Favorite EPCOT Ride

Today's Disney Park Challenge topic is favorite EPCOT Ride. I'm going to have to pick two rides, though.

Normally, I'd say Test Track is my favorite ride at EPCOT. However, it's been totally refurbished since my last trip to the World and it's pretty much a different ride now. So, I'm not sure if I really do like it that much anymore.

I loved original Test Track, though. Yes, it was cheesy but so fun! My favorite bit was at the end when you do 60 mph on the track outside the building.  I'm pretty sure that part hasn't changed, so I'll probably still like that part of Test Track.

My other favorite EPCOT ride is Living with the Land. I just love that it's old school and classic EPCOT. I like floating through the greenhouse and seeing all the experimental ways to grow things.

 What is your favorite EPCOT ride?

Week in Review

This year is absolutely flying by! I can't believe it's going to be November already this week.

Last week was time for our much anticipated trip to Minnesota. School was still in session for Monday and Tuesday, but since those were also parent teacher conferences those days, I didn't get called to work.

Instead, I stressed out about packing and getting things done before we left. Why is getting ready for a vacation always stressful? Added to the fun was a cold I've been fighting all week.

We spent Wednesday through Sunday out of town and had a good time with friends. I'll post more details about our trip later this week.

How was your week?

 

Sunday Social - Halloween

What was your favorite Halloween costume as a kid?

I don't have any pictures because they are all at my mom's house, but I had a lot of great costumes growing up. I never had a store bought costume, so the idea that people just buy a costume is weird to me.

I think my favorite costume what when I was a princess. My mom made me a pink dress and I got to wear a sparkly tiara.

If you could go back and dress up as something what would it be?

I think I always had the costume I wanted, so I can't think of anything I wanted to be, but didn't get to do.

Favorite costume as an adult?(pictures)

I've really only done 2 costumes as an adult...

Whenever I dressed up for Halloween at work, I did the poodle skirt, so it's my favorite. It's fun to twirl in and everybody always thinks it's great. Can you believe I've had that skirt since the 6th grade? Thank God for elastic waists because I did not have these hips back then!

My other adult costume was to dress in all black with some fancy dark eye makeup and be a glamorous cat burglar. (I think I was channeling Lady Christina de Souza from the Doctor Who special, Planet of the Dead.)

Favorite Halloween Candy?

I've been eating a lot of Carmel Apple Pops since they put the candy out in stores. But, my favorite chocolate candy to get is Kit Kats.

Favorite Halloween Memory?

Probably the first time I was allowed to go Trick or Treating with my friends and not have an adult with us. Independence!

What's your favorite scary movie?

 I don't do scary movies. My favorite Halloween movie is Hocus Pocus.

 

Favorite Disney's Hollywood Studios Ride

Confession: I don't really like Hollywood Studios.

I know.

I've actually only been there twice. Once, back when it was still MGM and brand new and the second time was on our honeymoon. I wanted to give it another try and see if it was worth it, but we pretty much did a few things we wanted to do and then left to hang out at the resort pool.

However, I do still have a favorite ride at DHS. In fact, I like it so much, it's pretty much the only reason I would go back to DHS on another trip.

Midway Mania! We got to the park just after opening, stood in line to get Fastpasses and then basically wasted time until our Fastpass time by riding some other rides.

When we finally rode it, I had so much fun that I wished we had stood in line even if it was ridiculously long. Hopefully next time we're at Disney World, we can ride it more than once.

What's your favorite Hollywood Studio's ride?
 

Friday Randoms

1. I am so happy that next week is Fall Break! I'm glad I've been busy working, but my body is ready for some time off. I've had a sore throat this week and it's finally going away.

2. Speaking of Fall Break, I can't wait to get up to Minnesota! I've got lots of ideas of things to do and places to eat in the Twin Cities, but I'd welcome more suggestions if anybody has some. I also just remembered that they have Trader Joe's up there. I might get a chance to check one out. Any suggestions for things to buy there?

3. This video is hilarious:

 

Favorite Magic Kingdom Ride

First of all, picking a favorite ride at the Magic Kingdom is torture. Since it is my favorite park, I love most of the rides there. It's also the one park where I can actually ride all of the rides.

It happens to be home to some awesome classics. For example...

The Haunted Mansion

Mad Tea Party

It's a Small World

The Jungle Cruise

And while it's hard for me to say which is my favorite, if I only had time to ride one ride at the Magic Kingdom, I'd probably run for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

It is one of the few roller coasters in the world that I actually enjoy and it's the first roller coaster I remember riding. I don't remember much from my first trip to Disney World, but I do remember loving this ride. And now I have to ride it multiple times every time I get to the Magic Kingdom.

What's your favorite ride at the Magic Kingdom?

Week in Review

Last week was less busy than the previous two weeks, but that was a good thing.

After working every day for two weeks, but last week I got a couple days off. I taught kindergarten on Monday which is always an adventure. I really like teaching kindergarten, but unfortunately, I'm not licensed to teach it in Indiana, so subbing is the only time I get to do it.

All day Monday, my jaw muscles were super tight and I knew my TMJ was flaring up. I ended up taking a muscle relaxer before bed Monday night and sleeping very well. Thank goodness I didn't have to work on Tuesday because I had a hard time staying awake once I did get out of bed.

On Thursday and Friday, I subbed for a 4th grade class. I really enjoyed subbing for this class. This year I'm actually liking 4th grade which is a nice change. I could even see myself teaching 4th grade, something I never thought I'd like to do.

M ended up getting a sinus infection, so we spent a lazy day at home on Saturday. He felt better on Sunday thanks to some antibiotics, so we ran some errands on Sunday.

This week promises to be a busy one, but I'm counting down the days until we leave for Minnesota!

How was your week?
 

Sunday Social - Blogs

What is the first blog you ever followed? 

 I have no idea. I've been following blogs for a long time now.

What was your first blog post about? 
 Well, you could read it here. I basically just introduced myself.

Who left you your first blog comment?
 Sadly, I rarely get comments, but I don't blog for the comments. (Or at least I pretend I don't.) My first comments came from a post about Pinterest back when it was becoming big. Back then, you needed an invitation to get in and offered to send invites, so several people actually left comments.

Who was the first blogger you ever met in person? 

The only blogger I've ever "met" in person, is somebody I already knew. My friend Trish has her own blog, which you should check out.

What was your first "blogging milestone"?

 The above post about Pinterest was my first post to receive comments and my first post to receive 10 comments and my first post to receive more than 500 views.



 

Disney Parks Challenge: Favorite Disney Hotel or Resort

My favorite Disney Resort is Animal Kingdom Lodge.

We were lucky enough to stay here on our honeymoon and I absolutely loved it. We splurged for a savanna view room and it was worth every penny.



This was our view. We had giraffes every day.

Whenever we were in the room, I loved to sit on our balcony and watch animals. I'd go out here in the morning to put on my sunscreen and in the afternoons to read a book and enjoy the view.

The entire resort is expertly themed and I enjoyed exploring it.



They even had flamingos by the pool. The pool isn't as fancy as some of the other resort pools, but it was a good size and I enjoyed relaxing on a lounge chair near the flamingos.

Our room was comfortable and spacious. The breakfast we had at Boma was delicious and the cast members were always friendly.  In fact, one of my favorite things was when was came back to the resort and the security guards said "Welcome home!" whenever they let us into the resort.

Would we stay there again? Absolutely! In fact, I'm pretty sure the Animal Kingdom Lodge has spoiled me for all other resorts. I never want to stay anywhere else. I highly recommend the Animal Kingdom Lodge!

 

Sunday Social - Teens

1. What were you like in Middle School/HS?
 Oh my, my pictures from high school are pretty bad. I've always been pretty terrible at taking school pictures and then add in teenage awkwardness and the braces. I'm only brave enough to share a couple of the better pictures.

8th Grade

That was the shortest my hair had been since second grade. I had actually just cut off about 8 inches. In junior high, I was involved in the Speech Club and was a Game Worker. I sold tickets to sports events after school and worked the concession stand. During track meets, I held up the finish line and ran results up to the announcer in the booth at the top of the bleachers. It was nerdy fun.

Senior Picture

In high school I was involved in the Musical Pit Orchestras, National Honor Society, Prom Committee, and French Club.

2. What were your favorite past times?
In high school, I liked to hang out with my friends. We often got together on Friday nights once Marching Band season was over. I didn't have a license, so I had to rely on them or my mom for rides. I spent a lot of my summer reading especially when the bookmobile used to stop right outside my house once a week. 

3. What songs were you obsessed with?
 I was very much into boy bands as a teenager. I started out a Backstreet Boys fan and then moved onto NSYNC. I blame my childhood obsession with New Kids on the Block.

One of my favorite memories was on our last night in France, the French Club was sitting under the Eiffel Tower, waiting for our turn to go up and we all starting singing the Backstreet Boys' song I Want it That Way. We hadn't really heard American music in two weeks, so we were desperate to hear something familiar and that song was a big hit in the US at the time.

4. What fashion statement do you look back on and cringe?
 I was a big fan of plaid flannel in junior high. (See 8th grade picture above. That was a dressy plaid shirt with a denim collar.)  It was my town's version of the "grunge" fad. I also enjoyed overalls, especially short overalls, but I always wore both straps. The one strap thing never made sense to me.

5. What was your favorite movie?
I loved Romeo & Juliet and Titanic, of course.
6. Who was your celeb crush?
It started with Jonathan Taylor Thomas, then Leonardo DiCaprio, then Josh Hartnett. My mom worked in a bookstore and always brought home the old teen magazines, so my closet doors were always covered with posters.

My Favorite Walt Disney World Park

Regular readers of my blog know that I love a good 30-Day* challenge. I've previous ones on my favorite TV shows, Doctor Who and Sherlock. So, it should be no surprise that my new challenge is about another one of my favorite things, Walt Disney World.

 *I use 30-Day loosely here as I only do one prompt a week and often skip ones I don't like or don't have an answer for.

The first topic is favorite park. Even with 4 parks to choose from, my choice was easy. My favorite Walt Disney World park is the Magic Kingdom.

 I enjoy all the parks at Disney World, but if I could only go to one of them, it would definitely be the Magic Kingdom. It's home to a lot of great rides and good food. I will get more into those details over the next few weeks so I won't go into them now.

To me, the Magic Kingdom is classic Disney. It is what people think of when they think Disney World.

Which Disney park is your favorite?