Day 4: Is this reality?

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense.” 

-Alice In Wonderland

 Day for was spent out of the parks, in the real world. If you can really expect a Canadian girl to consider Orlando the real world when its 30C in November! Curiouser and curiouser. For our out of parks day we got up super early with the plan of renting a car and driving to a river tour. It took much longer than expected toget ready, rent the car and hit the road and we realized before leaving the parking lot that we were not making the tour. So instead we went to a not yet open Disney Springs just to walk and get the lay of the land and then drove to one of the Disney outlet stores about 10 minutes away from there.  The Disney outlet on vineland which is close to Disney Springs is small so the selection isn't fantastic in all honesty, the prices however are! I can only imagine the money this store could potentially save parents but even for myself. I got the 2015 parks scrapbook + paper and sticker kit for under 30$, the book alone is 30$ in parks! I will get more into shopping and deals when I do my haul after my day reports are done.

  After snagging some awesome saving at the outlet store we were on the road again, this time to Tampa, or I should say Clearwater. The drive From Disney to Clearwater is a bit over an hour but it is a very pretty drive! Palm trees everywhere, so many small bodies of water, very scenic while practical. Clearwater beach was our destination, Jamie really wanted to swim in the gulf of mexico, I got excited that we MIGHT be able to see wild dolphins! The first little while to me was nice but not spectacular, I fed seagulls and swam, but then it happened, out of the corner of my eye, could it be? A double look and yes, yes it was, DOLPHINS! Two adorable, happy and free dolphins jumping and playing in the distance! I squealed, I jumped, I ran as close as I could (which wasn't close at all). I would love to know what the rest of the beach thought of me because not one other person seemed to care in the slightest. 

  After about 20 minutes of intensely scanning the waters in hopes of seeing more dolphins it was time to head to actual Tampa to see the Tampa Bay Lightening's vs. The Florida Panthers. Yes we Canadians took time in Florida outside of Disney to go see a hockey game. Want more?  The arena has Tim Hortons! That has to be marketing to snow birds for sure because there didn't seem to be any other Tim's anywhere. I actually don't really drink Tim Hurton's when I went vegan they didn't have non-dairy options , although some locations now do. Still despite not drinking it and despite them being sell outs I still feel a cultural connection as sad as that sounds.

  This NHL game was actually my first professional sporting event and I have got to say it was pretty rad. The energy really was electric, the played fun music whenever the puck wasn't on the ice and when someone scored they made real lightening, I know its kind of like a grade 10 science project but it really was cool I don't know why more teams don't use this simple technology to boost crowds. The game was really fun and I did not regret buying a 35$ t-shirt even though Tampa did lose. 

   By the end of the game I was totally exhausted and slept the whole way back.

Day 3: EPCOT

"Put your hand on the future
Share a dream together around the world
With a voice from every country, A face from every land
We'll celebrate the future hand in hand" 

-Celebrate The Magic

On November 13th day 3 of our trip we woke up bright and early to a wake up call from Baymax! If you are staying on Disney property your room phone will have the option to schedule a wake up call, you just pick up the phone press wake up call and follow the steps from there. The wake up call will be from a character , we got Baymax but they change it periodically. We got dressed quickly int our nice clothes, I was Disneybounding Cinderella in a light blue dress with a silver bow, I totally forgot my black ribbon for around my neck in the rush. Before going to EPCOT we had a very special breakfast ADR. So we hopped onto the Magic Kingdom bus and off we went.

Clearly it's early

I love sleep and because of this had pushed our wake up call to the last second, and because of that I was very worried we would miss our ADR. On top of running late the main reason I made such an early Magic Kingdom ADR was that if you have a very  early ADR they will let you into the park early and the photopass photographers will already be out so you can get crowd free pictures! However our running late ended up not mattering as Main Street was closed for filming. So we ran straight to Cinderella's castle for our ADR at Cinderella's Royal Table.

  Cinderella's Royal Table is a flat fee restaurant. It doesnt matter what you order you pay the flat fee Dinner is 75$ per person with breakfast being slightly cheaper, if your on the DDP this location takes 2 credits. That said, its totally worth it. Included in your royal visit is a meet and greet with Cinderella before you even enter the dining room, and inside the dining room you get meet and greets with he various princesses and your choice of a sword, or wand with wishing star. I think I should add here some boys seemed to feel left out during the make a wish moment when they had swords not wands so let your kid choose, toys know no gender.

  We arrived at the castle and were given our invitation to meet Cinderella, while your waiting if you look up and around you may notice Cinderella's friends Jaq and Gus Gus hiding some where up above. Cinderella was sweet and liked my disneybound , even though he didn't get in the pictures she did take time to acknowledge my prince before it was time for us to go upstairs.

    Options for vegans at CRT are pretty basic, Mickey waffles, potatoes ,salad,fruit and oatmeal. I have heard of them doing tofu scramble sometimes but it wasn't offered so I didn't ask, I love Mickey waffles. The Princesses came around to our table they were all nice and fun my favorite was Aurora we had the longest interaction with us, she was kind and hilarious and everything you could hope for in a character interaction. It kinda made me question her ranking as my least favorite princess.

Plant Based Mickey

  After breakfast we headed back to our resort for a quick change before EPCOT. I changed into a Jasmine disneybound, it was a mint/tealish dress, with a gold head band I tucked my hair into and a gold necklace, had I have a thin gold belt that would have stepped it up.  EPCOT if you don't know stands for Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow and was originally supposed to be home to a community similar to Celebration (a Disney owned suburb in Florida). This is the educational park. Arguably all of the attractions here are some what education in one way or another,so while this park tends to be a favorite for adults because of all the food and drinks it shouldn't be skipped by families as there is the opportunity to learn. Our Epcot itinerary did not get followed at all! Due to Jamie getting really excited about food and wine , because we did not follow my plan we did not see the whole park! What usually considered a half day park we arrived before noon and didn't see it all, so follow your plans people! We did do most of the major attractions, spaceship earth (which was not at all what I expected but still neat), Mission: space (which next time I'll choose less intense on), Nemo and Friends, Figment ( my favorite).

Dominican Republic Vegan Version

The world showcase is the part we didn't get too finish. We made it home to Canada and answered some American questions about what certain parts represented and where it was supposed too be and how Canadians feel about the representation, we didn't do the Canadian shows because I heard they are dated and kind of boring and I don't like the loud sound of chainsaws. We did a quick walk through of the UK, America, Italy, Morocco,Japan, Mexico and Norway. Of the food booths we did Greece which had vegan moussaka, Dominican Republic which on request veganized a dish I am not sure of the name of but it was my favorite. We also ate the new vegan option at Sunshine Seasons in the land pavilion this option deserves to be discussed. A lot of people hate the Korma and were really upset that the "beef" noodles was replaced, I have never had the vegan "beef" noodles  but I really liked the Korma that said Jamie did not, also a girl at the table next to it took like two bites and abandoned it, the counter servers will let you taste it before you order so taste it , clearly its not for everyone so just ask for a taste if you don't like it they also have a vegan wrap and vegan sandwich or you can go else where in the park because Epcot is full of options.

    At the end of the night we sat in front of Norway to watch Illuminations Epcot's night time spectacular. To me I interpreted the beginning of the show to represent the big bang and the development of earth, it goes from there to a beautiful video,light,and fire works show about humanity and unity. Being unplugged for much of our vacation we had only just heard about Paris and there was something suiting, albeit almost eerie sitting there in the world show case listening to this beautiful piece about coming together and peace and unity in light of what had just happened. 

Every evening

Brings an ending 

Every day becomes a legacy

Every sunset 

Leads to morning 

With the promise of opportunity

We can reach for the stars we find along the way

Dreaming as we learn to love everyday

Promise You will take my hand 

As tomorrow comes We'll go on

We'll go on 

Growing closer through the years

Moving on

Through the good times and the tears 

Ever on

Another thousand circles 'round the sun

If two can be as one

We'll go on

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

I'd say there's something 
magical in the air, wouldn't you?
Why it's the spirit of the season,
a season that sparkles with its own
magic and memories. -Holiday Wishes

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party also known in short form as MVMCP for those whom may not know, as I mentioned this event deserved it's own entry, so here we are. MVMCP is a hard ticket event, meaning that a regular park ticket will not get you in. People with party tickets can begin entering the park at 4pm and the party starts officially at 7pm. My bff Shell and I had already been in the parks all day, since about 10-11am minus a slight separation for separate dinners when we met up for the party a round 7 for the start. When I arrived it was already snowing on Main St. and WOW being from Canada the sight of snow in and off it's self really isn't that special. Yes it's beautiful watching the first snow of the year, or on Christmas eve,Christmas, even New Years but those are about the only times your happy too see it, because when it snows here its also around -20 degrees Celsius which for American readers would be about -4F so yea, it sucks. But walking down Main St. and looking at the castle lit up in ice through a light flurry while warm and in a t-shirt was more than magical it was awe worthy. 

      I was late so we hurried over back to Shell's family who were sitting in the viewing area waiting for the parade to start. Before the parade there was the Frozen lighting of the castle mini show, unfortunately due to the ABC filming our view was totally eclipsed by fake bushes( or at least temporary bushes) that were set up to hide the filming equipment. After the Frozen show it was time for the Christmas parade! Our spots for the parade were perfect, right on the curb, full view.
The parade was everything you'd expect bright colors, magical characters, fun themes and sounds, with a little extra Disney touch which was SCENT! The flouts were pumping out themed scents! This for sure took the parade too a whole other level, it's said that Disney also pumps certain scents throughout the park during the day, I personally tried really hard to notice it and couldn't but I do have a very weak sense of smell. All and all though I still would say Festival of Fantasy parade wins for best Disney parade.

  After Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas Parade we headed to Adventure land to meet my favorite Captain Jack Sparrow. We arrived quickly so the line was still quite short we probably waited around 10 minutes  not because of line length but because he spent so much time with each person. Personally I'd rather wait longer and actually get an interaction than get in quickly but only get a quick snap and then being hurried out. Jack was a hoot! After our turn we waited too watch the girl in line behind us go because we had talked in line and she was also hilarious! When you meet Jack it is on a little stage so people walking by can watch. After meeting Captain Jack we walked right on to The Jingle Cruise not only did we walk right on there were only 2 other people on our boat. Our skipper didn't let that stop him though! He gave a performance as if the boat was loaded. I wish I had gotten his name so I could give him a shout out because he was a riot! I rode it again a few days later and while my second skipper did use some of the same Jokes both did also add original material.
    After Jingle cruise we ran over to the Circus to meet Sandy Claws ( Jack Skellington) who is a special meet and greet only there during Christmas and Halloween parties. The wait for Sandy Claws was by far the longest meet and greet, probably the over all longest line I waited in the entire trip (understandably) I would say it was at least 35 minutes. By the time we meet Sandy Claws , who was also hilarious, we were extremely tired and sore it was about 11 pm so we abandoned ship and headed back to our resorts after that.
   I would probably do MVMCP again, I would definitely do it differently there were other shows and experiences I wanted to do and see but it wasn't my day so I didn't push and also having already been in the park all day I was in too much pain to really care. In the future a party day would definitely be a day when we stayed at the resort for the morning and headed over in the afternoon. We didn't capitalize on the free snacks but info for vegans the cookie stations have Enjoy Life chocolate chip cookies we can eat. They don't have a free vegan hot coco however if you want some you can order starbucks hot chocolate with soy and there ya go!
   All in all if you plan a head so you can make the most of special party events,meet and greets and goodies, I would say it's still worth the price too attend. If in the future the prices go up or you don't plan then it probably wont be worth it in all honesty. So consider that while deciding, the party is only as good as you make it.

Day 2: A Very Merry Unbirthday!

Now blow the candle out, my dear
And make your wish come true
A very merry unbirthday to you

 Day two was my best friends birthday, unlike my best friend I am a super planner. I started planning my vacation well before the 180 day mark while my friend would pick up some tips from me but barely plan at all other than booking a few ADR's (advanced dining reservations). So on this day I had too follow her lead and try not to stress over optimizing time. For her birthday we spent the day in her favourite park the Magic Kingdom. It also happened to be a Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party night which we both bought tickets for to make that her birthday party.

  On November 12th I woke up and after quick food court breakfast of vegan Mickey waffles, which are available upon request (and amazing btw) my bff was at the resort and ready to go. We both had more or less, matching Minnie themed outfits consisting of black tops, red skirts and our sparkly Minnie ears. On the bus to the Magic Kingdom the driver announced my friends birthday, told the bus to stare at her and then lead everyone in a Happy Birthday sing-a-long, Best.Bus ride.Ever. Shell was honoured yet traumatized and I was thoroughly entertained.

 

   I did have one minor plan for Shell's birthday, she hates surprises so it was very difficult to drag her along. I dragged her to the Bippity Boppity Boutique and got a quick terrified "You better not have booked us kid make overs, I wont!" After quickly assuring her I wouldnt spend 60+ dollars on a little girl make over I know she'd hate. What I did have planned was some magical pixie dust. I called over one of the fairy godmothers and explained that it was my best friends birthday and I just wanted some pixie dust. The fairy godmother happily abliged telling use both to close our eyes and make a wish in our hearts, then she waved her magic wand over us as pixie dust magically rained down over us.

   In the end Shell did love my surprise despite herself and we continued on to our fastpass too meet her favourite princess Rapunzel and one of mine Cinderella. Meeting face characters can be awkward, but honestly its usually only as awkward as you make it. If you let yourself believe in the character, believe in the magic then it wont be awkward at all. Meeting Rapunzel was adorable I embaressed Shell by talking her up to her hero , but inside I'm sure she loved it. Cinderella was a little awkward because we both blanked on what to say, I spent the whole time in line thinking of things to say to Rapunzel to make the experience special for my friend that I had nothing to say to Cinderella, poor Cinderella.

  After meeting the princesses rode the Tomorrowland People Mover with about a 5minute wait and then Stich's Great Escape also had about the same 5 minutes wait. After that we grabbed a quick lunch at Cosmic Rays Starlight Cafe I wasnt hungery so I didn't order anything myself I just ate some of Shell's fries but had I wanted too they do have a veggie burger, just double check its the vegan burger and bun they switch them up frequently.

After lunch we headed back towards the castle and were treated to a surprise to us Christmas concert from Ariana Grande (vegan!) and then over to The Haunted Mansion which we also had a fastpass for. We practically walked on and it was an amazing ride, if you havent been, go! The attention Disney pays to details is beyond perfectionism. Unfortunately the ride did stall and we were stuck for a couple minutes listening to their ghoulish show tune on repeat. Within 3 minutes or so the ride continued on with all its fun and soon we returned to the land of the living.

  After The Haunted Mansion we headed to the ride I was most excited for which was Pirates Of The Caribbean! Which for no apparent reason is my all time favourite movie which I've seen over 60 times (seriously I lost count after 60). The ride has been updated to include Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbosa but maintains its classic feel. After the ride we watched Jack's mini pirate tutorial show. By this time it was almost 4pm so we split up for dinner Shell going off with her family and me returning to my partner who had spent the day on The Boardwalk so we could go to our ADR at Trails End. I will do an entire entry on Trails End, so for now I'll just say WOW and move on.

  After dinner my partner Jamie, went back too The Boardwalk to watch sports at the ESPN bar and I returned to the Magic Kingdom to meet Shell for Mickeys Very Christmas Party. Despite being part of day 2 the Christmas party really does merrit its own entire and this one is getting long so I will leave it off here and hopefully you'll come back for more!



Day 1: Off To Never NeverLand

First star to the right and straight on til morning

  November 8th 2015 was our arrival day at Walt Disney World, the place I had dreamed of since my early childhood, sleep was expected and we did not even try. So because we weren't even bothering trying to sleep it hardly mattered that we left for our 5am flight way way too early at about midnight the night before. Why did we leave so ridiculously early? Well there were a few reasons, one we kept forgetting this was considered a domestic flight so we didn't need to be as early, but more so because we were getting a free ride and this was the time that worked out best for that. We got to the airport around 1am and managed some sleep in the airport due to everything being closed and therefore having nothing to do. Let's be honest though even if things were open its not like the buffalo airport has much going on, this is an extremely boring airport so BRING ENTERTAINMENT! 

  The flight was smooth despite having a minor lay over in Chicago we managed to arrive at MCO just before 11am. We were ahead of schedule before I noticed all the cool shops this airport had to offer. The Orlando airport is definitely the coolest airport I have ever been in. In the air port I bought my sparkly Minnie ears, ears are of course a Disney trip must have. My best friend who was already at th parks thought it was weird I got my ears at the airport so lets talk about where to buy your ears. The airport and the park charge the same price so there is no cost benefit in pre-buying ears so basically what it comes down too is if you want to already have your ears on when you arrive or if your OK buying them in the park. The park does have a mini store that is technically outside of the park just after security but before you entire on to main street where you can also buy ears so you would technically have them prior to entering the park. Another thing to consider when deciding where to buy your ears is that stores in the park will have a larger selection of ear styles. So if you want character ear hats or specialty ears such as Christmas or Halloween you are better of waiting until inside.   With this being my first visit I wanted my ears already on for the magical express and arrival, I also wanted more traditional ears so airport ears were a perfect buy but in the future I may wait until inside and choose more non-traditional ears. Just a few things for you to consider.

   When we arrived at our resort which was All Star Sports we quickly checked in and went to drop our things off in our room. After dropping everything off we went straight to the bus to the Magic Kingdom! 

We got through security and into the Magic Kingdom quickly and within moments were standing on Main Street USA. WOW, all the pictures do not fully capture Main Street. With it being Christmas time they had a giant Christmas tree in the middle of town square where Pluto and Marie were doing meet and greets. Main Street was bustling with high crowds in part due to the ABC Christmas special which was filming. The positive energy you feel walking into the kingdom is indescribable, it really is magical.

 Being back a head of schedule we decided to explore Main Street while we waited for our fastpass to meet Mickey. I am sentimental and sometimes traditional so I decided we couldn't do anything within Mickey's kingdom until we had met him. With so many shops to explore and so much to see time flew by and soon it was time to head back to the Town Square Theater to meet the mouse himself.

Mickey can talk, which I wasn't expecting! And as previously mentioned he's also bilingual which just adds to the cool factor! I focused on not getting over whelmed and crying as it was our turn to meet Mickey, he congratulated us on our anniversary which was actually at the end of your trip but we wore our pins throughout the trip.

If you are celebrating a special event during your own disney trip be sure to tell the cast member checking you in as you will receive a pin highlighting your celebration and it really does add some extra magic. Throughout our trip so much happened that we ended up with quite the collection of pins. When you wear a celebration pin it opens conversations, brings well wishes and in the case of my best friend who celebrated her birthday during our trip lead to an entire bus singing her happy birthday!

 After meeting Mickey we had about an hour until the festival of fantasy parade and about an hour and a half before the start of our next fastpass so we used this time to get involved with the Sorcerer's of The Magic Kingdom game. It was a really fun time filler and I would definitely play more on future visits when I am not trying to squeeze as much in. After beating a round of Sorcerer's we used a snack credit for ice cream at the ice cream parlor on main. The ice cream parlor on main offers both Tofutti and Rice Dream vegan ice creams and has chocolate and vanilla. I got one scoop vanilla and one chocolate I believe both were Toffuti but I dont really care about which brand I get as long as its vegan so I just asked for 1 scoop chocolate and 1 vanilla of the vegan ice cream. It was the best vegan ice cream I have ever had so I highly recommend making time. Once we had our ice cream in hand we found seats for the festival of fantasy parade. While our area wasnt bad one thing that must be said is PLEASE USE COMMON SENSE if you are the row closest to the street, standing on the curb sit your butt down! people behind you especially little people of all ages want to see too! If your in the front sit, if your really tall let someone really short stand infront of you, common sense, common courtesy.

The Festival of Fantasy was the coolest parade I have ever seen and my personal favourite of all the Disney parades. I would say making time to watch this parade is a 100% must do especially for first timers. 

   After the parade we went to do rides during our trip we used fastpass+ strategically but even in stand by lines we did not wait longer than 30 mins for anything! I will definitely do an entire on optimizing your fastpass selections in my planning series. In the evening we met up with my best friend and rode some more rides leading up to Celebrate the Magic and Wishes. 

After Wishes the Magic Kingdom was in extra magic hours meaning the park was open later than usual but I was tired and so we went back to the hotel shortly after wishes. A magical end to a magical day.

Over all Trip Report :"Today is a good day to try."

         "Today is a good day to try." -- Quasimodo

So I am, my first post Disney world blog, where has the time gone? In the coming weeks I'll go into greater detail of planning your vacation, my vacation haul, saving money while doing Disney, and of course being vegan at Disney etc. But for now I figured I'd start with the over all trip report to sort of set up a blue print for everything else.

I lived my dreams November 8-18^th 2015. The weather was great the entire trip, 24-30 degrees Celsius which I am told was unusually high for this time of year, my research shows its usually more like 15-23 degrees celcius this time of year so take that into consideration while planning. For us coming from Canada, where we were also having higher than usual temperatures, the Orlando weather was still amazing (board line too hot some days).

If you have read my previous blogs you know what Disney means to me, personally. If you have not I recommend you go back and read those first, particularly my blog A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes.

Now that we're all caught up. On arrival day we (my partner and I ) arrived at the Buffalo airport way too early, but that's the way it had to be for us to get a pretty much free ride so ce la vie and let's be realistic here; there was no way I would have slept anyways! So we hung out there for a few hours, there really didn't seem to be much there so if your flying out of Buffalo bring some sort of entertainment regardless of if your traveling with kids or not (we were not) its still boring. If you are traveling from southern Ontario I highly recommend flying out of Buffalo over Toronto for a few reasons, 1. Its usually cheaper, 2. It's considered a domestic flight and therefore you don't need to be as early and you can bring food. We flew Southwest Airlines. I really enjoyed Southwest going to different places I have flown, American Airlines (by far the worst), Westjet who I enjoyed but they are a bit pricey , Qantas (definitely the best) and now Southwest. I consider Southwest to be on par with my experience with Westjet and think they're pretty good. I will get more into flight stuff in a planning blog though so lets move on.

On arrival day we landed just before 11am putting us a head of schedule. I then got distracted by the amazing stores that are in the Orlando airport, which is by far the coolest airport I have been too, and then had to wait for the Magical Express because we missed the first one, which put us back to about even for being on schedule. We took the Magical Express to our resort which was All Star Sports. When we arrived I was able to walk right up to the counter, no wait because I used the free online check in which apparently not many people used, so I highly recommend using that. At check in we got upgraded to a preferred room which was an awesome bonus. We were in surf bard bay building and I'll go more into choosing I you should request certain buildings, again in a planning blog to come.

Once we checked out our room which was cute while very basic, we headed straight to the Magic Kingdom! I could not contain myself on the bus, I was antsy and squirming and more excited than most of the kids I think. For the first day, especially if its your first time I really recommend going more relaxed with your plans. Give yourself time to take everything in and enjoy it, there is a lot of magic to take in Disney does not miss even the smallest details. When we first arrived I ran to the gates, and I mean ran. My boyfriend who bless his heart had, had probably under 5 hours sleep in almost 48 hours could hardly keep up! When we got in we had gotten back a head of schedule and our fast pass to meet the mouse himself wasn't for over an hour. Being sentimental and a perfectionist I did not want to do any rides or attractions before meeting Mickey, because that would be rude. So we explored Main Street USA, the shops, and I decided to play the Sorcerers Of The Magic Kingdom. I learned about the game from the folks over at Disboards.com and am really glad I did as it was a fun time filler. After beating around of Sorcerers it was time to meet Mickey! The new Mickey can talk! This was for me inception level mind blowing and not only could he speak; but he also spoke SPANISH to the family in front of us! Mind blown. Mickey was sweet and funny he welcomed us on our first visit, we also had anniversary pins and talked about that and I may have cried just a little.

But now, as you see I am getting in to much detail for an over all trip report, Peter Pan did tell me too talk less so I am going to take that advice and get back on track.

So Day 1/ arrival day we did the Magic Kingdom. Day 2 We also did Magic Kingdom, Day too happened to be my very best friends birthday so that day was done her way. Day 3 we did Epcot which was one of the last days for Food & Wine Festival! So stay tuned for that blog! Day 4 was the day for my boyfriend which we spent out of the parks. We rented a car and drove to Clearwater and from there we went to Tampa for a hockey game (cause we're Canadian eh) and then back to our resort. Even though that day wasn't Disney I am going to blog about it. Day 5 was Hollywood studios. Day 6 we did Animal Kingdom in the morning and this one I am going to do two blogs on, 1 on why I decided to visit and 1 regular what to do and what I did etc. Day 7 was the Magic Kingdom also and lastly day 8 which was the day we had to return t reality we did Disney Springs, formerly known as Downtown Disney during the day prior to our flight.

Over all the resort was great, food was mostly great but I will get into 

that later, wait times were no where near at bad as I expected based off of what I had read in recent weeks on the Disboards forums and weather was better than predicted. The highest wait time I was was 85 minutes for the seven dwarfs mine train but I managed to not wait longer than 35 for anything and still do almost everything. So much happened on this trip I have 8 days worth of information and feedback to give and countless topics from resorts,dining plans,dining in general, memory maker and more I can't wait to get into over the next little while please follow, subscribe, share and dream along with me.

A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Make

So as i mentioned in my intro posts, I plan to blog A LOT about Disney! So I figured with my trip being less then a week away I would save planning blogs and things like that until my return and begin with a little what Disney means to me post. For myself and I'm sure all disnerds Disney represents childhood. Not just the fact that many of us grew up watching Disney films, it's more than that. Disney has managed to capture and embody the magic, the feelings of childhood, in a fantastic way.

I myself had a far from ideal childhood one of my parents had anger and substance abuse problems and the other had untreated mental health problems; a perfect storm.

When asked to think of my very first memory, nothing positive comes to mind the first images are flashes of fear and rage not the type you wish to share. One thing I remember is a framed picture of the fab 4 : Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy smiling in front of Cinderella's castle at Walt Disney World I had on my wall when I was 4 or 5. I remember my dad promising that if he ever won the lottery he would take me to Disney world first thing (this seemed like hope), and wishing on every dandelion, birthday candle, shooting star and first star I see tonight I wish I may, I wish I might have this wish I wish tonight, and I wished to go to that magical happy place where you could live a fairy tale and no one yells and no one cries.

When I was a kid I watched all of the Disney classics my favorites were (in no particular order) Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan. I always watched TV shows and films and imagined being there, anywhere but where I was, surrounded by magic where wishes come true and happy endings reign. You could be a princess or pirate or anything you dreamed as long as you had faith, trust and maybe some pixie dust. Disney taught me that in the end good will win, and bad will lose and that anything you really wanted could happen n matter where you started from. 

Some of my good childhood and Disney memories were from one of my best friends growing up who had a Disney themed play room, it was THE COOLEST! His dad had painted the walls yellow with characters all over it, it was almost as if they were there playing with you as we escaped lava and crocodiles ; we'd play pretend games and sit on the floor pick out one of those balky yet soft giant VHS cases and watch Disney movies with Snow White and her friends.

Growing up Disney was escape, it represented happiness and all things good and while I've grown and moved on I've never given up those wishes, still every year every wish is the same. I should note that dad should it ever come up has worked on a lot of his problems and is much better and healthier for it and we're able to finally have a good relationship, so credit where credit is due. Anyways now that I am grown and all those problems are long behind the wish has stayed, the symbol has held on and now finally at the ripe ol' age of 24 I am finally making my wish come true! In a little less then a week I will be at Disney World, at the time I am currently typing I will be eating dinner at Trails End hopefully being served by chef Tj (fingers crossed). I feel like Rapunzel about to see the lantern terrified both of it living up to expectations but equally scared of it not meeting them, and soon needing to find a new dream.

a new wish

That new dream, what I think or at least hope it will be is to start a family. I want to adopt a little boy or girl and on our family day when everything is finalized I want to take them on a Disney vacation and start discovering the magic with a new generation and giving them everything I wished I had had and helping the best I can to make their new wishes come true.

...And dreams really do come true...

disboards.com

Nobody is Perfect

Nobody is Perfect

When deciding to do a public blog/vlog one thing that worried me, particularly with the decision to put vegan in the title was society's obsession with perfection. I've heard different things falling under this same umbrella from both vegans and non-vegans so I wanted to use one of my first entries to address this and get it out of the way.

Since transitioning to vegan I have heard a lot of comments that boil down to things a long the lines of, “you can't make a difference”, “if you can't save every animal why bother?” , “well ____ still happens”. Similarly in vegan online communities I've seen many steps and actions labeled as not vegan enough. All of these share one central sentiment which is basically, if you can't be perfect why bother?

I no doubt, will from time to time go some place, use something, say something or do something that some might consider, not vegan enough, not pure vegan, whatever you want to call it. I don't know when, where or how it will happen, but it will. If being present online has taught me anything its that everything piss off someone. I am sure this will happen not because I am careless but because I am human and imperfect. This will happen because while people want to paint the world as black and white, its actually gray.

So why bother? Well, the best answer I can give is a parable I heard as a child, perhaps you have heard it too, it is about a little boy and some star fish and goes like this :

One morning a man is going for a walk on the beach, every morning the beach is scattered with starfish that the tide washed up. As he walks he sees a little boy who is running about picking up star fish and throwing them back into the sea. The man approaches the boy and says “Boy, why are you wasting your time trying to save these star fish you cannot possibly save them all.” T he little boy continues what he is doing while saying to the man “You are right I cannot save them all, but I can save this one” he says throwing the star fish back into the sea.

What the moral of this story is, to me. Is that every positive step counts. No you can never be perfect and no you cant save them all, but just one is worth it, every step counts. So everyday my goal is to do a little more, be a little better, and cause the least amount of harm possible while existing in our imperfectly gray world.