Day 732: The Ups and Downs

I have returned!

Yes, I realize that I'm currently writing this on January 11 and haven't blogged for the last ten days, but this was a scheduled leave, as my family, along with two of my best friends, head to Walt Disney World for another trip, and what a great way to start 2015!

And so, just as I did with my trip last June, I didn't blog during the trip and instead decided to choose on big topic for each day I was gone, writing them all after I returned (which obviously I have). In other words, for the next few days I've got a variety of things to talk about, all having to do with the trip I just returned from!

Today's topic? Planes.

It actually surprises me a little bit that I've never actually discussed this one, considering the fact that I've been on more airplanes than I can even count at this point (with 26 trips it gets a bit confusing). My family has traveled a lot throughout my life, sometimes by car and sometimes by plane, but for my two friends, the plane ride was a whole new adventure.

While there were things better and things worse throughout both flights, I think overall they're alright with planes, although really I can't say much about how they feel since I, obviously, am not them. On my own part, however, I really don't like flying. It's not as much about being afraid of flying, as I know I'm safe and have no fear of dying in a firey crash (ask me again after I watch LOST), but more because I just hate waiting to get on.

I'm a relatively patient person, except for when it comes to Disney Trips and Once Upon A Time. I generally am not a huge fan of waiting in lines at Disney, and no one likes waiting for the hiatus to end, but aside from that I am fairly patient, or at least I'd like to think. But waiting to get on an airplane? There's nothing I hate more than that.

I had a bad experience many years ago that really made me hate planes, and along with my regular motion sickness problems, sitting on a plane for two hours each way just isn't really my cup of tea. Oh how I don't look forward to the four hour plane ride that will take place when I head to California this summer.

Thankfully, over time I've come to be alright with flying in general. I have a system down, and I mastered security a long time ago, so I'm to the point now where I could probably do most of it in my sleep (and I do sleep...on the plane). I have to be honest though, lately, one of my motivators for being ok with flying is Jennifer Morrison, who I believe faced a total of around 70 flights during the filming of Season 3 of Once Upon A Time, and I know from a few of her tweets that she's not a real fan of flying either. So I figure that if she can make it through that many flights in such a short period of time, I can handle two within a week and a half.

More Disney to come over the next few blog posts!

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on January 11 due to the Disney Trip!)

Day 539: Blastoff

I've been to Disney World a ton of times, and each and every single time I go, someone always ends up asking me about other popular Orlando attractions that I just never seem to go to. Or Florida stuff in general. You know, like the beach or SeaWorld or Universal. I don't go to those places, in fact I sometimes have rules against it. If I'm going to travel all the way to Florida, I'm going to spend my time at home at Disney.

Which is one of the reasons I loved this trip. While I would have much rather spent all my time at Disney, at least the trip gave me excuse to head to some of the other locations that I normally don't visit without wasting a day of my regular vacation to go to them. Waste is sort of an awful word to use though.

Despite our traffic jam troubles that put us in Florida much later than originally intended, we DID make it to Kennedy Space Center, a detail my brother is surely thankful about. I'm not really into the whole NASA and space thing personally. The most I'm into it is the references in the Disney parks or the occasional night I spend looking at the stars. And there's the fact that the space race is one of the most interesting periods in our nation's history, if you ask me. But my brother? He LOVES everything to do with that kind of thing, and a trip to the Kennedy Space Center was a highlight of the trip for him.

He was a bit angry (ok, more than a bit) that we were only able to spend around an hour and a half there, obviously not enough time to see everything the center has to offer. I've actually been there once before, and while I don't remember much of it, I remember that like my favorite thing was seeing the Bald Eagle Nest while out on the tour. Yeah, obviously I'm not into NASA.

However, we did see a great IMAX 3D Film on the Hubble Telescope, which was super interesting and literally almost made me cry, if only because I was having some intense "I'm almost at Disney" feelings and for some reason the movie just reminded me of home or something like that. I can't really say now because it's a bit fuzzy, but I do remember sitting there watching and thinking about Space Mountain and Spaceship Earth, so that's something, right?

My brother, of course, wants to go back, and while I think I'd like to spend a bit more time at Kennedy, I couldn't see myself spending a whole previous day there. Too much for me. If anything, I'd like to take more pictures. As you'll hear in the final post about the band trip, I didn't have too much time to do my usual Instagraming, and I certainly missed it. Kennedy Space Center is a great place for taking pictures, with all the bright blue sky in the background.

Plus I suppose I wouldn't mind actually seeing a launch sometime. But don't tell my family that. Even though I know mom reads my blog and is sure to see it sooner or later. I'll stick with Disney for now, thanks very much. =)

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on August 1).

Day 383: Presents from Parents

As of January 18th, my parents have been home, because I'm writing this on January 26, like just over a week later. Either way, they've been home, and when they did get home, it meant just about one thing and one thing alone for my brother and I: PRESENTS.

Ok, so maybe we were happy they were home too, but they did just take a vacation without us...sooo...presents.

What did I all get, you ask? Well I don't have pictures of it all, but a lot of it was this little stuff. I did get a new towel (which I have here at college) that's a Disney Cruise Line Towel, and then my parents also brought me a new Disney scarf (anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE scarves). And then I kind of picked through the other stuff they got, pulling out just about anything that has to do with Captain Hook (I found his Disney likeness on a bag of Jellybeans and got that...haven't eaten them yet though), and then they had robes from the cruise line and I have one of those. Oh, and they got me the Magic of Disneyland Imagineering or something like that. I can't remember the specific title of the DVD. But we have the Magic Kingdom one, so I'm happy to have the Disneyland one now too. And finally, I got a new phone case for my phone, which I'm sure you'll see in good time.

But there's one other thing they brought back that I can now talk about since it's been shown and delivered to the band!

You all know that my high school band is headed to Walt Disney World this June, and my parents found Mickey and some of his friends, who all had well wishes and are excited about the fact that we'll be there in just a few months. I was astonished at this because seriously over half of these I have never ever met. Lilo & Stitch, Woody, Buzz & Jessie, CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW! Oh...and this one...

I may or may not have freaked out a little bit with this one. I mean, it seriously is EXACTLY how Hook would sign his name...no matter if it's Colin on Once or the Captain Hook of the Disney movie. It just seriously screams him. Well it should because it is his signature. It being on there honestly just makes me want to meet Captain Hook even more come June. I really hope it happens. 

Funny how a character I never really cared much about is apparently one of my new favorites...thanks Adam, Eddy and Colin. Thanks. No really...I love the show (I can't say it enough with all the hate and the arguments going on in the fandom right now, but that's a blog topic for another day).

Have a magical day!