DVC Villas at the Grand Floridian

On my last trip to Disney in October, I was lucky enough to stay in the newest DVC units at the Grand Floridian (newest until the ones at the Poly opens, anyway!).  These are housed in a separate building from the main Grand building, just a short walk away.

When you enter the building you are greeted with a beautiful fountain, decorated with Mary Poppins penguins.  Everything looks and feels so new.  I know some people aren’t fond of the themeing of the Grand, but I love that Victoria style era, and Mary Poppins fits in perfectly (elements for the movie occur again in the room décor).

We had a 1 bedroom villa, and the first thing that you saw when you walked in was the kitchen.  And it was a beautiful kitchen!  There’s a fridge, oven, cabinets – everything that you could possibly need.  The kitchen has a little nook with a table and chairs for eating as well.  If you go to your right when you come in there is a small hallway that leads to the bathroom, and in that hallway you’ll also find a washer and dryer.

Thoughts on Cinderella

Highlights:  I like this move because it makes me happy.  There is some action and some suspense (will she get locked up in her room after the ball or will the mice be able to free her?).  But ultimately it’s all about the cheesy romance, and good overcoming evil.  People now may complain that Cinderella is a softie, and a bad role model for females because she always does what she is told.  But I’m not sure I completely agree.  I like the fact that kindness and good heartedness is rewarded, rather than rebelliousness (though that has its own place too).

Low points:  My husband really doesn’t like this film.  His argument is that “nothing happens.”  As he says, it’s just a bunch of mice running around for the majority of the movie… which is somewhat true.  The actual events really concerning Cinderella and the ball and all of that take place relatively quickly, and if you cut out all of the fuss with the mice and the cat and the dog and whatnot, the movie would probably only be about half an hour.  But they’re cute little mice!  And they wear clothes!

Wordless Wednesday: Disney in the Details

One of the things that truly makes Disney World so special is their amazing attention to details.  There are so many great things in the parks, but today I’m going to share just a few with you:

Splash Mountain is one of my favorite rides in WDW because there are so many little details on it.  I think I see something new every time I ride!

If you’ve never gotten the chance to go inside Disney’s Wedding Pavilion, you might appreciate this picture.  The stained glass in the windows is just beautiful, and perfect for a fairy tale wedding:

May 2014 monthly round up

April showers bring May flowers, right? I can’t wait for that! May at Disney brings the end of Flower and Garden festival, and introduces Star Wars weekends! We also expect to see the opening of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.  And even if you won’t be in the theme parks, there’s still some Disney to look forward to – Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie, will premiere at the end of this month.

Disney in your Day news

The biggest thing that has been happening here on the blog is our Runner’s Gear Guide and giveaways!  I’ve been able to feature some great Disney running related products, as well as give away a number of them.  Plus, there are many more to come this month as well.  In the next month or two I’m also hoping to bring back the Disney restaurant tournament, with what I feel may be the hardest category yet – Resort Restaurants.  Finally, I got to see Aladdin on Broadway a few weeks ago and I will be sharing my thoughts on that quite soon!

Disney News

• This summer on Saturday evenings Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be hosting “Harambe Nights,” an exciting private event that includes food and entertainment.  It sounds awesome and I wish I could be there!
• The FastPass+ System is changing.  Now, after you use your three fastpasses for the day, you can get more.  Park hopping will also be available.
• Disney Infinity 2.0 will be coming this fall!  And with it, a whole bunch of Marvel figures and levels.
• A new Disney Channel movie called “Descendants,” about the children of Disney villains, will be coming in 2015.  It’s just been announced that Kristin Chenoweth will be playing Maleficent!

Wordless Wednesday: The Letter T

It’s time for the letter T!  And in Disney, T stands for…

Tower of Terror!  I rode this in December for the first time in years!  Conquered my fear and actually had quite a good time 🙂

Bucket List: Attend a Disney Wedding

The Disney wedding community is one that I am particularly close to, even though I didn’t actually have a wedding at Disney.  However, when I was planning my fairy tale themed wedding I stumbled across the DIS boards while searching for inspiration.  There I found an amazing group of women (and a few men!) who were planning incredible weddings and offered a great support system.  Even though my wedding was now two years ago, I stay actively involved in this DisBrides community.  I have made close friends, people that I would now consider to be some of my closest friends, and I was lucky enough to be invited to attend not just one, but two Disney weddings: of my friends Megan and Chris, and Danielle and Bart.

Megan and Chris’s Disney wedding

Danielle and Bart’s Disney Wedding

Recipe: Strawberry Soup from 1900 Park Fare

Thanks to Pinterest, I’ve been able to find a number of Disney recipes that I hope to make at home one day.  I finally got around to trying one of these, and decided to go with the Strawberry Soup from 1900 Park Fare!  The recipe I used was originally found on the DIS Boards, but I’ve adapted it slightly to what I found made the best soup for me.  The major alterations I made were that I used fresh strawberries instead of frozen, and I added a little more sugar than the original recipe called for (it tasted too “yogurt-y” to me at first, plus I like things sweet!)  If you’re interested in making it yourself I’m here to share the recipe with you!

Bucket List – Have Tea at the Grand Floridian

On a trip to Disney that I took with a group of girl friends, one of the events that we planned was to enjoy afternoon tea at the Garden View Tea Room in the Grand Floridian.  This was something I had never done before but being a tea lover, I was really looking forward to it.

Picture courtesy of Regina Hyman photography