Just a small update...

Hey there everyone :)

I hope you are surviving this scorching summer. It's been quite hot here in FL this past weekend, but I kept cool by getting a nice massage and staying in the A/C. Just thought I'd do a quick blog post about what has been going on lately.

This past week, April and I recorded show 11! Monumental for us since it's been such a long time since show 10. As usual, we are sorry for the delay, but we refuse to give up on our passion for all things disney. April is free during the weeks, so we are going to be trying to record shows earlier in the week and have them posted by the weekend. Show 11 should be posted sometime today or tomorrow. Be sure to visit www.waltsgirls.com or itunes to catch the latest episode. As usual, we had a lot of fun recording it.

On July 24th, Downtown Disney is having some kind of huge sale, so Jesse and I will be heading to Orlando to check it out. I'll post a blog about what kind of cool things I find. Also, we are planning a trip with April, her hubby and some other friends of ours for sometime in September. I'm super excited, because I love Disney World even more when I am surrounded by my closest friends. We are probably aiming at 2 or 3 days and we aren't sure where we are staying. Most likely off property since there will be a decent sized group of us. I'm hoping one of my best friends from NY can fly down and join us. She needs a vacation and what better place to do just that? I love WDW in September because it's fairly quiet and not unbearably hot.
Of course, we are also going to the Last Tour to Endor party in mid-august, which I'm getting so excited about!

Lots of exciting Disney fun will be coming up in the next few months, so keep your eyes peeled for new podcasts and blogposts!

Most recent Disney World happenings...

First of all, Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful daddy's out there! :)



Wow, blogging twice in one week. For me, that's amazing! Now to find out how I can do it from my fancy new phone :)


I have so much to talk about and not enough time to type it all out. I'll have to pace myself and just give you a few tidbits here and there.

So what's new with me? Not all that much, still in school and still working. I was on a long hiatus from visiting the Disney parks here in FL. My pass had expired last November and I didn't purchase a new one until this past May. I actually purchased it on May 5th, which means NEXT year I can visit EPCOT one last time for Cinco de Mayo before it expires. Sweet! Okay, so for me, 6 months is a LONG time to go without visiting the parks. I know that for most the wait is a lot worse. I'm sure I sound incredibly dramatic, but let me tell you how great it was to go back to the parks.

My first trip back was for 3 days in which my boyfriend and I stayed at Coronado Springs. This was the first time either of us had ever stayed at a moderate resort. The pros? The resort is sprawling, it has nice walkways allowing for early morning or evening exercise, a really cool themed pool as well as appropriately themed rooms and Rix Lounge is a great place to relax and have a few drinks. The Cons? Our room was really quite dirty, the walls are paper thin and the resort almost seems.. too big. We enjoyed our stay regardless of the dirty bedsheets and the broken remote control, but we may try a different resort for our next stay. We will definitely be sure to head back to Rix though!

The first day of our trip, we went to EPCOT since it was Cinco de Mayo. We didn't go on many attractions, but we did tour most of the World Showcase. We both love doing this. There is always something new to see and do. Since it was so hot, we started with Impressions de France. He had never seen it and it was a nice place to cool off. I've always really liked this film anyway. We walked around a bit, stopping in shops here and there.

Mitsukoshi in Japan is one of our favorite stops and my sweet boyfriend likes to let me open an oyster because he knows how much I enjoy it. On this particular occasion, I picked a fantastic oyster. It had twin silver blue pearls in it which is incredibly rare (1-2% chance; I will post a picture in the next blog). They are so beautiful. I had them made into earrings for another $10 and I love them. At the rate I'm going with opening oysters at EPCOT, it would be cheaper for my sweetie to buy me an actual pearl necklace! If you have never done this before, you are girly and easily amused, I recommend doing this at least once. For the fun of it!

We kept walking and browsing until we happened upon Mexico. We are absolutely in love with the new(er) Tequila bar in the Mexico Pavilion. The guacamole and the crab tostadas are to die for. Jesse (the boyfriend) prefers the Jalapeno margarita while I'm still seeking out my favorite. So far I have tried, the pineapple, passionfruit and the pepino margarita (which I believe currently has a different name). They are all quite delicious, but none have really captured my heart, just yet that is. We did a couple shots of patron, but we also sampled a tequila called Partida, which was a little less expensive, but very good. The Sangrita shooter is the best part of doing tequila shots at this location. My only complaints about the tequila bar are that it is a very small location and it gets very loud. Of course, when tequila is involved, that is to be expected, but the lack of insulation in that part of the pavilion just seems to amplify the hoots, hollers and heys.

On this trip, I succumbed to Vinylmation. If any of you know me, I haven't been a fan. The whole "It looks like a Mickey, but it's not really a Mickey" concept just seemed lame. Until I saw one that had the old school EPCOT pavilion logos all over it. I now have 6 of the damn things. If you really care or are seriously into Vinylmation, I will post a picture of the ones I have. Oh and don't tell anyone, but I also bought one of the keychain style ones. Guaranteed another one will come out at some point, that I just HAVE to have. If I didn't love the cursed rat so much, I'd be a much richer woman.

As we stumbled out towards the back entrance of EPCOT, we saw it. The Tronorail. We were in awe. Jesse first introduced me to Tron a little over a year ago and I have been in love ever since. Apparently I am really lagging in the amount of Disney movies I have seen, but I'm working on it. It was too dark to get any good shots, but it's truly a beautiful thing. For those of you who are wondering, it's actually monorail coral. We ended the night at Rix for a laid back evening and then headed back to the room for some much needed sleep.


The next day was spent at the Magic Kingdom. Sweltering hot before noon, we started in Tomorrowland. We got a fastpass for Space Mountain, rode the TTA, did Carousel of Progress and Buzz Lightyear. Once it was time for our fastpass, I started getting nervous. Space Mountain scares the bejeezus out of me, but I love it. I didn't notice many changes since it had been down for rehab other than a couple small things and the video games in the queue. Great idea Disney imagineers! At least, for those who need constant mind stimulation. I am a fastpass fan, I do all I can to avoid lines longer than 30 minutes. I'm actually quite savvy when it comes to working my way around the parks while using fastpasses.

We headed to Mickey's Toontown to bid it adieu. I'm not sure I'll get back to the parks before they tear it down, but I won't miss it much. My favorite part of that area is Minnie's house. It's so darn cute. We ventured through Fantasyland which is a tight squeeze right now since the reimagination is beginning to take place and it seems like it will be that way for quite some time. Call me crazy, but I felt a strange contentment just looking at the empty area where 20,000 Leagues under the Sea once was. I guess this is because nothing had been placed on top of its old location, or at least, not yet. While I'm excited to see some new additions to the Magic Kingdom, it makes me sad to know there really aren't any remnants of this attraction still around.

We did the Haunted Mansion as well as pirates. Before we went on pirates, we stopped and had a taco salad at El Pirata y El Perico. It would've been more enjoyable had I not witnessed a little boy deliberately poke his little brother in the eye with a brand new pirate sword. It was horrifying! About two seconds before I saw him jab his kid brother in the eye socket, their grandma said "put down the swords before someone gets hurt". Now I know, with kids, things happen, but I was absolutely horrified by this incident. Luckily, the younger boy was alright. We finished out the night walking around, taking it easy and watching Wishes. I was disappointed to see they have cut back on flying Tink during Wishes. I guess budget constraints are hurting the mouse from every angle

So that is a bit of our trip. We had a great time and of course, I can not wait to head back! Since it's seems that we are going to have a brutal summer here in Florida, I probably won't be heading back until the September or so. I try my best to avoid the really crowded summer months. It's just too much. I hope you enjoyed reading about one of my recent trips. I'll be posting much more very soon and may even have some exciting news to tell you about in the near future!

Until then!

Wowza.. it's been a while

Hi everyone out there!! I don't know if anyone really reads blogs anymore, but I'm going to revive this one. I need an outlet to share all of my adventures to Disney World and my passion to get to the parks as been reignited with the purchase of a seasonal pass. Yes, it's blacked out right now, but I may cave in and upgrade it to an annual. I get these addictive fits where I just HAVE to go to the parks. Can you blame me being so close to the magic?? Well I hope everyone out there is doing well and I will post a new blog VERY soon. Take care!

My Birthday Trip!

Hey everyone! It's been a while, as usual, but I just wanted to give everyone an update about my birthday and how it went at WDW this year.


On 2/12, my boyfriend and I got to The Studios around 11:30am. Since I already have an annual pass, I had my birthday certificate printed out and my ID ready to go in order to get my $75 fun card. My first mistake was that I entered the park and went to guest services. I had read in a couple of forums that you can get your "birthday gifts" from them. This is incorrect. You must go to the will call window at the ticket counters before entering the park of your choice. Here they will let you know about all of your options. They gave me the fun card, a birthday button and a paper copy of the rules and regulations regarding the fun card. If any of you would like a copy of this or a picture or two, let me know and I will send it to you. I was also under the impression that I had to use the $75 before the end of my day in the park. This is also not true. It used to be this way, but they have since changed this to have no expiration. The lady behind the will call window told me that there is no relevance to them as a corporation to limit the use of this money to that strict of a guideline. You may use the gift card on any Disney merchandise in a store that is owned and operated by Disney. You may not use it on food, most of the stores and restaurants in the World Showcase at EPCOT or at most of the stores at Downtown Disney.

We then had to re-enter the park. The first thing we noticed was a huge blue carpet lining the main walkway of the park(Hollywood Blvd). I knew that they were having a special opening celebration for The American Idol Experience, but I didn't know how enormous it was! I later found out that Paula Abdul would be there, as well as many of the past contestants on the show and all of the winners from every season. All on my birthday! My wonderful boyfriend bought us tickets to see Hairspray in Tampa later that night, So we really didn't have an option to stay late because we needed to leave Orlando around 3. What a sweetie. :)

Once we made our way down Hollywood Blvd, we turned down Sunset Blvd towards Tower of Terror and Rockin' Rollercoaster. We got a fast pass for ToT and went to have a small lunch at The 50's Prime Time Diner. We had some sodas, the crab cake and an order of fries. Unfortunately, this was probably not the best item I've had at this restaurant and I really enjoy this place. They had small white tents set up all around Echo Lake for radio stations from all around the country and even Ireland! The amount of media there was insane! The area in front of the actual attraction was completely blocked off. After lunch, we went to see The Indiana Stunt Show. I hadn't seen this in about 5 years, so it was really nice to see it again. My sweetie really enjoyed it. I had forgotten how cool the movable temple scene is!

After the show, I showed him the rope that you really shouldn't pull. He got a kick out of it. We then went to use our Fastpass for ToT. He thought it was freaky and thought it was cool how they had Rod Serling in the preshow video. After the ride, a couple of cast members stopped us when they noticed I was wearing a birthday button. They asked where we were headed and I told them we were just roaming around. The man asked if there was anything I really wanted to do. I told him I'd like to do Toy Story Mania. He then said "Okay" and asked if there was anything else I wanted to do. I told him I'd like to see The American Idol Experience, but blurted out that I had to leave to go to Tampa to see Hairspray. I'm really not sure what he would've given me, because he seemed to really want to give me some kind of admission to the show. He said he could fulfill giving us fastpasses for Toy Story Mania and wished me a happy birthday. I still think that was pretty nice!

We then headed over to use our fastpasses. My boyfriend really liked the ride, especially because he beat me! :) We then went to look at some of the One Man's Dream attraction. After that, we looked in the shops for a bit and then left for the day.

Though it was a short day, it was fun, as always! I didn't find anything that I absolutely needed, so I still have my $75 fun card. If you have the option to get one, it's definitely worth it! I hope everyone has a wonderful birthday at Disney if they are able to get there!

Just an Update

Hello everyone. It has been a VERY long time and it appears I have more blog drafts than actual entries. You'd be surprised to see how many entries are drafts behind the scenes here.

Anyhoo... so things are coming along. I'll be a quarter of a century old come february. What a scary thought! My boyfriend, April and I planned a last minute trip to WDW for Mousefest '08, but stayed incognito most of the time. We attended the graduation party portion of Bleepfest and sat with Earl and the Bleepster herself. It was a very enjoyable evening involving lots of beer, meeting a large amount of people and yummy food at the Biergarten! We didn't have MF nametags this year, April and I think the hype surrounding MF is a bit much. More than showing up, showing off how many podcasts you waste your time listening to and kissing the behinds of the "popular kids" (excuse me, I mean.. podcasters), April and I cannot express the sheer joy we get in meeting people who truly love Disney and are just looking for a few new friends. We got to meet some great people this time around, even though we didn't do much.

My main reason for blogging today is because I have been on a classic movie kick for the last week or so. I've watched "The Seven Year Itch", "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", "Meet me in St. Louis", "Sabrina", "Gidget", "Monkey Business" and am now currently watching "The Pirate" starring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly. I've grown up with an appreciation for these amazing classics, but haven't had much time to really sit down and watch them. Not that I have all the time in the world right now, but I am having fun watching them while many of the normal shows I watch are off air. My least favorite of the films I've watched? Gidget. I guess I just don't find anything great about Sandra Dee. Maybe I'll give her another chance with another one of her films. I'm much more entranced with someone like Judy Garland who bears amazing talent or Marilyn Monroe who had such an innocent charm. I'm simply taken by the talent of the actors and actresses of the 40's and 50's. Everything was so glamourous, colorful and creative. My favorite so far? Either Sabrina or Monkey Business. Does anyone else ever notice that firecracker actresses of back then were so tiny, but had such powerful voices and accents? I think the cast of Monkey Business was great and feel as though they must've had a blast making that film.

My point of this entry is that the next time you consider going to the movies to see something like "Scary Movie 28" or "Hotel for Dogs", Consider seeing a movie that will actually make your time worth it. Rent a classic and appreciate it for all it's done for cinema today.

Back and ranting!

It has been a long while since I've blogged, this I know. I actually ran into a friend of mine the other day and he told me that he has been reading my blog (Hi Daniel!!). I figured this is as good a time as any to start this thing back up again. Everyone and their mother blogs because they think their opinions matter, so why not continue on this bandwagon? I'm pretty good at ignoring trends and forming my own likes and dislikes, but I think it's important to have an outlet to bitch and complain. I think a website is a good place to go. It can't talk back and won't tell you the things you don't want to hear. Unless someone leaves a comment.

This time around I'm going to really lay my feelings out on the line. Tonight, I need to talk about something very near and dear to my heart. Pleasure Island at Downtown Disney closed this past Saturday night. Let me just tell you that Pleasure Island was the highlight of all my weekend trips to Disney World. I love the theme parks. The whole experience fills me with tons of wonderful memories. I was so excited when I became old enough to go to Pleasure Island. The Adventurer's Club and 8Trax have always been my two favorite places to spend my time. As of Saturday, the memories I'll make in the only area that isn't completely "family friendly" at Disney have come to an end.

Now let me get this straight, one of the most powerful businesses in the world deliberately threw away their nightlife at one of the biggest tourist traps on the planet because survey participants claimed rather than "adult only" clubs, they'd rather have more shops and dining available at Downtown Disney. Let me ask you this, when you talk to people about going to Disney, what is their first complaint? THE PRICE. What the hell would make The Disney Company actually think they'd make more money on shops and restaurants than booze in nightclubs? I believe this is one of the STUPIDEST decisions Disney executives have ever made. God forbid their be one area on Disney property that children aren't allowed in. The problem began when they took away the turnstiles from Pleasure Island. Allowing parents and their children to flow freely through an area full of nightclubs was a stupid idea to begin with. You can't seriously tell me that Disney was losing THAT much money on Pleasure Island that they just decided to close it down. Maybe if they would've designed Downtown Disney a little bit better, they wouldn't have so many problems. Besides, is a store full of magnets really necessary?

I know that the whole premise of what Disney World represents is the family, but not only families go to Disney World. Some of the most loyal disney patrons are single individuals, couples with no children, teenagers and older couples who's children are grown with families of their own. Hell, they even had a commercial with an older couple enjoying Disney World together. Getting rid of PI and catering only to families is going to force loyal parkgoers to head to Universal's CityWalk or Church St. Station, two places I really don't want to go, but since you are basically throwing it in my face that I'm a single female with no children to bring to your parks and spend oodles of money on, I may reconsider. I may also reconsider so much as to not repurchase my annual park pass this year. Call me crazy, but this is how truly upset I am to see PI go. I have never been to anything like The Adventurer's Club. It was one of a kind and now it is gone. I suppose I'll relocate the memories I have of PI to the part of my brain where all the other extinct attractions exist.

So that is my first rant back to the blogosphere. I know I'm not the only person who feels this way and to all of you out there who fought for Disney to keep PI alive and kicking, THANK YOU. Your letters, calls and whatever else you may have done may not have kept such a fun place around for years to come, but it was worth a shot. I sure hope that Disney turns a profit on the millions they are going to spend on more shops and dining at Downtown Disney. Good luck and thanks for showing me how truly spineless you Disney executives really are.


Sincerely,
A Formerly Loyal Disney Patron
-Jackie

So typical...

I haven't posted a blog in a VERY long time... But I figure, it's nice to have a place to vent so I will be sure to post more often. I won't be talking about Disney stuff... Maybe sometimes, but I'm keeping this very general so I can talk about whatever I feel like.

Let's see, what has happened since the last time I blogged? Well, the holidays came and went, so did my birthday and a new semester of school started. So far things are going pretty well. I get so busy sometimes that by saturday morning I'm toast and sleep till 2 in the afternoon. Which is probably the reason I'm still up right now, but I'll be on my way to bed shortly.

Today I did some things around the house and then spent the evening with one of my best friends, JP. We shopped, ate sushi and saw a movie. A very fun night, as always. I spent far too much money at MAC Cosmetics, but it was birthday money and I haven't spent any of it yet, so I guess I'm allowed to treat myself. I'm a make up fiend! What else did we do? Wandered into a few stores, checked out The Disney Store (of course!) and then had dessert. This is so bad, because I really want to watch what I eat, but I couldn't resist when I saw this... neither could JP. The Melting Pot restaurant has a kiosk in the mall called "Dips" and they dunk anything from a list in chocolate for you. I'm a typical female and I believe EVERYTHING is better with chocolate. They had little fondue sundaes. I had seriously died and gone to heaven at that point. So I had a tiny sunday of strawberries, bananas and poundcake covered in milk chocolate, whipped cream and caramel. They weren't very big, but it was filling (and delicious). I wanted to find Mr. Melting Pot and beat him up for coming up with such a tasty treat. Thoroughly enjoyable, I must say.

We were going to see The Spiderwick Chronicles, but when I saw The Eye was still in theaters, plans changed. The worst part of the experience? The loud and incredibly obnoxious teenagers in the theater with us. I really didn't feel like causing a scene, so I just ignored it. I heard this movie didn't get very good ratings, but I actually liked it. It was freaky, but not as bad as some other movies. I actually really liked the story line. It was similar to movies like The Ring and The Grudge, but refreshingly different. The story line was based on real life concept so it gave the plot a bit of realism. Anyhow, I would definitely recommend seeing it.

So that's about it for now... The Flower and Garden Festival is hitting EPCOT soon, so I'm sure I'll be heading over there in the near future.

Goodnight!