The Yummiest Place On Earth!

Go on, unfold your menu 
Take a glance and then you'll 
Be our guest, Be our guest, Be our guest! 

-Lumiere 

Disclaimer : I am very laid back about cross contamination so still ask your server for clarification if you hold a high standard for purity.

I am going to highlight a couple experiences briefly before giving a quick easy run down of options and will give reviews of the places I tried as a series starting after this post.

Even though this one was prior to Disney its worth warning that in the Buffalo airport I got a black bean patty sandwich from a sandwich shop (I did not double check for egg I just assumed it was fine) regardless of ingredients I recommend waiting until you get to Orlando to eat. It was so gross I was almost scared away from all things black bean.

Savior of the black bean for our first trip was quick service at Pecos Bills, This was my favourite quick service of the trip! Pecos Bill's is a western themed restaurant which features Mexican cuisine. This location offers bean burritos and bean and rice bowls, be sure to specifically request plain white rice the cilantro rice it comes with by default contains dairy. This is one of the few restaurants that has a vegan dessert other than sorbet or enjoy life cookies.

We also went to the Ice Cream Parlor On Main which offers both Rice Dream and Tofutti ice cream. 

Vegan snacks available in the various parks include: Mickey pretzels! Popcorn! Dole Whip! Dark chocolate bars! 

At Disney I really felt I could walk in anywhere and not have to worry all I had to do was ask and vegan options would appear. Keep in mind though some places will be more prepared than others, if you don't call ahead the option you get may not be a full filling as if you had called ahead. 

Most quick service locations feature the basic veggie burger, be sure to double check the patty as they do change them and sometimes the default one will have egg. The standard dessert is enjoy life cookies as the dessert but there are some with more exciting options.

Pecos Bills as I mentioned offers burritos and burrito style bowls in Frontierland. In Hollywood Studios coming in an extremely close second for best quick service is Planet Pizza which offers veggie pizza with vegan cheese, an Italian side salad and you classic enjoy life cookies for dessert.

A 100% must do for all vegans and anyone interested in trying vegan food is Trails End in Fort Wilderness when Chef Tj is working. Currently Chef Tj is off on weekends so make your ADR for a Weekday ideally around 5 before the Hoop Dee Do rush hits due to using a shared kitchen. Tell your server you'd like Chef Tj he will come out and then allow him to surprise you with specialty multi course meal from heaven, 100% cruelty free too!

Easy Parks Guide

Magic Kingdom

Snacks ( Many of these available at various locations throughout all the parks locations given may not be the only location offering):
Hummus & chips, vegetables (without the dip which has dairy), apples (without the caramel which has dairy), fruit cup, and chocolate & regular soy milk at Gaston’s Pub & The Lunching Pad
Popcorn (including caramel popcorn) & Pretzels throughout the parks
Cinnamon glazed almonds & pecans and frozen pineapple bars
Tofutti & Rice Dream at Main Street Plaza Ice Cream Parlor (cone contains honey)
Dole Whip in Adventureland (Fruit flavors only)
Divvies Snacks at Main Street Bakery
Meals:
 Tony’s Town Square - pasta options
Crystal Palace -buffet (select items ask server)
 Peco’s Bills & Tortguga Tavern-Vegetarian Burrito and nachos (the cilantro rice in the burrito has romano cheese in it. Ask for plain white rice instead.)
Cosmic Ray's-Veggie burger and sandwich, fries in the dedicated fryer, 
green beans, gluten-free chocolate chip cookie, and mango gelato
Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station-Tofu & rice
Columbia Harbor House -Veggie sandwich (the Lighthouse sandwich) with no slaw, vegan chili, fries, and apple pie
Be Our Guest-Onion Soup (no cheese) or Layered Ratatouille  (really did not like)

Epcot

Coral Reef- Gardein ch'kn

America -Liberty InnVeggie burger w/avocado

Germany-pretzels

Japan-Kaki Gori, veggie rolls

Norway- Kingla Bakeri in Norwaysweet almond pretzel

Sunshine Seasons- Korma, packaged snacks & cookies
vegetable sushi,tabouli and hummus roll ups
middle eastern sampler, vegetable barley soup
tofu noodle bowl – no cracker,Sushi veggie roll

Morocco-veg platter – no pita, no lentil salad
China-mango tea

Hollywood Studios

Hollywood and Vine-tofutti ice cream (you have to ask) with strawberry syrup

50’s Prime Time – spaghetti with tomato sauce, tofutti sundae

Backlot Express-veggie sandwich on multigrain ciabatta – pesto is vegan

black bean salad,baked fries,southwest salad no chicken

Prime Time Cafe-veggie burger,vegan shake

Pizza Planet ! As previously mentioned does vegan pizza with vegan cheese and side Italian salad

Animal Kingdom

Dino Cafe - Veggie burger

Pizzafari- vegan cheese

Tusker House, Africa

 Vegan Waffles (upon request), Various Potatoes, Fresh Fruit

Option: Sautéed Vegetables, Couscous, Tabouleh, Tofu with Zucchini, Samosas, Various Dips, Breads

Yak and Yeti Restaurant, Asia

Vegan Option: House Salad, Vegetable Lo Mein with Tofu

Harambe Market, Africa

Vegan Option: Chickpea Salad, Roasted Broccoli, Tomato Salad (all found at Kitamu Grill)

Mickey waffles throughout the parks and resorts (vegan upon request)

Starbucks is also available throughout all the parks and the vast majority of drinks can be made vegan with soy or coconut milk.

For more detailed lists (price ranges included) check out http://vegandisneyworld.com/

A Little Girl Goes To The Park

Injustice anywhere threatens justice everywhere

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I want to tell you a serious story today. I want to tell you about a little girl. A little girl whose favourite color was purple. She loved barbies, but was just starting to reluctantly grow out of them. Like many little girls she loved bunnies and cat and dogs. One day while the little is visiting her uncle he tells her and a little boy, the son of a lady he was seeing, too go play outside. Lucky for the little girl there was a park just behind her uncle's house so the two kids get to go to the park. The little girl and the little boy start playing in the park with another little boy who must have lived near by. He's maybe 10 with light blond hair and innocent blue eyes, any mothers dream. We will call this little boy James and the other little boy Andy. So Andy, James and the little girl are playing and James asks if they want to see a cool toy his dad got him, his mom hates it, it's a BB gun. The little girl gets nervous, but its also kind of exciting, kind of cool. 

I also was to tell you another kid, a little boy. This little boy we will call him Tim, he enjoyed going to after school programs to play games with his friends and making crafts and swimming. He enjoyed hanging out with his sister and going to the park. One day he went to the park with a toy BB gun.

The little girl and and Andy and James were standing on the edge of the park facing the forest and Andy shot at a tree, but it did not hit a tree. The 3 children ran into the forest and much to their horror Andy had shot a poor rabbit! We ran to the rabbit, wouldn't you? We hadn't meant to shoot her and we were sad and scared, what had we done? That innocent little rabbit had just been hopping around and we were playing with a dangerous toy, and we shouldn't have been, Andy's mom had told him not too!

We started to cry. We 3 children, tall brave James, the big brother she had always wanted, he was scared, scared not just of getting in trouble but because on some level he knew we had taken a life and that was wrong, but there was nothing that could have been done for that poor rabbit. Little Andy smaller than us but just barely, he had felt so cool! Like a TV hero but now he was a villain, he had killed and it did not feel good. The little girl, who thought she didn't need to get an adult but now wished she had ran home. The three stood in tears, in shock for a second, we tearfully agreed not to speak of this, no telling; surely you did something similar, something bad and upsetting and dumb as a kid? We all ran home. What ever you did, you ran home, these 3 ran home, and I ran home.

Did I deserve to be in that poor rabbits place? I hope not. Did you when you did something bad as child? I think not. Like wise that rabbit did not deserve what she got.

Tim meanwhile was still had his BB gun he was in a totally different park, on a different day. He was playing all alone on his way home from a friends house. In the slight distance two young men stood smoking. The men heard a loud bang and a thud and they turned. What they saw was shocking. Tim falling too the ground and two grown men shooting real guns at him.The men did not run to Tim like the 3 children ran to that rabbit, the two men did not seem too care what they had done. His toy fell with him to the cold ground and the men just stood there.

Tim's sister came running but one of the men stopping her! He grabbed her and roughly restrained her. No one ran to poor TIm bleeding like the rabbit on the ground, no one checked his pulse or applied pressure and only his sister in chains cried. 

4 kids in 2 different parks playing almost the same game. 1 child is killed.

No one was arrested for killing Tim.

Andy and James and the little girl went on to live normal and full lived and no one ever tried to kill them, no one cared that they had gone to the park and no one cared that they plays with a dangerous toy, even though Andy's mom said not too. No one ever suggested that Andy, James or the little girl could have been killed, and no one would have been ok with it if they had been. 

So why was it ok to kill Tim? Where are the good police men to arrest the men who killed Tim? Where is the judge and jurors? 

If you haven't heard about Tim, oh it's probably because if you didn't notice I misspelled his name, his name was Tamir, Tamir Rice and he was probably really scared when he was laying there bleeding in the park listening to his sister cry for him. He died in a fear that Andy and James and the little girl will never truly understand he died scared and choking on injustice embodied.

He still deserves justice. Demand it. The way you would for Andy or James, the little girl, your little girl.

Winter Kindness: Cause Baby It's Cold Outside

Goodness is about character- integrity,honesty,kindness,generosity,moral courage, and the like.

more than anything it is about how we treat other people

-Denis Prager

 I would add and animals! or change people to beings but you get the idea.  I don't usually post twice in a week but I was saving this topic 1. until after my trip reports but more so 2. for closer to Christmas when people are in that extra kind mood. I mentioned in my intro blog how I chose the name for this blog , a loving vegan and what those words encompass for me which basically boils done to my motto of harm less, but also my other motto being from Disney (because of course it is) have courage and be kind. So that's what I want to talk about today, kindness. 

Nobody is perfect and we all have bad days but I do believe that each and everyone of us should always strive to be a little better,kinder and do more so lets talk about doing more. What we can do can be limited by many things financial capabilities, physical capabilities , mental capabilities etc. So I want to give some ideas, suggestions and bring light to some great groups.

Financial giving. This is something not everyone can do, for a long time I couldn't as I live mostly pay check to pay check like many of you I am sure can relate. If you can though one tip to keep in mind is that all charities have to make their financial statements public they will be on their site, if they aren't don't donate to that group its a scam.  Also do a quick google search you might be surprised that some popular "charities" are not the shinning examples they claim to be. I try to donate to a different cause every pay cheque the amount varies based on what I can do at any time. One site for various human causes I recommend are  rescuesite.org, amnesty.org. For animals I recommend mercyforanimals.org or animalequality.net .

Not everyone can give financially though so lets talk about little day to day type things. Homelessness is on the raise and even in warm climates it gets cold at night. I've also noticed a growing contempt and distrust of homeless people with less and less people willing to give thanks in no small part to sensational "news" stories of people scamming the system and faking homeless. Does this happen? sure probably, but that's not the majority, the majority are people who have for whatever reason fallen to the bottom of the poverty cycle, and statically they wont be able to get out even if they make all the right choices. Choices is another thing I hear a lot, a lot of judgement about the assumed bad choices these people made,so lets talk about that. Even if we remove every external factor that affects the way people make choices and assumed they should just make better choices does making a bad choice mean your no longer worthy of compassion? When does a mistake become so awful that your stripped of your humanity and left a piece of dirt?

 As a Disney fan I love Once Upon A Time on ABC and one of the things I love most about it is the psychology. I love how it will show you a villain and you will hate them and then you see their back story, from their point of view and you start feeling bad for them and suddenly their bad choices make sense , they still did bad things, the queen still shouldn't kill Snow White but suddenly you get why she felt that way and your rooting for her to turn it around. Everyone deserved the forgiveness we grant these fictional characters, everyone deserves kindness and second chances, third chances, all the chances! If Regina can teach us anything let it be that it's never to late to change.   

So what can we do? Great question!

and the answer is lots! Did you know that most popular coffee chains like Tim Horton's or Dunkin Donuts will give a cup of hot water for free (some charge 5 cents for the cup cause they're greedy but still next to free) so idea number one go to a dollar store pick up some scarves, gloves and a box tea, and/or snacks; wrap a tea bag, snack,gloves and 5 cents in the scarf , keep the rolled up scarves in your purse and give them to homeless people you see.

Idea 2, ladies special, use and old purse or buy a couple cheap purses and fill them with various things a woman may need, snacks,tea,gloves,pads, etc same idea as the scarves but with a feminine twist. 

Idea 3 with it being Christmas go to the dollar store and buy some give bags, fill them with various items and hand them out (same idea holiday twist.)

Got a gift card for somewhere you don't like? Give it to someone on the street!

Another way to give is to give time. Volunteer at a shelter once a month, or a grassroots group like Food Not Bombs, if you haven't heard of them they are a group functioning all over north america that does community food serves, serving local plant based foods encouraging solidarity,community and peace try doing a facebook search to find one near you. Or help build Tiny Houses , tiny houses are popping up all over the world to provide homes to the homeless they cost less than 2000CAD to produce and only take a couple days to build.

There are so many ways to give back get creative, no one can do everything but everyone can do something.

Have courage and be kind , Happy Holidays!

DisneyBounding

Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo 
It'll do magic believe it or not 
Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo

    Disneybound! Disneybounding is a growing fashion trend that allows you too subtly channel your favorite Disney characters and even parks adding a little magic to day to day life. Unlike cosplay which is full costume Disneybounds are subtle hints , they are outfits you could wear out and about that disney fans may pick up on but an unsuspecting on looker will not likely pick up on. Some fans like to blur the lines between cosplay and bounding I personally prefer to keep it separate, so for me no props,no wigs nothing that would begin to cross it over into cosplay territory.   Leo Camacho did a great vlog on the difference between the two as well which I will link below. 

   I bound pretty regularly the 2 I do most often are Anna and Ursula, I am not #teamvillains I just really like my outfit for her which is a cute purple crop top blouse with a high waist black mini skirt and because I am Canadian and its chilly here black thigh highs. As cute as the outfit is I am still #teamheroes sorry not sorry. Anyways for my trip I Disneybound-ed pretty much every day! Some were much less subtle than others and I'll go through and explain them. 

   

 The first Disneybound I did was Minnie Mouse. Here is a picture of my best friend and I both as Minnie, I had wanted to find a skirt with white polka dots but I waited to long to order online and couldn't find one in stores. That said the beauty of bounding is that its supposed to be subtle and not exact so it was totally fine. So for Minnie you would want either a red , or pink skirt with a black top, bonus points if you do yellow shoes, which we did not.

 The next bound was Princess Jasmine. Jasmines colours would be teal or mint with gold. For this one I did a teal dress with a gold necklace and gold head band. Its hard to see in this picture but I also twisted my hair around the headband on the sides creating a hair style similar to hers without the pony tail part.

 You can also do outfits themed after parks or attractions, not just specific characters. For Hollywood Studio's I did Star Wars/ Star Tours. For this outfit I did a high waist pleather mini with a Star Wars tee. So while not channeling a specific character I did go with the theme of the film and the park. Had I done the same outfit at home I would add black thigh high sock or real cute faux thigh high tights from hottopic where the top of the 'sock' is Darth Vader. However because I was in Florida it was way too hot for socks or tights.

 You can't really see it but what I love about this top is that it was Han and Leia in an embrace, you can sort of tell on my left boob (lol) and I love that it plays up the romance, because I am a hopeless romantic. On the other side it has Luke on a tauntuan because why not.




As mentioned one of my favourite and most frequent bounds is Anna from Frozen, I have two versions of this one. I have the one pictured below and one with a darker almost maroon coloured sweater depending on weather. Also not pictured but often used/recommended would be adding a gold belt and the Frozen faux thigh high tights also from hottopic which I am not entirely sure if they still carry.

 So basically when planning a Disneybound you want to find the characters main colours and use those , and channel their look in a subtle and modern way. Clearly I could wear this Anna Outfit any where and no one would find it weird or costume-esque but next to a picture of Anna its clear what I am doing. During this trip I also did Cinderella. For Cinderella I chose a light blue dress with a black choker necklace and silver hair bow. For Cinderella you will want light blues,whites,silvers. The most popular character among bounders  right now according to cast members is Ariel. For Ariel you would want green bottoms with a purple top, bonus points for fish themed earrings or her shell shaped necklace. For land Ariel you would want a dark blue skirt with a black top similar to my Anna outfit above, if your somewhere slightly cooler add a light blue sweater to really complete the look.
 
   Some as I mentioned are a bit less day to day like my Rapunzel. For this look I used a simple lilac dress with a double flower crown and pastel floral necklace. You can find many examples of Rapunzel online the main colors you will want are pastel pinks and purples.

 

  The last princess I did was my favourite, Belle! Belle was not only my favourite but she is actually one of the easiest to bound. For Belle I did my hair half up, half down similar to her hair in the ballroom scene. For most characters I did not try to copy the hair but because bounding Belle is basically as easy as finding a yellow dress I did want my hair somewhat similar to pull the look further into a bound and no just being a yellow dress. My bounders will also add red accents when doing Belle to pay tribute to the enchanted rose, I did have rose earring but honestly just did not think to wear them. I actually changed from my Rapunzel bound into my Belle bound the same day and while I was in the washroom pinning my hair the most precious thing happened a little girl behind me said to her mom "Momma is that girl Belle?". I nearly died, not only did she remind me so much of Chip the way she said Momma but I was at Disney World being mistaken for a princess!  I told the little girl that I just wanted to be like Belle and thanked her and we had a lovely little chat as I finished up. So because of that special moment I will end on Belle.

This is the link to the video I mentioned by Leo Chamacho on the difference between Disneybound and Cosplay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flc3eo38VGw

Snap back to reality!

Stopping magic is a lot harder than starting

All good things must come to an end and my time at Disney World was not exception. The night before had ended in the most picturesque way possible with champagne and fire works over the castle just past the lake. Who could ask for more? 

  Letting it go still wouldn't be easy, lucky for us our flight wasn't until the evening so we went for a quick morning swim and then checked out leaving our bags with the baggage service which is no extra cost and good for those we want to fit some fun into their last day, you drop your bags off and you wont see or worry about them until your home. We still had dining credits due to opting to pay for a few meals out of pocket on prior days, so I headed to the cafeteria for one last Mickey waffle meal sadly it was a different chef working so I only got 3 waffles instead of 4. I cant really complain an adult meal is only meant to have 4 but because so few people request vegan waffles and the iron makes 4 at a time all week the chef had given me 4 so I was really looking forward to that on the last day, if you haven't had Mickey waffles you probably don't get what the big deal it and I cant explain it they are just the best waffles ever.

  We then headed to Disney Springs formerly known as Downtown Disney. We had planned to also do Disney quest but I lost our free admissions passes and those passes were the main reason we were going so sadly we did not go. Disney Springs is a dinning and shopping area a long a small lake or large pond depending on your point of view. It was all sorts of dinning from fun themed restaurants to fine dining. For shopping it offers a large Disneyfied selection including a Lego store with huge Disney themed displays  and the worlds largest Disney store fittingly named World Of Disney. 

  We explored the shops and bought some last second souvenirs and gifts and then headed to the famous Erin McKenna's Bakery formerly part of babycakes bakery. Much to our pleasent surprise they accept snack credits for things under 5$ so we used our last snack credits on donuts to take home I also bought a donut cup to bring home and an ice cream sandwich to eat there. The treats tasted very good but the one thing I was very disappointed by was nothing was Disney themed, now this could be due to copyright and things like that I have no idea but I was hoping for Mickey cupcakes or something and sadly there was nothing. 

   Before heading to the bus back to the resort to wait for our Magical Express to the airport we stopped at The Rain Forest Cafe to split our last table service credit. To be honest it's not that different from others of the chain like that in Niagara Falls so I would have much rathered gown to the T-Rex , same idea but dinosaur themed. Jamie wanted one last water side beer though so we decided on Rain Forest. The chef came out and gave me 2 pasta options that could be veganized so we had a light pasta that was fairly good. I forgot american iced tea is not like Canadian iced tea so despite ordering sweet tea could not finish my drink, dear fellow Canadians don't forget american iced tea, even sweet tea is probably not what your expecting! Still over all it was very pleasant we even got to watch a few amphicars go by. Then it was time to go. Off to the airport and back to Canada.

  Disney was the best, most magical 8(ish) days of my life which I'll never forget! I can't wait to go back! Now that the day reports are done I can't wait to walk you through, my haul, dining,planning etc 

Let the fun begin, and let's never forget it all started with a mouse.

Day 7: Final day in the kingdom!

"Adults are only kids grown up anyway."

-Walt Disney

 Our last full day. We woke up trying not to think about returning to reality the next day, stepping out on to the walk way at about 8am you could already hear the playful laughter of children, the upbeat surf music of the pool and families splashing around. Despite the deadline you cant help but feel the joy oozing from every corner. We made our way into the cafeteria for mickey waffles ! From there it was time t squeeze as much as possible into our last day.

   Our first fp+ was space mountain so we decided to do the park basically in order starting in Tomorrowland and working our way around. In Tomorrowland we did Space Mountain, and Monsters Inc laugh floor, I had already done Stitches Great Escape with Shell as well as the people mover so we skipped those and the lines for orbiter and Buzz Lighter's were too long so we moved on from there. Before leaving the night before we had managed to make it onto 7 Dwarfs Mine Train with only a 20minute wait at closing just before we went to watch Goodnight Kiss, so we didn't need to try and wait for that one luckily. Our next stop was Under The Sea ~ Journey Of The Little Mermaid! This was one of my favorite attractions of the day, despite Jamie almost falling asleep on it. From there is was off to meet Guston and Peter Pan!

   Now in between point A and point B what I vowed wouldn't happen did, the classic vaca melt down.  I wont go into details but some stressful news came up, this is part of why phones should be off during vacations unless you are going t meet up with someone within an hour. And it was hot , bags were heavy and all things came to a head. Our last day and for a few long moments I thought our last day would be ruined. We stopped so Jamie could call home and sort everything out, but it wasn't looking good. While he tried to get in touch with those he needed to speak to I went into Pinocchio's Village , I had wanted to find and write in the blue fairy's wish book, but to be honest all my wishes had been granted, as long as I could remember Disney was my wish. So with everything happening in the moment I wrote "For Jamie to be happy". I kid you not when I got outside Jamie said he had gotten a hold of who he needed to speak to, everything was fine and while he still needed to calm down he was sorry for over reacting. Magic is real. We went and met Peter Pan who cheered Jamie right up and from there the day was back to its happy status.

   Our final park day happened to land on a MVMCP day meaning after 7 we would have to leave the park. We made our way around seeing all we wanted to see and doing all we wanted to do and were done by a

bout 6. As we entered the Main Street area from Adventureland we saw a crowd forming and realized that the Frozen show was going to start soon so we decided to try and see it. We actually got really good spots on the edge of the crowd and I was finally able to watch Elsa light up the castle and actually see it happen!

    It was finally time to say good bye to the park. We made our way out slowly, taking time to appreciate all the store displays. We had a romantic ADR for Narcoossee's at 9pm so we headed to the boats to The Grand Floridian. The boat ride it's self was quite enjoyable and upon arrival we had lots of time to wander the grounds and enjoy the resort. After we changed for dinner we listened to the lobby pianist and then the lobby band, we took pictures and looked at the giant gingerbread house! We went outside wondered the grounds and watched part of Tangled which was that nights beach side movie under the stars. 

   We arrived to our ADR about 15 minutes early and were seated fairly quickly. Narcoossee's has a vegetarian menu and almost all the dishes can be easily veganized. shortly after ordering the electrical water pageant, which apparently a lot of people don't know about, passed our window. Its a cute little water parade of light up displays. Shortly there after it was time for wishes! Narccoossee's pumps in the Wishes music so you don't miss a moment of magic and it was the best view we had the entire trip! We went out and stood holding each other on the veranda sipping champagne and watching wishes. I really couldn't picture a more perfect ending. If there is any experience I would recommend its Narcoossee's during wishes.

Day 6: Back to the Magic Kingdom

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

  Day 6 we woke up slowly and took our time getting ready. We started the day with a swim in surf board bay, I needed to get some use out of my Minnie Mouse bikini and then we got ready for the park. I wore my Tangled Disneybound After our still fairly early fp+ we still had 3 hours until our next fp+ so we decided to get some use of our park hopper and fit in a quick Animal Kingdom visit. 

  Because out Animal Kingdom visit was spur of the moment we didn't have a plan or fast passes so we honestly didn't do a ton. I had researched Animal Kingdom a lot prior to the trip and while I did and do feel comfortable with the park and their treatment of animals it was still undecided if I'd take the plunge and visit it until that very day. When you first walk in you see The Tree Of Life which is an awe inspiring monument to the animal kingdom. From there we wandered to Its Tough T Be a Bug which is a disney show/ attraction based on, you guessed it, A Bugs Life. I really enjoyed this experience not only was the show entertaining and exciting but it did more or less have a vegan message, be nice,even to bugs.

  After that we wandered the park taking in the sites until we ended up in Asia the line for Expedition Everest was only 20 minutes and I had heard good things so we got in line. The wait felt very short given the interactive 'museum' que and the ride was intense and fantastic. The gift shop had ride specific gear that was actually really cool I got my friend who loves yeti's a yeti in a train car with Mickey and Jamie got himself and his bestfriend t-shirts. After that we wandered some more, stopped for a quick, quick service meal at the Dino Diner just your basic veggie burgers but what was nice is that they like many QS spots have a toppings bar so you can really load it up, they also offer free lemon water on the patio which was a god send. 

  After our quick lunch we rounded back and wandered into Africa unfortunately both the rapids and the safari had well over 35minute wait times so instead we took the train to Rafiki's conservation station. What I liked about this train ride is it takes you through the background so you get to learn about and see the behind the scenes facilities, the transparency that Disney demonstrates with it's animal care is too me one of its most impressive features and part of what won me over. I will do a more detailed blog on how I came to be ok with Disney's Animal Kingdom for anyone else on the fence. At the Station we met a giant belgian rabbit as well as Rafiki himself! Rafiki was really fun and danced with me for no real reason other than Disney is awesome and full of random, fun, magical moments! 

After meeting Rafiki it was time to head back to the Magic Kingdom. 

Back at the Magic Kingdom we headed to our next fp+ at The Haunted Mansion! With our fp+ we pretty much walked right into The Haunted Mansion which in my opinion like many Disney attractions is more of a visual experience than mere ride. After that I took some pictures in my Tangled Disneybound and then went to change into my Belle Disneybound for our next fp+  Enchanted Tales With Belle, I've noticed a lot of blogs don't go into detail about this experience in hopes it will be a surprise for guests so keeping with that spirit I wont say much except that this is a must do Beauty and The Beast fans of all ages and involves a character meet and greet making it a great way to meet a character with extra magic.In the bathroom while I was getting ready to add to the magic I had the best Dineybound moment when a little girl behind me said "Mommy is that girl Belle?"! I swear she sounded just like Chip! I turned and told her I just really wanted to be like Belle. Such a magical moment. 
  Tip: I scheduled out fp+ for Enchanted Tales With Belle to be just before our ADR at Be Our Guest. I highly recommend doing it in this order it really adds a bit of magic and it ensures you meet both Belle and Beast. 
  There was quite a wait for Be Our Guest but we didn't mind, dont stress when schedules change it accomplishes nothing but taking away from the magic , Disney isn't a place for negativity or stress. This seems obvious but I saw a few people getting lippy with the staff because they were frustrated they had to wait to eat in the parks most popular restaurant, its normal to have to wait for this kind of thing. Anyways lets not focus n the negativity of others and move on to happy thoughts! As soon as you walk in you know your in a castle, it really is breath taking! We ate in the grand ballroom which looks just like in the movie, it had a view of the enchanted forest and it was snowing out , the Christmas tree was complete with Angelique ! Disney's imagineers captured every detail of the castle to perfection. 
We explored the west wing which is probably where I'd request in the future it too is extremely detailed and very beautiful and a lot quieter. For dinner we both had french onion soup, they did not have dairy free cheese when I went so it had no cheese, bread with dairy free butter and ratatouille as the main, it  was beautiful and I am very glad we had this ADR that said I really, really did not like the food. I found out after you can get pasta with marinara sauce though its considered a kids meal and would definitely get that or maybe just the soup in the future because all the atmosphere is stunning the food in my opinion is not very good especially given the price tag. I should note though that many people love the ratatouille so maybe take my review with a grain of salt. 
  After dinner we walked through the castle gallery, which is another dining room, when I first saw the castle gallery online I thought that it looked really plan and it would be unfortunate to be sat there but after being there photos really dont do it justice and I is actually quite lovely. The castle gallery is probably the quietest during dinner so if your looking for that, this is probably the best room  for you and you can still walk through the others. After exploring the castle we met beast on our way out as everyone gets to, our timing was good and there was almost no wait. 
 By the time we left it was almost closing, we managed to get in line for the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train before the cut off and only waited about 20 minutes! It had been one of goals for the trip to see Goodnight Kiss, which isn't really a show but a way of letting guests know its time to go home and for whatever reason I really wanted to experience it. So after the 7DMT we went and sat in the castle gardens to watch the kingdom say goodnight and just like that it was time to bid adieu to the Magic Kingdom and return to our resort for some much needed sleep.

Day 5: Hollywood Studios

"Aren't you a little short for a storm trooper?"

-Princess Leia (A New Hope)

   After our long day out of parks we managed to sleep in until about 9am on our 5th day. We chose to day Hollywood studios during the weekend in part because weekends are generally the busiest days for the magic kingdom but also because with hockey day being Jamie's day and Hollywood Studios being home to Star Tours based on Star Wars Jamie's favorite movie it made sense to have his favorite things close together. After another delicious Mickey waffles and potatoes breakfast it was off to Hollywood Studios.
  Quick fun fact, Hollywood Studios was formerly known as MGM so if you hear people talking about MGM this is the park they are referring to.  For Hollywood Studios I didn't do a true disneybound but what I wore was a Star Wars t-shirt with a high waisted pleather skirt, This actually ended up as one of my favorite outfits of the trip. Our first fp+ was Star Tours but we had lots of time to get to it so we slowly explored the park as we made our way there, popping into shops and checking out the scenery.  Star Tours is a quick 4D movie that takes your through a short story of being on a galactic tour stopped by the empire. Star Tours was really fun I definitely recommend using a fp+ because it is a popular attraction but if you have to choose between this or Toy Story Mania for your fp+ selection choose Toy Story as it will have the longest wait of all the rides in this park. The ride lets out into a cute Tatooine themed gift shop they now have two star wars gift shops the one attached to the ride is smaller, and much more crowded but does have more toys and nick knacks where as the other store has more clothing.
   After Star Tours we were hungry so we headed to Pizza Planet for lunch. From a food point of view Pizza Planet is awesome! They make good pizza and have vegan cheese at no extra cost. I standard meal comes with pizza, salad(Italian for vegans) and enjoy life cookies.  I really enjoyed lunch here and the place is cutely themed, part of me feels they could do more but I am not sure what. One thing I am very surprised they don't have is a claw machine with the aliens inside! Can you imagine how much they'd make off that? Anyways this was a great "quick" service but its a super busy location which means it ends up not being quick at all so if your looking for speed its a hard skip , but it has great food and isn't a burger so that too me is worth the time.
   After lunch we headed to our last 2 fp+ out of the first 3 you get , which were Tower Of Terror and Rockin' Rollercoaster!  I have never been on a drop ride before. I've been to Canada's Wonderland many times and always skipped drop zone, I'm not a fan of drops but I wanted to do Tower Of Terror. The atmosphere of the ride is really cool, it really feels like being in an old hotel and the video aspects of the ride add a really cool and eerie feel to the ride, and then the drop. After the ride your let off into a lobby where you claim your photos luckily for me there are ledges you can sit on in this lobby because my legs were shaking so bad I had to sit for almost 5 minutes. That said I still recommend this ride! From there we headed to Rockin' Rollercoaster another very intense ride with the Disney level of theming , this may have been the best ride of Hollywood Studios. After Rockin' Rollercoaster we hurried to a fp+ kiosk to pick a 4th fp+. Something not everyone knows, if you manage to use all 3 fp+ you can then choose a 4th and so on. To choose your additional fp+ selections after you've used your first 3 you have to use a kiosk, you cannot use the app.  We managed to get fp+ for Fantasmic so from then until Fantasmic we wondered the park hit up the Honey, I Shrunk The Kids play ground which is amazing you actually feel like you've been shrunk and it also makes for great photo ops. Then we rode voyage of the littler mermaid and fed the ducks.
   Fantasmic was probably my favorite of all the shows we saw while at Disney. It really is magical and I may or may not have cried.
After Fantasmic we went to walk through the Osborne Spectacular of Dancing Lights. Prior to seeing it I honestly wasn't looking forward to this part, Niagara near by here in Canada does The Festival of Lights annually and it used to be sponsored by Disney so I did think it would be that special, I also worried the lights might give me a head ache but I still wanted to go. Much to my pleasant surprise it did not give me a head ache! Also it was really, really cool! I am so glad we went. I really don't know how to describe what about it makes it so special and I know the pictures I include will not do it justice, you just can't capture it you have to authentically experience it.
   We didn't stay at the lights long, it really doesn't take long so we headed to the bus to go back to the resort and get some sleep for the next day.