Feature & Review on an Etsy Blog!

Last month I was approached by a fellow blogger who blogs her reviews on Etsy Disney and jewelry based products. She wanted to do a review on my Ellegant Decor Disney World Parks Cards! I was so excited and flattered to hear that someone wanted to review them. Feedback is great and it would give me exposure to potential customers looking for custom products for their Disney vacations. 

She posted her blog article on the Disney Parks Cards and I am so excited to hear that she really liked my product! I hope she does a follow up article on how she enjoyed/used them at Magic Kingdom. 

Woo hoo!

Last Day of Annual Passes :(

After a fun breakfast at Hollywood Studios, we headed over to the Animal Kingdom for the morning/afternoon. Mom and Dad haven't really spent a lot of time in the park and we thought this would be fun for them to see. 

We are so proud of Mom who rode on Expedition Everest! Got to love the pictures Disney takes. 

We also rode Dinosaur and I still get scared during the ride! You would like after riding this several times that I would know when the dinosaur pops out! Maybe next time. We also rode the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride and walked though the Pangani Forest Exploration.

For lunch we ate at the Flame Tree Barbecue which was so delicious! Christopher and I split a combo platter and it was plenty of food for two.

After lunch we headed back to the resort and relaxed for a bit at the pool. Later in the afternoon we decided to walk over to Epcot and enjoy the night there. We split a fish and chips in England, then walked over to France for a Croque Monsieur, Bordeaux and a coffee flavored mousse. All was delicious.

We then strolled around the entire World Showcase. We rode the Three Caballeros ride once more and Spaceship Earth. Then we caught Illuminations. We could watch it every night and still be impressed! 

We then walked back to the Boardwalk. Christopher enjoyed a cigar and beer and I got a slice of pizza and a margarita. We relaxed and people watched for the rest of the night. It was very special. 

Mom and Dad decided to have dinner at the new Italian restaurant on the Boardwalk and enjoyed it very much. They then met us out afterwards and we hung out with our drinks. A great way to end our stay at the Boardwalk. 

Star Wars Breakfast

For our last day in the parks, we scheduled a special Star Wars Galactic Breakfast at Hollywood Studios. This breakfast was so much fun! Even Mom and Dad got into it. We saw Darth Vader and Boba Fett. I tried to pose with the choke hold, but Vader was not impressed.

Mom and Dad had a blast. They were interacting with all of the characters and taking pictures with them too.

How cute are the breakfast pastries? I love how Disney gets totally into the theming. It makes the experience that much more fun.

Greedo was a little flirt! He tried to steal me away from Christopher.

Christopher brought a special Buffalo pin to trade with the Jawas. Christopher received a red gem from them - too cute.

We were nervous if Mom and Dad would enjoy the experience and they had a blast. They posed with all of the characters and enjoyed breakfast too.

Got to look out for those little Jawas - they love shiny things like silverware and blue milk.

When the stormtroopers came by, I told them that Christopher was a rebel spy. So they "arrested" him. It was so much fun.

Even Mom and Dad got into trouble with the Stormtroopers.

Breakfast was delicious. I had the Tatooine Sunrise and Christopher had the Imperial Delight. The service was wonderful and the ambiance was great. They showed Star Wars clips including two trailers for the upcoming new movie.

So What did Mom & Dad Do During Our 4-Park Challenge

We planned to do our 4-park challenge day and offered this option for our parents to join us. They decided to have their own day to do whatever they would like.

We were a little worried they would be bored and not know what to do...oh boy were we wrong!

They had a great day at Magic Kingdom! Got lunch at Casey's Corner and caught the Festival of Fantasy parade from the new courtyard area.

They even danced with Olaf! Not sure why we were worried - they had a great day!

Our 4 Park Challenge Day!

During this trip we did a 4 Park Challenge. Our goal/rules of the challenge: go to each park in one day, enjoy at least 3 attractions per park, and eat at least a snack at each park. And....we did it! It is definitely exhausting, but added a different element to our trip

Our first park was Animal Kingdom to capitalize on the extra magic hours in the morning. We were able to ride Expedition Everest TWICE, walked on Kilimanjaro safaris and walked through the Pangani Forest Exploration uninterrupted. We grabbed breakfast at a kiosk and enjoyed some espresso and a croissant.

Next park: Magic Kingdom! We rode Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion and the WDW Railroad. We had lunch at Friars Nook (Christopher wanted the pot roast macaroni and cheese) and I shared a pepperoni pizza from Pinocchio's Village Haus. 

Next park: Hollywood Studios. This is our least favorite park, so finding things to do that we both liked was hard. We rode Star Tours, walked through One Man's Dream and then did the Star Wars Lego Experience since it was Star Wars weekend. For our snack, we had a Mickey Ear Ice Cream to help us cool off. 

Since we were making excellent time, we decided to walk back to our resort and take a little nap. It felt so awesome to put our feet up and relax. We probably would have made it through Epcot, but we would have been a little grumpy.

After our nap it was off to our final park - EPCOT! We rode Test Track (thanks to our free fast pass from the ride breaking down), The 3 Caballeros and Mission: SPACE. 

We then relaxed until our dinner reservation at Spice Road Table. We had some celebratory drinks - Christopher picked up a beer from England and I had my favorite martini - no surprises there.

Dinner was delicious but the service was awful. We ordered our favorite pitcher of sparkling sangria, baked brie, calamari and mixed skewers. And of course we finished with coffee and dessert. We caught Illuminations from our table and had a great view of it. We also ran into my co-worker Titi! It was her first trip to WDW and she was having a great time.

And because we are crazies, we ran back to the resort, dropped all of our stuff and ran over to Hollywood Studios to catch Symphony in the Stars. It was so much more huge from outside of the park. We definitely have a new appreciation for the fireworks show.

So...WE DID IT! The 4 park challenge was fun yet exhausting. Definitely not to do with young children, but I would say pre-teen, teens could handle it.

Saturday Breakfast & Epcot

Saturday morning we had breakfast at The Grand Floridian Cafe to catch up with Mom and Dad on their date night and to share with them ours. They had a lovely time at the California Grill. Our breakfast was delicious as usual. Christopher got his fill of steak and eggs and I got the breakfast platter (I like a little bit of everything).

We then made our way to Epcot via the monorail. We went on Imagination with Figment, walked through Innoventions plaza, did Ellen's Energy Adventure and waited in line for Test Track only to have it break down right when we designed our car. Bummer! But we did get a free fast pass to use whenever we would like.

We checked out some of the gardens during the festival. We then walked around World Showcase Lagoon catching the last weekend of the Flower & Garden Festival and all of the fun treats.

We ate a spicy pineapple hot dog, blueberry pomegranate margarita, the lucky combo in China, a beer flight in Germany, Maple Bacon stout from the Smokehouse (while catching the new acappella act perform too - they were AWESOME!) and of course a trip around the world would not be complete without a Grey Goose Grand Marnier martini!

We had a very nice afternoon walking around. We then refreshed ourselves and walked over to the Beach Club for dinner at Beaches & Cream Soda Shop. I had a burger and Christopher had a turkey sandwich. Mom and Dad both had burgers and of course we all indulged in a sundae. It was so cute inside and we had fun selecting tunes from the juke box.

After dinner, Christopher and I walked over to Hollywood Studios to catch Symphony in the Stars. We had some time to kill so we waited and rode Star Tours and had a flight sequence we have not seen before! It was our favorite yet. We then staked our spot on Hollywood Boulevard for the show and fireworks. It did not disappoint. So incredible to have the fireworks go off to the Star Wars score. Christopher videoed it so we can watch it again and again. 

Our Date Night at Victoria & Albert's

Our dinner at Victoria & Albert's was AMAZING! Christopher and I got all gussied up and headed over to the Grand Floridian Resort to have dinner at V&A's. The service was incredible. Our servers were Danny and Garrett. The maitre d was Lana (blue name tag cast member) and the hostess was great too, but I cannot remember her name.

The 7 courses we chose were (not as well described as our menus - but I will try my best!):
1) Amuse Bouche - stone crab with veggies
2) Bison filet salad
3) Alaskan Salmon
4) Pork tenderloin & belly
5) Entree - Duck A l'Orange
6) Cheese accompaniment
7) Dessert - I chose a dark chocolate mousse with a milk chocolate orange gelato (I think it was called the Chocolate Timbale) and Christopher ordered the Hawaiian Kona dessert. During dessert they also served us coffee that was brewed right at our table! Christopher loved this type of coffee press and is determined to buy one for our house (they are like $300!).

We also ordered the wine pairing, which was paired so perfectly with our menu choices. Everything was delicious. In between several courses, we also had three bread courses too. And the bread was paired with its own butter or cream. I had never had bison or salmon but I know that it never taste as good as it did that night.

I almost forgot to tell you that at the beginning of the meal, they offered us their "house" water which is triple filtered. But - if that did not please us, we could choose a water off of their international water menu they have imported from around the world. We chose the "house" water and it was just fine.

The service was amazing. They served in a very formal style. Every time we left the table, they provided us a fresh napkin and would escort you to and from the table. It was awesome and yet so unnecessary, but their attention to detail is what gets them the 5 diamond rating!

At the end of the meal they presented us with a rose and copy of our menu we enjoyed (much more specific than the summary I provided here). I keep saying this, but it was AMAZING. Christopher and I are now spoiled and we will want to dine here every time we visit Walt Disney World.

One funny thing is we had a really annoying British couple sitting behind us. They made comments like they had to "settle" trying American wine. Their conversations made us laugh a little. Good thing these servers are trained to handle every situation.

Best part of the night was enjoying this experience with my wonderful Christopher. I have loved all of the adventures we have found ourselves in.

And to top off the night, we were complimented leaving dinner by a cast member as he thought we were cast members! Maybe some day!

Star Wars Weekend

We were lucky to be on vacation during the first weekend of Star Wars Weekends at Hollywood Studios. Therefore we had to be there for opening day!

We got to the park at 9 am and all of the edge of the street seating was taken for the parade! So we picked a spot behind a nice family and waited. Within 30 minutes all of the shaded sidewalk area was taken and people were starting to get feisty. Mom and Dad made it a little after 10 am.

The parade was awesome. The costumes and characters were incredible. The celebrities for this weekend were James Arnold Taylor (host of Star Wars Weekends), Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine), Ashley Eckstein, Amy Allen and some other star from the cartoon series.

So - I have a story about Amy Allen. She is related to Aunt Marie and Uncle Paul Chodkowski. Uncle Paul is also her Godfather, in addition to Christopher. So Mom and Dad wanted to see her again (they have met her before) and have her sign some of the toy figurines, including a special one to send to Paul and Marie. So first we tried asking the front desk if they could arrange the meeting because Aunt Marie told Amy to expect us, but front desk/concierge couldn't help us. So Mom contacted Aunt Marie again to see if we could set this directly up with Amy. Aunt Marie gave Mom and Dad her number and Dad called. Amy was very nice and set up a meeting.

She was so sweet and remembered Mom and Dad. She signed all of the stuff Mom and Dad brought and took a picture with us (the picture is on Dad's camera). We did feel like VIPs because we got to go through this back entrance to one of the buildings in Hollywood Studios and skipped some of the other fans who waited in line.

For lunch we ate at Mama Melrose's. It was pretty good, but not as good as some other Italian places in Walt Disney World, but it is one of Mom and Dad's favorites, so we made sure to make it.

Since we did a lot of waiting for the parade we did not really get a chance to do other attractions. We did ride Star Tours and Toy Story Midway Mania. Christopher beat me AGAIN, but the ride is so much fun!

We ended up waiting one hour in line to get into the Darth Mall, a special merchandise location only open during Star Wars Weekend. Christopher was so excited to see the merchandise and get the commemorative name tag. It was worth the wait for sure. Plus we got fun Star Wars themed drinks with Death Star and Millennium Falcon light up cubes in the drinks.

We went back to the resort and relaxed by the pool in the afternoon. It felt really good to lay low and relax for a bit. Friday was our special date nights. Mom and Dad headed to California Grill inside the Contemporary and Christopher and I had our special night at Victoria and Albert's inside the Grand Floridian. But I will save that for another blog post!