Adventure In The Great Wide Somewhere

Welcome Wordless Wednesday Blog Hoppers!  #HappyNewYear #turnoveranewleaf Thank you to Focused on the Magic for hosting!    

Welcome Tiggerific Tuesday Trivia blog hoppers.  Thanks again to Jodi from  +Magical Mouse Schoolhouse , Heidi from  +Heidi's Head , and  +Mike Ellis  for co-hosting! Did You Know... Savvy Adjective shrewd, well-informed and perceptive. It is reported that Johnny Depp added this line improvisationally during filming of The Pirate of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl. No. I expect to leave you standing on some beach with absolutely no name at all, watching me sail away on *my* ship, and then I'll shout the name back to you. Savvy? Captain Jack Sparrow  "I think we've all arrived at a very special place. Spiritually, ecumenically, grammatically." Thankfully, they kept it. This slight misuse (in the movies, it is understood better as "got it?" or "clear?" than the traditional definitions) became one of Captain Jack's signature catch phrases. Both peculiar and unique enough to fit his character, but s

Looking back at 2013, it's easy for me to see how much fun and enjoyment I gained by joining the Disney blogging community. Y'all rock! To think a year ago, I contented myself with communicating on DISboards and lurking on PassPorter rather than really charging into the share-athon that is this magical blogging community. I've really come to look forward to reading and keeping up with my Disney family and hope that in some small way you guys like keeping up with our pixie-dust craziness as well. Without further ado (and totally brought on by Heidi Strawser's post yesterday) we will be counting down the top posts from twenty thirteen that gained popularity (notoriety?) on this blog. If you missed them the first time around, give them a peek. If you've already read them all, please skip down to the comments and let me know which one you liked the most! 10.) Foodie Friday ~ Palo Brunch Price Increase Covers the price hike at Palo and (one of my favorite things t

#SilentSunday

Welcome Blog Hoppers to The Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere "Shorts Saturday" Blog Hop for the week of December 28. Every week, I host this link up blog hop to share a short and sweet version of our Disney love as we answer Disney related questions. I'd love for you to grab the button and link up your post! We all love comments, so half the fun is visiting each other's blogs and commenting on their thoughts. Our short and sweets  prompt this week is Best Christmas Memory <100 words As long as I can remember, the Nutcracker signaled the beginning of the holidays. I never did ballet, but grew up visiting my grandmother annually and always either caught a performance live or baked cookies and then gathered around her television to watch Baryshnikov and Kirkland on VHS. Now that my own daughter is counting down the years until she can audition, we attend her studios presentation each year and for the first time this year one of her sweet friends enjoyed h

Welcome Foodie Friday Blog Hoppers! Minnie Chocolate Chip Cookie Location: My Kitchen, Texas, Y'all Cost: Faith, Trust, Pixie Dust and a Spoonful of Sugar It's just not Christmas Time without a little time together in the kitchen with family and friends. Since Darth Vader wasn't up to baking, Minnie decided to take a spin around the kitchen and see what she could mix up for our (gluten free, vegan) cookies. Minnie approves. Because my kids come from the "more is more" school of cookie thought, we decided to make more small "Minnie" cookies so that each of them could get many more cookies... Ingredients 2 3/4 cup almond meal 1/4 cup coconut flout ½ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 Tablespoon egg replacer plus ¼ cup water (or 2 eggs) ¼ cup unsweetened almond milk ¼ cup dark chocolate, roughly chopped Instructions 1.) Pre

Here's one of my new favorite blog hops today: Three Things Thursday!  (Be sure to link up on her blog !) Since I already have a blog (and three blogs preceding this one) what haven't I already shared? Once Upon a Time There was a Princess and She... 1.) Used to be very claustrophobic in large groups of people. Like panic attack cold sweat level of claustrophobic.  This would not have been a good scene back in the day I got over that several years ago. Which is wonderful now that I am happy and excited anytime I'm in an airport terminal because of where I am going rather than feeling crowded. Also comes in super handy at parades, fireworks and muster drill. 2.) Could Happily Live on Only Fruit Fruit, Fruit, Fruit, Peanut Butter, a little bit of Oatmeal and Fruit. I eat other foods like vegetables and proteins because I have to eat more than just fruit. Fruit is my favorite, though. 3.) Was a Super Perky Morning Person Burning daylig

Welcome Wordless Wednesday Blog Hoppers!  #MerryChristmas #Joy Thank you to Focused on the Magic for hosting!    

Welcome Tiggerific Tuesday Trivia blog hoppers.  Thanks again to Jodi from  +Magical Mouse Schoolhouse , Heidi from  +Heidi's Head , and  +Mike Ellis  for co-hosting! Did You Know... What all those "random" numbers and letter on a Key to the World Card mean? Feel free to pull out the nearest KTTW and play along or just use mine, I don't mind! No, all that print isn't just strings of random numbers and letters. They certainly do have useful information that can be gleaned from just a casual glance. Because many of the resorts are flipping to the MagicBands rather than key cards at Disney World in fairly short order, we will be skipping out on decoding the WDW KTTW. Since DCL (as of this writing) has not been announced in the MagicBand migration, I will use a DCL card to demonstrate. Let's break it down starting at the top... Disney Cruise Line - pretty self explanatory Dates of your cruise Ship name The letter A or M (easy at a glance Adult or Mi

I think that the magic of a Disney vacation exists in three wonderful parts: the dreaming of planning, the pixie dust moments during trip itself and the memories you take with you for years to come. Since I can't live in the Cinderella Castle Suite or even on property year round, pictures help bring a bit of the fairytale back into my everyday life. In my enthusiastic pursuit of remembering the Magic, I take hundreds of my own pictures every vacation and hope to share a bit of my experience with you. Sometimes it's time to just put the camera down! (Or at least refocus.) I love my memories, but there are recent studies out in Psychological Science that suggest that taking photos of whole objects may make it, in fact, harder to remember than merely observing an object. So should we give up on photography entirely and just pay attention to our surroundings? Maybe not. The study goes on to point out when the subjects took the time to focus their photo on a small

Ben asked me whether I had my wavephone (I did now) and what I'd been up to (wandering around taking pictures.) He smiled, because naturally, what else would I be doing on a great big beautiful ship without the kids to mind?  Lifejackets sadly no longer required. They made for some pretty awesome accessories.  We wandered around a little more then headed back down to deck two to unpack. It is amazing how much space they give an interior stateroom for storage. I think this is when Ben and I started talking seriously about going on a transatlantic cruise. With luggage for only two, you could easily manage a stateroom even with fourteen days worth of clothing. Would it work for four people for two weeks worth of luggage? Either it would be a squeeze, or we could book two adjoining rooms, or I'd breakdown and do laundry in the middle of the Atlantic. I think this is the moment that the transatlantic cruise transformed from a "maybe" to a definite bucket list it

#SilentSunday

Welcome Blog Hoppers to The Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere "Shorts Saturday" Blog Hop for the week of December 21. Every week, we host this link up blog hop to share a short and sweet version of our Disney love as we answer Disney related questions. I'd love for you to grab the button and link up your post! We all love comments, so half the fun is visiting each other's blogs and commenting on their thoughts. Our short and sweets  prompt this week is 12 Things I Hate About the Whole Christmas Season. Brought to you by Grumpy. 1. The Puppy Commercial The one wear jewelry guy hands his wife a puppy with a diamond ring tied to his neck. If your guy comes up with touching romantic creative gestures (possibly involving jewelry) on his own, that's wonderful. Origami Owl locket. If I make the Disney Parks Moms Panel, I totally want this or similar. I do not want my husband to tie it to a puppy. Actually I'd be cool with buying it for myself when

Welcome Foodie Friday Blog Hoppers! Thank you Disney Day By Day for hosting. Mickey's Island Jam Character Breakfast Location: Parrot Cay, Disney Magic, May 2013 Cost: Included on 7+ night cruises on the classic ships On arriving at our appointed character breakfast, we joined our usual servers at our usual table. After taking our drink orders we perused the menu. Chris received his usual short stack of gluten-free pancakes and bacon while Kylee enjoyed dairy free pancakes and a fruit cup. Our servers remembered how much Chris loves his gluten free donuts and muffins and brought out enough on a plate to serve five. And Chris broke out his gluten free muffin happy dance for the occasion. The entertainment team got on the microphones to announce that our breakfast guests would be there shortly and that you needed your cameras out and autograph books at the ready. Our table either got it's food faster or something, but our kids finished their breakfast lickety-split.

Here's one of my new favorite blog hops today: Three Things Thursday!  (Be sure to link up on her blog !) Since I already have a blog (and three blogs preceding this one) what haven't I already shared? Once Upon a Time there was a princess who... 1.) LOVES running. I blame my love of Disney for my love of running as the women's magazine advertisements for the Disney Princess Half Marathon inspired me to start running in the first place.  My running buddies back in the day. One of my previous blogs "Lori's Running Start" actually focused on my love of running. I've run 5K's, five milers, half marathons and virtual marathons. I'm slowly easing back in after quite a while off of running (doctor's orders!) and hope to be able to be back up to running the Castaway Cay 5K next November. Then my dear friend and once college roommate and I have plans to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon in 2015 or 2016! 2.) Really Is In N

Hello FastPass to History Blog Hoppers! Thank you, again,  Frontierland Station for hosting this blog hop. Can you believe it's been a year since Splitsville opened it's doors to the general public at Downtown Disney? Back in July of 2011, Disney announced the plan to begin construction on Splitsville. With it's retro cool décor and expansive menu featuring sushi and Mahi Mahi alongside traditional bowling fare with a twist ("Alley Nachos" covered in BBQ and many creative sliders), this is not your grandparents bowling alley. The beautiful building renditions trickled out over the months until finally opening on December 19, 2012.  "No no no, can't be. I distinctly remember, your birthday was last year." -Mother Gothel Happy Birthday Splitsville! Have you bowled at Splitsville? Do you have a favorite food from Splitsville? Share in the comments, please!

Welcome Wordless Wednesday Blog Hoppers to a Wordless Wednesday featuring the "Disney inspired letter R." Thank you to Focused on the Magic for hosting!  What's a pirates favorite letter? ARRRRRRRRRRRRR!    

Welcome Tiggerific Tuesday Trivia blog hoppers. Thanks again to Jodi from  +Magical Mouse Schoolhouse , Heidi from  +Heidi's Head , and  +Mike Ellis  for co-hosting! Did You Know... The Disney Magic weighs  in at over 90 million pounds with eleven passenger decks each longer than three football fields but is maintained by a cast and crew of less than a thousand?  The yellow jumpsuit means project Main Street is underway! In order to maintain the ships, they run a maintenance program similar to Walt Disney World. Sometimes referred to as "Project Main Street" the DCL fleet undergoes constant painting, scraping and cleaning to keep up that "new ship" experience for each week's guests. I think it's one of those Disney differences that keeps us coming back.