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!

Man dies after riding Expedition Everest

I know it's been a long while since I have posted, but with the holidays right around the corner, I'm super busy. A mousefest review will be up later tonight!! In the meantime let's discuss the latest happenings at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

It seems that a 44-year old man by the name of Jeffrey Reed passed away after riding Expedition Everest yesterday morning. He was unconscious and unresponsive after riding the attraction around 11:25am. A patron who is a registered nurse and a cast member performed CPR on the man until the paramedics arrived. He was without a pulse when paramedics had arrived and was proounced dead shortly after arriving at Celebration Hospital. There were no apparent signs of trauma. This is the first death on the Expedition Everest Attraction since it opened in April 2006. The ride will be closed until the attraction has been fully evaulated.

For more info, follow this link:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/orl-bk-disneyaccident12182007,0,7179266.story?track=rss

This is a shame. I love this attraction, but I'm just curious as to why we hear about so many Disney deaths lately. I'm thinking it's because of the internet. Disney knows the story will leak, so they just decide to release it. This is horrible. Why do you think we hear more and more about Disney tragedies? I'm sure they do happen quite often, unfortunately, but it seems we hear about them more often then ever. My thoughts and prayers go out to him and and his family.

Way to go, Helio!!

I have to give it up for Helio Castraneves. I think he did an amazing job this season on Dancing With The Stars. Half way through the season, I wouldn't have known he'd come this far. He has all the charisma that Marie had to offer and the skill Mel had to offer, he was a total package and I'm glad that he won.

Although, does anyone else find it odd that he called off his engagement the night he won? Was his fiance jealous of his relationship (or all of those kisses he shared with) Julianne? We all succomb to a little bit of gossip now and then, but this just caught me a little offguard. I didn't even know he was engaged to begin with, but I know if my fiance was smooching on someone as drooled over as Julianne, I would be jealous. Oh well not very important. What did you guys think of the finals? I thought it was wayyyy too long. Not suprised though..

I hope everyone is having a great week! 1 WEEK UNTIL MOUSEFEST!!

Since The Disney Company owns ABC Network...

Being an avid viewer of Dancing with The Stars.. I feel the need to take a moment and let the ABC Network know that they will lose a viewer if MARIE OSMOND WINS THIS COMPETITION.

I don't watch much TV, but for some reason I really enjoy watching washed up celebrities attempt to dance their way to the top in this energetic and exciting show. I have watched DWTS since the second season and I've always felt that talent as a dancer has been the essential key to winning this show. It seems that is not the case this season.

I'm sorry to rag on you Marie Osmond, but you have no right being in the finals. This is not a popularity contest, it's about TALENT. Her freestyle dance tonight was an absolute joke. I hope all of her doll collecting fans enjoyed it, because I thought I was watching a car crash. Granted, there has been a ton of drama on this season (that I could've done without, frankly, but we all know it makes for good television), I just am sick of the sob stories and the excuses every week. I'm sorry Marie, but you don't hold a candle to Mel & Maks or Helio & Julianne.


Now don't get me wrong, I know I'm coming off like a %$^#& right now. But this is my opinion and if you don't like it, then don't read my blog. I just get very competitive when I am challenged. This is a dancing competition and I want to see the best dancer win, not the most favored person on the cast. I really think that Jenny Garth gave her all on the show this season. She made a truly awesome journey from the shy and modest girl next door to a confident and sassy dancing queen. Watching her transform was so exciting. I'm sure Marie has gained a lot of dancing experience and has made wonderful memories, but she is just not good enough. I'm afraid to watch tomorrow, but I'll be tuning in. What do you guys think?? Let me know if you are a DWTS fan and who you want to win!! I'm rooting for Helio & Julianne!!!


Also... while I'm on a roll here, to the person who felt the need to leave a severely rude and immature review about The Magical Definition Podcast, my co-hosts and myself.... Thank you for listening ;) If you enjoy the show and have any creative criticism or feedback you'd like to share, please leave us a review on itunes!

I hope you all have a great week and I will possibly be blogging tomorrow! See ya real soon!!


-Jackie O.