I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22.

I feel like I never want to be older than 22. It just seems like the perfect age. Maybe 23 or 24 would be okay, too, but I guess I'll know for sure when I get to that.

Anyway, I had a great birthday! Lots of little things went totally NOT according to plan (!!!!) but what can you do? It was still festive and all my friends came and life was wonderful.

Hopefully it doesn't come off as braggy to say that I got a lot of WONDERFUL presents. Seriously, I have the best friends ever- and they all know me so well.

Tristan, the love of my life, got me these pearl earrings from James Avery. I told you I love pearls!

They're soooo beautiful and I wasn't expecting them at all! My love has good taste. Plus, it continues the tradition! If you recall, I mentioned in a previous blog post that Tristan got me this ring last Christmas...

What a beauty!

Considering that he's going to Pick a Pearl for me at Epcot in a week or so, pretty soon I'll have a complete pearl jewelry collection... all from him! How romantic.

Now that Christmas, my mom's birthday and my birthday are over, it's really time to start getting excited about 2014... namely our Disney trip! Tristan purchased a set of Disney puzzles for us to do. The set came with eight puzzles, and my birthday was the ninth day until our trip. He wants us to do a puzzle every night as a countdown. He's so cute!

I mentioned (I think) that we got a ton of Disney gift cards for our trip. It's giving us more flexibility to spend and Tristan loves his food. He wanted to do another special meal. The one thing we didn't have planned was a character meal, so we booked...

OHANA!

Ohana! I have been here once before, but Tristan has not. We had to narrow down our options. For us, it was between Crystal Palace, Ohana or 1900 Park Fare. Crystal Palace would have been much preferred but there were no available reservations short notice.

So it came down to Ohana or 1900 Park Fare. We considered characters, time and the kind of buffet we wanted to experience. Ultimately it came down to Ohana because it would be earlier, giving us more time to eat and relax before park opening. We also prefer to see Mickey, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch over the 1900 Park Fare characters (who, IMO, are more easily found in the parks) and like the idea of having food brought to us, as opposed to potentially missing characters while we are up getting food.

I am really excited about this! My time at Ohana was very memorable and I think Tristan will have a great time too. Nothing says Disney like a character meal so I'm very happy we got to fit this one into our food budget- with the help of our friends and family, of course!

I've been eyeballing the 10-day forecast for Disney pretty religiously. Currently we have Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday weather. All we need is Friday and we'd be set!

Those lows are a little sketchy...

I was really crossing my fingers for 70s weather. Thursday looks GREAT to me! I really want to wear dresses and that can't be done comfortably with weather that is too chilly so this is awesome. It's definitely cooler here in San Antonio (though not by much... high 50s mostly) and I've been wearing dresses with tights comfortably so I think we will be A-OK.

I can't wait!

-Mari

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Merry Christmas to you (and to us!)

We had a wonderful Christmas here! Even better, Tristan and I took the whole weekend off because of my birthday (which is on Sunday) so we will be able to be together for our 10th day until Disney, which is tomorrow.

Us on Christmas. I can't wait to take these kinds of mushy photos in front of the castle.

Between the two of us, we rounded up (literally) hundreds of dollars in Disney gift cards. We are fortunate and blessed to have so many who love us! Because of this, we are going to Disney with lots more flexibility to spend and we are so grateful for that!

P.S. Notice the shirt Tristan is wearing in the above photo? That's his "Duffy Bear" shirt! :)

My family knows that I'm Disney obsessed and I received so many beautiful Disney gifts for Christmas, including...

1. Disney Store "it's a small world" Animator Doll - Japan
2. Minnie Mouse ornament
3. Mickey and Minnie salt and pepper shakers (ceramic with magnets in their noses so that they kiss when they face each other! Sooo cute.)
4. Mickey collectible figurine 
5. Minnie Mouse pen and matching cupcake-styled stand for my desk
6. Disney World notepad
7. Mini Duffy!

Making use of my adorable stocking.

As far as non-Disney items, I lovingly received some other big ticket items...

1.  A Bluetooth speaker for my phone (convenient!)
2. Cognac boots (LOVE!!!!! I want to take them to Disney!)

One of my favorite gifts was this beauty, which was on my Christmas list...

This is actually from the parks, made to commemorate New Fantasyland. I am in love with it, absolutely in love. It is so much more beautiful in real life than in the photos, and even has gold threads (which I love particularly in Belle's dress.) It's a must have for any diehard Beauty and the Beast fan.

Tristan and I promised no Christmas gifts to each other, but since I bought him a stocking this year I slipped a little something inside. He likes Vinylmation and requested one from the Villains series. I felt worried about picking one out and having it be one he hated, so I grabbed a brand new tray and stared at it until I determined which was the best. Then I asked a co-worker to choose one also, and she happened to pick the exact same one I had! I told her, "This is a good sign!" So come Christmas Eve, Tristan opened the box and...

IT WAS THE CHASER! Is that good luck, or what?! I was soooo excited for him (and for myself, since I picked it... hahaha.)

And because I'm a shopaholic and I work in a mall, it was hard to stay away from the semi-annual sales that took place after Christmas. Because I'm obsessed, I went to Bath and Body Works and caved a little.

Their shower gels were on sale for $3 each! I mean, COME ON. I had to stock up on this stuff. It was the second day of the sale, so sadly there weren't many options available... I grabbed the very last Pink Chiffon and Cranberry Twinkle. These scents are all new to me as my favorites were sold out- I'm especially sad about missing out on the Winter Candy Apple shower gel, which is what I really wanted. :( (I did grab the last body mist, though... I wonder when they restock?)

So far, I've only used two and I love them both! Vanilla Bean Noel (how have I not smelled this stuff before?!) and Cranberry Twinkle. These two are from the Holiday Traditions line, so sadly I won't be able to grab more once I run out. At least until next Christmas!

And that's the last three days for me. Today was my mother's birthday, so we celebrated by shopping, eating and seeing Saving Mr. Banks. We are so Disney, aren't we?

Goodnight!

-Mari

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16 days til Disney... and Christmas is approaching!

Wow! I had about a minute to breathe after finals before I started working like a madwoman! The mall has been BUSY! It's to be expected, of course, but I still have no idea why so many people wait until the absolute last minute to Christmas shop. Is it the sales? Or are we a nation of procrastinators?

40% off at the Disney Store! There's my shameless promotion.

 All of my Christmas shopping is done, but it's tough resisting the urge to continue buying things on sale considering that I work at a mall. Just last night I purchased these his and hers stockings for Tristan and I. We promised each other no Christmas gifts to save money for our trip, so they'll be for next year (but I did sneak a little something something in there.) I've always wanted to get us Disney stockings.

The weekend before Christmas is always absolutely atrocious. I'm thankful that even though I work today, it's for a floor move so I don't actually have to interact with any hordes of people and I don't work at all Christmas Eve, which is in my mind the absolute worst day to work. Plus, all the hours don't hurt when I've got a big vacation coming up, amirite?

On the bright side, my manager bought me this adorable little ornament for my tree as a token of appreciation for my slave labor. Jk. Belle is my absolute favorite and I'm in love with the tiny details!

It's been so busy at both Disney and Starbucks that Tristan and I hadn't seen each other much for the last few days. So this morning we went to breakfast and mini golf.

My mom and dad used to go mini golfing at this particular place when they were teenagers and young adults, and they went again recently. (Side note: Today they're celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary.) My mom bought my sister and I two gift cards to go on mini golf dates, so Tristan and I utilized ours today to have a nice date and save some cash at the same time.

Pink and blue is kind of a theme with us.

It was a fun time. Tristan is absurdly good at every sport he tries, while I have self-diagnosed Dyspraxia and have no grace, hand-eye coordination, little strength and horrible aim. Basically, I have no gross motor skills and I suck at every sport in the entire world. So he beat me, as usual, and I pouted. My goal is to one day beat him at some sport. Doesn't matter what.

Tomorrow is 15 days until Disney. It's coming way too fast, and to think I still have to get through Christmas and my birthday first? This is gonna be a fun month...

-Mari

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Which bag to take?

I'm stressing out about this and it's such a miniscule issue. But seriously. Someone help me make a decision! I have a major (first world) problem!

BAGS is my problem!

I need to figure out what freakin' bag to carry with me in the parks. I have a couple of pre-existing options, or I need to buy a new one. In the past I have taken a huge backpack (too big), a little backpack (but one of those lame little stringy ones, so it was unorganized and useless), a crossbody bag (that was way too small) and a purse (actually wasn't too bad but I don't prefer it.)

On this trip I am planning (well, hoping) to take with me to the parks:

• My wallet
• Customized maps
• A couple of vinylmation for trading
• And small snacks!

Here are my options for this trip...

My pink flamingo rucksack! I got it on clearance at Icing.
Sometimes I use it for actual legitimate reasons, like school.
It carries pretty much everything I need, including my laptop.

Option A) My pink flamingo rucksack. It's basically a backpack but a little smaller. It's not meant to carry heavy things because sometimes I put my laptop in and then it refuses to close. But I won't be carrying my laptop, so it's not like it matters. So here's the pros and cons of the pink flamingo rucksack. Feel free to tell me if I forget anything obvious.

Pros	Cons
Plenty of room! Especially to carry snacks! Stays on your back, no having to put it down all the time like a purse. Not too large like a normal backpack.	A little too big, maybe? Having to take it off for rides and photos. And to pay for things to get my wallet out. It’s white. Will it get messy? Does it even matter?

I love this little sucker. My go-to crossbody.
I got it at Charlotte Russe for fifteen dollars, on sale.
It's bigger than my other crossbody and on a normal day carries:
My keys, wallet (which is large) and make-up bag if I stuff it in there well enough.

Option B) The small crossbody. This is my usual everyday bag. It does carry a surprising amount for how small it is, but I worry that I won't be able to take snacks! If I took this, I'd have to take the contents out of my wallet and put it into a smaller one to maximize space. It also has a small zippered compartment in the front. To the pros and cons...

Pros	Cons
It’s small. I NEVER HAVE TO TAKE IT OFF! Literally, photos, rides, eating… so efficient.	It’s small. It can’t hold many (if any) snacks so I’d have to eat prior to leaving the park and no snack during the day… is that so bad? I just don’t know…

And finally, option C.

My pink polka dot lunch tote from Old Navy.
This isn't actually it, but it's the closest I could find on the Internet.
It was pretty cheap and I bought it because I need it for school, but I haven't actually used it yet so I don't know what all fits in this little guy.

Option C) My pink polka dot lunch tote. I literally just bought this so I have no idea how much it can hold, but the reason I'm considering it at all is because it comes with this handy dandy crossbody strap. So technically, I think I could wear it as a crossbody bag. I might have to test it out first to see how much it really holds. The inside is insulated, so I can keep my wallet cold. LOL. Just kidding. It looks like it'll definitely hold a bit more than the standard crossbody bag...

Pros	Cons
I can take snacks!!!! It’s got a crossbody strap attached so it’s a crossbody and a lunch tote in two? So I could probably leave it on for rides and such instead of removing it all the time…	Kind of an awkward shape. Definitely meant to be a lunch bag instead of a purse, but it could work, right?! Maybe?! My camera will be insulated… I don’t think that’s really a con, but whatever.

So there's the pros and cons for everything. Someone needs to make a decision for me! I'm indecisive!

-Mari

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Happy 20 days til Disney!

Wow, time is flying by!

I had my last final today which is a milestone for me, as it was my last college final of my last college class. I'm finished with university classes and now it's time for student teaching. By the end of next semester I'll be ready to graduate and teach! I'm really excited to be a huge step closer to finishing my degree... but I'm also nervous. I'm like Peter Pan not wanting to grow up!

In the meantime, I get some wonderful things to look forward to- Christmas, my mom's birthday, my birthday and then of course... DISNEY!!!

I have no idea what I am going to do for my birthday. In the past, I traditionally invite all friends and family to a big dinner. I've done that every birthday since I turned sixteen. I swore last year was my last year of doing that because I was turning 21 and felt I needed to be more "grown up."

So this year I have a couple of things that I'd like to do, namely going to see Frozen again with my family and going to my favorite pizza place for a much smaller dinner with close friends. Other ideas include inviting said friends over for the night for drinks and playing zombie video games for hours on end (Wow, I thought I was turning into a 22 year old young adult, not a 13 year old teenage boy.) I'm viewing going to Disney as my birthday present to myself, so perhaps that's why I haven't actually organized much yet.

I think the week between my birthday and leaving for Disney is going to be pure TORTURE!

Today was 20 days til Disney and I have started packing! Here is a sneak peak at a few of the outfits in my suitcase.

Matching Mickey and Minnie shirts. Black leggings for me. Minnie ears. Red chunky necklace.
Not pictured: Socks, black boots, black sweater... or any of Tristan's things.

Our matching shirts will be worn on our park hopping AK/HS night. I always associate red and black with Hollywood Studios, for some reason. Maybe because the colors are so glam together, I don't know. The shirts are wrinkly from being thrown around for the last few weeks, forgive me.

The beginnings of our Shellie May and Duffy Disneybounds.
Not pictured: White tights, either of our shoes, my giant Shellie May bow.

The Disneybound is almost complete! I finally convinced Tristan to go with me to buy his shirt. He's hard to shop with, because he will only try on clothes if he feels confident that day (has been running lately, hasn't eaten a lot that day, etc.) because otherwise it doesn't look the way he wants it to.

He tried this shirt on and seemed to like it, which makes me happy! I want him to be comfortable even if he is only doing this to appease me. We found it at Old Navy on clearance for $13. My Shellie May dress was on sale similarly at Target, but I bought it in October so who knows if it's still available.

Cute!!!

I bought this adorable huge bow from Icing to go with the DB that is not packed because I've been wearing it so often. It looks especially cute when accessorizing a bun or ponytail! It makes me want to buy more bows.

From afar this looks weird, but it's actually a really cute polka dot dress with tights and a cardi.

 

This looks like a giant puddle of gross when it's on my floor, but it's actually really cute on. I've worn this outfit combination for student teaching, and I love this dress! There's so many different ways to wear it, I get compliments on it all the time, and it makes me feel like a vintage housewife. I really want to wear it for Christmas but it's already packed. Resist the urge!

That's all I've packed so far. I planned all my outfits weeks ago, but now I'm starting to second guess them... it's so hard to pack without knowing the weather situation.

Things I need to pack but haven't:

• Park tickets
• Customized maps
• Magic Bands
• Duffy and Shellie
• My Cinderella necklace

Indeed I have a lot of things to remember before leaving. At least I have my packing list finished and ready to be checked off. I don't even want to think about Tristan's method of packing, which I'm sure entails throwing random things into a suitcase. It gives me anxiety just thinking about it.

-Mari

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Disney dining.

I've gone to Disney on the dining plan before and for someone like me, who eats like a child and in extremely small portion sizes, it is way too much friggin' food.

BUT something glorious came from the dining plan when I went a few years back. We went to Sanaa (which was alright, but again I have the taste buds of a first grader) and when I was forced to choose a dessert, I picked the random mango tapioca pudding.

OH MY GOD. It's literally the best thing I have ever eaten in my entire life.

Bless you, my glorious little glass of heaven.

OMG just looking at the picture makes me audibly squeal in excitement. I know, I know- it's pudding, it's random, I could probably make it at home if I really tried hard enough, but I could also make Mickey waffles at home if I wanted to and it still wouldn't equate to eating a Mickey waffle AT DISNEY.

The rest of this blog post is a series of photos of the pudding, just to annoy/entice you.

Anyway, so I've dreamed about this pudding ever since and I just haven't made it back to Sanaa. I mentioned this to Tristan and after much debate we decided to re-visit Sanaa so my taste buds can be delighted by mango tapioca pudding again.

We have a very late 8:50 reservation the day we'll be visiting Epcot. We'll be snacking all day during Epcot so we probably won't be too hungry but our reservation is for dessert only (as I told the CM on the phone because I feel like a jerk for taking a whole table just to satisfy my pudding craving.)

My favorite things all in one... mango... tapioca... It's heaven!

We aren't doing a lot of full service this trip because frankly we're college kids and we're broke, so we'll be hitting up a lot of quick service places and the resort food court for most of our dining. But we did make a reservation at one other place...

The 50s Prime Time Cafe, located in Hollywood Studios.

This is another place that I went to with family a couple years back and it is the only place that I can recall visiting that I thought, "I should really go again and try this next time..." I went with A LOT of family, my immediate and extended cousins, and while I ordered chicken noodle soup (I think) some of my other family members ordered the chicken pot pie. I experienced major dinner envy that night.

It's not that I didn't enjoy my chicken noodle soup (I love chicken soup and it's a favorite of mine just about anywhere but I guess it wasn't very memorable because I can't even remember if that's what I really ordered, so crap.) but their chicken pot pie just looked soooo goood. So did just about everything else.

Okay, food always looks gross in these close-up pictures. How do restaurants do it for promotional shots?

So since we couldn't get Be Our Guest dinner reservations on short notice, we agreed on Prime Time. The mango tapioca pudding and chicken pot pie might be what I'm most excited for- I don't know, I'm weird like that.

IT'S SO EXCITING.

Finals finish this week and then I have all of winter break to count down to my magical trip. Well, I have to work too, which is probably going to stink because people just get really grumpy in malls around the holidays. I've already had a few crazy situations.

People, it's Christmas. You're supposed to be merry! If you're at the mall Christmas shopping, it probably means you have beloved family members who you are shopping for (who will likely physically be with you for Christmas) and the means to buy gifts. So feel blessed and stop yelling at random people in line.

On that note, have a magical day!

-Mari

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Another magical delivery! The Magic Bands are in!

Tristan and I were walking out the door this morning to run errands when I spotted a box hiding under a plant near the door- whoever delivered it hid it really well, I almost didn't even notice it.

I thought it was a Christmas present as my dad and I have both been online shopping like nobody's business. But Tristan picked it up and said, "It's our Magic Bands" and we both freaked out. I told him to open it then and there, then thought to pull out my phone to record the opening process.

I was shocked by how quickly they came. I'm pretty sure our last day to customize them was Friday. Saturday when I checked the status, the notice said "Make any last minute changes now! Your Magic Bands will be completed at any second!" or something to that effect. It's Tuesday and they were delivered this morning, it seems. So much faster than expected!

Pink and blue!

At first we were so excited that we said, "Ahh, we're going to wear them everywhere!" Then the excitement wore off and we realized we should keep them safe until we go as to not lose them before we even get on the plane, haha. (We are like children who can't wait to play with a new toy, clearly.)

Blurry car photo of our names next to our bands. Our names are on the inside as well. I love them!

We are 27 days out and getting more and more excited with each day that passes. My parents actually went to Florida this week to visit family, but made a stop at the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios for a mini vacation. I'm eager for them to come back and hear their stories of what has changed. They went to the Christmas Party on Sunday night and stayed at Art of Animation overnight (Sooo jealous! Why wasn't that resort available for our vacation?!)

A few days ago was our 30th day and our plans to celebrate didn't exactly work out the way we wanted them to. Instead, we watched The Little Mermaid on Blu-Ray and watched all the special features about The Little Mermaid ride that never came to be- we plan to compare it to the new one when we visit New Fantasyland for the first time together- although I did ride the version at California Adventure last year, and I suspect they're very similar if not the exact same.

Have a magical day!

-Mari

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Planning what to wear.

It's 31 days out and I'm starting to wonder about when is an appropriate time to start packing things away for the trip. I've put away my Cinderella carriage necklace currently and that's about it, but I have written out exactly what I want to wear on every day that I'm there. This is something I've always done for every trip, including trips that are non-Disney related.

I'm really not a jeans and t-shirt girl. Not that I'm fashion savvy either, but I generally just prefer dresses, shorts, rompers, tights- just about anything over denim jeans. If I must wear pants due to weather, I go for leggings or colored pants rather than plain denim. Below is a series of photos taken over the course of the last year to give you an idea (the middle picture is at Comic Con if you're wondering where in the hell I found a group of Sailor scouts.)

Luckily, I live in Texas, so wearing dresses and shorts year-round is pretty do-able. We rarely get cold weather.

I know most people wear shorts/jeans and t-shirts to Disney, because they're on vacation and they can't be bothered and that's totally okay and I support you! I just can't do that for some reason... maybe I want to look nice because of pictures and the like, I don't know. So I have to plan my outfits before packing. Because if I decide to wear my red polka dot dress, I know I'm going to need my black tights because it'll be winter, but oh wait, that dress needs a belt, the brown skinny one, so let me write that down, and what shoes should I wear because my boots just won't go with that dress...

See my problem? That's why I have to write everything down from the actual outfit to all matching accessories, so I don't forget something and look like an imbecile.

Oh, look, I'm in jeans in this picture. After I gave that little rant and everything.
Well, at least they are technically jeggings.

My other issue is shoes. Whenever I was younger (well, teen years) and I went with my dad, he would become so irritated that I wanted to wear flats and sandals to Disney. Admittedly, they do nothing for support and probably aren't good for feet at all. But they went better with my outfits...

My dad wouldn't allow that though, so to appease him I wore tennis shoes to Disney while growing up. In recent times I have worn flats and sandals and they don't hurt me at all, with the exception of one black pair that made me want to kill myself last time I went to Disneyland. To be fair, those shoes hurt me even when I wear them here at home, so I should have known better. Never again.

This time, since it's winter, I'm planning on mostly wearing flat boots and maybe one pair of flats.

Made using Polyvore.

Whenever I want to plan and remember an outfit, I use Polyvore.com to create it and get an idea of what it's all going to look like together. On Polyvore you can type in "red polka dot dress" and bunches of them will come up and you choose whichever you want.

Above is an example of an outfit I'm going to try to wear at MK, though I don't know if the weather will permit it just yet (I'm kind of a pansy when it comes to the cold, so we'll see- I might give in.)

And have you ever heard of Disneybound?

A Peter Pan example from disneybound.tumblr.com.

Well, I don't have the resources to pull this off for every day we'll be there, so I'm just going with Disney sweaters and whatever matches my ears. But there is one day when I'm going to attempt a Disneybound, although it's a little more obscure than average.

Remember me saying I'm obsessed with Duffy?

Yeah, I'm going to be Shellie May for our Epcot visit and Tristan has agreed to be Duffy. I know, he must really love me. To be fair, it's not totally over-the-top. It's not like I'm forcing him to wear bear ears or a sailor cap. He'll be fine.

I already know I'm weird.

Here's the dress I bought, in terrible lighting. I also have a big bow I just bought last week to go on my head. Part of me thinks it's going to be adorable, though I know nobody is going to get it or even care. It's more for my own personal wants. But I don't care! I will wave my nerd flag high.

Of course, this is all weather-permitting. I've never worn a dress in January at Florida. In the past I've worn pants and even a sweater earlier in the day. I will be packing leggings, sweater tights and cardigans for the dresses I am hoping to wear on the trip and hopefully that will be enough to keep me warm.

San Antonio's definition of cold must be somewhat similar to Florida's definition of cold, right? I've been living in leggings the past two days and it's in the 30s, so what the hey?

-Mari

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Cinderella's carriage.

Going back to my Pick a Pearl post, I mentioned that I had purchased a Cinderella carriage cage necklace to place my pearl in after my experience is complete.

This is it, Instagram style.

I was surprised by how cute and dainty it is. I knew it couldn't be too large but with all the research I did, I only found photos of it being worn by small children, so it looked much larger in comparison.

As you can tell by comparing it to my (admittedly small hand) it's actually the perfect size! And the detail is stunning- take note of the little heart doors.

I must be a complete idiot because I couldn't figure out how to get it open. Tristan eventually did it for me and showed me how. I felt silly for not getting it on my own.

A poster on Tumblr as well as some research told me the little charm might change color with some time and that perhaps coating it with clear polish or top coat would make it last a little longer, so I did that. I used a cheap Sally Hansen brand and I'll report on how it keeps up much later.

All in all, I'm happy with my inexpensive purchase and it makes me all the more excited for visiting the parks.

This was another option but I went with the carriage.

I ordered mine from AOSDesign on Etsy, if you're interested in getting your own! As far as the Pick a Pearl necklace selection, there is also a Mickey Mouse-shaped cage in addition to other styles such as clams, hearts, turtles, etc... And if you're looking for just a plain necklace, there's a mini Cinderella glass slipper necklace that's just adorable as well.

37 days till Disney!

 For our 40th day, we watched vintage 90s videos of Magic Kingdom and Epcot (does that count as vintage?) on our Apple tv, including the "Day in the Magic Kingdom/Epcot" videos I shared last week. Tristan was enthralled to realize that he had been on Body Wars before it was shut down, since he remembered riding it vividly and apparently nobody in his family remembered this ride and told him he had made it up.

I'm worried about our vacation just flying by! On the bright side, it's December 1st, the beginning my favorite month of the year! Mostly because my birthday is the 29th, but also because Christmas, winter break and my mom's birthday. Plus all my Christmas shopping is just about done, can you believe it?

-Mari

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A little magic came in the mail today...

First things first, happy Thanksgiving to all and happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate it as well! I'm glad to announce that I will NOT be at work tonight for the first time in four years. I'm still working my fourth Black Friday but it's a normal day shift and not the middle of the night, crazy shift. I actually really like those crazy shifts but it just wasn't in the cards this year... and I'm glad for it!

Indeed it will be.

I did some minor traveling for Thanksgiving (30 minutes across town but whatever) and spent the night so I wasn't here yesterday to see this little package delivered at my door. From poking around on the Internet, I knew what would be inside so I pretty much tore through it until I got to the center. In the meantime, here's what the package consists of.

Ignore my funky nails in the next few photos. I usually don't let them get this chipped and ugly...

First things first, you unwrap your mystery box and are met with a holographic Mickey... ooooh... ahhh....

Last name blurred for privacy, clearly.

I just love this, it's so cute. I'm also a sucker for anything personalized. While I'm on the topic of personalizing and last names, everything we are getting in the mail says "The [MyLastName] Family/Party" and it always throws me off since obviously Tristan and I have different last names. It's a really weird thing to be picky about, but I wish somehow I could change it to his last name as I don't associate him with my last name AT ALL. There's a pretty good chance we'll be "the [HisLastName] family" some day anyway. Well, whatever. Not a big deal.

This trip we are staying value, at All-Star Sports.

The first thing in the box is the little booklet filled with information for you. It has your reservation confirmation number, resort, package type, arrival date and the booklet features all kinds of information about Magic Bands, MyMagic+, and your resort.

Most of the booklet I just skimmed through. It probably would only be really useful if we a) had never been to the park before and knew minimal information about what we were going to see and b) if we were actually using Fastpass+. Again, we are using Magic Bands but as a CM, we can't link our tickets to My Disney Experience... therefore, no Fastpass+. Bummer.

The thing I did love about the booklet was the information about the resort. Likely because I've never stayed at All-Star Sports before. Tristan has stayed at a variety of resorts from value to moderate and I've only ever stayed value (please, I'm not spending a buttload of money on a room where I'm only going to sleep and shower, nothing else) at Pop Century. We absolutely love Pop Century but since our trip was last minute, the only value open for our stay was the All-Stars. We chose Sports. I'm excited because I've never stayed there before, though I know it's not all that different from the others. Don't squash my excitement. :)

The magnet in the back of the book.

Another favorite part is this little magnet you can peel off the back of your booklet with your vacation date. Mine is happily stuck to my refrigerator as I type.

The most exciting part of the box by far.

At the bottom of the box lies your Mickey Mouse USB. Plug it into your computer for it to take you to My Disney Experience and show you two videos introducing you to MyMagic+. I was excited to watch but quickly lost that excitement when I realized it was the same video from the e-mail I received about using MyMagic+ in the first place. There's two videos but the other one is about Fastpass+ and so I didn't watch it as it was useless to me.

The Mickey USB is really cute anyway. It lights up green when you plug it in.

 

 

The other thing we ordered pretty much instantly after booking our trip was our customized maps. Tristan and I worked on them together and were pretty excited about receiving them a couple of weeks ago.

Customized maps highlight your party's favorite attractions at each park!

Making the map was fun because Tristan and I got to share and talk about all of our must-dos and favorite things to see. You can choose to print them at home or you can have them mailed to you. The website warned that our maps may not come in time for our vacation (we ordered late October for a January vacation) but I think that's just a way to trick you into printing at home instead. We got ours with plenty of time to spare (early November.)

There it is, our little All-Star Sports!

The maps also come with a small sticker sheet in case you want to add any other must-see attractions. The star that says "My Resort" is meant for the big map with all of Disney World on it (which you get along with individual maps for each park.) There's our little guy... I think Tristan tried to place it perfectly over the star but missed?

We are 39 days out from our trip today. We should have done our 40-day activity yesterday but were both too busy with the holiday so I'm postponing it a bit. I'm fully expecting the month to fly by with finals, Christmas and the busy retail season at the Disney Store. I'm not sure if I want it to slow down a bit or come by faster. Hopefully time slows down a little at least while we're there.

Happy thanksgiving from us!

-Mari

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A Day at the Magic Kingdom in the 90s.

My first trip to Walt Disney World was in 1994, if you don't count the time my mother was pregnant with me and she went with my sister and father in 1991 (I don't count it, although we speculate that this is the reason why I'm obsessed with Disney in the first place.)

Anyway, I used to watch this VHS tape called "A Day in the Magic Kingdom" as a child ALL. THE. TIME. I would watch the whole thing, rewind it, then play it and watch it again. You'd think it was an actual Disney movie, I watched it so much.

 

I still have the VHS somewhere in this house as I remember finding it last year and trying to convince Tristan to watch it with me (he wouldn't) but now I can't find it again. I had an itching to watch it again for the first time in several years so I found it on YouTube. Isn't the internet amazing?

I've linked the video here so you can watch if you want to feel nostalgic!

I think I'll force Tristan to watch it with me as a part of our Days till Disney countdown. : )

Good night!

-Mari

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Oh no!

After writing our lists yesterday, I was informed that there is no longer a parade at Hollywood Studios. I had never seen a parade there anyway, but it was on Tristan's "must-do" list. Neither of us have been back since 2012, so I guess a lot has changed in the year we were away!

Rest in peace, Pixar parade. Is this even the correct parade? I wouldn't know, I've never seen it.

Learning this made me go check out what else is going to be gone or closed when we get there in January.

A bit of research told me that Splash Mountain, the Studio Backlot Tour and the Festival of the Lion King show are going to be closed when we get there.

Sorry I'm not sorry, Splash Mountain.

Splash Mountain isn't a big deal to me because every time I ride it, I worry about getting wet anyway. This is just a good way to avoid it entirely (though Tristan may not think so.)

I actually do really like the Backlot tour because of the exhibit and behind-the-scenes look.
But it's a little long and we won't have a lot of time anyway - so a blessing in disguise!

The Backlot Tour is another "eh" for me just because I told Tristan I would like to ride it, but it's not a necessity.

NOOOOOOO!!!!

The Festival of the Lion King being closed is super sad for me, though! One of the first things I ever told Tristan while we were dating was that I hated, hated, HATED Finding Nemo: the Musical and much preferred Festival of the Lion King. I thought he was going to stop the car and order me to get out! Haha. Nemo is probably Tristan's favorite attraction in all of Disney, so we have debated the issue constantly ever since.

So since Festival of the Lion King is sort of my "thing" at this point, I'm feeling sad that it's going to be closed. Does anybody know what's happening there, by the way? I heard it's going to be closed for up to six months. I'm slightly concerned that they're just saying it's temporary and it's actually closing for good but I can't imagine why. Anyone have any info?

On a random note, Casey's will be closed too. There goes my tradition of getting a hot dog on every trip.

In the end, we're going to have a magical trip no matter what! I'm not going to get too torn up about some things closing, as it could be worse. I'm just excited to experience the whole thing together for the first time!

Have a magical day!

-Mari

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