Disney Trip: EPCOT Day 1 Part 1

Our second day in Disney was our first day at EPCOT.  We had 3 fast passes for the day – Soarin’, The Seas with Nemo and Figment.  First thing we rented an ECV and then made our way over to the “Leave a Legacy” to find the NSYNC pictures.  We also got several sets of photos with the PhotoPass photographers and 2 magic shots with Stitch!

EPCOT was typically a park that my parents would do without kids when we went on trips, so there aren’t many rides that I can recall ever being on.  When I was at EPCOT 2 years ago for Hanson shows – we only rode Spaceship Earth (which this trip we were unable to fit in, which was fine!)  So Soarin’ was a ride I had never been on before.  We ended up in the front row and it was really cool. (Though I did get a little motion dizzy in the beginning, fortunately that calmed down relatively quickly)

Then we made a stop in Club Cool where you can flavor Coke products from around the world including Italy, Greece, Thailand, Japan, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Peru and Brazil.  I had actually tried Inca Kola before – and it was one of my favorites of the bunch.  Italy has “The Beverly” which is very bitter and there are videos all over of people making grossed out faces after drinking it.  I guess my Italian roots came in handy as I didn’t make any faces.  I can’t say it is something that I’d want to enjoy regularly, but I was hoping for it to taste a bit nastier than it did!

Next up was the Nemo ride.  It was very cute, Nemo is one of my favorite movies. Unfortunately the whole trip I never did figure out how to get photos on the rides in low light when we were moving so I have a lot of blurry pics of everything! There is a new song at the end of this ride which was pretty cute too.  After the ride we checked out the aquarium tanks around EPCOT and got to see some of the fish being fed. We also found out that they change up the fish in the exhibits a lot, so the ones featured around the tanks aren’t always everything inside the tank.  We were trying to figure out what one of the animals was but a nice cast member told us it was a shrimp fish! (And gave us the tip on the info around the tanks)  After that we got our photos taken outside with the Nemo statues and headed to Figment!

Figment was nothing of what I remembered from when I was a kid – but I guess that it is because it is completely different. (Good to know it is not my memory failing!)  We paid our respects to Robin Williams whose character from Flubber is featured in the ‘Imagination Institute Inventor of the Year Awards Recipients’ photos on the way in to the ride queue.  Afterwards we played around in the area after the ride and made some music.  Then we too a break to enjoy some Mickey ice cream! I opted for the ice cream sandwich and Maribeth got the classic Mickey Head on a stick 🙂

We made a quick stop to the Festival Center to find out about Hanson’s appearance there the next day and then headed to the World Showcase as we had lunch reservations with the princesses!  We first met Belle and got a photo with her and then were greeted while we ate by Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel and Aurora!  I liked that Snow White and Aurora talked to us about Hanson and our shirts.  Cinderella liked that we matched and said she wanted to make outfits for Gus and Jack but they could never decide on the same color! Snow White left our table and told us to “Enjoy your Hanson!” which pretty much made my life. (Snow has been my favorite since I was a kid!)  Ariel just talked to us about Eric because he’s so cute haha and Aurora asked if Hanson was the name of a Prince!  We told her it was the name of THREE Princes and she asked if they had any fairies.  We didn’t think so, so she said she would send her fairies over to help them out.

We spent some time in Norway getting pictures with trolls and then headed to the special Disney Visa cardholder meet and greet where we met Mickey and Goofy.  Mickey really liked our shirts!

After that we headed back up to the World Showcase to get ready for the Hanson shows! I’ll recap those in another post 🙂

 

 

Book Review: These Walls

thesewallsThese Walls is a book in one of my favorite genres – rock star romance! (And I may have just made that up, but I don’t care.)  The story is about Lily, the boy next door, Lucas and her best friend Melissa.  The story goes back and forth from 1999, 2000 and to present day.  I thought that the author made a good use of this flashback because rather than start in 1999 and give us all the back story at once, it was kind of inserted into the present day story only when it was needed to give you a bit more information and background on what was going on in the present day.  Lucas is the lead singer of a band – The Fingers of Fish – back in 1999 they are just a garage band and Lily takes Melissa to go see them at a local festival.  Always the flirt, Melissa falls for Lucas. Lily of course has feelings for Lucas but won’t tell anyone – not Melissa or Lucas.  So when Lucas tries to kiss Lily and Lily then says she is sick – he starts dating Melissa, whom he really didn’t even like.

Present day – Melissa and Lily are still best friends but Lily and Lucas have hardly talked.  Lily has graduated from college and is on her way to being a physical therapist.  When she flies back home after graduation she is surprised to see that it is Lucas that picks her up from the airport and not her parents.  Lucas is also still in The Fingers of Fish band – but now they are one of the hottest (don’t call them boy) bands out there.  Relocated to L.A, Lucas was glad that his trip home worked out so that he could see Lily too.

And then things get interesting.  There is a lot of “will they, won’t they” going on between Lucas and Lily.  Melissa gets the big idea that she wants to move to Las Vegas and wants Lily as her roommate.  Since this is much closer to Lucas in L.A., somehow they convince Lily to apply for a job out in Vegas and she gets the job.  This way she can visit with Lucas more frequently.  Although I have to say Lily’s biggest flaw is reading the gossip mags AND believing everything she reads in them.  She starts kind of seeing Lucas but things aren’t public.  When the gossip mag says he’s dating a singer – she does not ask him about it – instead she goes out with the guy at work who has been bugging her about going out with him. They hook up… she ignores Lucas… and then finds out the truth.  (I guess of course without Lily’s flaw – the rest of the story wouldn’t play out as it does so it is needed – but still made me pretty crazy when I was reading the book!)

I don’t want to give away much more than that – and there is a lot more that goes on in the book.  At first I was intimidated because it was 300 pages – but I have to tell you it goes quickly and you will not want to put it down because there is just so much going on in it and you will have to know what is going to happen!  Really, I can’t say enough great things about this book (and the author is a fellow Hanson fan so that is great too!) and if you are anything like me and love you some rock star romance books – add this one to your to-read list!

About the Book

Lily Foster is a 26 year old recent graduate from small-town Ohio. She returns home after school so she can get her life in order and start her career as a physical therapist.

Lucas Kingston is a hardcore rock star, famous with his band The Fingers of Fish. He tours the world with his music and has throngs of fans, most of which are women.

Their worlds are so vastly different, except they have one thing in common: each other.

Lily is quick to build walls to prevent Lucas from getting too close to her heart again. She’s not sure she can deal with the departure of her friend, especially if she’s starting to fall for him. How will she handle her emotions? Is it possible to love Lucas, especially since she doesn’t know him anymore? And how can she really trust him since he’s dated (and cheated on!) her best friend, twice?

His smile seems to make her weak. And he knows it.

**Warning: adult content – may not be appropriate for under 18 years old.

 

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