Earth Day 2023 and Animal Kingdom's 25th Birthday

Happy Earth Day!!!  It's also Animal Kingdom's 25th Birthday today!

I remember back when Animal Kingdom first opened back when I was a kid.  At the time, I must have been in the 7th grade.  I was so excited that Disney was adding another theme park to my favorite place in the world.  Like most other guests, I was most excited about the safari ride and seeing all of the animals throughout the park!

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Nowadays, Eliot and I don't spend as much time at the park as we do some of the others.  (I'm obviously a Magic Kingdom girl and we tend to visit Epcot quite a bit.)  But since we started traveling to Walt Disney World together back over New Year's Eve of 2018/2019, Animal Kingdom has definitely gone from one of our "half day" parks to a full day.  We still love the safari ride.  Eliot is a fan of Everest and Flight of Passage, and I'm still all about the Nemo and Lion King shows.

We're hopeful that the rumors about Moana coming to where the Dinosaur stuff was recently dismantled is true.  I would definitely visit that over and over again!

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Speaking of characters, it was so nice to see so many of our favorite friends at the big Animal Kingdom 25th Anniversary Celebration Ceremony this morning.  Naturally, a bunch of Disney bloggers were there to capture it for those of us unable to attend in person.  This is a great front row seat to the show from the left side!

Here's another video of that same celebration from the center.  This isn't as great of a view, but you get a better idea of the overall ceremony.

I think this was a great way to kick of the park's 25th Anniversary!  Mickey, Minnie and the gang all came in their safari gear.  Chip and Dale were there in their adorable dinosaur costumes!  I love how Dug, Russell and Kevin from Up were there; running into Kevin is one of my favorite things!  Nemo, Dory, Squirt and Crush were there from the Finding Nemo show.  And they also included Rafiki and Timon from the Festival of the Lion King, as well as some of the other performers from the show.  Starting the 25th celebration with the live drum performance was the perfect touch and really set the mood for a magical day!  And all of the birds flying at the end were the icing on top!

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Happy Birthday Animal Kingdom!  May you continue to amaze us with your natural beauty while you teach us about wildlife, nature and conservation!!! °o° 

Happy Earth Day!!! °o° 

Earth Day 2021

Happy Earth Day and Happy 23rd Birthday Animal Kingdom!!!

I don't have much time to hop over here, but I really wanted to mark the occasion today.  Earlier while I was taking a break and scrolling on Facebook, I saw that the Disney Parks Blog Facebook page posted an ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) video with images and the sounds of nature at Animal Kingdom.

I always enjoy these videos as they give me a few minutes to stop, take a break and relax.  I love the part with the waterfalls... I've always been obsessed with them!  Plus, I thought the video was appropriate for today.  Not only does it celebrate nature, but it features Animal Kingdom which opened on this day back in 1998!

I hope you enjoy this video as much as I did!  Have a Happy Earth Day!  °o°

Happy Earth Day

Today, I wanted to take a minute to celebrate an often overlooked holiday... Earth Day.

Every April 22nd, we celebrate planet Earth.  It's also a day to raise awareness on the negative impact mankind's actions have on our environment and planet.  It's a day to go out and do something to help make the world we live in a better place.

This is perhaps one of the most memorable Earth Days that we'll encounter during our lifetime.  Many people are currently stuck inside all over the world.  The desire to go out and enjoy nature and our natural surroundings has never been more desirable.

On top of that, Mother Earth hasn't been this "clean" in a long time.  The effect of all of us humans staying inside for a prolonged period has had a great impact on the levels of pollution across the planet.  The Venice canals appear to be clear again.  Cities that are always covered in smog suddenly have blue skies.  Animals have been spotted wandering around deserted city streets.  After the coronavirus crisis is over, we need to find ways to make some of these changes more sustainable for the long haul.

The first Disney movie that Eliot and I ever saw together in the movie theaters was Pixar's WALL-E.  The movie and it's message always stuck with me.  We need to do something to help our planet now.  Otherwise, someday humans and the Earth could end up with the same fate as the movie.  (That would be beyond devastating.)

Both Eliot and I try our best to do our part and one of the biggest things we always do is recycling.  Our town doesn't have a limit on the amount of trash bins you can have, so we have one trash bin that rarely has anything in it, and conversely, we have two large recycling bins that are almost always full.  I've been known to bring small things home from vacations just so I can recycle them.  Eliot and I also use recycled boxes and bubble wrap from his work to package all of our Happily Ever Hatter orders.

We also have reusable straws that Eliot's sister Elissa introduced us to.  (We use Final Straw, but there are many different types available.)  I leave my straw on my keychain so it's easy to bring with me.  When I need it, I take it out of it's container, unfold it and use it.  Then, I can wash it, let it dry and fold it right back up for next time.  To be totally honest, I don't always remember to use it, but I'm really trying to get into the habit.  The more we try to make a difference, the better the environment will be!

Finally, not only is it Earth Day, but today is also the 22nd birthday of Disney's Animal Kingdom.  The park first opened on Earth Day of 1998 and the entire theme park is based off of the natural environment and animal conservation.  I've always loved this about the Animal Kingdom.  I hope it makes more people aware of the effect we have on our environment and on all of the animals in it.  But for now, most of us will have to enjoy the Earth and all of nature's beauty from afar.

I hope someday soon we will be able to go back out into the world and enjoy all of the things Mother Nature has to offer us.  Hopefully, we will never again take any of it for granted.  I also hope it's not too longer before we can be back at Animal Kingdom enjoying all of the animal exhibits and walking around the beautiful park.

Our planet Earth is truly a gift, and one I hope everyone will do their part to preserve and protect it.  Happy Earth Day and Happy Birthday Animal Kingdom!!!  °o°

WDW Honeymoon Recap- 3/27/13

We started Day 5 of our Disneymoon at Animal Kingdom!

We always get a picture with the Tree of Life when we enter the park.  This morning was nice and sunny, but it was still cold for Florida so we wore our "warm" clothes again. Before heading towards Africa, we also took a magic shot with Simba!

On the way to Africa, we stopped to watch the flamingos for a few minutes.  (My best friend Katie loves flamingos and I had to send her a picture of all the "Floyd's"!)

The walkway started to get pretty crowded the closer we got to Africa and the safari ride. While we were slowing down I snapped a quick picture of Everest in the distance and the Harambe sign welcoming us to Africa!

Eliot went up ahead of me to get some Fastpasses and I told him that I'd meet him in the store nearby.  A few minutes later, he showed up with the Fastpasses... quite a few of them actually.  Apparently, the machine was malfunctioning so he had to use a different one.  The original one eventually worked.  Then the second machine printed out two sets of passes!  So we ended up with three sets of Fastpasses for Kilimanjaro Safaris!

I wasn't going to complain since every trip on the safari is a different experience.  I usually got on it twice anyways.  (We're big fans of the "get your Fastpass and stand in the standby line so you can ride it twice" method.)  The animals are always moving and sometimes you see different ones even a few minutes later!

We sat down and had breakfast while waiting for our first Fastpass time.  Then we headed over to the Fastpass line.  I love when you turn onto the safari and can see the animals and the other safari trucks in the distance!

This particular day, the lions were both actually out too!  Since it was so cold, they were out sitting in the sun to stay warm!  I've never had a such a good view of them on Kilimanjaro Safaris before!  Can you spot them?

In between our safari rides, we went over to Camp Minnie-Mickey since Eliot's never been there.  We had heard rumors that it was going to be closing due to the new Avatarland so we wanted to at least go see it.  The area was really crowded and the lines for the characters were really long.  We didn't plan to get photos anyways, so we didn't stay for long.  I did take a few pictures before leaving though.

Then we went back for our other safari rides.  We got a really good view of the elephant family.  One of the elephants was pregnant!

We enjoyed the safari rides a lot.  Even though it was cold for the animals we still ended up seeing hippos, crocodiles, warthogs, monkeys, giraffes, lions, elephants, cheetahs, black rhinos, flamingos, and a white rhino!  I'd call that a safari success!

We didn't want to stick around Animal Kingdom too long after that.  It's not that we don't enjoy the park.  We like Animal Kingdom, but it was cold and we didn't absolutely need to go on any of the other rides.  We quickly swung by Everest but Eliot decided he didn't want to wait that long in the line.  (We've since decided that Florida vacation week is not the week to go to Disney!)  We decided to relax at the hotel for the afternoon and that we'd try Extra Magic Hours at Hollywood Studios later in the evening.  I had plenty of things that I wanted to work on anyways.  And Eliot wanted another nap.

Upon our return, I went to work decorating our window for Easter.  I brought window clings with me and we bought the Mickey and Minnie Easter plush at the Magic Kingdom!

I also prepared our autograph book.  Eliot and I had never done an autograph book together, so we thought that it might be a fun activity and memento from our honeymoon. I used to get the character's autographs when I was little, but that was a long time ago.

Next, I finished my sea shell hair clips.  I had run out of time trying to finish them before our trip so I just brought my supplies with me!  And it's not everyday you use a beaten up Disney park map to protect your workspace!

Finally, I worked on my customized Minnie headband.  I'd bought a headband and planned on wearing it during our wedding week but I never got the chance to finish it.  I decided to customize it in our wedding colors with a pink and lime bow!  I love how it turned out. Pop Century is a good place to work on craft projects if you're wondering. (I'm able to make this declaration confidently between this week and our wedding week...)

Later in the evening, we headed over to Hollywood Studios for extra magic hours.

It was still chilly, so we planned to do indoor activities.  Most guests were waiting to watch Fantasmic over on the other side of the park so we went in the other direction.  We ended up going to watch Muppetvision 3D.

I'd forgotten how cute the show is.  We enjoyed it a lot.  I even found a hidden Mickey while we were waiting for the show!  (I actually found 3 hidden Mickeys on this trip without the help of a guidebook!!!)

Afterwards, we went over to tour the animation building while it was quiet.  I love looking at all of the drawings of the scenery from the movies.  I remember watching the animators when I was a kid and being fascinated by it.  I took a few photos of the castles.  Then Eliot and I headed into the Animation Gallery store.  We admired all of the artwork and sculptures.  I love the little Haunted Mansion one!  

We also spotted the how to draw books.  (Eliot's checking one out in the background.) We almost caved and bought one of the books.  But we decided that we probably wouldn't be drawing on our vacation, so we'd wait until we got home.  (Once we got home, we went to our local craft store and got one of the books with a 50% off coupon!  I haven't mastered any of them yet, but if I do, I'll make sure to share on here.)

And that's the end of Day #5!!!  °o°

Wedding Trip Recap- September 21, 2012

Eliot and I slept in on our first day as Mr. and Mrs.  We were completely exhausted from the last few days.  We told our friends and family that we would meet them at the parks after we got some sleep.  

We knew that we were planning to go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party that night, and we'd already bought the tickets.  Therefore, we all decided that it was a good day to go to Animal Kingdom.  BJ, Katie, Katie and Elissa decided that they'd go over earlier in the day so they could go on a few of the rides before we got there.  Sara had some homework to work on, and Jeremy also decided that he wanted to sleep in.

After we were functioning, I met up with my brother and Sara for a quick lunch at Everything Pop before we decided to head over.  I bought a Bride Ear Hat to match the Groom Ear Hat that the guys had gotten Eliot the night before our wedding.  I also wore my Disney Bride shirt and we grabbed our "Just Married" buttons that I'd gotten off of eBay.

We also met up with some of my family members who were also heading over to Animal Kingdom.  Kaitlin thought that Emery would enjoy looking at all of the animals.  Once we arrived at the park, we took a few group photos before going to join the others.  I sat with Jeremy, my Aunt Sherrie, Uncle Moe and Emery while the others went on Everest.  We got some popsicles and Emery definitely enjoyed his.

Afterwards, BJ and Katie decided to go back to their hotel room to rest.  Kaitlin, her parents and Emery all went to get his photo taken with the Winnie the Pooh characters.  (He's also team Tigger!)  And the rest of us met up with Anthony and Nico.  After we took a few group photos with the Tree of Life, we decided that we'd go on Kilimanjaro Safaris together.

On the way over, we were stopped my Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade.  We ended up watching the whole thing since we were completely blocked from getting off of Discovery Island.  In the meantime, my Aunt Sherrie texted me and they said that they'd meet us at Kilimanjaro Safaris.

We finally met up after the parade and stood in line.  I was glad that it moved pretty quickly. (Eliot and I usually get FastPasses for the safari ride.)  Emery was super excited when he realized that we were going on a ride.  He LOVES rides of any type.

We had a blast on the ride.  Emery was hilarious.  Every time the driver would stop to look at an animal, he'd yell "ride!"  He was more excited about the ride than the animals!  Ha! But he did look at a few of the ones that were close to our truck.

Before we left the park, we also went on the jungle trek to see the tigers.  Sara, Elissa and I all love tigers.  I could stand there and watch them for hours.  But we knew that we had to get back to Pop to get ready for the Halloween party.

After dinner, all of us going to the Halloween Party gathered together to head over to the Magic Kingdom.  Since it required separate admission, only a small part of our group was going.  The weather was looking pretty questionable, but we already bought the tickets and were prepared for rain.  Our final group ended up being my parents, grandparents, Eliot, myself, Jeremy, Katie, BJ, Katie, Sara, Elissa, Nico and Anthony.

No one else in our group had been to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) before so Eliot and I knew that they were in for a treat.  Nana and Papa were in their wheelchairs, so we gathered in the wheelchair only area so they would get a good view of the parade.  We made sure that it was also a good location for the fireworks show.  (Both the parade and fireworks are some of our favorites.)

We watched Mickey's Boo to You Parade that features sections of Pirates, the Haunted Mansion, Frontierland, the Disney Villains, and Goofy's Candy Company.

At the beginning of the parade, some Disney characters like Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Snow White, Alice, and friends from Winnie the Pooh all walk by to the main chorus of the parade.

Next comes the Pirate section that has Captain Hook, Smee and Tick Tock from Peter Pan. After that, there's another float with Jack Sparrow on top of it.

After that is my favorite part of the parade, the Haunted Mansion section.  It starts with the man and his dog that are lost in the graveyard.  Next are the gravediggers and I LOVE them. They dance with their shovels and they make sparks when they drag them on the ground. After them is Madame Leota's tombstone on a float, and then the ghost dancers.  Finally, the hitchhiking ghosts make an appearance.

The Frontierland section is after the Haunted Mansion.  There are dancing cowboy and cowgirls.  This section always makes me want to square dance.  (Not that I have any idea how to even do that!)  Clarabelle follows them on a float.  Then Chip and Dale, some of the Country Bears and Briar Rabbit all follow the float.

The Disney Villains have their own section.  I always end up leaving the parade singing the music from this section.  (It's good to be bad.  It's good to bad... oh great now I'll be singing it all night!)  It starts with a skeleton band.  Cruella DeVil, Jafar and the Queen of Hearts all dance by after that.  Dr. Facilier, Malificent and the Evil Queen all follow on a float.  The hyenas from Lion King are after that.

Finally, Goofy's Candy Company has two floats at the end of the parade and Cast Members walk along the parade route handing out candy.  "Trick or Treat!  Trick or Treat!  Give me something good to eat!  Boo!  Happy Halloween!"

We also watched HalloWishes, which of course is a Halloween themed version of the usual Magic Kingdom fireworks show Wishes.  The entire HalloWishes performance is conducted by the "ghost host" of the Haunted Mansion.  He invites everyone to scream along with their favorite Villain songs.

The fireworks are mostly oranges, purples and greens.  At some points during the show, Jack o'Lanterns, ghosts or spooky eyes are projected onto the walls of Cinderella Castle.

The show is always a big hit with the crowd.  Our group absolutely loved both the fireworks and the parade.  My Papa really gets a kick out of all of the different performances that Disney puts on.  And our Disney fan friends were very happy that they got to see these!

Before we ended the night, we absolutely had to go on the Haunted Mansion.  It's always lit up really fun and with fog machines for MNSSHP, and I wanted everyone to see it.  We made our way on to the ride and then lined up to take our pictures in front of the mansion afterwards.  

Eliot and I had done this before in 2010, so we knew that they added one of the Hitchhiking ghosts to the horseless carriage.  We took our normal photos and then we took ones where we're supposed to look scared.  (Jeremy had left to run around the park to take pictures of the special Halloween costumed characters so he's not in these pictures.)

It was a great first day to be a Mrs.  We had a ton of fun at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.  And we got to spend time with some of our best friends at Disney!  °o°