Yesterday, after the closing session of the conference we headed over to EPCOT for our last day at Walt Disney World.

We arrived before lunch and wandered around Future World, we checked out the Disney Art Gallery as well as Innoventions and headed off to Spaceship Earth. Spaceship Earth was quite interesting especially as it’s currently narrated by Dame Judi Densch and includes an animatronic Woz working on the first Apple computer. After Spaceship Earth we headed to “The Seas” and rode the Nemo ride which featured characters from Nemo in the aquariums in front of us, it was especially realistic with the Starfish Peach at the end saying goodbye it seemed like she was really on the glass saying good bye! “The Seas” also has a killer aquarium filled with dolphin and fish with some interesting ways to view them from below as if you are in the water. We even saw to rescued Manatees which I had never seen before.

Perhaps the most amazing thing in “The Seas” to me was “Turtle Talk with Crush” An interactive exhibit where Crush the Turtle interacted in real time with the kids in the audience. It was defintely not a a preset show, there was an actor doing the voice and responding to what the kids said but also the character on the screen responded as well, I’m not sure how it was done but it was very neat.

Next we headed over to the World Village and checked out all the sights. I really enjoyed the 360 “Circlevision” presentations. The first one we saw was O Canada! with Martin Short. It was such a neat movie showing a lot of the sights and life in Canada. We also saw one for China and France. There were a lot of places to eat in the World Village but we opted for the much recommended Biergarten. The food was fantastic and the atmosphere was fun. Lots of drinking and singing going on in that place.

It did actually take most of the afternoon to wander around the World Village and finally we headed back to Future World to catch the fireworks show IllumiNations. It was a very cool show with a globe that spun in middle of the lake with display screens over all of the continents. Very neat show.

Again it was an extra magic hours night at EPCOT so we got to stay for a few extra hours so we took in a few more rides, we did Mission to Mars which was quite fun and we did what might be my favorite attraction at EPCOT the GM Test Track. The wait was long but the ride was worth it. We also rode Soarin’ which is a ride we had rode many times at Disney’s California Adventures many times. It was a nice way to end the evening.

Tomorrow we head back home and our short little vacation will be over. I really enjoyed Walt Disney World and I really can’t wait to bring my niece and nephew here when there are a bit older.

Tonight, we had planned to explore Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island just to have a walk around and enjoy a nice simple evening together, however when I checked my email at lunch, I found a little surprise, my hubby had scored us two tickets to La Nouba – Cirque du Soleil. I was stoked. We saw Zumanity when we were in Las Vegas (link) and really enjoyed it, so I spent the rest of my day thinking about what a great time we’d have tonight.

We got to Downtown Disney around 6pm and immediately found the Disney Christmas store. We spent some time and some money in there picking up a few things for my family and us and then headed off to the Lego store. The Lego models around the store are amazing especially the Dragon!

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We headed off to Fulton’s Crab House for dinner and then over to La Nouba! The show was fantastic all around but the stand out act was Diabolos (YouTube Clip). Those girls were amazing!

I’m exhausted and my feet are KILLING ME and tomorrow is EPCOT. More walking! I hope I make it!

This evening, after I attended my conference sessions for the day, the hubby and I decided to make the most of this trip to Walt Disney World and headed over to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. I must admit I was a bit unsure of what to expect. I’m a huge fan of Disneyland in California and I was not too sure what to make of The Magic Kingdom.

We arrived around 6pm and luckily tonight was “Extra Magic Hours” in the park which means the park is open for three extra hours for anyone staying in one of the WDW resorts. That meant we could stay in the park until 11pm. Once we bought our tickets ($78 a person!!!!) we headed into the park. The park was decorated for Halloween and it looked great. We took a quick stroll around the park and took quite a few photos. It was strange how familiar and yet different the park felt. It was a little weird how much bigger it was and how things were not in the same place. I must say that I missed the history and quaintness of Disneyland, but I understand just how many more people move thru the Kingdom and the other parts of Disney World and it is definitely more suited to that. It was the little things that I noticed, like how different the Tiki Tiki Tiki Room (called the Enchanted Tiki Room at the Magic Kingdom) and It’s A Small World (one of my favorites) are.

After a quick run around the park, we grabbed some dinner and caught the fireworks during dessert. Once the fireworks ended the park began to thin out and we made our way around to the attractions. There were so few people in the park that we didn’t have to wait at all to get on anything. We rode The Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s A Small World, Peter Pan’s Flight, Tomorrowland Speedway, and Stitch’s Great Escape. We also picked up a pair of Mickey ear’s for both of us and walked through Cinderella’s Castle.

We had a wonderful time and I really enjoyed the park. I can’t wait to take my nephew and niece there!

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The trip to Disney World was not a bad one at all. We left this morning for Orlando on a flight before noon. The flight down was smooth though I felt so bad for the poor kid across the aisle who could not stop throwing up the whole flight!

When we arrived we took the Disney Magical Express from the airport to the hotel. It was really nice not to have to worry about your bag or renting a car. We’re staying at the Disney’s Caribbean Beach resort and it’s way bigger than I expected! We’re in the Jamaica area and the room is nice, nothing fancy but a nice room to say the least. We had dinner in the Old Port Royale and then I headed off to the opening of the conference.

Tomorrow is the first full day of the conference and then we’re heading over to the Magic Kingdom to wander around and check out the park. It’s “Extra Magic Hours” at the Magic Kingdom which means the park stays open for three extra hours for people who are staying at a Disney Resort. That means we should have about 5 or 6 hours to wander around!

More details to come!

I’ve lucked out big time. I have changed positions at work, same company, same department, but new job, and with that job came an invitation to a convention being held at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL!

I’m stoked as I’ve never been to Walt Disney World before! I’ve only ever been to Disneyland. The conference is 2.5 days long and we’re going to stay an extra day and try to take in a park or two! I’ll blog when I can!

Walt Disney World… here I come!

The other night I did something that certainly made me happy but at the same time made me feel unsure of what others might think of me. I bought a new MacBook. I don’t know what it is about me and wanting, no needing to have the latest Mac portable. You’d think after all I went through with the MacBook Air, I would have learned my lesson to not buy a new Mac as soon as it comes out, but I haven’t and as ashamed as I was, I think Pinoyboy summed it up well when he told me, “you are who you are… own it.”

That being said… I love the new MacBook! I did not like the looks of it when I first saw it, but the look grew on me and to be honest now I like the way it looks A LOT. I am pissed about it not having FireWire, as I use Target Disk mode quite a lot, but I’m getting over that. I picked up the $1299 MacBook 2.0GHz last Tuesday at the Park City Apple Store in Lancaster. I had the RAM upgraded to 4GB and ordered a 320GB HDD from New Egg (for $90).

I was worried that moving from my 2.4GHz MacBook to the 2.0GHz would be a problem but it’s not at all. The new MacBook feels even more responsive and quick than my 2.4GHz. I think the new NVIDA video card must be helping out! I can’t get over how much thinner the new MacBook looks. It feels much lighter as well. The new screen is gorgeous and so much more saturated than my last MacBook. The screen is as reflective as the last one however the black glossy border shows a reflection where there as none on the last one but that’s a really small issue.

The only thing that’s been a problem is getting used to the new trackpad. Don’t get me wrong, it’s amazing and works flawlessly, the only problem is I need to change the way I use the trackpad. I used to use two fingers at all times. One finger on the trackpad, and one thumb on the trackpad button. I need to get used to using my index finger to click because when i put my thumb and index finger on at the same time it registers as two finger and tries to zoom or scroll. I know I’ll get it… it just will take some time!

Last weekend was the end of an era for me. On Friday evening we drove up to the Volvo dealer to return my 2006 Volvo S60. I know it seems weird to say that considering I posted back in June about my Sweet New Ride, but I got a new car when we returned my hubby’s leased Volvo, as he did not want another Volvo I picked up my current ride and he drove my much beloved S60 for a few more months, which meant I got to take it for a spin quite a few times in the past 4 months, but no more.

Why is it an end of an era? Well this S60 was actually my second S60. I loved my 2002 so much that I got a 2006 when the lease was up. That means I’ve pretty much had the same car for almost seven years… a record for me! It was a lovely drive up to the dealership, little traffic and plenty of room to open her up and to be honest… I even had a tear or two for the old girl. I hope she makes her next owner as happy as she made this one.

I am just curious if anyone is still reading my blog? I know I don’t post much but is anyone still tuning in?

I invite you to leave a comment if you’re still out there

Today, is the five year anniversary of my blog. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long but it has. I did some poking around and boy have things slowed around here… it took two years to hit 500 posts, just over another two years to hit 1000 and in the last year, I’ve barely written 95 posts.

I’m not sure what all that means but it sure makes me want to blog more. Oh well happy anniversary to me and my blog!