, so we’re in a temporary apartment till the house sells. It’s a decent place. It’s cute, but after living in a house we love, it just doesn’t feel like home. Which, I guess it doesn’t have to. Hopefully, we’ll only be here a few months max. It does kind of suck to be in a temporary apartment over the holidays though. I love decorating for Christmas – I go all out. I’m not even sure I’ll decorate this year, though. But we’re spending Thanksgiving with my family and Christmas with Chris’s family, so I guess it’s not as big a deal. Plus it’s a bit expensive living in temporary housing. It’s almost twice our mortgage payment in rent, in addition to still paying our mortgage, so the quicker we can sell the house and get into a new home, the better.
We may start looking around at homes in the new area soon, but I’m a bit nervous. I love looking at homes, but when I see something I love, I get attached. And since we can’t buy now, the best we can do is make an offer contingent on the sale of our house, which…ok, so we’ve had interest in our house in terms of people deciding after seeing pictures that they want to walk around it, but it’s not like we have an offer or anything yet. I don’t know how those contingency offers work, but I doubt we can make an offer on a house and have that offer sit there for possibly months until our house sells. I wouldn’t want that if I were the seller. I’d want to sell and move on. I do want to sell and move on with our current house. It will be exciting to look at new houses, though. I made a list of wants and needs for the new Charlotte-area realtor (who seems to have stopped contacting us after we shot down nearly all the initial homes she sent us info on – but I’m not really sure she looked at our list because 1. half the homes were in Charlotte, itself, whereas we expressed interest in Gastonia, 2. half the homes were fixer-uppers or didn’t have garages (a garage is on our need list and we don’t want a fixer-upper – we can’t handle it!), and 3. half the homes were smaller than our current house, so come on. I can do better than that. I found a bunch of homes I like on Trulia.com without her help.). But, yeah. I’m excited. There are a lot of things I love about our current house – the size of the master bedroom, the 2-story great room, the purple dining room, but there are also a few things I’m looking forward to looking for – a dedicated office (so we can keep our guest bedroom and have the third bedroom be a nursery), a better kitchen, a bigger shower, more curb appeal. Another thing we need to consider is living just across the border in South Carolina (we’re really close right now) – apparently the taxes are better, the homes are at least somewhat cheaper, and we wouldn’t have to retake the driver’s exam (bleh, I don’t want to study…I’ve been driving for like 10 years without even a ticket, just give me my license.). I do need some recommendations on towns though, so I can start looking into homes there too. Hopefully Chris will get some info from work.
On the upside, Chris is really enjoying his new job and is really happy to be back at work. He was getting pretty discouraged and stir-crazy being unemployed. Plus! We’re 90% sure we’ll still get to go to Disney World in February, which is fantastic. We didn’t need to touch our savings during the unemployment and the new job gives him vacation right away. He has a few days this year and 17 days next year, so basically as long as his boss gives him the ok, we’re going! It is a tad pricey, but again, as soon as we’re in a new house, we can start really saving big time again and it is the last vacation we plan on taking before we have kids and probably for a while after (minus visiting family for holidays, of course), so we both agree it’s ok. So, we’re really excited about that. I’m even planning on making a few customized shirts for Chris and me (yeah, I know, I’m such a dork. And I also know I’ve got a fabulous husband for agreeing to wear them! ). I’ll post about those when I start making them.
We’re so happy to have our life back on track and I’m so proud of Chris for staying strong and working so hard to get a new job. I think we may have come out of this experience stronger. Please think good thoughts for us that the house will sell quickly and we can settle into a new home soon.
Odd Searches
We need to have a chat, people. I’ve been noticing an odd trend over the past few weeks. A while ago, I saw a funny post on someone’s blog (sorry, I don’t remember whose) about search terms leading people to their blog. I thought that was pretty interesting because you see some weird and funny terms that lead to your blog, so I decided to check mine out. Most of them are pretty mundane – I get some WoW searches (for my whole 2 or 3 posts about WoW), some searches for the Crush haircut from American Gladiators (I do think I’ve got a pretty good picture of it from different angles, so you’re welcome people! Hopefully someone searching for it actually had the courage to get it done, unlike me), some Trans-Siberian Orchestra searches, and lately a bunch that are looking for nighttime streetlamp photos for some reason.
But what’s really weird to me is one search in particular. There are an awful lot of searches for “big forehead”, “fivehead”, “big forehead girl”, and “big forehead baby”. I first noticed this search term come up a few months ago and I’ve checked every now and then since for new funny searches and it’s there at least once a week (not that I get tons of traffic, obviously, but still)! Geez people! Why the heck do you keep looking for that?? Are that many people really interested in big foreheads? Are you worried your kids’ foreheads are too big? Is it some sort of weird attraction? I dunno. I’m not even sure why it leads here, really. The best I can tell, I mentioned the word fivehead once (well, twice now – gosh, this post is gonna bring even more of you fivehead-lovers here isn’t it? LOL). So…I guess I’m sorry to disappoint you if you were looking for the blog, Mel’s World of Fivehead, where you can read all about fiveheads and people who have them. Though I am sort of tempted to rename my blog that now, hehe. Maybe it’ll give me more readers! Though I guess I’d have to actually post now and then for that, huh?
Disney Vacation – Day 5 (last day)
Well, day 5 was our final day at Disney World, and only a half day. We had surprisingly gotten pretty much everything done that we considered “must-dos”, so we took this day pretty slow. Our last day has always been at the Magic Kingdom, because that just is Disney to me, so we headed over there with the intention of possibly hopping on a ride or 2, grabbing lunch, and doing a little shopping. Unfortunately, we did things a little backwards and did the shopping first (well, “unfortunately” may be the wrong word. I love shopping. I love Disney stuff.). Most of it was fairly small, but we also picked up an interactive R2-D2 for Chris’s dad for his birthday, which was really cool, but quite large. So, we decided to skip rides, since we’d already done everything we wanted to anyway and it was already almost noon. We did get offered a set of fast passes for Thunder Mountain from a Dad and son (yay, fairy dust!), but we ended up giving them to another couple once we decided R2 probably wouldn’t fit on the ride with us. For lunch, we went over to El Pirata y El Perico in Adventureland for Mexican. We both got tacos and chocolate cakes.
That was the last of our CS credits, but we still had 6 snack credits we hadn’t used, so we knew exactly where to go to spend those. Goofy’s Candy Co. in Downtown Disney! I’d heard they have amazing customizable snacks that you can get for a credit each, so we knew we wanted to try those. Instead of taking a bus back to our hotel and then waiting for a bus to Downtown Disney (and I wasn’t sure if there were buses straight from MK to DD), we decided this would be a great time to use the express monorail over to the Ticket and Transportation Center! Yay, we got to ride the monorail at last! After our quick ride, we got out at the TTC and started looking for a bus to DD. Apparently there isn’t one. Luckily, we found out that we could make the short walk over to the Polynesian and get a bus there. That gave us a chance to gage the walk between the Polynesian and the TTC for February (if we still go). It wasn’t bad. Quite a nice walk, only about 5 minutes. We just made the bus – it was there as we ran up – and we were finally off to Downtown Disney.
We don’t typically go to Downtown Disney often, since we’re usually busy with the parks and tired at night, not to mention most guys don’t like shopping much. I really like it, though! I hope we get to go again next time. There’s so many shops and restaurants! We were on a mission, but I did manage to stop in the Christmas store and the big World of Disney store to pick up a few things (like a Disney YA fantasy book!! <cheesy grin>) and a few more pressed pennies. Goofy’s Candy Co. was also a great success. We both put in our custom orders (mine a Mickey Crispy Rice Treat dipped in white chocolate and topped with chopped peanuts and milk chocolate drizzle and Chris’s a Mickey Crispy Rice Treat dipped in dark chocolate and topped with chopped pecans) and looked at all the goodies in the glass display counter. We came out of the shop with our custom orders, a set of 3 dipped and topping-ed pretzel rods, a set of 4 dipped and topping-ed marshmallows, a huge toffee brick, and a large chocolate covered smore.<drool> We didn’t get to try any of them till after the trip, but they were amazing and they lasted us a while. I highly recommend saving the snack credits for a huge candy blowout like this for everyone. We didn’t really feel we needed the snacks most days and the Goofy’s candy, particularly the custom orders, are a great deal for the snack credits. You could even go there early in the trip and buy snacks for the duration of your trip (to eat during your daily breaks or something!).
After using up our snack credits, we decided to take the boat back to the hotel, since it was getting kinda late and we still had a long drive home. We had a bit of trouble figuring out where to go to get the boat, but we found a really nice cast member named Nancy who stopped what she was doing just to lead us to the dock. She even gave us a personalized button to give to Chris’s dad for his birthday, with a cute little Mickey head instead of an “o”! We were at the wrong end of Downtown Disney, so we ended up taking the ferry to the other end and then transferring to the boat that goes back to Port Orleans. The boat ride was cute and peaceful, but a bit hot. Lots of green to look at on the way. Once back, we took a few more pictures and then it was time to say goodbye to Disney World.
Downtown Disney from the boat
POFQ from the boat
I always hate leaving. I get really sad. But I knew we’d be back in less than a year (maybe), so it wasn’t too bad. Our trip was great. We had a lot of fun and quite a few romantic moments. A great way to spend our second anniversary!
Also, for anyone who hasn’t already discovered it, the full album is here.
Spoilerific Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince review
Just a quick break in our regularly scheduled programming (I know I have one more day of vacation still to blog, I’m slow):
Ok, just to warn you, there will be spoilers, so if you don’t want to know what happens (because you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t read the books by now), stop reading now! Really, if you have any interest in the books or the movies and haven’t gotten around to either, I don’t want to spoil it, because there’s nothing worse than spoilers (I wore earplugs on my 2-plane trip up to NJ for a wedding the weekend book 7 came out – I might not have been able to lock myself in my house like I wanted, but I wasn’t going to let the end get spoiled!). Read the books, though! (and then see the movies for fun)
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Ok, for those still with me, for the most part, I really enjoyed the movie. I found myself laughing at some bits and almost crying (though I’ll get to why it didn’t quite cry in a few moments) near the end. The story was fairly clear (even though the scenes jumped around a bit quickly), even to Chris, who doesn’t read the books – he only had a few questions after the movie. Overall, the movie was fun to watch and the acting was better than in previous movies. Some of the new characters were pretty well cast – Professor Slughorn was great and Lavender was pretty good. Also, a few things surprised me as being good that I didn’t expect to like at all. First, Michael Gambon. I’ve hated his portrayal of Dumbedore since he started in movie 3. He was too harsh and too insane. Not grandfatherly or slightly bumbly or caring enough. I was concerned that we’d get to this movie and I wouldn’t care at all about him dying because he wasn’t the Dumbledore I know from the books. I’d already had a crisis of faith in him with the final book’s revelations (and particularly after Snape’s comment about Dumbledore raising Harry “like a pig for slaughter”), but I’ve come to terms with his character and didn’t want Michael Gambon’s failure to read the books to ruin it again (for the record, if you take a movie role based on a book, read the damn book. It’s your job to get the character right.). However, he got it closer to right this time around. He toned it down a bit and seemed more caring. So that turned out ok. Second, Helen McCrory as Narcissa. Don’t get me wrong, the hair is BAD. It’s completely wrong. But I thought she had the personality pretty good. And her scene was short enough that she didn’t have a chance to ruin it by doing something out of character.
Also, when I originally read that the movie makers had decided to put a rather large focus on the teen relationships blooming, I got very nervous. To me, this is a dark book about Tom Riddle (Voldemort) and about several people struggling with their alignment, so I didn’t want to see a bunch of fluff when there should be substance. But, really, I didn’t mind it so much. I thought there was a good balance of happy and not so happy. Plus, with the book mostly being free of action (till the end), I guess I can understand why they’d want to emphasize the funny bits to make up for the relative slowness of all the background information and building up to the last book that book/movie 6 is.
However, when I consider what had to be cut out to make it so balanced, I start to get a bit “grr” again. Now some bits, I understand being cut out. For example, the first scene of the book with the meeting between the Minister of Magic and England’s Prime Minister was interesting, but I can see how showing a few short scenes of turmoil affecting the muggles explains well enough that muggles are now being affected by the Dark Lord’s business. Also, cutting out Dumbledore’s funeral. I was originally really upset to hear it had been cut, but I thought the scene around the body was pretty good and showed emotion, so even though they cut out a few good bits specific to the funeral, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. A bit more annoying, was cutting most of the battle at Hogwarts at the end and the use of the rest of the Felix Felices to keep the gang (Harry’s friends and the members of the Order, who were barely mentioned or seen in the movie apart from the trio) alive. I can understand why it was cut – we’ll basically have a repeat in the final movie – but it made it seem a bit stupid that the Death Eaters had to show up just to watch Draco try to kill Dumbledore and then all run off together. Why did 4 people (several of which hadn’t even been introduced, like Fenrir Greyback) need to show up to do that? Why even have the vanishing cabinet? I guess to flesh out Draco’s role more (who’s performance was better than I expected). But really? I would’ve preferred more time for explaining why Voldemort is the way he is or delving into Snape more, both of which I think are the worst of what was sacrificed.
I’m willing to consider that perhaps the fact that Snape is one of my favorite characters is probably the main reason I’m so upset at how Snape’s role is perpetually lessened (way too many scenes cut) and sometimes cheapened (he’s not comic relief batting people on heads with books. He’s an unpleasant, harsh guy who holds a grudge. That’s not so say he isn’t overall a good guy. Perhaps if they hadn’t made Snape’s memories in movie 5 so jumbled and quick, it would be more clear that he’s a complex guy worth rethinking.). But yet again, Snape’s scenes were cut down to a few, despite him being the title character (never even an explanation of why he’s called the half blood prince). We lost the entire sub-plot of Snape acting as professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, where he actually was trying to teach Harry non-verbal spells. Because of this, later on, during the final face off between Harry and Snape, the line “Blocked again and again and again until you learn to keep your mouth shut and your mind closed, Potter!” is also left out. I always found that line interesting because it seems that even though he doesn’t like Harry and they’re in the midst of a wand fight, he’s still trying to teach him to be a better wizard. Even worse though, they cut the line “DON’T CALL ME COWARD” with the look of intense pain on Snape’s face during the same scene. It was just so poignant in the book because Harry had just said “Kill me like you killed him, you coward”, so the fact that Snape got angry and looked pained made it possible to argue that he felt terrible for having to kill Dumbledore (but it was part of Dumbledore’s plan) and that it did take a great act of courage to do it. We needed to see Snape, who is typically cold and emotionally withdrawn, show that loss of control of his emotions. It was a powerful scene in the book, but the scene in the movie is just lame. He reveals that he’s the half blood prince, tells Bellatrix to leave Harry for the Dark Lord, and off he goes. For anyone just watching the movies, there’s been absolutely no hints that Snape’s not a bad guy. Those people probably just think Dumbledore was stupid to trust him and that Snape thought it was easy to kill Dumbledore. <sigh> The books fleshed the character out so much better. There were plenty of subtle hints that made you question his alignment. I downright felt for him, wanted to see him redeemed and happy.
Another scene I found a bit lacking was the tower scene. Harry wasn’t immobilized by Dumbledore to prevent him from interfering and getting himself hurt. He just stood downstairs and watched. Snape walks by and says “shhh” and Harry just lets him go up. There’s a reason that didn’t happen in the book. It’s stupid. Harry would never just let Dumbledore get killed if there was anything he could do about it. At least they left in Dumbledore’s pleading “Severus…please.” which was a highly debated line in the Snape alignment question.
Yet another minor complaint was the cave scene. It was pretty cool looking and the effects were great, but the emotion wasn’t there. It was a painful scene to read, with Dumbledore suffering and Harry forcing himself to convince Dumbledore to drink more of the potion. The chapter’s ending line was really touching to me – after Harry tells Dumbledore not to worry, that he’d get him back to Hogwarts to get help, Dumbledore replies “I am not worried, Harry. I am with you.” But no. Not in the movie. It was rushed, both Harry’s actions and Dumbledore’s suffering. It was hard to hear Dumbledore mumbling about it being his fault. I just didn’t feel what I felt when I read the scene in the book.
This makes me scared for the 2 scenes I thought were the most emotional in the final book – Harry’s walk through the forest and Snape’s memories (and partly his death – I was a bit disappointed in the actual method of death and the lack of oomph leading up to it, but the eyes bit was touching.). I’m just worried that a) Dan Radcliffe can’t pull off the emotion and b) they’ll continue to reduce Snape’s role in the movies. I bawled during those scenes in the book, but so far I haven’t cried much in the movies. I cried after Cedric died mostly because of the music and because of Harry’s parents talking to him and I started to cry both when Sirius died and when Dumbledore died, but was quickly distracted. With Sirius, it was just action and stuff going on that distracted me. With Dumbledore it was my anger at how the following Snape scene was handled. I got a bit teary again when Harry went back to the castle and everyone was looking at Dumbledore.
My main complaint however, and I think most valid, was the lack of memories regarding Voldemort’s family. Yes, we got the memories from when Dumbledore first met him and when Voldemort asked Slughorn about horcruxes, but without seeing the memories of Voldemort’s family, his motivation goes out the window. In the movie, it seems as though we’re asked to believe that Voldemort is bad because…well, he just is, ok!? In the books, we see that Voldemort was born into a family without love (his mom used love potions to trick his dad into marrying her and then when she thought he might just love her on his own and stopped using the potions, he left her), wasn’t raised with any love (his mom died after giving birth and he went to an orphanage where he tortured other kids), and he eventually killed his remaining family to make horcruxes. I think all that is rather important. And I thought the memories should’ve made the cut.
What to cut instead, so that we don’t end up with a 10 hour movie (hey, I’d watch it) – how about the manufactured Burrow attack scene? It wasn’t in the book and I didn’t see a reason for it to be in the movie, yet it took up like 10 minutes. How about just a little bit of the teens kissing all over the castle? Or the scene in the beginning with Harry flirting with the muggle waitress, also not in the book?
<sigh> I don’t know. I mean, I did enjoy it and I fully intend to buy it when it comes out on DVD and watch it a bunch more. I think I just need to go to these movies expecting less. They can’t be perfect transcriptions of the books or they’d be hours and hours long (again, I’d go see it, but I’m not everyone. I’m a bit crazy.). I need to just appreciate it for what it is. But really, read the book. It’s better.
Disney vacation – day 4
We decided on day 4 to get up an hour later than normal and skip rope drop for EPCOT. We were both pretty tired, but luckily my ankle was doing a bit better. EPCOT does have 2 rides that are very popular, but we figured we had all day to get a fast pass for one and wait in line for the other, so our tiredness won out. Our ride to EPCOT was pretty nice thanks to our driver, Hector, who really liked to chat with people. When we got on the bus, he noticed our buttons and asked me how long we’d been married and then on the bus ride, he proceeded to congratulate us (with everyone else on the bus), joke around about how 2 years isn’t a lot (though we’ve technically been together almost 9 years now, but he didn’t ask that!), and give us advice on marriage (just say, “Yes, dear”).
When we got there, there was a pretty big line to get through the bag check at the entrance, but soon we were in and headed off towards Soarin’, Chris’s favorite ride at Disney World. The line wasn’t too bad, so we just got in the standby line. I really like this ride, too. I love the feeling of flying and the scents they pump in for certain scenes. And the music is really pretty. After Soarin’, we went over to Test Track, the other popular ride, which also didn’t have too long of a line, so again, we got in the standby line. It was a bit longer than it looked, but the wait wasn’t too bad. Next, we were off to the Figment ride, which I don’t remember at all, if I’ve been on it. It was kinda cute, though I almost lost my sunglasses near the end in the jet of air. That wouldn’t have been good. After a quick walk through Innoventions, just to see that it’s still not geared towards us at all, we had lunch at Seasons, which is in the Land. This was the best counter service lunch option we found at all of Disney World. There are so many choices from salads and sandwiches to Asian food and grilled salmon. And the desserts! Oh, the desserts. There’s so many. Great use of our CS credits for this lunch. We both had plates of Asian food (different types of chicken, beef, vegetables, rice, and noodles) and Chris had pan au chocolat for desert and I had a rice crispy brick (it was huge). Yes, I know, a rice crispy treat probably sounds pretty dull, and if you’d seen the dessert selection, you’d probably think I was crazy for choosing it over all the other delicious choices, but Disney rice crispy treats are really good and I just had to have it. I’ll try something else next time I go.
For a break, we had originally (like, before the trip) talked about going and hanging out at the Beach Club where Chris has stayed in the past. It’s within walking distance of the World Showcase and would allow us to not have to waste time on taking the bus home and back, but we seemed to forget about that once we were at Disney World. I’m not sure it would’ve been enough anyway, since we both ended up taking a nap back at the hotel.
After the break, we were back at EPCOT, ready to finish perusing the countries in the World Showcase. We had an early (4:45 pm) dinner at Restaurant Marrakesh in Morocco, which is one of the furthest places from the EPCOT entrance, but we got there on time. It was really pretty inside and the entertainment was cool – there were 2 guys who sang and played drum/bongo things and a belly dancer. We both had couscous (his with lamb shanks that just fell of the bone, it was so tender and mine with really tasty vegetables) for dinner and for dessert, I had Moroccan baklava while Chris had bastilla. My baklava was pretty good; tasted like baklava, only with pistachios in it, but Chris’s bastilla was amazingly good. It’s layers of crispy filo covered with vanilla cream sauce and toasted almonds that is just so tasty. So, all in all, another restaurant we’d never tried before that we’d definitely go back to.
Kind of a dark picture of the inside of Restaurant Marrakesh
Both of us in Restaurant Marrakesh
Chris in a telephone booth in England. He said it was really hot inside.
Us waiting for the fireworks. I look a bit quasi-modoish in this picture.
After dinner, we went back to Norway to ride Maelstrom, which Chris hates, but I think is kinda cute. So, in reward for his sacrifice, he got a Grey Goose Lemon Citron Slush in France (and I got a Grand Marnier Orange Slush). They were both really good and quite refreshing. After finishing up Canada and England, we decided to stake out a spot for the Illuminations fireworks. An hour and a half ahead of time. Ugh, it was a long wait. We watched a bunch of spiders make webs in the bushes. Gross. Finally, we got to see the fireworks though. As I might have said before, I’m not quite as big a fan of the EPCOT fireworks as I am of the Magic Kingdom fireworks, but it was still a good show. I could just do without the middle bit with the music, fountains, and pictures on the globe that takes forever to get to the center of the lake and open up. The finale is pretty good though, really bright and explodey!
After a quick stop in MouseGears, the big EPCOT shop, we headed back to the hotel to call it a night. I was pretty sad that it was our last full day at the parks. Up next, day 5: a bit of this and that to end the trip.
Disney Vacation – Day 3
We woke up day 3 pretty tired, but showers and cereal breakfast woke us up fairly well. Since today was our only MGM (DHS) day, we knew we needed to get there at rope drop since there’s a few rides that are pretty popular. Our bus ride was uneventful and got us there on time. After watching the little pre-rope drop show, they let us in and we power walked to Toy Story Mania since it’s actually probably the most popular ride in the park right now since it’s the newest and everyone can ride it. We got there with a bunch of other people and noticed that the fast pass machines had a line! After getting our fast passes (I think for around 10:30 am), I took this picture to show the line just to get fast passes:
So, really, if you want to ride this, and don’t want to wait in at least an hour standby line, get there at rope drop. I’ve heard fast passes completely run out around 11 am. And since we’ve never been there at night (we usually go to EPCOT or Magic Kingdom for dinner/parade/fireworks, though I’ve never seen Fantasmic, so maybe next time we’ll actually try it), I’d certainly hate to get a fast pass at 10:30 am for near closing time. Anyway, after getting our fast pass for TSM, we power walked over to Rockin’ Rollercoaster, another ride that gets a big line quickly. We only waited about 10-15 minutes and then we were on it! I love Rock n’ Roller Coaster. It’s one of those 0-60 in 3 seconds roller coasters with loops, so it’s probably the most extreme ride at Disney World and it’s a lot of fun. Chris always does his silly face (not just the silly smile, it’s more of a not-quite-all-there look) for the camera, but I just can’t keep a straight face during the take-off. I do love looking at the picture though – often his face makes me laugh until I cry. Next, we went to Tower of Terror, which is another of my favorites. I just love the theme and all the details in the atmosphere of the line and ride. Plus, the ride itself is fun of course! I think I need to try this one at night – it would be nice to not have that sudden bright daylight in your eyes at the top of the ride. It always makes my eyes tear up, which makes me look like I hated the ride and cried the whole time! I’m not 100% sure where the picture is taken in this ride, so we sometimes make our face and sometimes don’t, since it’s kinda a pain to keep the same face during the whole ride.
Us on the road to Tower of Terror
We saw this on the way back to Toy Story Mania. It's the High School Musical parade. Chris got excited. lol
By now, it was time for our FP for Toy Story Mania, so we headed back over there. It was much better to only wait about 10 minutes compared to the hour we waited last time. There’s lots to look at in the line, but my feet were really sore last year, so it felt really long. The ride was fun (though our arms were exhausted by the end from pulling the trigger on our game gun thing) and unfortunately, Chris beat my score on this ride. *pout* Oh well. Next we did Muppets 3D and Star Tours. Some idiot tried taking pictures during Star Tours, so the ride was interrupted a few times by a cast member telling us not to take pictures. I also made a few pennies, which was nice because I had very few pennies from DHS for some reason.
For lunch, we went to the ABC Commissary, where I had a burger, fries, a drink, and chocolate mousse and Chris had curry, a drink, and chocolate mousse. It was fine, nothing special, but definitely not bad. After lunch, we went on the Great Movie ride, which I hadn’t been on in a while and we saw the Cowboy scene (I remembered the Mobster scene, but not this one, so yay!). Then, we went to the Animation Studio and saw the show and looked around at the Up research and development stuff. We also got to meet Frozone from The Incredibles. Chris likes his “Where is my super suit” line, so he was happy to meet him and get our picture taken. Frozone’s a bit of a flirt – he kissed me, lol!
Us with Frozone, right before the kiss, lol
I think I’d like to try the animation class next time we go. I really like to draw, so I think it would be a lot of fun to learn to draw a Disney character. It was getting kinda late though, so we decided to skip it this time in favor of a short break back at the hotel. Unfortunately, this bus ride home was shared with POR and we were the last stop (the bus driver drove right past the entrance to POFQ, why not just stop!!??), so we had to sit through 4 stops before getting back to our hotel. So we had a bit of a shorter break today, but even I napped whereas I usually just write in my journal or relax or whatever. I was really tired.
Finally we were off to EPCOT! We had decided that today would be World Showcase day, but Spaceship Earth had a typical short line, and it’s right at the front of the park, so we rode that first. I love the new ending, where you get to input your choices into a little computer in your car and see your version of the future. It’s so cute.And of course, we did our silly faces:
A scene from our future (sorry for the angle, it was hard to get a picture of it)
Next, we stopped at Club Cool, the drink station with samples of foreign drinks. We’ve tried them before, but it’s fun to go back and try them again and see other people’s reactions to some of the bad ones. I won’t give away which one is the really bad one, in case anyone reading hasn’t gone yet – you’ll just have to figure it out yourself (and then turn around and see who was waiting to see your reaction to it!), but here’s a picture of Chris’s reaction:
We also watched as the father of a family grabbed a cup of the really bad soda and guzzled it down quickly. After his reaction, he noticed us staring with our mouths open (we couldn’t believe he gulped it down!) and laughed and asked why we didn’t warn him, lol.
Finally, it was time for World Showcase. We had a late dinner, so we had plenty of time to mosey through the countries, which I love to do. We started with Mexico, the first country on the left. We decided to get churros and drinks (a margarita for Chris and a sprite for me – I didn’t feel like a margarita) at the outdoor CS restaurant. I love churros. Mmm, so good. We sat and enjoyed our snack, while looking at birds and the World Showcase all around us. Before dinner, we managed to tour all the countries except England, Canada, and Morocco, so we figured we’d fit them in the next day, which was a full EPCOT day. We got a huge bag of candy in Japan (I love their candy! Pocky, Pucca, several sorts of gummies and hard candies and chocolate, yum). The big store in Japan is always a lot of fun. We also got to see Miyuki, the woman who makes candy by hand. She made a few different candies for people as we watched. It was pretty cool, they’re so ornate. Unfortunately, around the point of Africa (which isn’t very far into World Showcase, maybe a quarter of the way through (also, why is Africa a stop here? First off, World Showcase has individual countries, not continents. Second, all of Africa only gets a small stand and not a full location with buildings and stuff?? Third, doesn’t Animal Kingdom kind of take care of Africa? Why not put Greece there instead! Ok, too many parentheses here, time to end it)), my ankle really started to hurt, so I sort of gimped around slowly from that point on for the rest of the night. It was ok, though, I still enjoyed the World Showcase.
Chris with the troll in Norway, notice the enthusiasm.
Around 8 we decided to head back to the Seas, where dinner was (Coral Reef). Once we got there, we had a little time to spare before our 8:50 pm dinner reservation, so we rode The Seas with Nemo and Friends, which was kinda dumb. It was a little clam shell that you ride while looking at screens of video with a little story about finding Nemo, who has again gone missing. I think they could’ve made it a lot better if it wasn’t just a series of videos. But, I guess kids probably like it, so whatever. The ride deposited us out into the aquarium, so we looked around there briefly (we saw some surprisingly playful manatees) before looking for the exit to head over to dinner. This was our actual anniversary, so this was the one restaurant we had eaten at before together and knew we liked. We got seated right next to the tank, where we had lots of fish and sharks to look at. We even named a few that stuck around and did cute things. Miguel was a shy fish who liked to look at us stealthily, Samuel was a laid back fish who stared at us and occasionally swam backwards, and there was another unnamed fish who swam by really quickly with his mouth opening and closing rapidly as if screaming, right after a shark swam by. It was pretty funny. Our waitress, was unfortunately, the same waitress we had on the family trip last year, who was awkward, slow, and kind of annoying, but the food was good. I got salmon and butterscotch creme brulee while Chris got Ahi tuna and a chocolate wave. We also shared the Land and Sea appetizer, which is grilled shrimp with cucumber salad and barbecued beef skewer with polenta. I was a bit disappointed that they’d taken the seafood pasta (I’m not sure exactly what it was called) off the menu, since it was really, really good, but my salmon was quite tasty.
After dinner, the park was still technically open for EMH, but I was hobbling pretty bad and we were both pretty tired, so we called it a night. Next up: day 4, full EPCOT day!
Disney Vacation – day 2
The alarm clock went off bright and early around 7:30 am and surprisingly, we weren’t that tired! Imagine that, me up in the am and not tired! Ha! Anyway, we wanted to try to get to Animal Kingdom as close to rope drop (opening) as possible so that we could get on the popular rides first. It’s good to get on those first because Animal Kingdom is always a bit hotter than the other parks thanks to all the humidity and heat being held under the canopy of trees, so it’s pretty icky to be in long lines there. I managed to remember everything for the backpack this day and our bus again was just POFQ so we got to the park right at opening. We followed the herd in and rushed over to Kilimanjaro Safari, the riding safari, to get fast passes (if you wait till later in the day, we’ve seen the wait around 90 minutes!) and then power walked across the park to get on Everest, which only had a 10 minute wait! I love Everest. It’s got the theming of a typical Disney roller coaster plus the excitement of a real thrill ride. It doesn’t go upside down, but there’s a part that sure feels like it. I won’t ruin the surprise for anyone who hasn’t ridden it, but it’s a great ride. After Everest, we walked through the Maharajah Jungle Trek, which has animals like bats, tapirs, and tigers. We named the tapir Bob, since we couldn’t agree how tapir is pronounced (TAPE-ur, right? Not TAPE-ear!). The tigers were sleeping, as usual (though last time we saw one spray a tree, lovely), but they were close to the viewing spot, so that was nice. I like tigers. We also saw a bat licking it’s balls. Not very dignified. After the trail, we decided to take a ride on Kali River Rapids, which is a raft ride that can get you quite wet. Last time we went, Chris and I got soaked and I was wearing jean capris, so it was really icky feeling for the rest of the time at the park. This time, I specifically brought board shorts to wear to this park just in case and of course we barely got splashed. It was still fun, though. Next, we went back to the Kilimanjaro Safari for our fast pass time and had a nice ride and saw lots of animals, some pretty close up, like the elephants and giraffes.
Once we got off, we were right near the entrance of the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, where we saw some birds and some gorillas. I did my Master’s project on gorillas, so I always like watching them. Most of them were sleeping, some in odd positions, but we saw one that sat up and was looking around, looking deep in thought. Chris tried to narrate what he was thinking – mainly about how the gorilla was worried about the stock market – and then the gorilla threw up. Gross. Everyone simultaneously “eww”ed. And then he ate it. Everyone “eww”ed again. I hate to see that. Back when I was watching the gorillas at the Philly Zoo, I learned that reinjesting vomited food is an abnormal behavior only seen in captivity and is a sign of stress. The enclosures are pretty nice at the park, though (they seem pretty large and natural), so I hope it’s an isolated incident.
By now, it was lunchtime, and despite the gorilla vomit, we were actually pretty hungry, so we found a counter service place to grab some lunch with our CS credits. We each got burgers, fries, a soda, and a milkshake (dessert is included in the CS credits) and sat down in a nice shaded table area near the meet-and-greet spot where kids get to meet Baloo and King Louie from The Jungle Book. It was fun to watch the kids meet the characters and watch the characters act silly with the kids. After lunch, we were pretty much done with Animal Kingdom (we’ve done Dinosaur in the past, but I really don’t like it. It’s loud and shakes you around a lot and the dinosaur at the end always freaks me out. I know it’s not real, obviously, I just don’t really like big, scary things that make loud noises. If our kids one day want to ride it, they can go on with Daddy. I’ll wait patiently in a nearby shop. ). Next time we go, I would like to try to see either Festival of the Lion King or Finding Nemo – The Musical, since I’ve heard they’re both pretty good. We were on a limited time though this trip, and we really needed a break, so we went back to the hotel for a short while.
Us with the Tree of Life in the background. Also, my new set of ears!
Chris in front of the Rainforest Cafe sign. We didn't eat there, but we thought the gorilla looked like he was making our silly face, so he posed with it.
After a short nap and freshening up, we went back to the Magic Kingdom to finish up the rides, have dinner, see the parade, and watch the fireworks. We first walked over to Thunder Mountain, since it was the main ride we missed the day before, and yet again, it was closed, this time for a bee infestation! They promised to have it back up in an hour or so, so we grabbed fast passes. We decided not to go on Splash Mountain again, so after I grabbed a few pressed pennies from Frontierland, we went back on Haunted Mansion, Pirates, and the Enchanted Tiki Room (which I don’t remember ever seeing – boy, it was dumb. Maybe that’s one of those rides you have to grow up loving so that it becomes a classic must-do later on, like IASW and Carousel of Progress.). We had a bit of time to kill before dinner, but not enough to wait in line for a ride, so we walked through the rose garden in front of the castle and took some pictures. I really liked how some of them came out. I love how you can get shots without too many people in them from the rose garden. It looks like a scene right out of a fairytale.
Excalibur behind the castle. Do they still do the "who can pull it out" thing?
- Just us in front of the castle, more magic on my head
Dinner was pretty early (5:15 pm) that day at the Plaza Restaurant on Main Street. I had a tuna salad sandwich with fries and Chris had a grilled chicken sandwich with fries. We shared a banana split since most of the desserts looked pretty big (we also got some cookies to go since one dessert each is included in the TS credit). The restaurant was pretty, and we were off in a cute little octagonal room with lots of windows, but it was a bit warm and the bathroom was outside, which was kind of a pain. I also think it would be a great place for lunch with all the sandwich choices, but a bit light for dinner. I’d go back, but only for lunch. There’s so many great restaurants at Disney World, so I’m sure I can find a better choice to try for dinner.
Chris in the Plaza Restaurant
We got in one last viewing of The Laugh Floor (Chris wanted to submit a joke via text message for the show, but I thought it was slightly too macabre, so he decided not to, and then we heard a joke that was really similar and he pouted, lol) before deciding to find a place to watch the parade and fireworks. It was a bit late (7:45 with the parade at 9 – sad that that’s late to find a spot), but we found a great spot in the circle in front of the castle just behind some British kids who ended up buying half the glowing spinny things off the nearby cart. The parade was cute, as usual. I think they changed the creepy dudes that start the parade off, though. They used to wear full fake heads and now they seem to only have makeup and wigs. I’m not sure which is worse:
Old version of creepy dudes. (Picture from www.laugingplace.com)
New creepy dude
Wishes was wonderful also, as always. I love the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. I’ve never seen Phantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (it’s MGM, dammit), but I definitely prefer Wishes over Illuminations at EPCOT. Illuminations is nice, but it’s a bit slow at times and a bit too Kumbaya for me. Wishes is just cute.
After the fireworks, we finally had time to go use our Thunder Mountain fast passes before the park closed (even though we were past the return time – they’ll typically still take them as long as it’s the same day), so off we went back to Frontierland. I don’t think I’ve ever ridden it at night and I thought it was actually a bit more exciting. I guess the darkness makes it feel like you’re going faster. I’ll definitely remember that in the future. As it was getting close to closing time, we headed back towards the entrance of the park to go home. We were originally planning on taking a quick round-trip on the monorail (to hear the “Por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas” of course!), but the line was gimungous, so we decided we could do without it this time. When we got to the bus station, the line for Port Orleans was shared between POR and POFQ and really, really long. We waited a while, watched one bus fill up and go, and we got on the second one that came around just after the first left. It was pretty crowded. So, mental note: the buses around closing time can take a while to get onto and get home (I dunno though, like I’d leave early just to avoid this? Maybe we could just stick around longer and hope that the bus lines die down a bit? And what if you’ve got kids? Are you outta there early anyway or do you just carry them out sleeping/cranky/crying?). Luckily POFQ was the first stop, so we only had our usual ride home before we were able to get home and into bed. Next up, day 3: Disney’s Hollywood Studios and EPCOT!
Disney Vacation – day 1
After checking in, we made sure our bag had everything in it that we needed (I later realized I’d forgotten about 4 things, but oh well), put on our silly hats, anniversary pins, and some sunblock, and headed off to the bus stop to wait for the bus to the Magic Kingdom. It was a bit weird not arriving via monorail, but soon we were there, walking through the gates! As it was the middle of the day (around 3:30 pm), we didn’t need to rush to any rides to beat lines, so we strolled in leisurely (I love that first sight of the castle!) and decided to use our daily snack credit since we were hungry. I’d heard great things about Dole Whips and Dole Whip Floats, so we each got a Dole Whip Float (mine was pineapple, Chris’s was orange, both are soft serve with pineapple juice) from the stand in Adventureland. MMMM. They were really good and quite refreshing. Definitely lived up to the hype.
Dole Whip Floats!
We walked over to the Haunted Mansion, one of my favorite rides, while eating/drinking our Dole Whip Floats. All before dinner, we managed to hit most of the rest of our favorites: Pirates, Buzz Lightyear (I beat Chris’s score! haha!), Carousel of Progress (I know most people think this is dumb, but I love it), It’s a Small World (much to Chris’s chagrin), the Laugh Floor (for the first time), Jungle Cruise, and Mickey’s Philharmagic. For some reason, the park looked fairly packed, yet all the lines were pretty short. The longest line we waited in was the 20 minute Jungle Cruise line. Everything else was 15 or less, which was great!
Proof of my winning Buzz Lightyear score!
Proof of Chris's losing Buzz Lightyear score!
As we knew beforehand, Space Mountain and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority were closed for renovations, so neither of them for us this time. They also ended up closing down Thunder Mountain for a while due to technical difficulties, so we didn’t get on it that day, but we knew we were coming back the next day, so it wasn’t a problem. We did grab fast passes for it, since they said it shouldn’t be down too long, but once we got to the front of the line to get fast passes, the time had changed so much (due to the huge amount of people getting turned away from the broken down ride), that our return time would be our dinner reservation time, so we just gave them to another couple. Splash Mountain’s line was actually pretty long (I think at least an hour), so we just skipped that. We should have saved the fast pass for this, but oh well. Anyway, all the rides we got on were fun as always. Chris hates IASW, but he was a trooper and rode it for me. It was weird though, lots of buildings were under renovation, so there were a lot of those paper facades up, which kind of tarnishes the magic a bit, but I understand they need to do the work (I guess I just think they should probably pick a less busy time of year to impact as few people as possible). IASW was actually one of them, so Chris had a glimmer of hope that it was closed, but we just had to find the makeshift entrance off to the side.
Chris thinks IASW is closed. Nope. Just a fake facade while they renovate. It's open! (If you look down the road a bit, Pinocchio's also has a fake facade up.
Photo on IASW - notice the grumpy gus. (It's ok, he's just acting, the next pic he smiled for.)
On the upside, Chris really liked the Laugh Floor, so that was a plus for him. It was pretty cute. It’s animated and somewhat interactive (I think someone who can hear the audience does the character voices backstage, I just don’t know how the animation is always appropriate to what needs to be said and as we later found out, different for different shows, perhaps depending on people’s answers?). Anyway, it was pretty cool.
I got a bit of a headache midday (and Advil was one of the things I forgot to put in the backpack), but we found some in a store and then found out that you can ask for ice water at any CS restaurant and it’s free, so we at least got free water. And now you know you can get free ice water! Finally, something free at Disney World!
After all the rides, we were off to our late dinner (8:25 pm – general closing time was 9 that night, but there was extra magic hours for resort guests) at Tony’s Town Square Restaurant, which is Italian food. I had spaghetti and meatballs and creme brulee, and Chris had chicken parmesan and an ice cream bomb. We also shared bruschetta for an appetizer (which wasn’t included in our dining plan, so we just had to pay for that out of pocket. Everything else was included and everything was very yummy. Their meatballs were fantastic (very dense, I love dense meatballs). Though we were starving when we got there, the food really filled us up quickly and by the end of dinner, we were beyond stuffed. There was no parade this night, so we didn’t get to see that, but we had it slotted in for the next day, so no worries. We heard, but didn’t get to see Wishes, the fireworks, but again, we knew we’d be back the next night with an early dinner, so that was ok. Plus, I love the music for Wishes, so it was nice even to just hear it anyway.
Dinner at Tony's Town Square Restaurant. Notice the "magic" on the table! Also, it looks early in this shot, but it got dark pretty quickly.
After dinner, the MK was open for EMH until 1 am, so we decided to just walk around a bit and take some pictures. It was so romantic to just stroll around the paths around the castle holding hands, just enjoying the scenery and each other. It actually might have been my favorite part of the trip. You’re typically racing around in an effort to get to all your favorite rides, so it’s nice to just take your time and enjoy the atmosphere sometimes.
I love this shot of the castle, with the still water giving a perfect reflection. I just wish I could somehow back up further and get the full reflection without getting the bridge I'm standing on, too.
A Cinderella fountain in Fantasyland. I also have a flash shot of this, but I thought this one was prettier.
Silly picture of us. We were trying to get the castle in the background (you can kind of see a little of it...), but with only the 2 of us, there's only so far an arm can go. Yes, that's magic on my head and yes, I knew it was there.
After we were both feeling a little less full and done taking pictures, we decided to call it a night and head home, so we went back to the bus stops and got on a bus fairly quickly. After the long drive down to Florida and the excitement of the first day of parks, we were exhausted, but happy, and fell asleep really quickly. Next up: Animal Kingdom/MK again!
