Day 1278: Second Chance

Last June, when we were at Walt Disney World to celebrate my parents' 25th wedding anniversary, I made my first attempt at the Four Parks, One Day Challenge, which takes you to all four of the WDW theme parks in one day, and has you visit at least three attractions in each park. Last year's attempt more or less failed after a nap and rain overthrew the plans to get to Epcot on time to finish off the day and complete the three attractions in that park. 

So we attempted it again. 

This past January we worked hard to complete the challenge for real, and you can find a more in-depth count of everything that happened in a blog post from January, but I thought I would share the video version of the day so you can see just what we all got up to throughout our day! I've been saving this video so it goes with the vlogs that are appearing on my YouTube channel, giving a behind the scenes look there as well: 

Part 2 of our Four Parks, One Day Vlog will be up next week, so be sure to keep an eye out for that too! 

Have a magical day! 

Day 1228: Working Travels

When I'm traveling, blogging ins't always the easiest thing to do. Sometimes I'll be at conventions, and when I go to Florida I don't even take my laptop along anymore. I never get around to using it anyway, and that means it just takes up unnecessary space in my luggage. So if I want to blog on the go, in that case, I have to use my iPad instead, which definitely ins't the most efficient way of writing. 

However, while on vacation or traveling anywhere, I'm always at work for Everyday Disney, gathering topics, seeing movies, filming vlogs, writing and filming video scripts, seeing new things, completing challenges, and taking just about every picture under the sun. In fact, the way I travel now is pretty drastically different from how I've traveled the rest of my life. Now it's definitely more about what I can do for Everyday Disney or my YouTube channel than just experiencing things, mostly because I've learned over time that sharing the adventures is way more fun than keeping them to myself! 

And actually, sometimes, traveling makes work much more difficult. Since I only have a select amount of time in the Disney Parks, I have a lot to get done in a short amount of time. That's pretty different in comparison to the amount of time I can take to do things when I'm just sitting at home. Plus, when I return I always have to make up for lost time and add blog posts that go along with my latest trip, and then there's vlogs to edit, and the list goes on and on. 

So while there may not be blog posts while I'm away, just remember that I'm always off working on something. I'm just lucky because what I'm working on just also happens to be what I love to do. 

Have a magical day!

Day 1212: Vlogging Up a Storm

While I definitely love and appreciate when you all watch my vlogs, such as the latest one above, there are tons of people out there who inspire me to keep vlogging through Disney vlogs of their own. It's kind of great, because on a certain level we inspire each other to keep going even when the weather gets hot, the crowds get...well, crowded, and the days get long. And then, when we all get back home, we get to experience Disney through each other's eyes. What you see in my vlogs will be entirely different from any other vlogger, and that's one of the best things about this form of blogging. Just as we each have a different writing style, we have various vlogging styles too! 

So, to inspire you, here are a few of my favorite Disney vloggers: 

If you haven't checked out Spokesmayne yet, let me tell you: you're missing out. He takes some of the absolute best quality footage of Walt Disney World and is a natural on the vlogging screen. I consistently find myself eagerly awaiting his next video, and I'm sure you will too! 

While not necessarily your traditional vlog format, danimaroo does some of the most adorable Disney videos on the internet. She puts a ton of work into each of these, and the result is completely worth it!

Also high on my list, OhYeahDisney. I don't remember exactly when I stumbled upon their YouTube channel, but they consistently put out new videos every week and are definitely worth a watch and a subscription!

And finally I must mention some friends of mine over at Wdw Laughin Place. These two have been watching my own vlogs for ages, and now they've started their own successful YouTube channel with all sorts of magical vlogs! I love to watch them while eating my breakfast because it provides the most magical start to my day possible! 

Unfortunately I don't have a ton of time these days to watch every YouTube video, but as far as vlogging specifically goes, you can't beat this group of Disney YouTubers! And like I said, they're all unique, so I'm sure there's something to relate to. But honestly, the best way to find your own favorite Disney Vlogger is to just keep watching. There's all kinds of us out there, and we're quite the bunch, so just hit play! 

Have a magical day! 

Day 1193: Make 'em Laugh

Sort of by accident, a lot of what we ended up seeing on our trip to Walt Disney World in January occurred simply because we happened to be walking by at the time. While I've seen much of the entertainment around World Showcase, Frank hadn't, so when we would hear something I'd be sure to make us stop so she could experience it too. 

Of course, that led to some serious comedy throughout the entire vlog, and really, this is another one of those times were I sort of start to remember just why I love vlogging and bringing the camera with me everywhere I go at Disney. I mean, there just aren't words to explain how wonderful Frank trying her first piece of raw fish was, and when in World Showcase you really can't find something more entertaining than any of the spectacular music or performing groups. 

Also, I've really been discovering some new favorite places to watch IllumiNations over the past few trips, and I've probably seen it a record number of times too. On this particular night we made it a point to stop and wait for the show in Japan, although if you want to stand up on the balcony you'll want to get there rather early, because it's become quite the hotspot for photographers and viographers (myself included). We ended up eating at Tokyo Dining and then just waited up there though, so things worked out rather well. 

All in all, this particular vlog was a part two, and we spent almost the entire day in World Showcase, and the entire day at Epcot. I hear a lot of people talk about Epcot as a park hardly worth visiting, but for me, that's absolutely not the case. I could probably spend the rest of my life at Epcot and still not spend enough time there. I mean, there's a lot of food to try there after all.

Let me know which of the Epcot performing groups is your favorite in the comments! 

Have a magical day! 

Day 197: The Hardest Part

So I finally finished editing my final vlog from my Disney trip, and that means that I can finally write this blog post. It certainly took long enough. It's just so hard to edit video when you're so busy. But I did it, and now I will talk about that one thing no Disney fan ever wants to talk about: leaving.

Leaving Walt Disney World is like, I don't even know. It's just so terrible. I cry just about every time I leave now, kind of like I did as a kid, but I think it has more meaning now than it did then. Like now I realize that I might not be back for a really long time, kind of like what I'm going through right now. I'll be back with my High School Band in 2014, but that hardly counts as a Disney trip for me. Yes, it's Disney, and I'm really excited for it, but three days is hardly enough time for me to be home. And then I'll have to wait at least another six months to go back. I'm going to go insane.

And the problem is, no matter how hard you try, you won't be there or anywhere close until you go back. I mean, I listen to Disney Parks music literally EVERY DAY, and yet I still long to go hear it for real. Sometimes I just want to go and have time to just sit in the parks and listen to the music I listen to here. Like in Epcot. I want to just sit on a bench, people watch and listen to the music. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Just being there would be good enough for me.

So when you leave Disney, you're coming off this high of being there for a number of days, some of the best days of your life, and then you have to go back to reality. And then you go through Disney Depression, which I'll talk about very soon, and you just sit and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait until you go back.

And the worst part? Saying goodbye gets harder every time.

Here is the final vlog from my July 2013 Trip to Walt Disney World.

Here's today's Disney History: 1955: Television crews, Walt Disney, Art Linkletter, Ronald Reagan, Bob Cummings, The Mouseketeers, Thurl Ravenscroft, California Governor Goodwin J. Knight and over 28,000 guests witness the opening of Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Broadcast on ABC, it is the biggest live telecast to date.

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on October 12, 2013 due to obvious editing issues).

Day 196: MY BIRTHDAY!!!

That's right. This day is the day of my birth. Well, sort of. You see, I'm actually writing this over a month AFTER my birthday, because of all those editing and uploading problems I've been having, but that doesn't mean I can't write a blog post about my birthday. In fact, it was one of the most memorable birthday's I've ever had, so how could I NOT talk about it?

It's not every day that you get to spend your birthday at Walt Disney World. Of course, I had a couple of requirements as to what I wanted to do on my birthday. First and foremost, I HAD to go on Spaceship Earth. It's just one of those things that just needed to happen. Like if I didn't go on it would have regretted it for the rest of my life.

And then I HAD to go to eat at Be Our Guest because you only get the grey stuff on special occasions...in which my birthday was. It seemed like another of those things that just should happen because otherwise I'll NEVER get the Grey stuff (just kidding...there will be plenty of chances. But I did finally get it! And It WAS delicious!)

Other than that I guess I didn't have a lot of requirements as to what I wanted to do on my birthday. Still, it was certainly a great day. A little sad because the next day was the day I was going home (as you'll see tomorrow), but a great day otherwise! Oh...and it rained. A lot. But you know, one deals with such things.

Oh, and I almost forgot! One of the awesome things that happened at the end of my birthday was the fact that my brother and I were the legitimate LAST PEOPLE in the Magic Kingdom. THE LAST ONES. We walked out and they closed the gate. AWESOME!

Here's the full day in vlog form!

Here's today's Disney History, other than the fact that it's my birthday: 1995 (MY EXACT BIRTHDAY): In Florida, Disney's Wedding Pavilion - located south of the Grand Floridian Beach Resort - opens. Built on a private island surrounded by the Seven Seas Lagoon, it is a glass-enclosed Victorian-style non-denominational chapel. Available for weddings, vow renewals and commitment ceremonies, the chapel can seat up to 300 guests. Walt Disney Imagineering has designed the site so that Cinderella Castle is framed in two views: through a window behind the indoor altar where ceremonies are held, and through a hedge arch outside the chapel.

Have a magical day!

Note: This blog post was written on August 24 due to obvious reasons.

Day 195: Pictures Galore!

Another day of Disney, another topic to discuss about my latest trip!

This time, we'll do a bit of an update on the Official July '13 Disney Challenge. I'll eventually have a final post to wrap it up, but even now (August 19) I'm still not finished with the last like 6 pictures. I'm SOOOO close to having them done though. And I do plan on finishing them. It's just kind of difficult at the moment because I'm so busy.

Either way, the challenge went over great for this trip, even as it was shorter! It'll probably be my last challenge for a while too because if I do go with Band the next time that will just be a challenge in itself. Still, challenges are ALWAYS fun to do, and this one was especially...other than the fact that I did spend a lot of time on Instagram. Still, it made for a lot of wonderful pictures to go along with my trip!

So I figured that I'd share a collection of the pictures here!

Of course, there are over a hundred pictures just from this trip on my Instagram, so if you'd like to see all of them you can go check there. I haven't posted anywhere near as much since I returned, so even if you're reading this later it shouldn't be hard to find! 

I love taking pictures at Disney, and sure wish I could just spend like a few days taking pictures of things. Like just taking a camera and going from one thing to another. Not necessarily going on anything. Just taking pictures. That would be great. Of course, we all know that's pretty much impossible because I'm never at Disney anywhere near long enough to do something like that. But maybe someday. =)

If you'd like to see the adventures I went on today, you can watch the vlog below! Oh yeah...and this is the one where I freak out about Harrison Ford, so it's pretty entertaining! 

Here's today's Disney History: 1975: The Disney Company announces plans to build an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (or EPCOT) in Florida. 

Have a magical day!

Note: This blog post was written on August 19, after my actual trip, due to obvious reasons. 

Day 191: Water, Water Everywhere!

Day two of my Disney trip, and a brand new experience for the whole family.

My brother, for a long time, or at least ever since his first trip to Typhoon Lagoon around 7 years ago, has always wanted to visit both of the Disney waterparks in one day. What this might have to do with his strange fascination with River Country, I have no clue, but this has always been a difficult one. It seems that when my family dreams, we don't dream small (I mean, I've always wanted to go to Disney World with the band...and that almost didn't, or might not, happen!).

You see, my family goes to Disney during the winter, because of the cooler temps and better schedule for us since my dad runs a farm equipment dealership. And in the winter, they always have one of the two waterparks down for refurb, and then they close the other and switch. That means there's always one open, but they're never both open when we're there. BUT, since we went down in the summer, it meant that we could go to both of them in one day, and why not since we have the premium annual pass! So it doesn't cost us anything extra!

We started the morning at Blizzard Beach. I'm not as huge of a fan of this one, although it is the waterpark I went to first as a kid. I think I went for the first time when I was about 5. It's a little different seeing it from the point of view I have now, but I did enjoy my time there.

But then we went to Typhoon Lagoon, which is my favorite of the Disney WaterParks. I mean, you just can't beat the wave pool there. It is the world's largest outdoor wavepool. In fact, the Disney WaterParks hold a lot of records, and that's pretty cool too.

To finish off the day we went to the Poly for sushi at Kona, which is always a great experience. I Disneybounded as Donald, but I don't really have a full picture of it (I was kind of bad at Disneybounding pictures on this trip...even though I did Disneybound several times, as you will see throughout the trip).

To see the complete day at Disney, watch the vlog below!

Here's today's Disney History: 1987: Disney's The Brave Little Toaster is released in theaters. Set in a world where household appliances and other electronics have the ability to speak and move, pretending to be lifeless in the presence of humans, the story focuses on five appliances, a toaster, a desk lamp, an electric blanket, a vacuum tube radio and a vacuum cleaner, who go on a quest to search for their original owner. 

Have a magical day!