Disney World 2014 *pic heavy*

Had a great trip to Disney. It was kind of weird going when there weren't any Christmas decorations up, but from what my Dad had heard, they had cut down on them this past year.  It was quite busy in the parks - the marathon had occurred on Sunday (the day we arrived), there were several Brazilian tour groups there, and it was especially crazy on Friday as it was a holiday weekend.

We stayed at concierge level at the Grand Floridian, the Victorian style resort.  We always had a quick bite to eat there in the mornings before heading off to whichever park we were going to that day and usually got back in time for afternoon tea (always had fresh scones during that time and my mom and sisters were very disappointed that trifle wasn't served everyday).

Probably the greatest annoyance of the trip was the new Fastpass+ system they've implemented.  Instead of just getting any number of  FastPasses for the day, you are now only allowed three passes per day and only for one park.  Even after using the passes for that park, you can't go to another and get more passes.  Unless you choose your passes before your trip, it's a great possibility that you won't get them or at least have really awful return times (for example, you might choose your passes at 9 o'clock, but depending on the demand for a ride, you could have a return time of 3 o'clock).  This new system really hinders the park hopper option, almost forcing you to stay in one park if you want to utilize all your passes. I think Disney really needs to work this out or they will get serious backlash for this.

My MagicBand - room key, ticket to the parks, access to FastPass

The castle after the fireworks - had a great view of Wishes at the dessert party

Summer Vacation 2013

After a fantastic week roadtripping with friends, I'm now back home.  Alex is trying to get settled in LA and I'm adjusting back to being home. 

Last week was pretty awesome.  The drive down to LA wasn't that bad besides the typical idiots on the road and having to deal with equally dumb pedestrians, especially in San Francisco. Including the incredibly hot weather, those would be the only negatives of the trip.  Was far too busy talking, laughing, and shopping to focus on the little things.

The first day on the road we stopped in Portland to visit Powell's Bookstore and Voodoo Donuts.  I highly recommend that everyone must try at least one of their donuts (especially their cake donuts).  They have a couple of locations and after driving around in circles, made it to the one outside of downtown which thankfully did not have a line going out the door and we were lucky enough to see a wedding.  We stopped at Ashland for the night and had a quick bite to eat from the diner (service far from great but excellent food) before crashing.

 

 

Paradise Pier and the First Days *pic heavy*

We took our time getting going on Tuesday and before heading over we went to find an In-N-Out, which I was super excited to try. For those who live in Seattle, it might draw some comparison to Dick's Drive-In. I would say In-N-Out has better burgers but I love Dick's fries (In-N-Out has very crisp fries, and I would love to try them light).

Added grilled onions

And then Disney! We stayed at Paradise Pier this time and we were pleasantly surprised by how nice it was (we had heard some reviews that weren't that positive but I'm not sure why).  It's a beach theme which my mom loves.  The only complaint I would have is that at times it is difficult catching elevator as everyone is trying to use it as well (and god forbid some people and be patient).

Inside the elevator

First Day of Vacation

Hey everyone!  It's my last full day here at Disney and spending some time in the hotel room before going to see World of Color.  I thankfully have had Internet the entire trip, but I've been focused on school work (classes started Tuesday).  But I'm taking a break and playing around on the Internet to relax.

We had an extremely early flight Monday and our destination was Laguna Beach.  I prefer really early flights because it's usually easier and faster to get through security and the flight is usually quiet because everyone is sleeping.

The reason we went to Laguna was so that my sister could tour the art school there.  I went on the tour with her and it's small school but it looks like she would get a lot of interaction with the teachers and such.  I enjoyed the animation building as it had a lot of student work (some of it was really cute).  We also spent some time wandering around the downtown section before the tour and after dinner.  We had a direct access to the beach from our hotel, which my sister and mom loved. I'm not a fan of beaches and I do enjoy looking at the ocean view.

My favorite part of the day was dinner.  We went to Asada, a Mexican restaurant.  We were seated near the front, which was a mostly wooded interior, opened up so we had a great breeze and a great view of the ocean.