Time Passes Quickly

Time passes quickly when you are on a Walt Disney World vacation. For me at the beginning it always seems like there is so much time, especially if we are going to be gone a week. There are things that we want to do, we'll either make a mental list or sometimes even write them down. But then, before we know it, the trip is almost over and many of the things from the list never happened.

Sometimes I even wonder why we take vacations. It's like Thanksgiving dinner in a strange way, there's tons of preparation and excitement but it's all over in the blink of an eye.

If you're going through Disney withdrawal you probably miss the place before you have even left. It was like that with us this past trip. You might also already know the dates of your next trip there. We had picked ours by Tuesday, we weren't returning home until Sunday.

My family and I are lucky. Since I freelance I can work from wherever there's an Internet connection. My husband still has work to do in Florida so we will be returning again soon. It doesn't make it any easier to leave a place that we all love so much.

Home Again

For my family and me, returning to Florida is definitely coming home again. My husband has work to do in the area so he'll drop our daughter and me off at a park when it opens. These full days of fun are tiring! I do wish we had a second car, that would make things much easier. I'm not complaining, though.

We've already started counting down to our next trip. We still have a few days here and we're already going through Disney withdrawal!

Here are a few pictures of the parks' icons. Enjoy!

Getting Ready!

Returning to Disney is a cause for celebration!

We're getting ready for our trip back to Walt Disney World, we're leaving late this evening. My family and I like to drive through the night, we have three drivers and it makes the 12 hours in the car seem more bearable. We're not staying on Disney property because we bring our dog with us. I really wish that they would build a value resort that allows pets! This trip has been a long time coming, the closer we've been getting to it the slower time has been ticking by.

Princess

I'm hoping to do at least one post while we're there, I need to try to figure out how to do it from my phone. We spent so much time at the parks when we lived in the area, I'm wondering what it's going to feel like when we're back. I'm hoping that it will feel like we never left.

I can't wait to be back on Star Tours, my favorite ride

Rainforest Cafe

The sign outside

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary. Did we find a nice, quiet restaurant and enjoy a romantic dinner for two? Of course not! Since we're going through Disney withdrawal we went to the local Rainforest Cafe. We have been to one other restaurant in the chain before. You guessed it, we have eaten at the one at Disney's Animal Kingdom. There are actually two Rainforest Cafe's on Walt Disney World property, the other is located at Downtown Disney. It's on our "someday" list.

Part of the fish tank as you enter

If you have never been to a Rainforest Cafe and there is one near where you live you need to give it a try. The place is more about the atmosphere than the food. The interior is supposed to mimic a rainforest, there are vines, trees and fake animals everywhere. Some of the animals are animatronic, adding to the feel that you are at Disney. We were not seated far from a tiger family and there was also an elephant not too far from us. Every so often there is a "thunderstorm", the lights will flash, there's the sound of thunder and the animals all go nuts. It adds to the ambiance.

Two of the animatronic tigers

When we arrived we found out that there was an hour and a half wait. Being our anniversary and since we had said for weeks that we would eat there on our special day we decided to put our name on the list. The restaurant is located in a mall here so we walked around while waiting for them to text us.

Some things are larger than life. I hope.

It was worth the wait. Once we stepped inside the restaurant, past the giant fish tank, we really felt like we were back on Disney property. The food is good but not exceptional, the staff is friendly and it is a great place to step outside of the normal routine. The only misstep of the meal was that they got my order slightly wrong but it wasn't that big of a deal so I didn't even mention it.

There's a "Tracy the Talking Tree" at every restaurant in the chain

Once you leave the restaurant you will walk into a themed gift shop. That made it feel even more like we were back at Disney, since you have to exit through a gift shop for many rides. They had the same basic items as the one that we had been in at Animal Kingdom, only they obviously didn't all say Disney on them. It was a strange feeling because we've seen the Orlando counterparts so many times.

The sign outside of the restaurant but inside the mall

All in all I would recommend a trip to a Rainforest Cafe to anyone going through Disney withdrawal. It is a fun restaurant that offers you a chance to leave everyday life behind and transport yourself to a fun, worry free place. Isn't that also what Disney is all about? 

Outside of the Animal Kingdom version

Five Signs of a Disney Addiction

There are fans of Walt Disney World and then there are Disney addicts. These are people who spend way too much time dreaming about their next trip to the parks. An addict is not someone who hums "It's a Small World" from time to time, instead he or she will have it as a ring tone. Here are five common signs that you might be a Disney addict.

You Constantly Look at Your Disney Pictures

Of course you are going to look at your pictures from time to time. When you go through them slowly several times a week and admire the blurry pictures as if they are perfect, it's a little much.

It's a bad picture and I LOVE it!

You Expect to See Large Displays of Disney Merchandise in Every Store That You Enter

Most stores in Orlando and the surrounding area want to take advantage of the fact that tourist will want to buy souvenirs.  It doesn't matter if you are entering a grocery store, a pharmacy or even a clothing store most likely you will see a Disney display. There will be stuffed Mickeys and his friends of various sizes, t-shirts, coffee mugs, towels, key rings, photo albums and other items. After a couple of days in the area you get used to seeing them. If you still expect to see the displays weeks after you return home you might be a Disney addict. 

You Find Yourself Watching Other People's Vacation Videos on YouTube

There is nothing wrong with watching Disney vacation videos, that is why people add them. When you find yourself watching long parking lot videos from people that you do not know, you might have a problem.

You See Hidden Mickeys Everywhere

Hidden Mickeys are all over the place at Walt Disney World and it is a lot of fun to look for them. There are not any Hidden Mickeys in the rug at church or in the sign at the mall. Those are just circles.

You Check Wait Times on Your Favorite Rides Often

A Wait Time app on your phone can help you to save a lot of time while you are in the parks. You will be able to better plan your day if you know how long a line is. Checking the wait times on your favorite rides when you are several hundred miles away is a different story. It is even worse if you have more than one app and you complair the times on them.

Is it 20 or 35 minutes for Star Tours? I need to check another app...

One Month From Today

For as long as I can remember I wanted to visit Walt Disney World in Florida. In 2006 we finally made it happen. We were only there for two days but I was hooked! All that I wanted to do was to go back.

At the end of 2009 some things started falling into place and all of a sudden my family and I started to seriously talk about moving to Florida. There was a lot to do, we had lived in our house for 20 years, but somehow we managed to get it done. We found a great new house to rent only four miles from the Main Gate. I soon understood why it's called paradise. Since I'm a self-employed writer we could go to the parks anytime that we wanted to. My daughter and I would often go for only an hour or so, just because we could. Our favorite park is Disney's Hollywood Studios and our favorite ride Star Tours, which we've ridden well over 100 times.

After two wonderful years things changed and we found ourselves living outside of Nashville, Tennessee. Don't get me wrong, this is a great place to live, but I soon discovered that Disney withdrawal is real. I don't know how many times since we moved here I've awakened and my first thought was "We should go to Epcot today". Fortunately we will be returning quite often, my husband is working primarily here but does still have plenty to do in Florida as well.

One month from today is our first trip back. I've been counting down the days since before we moved and they have gone fairly quickly. I can't wait until we're on the property again. It's not even the rides that I'm excited about, it's the magic. In 31 days we'll be able to experience it all over again.