Epcot International Flower And Garden Festival 2013

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Dina

J and I not only live close to Disneyworld (about 20 minutes away) but we are annual passholders. We typically go to one park or the other monthly and never miss out on the special events hosted at Epcot. It being the start of spring (even though we barely have seasons here in Central Florida), it is time for the Epcot International Flower And Garden Festival.

Every year I love to see what topiaries are on display.

My favorite exhibit is the butterfly garden.

The wraparound flowers that they do every year are so colorful. Imagining how much work goes into the festival each year is mindboggling.

We saw a special passholder exhibit while we were there.

It was a display of innovations throughout the years and memorabilia. Very cool stuff like the tickets they first used at Disneyland in the 1960’s.

There was another reason for this special exhibit.

MagicBands! MagicBands are an RFID technology that will be used instead of the paper passes. The devices that read the RFID chips look like this.

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The MagicBands are connected to your credit card to pay for items in the park and will be used instead of fast passes. As someone who lives in constant fear of losing my flimsy, paper annual pass, having a wrist band will be so much better. It will be interesting to see all the ways MagicBands are used in Disneyworld in the near future.

What we did receive is a hard, plastic card that replaces our paper annual passes until the MagicBands are ready for consumer use.

The highlight of our trip for J? Ducklings!

J was even able to pick a few up because they had a difficult time getting over a curb. So freaking cute!

My highlight of the day minus the amazing flowers.

I finally found a Hidden Mickey!

I even have a book that points out all the Hidden Mickey’s in the park and I still never see them.

Overall, it was a wonderful day at the Epcot International Flower And Garden Festival.

Disney and A New Restaurant

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Dina

J and I finally renewed our Disney passes. We put it off during August because it is so freaking hot here and no one wants to be outside waiting in lines sweating like a pig.

Sadly, last weekend was super busy at Disney, so all we were able to do was walk around. The great part of living here and having annual passes is if you do go on a day with tons of other people, just walking around is fine.

We were really excited to see the open parts of the Fantasyland expansion. One of the many circus-themed signs.

This area had lots of new rides and a water area for the little ones.

J in front of one of the many retro circus signs.

Cinderella’s fountain.

Inscription next to the fountain.

The castle.

J trying his luck at the sword in the stone. This picture was fun to take, I kept giving instructions like make it look like you’re straining. People may have been staring.

The sign.

I took a picture of this sign because I am five and the word nugget makes me giggle.

After walking through the crowds of people pushing strollers, we needed to eat. Of course because we left it to the last-minute we could not get reservations anywhere in the parks. We decided to go over to the Boardwalk and see what we could scrounge up.

Cat Cora has a new to us restaurant called Kouzzina by Cat Cora that looked promising. Sadly, it had a very long wait. We decided to try our luck with one of the restaurants at The Dolphin Hotel and found another new to us restaurant called Todd English’s BlueZoo. We were able to sit at the bar at BlueZoo, so no waiting required.

The bar menu’s are tablets.

The food was really good and it looks like they have some crazy happy hour specials. J and I will definitely be paying Todd English’s BlueZoo another visit.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Dina

There was horrendous traffic getting to the highway on Thursday, so J decided to skip his classes that day. When he came back home, he suggested we go to Disney.

Animal Kingdom is the park we least frequent. It is a great park but the animals are the main attraction and that can get old fast. It also closes earlier than many of the other parks, so if you do not get an early start, it can be hard to have enough time to spend there.

The main attraction at the center of the park.

The Tree of Life is huge and really beautiful. It houses the It’s Tough to be a Bug! show and has intricate carvings throughout the base of the tree.

Outside of the Flights of Wonder, we spotted my favorite bird.

Owl! If you follow me on Pinterest, you may have noticed my love of owl tchotchkes. They are just so interesting looking.

Upon arrival, we made a beeline for Fast Passes for Kilimanjaro Safaris Expedition. This is my top must ride at Animal Kingdom. It puts you in a vehicle and takes you on a safari through a wildlife reserve. I never get tired of this ride because each time is different.

We saw a giraffe.