Disneystore.com Black Friday deals!

I don’t know about you, but I definitely prefer to spend Black Friday in the comfort of my own home, away from all of those crowds of people out at the shops.  But with the internet, I still get to shop – I just enjoy the wonders of online shopping!  Disneystore.com has some good deals this year that you can order right from your own computer, and I wanted to share them with you.  Here are some of my favorite items that are available for purchase.  Not only are they already discounted, but you can save an extra 20% with the code “THANKS”.

Disney Animator Dolls

These are great for all ages – kids will enjoy them as a toy, and adults like them as collectibles.  I have the first edition Belle in her blue dress, but they are just so adorable I would love more!

Holiday Plush

Almost all of the plushes are on sale, starting at $5 – but in particular these holiday plushes are really cute and perfect for the season.  They make great Christmas decorations!

Tower of Terror 10 miler after party: Villains Bash!

 

Before I ran the Tower of Terror 10 miler, I was really curious what the after party, the Villains Bash, would be like.  What rides would be open?  What character would be out?  Was there anything else to do?  I had a lot of trouble finding any information on it at all!  Disney didn’t officially give much, and I only found a handful of blogs with recaps.  So I knew after I attended I would have to write my own blog post to get a little more information out there!

After I finished the race I got my medal and my food packet and started the long walk to actually get into the park.  We came in right around where the Theater of the Stars is, and I immediately found a bench near the food area to sit down, rest a bit, eat my food, and call my husband to tell him I was done!  He wasn’t on this trip with me or else he would’ve been cheering me on, but we still celebrated over the phone.

The food inside our boxes they gave us after the race.

My friends were still going to be awhile til they finished, so I kind of went to explore the Bash on my own.  If you weren’t running the race you could buy a ticket to get into the party, and apparently they had maps for the event around but I didn’t see any – I wish they had been giving them out to the runners!  I didn’t know where anything would be happening, but I wandered toward the hat and saw a line for Cruella de Vil, so I decided to meet her.  She was hilarious!

 

Signature Resorts Restaurant Tournament – Round 2

The votes from the first week are in – did your favorites make the cut to the next round?  There were some pretty close match ups, especially between Narcoossee’s and Yachtsman!  But here we have our top 8.

This week we have some even more difficult match ups, so make sure you vote for your favorites to stay in the running!  We’ve got 4 match ups to vote on, so comment here or on our facebook page with your favorites in each match-up!

Thoughts on Saludos Amigos

If you’re not familiar with it, Saludos Amigos features four shorts, as well as some live action shots of cities in South America.  It was created and filmed in a number of Latin American cities. It was created in the early 1940’s when the government commissioned Disney to work on the project as part of the Good Neighbor Policy.

Highlights:  I hate to say it, but there’s not a lot that I loved about this movie.  It’s nice to see a glimpse into other cultures (at the time contemporary cultures, but now it’s like a historic look at Latin America in the 1940’s).  If I had to pick a favorite segment, it would be the one about Pedro, a plane who tries to deliver the mail but is caught up in a number of problems on the way.  It was cute, though I didn’t feel like it had a ton to do with South America.

Low points:  This is the sixth animated feature in the “Walt Disney animated classics series,” but I have a bit of a hard time calling it a “feature.”  It’s short – only 42 minutes long.  None of the 4 segments really stood out to me as being anything special.  I watched this movie a week ago and have a hard time really remembering any of it.  It’s just not very memorable for me.

 

Music:  There are a couple of nice Latin American style songs in the film that add to the feel and culture of it all, plus a background track.

Glass Slipper Challenge Training – 13 weeks to go

Running just seems to get harder and harder these days, with the cold weather for me.  I was in on the treadmill two days but today it was 55 degrees so I was actually able to get outside!  It felt good to be out but it’s definitely harder than being on the treadmill, and can be an adjustment for me.

On Tuesday I did a shorter run on the treadmill, and was pretty happy with the pace I kept.

Thursday it was another treadmill run, which I did for the same amount of time but I got a little further than I had on Tuesday with a faster pace, so I’m definitely happy to see improvement!

The schedule had a 6.5 mile for the weekend, and I was very fortunate that it was warm on Sunday so I could actually do my long run outside.  It actually started out really hard, but got easier after about two and a half miles.  Maybe I just had to get back into the feel of running outside!  But ultimately a pace I’m very happy with for the distance!

Stitch Fix Review – November 2014

I can’t even tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to getting my second Stitch Fix.  It really is addicting!  I have been shamelessly reading blogs, reviews, and pinning lots of clothing all over Pinterest.  When it finally arrived I was for the most part happy with what I got!  Here’s a look:

Yara Longsleeve Paisley Tie Waist Dress — $58.00

I saw pictures of this online and I wasn’t sure what I thought about it.  When I saw it in person it was absolutely huge.  I had changed my shirt size from medium to small after last time, but left my dress size a medium because the medium dress they sent fit.  Well, this one was too big!  And it’s a shame, because once I put it on I actually really liked it.  I had been hoping for a long sleeve dress for the winter, and it would be super cute with a jacket and boots.  But even tied back there was just way too much fabric.  It was really loose around the neck area too and was slipping a lot.  I’m sad to have to send this one back.

 

Tower of Terror 10 miler expo

 

The expo for the Tower of Terror 10 miler took place this year on Friday, October 3rd from 10:00am-7:00pm, and Saturday, October 4th from 8:30am-3:00 pm.  My friend and I headed there first thing on Friday morning, and we arrived at the ESPN Wide World of Sports around 9:40 or so.  They were already letting people in and it wasn’t too crowded yet, so that was an awesome bonus!

The first thing we did was go to pick up our race bib packets at the HP Field House.  We handed in our waivers and showed our id’s.  When I got my bib I had an awesome surprise!  According to my waiver I was supposed to be in corral H, the second to last one, which did not match with my expected finish time.  I had emailed them but they told me there was nothing they could do to change it.  However, when I picked up my bib there was an “E” sticker put on top of my corral!  I was so excited to see that.  On the downside, I had pre-ordered a pin that they didn’t have a record of, but we tracked it down eventually.

Thoughts on Bambi

Highlights:  I really do think that Bambi is a work of art.  The animation is beautiful, and I think extremely good for its time.  Nature and the changing seasons come off really nicely.  And it’s cute – little Thumper and Flower just make you say “awww!”  And when they grow up and start to fall in love, that’s a great scene too.  It’s also emotionally moving when the whole forest is on fire and you realize the impact that humans are having on nature.