Helpful Sites

Since I have gotten engaged I have been all over wedding and bridal forums, facebook groups, websites for venues and, planning and vendors. I am a huge planner I generally think its fun and I think you get the most out of your time and money when you've done your research. I think I already mentioned this in my Disney blogs that I managed to do and see so many things in my first visit that many people don't manage even after multiple visits.
So of course I am over researching my all my wedding choices, most vendors probably hate I contact them way to early in advance to get a rough idea of pricing knowing I wont be deciding or booking until closer to next year.
In my defense if more places had prices ranges on their sites they wouldn't have to deal with brides like me.
I know prices can go up and generally, annually will, however I feel more prepared and productive having even rough idea.
So of the sites I have visited the #1 most helpful site has been weddingwire which offers both a .ca and .com versions.
Weddingwire has a large data base of vendors for every aspect of wedding planner, I still recommend using other sources as well because smaller or newer venues and/or vendors may not be registered. Where weddingwire is most helpful is with budget, guest list and seating plans. They have a budget calculator and tracker for saving estimates and payments etc.
The tools more than anything are what I love about weddingwire and why it is my #1 recommendation.
For forums I highly recommend weddingbee.com for community, venting and tips from other brides
and for other disnerd brides I recommend the facebook group Disbrides which supports both Disney brides getting married at Disney as well as regular at home brides who love Disney. Disney weddings are way out of my budget but I enjoy it for a fun and magical community.
I hope these site help you find tips and community which is definitely a need during the hair pulling moments of wedding planning.

I am back!

I've taken a long gap from blogging reevaluating what if anything I wanted to do with thing.
There may (undecided) be a name change coming to give me a bit more freedom content wise.
Now that I am beginning to plan my princess wedding on a pauper's budget there will be plenty on wedding planning and saving while planning, in addition to recipes, reviews etc.

My intro blog for this wedding planning series will start tomorrow.

Disney's Animal Kingdom: For Your Consideration

"I have a great love of animals and laughter"

-Walt Disney

*Disclaimer : This Entry maybe controversial to some I am giving information based off of my research and experience to help those deciding and am trying to be as balanced as possible.

When I first realized OMG I AM ACTUALLY GOING TO DISNEY! I started researching things like, what can a vegan gal like me eat? A puzzling result of this was that it seemed many of the best vegan options lay in or near the Animal Kingdom a park which I assumed the majority of vegans would be boycotting. While this is definitely a very controversial topic in the veg Disney fandom it's one I want to talk about, calmly and frankly to help others decide. 

My ultimate decision post trip is that the world we live in is not black and white, but rather grey. I don't think we can treat all animal captivity as equal for multiple reasons such as, habitat loss, danger to endangered animals,and injured animals. There isn't the free space there once was for animals to live wild natural lives we humans have gotten our greedy little hands into just about everything, if we haven't chopped down , invaded or polluted an area we've most likely infiltrated the area with poachers because of this creating safe and yes artificial environments is becoming in my opinion important. With that said it's important that we do so responsibly which brings me back to not all captivity is created equally. Some species like, whales really can't thrive in captivity their size paired with how much they move makes creating a space they could potentially be happy and healthy in impossible. I feel I should note here Epcot has dolphins and I was not able to get a satisfactory answer as to how they got there but my basic understanding on them is that they were born in captivity. 

This blog could really become almost a book going through each animals needs and stories I will touch on some and the pro's and con's. If you thought the beginning of this was too pro park let's get into negatives. The United States has very loose laws in regards to exotic animals and because of this they have problems with sketchy backyard zoos and private citizens owning animals they are to equipped or qualified to care for (for more view The Elephant In The Living Room). I haven't been able to 100% confirm this allegation so take it with a grain of salt but it is rumored that the state asked Disney to take animals from these sorts of situations and that Disney declined and imported animals needlessly. 

Similarly prior to the parks opening 31 animals died due basically to staff carelessness , 4 cheetah cubs drank toxic materiel, and several birds were ran over by safaris. Ultimately inspectors declared that the number of death verse the number of animals in the facility worked out to be very low. To Disney's credit though unlike many parks/zoos they did take immediate action to rectify the mistakes and to avoid future accidents. (For further reading : http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1998-05-14/news/9805140239_1_disney-animal-usda-inspectors-animal-kingdom )

Related to animal deaths in 2014 the Animal Kingdom was listed among the worst zoos for elephants, and it wasn't the first time they made the list. Questions have been raised as to whether or not their status was earned or if it was used to gain publicity for the list itself, which is worth considering. Considering elephants are still used and abused in circus's and some of the zoos I've witnessed I do wonder if they deserve to be ranked 10th worse, but that doesn't justify the carelessness that lead them to making the list. Unlike many facilities that make these sorts of lists do to poor day to day living conditions for animals Disney made the list due to specific events that could have been avoided (for further reading http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-animal-kingdom-elephants-20150112-story.html ) One of the incidents was the death of a pregnant elephant who died while being transported to another facility for treatment, it is my understanding that after this event Disney upgraded their prenatal care capabilities.

By now Disney's Animal Kingdom is looking pretty bad so lets move back to the pro's. As I mentioned each of these tragic events lead to immediate positive changes and upgrades on Disney's part, that seems basic but is really worth noting, it's not often that facilities admit to doing something wrong in words or action unless forced to by legal agencies or public outcry, but Disney seems quick to improve with little to know push needed, and that is important on many levels. Disney's quick response to these tragic events in my opinion shows an authentic care for the well being of their dependents. 

Another very important aspect to consider is the actual enclosures. One of the main problems many people have with many zoos are the enclosures. Often just in regular conversation this comes up when discussing zoos or similar facilities so let's look at what makes the Animal Kingdom different in that respect. The Animal Kingdom is 500 acres the largest of all the parks giving the animals more space than any other park/ zoo I know of. The habitats are made to appear and feel as large and natural as possible. For a more detailed look at the enclosure read here http://www.technicallydis.com/?p=58 .

It's also worth noting that unlike here in Canada which should never be home to exotic animals due to our climate, Florida's climate is generally very warm and more suited to host these sort of animals.

Disney's Animal Kingdom also does a lot of work for wildlife conservation so more animals can enjoy and maintain happy, healthy wild lives, which of course wold be ideal for animals. The Animal Kingdom has also worked with Jane Goodall and what Jane deems OK I am inclined to lean towards as well. For more on this see 1.https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/content/conservation-collaboration

2. https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/environment/  

The number one positive I find about the Animal Kingdom is the transparency. Transparency should be common place, but it isn't and that's something that makes this facility standout. The train to Rafiki's Conservation Station leads you through a mini behind the scenes showing where the animals sleep and they can choose whether or not to enter the safari zone while I was there, there was an elephant that had chosen to stay in his/her pen despite the gate being open. At the conservation station in addition to learning about animals and conservation you can actually see parts of their veterinary clinic and watch minor procedures.  In additions to this for an extra fee you can take a complete behind the scenes tour. 

Currently Disney's Animal Kingdom is home to a mix of rescues and animals born in captivity that can't be released.

These pro's and con's and the gray world we live in leads me to put Disney's Animal Kingdom into a solid gray category. It's not as good as an actual conservation park, but is vastly superior to the majority of zoos and parks containing animals. From an abolitionist point of view which I don't entirely disagree with I understand why this isn't enough and from a welfarist  point of view this is about as good as can be expected from a for profit. 

So where do I stand? Well at the last second while there I did decide to check the park out, I only had about 3 hours there so I did not get to see it all but between my research, talking to staff past and present, and the state of the world in general, I am OK with it. Some of these animals when the park opened in the 1990s may have had a better life in the wild but now with the current population of those unable to live in the wild, the safety and care they are given I really can't hate on them. 

On quote that stuck out from a vegan former employee who supports the park was that Disney "treats the animals in it's care better than their human staff". 

I don't think there is a right or wrong answer here, I get and respect all the reasons people give for boycotting this park, they aren't wrong. However I also see reasons why it's worth not boycotting. 

I hope the information given here will help people form their own opinions and make their own informed choices which ever it maybe.

Narcoossee's

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”

-Walt Disney

I decided to use a quote on dreams because dinner at Narcoossee's really is like a dream. I did a lot of research and talked to a lot of people on reddit and disboards for all of my trip planning but particularly in searching for the most romantic dinner I could find and that search lead me to Narccoossee's. 

If you google romantic Disney World dinner most lists rank Victoria & Albert's as first, what I can't help but wonder is who eats there? Seriously that place is can be more than $100 per person! 

If you are that rich that place looks amazing, personally I don't think it's possible for a meal to be worth that much money but I guess I'll never know. 

Tied with Narccoossee's for second most recommended is The California Grill in Disney's Contemporary Resort this restaurant does seem stunning and worth a visit but I could only do one and chose Narccoossee's for reasons I'll go through in this entry.

Narccoossee's is a signature dining restaurant located in Disney's Grand Floridian Resort. Narccoossee's is located on the water and can be seen from where the buses drop you off for the Magic Kingdom, so if you've been and not heard of them you've definitely seen it. As lovely as it appears in the day bright in the Florida sun with a view of palm trees, peaceful water and the distant bustling joy of the Magic Kingdom, night is Narccoossee's really shines!

The interior decor is a classy yet simplistic with a sea side theme , but the real beauty of this dining experience is the location. As I said before while I am sure this is still lovely in the day with their light and airy water side location the evening is when you can really appreciate this restaurant. 

My tofu dish was amazing!

 After listening to the lobby band and pianist for sometime in The Grand Floridian lobby which I also highly recommend doing before hand, we strolled a long the beach and back around for our 9pm at Narccoossee's. We arrived a bit early for our ADR and seated a little early as well. Narccoossee's has an entire vegetarian  menu and the majority of it can be vaganized ! When we were seated there was a bit of a mix up with the menu's because vegan comes up as an allergy from special diets to the restaurant first we were given the special allergy menu which is also available however nothing on that is vegan. Our waitress asked what our allergy was so I didn't even have to point out what happened as soon as I said we are vegan she said she had another menu she'd bring.

 I was so happy to see an entire vegetarian menu even if some wasn't vegan, what progress! 

My partner Jamie got a light oil based pasta dish and I got an Asian inspired tofu dish.

At 9:15 just after we had ordered the Electrical Water Pageant sailed by our window. The Electrical Water Pageant is one of Disney's lesser known shows, similar to the electrical parade in the magic kingdom, or if your from southern Ontario like me, like a floating version of The Festival Of Lights. 

Fairy tale-esque creatures and nails made up of sparkling lights float through the night sky tethered to nearly invisable boats glide around the Seven Seas Lagoon, a moment in which this body of water really lives up to it's name. 

As the water pageant ended our food was served. It's hard to call but I am going to say something controversial here, the food was better than trails end's off menu specials. For those of you who know Trails End as a mere buffet and not for the hidden treasure it 

really is all I can say is, subscribe cause it's a coming!

Jamie's pasta dish

 Narccoossee's food and atmosphere the whole experience was hands down the best dining experience of our trip. As we ate we heard that special music and knew it was time to take our champagne out to the veranda, Wishes was about to begin. Narccoossee's as a breath taking view of Wishes the full sky is open, the castle's towers are peaking out above the entrance area which is as close to empty as possible just across the lagoon. To add to the magical view Narccoossee's pumps in the sound track for the full experience. Let me tell you, absolutely nothing is more magical then standing in your loved one's arms out on that white veranda, with champagne in hand and watching the Wishes spectacular while it reflects off the dark lagoon.  Perfection.

I thought about including a picture of the view but none co

uld do it justice, this is something that can't be captured only experienced.

We did this one on our last night and I cannot picture a perfect story book ended to what was the best week of my life.

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.

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.