Which is really day 3, but who’s keeping track?  Obviously not me.

We went to the beach on our 3rd day in Florida.  Because you can’t go to Florida without going to the beach, am I right?

Madeira Beach in Tampa has been our choice for the past few trips.  The beaches are nice and looooong and white and sandy.  And there’s this cute little boardwalk called John’s Pass Boardwalk that we came across a while back that we like to visit.  I’m sure you can find boardwalks like this all over the coast, but we feel like we have discovered this one and made it a little more popular by suggesting it to people.  Doubtful, but we’ll take that credit.

The weather was PERFECT this day.  Just the right amount of clouds, not too hot to be disgustingly unbearable, and the water was just right for splashing around in.  We spent about 3 hours on the beach, just lounging and playing.  It was a great time.

There was also this really cute little snack shop on the beach that sold beer by the bucket and ice cream, and it had a really big deck on the beach for you to sit on and just relax.  I don’t know why I felt like this is important, but the whole picture of the beach and the snack shop and people just talking, laughing, and having fun on the beach is what I think of when I think of the Florida life.  Why did I have to be born in Iowa?!?!  

Ok, back to the good stuff.  After we were done on the beach we headed over to John’s Pass Boardwalk, which was probably about a mile away.  There are tooooons of little tourist shops here, and like 13 different places to buy ice cream in the half-mile stretch of stores.  I was in heaven.  We stopped for ice cream first, and I got a cone of chocolate-peanut butter custard.  YUM-O.  Then we did what tourists do and stopped in every store on the boardwalk.  My sister and I bought some super comfy flip-flops from a very convincing sales lady in one of the stores.  I regret nothing about that purchase.  We also stopped in a salt water taffy store that has a shit-ton of taffy flavors.  My fave was swiss cake roll.  They give you a list of all of their flavors when you check out, but I don’t have it on hand.  So you’re gonna have to take my word for it.  Seriously, every flavor of taffy EVER is here. 

We ate Dinner at the Friendly Fisherman restaurant, which specialized in seafood.  The place was on the boardwalk and really cute.  You also got a ton of food on your plate.  I got fried shrimp and scallops and they were amazingly wonderful.  My boyfriend got the captain’s platter that had a bit of everything, including deviled crab and fried clams.  He loved his, too.  We walked out of there happy and stuffed.

After dinner, we were ready to head back to our resort and hit the hay. The next day would be Epcot round 2.  YEYAAH.

(Source: disneysnapshot)

aunteeblazer:

sparkly-candy:

Nemo can’t stand your romance

im laughing so hard holy shit omg

disneybound:

Donald’s face!!!

(Source: liloandgif)

crocketingsolly:

“I can’t believe it….I’m on a box of cookies!

It’s that time of year again #cws

Shh…don’t tell my boss I’m being unproductive.

Every summer I have this big idea that I’m going to go to the farmer’s market all the time, and go on weekend trips, and go to festivals and be busy every weekend doing fun stuff. Then all I really do is sleep til noon and stuff my face all day on my couch.

(Source: mrgolightly)

Have you ever just looked at someone and thought, “I really love you”. They’re just talking or humming or watching a movie or reading a book or laughing or something, and there’s something about them in that moment—their body is alive, there’s a light in their eyes, something—that makes you think, “I just really love you.” It’s a weird sensation to think this, but it’s pretty awesome that we can feel this way about another being.

(Source: text-pistol)

I love waking up after my first night of being in Disney World.  I always get this feeling of disbelief, like, I can’t believe I’m here right now.  Ahhhhhh. It’s just awesome.

Day 2 was Hollywood Studios day.  The park of glitz, glamour, and the magic of movies.  Mom and Dad were going to get the rental car and get groceries early that morning, so the rest of us went to the park when it opened and they met up with us a little later.  Every park gives me a different excited feeling, for different reasons.  Each park has such a distinct atmosphere, and that’s one of the most amazing things about the Disney company.  They have this ability to transport you to different times  and places just by the attention to detail the give to everything they do.  I will always admire Disney for that.  

I just want to take this moment to point out that, for almost half the trip, Tyler was less-than-pleasant almost every single morning.  He turned into a huge grump overnight, it was like he was bipolar or something.  Now, he never complains, which I appreciate.  But I could tell by the way he was acting that he was not happy with the situation most mornings.  I don’t think he was expecting the trip to be so fast-paced.  We were up to be to parks by just a little after rope-drop almost every morning, and we were always moving to the next thing we wanted to do.  But, that’s how you gotta do Disney.  You don’t want to miss your favorite things.  He was always over it by mid-morning, but it was one thing that really bugged me.  I wanted him to be as over the moon about Disney as I am, and I didn’t quite get that reaction.  He keeps telling me that it was the best vacation ever, so I’m taking his word for it for now.  Ok, sidebar over.

We got through the gates and headed to The Great Movie Ride, which only had a 5 minute wait.  That really meant we could walk on, the walk through the queue line takes 5 minutes.  We love this ride a lot.  Take a trip through the middle of some of your favorite movies.  Classic Disney right there.  Tyler was enjoying himself on the ride…I think.  Until we got to the Alien section of the ride.  I was not aware that he was majorly creeped out by that movie.  Oops.  He will never be riding that ride again.  We had a really awesome guide on our tour, his name was Jesse.  He was really peppy and spunky.  And I could understand him when he was talking, which is a plus.  After our ride, we went to the Writer’s Stop for breakfast because we were all so freaking hungry.  We always go here, the carrot cake cookie is a personal favorite.  My sisters and I got muffins, and Tyler got a cinnamon bun.  I had the seasonal muffin, which was a pineapple crumble muffin.  It was full of wonderfulness.  It was really sweet and fruity and yummy.  My sisters shared a double chocolate chip muffin, and they both loved it.  Tyler said his cinnamon bun was good.  He was feeding crumbs to the birds, which is against the rules but entertaining.  The birds were in heaven.  In my next life, I’m going to be a Disney World bird.  What a life.

After breakfast, Tyler’s mood lightened considerably.  I think his mood is directly connected to his belly.  By this time, my parents had made it to the park, so we met them up front and then headed to Toy Story Mania to get fastpasses.  I don’t think we’ve ever done this ride without a fastpass.  People are crazy, still giving this ride so much hype.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome, but I don’t think the line should still be 90 minutes.  It’s been, what, 5 years?  Time to give it a rest. 

Anyway, after getting our fastpasses we headed towards the Backlot Tour.  Tyler really enjoyed this ride.  Of course, I got the outside seat that gets wet on Catastrophe Canyon.  Tyler got a kick out of me getting splattered with water.  Jerk.  Afterwards we skippedrightoverstupidlightsmotorsaction and went over to Muppet-Vision 3D.  But first we stopped for a photo op:

We’re Singin’ in the Rain!

I looooove the Muppets.  Tyler, not so much.  But I made him watch Muppet-Vision 3D.  I love when Sweetums comes out in the theater to look for Bean Bunny.  When I was little, I thought that was the most awesome thing ever.  How did he get off the screen?!?  At the end, I think Tyler secretly enjoyed.  Although he told me he didn’t need to see it ever again.  So he thinks.  Mwahahahaha.

Us in front of the Muppets fountain.

We had lunch at my restaurant pick for the trip, Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater.  This place is so much fun.  I love the atmosphere, you feel like you’re really at a drive-in.  You dine in retro-looking cars, and there’s even those speakers that you would hang in your car window to hear the movie next to the cars on a stand.  See what I mean about attention to detail?  While you sit in your cars you get to watch clips of those old, cheesy sci-fi movies.  It’s just really good fun in that place.  My sisters and I had to have a milkshake, because their milkshakes are fant-freaking-tastic.  Kaity and I both had cookies and cream, and Lauryn had the seasonal shake, which was a wild berry shake.  Hers came out this crazy blue-green color, and it was AMAZING.  I wish I would have ordered that flavor.  But, cookies and cream was super yummy too.

Us in our car.  I love Tyler’s face.  He’s a goober.

We got fried pickles and onion rings for appetizers.  Both were greasy and salty and tasty, just the way I like my food.  I ordered the Chicken BLT and fries for my entree.  It’s on the menu as a salmon BLT, but you can order it with chicken.  It was really good.  It has a chili-chive aioli on it, which sounds really fancy, but is amazing on this sandwich.  Tyler got the All American picnic burger, which is a hamburger, with a HOT DOG on it.  Seriously.  It’s like heart attack on a bun.  But, I tried it and it was surprisingly good.  This was a wonderful meal, and I’m really glad I picked this place to eat.

After our meal, we made our way to Star Tours.  This was by-far Tyler’s favorite in the park.  He’s a nerd.  But, we all love this ride.  Our ride took us to the pod racers scene.  We’ve never gotten this one before, super fun!  

Ahhhhhhh!  Near-death experience right here.

After Star Tours, we went to ride Toy Story Mania.  Tyler and I played against each other, then my two sisters, then my parents.  At the first game in the ride, I totally dominated Tyler.  Then, I got a hand cramp at the second game and I fell behind.  And, that’s not just a lame excuse either…well, maybe it’s a little lame.  Although Tyler and I’s scores stayed close the whole time, he ended up beating me by a few thousand points.  Of course, he bragged for the rest of the day.  Typical.  I wish we could have rode a second time so I could redeem myself, but we never made it back.  

We headed over to the big thrills after that.  Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.  We got fastpasses for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, then headed to Tower of Terror.  Tyler haaaaates drop rides, but, apparently I dragged him on this ride.  He exaggerates just a bit.  There was no dragging involved.  Just a lot of pleading.  Again, attention to detail at it’s best here.  I could spend hours in there just looking at all of the stuff in the queue.  To be honest, this ride pretty much terrifies me too, but I love the feeling.  It’s like a love-hate relationship.  When we hit the first drop, I thought I was going to cut off the circulation to his leg because I was squeezing it so hard.  I wish we would have bought the ride photo, because poor Tyler’s face was priceless.  He liked the ride, but again said he would never ride it again.  At least he’s willing to try everything once.  One of the many reasons I love him.

At this point, Tyler was pooped.  His first full day of Disney really took it out of him.  He really wanted to just go back to the hotel and sit by the pool.  So Tyler, my dad, and I headed back to the hotel and my mom and sisters stayed behind to look in shops and stuff.  Our fast passes for Rock ‘n’ Roller coaster weren’t up until 7, so we had about 3 and a half hours to kill.  That night was also extra magic hour, so we figured if we missed our window we could just ride it later that night.  The pool was really nice.  Tyler and I played and floated around for about an hour while my dad lounged and drank beer.  It’s so nice having moments like that with Tyler.  I love just being with him and being able to be silly and just talk about anything.  He’s really my best friend.  Ok, enough with the mushy stuff.  After a while they ended up having to temporarily close the pool because of thunder.  The skies were turning pretty dark, and it turned out that a pretty nasty thunderstorm was coming through.  I called my sister, and she told me that they were heading out of the park.  So, we didn’t make it back to ride Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster after all.  I was slightly bummed, but I know I’ll have more chances to ride the ride.  I was so glad I got that time alone with Tyler at the pool that it was worth missing the ride.

A couple of things that we missed at the Studios that are on the top of my list for next trip are: The Little Mermaid show, Indiana Jones, Rock ‘n’ Roller coaster, the new Pirates of the Caribbean show, and the Beauty and the Beast show.  I also want to walk through the Magic of Disney Animation.  We haven’t done that for a few trips now.

Hollywood Studios was Picture-Perfect.  I had a fantastic time.  Day 3 was beach day, and I was so ready for a day of relaxation by the ocean.

Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip

Lotso!  Flower and Garden Festival @ Epcot

I need to get on the ball or I’ll be blogging about this trip until my next trip.

Ok, so we headed to Epcot.  Epcot is an awesome park, and I love the feeling of it.  Walking around all the countries, seeing Spaceship Earth as you walk in, and all of the flowers and landscaping around.  Especially during the Flower and Garden festival.  May 19 was the last day of the festival, so we had to make sure we got to Epcot.  Of course, as soon as we pulled up to the bus stop it starting to rain, and by the time we got through the gates the rain was pretty steady and, to a wimp like me, it might as well have been downpouring.  But, in traditional Florida style, the rain didn’t last long, and soon we were heading toward World Showcase.

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wordscanbesexy:

heatherbat:

callmebliss:

hellotailor:

rubdown:

lovelymoonbeams:

stunningpicture:

‘Cause people seem to only post the 20-something Audrey Hepburn

this is genuinely the first photo i’ve seen of her looking older

I didn’t know Audrey Hepburn grew old into a bomb-ass old lady until like, last year. I thought she died young cuz that’s the only pictures I’ve ever seen. 

omg

<3

she was also the granddaughter of a baron, the daughter of a nazi sympathizer, spent her teens doing ballet to secretly raise money for the dutch resistance against the nazis, and spent her post-film career as a goodwill ambassador of UNICEF, winning the presidential medal of freedom for her efforts.

and history remembers her as pretty.

\o/

and history remembers her as pretty.

and history remembers her as pretty.

and history remembers her as pretty.