Happiest Place on Earth!

Gosh, I am so glad that you are a patient and supportive crowd. I think I'd be beside myself if anyone (besides myself) was hard on me for being such a terribly unproductive blogger. Better late than never, I suppose. Finally a little glimpse into this past weekend at Walt Disney World.

Here is a weekend recap in pictures! Despite it being what is typically the busiest (not to mention hottest!) time of year for Disney visitors, it was actually quite a peaceful trip. The crowds were reasonably small and lines were miraculously short. In fact, I don't think we waited for more than 20 minutes to ride anything--well, except for the shuttle back to our hotel each day.

Some of you may think that Disney is just for kids. Well, if you have kids, I suppose that may be the case. But there are plenty of cultural, foodie, and thrilling adventures for grown ups, too! Here are just a few of them.

 
I briefed you guys on our Downtown Disney adventures, but here's a closer look!

On a former Orlando citizen's suggestion, we hiked over here for dinner.

The sandwiches were wrapped in gold foil and topped with a royal seal!
I was ecstatic when I was told I could drink my cider while walking around.

There were a lot of Muppets themed gear and attractions. I am in love
with Kermit, and to Markus' dismay I insisted on kissing lots of Kermie
frogs hoping that one would turn into a Kermie prince.

I love poking around in the Lego store! This wall of single bricks was
my favorite. Typically I gravitate towards the build your own Lego
people bar, but the candy colors of the bins kept me fixed to this wall.

I love that every aspect of Disney owned property was well groomed
and designed to pull you into the magic of every site. The lush landscape
really feels like you could be in Jurassic Park, doesn't it?

This balloon was the first thing I noticed when we pulled into the
Downtown Disney area. You can tell that it's Mary Poppins from
almost a mile away! I would be happy all the time if Mary Poppins
was the centerpiece of my neighborhood.

Markus and I went nuts in the Vinylmation store! Disney has branded

their own line of vinyl toys--shaped like Mickey Mouse. A handful of

you may recall my love of vinyl collectible toys. Between the extra
cute girly series and the Muppets editions, I wanted so many!

 This side view of the castle might look familiar... I'm pretty sure this is one of the
angles composited into the Walt Disney pictures logo nowadays.
Also a fun bit of trivia--the Neuschwanstein castle on which Cinderella's castle is
based is just as magical. I wish I could show you more, but they didn't allow photos.

 I frequently held up the quickly moving lines to snap photos. I still felt the same
amount of terror I did at age 7 on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Here again you
can see just how coherent the story behind the ride and the physical landscape are!

 Basically the rest of my remaining outfits look something like this. Very outdoors
adventurey and designed to avoid heat stroke. Here is a fine snap of my
tragically unhip camera bag. Also, in case you cannot tell, in this photo
my pose says, "Rarr! I'm an adventurer!" Now do you guys believe me
about my tomboy past?

For those of you who haven't been to Animal Kingdom, the fake Mt. Everest behind me is a really fun ride!

Pretty much the only ride in any of the four parks that encouraged photos was
the Kilimanjaro Safari tour. I took lots. I'll spare you and only share a few.

Doesn't this rhino look oh so sad? And he is surrounded by what appears to be some scary buzzards. Ahhh!!

I got kind of scared because the animals were so close! And they were all so unafraid of our humvee.

AUGH!!! So close!!


Hee, he is almost like a Muppet! Look at that grin.

All in all I had a blast! And since he was my most available and willing subject, I added a lot more Markus stalker paparazzi photos to my repertoire. At this point, I might as well start another blog called, "Hello, it's Markus!"

I think I'm done with the vacation recovery yogawear outfits for the week while my feet stopped being so swollen and my sunburn faded. Maybe, just maybe, I'll have a current outfit to share tomorrow.

And since it's late, and already tomorrow--Happy Friday! Hope this post on a happy place helps place you in your happy place today.