Day 1474: Festival of the Arts

Having attended both the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival and the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival in the last year, it can almost go without saying that I was intrigued when the Epcot International Festival of the Arts was first announced. At a time where funding and support for the disciplines highlighted by the festival are severely lacking, it's exciting to see Disney putting the spotlight on something so close to the heart of the company. 

After exploring everything the festival had to offer during the inaugural weekend of the festival, it's easy to see how the Epcot International Festival of the Arts fits right in with its counterparts. By utilizing many of the stalls created for Food & Wine and Flower & Garden, Disney is obviously getting the maximum use out of the currently temporary buildings (although something tells me that if things continue as they have been, some may become permanent in the coming years). Of course, each of the stalls was given a makeover to reflect the theme of the festival, differing it from the other events as well. 

To give you a basic rundown of what the festival offers, the Festival of the Arts includes workshops and seminars similar to those you find at the other festivals, as well as food kiosks throughout [mainly] World Showcase. Additionally, there are festival-specific activities and experiences such as Broadway performances by Disney on Broadway performers (I was lucky enough to see Ashley Brown and Josh Strickland!), living statues, live music performances, a giant paint-by-number experience, art displays, and photo ops. I'll go into the specifics of these opportunities in later posts. 

At first I felt as though things were off to a slow start, likely due to the fact that I was there on the first day when things were still getting settled and January is a slow season to begin with, although this is obviously part of Disney's plan to even out attendance throughout the year, encouraging visitors to come during the non-peak season. Of course, because it's the inaugural year as well, visitors didn't seem to know the festival was even happening until the end of the weekend, which meant shorter lines for me (and also more than a few confused guests). It did get better though, and by the end of the weekend, the festival was humming with life, a good sign that this event will continue for years to come. 

I will also say, however, that like the Food and Wine and Flower and Garden festivals, it's nearly impossible to see everything the Festival of the Arts has to offer. I picked up a guide book on my first day and highlighted some of the foods I definitely wanted to try, and between my mom and I, pre-registered for all four of the workshops and the Broadway performance that weekend, but I still missed out on all of the seminars, most of the photo-ops, only saw a glimpse of the living statues, and barely looked at the art exhibits at all. That being said, there's just as much going on at this festival as there are at the others, and if that doesn't say something about the versatility of the arts and the creativity put into this festival, I don't know what does. 

Keep an eye out for in-depth posts on the Workshops, Food, Broadway Performance, and Art and Other Opportunities at the Epcot International Festival of the Arts, because there's a lot to cover! 

Have a magical day!

Day 1251: Flowers at Home

This year, the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival really inspired me. Despite the fact that the last plant I had was about two years ago (and I killed it...), I wanted to try some gardening again. I mean, how can you not want to be good at gardening after looking at all of those amazing topiaries? To inspire the urge to garden further, our new apartment has an expansive balcony perfect for housing some plants over the summer.

So when my parents told me they were going to a local flower and gardening festival at the nearby Green Bay Botanical Garden I pretty quickly decided that I wanted to go too, and I knew that I would be coming home with some plants of my own. However, at the festival I saw plenty of things that reminded me of the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival, including these Cinnamon Roasted Almonds (which is literally one of my favorite Disney World snacks).

I didn't just walk around eating almonds the whole time though, because I definitely saw a lot of plants! 

My dad and I had multiple conversations about how much we liked the ones on the left, but the one of the right just had to be shared. It's actually an umbrella topiary, and I can only imagine that it's formed and created similar to the ones we see around World Showcase and Future World! Oh, and I couldn't pass up a picture of the little Kermit the Frog below.

As for the plants I brought home for our apartment, we have a whole bunch of them, and of course we named them all too. The three below sit inside our apartment and will stay with us throughout the winter as well. We decided to go with a musical theme to name all of our plants, so here we have (from the left): Eponine (Les Mis), Liesl (The Sound of Music), and Elphaba (Wicked). 

To add some color to our balcony, we had to find plants that were good in shade, since we get very little direct sunlight due to the fact that our apartment faces the North. Still, these begonias brighten things up the same way Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy do in Hamilton. And that's what we named them. Angelica (the red/orange), Eliza (white), and Peggy (yellow). 

And finally we have these two, also out on the balcony. The mint plant on the right is named Crutchie (Newsies) and the hosta on the right was the first one we named: King George (Hamilton). We named him King George partly because, well, we love Jonathan Groff's character in Hamilton, and partly because we bought him on the King's birthday.  

Whether or not I'll be able to keep these plants alive I have no idea, but I'm certainly going to try (and I'm really going to miss King George when he has to leave for the winter). For now, I'm excited to try out some of the basic techniques that I learned at the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival! 

Have a magical day! 

Day 1235: Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Flowers

I've only been to the Epcot International Flower and Garden festival twice. Once a couple of years ago during my freshman year of college, and then again this year, but I loved it both times. While Food and Wine is more my flavor (see what I did there?) the horticulture department does a beautiful job, and the various food kiosks around World Showcase add in something for us Food and Wine fans too. So let's take a look at some of the highlights of this year's festival! 

As I just mentioned, one of the best parts is definitely the food, available at special kiosks throughout World Showcase. I made an attempt to try a bunch of them, and honestly it's hard to pick an individual favorite. It's also great to know that a lot of the food you're eating is grown at Epcot, such as in one of the special gardens set up for the festival: the Edible Flower Garden in The Land!

And then, of course, you've got plenty of beautiful flowers outside too! Just take a look at some of these! 

Plus, what great luck that my mom happened to stop by the Cinderella topiary right at noon, right? 

Have a magical day! 

Day 1157: Spring to Life

Here in Wisconsin, spring may take a while to start. Snow tends to cover pretty much everything in sight through mid-April it seems, and that gives the green stuff very little chance to actually do anything other than shiver like the rest of us. But in Florida, and especially thanks to the Disney Horticulture Department, spring lasts all year long! So to take our minds off the cold and the snow for a while, let's look at some beautiful spring sights instead:

I don't know about you, but I'd take all these flowers over snow any day. 

Have a magical day! 

Day 826: A Pop Of Color

I asked my roommates what I should blog about today, mostly due to the fact that my waking hours have been spent either doing laundry, cleaning, heading back to school, in rehearsals for one of two performances this week or doing homework. Suggestions this time included: Lord of the Rings, strawberry jam, Walt Disney's Mother, and, yes, a pop of color.

The saxophone quartet on campus that I'm a part of has our concert of the semester tomorrow night, which is our only regular performance in addition to recitals throughout the year. Regardless of whether we're playing on a chamber concert or on someone's recital, our general dress code is black with "a pop of color." The last performance, I wore my Bert Disneybound, which was all black with a red scarf, perfect for the recital and for the March Disneybound Challenge, but tomorrow I'm just going with all black and a bright coral blouse underneath my black blazer.

Regardless, this led to the suggestion of making the idea of "a pop of color" into an entire blog post. Generally, when I ask them to suggest something, they rattle off various ideas until one sticks, and this one just happened to work. In fact, as I've been writing this post, I've come up with various ways this all relates to Disney, and apparently "a pop of color" was the perfect suggestion for today!

First off, you may or may not have noticed the new social media icons in the side bar, depending on how you look at the blog and how long you've been reading. I know they don't show on mobile, so you'll have to put it in desktop mode to see them. I'm pretty proud of these new icons, partly because of the effort it took to create them and partly because they do add, you guessed it, a pop of color to the page...as if Everyday Disney needed more of that. When I think back to designing Everyday Disney, I knew I wanted it to be something that is easy to work with, and the blank white certainly makes my life easier. As long as any graphic for a sidebar or header has a white background, I'm good to go. But having an all white blog also means you need to bring in color somehow, and elements like the social media icons are the perfect solution.

In case you were wondering, the above is what the social media icons looked like before they made their way onto my computer. Since I don't have a scanner at home, I had to take a picture of them and then transfer that into my computer, remove the background so it was in PNG format, brighten them up at bit to make up for the low lighting I had and then add a white background and text so it would appear correctly online, all before setting them in HTML format. That sounds a lot harder than it actually was. It just took time, and I'm extremely proud of the outcome, especially since all the social media options are listed now, including both my personal social media and the official media for Everyday Disney.

But that's not the only way "a pop of color" fought its way into my mind today when forming this post. As you all know very well, the Flower and Garden Festival of Epcot continues, and I'm definitely still jealous I'm not there. I follow several people on Instagram who work down at Disney World and the flowers this year just look brilliant. It makes me wish I had taken more photos when I was at the festival last year, and it also enhances my want to go back in, hopefully, the near future. If you haven't already, check out some of the tags for the Festival on Instagram. It'll definitely be worth your while and brighten your day!

Other than that, I'd better hurry up and finish this post so I can get to bed. Those Fastpasses won't schedule themselves in the morning!

Have a magical day!

Day 782: Thank the Maker

The very first thing I did when I found out about our trip in June was check the dates for the Flower and Garden Festival. I really did enjoy it last year when we went in March and while I was 99.9% sure that it would end before we got there, I tried to hold onto the hope anyway. Of course, the Flower and Garden Festival will conclude before our arrival, but then I thought about something else.

STAR WARS WEEKENDS!

Now, there isn't a ton of information out about this year's weekends celebration, but just the plain fact that I could be meeting Chewbacca come June is pretty darn great. And don't even get me started about the whole "celebrities might be there" thing. You have no idea how excited I am.

It's funny, because most of my college friends don't even know how much I love Star Wars. That phase, in it's full force, was very much at the end of High School, and while there are several reasons as to why I'm probably not quite so outwardly excited about Star Wars these days, it doesn't mean I love it any less.

Which leads me to the following list. Originally I was going to do a list of 5 reasons I'm sad I won't be at the Flower and Garden Festival this year, but why can't we do that AND 5 reasons I'm excited about Star Wars Weekends? We'll alternate between the two and eventually I'll convince myself that this new adventure will be well worth the wait!

I Won't Get to See These Frozen Topiaries: 

Let's be honest, these are just a little creepy, but you have to appreciate the pure art that goes into these things. I know a few years back I had the chance to visit the horticulture department on Disney property and it was absolutely amazing learning how these are grown and to see several in progress, giving you only a small idea of the detail that goes into making them. Plus, they're Frozen, so that obviously counts for something! Thanks to the Disney Parks Blog for the inside image! 

I'LL MEET CHEWBACCA: 

One of the first things I realized when I found out about Star Wars Weekends and my ability to attend one this year was the fact that I'll meet Chewbacca, and yes, I'm pretty sure I'll stand in line to do so. You underestimate how much I want to meet him. I mean, I can't really do Han Solo, so I'd better settle for the next best thing, right? (Don't tell Chewie I said he's second best though...) 

No Maple Bacon Cupcakes for Me: 

One of my favorite parts about the Flower and Garden Festival last year was the food, most of which I just didn't have time to try. But my mom and I had one thing on our list that we wanted to have for sure: the Maple Bacon Pretzel cupcake. It was DELICIOUS, and since having one, I've convinced several people back here in Wisconsin that yes, the words Bacon and Cupcake do indeed go together. 

Darth Vader Cupcakes:

At least, I hope the Darth Vader cupcake will make a return this year. Regardless, I'm sure there will be some special food, and I'm pretty pumped about the fact that I will get to EAT Star Wars themed stuff while I look at all the other Star Wars themed stuff and while it might not be a Maple Bacon cupcake, it IS a cupcake, and if there's two things I love, it's cupcakes and Star Wars...so putting them together seems natural.

The Wonders of Life Pavilion: 

As a lover of Epcot, there wasn't much I could love more than going into an old, closed pavilion. I do have some faint memories of the things that used to make their home in the Wonders of Life Pavilion, but now I, like many others, wish that it would be open year round, and that instead of letting it just sit there, they would do something productive with the space and create a new attraction. 

Jedi Mickey & Princess Leia Minnie: 

I have the feeling that these Star Wars versions of the characters will give me life. I mean, I don't think I'll HAVE to meet them (not like Chewbacca at least), but it brings me great joy that they're all dressed up for the occasion. Does this mean I'll have to plan in a Star Wars themed outfit for my trip? YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT DOES! 

No Special Jamitors Performance: 

If you know me, you know I LOVE the Jamitors. In fact, I'm pretty sure they're my favorite music group at Walt Disney World. I'm always in complete awe of what they do, and I plan on seeking them out come June (I haven't seen them since March of last year...and I've been on two trips since then). However, during Flower and Garden, they have a special show as Gardeners and literally I loved it more than the usual show. So I'm pretty sad I won't get to see the whole special this year, but I will get to see...

Symphony in the Stars: 

I remember when they started the special fireworks and all kinds of people I knew through Instagram were watching the show, and I was just stuck at home wishing I could see the special Hollywood Studios fireworks too. Well I don't have to wish anymore because I'm going to see them this year and I couldn't be more excited about that! 

This Captain Hook: 

We all know I love Captain Hook...like a lot. Seeing him in flower form was pretty much the highlight of the festival for me, aside from that cupcake. So along with the rest of the regular displays, I'm pretty bummed that I won't get to see this scoundrel again this year. Even more so, I'm sad that I went a year after they did the special one that was alive. Gosh I would have loved to see that. 

Star Wars Weekends Merch: 

Two years ago I remember writing an entire post on the merch they had at the Star Wars weekends that year. You can read that post HERE. It's funny because, in the end, I did get some of the merch from that Star Wars Weekend: the Speeder Bike Mickey and the Ewok Chip and Dale, as by the time my July trip rolled around, they had some merch left over. What will be available this year? Who knows! 

Now, there are tons of other reasons I'm excited for Star Wars Weekends, but since we don't know everything that will be going on yet, it's more of a "We'll talk about it when we know about it" kind of thing. What does that mean? MORE STAR WARS! Gosh, I've missed the series. There's another reason the series will make more regular appearances on Everyday Disney again though too, but that's a blog post for another time.

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on February 25).

Day 447: Back to the Cold

You know Elsa, maybe you should just stop with this eternal winter.

Seriously though, coming back from Florida to the awful cold of Wisconsin was not a fun transition. I literally walked out of the airport, wearing my Epcot Sweatshirt, a leather jacket and the rest of my clothes from Florida (I was smart and changed into full length Jeans back in Orlando) and all I could say was "Bloody Hell."

Yeah, it's cold up here, which can only mean one thing. I want to go back to Disney. But let's take a few moments to reflect on my trip as a whole, since there's plenty I could talk about that I haven't...or ever will I suppose.

I did enjoy my five days home. I really did. It was sometimes hard to distract myself from the fact that the next time I'm there I'll be there with my high school band, and that trip is causing me more problems than it is solutions and happiness. But I was able to find a silver lining: The next time I ride Spaceship Earth it will be with my best friend sitting next to me, and that's kind of weird to think about considering I've wanted her to come with me for years and it just hasn't happened, and we were starting to think it never would. So it just makes for a really awesome thought. That I finally get to bring my friends along to experience even just a little bit of my home with me. It will be a stressful trip, but they never fail to remind me that it's my trip too, and I deserve a chance to relax just as much as, if not more than, anyone else in the group.

I am a little sad that I didn't get to see as much of the Flower and Garden Festival as I wanted to. In fact, I really only got to try one of the special foods: The Bacon Cupcake. You all knew I wouldn't be able to resist that one. It was pretty good, considering it was a cupcake with bacon in it and that's just a weird thought to get over. I mean, it's not like we had a ton of chances though, with meals all the time and going from park to park. In fact, other than our first and last day, we were always in more than one park each day. It just gets to be a lot if you ask me. Granted, we're Parkhoppers by blood, so I suppose not. But it's still a lot of going back and forth, especially when you have to either walk or take the bus all the time. You get through it though.

Other than that, there were a ton of great moments on this trip, especially considering it was only 5 days. I actually have over 6 hours of video to get through, both for band stuff and for my vlogs, and there's tons of pictures I'll have to get through sometime soon so I can put them on my phone and then on Instagram as time goes on. I also learned a ton of awesome stuff when it comes to My Magic Plus, and I've got a few surprises thrown in for the band too, if they'll be so kind as to let me help them. I really did a learn a lot, and it's amazing to see what the My Magic Plus system can do. I really am in awe at some of the enhancements they've made, and I can't wait to see the whole thing rolled out and mostly bug free. That will be a grand day indeed.

Here are a few last random pictures from my trip!

Have a magical day!