Day 912: Lucky 15: Part 1

This is one of those posts that has two parts a half year apart from one another. That's right, it's time for my bi-annual favorite post round up! When you blog once for every day of the year, you definitely have an opportunity to look back at some of the best moments in your life, and that's one of the main reasons I do this twice a year. Not only do I have an automatic blog post topic for every July 1, but I also get to sit and recall the incredible adventures I've had here on Everyday Disney!

If you want to go back and read the posts that go along with this one, you can find them at the links right below!

2013: Part 1     2014: Part 1

2013: Part 2     2014: Part 2

Saturday, January 17, 2015: Day 747: A Few More Favorites

January held a lot of great moments for me: I was on Buzzfeed, went to Disney World, started the Everyday Disney Challenge, and tons of other stuff, but ultimately I think this post has to be my favorite. My Disney Trip this past January with my friends and family was one of the greatest I've ever had, so of course I just had to pick the post with some of my favorite pictures from that trip. My all time favorite, however, is the one you see above, which was taken at Epcot right where we stood in June to watch Illuminations. It's not my favorite place to watch the show, but it definitely holds a special place in my heart now.

Friday, February 13, 2015: Day 774: Alton Brown

You don't always get to meet people on the list of people you want to meet, and that's why meeting Alton Brown just has to be on my list for the first half of the year! His show was hilarious and I loved every second of it! Now, hopefully by the time I meet Colin I'll have met enough other people to control the shaking of my face. 

Friday, March 6, 2015: Day 795: The Love Triangle Theory: Volume 2

It's been a while since the first volume of the Love Triangle Theory, which states that in any love triangle situation, the two halves that meet last will end up together. Back in 2013 my examples included Han & Leia and Katniss & Peeta, but it seems to me that Once Upon A Time has it's own set of Love Triangles just waiting to support this theory. Did I have to wait for CaptainSwan to officially become a couple that seemed endgame to post the second volume? Yes. Was it worth the wait? You bet it was. 

Tuesday, April 14, 2015: Day 834: Modifications

April actually held a lot of great posts as well, but this one definitely stands out as a favorite. As one of the more popular posts here on Everyday Disney as well as on the official Tumblr, it's hard to go against my own set of DisneyBound Essentials, inspired by the post from the official DisneyBound Tumblr. I DisneyBound quite frequently these days, so putting together a quick list of my own essential pieces was a ton of fun!

Thursday, May 14, 2015: Day 864: Hakuna Matata

The end of every semester of school brings a lot of different emotions, and it just so happens that we now have a whole set of characters ready to help explain those feelings! In one of a spur of the moment blog posts, I go through the five emotions of Disney/Pixar's latest feature film, Inside Out, and have them help explain just how college students like myself might be feeling as another year comes to a close.

Thursday, June 11, 2015: Day 892: Missing Frank and Shovell

It should come to no surprise that as I headed back to Walt Disney World without my friends, things certainly weren't the same. I spent a good potion of my time missing my friends, but even from states away, they managed to light up my life...with a little help from Cardboard Colin of course. I do find it entertaining that Cardboard Colin is quickly becoming my thing on Twitter. I suppose I do take a lot of selfies with a cardboard Captain Hook though...

Monday, April 20, 2015: Day 840: Worth the Wait

And for my bonus post this time I just have to go back to the day I got a random envelope in the mail and it turned out to be a signed autograph from Josh Dallas. Turns out that if you wait over a year, sometimes that wait is worth it. Talk about a Charm Attack!

There you have it! The first half of 2015 in a nutshell. Of course, if you're just joining us here at Everyday Disney, I do recommend going back through some of these posts, which are often some of my favorites and most interesting. Basically all of me wrapped up into a few posts instead of 912. I'll be back at the end of the year with a post celebrating the second half of 2015, but until then...

Have a magical day!

Day 552: Half of 2014

Every half of the year brings something new, aside from almost 200 days of blog posts, making it the perfect time to stop and go back through all of them and pick out a few favorites. I've done this twice before, once last July, which you can find HERE on Day 182, and once more at the end of the year, found HERE on Day 363. Basically, I pick out one blog post from each month as my favorite and then make that into a whole new blog post to celebrate another half of the year gone by. It's odd to be doing this for the third time though. Where do the days go?

Sunday, January 26, 2014: Day 391: Colin O'Donoghue

January wasn't a terribly interesting month, as it turns out. I mean, my parents went on a trip to Florida, but mostly I spent my days sitting at home watching How I Met Your Month (I watched 8 seasons over my month break from college and I'm not terribly proud of it). But January does bring the birthday of one of my favorite actors! You know, I made the OUAT Meme Post a few months later, and for the longest time I was certain that I had the following GIF on that post. I was wrong...but I found it again.

I present you with: Colin doing the funky worm (yes funky. There is no other kind).

I wished him a happy birthday that day, and little did I know that months later he would do the same thing for me (although technically in order of posts, that hasn't happened yet. Check out July 15, 2014 if you haven't gotten that far so you can understand what I'm talking about). 

Wednesday, February 19, 2014: Day 415: Disney Deja Vu

I can't believe that was only in January, as it feels like it was a lot longer ago than that. It feels like this post should be included in 2013, not 2014. Either way, back on February 19 I led an exciting discussion about how air, train whistles, open windows, construction, saxophones and wind ensemble reminded me of Disney in some very odd ways. It continues to happen in my daily life, and I believe that somewhere along the line there was a second Disney Deja Vu post, simply because I find new moments where my life just feels like Disney all the time. 

Thursday, March 20, 2014: Day 444: Magical People

Smack Dab in the middle of my March Disney Trip, I included a post about all the wonderful people I had the incredible opportunity to meet. Not going to lie, I was very fortunate with coming across people I knew or wanted to meet in March, from Flynn Rider to Maxwell Glick!

Monday, April 14, 2014: Day 469: The Jolly Roger

I'm including this post not as much because it was a wonderful post as much as because it always makes me laugh. I was going through the hundreds of pictures that have been featured on this blog (which thankfully they're in chronological order!) and there's this section in the middle that's just Hook, Hook and more HOOK. Why? Because that one episode of OUAT where I took like 100 screen shots. Yeah, I did go a bit overboard. 

It was an emotional episode. 

Tuesday, May 13, 2014: Day 498: The Memes of OUAT

I know, I know, we're getting really OUAT heavy here, and I get that. I really do. In fact, I wasn't going to even include this one on the first half post, but I just had to. I mean, seriously, I think this page is almost always up on my phone because I go and find the memes from that page so I can send them to people from my phone. 

I'm trying to decide which Memes to include here and even that's hard...alright, we'll go with this one: 

Granted, does it really surprise you that so many of these feature OUAT? I mean, after all...

Wednesday, June 25, 2014: Day 541: A Dream Come True

I won't lie. I'm pretty sure that of all the blog posts I've written, this was not only one of the most difficult, but also the most important. It might be the most important blog post I've ever written, period because it was about the most important day of my life. I can say without a doubt that there's not a day I've been happier than June 25, 2014, because that was the day I got to march down Main Street U.S.A, the day I got to show my best friend Magic Kingdom, the day I got to fulfill my lifelong dream and the day that five years of very hard work finally paid off. 

There were certainly a lot of moments leading up to and following that day that made it seem like maybe it wasn't everything I'd hoped, and there's always going to probably be a significant part of me that denies any of it ever happened, but it did, and therefore it's on this list. I wish I could relive it over and over again, and while maybe I can't quite do that completely, I certainly can reflect back on the best day of my entire life. 

Friday, June 27, 2014: Day 543: The Final Trip

I always throw in a bonus day at the end of these posts, and this one was pretty easy to pick. The SHS Band Trip to Walt Disney World was my fifth and last adventure with the group, and I certainly wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, no matter how difficult some portions of it became. I learned a lot from the entire experience, and it changed my life, as you'll know from the last one I shared, Day 541. 

I do find it funny though, the fact that that trip lasted a total of 6 days, but by the time everything was finished I had wayyy more than 6 posts, simply because there was just so much that happened during those few days. And of course, more important than anything else, it spurred the decision for my two best friends to return with us to Walt Disney World in January, and I could not be more excited for that. 

Thank goodness there's a whole other half a year before the next one of these posts (although since I'm writing this in October, I'm really only two months away from that. Goodness that's scary!) 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on October 30).

Day 306: A Few of my Favorite Things V4

It hasn't been the normal amount of time since my last Favorite Things Post, as usually I try to keep about 50+ days in between each series post, but it just felt like the right time. I mean, November is the month that's filled with food, and there's an entirely different Favorite Things Post planned for December, but more on that later.

Today's post, as promised, is on something more delicious than the last post, not that we don't all love Disney movies. No, obviously this post is all about my favorite Disney food, and boy is there a lot of them. I don't think I could pick one favorite, so we'll do this in a series of sections I think, not that I know what that series will be yet. I'll make it up as I go along.

Favorite Disney Classics

For those that know Disney well know that there are, generally, four "classic" Disney foods, although we can extend it to include various others. What does this include exactly? Well, you've got the Mickey's Premium Bar (Ice Cream!), the Turkey Leg, the Dole Whip, the Churro, and then some include things such as the classic Disney Popcorn and the Mickey Mouse Shaped Pretzel. There's another one stuck in here too but I'll be talking about that further later so I'll save it for then.

Honestly I think, out of all of these, my favorite has to be the Turkey Leg and the Churro. Yeah...I can't even decide which of those I like more. I mean, I love the Mickey Premium Bar and Dole Whip (I need to get one of these...haven't had one in years), but I'm lactose intolerant, so that just doesn't exactly work out very well. And I haven't had much in the popcorn or Mickey Shaped Pretzel department lately either (as both technically include dairy....life is rough). BUT, The silver lining here is that means more Turkey Legs and Churros for me!!

And no, I couldn't resist putting those pictures.

Mickey Waffles

Remember how I said that I'd talk more about one of those Mickey Shaped things later? Well, it's later. I love Mickey Waffles, mostly because my family has a Mickey Mouse shaped waffle iron so we have these all the time (actually I'm totally going to ask if we can have some when I'm home one of these times). The funny part is that my friends love them too. It's like a staple. When you go to Lizzie's house you will, eventually at some point have Mickey Waffles. If you haven't you haven't lived.

So when I get the chance to have the REAL THING down in Florida, I do that too. On my last trip I even got specially made ones that had NO DAIRY! It was WONDERFUL! Yay for Disney and making my trip feel special. =)

Favorite Restaurants

Ok, so since really you can't talk about specific food without going into favorite restaurants overall, this seems like the most sensible thing to do. So it'll work much like the post of favorite attractions did, although you'll see the addition of Disneyland at the end here because, well, it seems silly not to include it!

Magic Kingdom Winner: Be Our Guest

Did you really have any doubt that my favorite Magic Kingdom restaurant would be Be Our Guest? I mean, it's where I had my birthday dinner, and that's saying something. I adore this restaurant and wish I seriously could eat there all the time (but one has to mix it up). I'm really hoping that I can get in with a few of my friends on the Band Trip. Like seriously that would be awesome. My favorite dishes at this restaurant? Well, I always get the Salmon with Leak Fondue and Potatoes. Delicious. And then I am a huge fan of the sugar and gluten free Lemon Raspberry Cream Puff. It was actually my inspiration for the cream puff that I was awarded a merit award for at the county fair back in July. But then there's the grey stuff, and I'm really excited that you can get it all the time now (although I'll always feel special for getting it for my birthday when that was a special thing).

Magic Kingdom Runner Up: Cosmic Rays

Ok, so I guess it's not really fair to have sit down restaurants and counter service all in the same competition, but Cosmic Rays is just one of those restaurants that my family has jokes with and that makes it awesome. Plus the food is delicious there, and I always think about Kingdom Keepers when I walk by or even think about it. You know, when they meet in there in the first book. Yeah, just one of those things that stuck with me for some reason. Makes me happy. =)

Epcot Winner: 

Oh god, I have to choose? NOOOOOOOO. Ok, here we go. After some looking at the list of Epcot restaurants I've determined that two really stand out as my favorites in Epcot, so I'll share those as the winners:

Les Halles: For those that haven't been reading my blog since the beginning, this is a newer place...well, sort of. It's just redone. In the area that used to be the giant shop at the end of Impressions de France, they remodeled it into a full on cafe, and the area next door that used to be the bakery now serves ice cream and sorbet. Yeah, I loved it so much that I ate there twice on my last trip. If I have 99 problems (not that they're really problems) they're all the delicious bread. Can I just take it all home with me?

Tokyo Dining: Those who know me know that I do indeed love sushi, and I bet you can guess the first place I ate sushi. No, it wasn't Tokyo Dining, but it was at Disney, in the Counter Service Grill in the Japan Pavilion. So not long after my mom and I ate at Tokyo Dining and the rest is history. My brother and I love it there. Honestly I'm kind of sad that I won't be there on my next trip...but hey, that just means we'll have to go back and I'll have to take my brother out for sushi here sometime super soon. The best sushi, by the way? Volcano Roll.

Epcot Runner Up: 

Too many to mention. You know what I mean. If I listed them the entire park would be on here.

Hollywood Studios Winner: Brown Derby

The Brown Derby is spectacular. I love it. Like the last time I ate there I walked in and felt like I was dressed wrong. I needed to be wearing a dress from the time period, and I really wanted to be wearing a dress from the time period. Plus the food there is amazing (don't even get me started on the rolls...what is it with Disney and amazing bread?)

Hollywood Studios Runner Up: Sci-Fi Dine In Theater

I CANNOT wait to bring my friends here in June if everything works out. I think it's one of the most brilliant restaurants ever, theme wise. I mean, maybe it doesn't have the best food on property (we all know where that is...V&A), but it's still spectacular. I have a ton of memories from this restaurant as a kid when my family would eat there. So yeah, you can bet that I'm excited to take my friends there, because I'm sure they'll be just as amazed with the theme that I still am, even after all these years.

Animal Kingdom Winner: Yak & Yeti

Of course it's Yak & Yeti! I love that place TO DEATH. Ok, maybe not to death, but the Cherry Limeade is sooooooo good, and all the food is delicious (do I even NEED to say Wok Fried Green Beans?) Certainly and easily my favorite in Animal Kingdom. I have no more words.

Animal Kingdom Runner Up: 

Honestly I don't think I have a winner for this one. There isn't really one that sticks out as the favorite behind Yak & Yeti, although I do really enjoy Tusker House (the Salmon there = perfection). So I guess that would probably be the runner up. But I mean, in general Animal Kingdom is kind of weird because of the whole no lids and paper straw thing. It's good they do it, but still kind of something you just really need to get used to.

Disney World Resort Winners: 

Yeah, I can't just pick one, so here's a list: Boma, Olivia's Cafe, Citricos, Kona Cafe, and a whole bunch of other ones that I'm just too lazy to list. All this food talk is really making me hungry though.

Disneyland Favorites: 

I have two favorites that really stick out to me as being, well, my favorites from my trip to Disneyland. To be honest I haven't eaten at all the restaurants there, but there were two that really always occur to me when I think about food at Disneyland. Just kidding, there's actually three.

First we have Blue Bayou, which I had for dinner. I LOVED LOVED LOVED how this restaurant was set IN Pirates of the Caribbean. Like I can't get over how much I love that (I mean, I guess it's the same as in the Mexico Pavilion at Epcot, but it probably has to do with the fact that I adore Pirates in California WAY more than I love the one in Florida). Plus the entire atmosphere was perfect and the food was great. And you're SUPER CLOSE to Club 33. Can't get much closer without walking in it...which hopefully someday will happen.

Next we'll do the counter service, which is Bengal Barbecue. We ate a quick lunch from there one of the days but for some reason I just really remember liking it. Actually my mouth is seriously watering thinking about it and I should probably stop talking about it. I will for sure be eating here on my next trip to Disneyland...which will hopefully be in 2015 (gosh that sounds far away)!

And finally, that one that everyone seems to talk about at some point, Steakhouse 55. I had my "birthday meal" there when we went to California (because my brother's birthday was on the trip and I didn't think it was fair that he'd get to celebrate it at a Disney Park and I wouldn't...granted, two years later I actually did but still). The Yukon Potato Stack is one of those things I would die for. Like it's probably one of my favorite dishes on the planet. Once in a great while we'll make it at home and while it's still good, it's just not the same as the stuff that's for real. Plus, at this restaurant I really just feel like Walt is there (although maybe that was because there was a picture of him and Shirley Temple on the wall right above me, but still, it was nice).

Disneyland Runner Up: Cafe Orleans

This one was pretty easy honestly. This was for sure one of my favorites on the trip too, although those other three are just a hare above it on the list, so this gets the runner up award. I don't really even remember what I ate, but whatever it was, it was delicious, and this is another that will be on my list for the next time we go there!

I think that's about it as far as food goes, although here's a short list of other honorable mentions that need to be brought up: Minnie's Strawberry Bar (Edy's Strawberry Bar), Chocolate Croissant, LeFou's Brew, just about everything in Epcot (again...it needed to be said), The Boardwalk Bakery, the Espresso stations throughout the parks that give me my coffee, the Crepes from the France Pavilion, Funnel Cakes from The American Adventure, Biergarten for entertainment (favorite as a kid!), Katsura Grill (first place I had sushi), and, in general, EVERYWHERE ELSE THAT SELLS FOOD AT WALT DISNEY WORLD.

Now I'm super hungry...

 

Second day of Frumpstagram, and it's all about Magical Mornings! I can't think of many mornings more magical than one standing on the Top of the World. Even now, months afterwards, I still can't express how SPECTACULAR it was to stay on the 16th floor and get to see that everyday. I don't think I'll ever have enough words to describe how much I loved that.






Here's today's Disney History: 1832: Kepple Disney (Walt's paternal grandfather) is born to Arundel Elias Disney and Maria Swan in Ireland.

Have a magical day!

Day 182: Halfway

Wow. Would you believe that today, July 1st, marks the halfway point in my journey to write about Disney everyday for an entire year?

I honestly can't believe it! But, since it's here, let's take a look back at some of my favorite posts from the last half year:

Sunday, January 6, 2013: Day 6: Disney Fears:

Remember when I was still in psychology back at the beginning of the year? I do! And I did a number of posts on stuff that happened in that class, of which I finished at the end of first semester. Something tells me that if I had been able to take the year long class I'd have plenty of other posts relating Disney and psychology, but this was one of my personal favorites.

I talked about how our psychology book had an example of the fear of snakes as a phobia. Of course, there's only one person you can really think of when you talk about a fear of snakes...and I still wish this picture was in the book:

And then I talked about how I really have fears too, and how it relates to Disney. I have been "conditioned" to dislike the weightless feeling, and therefore, I will absolutely never go on Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios. I'm sure I'll be dragged on it, but I'm still going to have that fear, just like Indy has his fear of snakes!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013: Day 51: The Great Movie Ride

Many of these initial blog posts weren't written at my house at all. In fact, most of them were written during one of my two study halls each morning at school, where I would sit at my computer for a good part of the morning immersing myself in Disney news and writing and so on and so forth. This was one of those times. I remember the day pretty specifically, as my best friend and I had first hour study hall together in the business lab (where I sat for three hours every day). 

In my news that day I had seen a thing about the Tables in Wonderland Great Movie Ride Dinner. I was freaking out because I really wished I could attend, but of course I was at home. I ended up explaining the entire basis of the great movie ride to her, and how I'd love to work on it. 

But then, and this is the reason it's on my list of favorite posts, I realized my entire life is a lie. There is a prop from the Millennium Falcon in the Queue...which appeared not long before I actually wrote the post, so there was no way I could have seen it (SOON LIZZIE, SOON!). Anyway, so I ended up going on a mini rant about how HARRISON FORD TOUCHED IT!

       

Friday, March 22, 2013: Day 81: Impressions de France

I remember this day pretty well too, since it was another time I wrote during that morning time period (honestly probably 70% at least of these were written during those three hours). My best friend Megan was showing me this blog she had been reading, and the following picture was included of the Chateau de Chambord in France:

The blog post that day was about how I noticed it right away...it's in Impressions de France at Epcot. Twice actually, once during the day and once at night. I love that post so much because it really does show just how much Disney is everywhere for me, and it also makes a point that I've learned so much from Disney. I knew right away that it was in France, and that it has significance. And the reference I had to Disney made me want to learn more about the chateau. 

Friday, April 26, 2013: Day 116: My Disney Collection VI

This was just the first of what will become many posts, but I love it none-the-less. My Disney collection is something that's very special to me, and I'm pretty sure I would die without it. Of course, this is just the main tour of my room, and I'll have more of a breakdown as time goes on. Since this first post I've done two follow up posts, one on what's on my bookshelves and one on my Disney mug collection. But that's barely scratched the surface, and I can't wait to write about all the rest of my Disney stuff!

Wednesday, May 1, 2013: Day 121: Indy & Diet Coke

I still love the title of this blog post, and it's one of those posts that makes me laugh every single time I go back and read it, which I do from time to time. The basis of the post is that sometimes Disney stuff gets stuck into commercials, and sometimes they're older than I am.

A friend of mine send me a video that was an Indiana Jones Diet Coke Ad, and while it didn't have Harrison Ford in it really (ok...kind of but not really), it still really made me laugh. Of course, I ended up finding some mistakes in it, but oh well, it was still super funny!

Monday, June 3, 2013: Day 154: A Proud Moment

And finally, one of my absolute favorites (it's probably either my favorite or my second favorite). On June 2, I graduated, but it wasn't one of the proudest days of my life for myself, but because my best friend faced her fears of public speaking and gave a speech to the entire Seymour area, somewhere between 2000 and 3000 people. It was the best of the speeches given that day, and I am still insanely proud of her. As I listened to her speech I was crying, and as soon as she finished I stood and gave her a standing ovation, just because I was THAT proud of her for how well she did. Plus, my hat, which was pretty awesome, referenced her speech...which referenced Disney. Proudest day of my life. 

If you want to listen to her speech, click the link: I have it embedded on that post. =)

Friday, May 31, 2013: Day 151: Star Wars Month

Here's a bonus, just because I need a reason to share this picture again. I see it every single time I open my folder to upload a picture to blogger to use, and I laugh a little bit every single time because it's like the truest thing ever: 

Han and Leia. 'Nuff said.

It's been a great half of a year, and I can't wait to see where the other half of the year takes me! I'm really hoping that I'll continue to do this blog even after the year is over though, because while it's sometimes hard to update and keep it one per day and I sometimes need to make it up, I love writing this blog because it's something I really love. Plus, writing is good for me. 

Whether you're just joining the Everyday Disney Blog, or you've been reading from the beginning, I want to thank you for reading none the less. I am very proud of what I've accomplished so far. I mean, I went from 3 views a day to now sometimes over a hundred. Sure, I'd like to have more comments and have even more, but I'm going to be ok if that doesn't happen too because, well, as I just said, I love doing this!

And so, Here's Today's Disney History: 1975: At Walt Disney World, the WEDway PeopleMover, a futuristic way of shuttling people around Tomorrowland, opens. It is located at Rockettower Plaza, where passengers enter and exit onto a circular moving platform. The ride is based on Disneyland's PeopleMover, but unlike Disneyland's version, WDW's sponsored by the Edison Electric Institute. 

Have a magical day!