The Epcot Flower & Garden Festival

Last week, I got to experience the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort.  Since we were staying at the Yacht Club Resort for the Agent Education conference, it was a quick 5 minute walk over to Epcot and so we were there quite a few times.

There are gorgeous flowers and plants, topiaries of your favorite Disney characters, as well as seminars and talks by those in-the-know in the gardening world.   There are also food and drink kiosks, similar to what they have for the Food and Wine festival in the fall.  (In the French pavilion, you HAVE to get the Vie en Rose frozen cocktail.  Those were THE BOMB.)

Me and my girl Ellen visited this place a few times!

It was so great to be able to see things blooming, and green grass!

There are lots of things to see and enjoy, so kick back, grab a Vie en Rose and walk through Epcot with me!

(Who wants more play areas like this at Disney?! Wouldn't that be great?!)

There is also merchandise available during F&G - I purchased a Mickey paver stone for my front yard!  And never fear about carrying that bad boy home on the plane - for a reasonable shipping fee, Disney will mail it to your house!

I just loved this Mary Poppins topiary!

I was glad I got to experience Flower & Garden Festival, and I'm hoping I can get to Orlando for a long weekend in 2015 to experience it again.

Hope you all have a magical weekend!

Resort Review - Disney's Art of Animation Resort: Little Mermaid Rooms

Last week, I attended an Agent Education Program at Walt Disney World, which was a BLAST. Learned a lot, had fun and best of all, got to experience some new resorts!

I arrived the day before our classes started, and decided to get a room at the new Art of Animation Resort.  AoA is near Pop Century, and the area was going to be the 2nd installment of Pop Century: The Classic Years (1940s, 1930s, etc).  However, that never came to be and instead, this area was used for the Art of Animation Resort.

The resort does have Family Suites, which is a great option for groups and/or larger families.  They do also have the standard resort rooms available, and these can be found in the Little Mermaid section of the resort.

I arrived from the airport via Magical Express, and then made my way to the room!

After leaving Animation hall (the main building where check-in, the shopping and dining is located), I took a left and made a short 3-4 minute walk to the room.

As you can expect from Disney, the theming and attention to detail at AoA did NOT disappoint.  It was just spectacular.

(I will be dedicating other posts to the Family Suites - those are INCREDIBLE!)

If you love The Little Mermaid, you will adore this resort.    Of course all the major Little Mermaid characters make appearances, and they're great photo spots!

Look!  It's a Snarfflat!

To get to the room, we walked to the right of Ursula, and down a small walkway.  In no time at all, we got to the room!

If you've stayed at Pop Century, or any of the All-Stars resorts, the room configuration and size is very similar.  

Aren't these shell chairs just the cutest?!  The mirror is pretty great, too.

Even the carpet is cute!

You can buy this shower curtain at the gift shop at AoA, so you could have your own Little Mermaid-inspired bathroom at home.

Notice the lights above the beds?  The light is the pearl, inside the shell!  How creative, huh?!

It was a great room, and very comfortable.  Some have said the walk from the main building at AoA to these rooms is quite a hike, but I didn't feel that way.  It only took 3-4 minutes to get back to the room after getting off the bus, and there is so much to see on your way there, it's a very pleasant walk.

Stay tuned for more room reports and reviews, as well as some dining reviews!

Have a magical day!

I'm Back!

Hi everyone!  I'm back from a week at the Walt Disney World resort, where I attended an agent education program.  We learned a LOT; I'm excited to share pictures and info with you all!

In the meantime, have a great Monday!

One of the buildings at Port Orleans Riverside - SO PRETTY!

Update from the Agent Education Program

Hi everyone! I'm here at the Agent Education Program here at Walt Disney World, and I can't wait to share with you all the cool things we're learning!

I'll check in later! :)

Have a Magical Day!

Bye Bye Bye....Heading back to Orlando!

Today I drive up to Minneapolis, to catch my flight tomorrow for my week at Disney World.  I'll be attending an agent education program, and can't wait to learn, have fun, and spend time with some other people who love Disney as much as I do!

I'll be posting on Facebook, Twitter and here on the blog, live from Disney World, so be sure to check in!  It's the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot, and I can't WAIT to see Epcot in all its spring finery!

Have a great weekend!

The Cabanas on Serenity Bay at Disney's Castaway Cay

One of the best parts of taking a Disney Cruise is spending a day at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island in the Bahamas.  It's tranquil, beautiful, the water is crystal-clear blue....Calgon, take me away!

In late January, I took a 3-day cruise with one of my best friends, Alice, whom I've known since junior high. It was just us girls, and so the theme of the vacation was relaxation and a bit of pampering.

With those goals in mind, I was able to book a Cabana on Serenity Bay!  I was honestly shocked I was able to book one - there are a limited amount of cabanas available, and they tend to go pretty quickly.  It was just by chance that I was on the Disney Cruise Line site, completing our online check in when I noticed one was still available.  I scooped it up, and couldn't wait to see it for myself.

Serenity Bay is the adults-only side of Castaway Cay (and don't worry, "adults only" isn't code for a nude beach - swimsuits are required at all times on CC).  It's very quiet, peaceful and serene on that side of the island.  You can lounge on the beach, ride bikes, and have your lunch meal right there next to Serenity Bay.  It's my absolute favorite part of any cruise.

We had a balcony cabin, and I was able to sit on the balcony and watch us dock in Castaway Cay; it was pretty incredible to get closer and closer to that island paradise, and be able to witness it from the comfort of our own room.

We put on our swimsuits, grabbed our beach bags, and headed to Cabanas for a quick breakfast.

After breakfast, we walked off the ship and headed towards Serenity Bay.  You can either hop on a tram, or walk - we chose to walk, as three days of rich food and cocktails was beginning to catch us with us.

We made our way to Serenity Bay in about 10 minutes, and checked in for our cabana.  The night before, we'd received a voucher in our stateroom with instructions on where to check in to be escorted to your cabana.  We arrived at the check in desk, and our concierge drove up in a golf cart to take us to our cabana.  He then told us more about the cabana, when lunch was being served, and also that we could call on him anytime we needed anything.

Cabana #20 was going to be our home for the next few hours!

Even from the outside, we were already impressed!

We then made our way inside, and were blown away - what a wonderful place!

Plenty of places to sit and lounge, both inside and outside.  This turned out to be a life saver, because Alice got sunburned a bit the day before, and it was wonderful to have a shady place where she could sit in the hottest part of the day.

Sadly, we never used this hammock - next time!

Here are the cabanas next to us.  It was bizarre - the Disney Cruise website didn't have any other cabanas open but ours when I booked, but both the cabanas next to us were empty all day.

There was lots of room to store our things, plus some fruit and snacks, and a mini fridge stocked with soda, bottled water, and cold towels.

I know, right?!?!  We felt like queens for the day.

After getting settled, we decided to go out on a bike ride and explore the island a bit.  A one-hour bike rental is included for each person in your party when you rent a cabana, so we wanted to take advantage of that.  When we went and got our bikes, we told the gal at the desk that we didn't have watches on us to measure an hour, and she waved her hands and said, no worries!  You're on Island Time now!  :)

We peddled off and rode around - it was awesome to see the island this way, and a great way to get some exercise, too.  I will for SURE do this on future Castaway Cay trips!

After bike riding, we lounged in our cabana and also on the beach.  It was HEAVEN - such a perfect day.

We then made our way to Cookies Too, and had lunch - this is all included and part of your cruise, so no need to pay or go back to the ship for lunch!  We could have had the lunch delivered to our cabana, but we decided to eat at Cookies.

Lunch is basic fare; burgers, brats, hot dogs, assorted cold salads, fruit and dessert.  There is also a self-serve ice cream machine.

After lunch, we rolled ourselves back to the cabana, and walked along the Serenity Bay beach on the way there.

Alice decided to lounge on the cabana, and I pulled a beach chair into the water to sit for a while and read my book.  After leaving the Polar Vortex back home, sitting in the sun on this amazing beach felt incredible.

The all-aboard time today was 4:30, and so around 3:30 we packed up our things and headed back to the ship.  We stopped in a few of the stores along the way (they have two merchandise locations on the island) and I picked up a sticker for my car, and a Castaway Cay Tervis cup.

Pretty soon, we could see the beautiful Magic.

This sign says it all - See Ya Later, Mon!  It was a perfect day at Castaway Cay - I can't wait until I am back there!