Disney Jamberry Battle Royale!

I was very excited when Jamberry announced that they were doing a line of nail wraps with Disney. Emily and I are going to Disney World in October, and I'm definitely going to be picking on of these wraps to wear for our trip. 

I thought it might be fun if I pitted the wraps against each other (as I get them), until I finally have a winner! So far, I've only been able to try out two of the Disney Jamberry wraps so they will be going head to head in today's battle.

First up - Mickey's Girl! 

If you click on the link, you will see a picture of these wraps in the catalog. But what you don't see is that the Minnie heads are just clear, which means your nail is showing through.

I'm pretty good at putting on Jamberry wraps. I use a hair dryer because I currently don't have a mini heater. But I have my technique down pat after over a year of being a Jamberry user.

These nail wraps were harder than most to put on. You had to position them very exactly to get Minnie's head center. Plus for some reason, the black top part felt like it had the consistency of electrical tape. 

The other issue I had was putting them on my big toes. My little toes are so small that I've never been able to get the wraps to stay on the way they should. So I generally put wraps on my two big toes and paint the others a matching color.

I keep my toe nails fairly short and Minnie's full head barely fit on my toes. I managed it so Minnie was not decapitated thankfully.

Once they were on, they looked pretty good. I got a lot of compliments on them from people and they were fun to wear. They did last nearly two weeks on my fingers and about a month on my toes.

Next up - Aurora's Castle!  

I'm not usually a fan of pastel colors, but I ordered these because they are currently the only wraps that have a castle on them. 

These were easy to put them on, especially compared to the Minnie wraps. They are super shiny. The pictures, both mine and the one in the catalog, can't really show how shiny and sparkly they are.

They catch the light and sparkle even more in the sunshine. The pink and blue are muted, and the castle and the roses are what catches the eye.

I love the Aurora's Castle wraps. They are the clear winner for me over the Mickey's Girl wraps. They were much easier to put on and they are beautiful which makes them fun to wear. Aurora's Castle is now my all-time favorite Jamberry wraps.

Once I can order more Disney Jamberry wraps, Aurora's Castle will have to defend their title as Disney Wrap Champion (for me anyway)!

Disney Trip 2013 - Animal Kingdom

This is the second post of my Disney Trip report – click here for post #1.

When we were planning our trip, we decided to skip Epcot. We felt that Emily would enjoy Animal Kingdom more this time. Since both Todd and I feel that Animal Kingdom is a half day park, we thought it would be a good starting park.

We met my in-laws in the lobby at 8:30 so we could all ride to the Animal Kingdom together. Emily was a little grumpy; we don’t think she slept a lot on the drive down. But she looked adorable in her Alice costume.

The bus ride was short and we were soon at the Animal Kingdom. My mother-in-law and I went through bag check while Todd and his dad went to get the tickets. I had ordered the tickets from Disney’s website a few months before and it was really easy to pick them up.

Our entry into the Animal Kingdom was the first chance we got to use our Magic Bands as a park ticket. It was cool to see the Mickey head light up. We got our maps and headed toward the Kilimanjaro Safari. The wait was pretty short and soon we were seeing a lot of cool animals. Emily was very excited to get to see a

Waiting for Festival of the Lion King

baby giraffe.

After we were done with the Safari we were walking by the Festival of the Lion King. The first show was starting soon so we decided to all go do that. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this show but we never got a chance to see it on our honeymoon. It was an amazing show though! Definitely a must see from now on!

An aside here – we got Emily some Disney gift cards so she could have her own spending money. She wanted to get one thing when we got into the park and she picked a baby Simba stuffed animal.

We tried to keep her from going to hog wild because we knew she’d burn through her money fast that way.

Since we were already in Camp Minnie-Mickey, we decided to go see Donald Duck. Donald was awesome – he asked for Emily’s Simba and then he lifted Simba over his head like from the beginning of the Lion King. It was so funny!

From there, Emily was getting worn out already. So we stopped for a snack which was the Mickey bar that she had been talking about eating for months. It made quite the mess and ended up with a trip to the bathroom. Luckily she didn’t get a lot of it on her dress.

We headed over to Chester and Hester’s Dino-Rama in Dinoland so we could play in the Boneyard. Emily liked going down all the slides and wanted me to go down some slides too. In the process of going down the slide, I lost my phone. This lead to a freak out

but Todd went to talk to the cast members at the front of the play area and thankfully someone had turned it in.

From there we went to Triceratops Spin, which is basically a Dumbo clone with dinosaurs. Emily enjoyed it but was getting crankier as her normal naptime approached. There wasn’t a long wait for the Primeval Whirl roller coaster so Todd rode that while Emily and I shopped. I got some pins and she got some princess gummy candies.

Todd was kind enough to volunteer to take Emily back to the hotel for a nap so I could stay and ride some more rides. I walked with them on the way out and we passed by where Pooh and Tigger were meeting. We asked Emily if she wanted to meet them and she did.

I love Pooh Bear in part because of my own bear. He was one of the only characters I went out of my way to meet. Pooh and Tigger were really sweet. But it was extra awesome because Pooh came over to give me and then Todd a big hug. The Photopass photographer got

the shot so I was very happy with that.

From there, we went to see Mickey and Minnie in their safari clothes. Emily was happy to see them again, but really didn’t have any desire to stand in line to meet them again at the other parks we went to.

I walked Todd and Emily to the front of the park and then went back to Dinoland so I could ride Dinosaur. This was the longest line of the day for me – about 40 minutes. I played on my phone a little but I didn’t get great signal and my phone was dying.

Dinosaur was a lot scarier than I remembered! But it was still a lot of fun. I thought briefly about riding Expedition Everest, but chickened out. I headed to the only other ride I wanted to do at Animal Kingdom - Kali River Rapids, which is a whitewater raft ride.

The post wait time for Kali River Rapids was 20 minutes but I walked right on. The ride was fun and I didn’t get too wet. Since I hadn’t waited at all, I decided to ride it again. This time I got soaked! So I thought it was time to go back to the resort. At the bus stop, I met up with my in-laws who were heading back

After I got changed and Emily got up from her nap we met the in-laws in the lobby again. We got Emily’s

carseat into their car and all rode over to the Polynesian to have dinner at Ohana. This is my all-time favorite Disney restaurant from our honeymoon. We got there early since we had to wait a long time for a table on our previous trip.

We got checked and want went over to the gift shop. We had made one pressed penny and then our buzzer went off! It was so fast! We were seated near the window, which you could make out Cinderella Castle through the trees.

When I gave my information to my travel agent, I had her notate that I am allergic to shellfish and to tree nuts. Nearly every table service restaurant we ate at, the chef would come out and advise me what the safe dishes to eat were. It was very nice to know which ones could cause my issues. Thankfully the only thing I couldn't eat at Ohana was the shrimp.

There was course after course of meat on skewers that had been freshly cooked on a huge fire pit on the other side of the room. It was so good, and even Emily liked it, though she mostly ate the noodles that were

part of the side dishes.

There were games for the kids (though Emily opted not to play) and a lady who roamed around the room singing songs and giving out leis. Once we were done, I took Emily over to the lady so she could get some leis. The lady saw Emily’s birthday button and gave her extra leis in the form a lei crown. 

We made one more stop to the gift shop. There was a Minnie Mouse dress up toy set that Emily had seen and decided she wanted. The price was pretty good, especially since we were at Disney, so she got it with her gift cards. It was a great purchase because she still plays with it daily.

It was time to turn in for the night so we headed back to the resort. Emily got a bath and went right to sleep. I didn’t stay up too long either because we had to be up early the next day.

Up next post – The Magic Kingdom, Part 1

Disney Trip 2013 - Travel Day

 After years of waiting, earlier this month it was time to go to Disney World. Todd and I had honeymooned there and I had been dreaming of taking Emily to my favorite place in the world since I found out I was pregnant. Originally we had planned on waiting until 2015 when Emily would be turning six. But I convinced Todd that this year would be better because she’d be turning five but still in pre-K preschool because of the way her birthday fell. He agreed and I started planning about 18 months in advance.

I worked with Sara, a travel agent with Mouse Fan Travel. She was excellent – answered all my questions quickly, got us some great reservations for dining and helped me with getting our Fastpass + fixed. Finally it was midnight on October 11^th, so it was time to go.

Since Todd had switched jobs a few months ago, he wasn’t working on that day so we were able to leave earlier than we had intended. We packed up the car, got Emily up and we were on the road before 1 am. The drive was pretty uneventful. I slept some and Emily slept a little. Todd opted to drive the whole way even though I did offer to do some driving. Around 11 am, we arrived at our resort.

We had picked the new Art of Animation resort because they had family suites. Todd’s a night owl so the

Trying watch cartoons and smile

separate rooms were really appealing to us since we wouldn’t have to go to sleep when Emily did. The outside was so bright and fun, and then inside was as well. I’d see lots of pictures and videos but it was even more awesome when we got inside.

Despite it being early, we went to check-in. Right next to the check-in stations there was a little room that had couches and a TV playing Disney cartoon. There was also a table set up that had free lemonade and cookies. Emily wanted me to watch cartoons with her, so Todd handled most of the check-in. I wasn’t surprised to hear our room wasn’t ready, so we left Disney World to go see my in-laws.

My in-laws had come down to Florida in part to see Emily around her birthday but also to visit some friends who were snowbirding in Orlando. Their hotel was actually pretty close by, maybe 15 minutes away. They were staying in a hotel in Kissimmee right next to Old Town. They were happy to see us, especially Emily. We visited for a while, then got some lunch.

Lunch at KFC!

We were going to go to the arcade in Old Town, but it wasn’t open yet.

We all went back to Art of Animation and we played in the arcade there. Todd got enough tokens that he was able to get Emily a stuffed puppy. Finally around three, our room was ready and we got to see it.

It was a great room, nice and big with a kitchenette and two bathrooms.

After we got the car unpacked and got Emily changed so we could go to Chef Mickey’s. Emily was so excited to meet all the characters, but especially Minnie Mouse. We had a lot of fun and the food was decent too. The only bummer was I had used my camera to take the pictures and for some reason when I transferred the pictures to the laptop later that evening they disappeared after a moment. I was very upset but figured all the characters we had met, we could meet again. I finally gave up trying to find the files and went to bed.

Up next post – Animal Kingdom and Ohana!

Disney, Characters and Cosplay

I love the Disney characters. Even though we were both adults, I made reservations for character dining on our Disney Honeymoon. It was such fun to meet Pooh and Minnie Mouse as well as others. But we didn't stand in line to meet any of the characters.

Since this trip will be for Emily, I know we’ll be waiting in line for some characters. I do have two character dining reservations, one for Chef Mickey’s on our first night so Emily can meet the big cheese right away. While the Disney characters are usually well done, it’s pretty much just paid cosplay.

Dragon Con Jack and Sally

We attend Dragon Con every year and the costumes there are usually some of the best at any con. There are always a bunch of Disney cosplayers, which includes me since I cosplay as Snow White. This year while we were waiting for a panel to start, I saw a couple cosplaying as Jack and Sally from Nightmare Before

Christmas. Their costumes were wonderful!

I’m planning on attending the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party this year, and I was excited to hear that Jack and Sally were going to be doing meet and greets at the party. I was excited, until I saw the picture of the characters. Sally is ok, but the Jack’s head is really misshapen. The cosplayers at Dragon Con did a much better job than Disney! Now I’m not going to bother waiting in line for several hours to meet Jack and Sally.

Image: http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog

The meet and greet wait times can be insane for some characters especially for special events. For Friday the 13^th yesterday there was a Villains event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. People crushed into the park to get a chance to meet some of their favorite villains. A person in my October trip group on Facebook tried to get the Studios but apparently the traffic was backed up all the way out of Disney’s property!

I follow some Disney bloggers and at least one was able to get in. Kenny the Pirate runs a wonderful blog and has a great app that helps you find and meet characters at Disney World. He tweeted last night that he waited 3 ½ hours to meet Oogie Boogie from Nightmare Before Christmas. Other villains had wait times that were an hour or more. I didn't wait more than an hour and a half to see Patrick Stewart speak at Dragon Con – I just can’t imagine waiting 3 and ½ hours for a quick meet and greet with someone who is basically a cosplayer.

I waited about 3 1/2 hrs for Oogie
— kennythepirate.com (@kennypirate) September 14, 2013

I am looking forward to doing some meet and greets for Emily. And I’d probably wait 3 and ½ hours to meet Sophia the First since Emily loves her. But I hope we don’t have to. We have Magic Bands and I've been trying to fiddle with Fastpass +, and I've been picking a lot of characters meetups just so we can free up some time for some rides.

Strange Encounters At The Store

Emily in her Minnie Mouse dress

I'm rather shy and can be uncomfortable with people. Before I had Emily, I was able to go about my business without random people talking to me and I liked that! But Emily is cute and little, so now people are talking to us all the time. Most of the time, it's okay and Emily likes the attention but sometimes we have some strange encounters with people.

Emily and I had to go to the store the other day because I needed a few things including a new bathtub mat. Emily was looking adorable in one of her favorite dresses that has a picture of Minnie Mouse on the front. We were walking through the freezer section when an older man asked if Mickey Mouse was on her dress. We said no, that it was Minnie as we were walking away. But he followed us, now talking in a Donald Duck voice.

I smiled and didn't say much. Emily had this look on her face like she was wondering why this grown man was talking in a duck's voice. I could tell she was a little freaked out. We moved on to do our shopped and he followed us! I think he realized that he was coming off as creepy because he explained that he was named after Donald Duck so he felt that he needed to learn how to do the duck voice.

Emily was getting increasingly more uncomfortable, so I said something vague about that being cool and went on our way. Thank goodness he didn't follow us anymore more. I did see him in the store later and took a wide path around.

The other strange encounter that happened on that trip was when I was checking out. There was an older couple in front of us. We put our things on the belt and they started talking to the cashier about the new bathtub mat I was buying. They talked about how it smelled back (it's all plastic so it smells like plastic) and then would never use one because of the bad smell. The cashier agreed.

I didn't say anything throughout this strange encounter because I didn't feel the need to justify the purchase. The point of it is to keep Emily from slipping and falling in the tub when she is getting in and out. Yeah, it does smell but it just stays in the bathroom so that it's a big deal to me.

Thankfully we were done with our shopping and were able to get out of the store. It was just a very strange shopping trip.