I’ve been sorting through more photos and videos lately and came across this video of the Living with the Land ride from before Christmas 2019 when it was all decked out in Christmas lights. I really loved the decorations, it was really cute – especially the snowman family. I hope that they will keep up with the holiday tradition in the future.
Were you able to see it last year? Did you enjoy the holiday theming?
With all the streaming services available now, adding yet another subscription seems silly. We held out as long as we could before adding Disney+. Although it was available in late 2019 and there was certainly a lot of Mandalorian hype, it wasn’t until the Covid pandemic shutdown before we actually signed up for Disney+.
The combined factors of the Walt Disney World theme parks closing, restaurants and everything else closing, and being stuck inside for at a minimum of 6-8 weeks (now longer) seemed to make getting Disney+ a no brainer. Not that Disney+ is a substitute for everything we’re having to give up, but I’m sure most people who initially held off adding the subscription probably caved at this point, right?
For the first week I watched Disney+ continually, I caught up on so many old movies. Classics, like the Herbie movies, Blackbeard’s Ghost, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Plus the animated movies, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmations, Robin Hood, The Black Cauldron, the Three Caballeros. And movies I’ve never heard of like Black Hole. There are animated shorts, current movies, cartoons, Muppet movies, and I’m still discovering things on Disney+ to enjoy months later. While they don’t have as many titles as Netflix or Amazon, they are definitely a niche but they are adding more titles. They recently added The Princess Bride, one of my all time favorite movies.
I want to recommend the cartoon Big City Greens, a super cute and fun series which is on Disney+, we first found this cartoon on tv when staying at a Walt Disney World resort. And, I finally found out where that the Walt Disney movie clip at Sci-Fi Dine In is from, a title called Man in Space which is on Disney+, check it out.
Although today is officially the day Epcot and Hollywood Studios are opening back up, we won’t be going back yet, and maybe not for a long time. Is Disney+ worth it? Yes, I think so. If you are a Disney fan and haven’t already signed up for Disney+ I would highly recommend it. It’s been helping me find some stress relief and comfort and giving me a little bit of Disney magic at home. It’s a really good value as far as entertainment goes, and if several people in your household are using it, then even better. If you haven’t caught up on your Disney favorites, now is as good a time as any.
Special Event – Annual Passholder Preview of Avatar Land (Artwork courtesy of Disney)
Disney is hosting a Preview of Avatar land in Animal Kingdom for Annual Passholders.You must have valid theme park admission to be eligible, so Epcot after 4pm passholders for instance would not be eligible.
There were 4 dates available, May 15, 16, 17 and May 22. There were 3 time slots per day, each time slot is 2 hours. Times were 12 noon to 2pm, 3 pm to 5pm, or 6pm to 8pm.
There are limited spaces available and registration has already begun.
Just wanted to share a photo I took at the Country Bear Jamboree show. There is no flash photography allowed, but as you can see you can still get good photos without a flash.
It is a cute show, funny too. The songs are kinda ridiculous, but in a good way. It is really bizarre. The song “Blood on the Saddle” that Big Al sings is especially odd, it was written by Tex Ritter, who is John Ritter’s father (John Ritter as you probably remember was Jack Tripper from Three’s Company), just a bit of useless trivia.
If you haven’t ever seen the show, you should check it out. This is a short clip of one of the characters.
If you ever get tired of the same old Disney vacation, try finding some of the smaller places on Disney property. Places like this, the Muddy Rivers Pool Bar, which is located on Ol’ Man Island at Port Orleans Riverside Resort at Walt Disney World Florida. This outside bar is great, it’s surrounded by trees and water, the bar is conveniently located pool side.
What is great about visiting some of the out of the way places at Disney World is that they aren’t so crowded so even if it’s a Friday or Saturday night, most people are congregating in Disney Springs and the Theme Parks.
When the weather is right, this outside bar is a perfect spot for relaxing. I ordered a frozen favorite – a Piña Colada, a mixture of coconut milk, rum, and pineapple. Price $8.75 before tax and tip.
Not sure if any of you have ever heard the word “Dis-nerd”, it’s a combination of Disney & nerd – it’s what I call someone who remembers facts or figures, history, interesting stories, trivia, etc about Disney.
I jokingly call myself that from time to time. Sometimes when you are at Disney with friends or family you can’t even help but spurt out all kinds of info – at least that’s a problem that I have, so after a while, they will usually say “how do you know all this stuff”, and I just usually will say “I’m a Dis-nerd, a Disney nerd, I can’t help it”.
But who better to show folks the ins and outs of Walt Disney World? I can’t think of anyone better than someone who really loves all things Disney. And for anyone who loves Disney that much, it’s hard to hold in your excitement and when is there a better time to slather on that Disney knowledge on your less informed friends and family than when you are actually at Walt Disney World.
If you are reading my blog, chances are *you* might be the Disney nerd in your group of friends or in your family. You know things like how many lanterns are hanging from the Liberty Tree. Or that the Liberty Bell in Liberty Square was actually cast from the same exact mold as the real Liberty Bell! Or that the castle isn’t really made of bricks. That inside the Winnie the Pooh ride, there is a picture of Mr. Toad handing over the deed to Owl. And there is a Mr. Toad in the pet cemetery outside of the Haunted Mansion! You know about Hidden Mickeys. You know that Walt Disney didn’t live long enough to see his Florida Project completed, he died six years prior to the opening of the Magic Kingdom.
One of the best experiences I’ve had is going on some of the private tours that Walt Disney World offers. I highly recommend the Keys to the Kingdom tour at Magic Kingdom. These are great, a lot of fun, and you probably will learn some knew stuff plus you can ask the tour guide questions too. And if you aren’t a Disney nerd yet, you might just catch the Disney bug on one of these tours.
Do you love Disney trivia? What are some of the things that have interested you about Disney?
Ever been faced with deciding whether or not to ride on certain rides? I think a lot of people are faced with a fear of certain rides, roller coasters come to mind, perhaps the Tower of Terror? Soarin’? I think this is still common among a lot of adults, it’s not just children at all.
I really enjoy trying new rides, but some look too intense – Rockin’ Roller Coaster, Everest…
I’ve had a really bad time on some rides, in particular Kumba at Busch Gardens pretty much ruined my desire to go on any type of coaster at all. My head got bashed from side to side on the safety harness bars. It was horrible.
I made the mistake of going on Primeval Whirl at Animal Kingdom. I was scared, the ride spun so much and I felt like I was being pushed out of the seat while simultaneously being squeezed to death.
A while back we tried Soarin’. I had such anxiety before going on the ride, while on it I felt uncomfortable in the seat, like I was not seated securely enough. While I was glad that I did ride on it, I did not feel like it was something I would like to do again anytime soon.
Since then I’ve went on some “kiddie” rides and enjoyed them, like Aladdin’s Carpets, Flying Dumbo, Goofy’s Barnstormer and even the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train! The Barnstormer is only about a 63 second ride, some parts are a little rough, but I laughed a lot and had a smile when I got off the ride, so that’s good. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is about a 2 minute ride and was pretty smooth, with some G forces around the bends, the ride went fast – slow – fast – slow, and was fun, also was smiling as it pulled into the station.
I have had conversations with others about which types of rides they like or don’t, and it is not uncommon at all for someone to be apprehensive about certain rides. Some friends don’t like heights, some don’t like things that spin in circles, some don’t like fast rides, some don’t like inversions, or drops, or too much movement. For a lot of people it’s not really a fear, per se, of the ride, it’s more about how the ride effects them, like dizziness, nausea, pain or discomfort. It’s okay if you don’t want to ride something, chances are – you aren’t the only one. For instance, Star Tours is just too jerky for my taste.
Luckily, Disney has a variety of rides and shows to suite most anyone’s sensibilities, and if you feel like you might want to get out of your comfort zone you can always ask others about their ride experience. These days you can even watch YouTube videos of most rides – this is a great, safe, way to experience the essence of a ride without any of the negative side effects.
Is there a ride that you just won’t go on? Ever conquered a fear of a certain ride?
A close up view of the Red River Hogs at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We were able to view them on the Wanyama Safari. This is a behind the scenes tour/experience that is offered at the lodge.
I had gotten a reservation for the DVC 25th Anniversary Party back at the beginning of February by calling Member Services. Luckily there was still space available at the time and I didn’t have any trouble. Although there was no fee for this event, space was limited.
Event check-in was simple, a section at the front gate was dedicated the Event entry, where they check your credentials and provide each attendee with a special wrist band. Event programs were provided as well, the program just outlined where the character meet and greets were and where the refreshment stands were set up, the location of the dance party, and which rides would be open. Party was scheduled to start at 9:30. Magic Kingdom officially closed at 9:00 pm to regular theme park guests. DVC attendees and their guests could enter as early as 7:00 pm and enjoy the whole park before the party started. Once the party started, Adventureland and Frontierland would be closed.
Magic Kingdom was crowded during the regular park hours, which is completely normal. We headed over to Adventureland, but stopped to watch the Castle projections for 5 minutes, then kept walking towards Pecos Bill’s. I was interested in trying something off the new menu, but the lines at Pecos Bill’s were really long; 4 registers open, but still at least 8 people deep at each line. No thanks. Decided to go to Columbia Harbor House instead. Got there, a few people blocking the entrance just trying to figure out if they were eating there or not, and asking the cast member at the door if they needed a reservation (internal monologue – “pfft, reservations, what are you talking about?!”). WDW must be confusing for newbies. Evasively walked past so they didn’t get in front of me and got in line. I’m grumpy when I’m hungry.
Ordered a Tuna Sandwich with Broccoli – yay! Was excited not to eat fries. Ordered a Clam Chowder to share, husband ordered the Salmon dinner. Went upstairs and got a table in the front section that overlooks Liberty Square. I had to eat very slowly as I have been dealing with tooth pain. Seemed like everyone around was wearing DVC party wrist bands.
Tuna Sandwich Columbia Harbor House
Salmon, Couscous, and Broccoli
Clam Chowder
Around 9:00 we headed right for The Haunted Mansion, to our surprise the line was already halfway through the graveyard section – this is much longer than we are used to, usually late at night the line is so short. Once we were actually the only two people in the stretching room – that was amazing, I’m going to remember that the rest of my life.We decided to just wait, we got in after 5-6 cycles, seemed like 15-20 minutes. When we left, we headed towards Fantasyland to see what was going on. The lines were long at Peter Pan…
Peter Pan Ride
There were some tables set up near the Carousel with loads of people crowding them, these were the refreshment tables and I couldn’t really get a good look at them.
We decided to walk further, we had just ate anyways, and we saw Prince John, Robin Hood, and Friar Tuck! These characters are pretty rare, I have never seen them in the parks before, and we really love that movie, so we got in line. We had to wait about 35 minutes, they had to take a short watering break for about 5 minutes. Overall it wasn’t that bad of a wait, they were really cute. I didn’t get to interact much, just get in place and smile for the camera and done. But, it was fun to watch them. Friar Tuck had been blessing people and making the sign of the cross. Prince John was kissing some hands.
Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, and Prince John
Next, we walked over to the Be Our Guest area, more refreshment tables with no waiting. There were three kinds of potato chips, Baked Lays, Classic Lays, Miss Vickie’s BBQ Kettle Chips, chocolate chip and sugar cookies. Lemonade and Zephyrhills Water to drink. We helped ourselves to some Baked Lays and drinks and sat down. All the while just thinking about how incredibly cool this was to be there, all these people were DVC members (or guest of DVC members), wow. The weather was a little nippy but not too cold that it was causing any discomfort, we had enough layers on to keep warm.
Chips and Cookies
We wanted to keep walking around and see what else was going on. We headed towards Gaston’s and saw an ice cream cart and the cast member was giving out FREE ice cream?! What?! We walked up to see if that was indeed the case, and sure enough, Free Mickey Bars, Mickey Ice Cream Sandwiches, Mango and/or Strawberry bars! Wow. We excitedly asked for two Mickey Bars and then found a nice spot near Ariel’s ride to eat them. Nearby a castmember was giving out DVC 25th Anniversary buttons, so we each got a button, a nice keepsake to add to my button collection.
We then walked towards the Circus area, and saw there were a couple characters, which happened to be Darkwing Duck and Launchpad. Pretty neat, haven’t seen either one of them before in person. We still hadn’t seen the dance party, so we went over to Tomorrowland where the DJ was, and to my surprise I saw Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and Goofy! All of them together, that was cool. I took a little video of them dancing.
DVC Dance Party
Mickey and Minnie
Over towards Buzz Lightyear’s ride, we spotted Beymax! The line wasn’t very long here. He was so cute, especially when he was walking, he was taking such tiny steps, it was adorable.
Beymax
We went back around through the center hub and went back to Haunted Mansion and saw the Cadaver Dans! Didn’t even know about them at all! I have never seen them before. When I got home I did some research and found out they only perform during the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, and they roam around, which is probably why we have never seen them before. Definitely worth watching. Was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen at WDW.
We had a little time left before the fireworks at 11:30 pm, so we headed over to the center hub to pick a spot. As you can imagine, although it was still crowded when everyone gathered at the hub, it was a tiny fraction of the amount of people on any given day. We got a really close spot, the closest we’ve ever been! Check out the video of the fireworks here:
After the fireworks there was about 20 minutes left, we headed back to Haunted Mansion, grabbed an ice cream at the nearby cart and wandered around, while we were near the Seven Dwarf Mine Train, I had the urge to get in line, never been on it before! I had to ride solo, since my husband doesn’t like fast rides, plus since neither of us had ridden it, we didn’t know what to expect. So, I would be the one to test it out. With two minutes to midnight, I got in line and in less than 15 minutes got onto the ride. The line queue was really cool, loved the gems. The line queue itself was LONG, REALLY LONG. The ride itself only takes about 2 minutes, and it goes fast – slow – fast – slow. It’s kind of like Big Thunder Mountain, not really scary. I did manage to get video of the ride, but it was so dark you can’t really tell what is going on. It was fun, I got off the ride with a smile on my face. The guy in front of me in the car said that this was his 5th time riding it.
It was an incredible night, my feet are still killing me, we walked a lot, but had a lot of fun. Best part is there will be another party next week, we’re bringing two of our friends, I hope they have a fun time. I’m also curious if the characters will be the same or if they will be different? We’ll see.
Thanks for reading, if you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.
The Golden Spoon phenomenon was started by BirdsofPreyDave over on the Disboards forum. He created a full list of Walt Disney World Restaurants where you can eat at, he also added the Epcot Food & Wine and Flower & Garden Booths (if you are so inclined to check those off your list). The “Golden Spoon” is the proverbial achievement for someone who has indeed eaten at every place listed.
This is THE Food Quest for Disney Fans.
I just checked my progress yesterday and took notes of where I’m at.
I’ve eaten at 158 out of 270 restaurants at Walt Disney World (59%)
I’ve eaten at 48 out of 100 quick service/counter service restaurants at Walt Disney World (48%)
I’ve eaten at 53 out of 73 table-service restaurants at Walt Disney World (73%)
I’ve eaten at 8 out of 20 signature restaurants at Walt Disney World (40%)
I’ve eaten at 2 out of 3 dinner show restaurants at Walt Disney World (67%)
I’ve eaten at 0 out of 4 dessert parties at Walt Disney World (0%)
To find out how far you fare, go to the website below and fill our your own check list for your result. If you would like to post your complete results, there is a code generator for the forum, or a simple text version (like mine above) which you can post on your Facebook.
(Updated July 2019) Link URL has been removed due to dead link.
Just a couple photos to get you motivated!
Chorizo & Potato Soup – The Wave
Casesar Salad with buttermilk Caesar dressing – The Wave