Day 1150: The GIF Button

GIFs, which we still apparently can't agree on the pronunciation of, are quickly taking over the internet, although if you're like me and you've been around for a number of years, you absolutely already know of our obsession with the moving pictures. And of course, for a very long time, we had to save the GIFs to our phones and computers and then organize them carefully so we'd be able to find the GIF we want to post as a reaction to something. 

And then the world woke up and realized that this was an incredibly slow process and wouldn't it just be great if we had pretty much every GIF imaginable at our fingertips?

Twitter, like Facebook, now has a GIF button, and it's actually the greatest thing ever. Want a Disney GIF of Sadness to express how much you miss Dole Whips (which, as you can see, also have a GIF)? No problem! Just search for it. And because we obviously all need to clap along to a song like Snow White does (she's flawless, isn't she?), there's a GIF of that to share too. There's GIFs of everything, and it's amazing. Why? Because we all know there's no better way to express happiness than through a GIF of Flash: 

Have a magical day! 

Day 1002: But I Drifted...

It's been a while since I found enough little references in my life to Disney to do a round up of them all. As much as I could probably write a blog post on every single one of these things, I think you would probably get pretty bored if all I talked about was Mac & Cheese for a day. Then again, who doesn't like Mac & Cheese? The point, however, is that, sometimes, there are a lot of little references to Disney that make our day a little bit brighter, and it's those exact moments that make up the foundation of Everyday Disney. So, over time, I make notes of such references I find in my daily life, whether it's in a class, at a meal, or on the radio, and then do a round up of the little things!

Roasted Almonds: 

I've never really been a fan of nuts, and yet there's something about the Cinnamon Roasted Almonds you can find at Walt Disney World that keeps me coming back for more. It's certainly possible that it's the fact that it's Disney food, and all Disney food is amazing, or maybe I actually like almonds after all. Either way, I don't have Cinnamon Roasted Almonds here in Wisconsin, but I do have roasted almond tea. Thanks to a combination of my parents and roommates and a little bit of CaptainSwan, I've fallen in love with loose leaf tea over the last year, and I bought the Roasted Almond Tea on a whim after trying a quick sample while at the tea store.

Long story short, I ended up going back only weeks later to buy more.

EPCOT = Every Person Comes Out Tired:

I've already discussed my schedule this semester, and if you didn't read that post, all you need to know is that freetime, if there is any, is usually spent working on something else, therefore eliminating any freetime anyway. Whether it's writing a paper or a blog post, editing a video, filming a football game, working on a painting, doing a reading for class, organizing the music library, or practicing for my recital, every minute of every day is booked. Yesterday, while sitting in the library around this same time (11 p.m.) after working for 13 hours straight, I realized that my days here at college remind me a lot of a day at Disney. So I guess instead of thinking of my constant "go, go, go" as a downfall, maybe I should think of it as training for Disney world? This also may have something to do with th fact that one of my friends recently told me she overheard someone talking about walking on campus as training for a Disney trip...

Mac & Cheese

And you thought I was kidding when I mentioned Mac & Cheese earlier, didn't you? If you haven't been to your local grocery store recently, or maybe you just didn't buy Mac & Cheese recently, you should definitely head that direction if you're a Star Wars fan. There are currently Mac & Cheese boxes with pasta shaped as Star Wars characters, and while I'm not sure which characters are all included, I definitely had R2-D2 Mac & Cheese for lunch today. Thanks Mom!

But I Drifted...

It's not every day you get the chance to meet a real-life author, although I guess I'm actually surrounded by several every day of my life. That tends to happen on a college campus. Regardless, this past Friday, SNC was honored with the presence of Gina Barreca, who's book They Used to Call me Snow White...But I Drifted features one very obvious reference to Disney: Snow White. In her discussion with my English 305 class, she revealed that the title of the book is actually based on a famous line from Mae West, although the cover of the book definitely features a more Disney-based version of Snow.

You don't have to write a daily blog about Disney to find the little references to Disney in your life though! Let me know what you find in your day to day routine in the comments below!

Have a magical day!

Day 720: That's On A Cake?

This is one of those short little posts where Disney just sort of popped up in a random place and I felt the need to blog about it!

This time it was at our local Dairy Queen. We don't have a ton of food joints here in little old Seymour, aside from a McDonalds, Subway, a Chinese Restaurant called China Garden and Dairy Queen. That's just about it. Of these, we frequent everything except McDonalds, and in the past (such as my senior year of High School), Dairy Queen was almost a daily figure in our lives. I personally love the Orange Julius smoothies so don't worry, I'm not eating ice cream every day of my life.

However, when we were there the other night, I happened to look at the catalog of ice cream cake designs, and there wasn't just one Disney cake, there was a whole Disney section. In fact, there might have been two.

To save space on my phone (since it was getting pretty full of pictures. I'd better delete some before Disney...) I only took a picture of one, a Frozen design, but you get the idea.

Now personally, aside from the fact that I really should never touch an Ice Cream cake again in my life due to my lactose intolerance, I don't think I'd get one of these things. They're cute and everything, but there are just better cakes out there. I mean, take a look at this:

HERE's the link to that cake, and check out some of the other fabulous designs on the site while you're there! This Snow White one is absolutely beautiful as well!

So let's be honest here. Those second two cakes are way more beautiful than the first, although I seriously also love some Dairy Queen ice cream cake (even if I shouldn't eat it). Something tells me I need to up my cupcake skills. Frozen inspired cupcakes sound like my next project. 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on December 29 due to Holidays and Computer Issues).

Day 688: Hugs

Before I came to college, I wasn't one for hugs, and I still find that I tend to shy away from physical contact. I don't really know why this is, and it actually baffles me since I used to hug my Dad all the time when I was younger. Regardless, I'm not a hugger, or at least I wasn't before. I actually remember this one time in High School when a friend learned of this fact and attempted to hug me, only for me to escape by ducking out of his arms. It all ended up being quite hilarious.

College started changing me though. I have a friend or two that loves to hug, and I've gotten better about it. I hug people more often, although not everyone. I have to have a certain amount of trust for the person to hug me. Ironically enough, I swear that when I meet Colin O'Donoghue someday the first thing I'm going to do is ask for a hug. It's my goal.

Anyway, I know I've come pretty far with hugs because as much as the Disney parade on the band trip is still sort of fuzzy in my mind (I only remember bits and pieces to be honest), everything that happened immediately after the parade is seared into my brain. I remember coming off the parade route and my band director was waiting there for us to get back and the first thing I did was go and give him a huge hug regardless of the fact that we were both probably super sweaty and gross because Florida is HOT in June when you're wearing band uniforms and march a parade. I gave him another hug later, simply because I was so overwhelmed by everything.

But today one of my friends just needed a hug. It had been a bad day so far and you know when you can just tell that someone needs a hug? It was one of those moments. However, because of my lack of knowledge in the rules and regulations of hugging, I honestly sat and debated when to pull away. Should I pull away? How long is the hug going to last? Is there some sort of hugging length regulation? I don't know these things. And then I remembered this:

Previous to the hug, I had no idea what was making my friend upset, so I had no idea what was going on. Although the hug was long, I made a point to pause and just wait for him to pull away, because I thought about it. Honestly, I may not be very good at hugs, and they may not be my favorite thing in the world, but I think this lesson is an important one. You don't have to be a Disney Princess and you don't have to be hugging a child for it to apply. When someone is upset and needs a hug, let them lead. You really don't know how long they need it. 

Does this classify as Things We've Learned From The Disney Princesses? Yeah, I think it does. 

Have a magical day!

Day 686: Becoming a Tradition

As much as I do talk about Once, it's been a few weeks since I shared my Disneybounds here. We left off after the first ever Double Disneybound of Emma and Hook for CaptainSwan date night, and since then there's been not only several outfits, but also quite a bit of hype about some of them. It doesn't happen often, but once and a while I do get comments from cast and crew on the latest outfits, and last night was certainly a great one for that. But let's go back a few weeks: 

After Hook and Emma, I went back to a Season One outfit that we haven't seen in a while. I am extremely lucky to have a television show that I'm doing this for that not only has a spectacular costume department, but also two entirely different sets of characters. It means that I can Disneybound and do an outfit for Mary Margaret in Storybrooke, but also Snow White in the Enchanted Forest. It's a good combination if you ask me. 

Then I was Belle for a week, and yes those shoes are as high as they look. I think this one was pretty fun to put together simply because of those shoes though. They caused quite the interest in my dorm room, as I'm pretty sure all my roommates and then some have tried them on. To say the least, they're really fun to wear...if only for a short time. 

Although I missed the episode itself (I caught it later in the night), the Snow Queen, or as I call her, the Dairy Queen, Disneybound came on time. This was both easy and hard, simply because I wanted to do something that was true to the character but also easy enough for me to wear to the meeting I had to catch during the episode itself. I'm happy with it either way. 

And finally we get to the most recent Disneybound, Marian. This one is one of my favorites outfit wise, for sure. I absolutely adore the dress I found for it and the hairstyle is one of my favorites to do when my hair is curled, meaning that it's just great all around. BUT, it gets better! This is, by far, the most popular Disneybound to date! Why? This: 

Yes, that's right, both Christie Laing, who plays Marian, and Adam Horowitz (whom you already know is one of the writers/creators of the show) comments on it, and it totally made my night, especially after the emotional rollercoaster I went through during the two hour episode. It's always a goal to get the cast and crew to see these, considering they bring the inspiration for each outfit, and it's funny because I always get two incredibly different responses to these outfits. 

The people that don't necessarily understand are all like "Why in the world do you dress up for a television show? That's ridiculous." And yep, they're right. Spending probably two hours on each outfit (including hair on makeup) for a television show that barely lasts an hour? That's crazy. BUT...then we get to the other people, who mention that eventually the cast and crew will probably end up remembering me. I do one of these literally every single week, and I have no intention of stopping as long as the show goes on, so they're very right. At some point I could find myself in Steveston or somewhere else meeting these people and one of the cast members could say "You're the person who does all the outfits!" It's a long shot, but it COULD happen, and that's the thought I keep in the back of my mind. 

Plus, it seriously is really fun and very rewarding when even one cast member favorites or notices it. It's always a step in the right direction, and above all else, it's becoming a tradition in its own right. 

Also in fun moments this past week, I got to ride in a yellow bug and I was saving it to include on this post. One of my roommates had to go pick up the bug for a class field trip and I got to tag along, so yes...I got to ride in it and it was basically the highlight of my week last week. 

Have a magical day!

Day 516: Emoji

You guys all know that I do love the internet, and that sometimes people send me Disney stuff to look at, most of which ends up right here on my blog, and this case is no exception.

Of all the things super popular right now in social media, one that seems to alternate between all of them is the emoji. They aren't new, that's for sure, because I can remember the little =) one we would put at the end of an email to a friend back when I was in about seventh or eighth grade. It's just that now, with our phones, things are getting a bit more complicated. And by complicated, I mean awesome.

It's fun to play with the different emojis out there, that's for sure. My best friend and I have codes sometimes for various things, and there are symbols that we directly relate to things like Disney or Once. My one issue? There's no giraffe eomji! WHY IS THERE NO GIRAFFE!?!

Either way, over the Hiatus, Megan sent me this article from the Huffington Post about guessing the Disney movie based on its Emoji summary. Of course I gave it a try right away, but before I tell you what I got, I'll give you a chance to try the quiz for yourself.

You can take the quiz HERE!

Of course, of the 9 different questions, I got all 9 correct. I think the one that tripped me up the most was Mulan, although I got seriously confused for a while by Snow White because I was like "Oh, Sleeping Curse! Sleeping Beauty!" because I completely forgot about the one in Snow White. You'd think I'd remember that one considering my favorite TV show is half based around the story of Snow. Oh well. Overall, I think I just want to play this again, but with less Emoji. This was seriously easy, so let's do fewer symbols and see if I can still figure it out. Because we all know I do love a challenge!!!

How'd you do on the quiz!?!

Have a magical day!

(This blog post was posted on July 17, 2014).

Day 511: Remember That Time?

Do you guys remember that one time when I said that I was going to watch all the Disney movies in order and I didn't really get past Snow White? And then I decided I would try again and made it to like Alice in Wonderland, or somewhere around there. All I remember is that I didn't get to Peter Pan, so there's that. Well, I'm going to try again. The way I figured it, I have a while until I go back to school, and the movies can always play while I work on other stuff, just like this blog, so it's like a double win!

I think it's more because I actually intended to watch the movies that paired with fairy tales while I was taking the class, but with so little time during college, I didn't really get around to it until now, and I might as well just start at the beginning.The funny thing is, if I remember correctly, the last time I watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, I didn't like it very much. I don't really know why, but I just didn't. However, now that I'm watching it after loving OUAT and reading the fairy tale and just getting back from Disney and everything, I can't help but think about how I forgot just how adorable it is. I mean, this is a really cute movie with the dwarfs and everything. Plus, you've got the beautiful music and you're reminded just how much of a major accomplishment this must have been for Walt Disney and his team. A full length animated picture! It's so different from the movies we see today, but in my opinion it's just as good. Alright, so maybe there's a bit less action, but seriously the Evil Queen is pretty creepy, even if all I can think about when she's on screen is Lana.

I have no clue how often I'll actually blog about the movie that I happen to be watching, because I can't really just blog about movies for like 50 some days straight. Well, maybe I could. I mean, I have enough days to finish making up from before my hiatus, and I still have a ton of time left before I go back to school and the wonderful internet that I'll have there every day.

Currently, I'm just think about how silly it is for the old hag to bring a whole basket full of apples, all different colors. I guess the only one that's red is the poisoned one, but in reality, what would have happened if she had lost track and ate that apple herself? I mean, it couldn't be that far off, right? Then she would have never woken up! That is, unless we're talking OUAT. Regina has plenty of true loves that could come and save her.

Gosh, I could never animate an entire movie. I'm just no good at that. Maybe I'm able to draw the dwarfs, but that's about as far as I can go. I think I'll stick to writing, thank you very much!

Have a magical day, and feel free to join me in watching all the films! I'll post on Instagram when I do!

(This blog post was posted on July 17, 2014).

Day 445: Princess Fairy Tale Hall

It's kind of interesting, going through these blog posts, because I could write one from very early in February and then go and write one from last week. It's kind of hard to keep track of when I'm behind, but hopefully before the day is done I'll be all caught up. Because otherwise I'm just going to go insane. With four vlogs left to edit as well this is just not going to work otherwise.

Either way, next March Trip topic! As you all know, New Fantasyland is getting very close to completion, and new parts open here and there was we wait for the final section, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, to premiere to the public. It's been a few trips now since I first set foot in Be Our Guest and took my first ride on a clam-mobile (kind of...because we all know those were at Nemo first), but another new part opened between July and March: Princess Fairy Tale Hall.

I may or may not have previously talked about how a little bit of me wishes that I had met more of the characters as a kid, just because everyone else did and I don't always have as many of those experiences or memories. Then again, I guess my top favorite princesses weren't really big back in my childhood days, other than Belle, so there wouldn't really be a real reason for me to meet the Princesses. In fact, I still generally don't.

Within the past 5 years I've met only a handful of Princesses - Ariel, Tiana and now, Rapunzel and Snow White. Actually, I wasn't planning on meeting Rapunzel until June when I am there with my friends, but it ended up that I met her twice on this March trip. The one night I was going around Magic Kingdom looking for my friend Hannah, I happened to be by Princess Fairy Tale Hall. The wait for Snow and Rapunzel was only 20 minutes, much better than the earlier wait times, and decided to check it out. I mean, it wasn't all that long of a line, and I DID want to see Princess Fairy Tale Hall.

Considering the previous locations for the Princess Meet and Greets, I think this is brilliant. It is a bit confined just because of the space and location it's in, but the overall design is wonderful. There are portraits of some of the Princesses on the walls, and as you'll eventually see in my vlog (if I ever do get them all done), you can also find Cinderella's Glass Slipper. The entire thing takes some time to get through line-wise, depending on how many people want to meet the Princesses, but it's a really unique way of doing it, with two Princesses in each room. I like it. Plus, they are just adorable all the time.

Now, since Anna and Elsa are moving there, I'm not sure what to think. Lines for them have been over 4 hours long at Epcot...and I just don't think Princess Fairy Tale Hall is going to have the amount of space necessary to house that many people, but at least it will offer a fastpass+ option for some people. Whether or not that will make the line shorter or longer I don't know, but it should be interesting to say the least.

I'm kind of sad though because I DIDN'T have a nice camera with me other than the video camera and my phone...which was dying at the time. So I only really have the one picture at the moment, especially since I have yet to get pictures from off My Disney Experience or from my Mom. Soon though...soon.

Here's some pictures from Day 4:

Have a magical day!

Day 339: Happy Birthday Walt!

Today's Disney History is pretty obvious, at least it should be! But in case you're super out of the loop, here you go!

1901: Walter Elias Disney is born to Flora and Elias Disney in their two-story cottage at 1249 Tripp Avenue in a newly developed section of Chicago, Illinois. The fourth Disney son is named to honor the family's pastor and friend Walter Parr, a preacher at St. Paul Congregational Church. The pastor, in turn, will later name his son Elias, after Walt's Father.

In other words, today is yet another important day in the world of Disney. Today would be Walt's 112th birthday, which certainly is nothing to laugh at! That's a lot of years! Although I was thinking just this morning that in only a few years (ok, more than a few), Walt will have been dead as long as he was alive. That's ridiculous to think too, if you ask me. I mean, look at how many generations lived WITHOUT Walt Disney being alive, and I often times wonder what our world would be like had Walt continued to live his life. Either way, there's a very small chance that he'd be alive at any point in my life (He would have been 93 when I was born), but it's still something to think about.

But how different would our world be if Walt hadn't lived at all? I may have touched on this subject before (honestly everything kind of muddles together after 300 some days of blogging), but to say the least, our world would be very, very different.

I mean, other than the basic things that we wouldn't have, such as Mickey Mouse or Disney World or any of those Classic Animated Movies that we grew up with, there are a series of other things that, had Walt not lived, would be very, very different.

For instance, Walt Disney (and the studio) can be basically credited with the re-invention of animation, as they introduced more sophisticated techniques, enforcing the concept of personality in cartoon characters and making the first feature-length animated film (Snow White). Along with this, Disney was responsible for the first nature documentary and was one of the prime movers of the conservation movement, both through the film Bambi and then the Studios "True-Life Adventures."

Walt Disney founded the California Institute for the Arts (CALArts), intended as a school to train artists for motion pictures, and Walt was influential in the world of Mass Communication, largely through his theme parks, but especially through his presence on television.

And don't even get me started on the impact he's had on theme parks! Disneyland was an innovation in itself, and Walt Disney World continued with that. There are tons of innovations within the parks and the various attractions you can find there.

Also, Disney posted this timeline to promote Saving Mr. Banks (you better bet I'll be in the theater on December 20th), and I thought it was interesting, so I figured I would share it here! =)

For more information on Walt's Life, as well as some really interesting facts, some of which were even new to me, click here!

Have a magical day, and Happy Walt Day!

Day 294: Nasty Habits

Sooo....it's a....time for another episode of Once Upon a Time. Just a word that you may want to not read this if you want to avoid spoilers. There shall be a lot of them. Well, moreso for next week than this week really. But either way, thar be spoilers ahead!

I will now do my best not to freak out as I did last night when watching episode 3x04, Nasty Habits (specifically as we reach the end of this post). But I can't promise anything.

When we got into this week we found Tink with Emma & the Gang, while Rumple was off somewhere, Pan was chatting with Henry and Neal, amazingly, got to Neverland after hitching a ride on the shadow...whom he summoned by using Robin Hood's son. We don't really talk much about that at the moment though. This episode is all Neal and Rumple, and for good reason.

It's no question that I do not ship SwanFire (aka Emma & Neal), and instead am an avid shipper of CaptainSwan (Emma & Hook), but that doesn't mean I don't like Neal. Let's just get that out of the way. In fact I love the character as a whole. I think he can certainly be funny at times and the entire Bae & Rumple backstory is just absolutely heartbreaking. It's just I don't see Neal and Emma working out...kind of. This episode brought up a lot of new thoughts when we were so certain this past week that CaptainSwan was happening. You'll hear why we were so sure a little bit later.

But anyway: Neal is in Neverland. This is a surprising development because honestly I feel it should have taken him a bit longer to get there. I mean, that gunshot wound healed pretty quickly for him to be running around. Either way, the episode opens up with Neal talking to what seems to be old enemy Felix (Pan's right hand man...or Lost Boy). Apparently Pan never taught them how to tie knots because Neal easily gets rid of the ropes and punches Felix in the face, knocking him out. The interesting thing from this particular scene? At the end the shot does not pan (no pun intended) to Felix lying on the ground...but instead to the rope. How is this significant? Why are we panning to the rope?

Meanwhile, Tink yells at Emma & the Gang for not having an escape plan, and she heads back off to her little treehouse while Hook leads everyone else to the cave where Bae stayed during his time in Neverland. Of course we get a bit of Charming & Hook Bromance, but what I noted from this is the real concern Hook has at the end of the conversation. I think this is certainly one example of how Hook really has changed since we first saw him a year ago in "The Crocodile." Again, more on this later.

While all this is going on, Rumple is off talking to Belle about his Nasty Habit of Self Preservation, hence the title of the episode: Nasty Habits. Eventually Neal pretty much runs into Rumple, almost literally, and then they go find a squid and get some magical squid ink to stop Pan for a while. Speaking of Pan, he's in the middle of a party with Henry, and it turns out Henry can't hear the music from Pan's pipe, which leads us into our weekly backstory.

It's the return of young Bae! Rumple is still being the Dark One and Bae is still not liking it (honestly as much as I love him, this is getting kind of annoying). So when Bae goes missing, Rumple is eventually led to a campfire with dancing boys and, you guessed it, Pan. Also turns out that Peter Pan and Rumple have a serious history. I'm starting to get the idea that EVERYONE has a backstory with Pan. When I watched this the second time though I was trying to pinpoint how this all fits together in a time line, because at this point Milah is already dead, right? Maybe? I'm not sure. Not super important, but something I was debating for a while.

Back to present day, where Neal and Rumple run in and get Pan trapped for a while with the squid ink. They steal Henry, who's knocked out with a sleeping curse kind of thing from Rumple, and then some yelling ensues because Pan had to mention the prophecy about Henry and Rumple to Neal, so now Neal thinks that Rumple is gonna kill Henry. Which honestly I'm not sure if he's going to or not or what is going on. It's really kind of super confusing.

On the other side of the island, Hook and Emma are checking out Bae's cave with everyone else. After a wonderful few moments of Hook checking on Emma (CaptainSwan a little!) and a wonderful comment from Regina about making pasta, Emma discovers a chart of stars created by Neal when he was younger, one that will lead them home. Except no one can read it. Turns out Hook taught Bae a few things back in the day, including how to chart stars, but he also taught him part of the pirate code: secrecy.

Now here's where I'm really conflicted. So Emma comments "The only person who can read it is dead" and runs out of the cave. Snow and Charming, trying to be the parents they aren't really right now, run after her, and there's an interesting conversation that ends with Emma mentioning "Because I knew the moment I saw him that I never stopped loving him." She's crying and runs...back into the cave? Isn't that where Hook is? Don't know if that means anything but it's something to point out. Meanwhile Charming and Snow have a conversation about moving on if one of them died. Obviously Charming could very easily die at the moment...but is this a parallel to how Emma needs to move on from Neal anyways? I mean, she does think he's dead. And he's certainly had more than enough second chances. But then she really does love him? But Graham! What about him? She moved on for Graham!

To finish things out, Pan resets the board by capturing Henry and Neal because Neal previously left Rumple stuck with Squid Ink. Oh, and apparently Pan wanted Neal (aka Bae) to leave Neverland earlier. Everyone is where he wants them now, and the game is about to change. But what in the world is going to happen? Does that mean that everything that has happened on the show previously is designed perfectly by Pan? Is it all a part of his game? So when Henry wakes up from his little sleeping it turns out that he can now hear the music of Pan's Pipe, and Henry starts dancing with the other Lost Boys. Uh oh. Looks like Henry doesn't feel quite so loved after all. That's not going to make it easy for anyone to come rescue him. And so we end with a menacing shot of Pan.

And then we have the promo for next week's episode, Good Form, which I've successfully guessed correctly to be the Captain Hook backstory episode. Here's the promo, which you MUST WATCH!

And if you haven't figured it out yet? Yes...that's Emma and Hook. In fact a picture was released this last week already spoiling this kiss. Four pictures actually in total. But this promo offers a lot. LOTS AND LOTS. I mean, an entire episode of Killian Jones, whom we apparently have a lot to learn about. But there are a lot of questions that this poses too. What is up with CaptainSwan vs. SwanFire. If Emma still loves Neal, and is all upset about it, what is up with this kiss? Not that I'm really complaining. We've been waiting for that for a long while (ummm...they met exactly a year ago in episode 2x05). But why is young Killian up against Pan? And then there's the fact that everyone seems to be pretty happy with Hook. We know a little bit about this from the promotional photos released this last week, that the above kiss is due to a small but much needed victory in the quest to save Henry and it's all Hook's doing, so Emma's pretty happy with them. 

Now we will have plenty of time to talk about the world's most charming swashbuckler next week. PLENTY of time. Gosh I am so very excited for this next episode. Maybe it's just because Hook is my favorite character, but the promo for next week looks spectacular. I mean, we have some general idea of the backstories of every other character, so I am quite excited to finally see the backstory for Hook! 

Anyway, in honor of tonight's Neal-centric episode, I've got a Neal Disneybound for you! I'm actually really happy with how this one turned out. I've been putting more and more thought into these as the weeks go by, and there are some really exciting ones coming up too! Below you can also see that I removed my coat when Neal did during the episode. I was legitimately sitting in the chair and had to take it off because he did. Have to keep true to the character, after all! 

Here's today's Disney History: 2011: Google celebrates the 100th birthday of Mary Blair with a Doodle honoring the late Disney artist. Google's Doodle for this day features an image of the illustrator as she would have drawn herself, surrounded by the simplistic patterns and shapes that made up her familiar cartoon world. 

Have a magical day!

Day 287: Quite a Common Fairy

It's that time of the week again! Time for Once Upon a Time, even though technically that was yesterday, but still. I just finished rewatching the episode (while doing homework of course. I don't have time to just sit and watch at the moment), and I have to say, while obviously I wasn't as shocked as I was the first time, there were still many many things I ADORED about this episode.

So for those that have yet to watch, here's your spoiler alert. If you haven't seen it, don't read anything past this because seriously, you're going to regret it. There are SOO Many things revealed in this episode, and of the three from this season so far, I feel it's the one most worth watching. Not that I didn't love the first two, I loved those, but there was just something about this one that was awesome.

For starters, Tinkerbell. We knew she was coming, and Rose is brilliant as Tink. Like seriously awesome. I'm not a huge Tinkerbell fan...or at least I wasn't until I watched this. It's terrible that she has lost her wings and no longer has magic, but I find it intriguing too. Plus it brings up new questions. Like how did she get to Neverland when she lost her wings? Although I have a theory on this one that I just came up with, but we'll get to that in a minute.

And then let's bring in a bit of Hook, because the scene where they all meet Tinkerbell is fantastic. Although my favorite part is probably when she's all "Hook" and he's like "Lady Bell." Awesome that he calls her that. Just brought this line of respect from him to her. Plus he mentioned they had been through a lot together. So does that mean that maybe Tink got to Neverland via Hook's ship? I feel like that's possible. Otherwise there's certainly a story behind those two. Plus how does Pan play into all of this? Maybe we'll be finding out more when we get Hook's backstory in 3x05 (Good Form).

I'll save the CaptainSwan moments for the end this week, so let's move back to the Enchanted Forest. Can anyone deny how ADORABLE Roland (Robin's son) is? THAT HAS TO BE THE MOST ADORABLE THING EVER. Oh my gosh, everyone in my Once party was just like "AWWWWWWW" and I did it again both times he came about when watching it again tonight.

Oh, and LionQueen? Or is it EvilArrow? Either way, that's a thing now! Yes, according to Tink, Robin Hood and Regina need to end up together. Guess that means HookedQueen is out (narrowing it down!), which I'm perfectly ok with. Not sure how they're going to meet, but at some point they'll have to. I know we'll certainly be seeing more Robin Hood in the season because they hinted at it at the end of the episode.

But then, the big shockers of the week: Mulan and Aurora? Like BOOM. Not sure if I'm happy with that or not, but I do fully support gay and lesbians, and it's not that. It's just that now Mulan won't really get a happy ending! And she was one of my favorites too! But then there's the fact that Aurora is having a baby, and that's just like woah......although I knew about five minutes before it happened on the show. Guess that gets rid of the baby rumor mill around this show.

Plus, is Charming going to die? Yeah, we're back to Neverland. And what's up with Henry and Peter? Can I just talk for a second about how much I adore Peter Pan in this series? Like, Robbie is PERFECT in this role and he's worked his way onto my favorite character list really quickly. Totally my favorite villain on the show...unless you count Hook.

Speaking of Hook, we had two wonderful CaptainSwan moments this week, bringing our total for the season up to....somewhere around 8-10. That's a lot of CaptainSwan people. Tonight's were especially adorable I think though, and one directly called it out. That time when Regina was all...

And then everyone in the room I was sitting in was like "OHHHHHHH" or maybe it was just me...But you can't deny that they're sitting awful close by that campfire...right across from Snow and Charming...and he's looking at her. 

But then there's the downer that Neal is in Neverland, and as much as I want him to be there for Henry he needs to stay away from Emma. JUST..THIS...

All the above pictures belong to the awesome Instagramers that originally posted them. =) They all have their watermarks on them if you want to go follow them (which you should). 

And finally we have tonight's OUAT Disneybound, inspired this week by our favorite prince. That's right, Prince Charming! Funny because we have a new hashtag with him this week to relate his bromance with Hook: #Hooking! Also let's all hope that he doesn't die! Although it looks like next week he'll be telling Snow.........

Here's today's Disney History: 1971: Walt Disney World's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction (based on the 1954 Disney film) opens at the 14-day old Magic Kingdom. It features 12 thirty-eight passenger (39 including the operator) submarines in an 11.5 million gallon tank of water. A very close cousin to Disneyland's Submarine Voyage which opened in 1959, the two rides share many of the same elements and animatronics. 

Have a magical day!

Day 266: Drop Tests!

Just the other day (today actually because that's when I did the statistics) I talked about how there is always something new at Walt Disney World, and one of the newest attractions that is scheduled to open sometime next year is the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. So today brings some amazing news that has to do with this particular attraction! Today Imagineers performed their first drop test of the cars, meaning that it's the first time they ran them out of the station with their own gravity!

I'm pretty excited for this attraction, since I saw some of the first previews of it back in 2011 at the D23 Expo. Gosh that feels like such a long time ago now...and it is! But you do get the idea. Originally it sounded like this was going to be open for when I would be there with the band, but sadly from what we heard the last time we were there it won't be open until later in the year. That's alright though I suppose, I'm still very excited for it all!

Some have commented that it's just like Big Thunder Mountain, and I just wanted to touch on that too. It is a similar theme, but it's completely different at the same time! From what I understand it's almost like a Splash Mountain format, with a storyline included throughout the entire attraction featuring the dwarves. Plus, the vehicles feature some of the most advanced ride technology, making it possible for each car to swing back and forth throughout the attraction. Meaning that it should be quite the interesting ride when it's all finished.

That's about it for today though since I just spent all that time working on the former blog posts and I still have those two left from the weekend and some homework to do!

Frumpstagram today asked for a picture that was "breaktaking," and there was only one thought in my mind as to what it would be: the view from the top of Bay Lake Tower. I even included that panorama I took in July because it's seriously awesome!

Here's today's Disney History: 2001: A new attraction "Walt Disney: One Man's Dream," showing memorabila about Walt Disney's career and heritage to the public for the first time, officially opens at Disney-MGM in Florida. The attraction has been in soft-openings for the last few days and will officially be dedicated October 1 for the start of Walt Disney World's 100 years of Magic Celebration.

Have a magical day!

Day 246: Once Upon a Really Long Wait

Originally today's post was going to be about Squirrels...but I've decided to move that to tomorrow or sometime later this week for two reasons. One, I may actually make a video about it, and two I forgot that's what I was going to write about and forgot to do the thing I needed to do in order to write it. But you'll hear all about that when we get to that post.

So instead I looked at my list of things to blog about, and the most obvious thing for me to discuss is the thing that has been distracting me all day...Once Upon a Time.

Now, it doesn't make a ton of sense for me to be THIS distracted about it in the middle of the summer break. I mean, for the first week or so it's bad, but then you move on and just sit and wait and you get over it. But you see, we're catching my best friend's roommate up on Season 2 so she can watch with us when Season 3 begins, and don't worry, I won't reveal anything that happens in the end of Season 2 if she happens to ever read this, or anyone else for that same point.

But I do have to say that it's amazing how Once can just randomly pop up. I mean, all day, Megan and I have been finding the strangest references to it in everything from the view out our window and what's on TV to in our reading for or homework. It's honestly kind of ridiculous.

For instance, today we were in the library studying in between our classes, because that's what we do now that we're in college. We weren't sitting directly next to one another, and it's really quiet all the time in our library, so if we really wanted to share something we'd just text it to one another, and after sitting and working for a while, I sent her a tweet from Ginnifer Goodwin and then she sends me a picture of her reading. What does she have underlined but this:

Were Mum and Dad like this, once upon a time?

Now, maybe you can explain it to me. How in the world does that just happen to end up in her reading right when we're freaking out about Season 3!?! What are the chances? Ok, so maybe we're blowing this a bit out of proportion, but it's just on our minds a lot. I'd also like to share this picture with you, because, well...Hook.

Also, here's today's #Frumpstagram picture, with the word "Resort." Of course, and it might be hard to tell from the picture, I chose the resort I stayed at most recently, Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort. I actually really love it, although I think I got a bit spoiled by being on the 16th floor and that if I ever stay there again I'll just be really sad if I'm not all the way up there.

And finally, here's today's Disney History: 1958: The Disneyland television series airs on ABC for the last time as Disneyland. Starting September 12 the series will be called Walt Disney Presents. 

Have a magical day!

Day 128: In Order

Yesterday I posted a video on my Youtube series of posts called "The Wonders of Disney Animation," and if you haven't seen it, go back and watch that first, because like I said before, I really feel it's one of the most underrated Disney youtube videos out there. It's just great.

Anyway, so while working on that post yesterday I probably watched that video at least 10 times, because like I said, I could watch it all day long and never get bored. I also mentioned how it really makes you want to go back and watch all the Disney films over again.

Now, I've tried a couple of times to go back and watch them all in order and it just didn't work...but you know what. I've said a few times that this summer has to be awesome, since it's my last summer before college, and watching all 52 in order would totally just top it all off (it will get tricky since I probably don't have 52 days free to watch them, which means some days I'll have to watch two, but who's really complaining?).

And so, I've decided that this summer I'm going to watch all of them, in order, and watch as the Disney magic unfolds before my eyes, because watching them in order, just like watching that video, really showcases just how far Disney has come, and how far the art of animation as gone, starting with just a little mouse on a drawing pad to the first cartoon with synchronized sound, to the first in color, and then the first full-length animated picture.

To think, that everything in that video started with a man and a mouse, and all of it almost never happened.

Here's today's Disney History: 1926: Legendary comedian/actor Don Rickles - the voice of Mr. Potato Head in Pixar's Toy Story films and the voice of William in Disney World's Enchanted Tiki Room attraction - is born in Queens, New York. Rickles' Mr. Potato Head is also featured in the Toy Story Midway Mania! attraction at both Disney's California Adventure and Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Have a magical day!

Day 112: Snow White's Scary Adventures

The other night, as I was going through my tumblr, I was fortunate enough to find this video. I normally don't watch a lot of these things, but since I was on my laptop and finally am able to do such things again, I hit play. What I was expecting from the comments was a touching story...I didn't expect to cry through almost the entire thing.

The video embedded below is from one of the final days of Snow White's Scary Adventures at Walt Disney World, and the story is of a severely autistic boy named Ben, who has been enchanted with the attraction since he was a young kid. He holds the record for most times on SWSA, with 3500 (a record set thanks to cast members who kept the attraction running after hours just for Ben and his family so he could reach that goal and be the last to ride).

But when it was announced that SWSA would be closing to make room for the New Fantasyland expansion (in this cast, SWSA will be released with a Princess meet and greet sometime in the future), Disney did even more to make it up to the ride's most treasured guest. It was arranged for Ben and his family to have a private meet and greet with Snow White herself, and then, for the family to ride the attraction with the Princess. How amazing is that?

You all know that I love Disney, and I know not everyone is going to love it like I do, but this is one time I really hope you watch this video. People always tell me that Disney is just for kids, and that the magic isn't really real. that there isn't anything for them at Disney and that it's just another theme park. But I think this video is proof. We aren't all Ben, but this still shows that Walt Disney World, along with the other Disney parks throughout the world, are places where the magic does come to life. That cast members spend every single day striving to make things like this a reality, and that, most importantly, it's not just another theme park.

And you know what, I can't wait for the day I can help make things like this a reality.

Here's today's Disney History: 1964: The World's Fair in Flushing, New York, is opened by U.S. President Johnson for the 1964 season The fair features over 100 pavilions on approximately 646 acres. The fair also includes 4 Disney attractions, for Ford, General Electric, Pepsi-Cola and the State of Illinois. The fair will run through October 18, 1964 and then reopen again on April 21 for the 1965 season. 

I'd also like to wish Animal Kingdom a very happy 15th birthday, and wish you all a very Green Earth Day!

Have a magical day!