valentines day | OUR LIFE IN 3D

Archive for the tag “valentines day”

01 Apr 2016

We don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day at our house…

So if I haven’t lost you all yet are you ready for another few dozen family pics?

The final day of our Valentine’s getaway was, of course, Valentine’s Day Sunday. For whatever reason we opted to spend that day at the Magic Kingdom theme park (shoot me in the head).

It was crazy packed that day with lots of people off the following day!

Walt Disney World Photo Gallery Disc

But we did our usual routine again and got there scary-early so we could hop on some great rides before the rest of the world arrived.

Welcome to the Magic Kingdom!

Yes we got there about 45 minutes before opening so we were right up front when they opened the gates..

AND

Got to hear this opening number again to entertain and build excitement for the early bird crowds while they ~~pack the front gates~~ patiently wait for the gates to open:

The early start actually gave us time for a family, pre-planned prayer to the Disney gods to have a Magical day; to get on some great rides with no waiting, for a sunny warm day, and for the kids to not get cranky for the long rigorous day ahead.

The Disney gods did not disappoint!

Magic Kingdom Tinker Bell magic too

And it worked!

We took a minute to take a souvenir shot at the customary spot so that every one can get a picture of us for Christmas..

Required souvenir shot at the Magic Kingdom

Then we ALL hustled our way over to some of the rides with the historically long wait-times that we did not have a Fast Pass for.

First was the great Jungle Cruise with the comical river boat guide and then over to our 2nd fav. roller coaster there, Big Thunder Mountain. Then back over to the Pirates of the Caribbean before any lines formed to slow our mojo.

Never waited in line once!

Then we raced over to Tomorrowland for our first Fast Pass with Tomorrowland Speedway…. for the kids!

That’s me! This was my favorite ride when I was a kid. Yes, I was a kid once..

Yes, this was my favorite ride the one time I came to Disney as a kid.

Then we had some time to kill until our next Fast Pass, Peter Pan’s Flight.

This ride has an incredibly long wait times historically. And the girls didn’t have any interest to see any of the Disney Princesses this trip so we hob-knobbed around in the Liberty Square / Fantasyland areas and took in a couple of old favorite rides, like the humorous Haunted Mansion and the timeless It’s a Small World attractions.

We found a few good carnival rides too to put smiles on our faces…

Magic Kingdom Carousel

And I did see MY favorite Disney Princess getting in a bit of a spat with my alter-ego while we were there…

Beware the Smolder! Someone is hitting on my girl

Yes, I have a dream!

By then the park was getting packed! And a lot of standing in-line was making my feet hurt and my whole Magical attitude go south.

I prayed for a way to get off my feet. What I wouldn’t give to go on a train ride, to hear the whistle blow, put my feet up, and go someplace else mentally for 30 minutes…. hmmmm

My feet and hips hurt. The trains were calling me!

I rode that train just long enough until the time for our last Fast Pass, and where we have a Star on their walk-of-fame for the now, almost famous, commercial we made for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train:

And that about wrapped up our day at the Magic Kingdom.

Going back to the beginning, keep in mind it was Valentine’s Day. When we made our reservations, about 2 months out, we could not get a single table reserved for dinner IN the Magic Kingdom. So we had to hop the tram to run us over to the closest hotel, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort.

Never been there!

This resort was at the last stop on the round-trip Disney tram but we made our 6:15 dinner reservations. We found this lovely hotel and vestibule, complete with a live jazz band playing to the open air hotel lobby from the third floor.

Nice!

And if this lobby was any indication of our Valentine’s dinner we were in for a very special Valentines’ Day dinner; all of us!

The dinner was outstanding!

Yes, it was still on the Disney meal plan, even in a hotel restaurant. The kids loved it. Mom loved it. I tried to embarrass Mom by proposing again on one knee beside our table, an anniversary of sorts as I proposed for the first time on Valentine’s Day several years back.

Well, she didn’t fall for it this time and I got up without any round of applause or anything.

My perceptive 7-year-old though, never missing a beat, took one bite out of her dinner roll and held it up for my Valentine that evening…

Magic Kingdom Valentines Dinner

This kid is pretty smart!

We finished our meal, hit the tram, found our shuttle bus to our hotel, staggered in to check-out for the following morning and wrapped up our Valentine’s Day celebration away from home.

One thing about where we stayed on this trip.

We stayed at one of Disney’s Value Resorts this time, the Disney All-Star Movie resort.

We were just there to shower and sleep and were not to impressed with Moderate priced level last time. And this hotel and our room was every bit as nice, or nicer than the last venture at the Caribbean Resort. The only down side was this hotel, being one of the value branch, was attractive to all the large groups visiting Disney and so there was a lot of laughing outside and doors slamming as they went from room to room.

All in all though the All-Star Movie resort did put on a good show!

One last thing, we visited Disney Springs for the first time, on the night of our arrival as well as the day of our departure. This is not a theme park but a big outside mall, full of all the big brand names a place like Disney World can attract, whether retail or dining. No rides there, just great shops and eats.

Like this $50 Rice Krispy treat:

$50 ‘magical’ Rice Krispy treats

NOT on the meal plan!

Still… our girls did find some way to have some magical fun and meet some new friends…

Disney Springs w Pooh

It appears Skylar just likes ~~warm~~ lots of hugs now!

Warm Hugs anyone?

Yes, that is a painting on a wall she is hugging!

Crazy girl…

Thanks for taking a trip with my family to Disney World!

I wanted to get this last post in as I have some potentially sad and damaging news to broadcast next.

It appears I may have to spend some time behind bars in mid April.

I need to start passing the hat to earn my release……

Posted in Disney Magic, Travel, Valentine's Day~ We Don't Celebrate It At My House and tagged 7 dwarfs mine ride, beware the smoulder, Disney, grand floridian, magic, magic kingdom, Magical, Trains are the best, valentines day

22 Mar 2016

13 Comments

Hakuna Matata!

Surprise!

Its me?

Remember me?

I’m still just Monkeying around

I apologize. I have all but shut this blog down. it has just been like work trying to crank a post out lately. Like tonight, dinner, wash heads for lice on both kids, laundry, pay bills and now write. And what I have found is when I am tired my typing just goes out the window! …. have you seen it?

But I got tired of looking at the 3-year-old Christmas retread, which was my last post, every time I checked out my blog and I just had to fix that.

So I wanted to tell you about our latest trip to the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, FL that we took for a Valentine’s weekend (Mr. Romance!) and try to liven this blog up with some smiles and some color.

Actually I thought I would try to spread our trip across three blog posts as the Disney photographers and I have a gazillion photos to harass you with. Tonight, however, my eyes are already starting to close, I can’t find my typing, and the creative juices have about dried up.

So I thought I would just be your guide around Disney’s Animal Kingdom once again and let some pictures do the talking for me….

Forgive me?

Oh, and another thing, this baby probably isn’t going to get proofed to well tonight either. Its late. So all you grammar Nazi’s out there can you please cut me a break just this one time?

OK, so Valentine’s Weekend is actually a pretty big weekend at the Magic Kingdom.

Animal Kingdom Entrance

Accordingly all the parks opened an hour early. BUT! Not everyone knew that! Which was pretty cool for the day we did visit the Magic Kingdom theme park.

At the Animal Kingdom we arrived about an hour early, knowing they actually let you in the park… a little ways at least, 30 minute early.

Animal Kingdom Rainforest entrance

We opted to hang on the fringes of the park at the Rain Forest Cafe, browsing through their souvy shop, practiced telling the kids NO, and listened to a talking tree.

Animal Kingdom Rainforest talking tree

The Rain Forest Cafe is so cool, isn’t it?

Well we walked right up to the big main gate(s) by the Tree of Life as the opening hour drew near.

Tree of Life and some colorful birds flying in to open the park

The Tree of Life, I’m not quite sure what it is but it has a lot of very interesting carvings all around the tree. Our Disney photographer for the Memory Maker perk told us then, when the park opens a flock of parrots actually fly in to rest in the tree of life and that opens the park.

Say what?

Parrots fly into the Tree Of Life to open the day in the Animal Kingdom

That was pretty cool I thought. Then we turned around to start our day and almost tripped over a few Disney celebrities rough-housing a bit before the crowds got too big.

Hakuna Matata!

The Animal Kingdom is really similar to Tampa’s Busch Gardens with the animals and rides. The most sought after ride is actually a safari, the Kilimanjaro Safari. So we hit that first while we were over in Africa.

I love Africa! I love the fun African music.

These guys were fun!

Animal Kingdom African Music & Dance

While in Africa you can also walk through some large zoo like exhibits; elephants, lions, birds, gators, and even a large spread for a family of gorillas.

Animal Kingdom Gorillas

So you can either take a jeep ride safari or take a leisurely stroll through Africa and take your time sightseeing the animals.

But Africa is not the only thrill or continent at the Animal Kingdom for that matter. After we saw lots of the wild life in Africa we toured Asia next. Asia, now, is the place for the real thrill seeker! It is the home to Mt. Everest!

The Mt Everest Expedition was Skylar’s first roller coaster ride last summer. She did not like it! Maybe it was speeding to the top only to find the tracks were all torn up and mangled. Or maybe it was seeing a glimpse of the Abominable Snowman yelling and taunting us.

What ever it was, she was NOT going up the Expedition Everest ride this trip and risk life and limb!

The Expedition Everest ride is my, as well as the house favorite roller coaster at Disney. Here is a little of the Abominable and what she missed:

Yea, maybe a little intense for a five-year old.

After the ride and a creative, musical, incredible puppet-show thingy presentation of Nemo we hiked back over to Africa to one of my favorite places we ate at last June, the Tusker House.

The Tusker House is an African themed buffet. And it is really good!

Did I tell you I like an all-you-can eat buffet?

This buffet however is a Disney character themed restaurant which means some of the lovable Disney characters come over so you can get your picture taken with them.

Me and the rest of the family acting Goofy!

That also means these buffets are triple the cost of a normal buffet (get on the meal plan)

And….

AND!!!

They have a dessert buffet, filled with lots of, dozens of, hundreds of tiny desserts you can sample.

(sigh) I put on five pounds walking around Disney that weekend…

I love a dessert buffet

Yes, good people, I had a few. I had a few too many! They had to cut me off!

But everyone enjoyed the Tusker House, the good food, Disney characters and desserts. Everyone was all smiles!

Animal Kingdom Tusker House smiles

We can walk it off, right?

We walked it right around the corner to the Lion King Show.

“Hakuna Matata! Right? That’s their motto!”

“Whats a Motto?”

“I don’t know. What’s a motto with you?”

Animal Kingdom Lion King show

This show was our family’s favorite show too. It wasn’t a musical like you would think of. It was a great monkey gymnastics, singing, circus, character shout outs extravaganza. Check this out, your kids will love it….

Well our kids did love it! Again, all smiles!

Animal Kingdom Lion King cub

We rode a few more rides and then headed back to the Rain Forest Cafe for dinner. It was a great first day on our Valentine’s Vacation getaway (we don’t celebrate Valentines at our house.)

I have a few more days to share with you. So stay tuned. If you have any questions about visiting the Magic Kingdom, ‘where everything is magical’, let me know..

Thanks for dropping by!

Hakuna Matata!

…No worries for the rest of your days..

Posted in Disney Magic and tagged animal kingdon, Disney World, family fun, Hakuna Matata, tusker house, valentines day

14 Feb 2015

11 Comments

A Long Lasting Valentine’s Week

A four letter word for Family

There was a time, not to very long ago, that Valentine’s Day meant vacation. We didn’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day too much at our house. No, no Valentine’s Day here!

You see she’s allergic to flowers. We still have tons of chocolate leftover from Christmas. And what better gift of love could there be where you can celebrate it close to the equator wearing as little as possible in the dead cold of winter?

But now we have two adorable little girls and we ~~hafta~~ gladly exchanged a trip to the tropics for smiles on our cherubs faces.

No contest!

Vacation? Not so much now. This morning, after I handed out all the Valentine’s cards to the ladies in my family, I was unexpectedly ambushed on my bed with two wide-eyed girls. They jumped and body slammed their dear ol’ Dad until I was forced to defend myself. I subsequently wrestled them into submission and then tickled them until they begged for mercy.

And then we did it all over again!

But all these Valentine’s Day shenanigans did not suddenly Sprout up Valentine’s Day. Saturday was just the culmination of a week-long Valentine’s Day of love shared in our family. My girls probably had a pent-up need to release and share their kind of Valentine’s spirit by jumping on dear ol’ Dad….

Monday:

Valentine’s Week began with CHOCOLATE! Mommy made a chocolate fondue for our girls, a Christmas present from this past Christmas.

Happy Valentine’s Day Week girls!

The truth is Mommy had to go out-of-town for a few days on business and this was her way of bonding with the kids before she snuck out in the wee hours of the morning the next day.

Don’t worry girls, you are ~~stuck with~~ left in Dad’s capable hands. Try not to get him in trouble!

Tuesday:

With Mom out-of-town ~~I needed to come up with some kind of dinner for the girls~~ we decided to have OUR Valentine’s Day Dinner Date at our favorite restaurant, Carrabba’s. I told the girls if they behaved themselves in Mommy’s absence they could have dessert.

Angels now

The idea had a coupla merits, besides getting Daddy out of the kitchen after a long day at work. 1) YOU do NOT want to go out for a Valentine’s dinner on Valentine’s Day or weekend. Speaking as an ex-restaurant manager it is very hard to create a memorable dining experience with chaos going on in the busiest day all year in a restaurant. 2) Bribing my kids for good behavior usually seems to work. Hurray for Dad’s parenting skills!

Daddy is such a push over…

Wednesday:

Wednesday night turned into Movie Date Night for my two precious Valentines. I took them to the movies (in our home cinema) to see their most recent favorite movie, Guardians Of The Galaxy.

Why is this their favorite movie now you ask?

It’s because they know all the words to the songs by now and get to sing out LOUD to the songs like Pina Colada, and they get to dance their crazy dances with Dad at the beginning and the end of the movie:

Lots of fun!

Thursday:

Thursday saw the return of Mom from out-of-town but also Valentine’s Gifts appear in the mail. Mom took a back seat to the girls opening their gifts and reading their Valentine’s Cards. They were so enthralled evidently that they didn’t take time to read the instructions…

No, the other way…

They absolutely loved their gifts in the mail (some Valentine’s jewelry) and the sentiments behind the cards from their ~~grandparents~~ admirers.

What does yours say? Did you get any money?

Friday:

Valentine’s Day Eve ~~our nanny called off~~ I decided to take a very special day off from work to spend with my two lovely Valentines. I took them to a Valentine’s Brunch at Chic-fil-a (oh how they hate that place!). Dylan, my ultra perceptive oldest child and well on to my parenting skills asks, “If we are good can we get dessert?”

Me: (sigh)

yea, Dad likes dessert too. I have trained them well!

Pause:

Did you ever notice these at Chic-fil-a? They recycle their Styrofoam cups? I really have mixed feelings about this attempt at Reuse…

I wonder who else has used my cup?

Later that day, during nap time, I had a very important doctor’s appointment. We ALL ended up celebrating with dinner that night!

We went to our favorite pizza joint followed by their favorite ice cream parlor.

OK, it was a celebration, maybe not THEIR celebration, but one just the same.

We invited a neighbor who has selfishly help me wash my car the last two or three weekends. Funny thing, we found out he is grounded, he said, due his grades (sounds really familiar) so his parents won’t let him go out with his friends….. but they did with me and my family…. 🙂 . But he is a great young man and this old man welcomes his help anytime!

We all had a great time, at now the end of a special week, so this Valentine’s party really started to build and the craziness took off…

Gosh, I really look young there, don’t I?

…all ending up with my getting walloped in bed this morning as my two Valentines clobbered me as I ‘peacefully’ rested in bed.

So Valentine’s Day recap for my sweethearts:

Chocolate

Dinner Date

Movie Night Date

Valentine’s cards and gifts (jewelry)

Valentine’s Brunch

Wrestle with your Valentine(s) Valentine’s Day

Check, check, check, check, check!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY EVERYONE!

Oh, my doctor’s visit?

It was with my Urologist. It was my quarterly check-up to test the PSA’s in my blood, the detection for cancer used. For the record my PSA’s have now gone down from a 7.5 pre-cancer operation to .03 as of yesterday. While I was thinking this may be my last appointment, the my Urologist wants to ~~milk my insurance compan~~y see me one more time to see if my PSA can get to a .02, which was his goal.

But!

My PSA continued to lower hence my post last night and the reward this morning:

To those one of you who guessed the donut reward for a positive doctor’s visit, Congratulations! And Thanks for following so closely to 3D.

I have a FREE one year subscription to my blog for your grand prize!

Now here is a question for you, for all of you out there that ask the question, “What can I get my loved one for Valentine’s Day that is something different but still something they will like very much?”

Well my Doctor U. had the answer to that!

While I was waiting to be seen at the end of the day I could vaguely hear my doctor in the room beside mine go over his patient’s options enough to hear the words Viagra and Sample and Valentine’s Day all in the same sentence. Hmmmm…

What a thoughtful Valentine’s gift, or gesture I thought to myself

….not that I need any for Valentine’s Day! Having the time to spend with the ones I love after my cancer scare is living enough for me! But I did like this doctor’s beside manner…

Yes, Valentine’s Day, my lovely girls in my life, and Dunkin Donuts keep me running!