Monthly Archives: April 2015

Day 206- Butterflies at Epcot

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Today is beautiful and it is a hot 90 degrees this afternoon. There are beautiful clouds in the vibrant blue sky and a good breeze. The kids went to Epcot last weekend with some friends and they got to hold butterflies in the Butterflies on the Go Butterfly exhibit. It sounds so fun and so cool to get to hold a butterfly. So, we decide to go to Epcot because I want to get to hold a butterfly!

We enjoy our drive to Epcot. There is a light crowd as we arrive and go through the main parking gates. The parking attendant is filling in vacant spots near the front. That is great and will make our walk a lot closer.

As we walk to the entrance, we get our bags checked and MagicBands scanned. Now, we enter into Epcot and see the beautiful topiaries for the Flower and Garden Festival. Goofy eaters the plants while Pluto smiles and Daisy holds a fresh bouquet and greets you as you enter!

The first place I look for is the Butterflies on the Go exhibit, so we walk up around the right side of Spaceship Earth, pass Fountain View, and walk on around to see the butterfly exhibit.

As we walk in, we begin to look at all of the beautiful flowers and the little houses full of chrysalises. It is amazing to see the different stages that the chrysalises are in and even the ones that are empty. You can see various stages of the butterflies’ life cycles as you look at the flowers, chrysalises, and the butterflies.

I see someone holding a butterfly and I am so excited to see one this close. Soon, they are about to leave and they gently pass the little orange butterfly to us. I was so excited to hold a real, live butterfly!! It just sat there on my pointer finger and I could just look at it for a little while. Then, I handed it to the kids. They have held one before, but this is the coolest thing I have ever done! Soon, we have several families gathering and I ask if they would like to hold this butterfly. These butterflies are so cool! You just gently put a finger in front of their tiny legs, and they crawl right on to your finger. Please, whatever you do, try not to touch their wings, as they are very delicate, and there are signs to remind of this. It is too cool to feel their little feet crawl onto your finger!

I had just handed it off when we tried to catch another one, and a mom called me the “butterfly whisperer” and then three landed on me. It was SO cool!

I am watching these kids enjoying the butterfly when I hear a little guy say, “Oh, there is a caterpillar!” in the best British accent. You really can see every stage of a butterfly’s life in here! I ask his dad if his son would like to hold the butterfly, and he is so appreciative. Then, Twinkie sees his older brother is trying to catch one with one of the KidCot paper Duffys. She let him know that his little brother is holding a butterfly, and maybe his brother would let him hold it if he wanted to. He jumps up and goes to hold the butterfly.

The kids hand it back to me and I show the next little one how to get the butterfly to walk onto her pointer finger. Her dad is so excited and takes her picture. Then, her brother wants to hold it, so they ask if I can help them. I am so happy to show them how to transfer the gorgeous orange butterfly from one pointer finger to the next. The smiles on their faces as they get to share the butterfly with someone show how truly magical this moment is. Soon, they are leaving and another family comes up and asks for help learning how to transfer a butterfly from one person to the next. This is so much fun!

The last family actually sat down in a group and got a picture with their young son holding the butterfly! Everyone is all smiles and it makes for a beautiful, absolutely amazing picture. A little girl stops me and wanted to show me all of the butterflies flying around the top of the butterfly exhibit. That is so sweet. So, I ask the little girl’s parents if they would like to hold the butterfly. The young son was more than glad to hand the butterfly off to her. She is so excited and her parents snap a few pictures of her. Then, there was a grandmother that isn’t sure how to get to hold it, so I show her to put her pointer finger in front of the butterfly and gently move it to let the butterfly step onto her finger with its front feet, and then lightly turn her finger to help it step its back legs onto her pointer. They are so excited!

Amazement and awe fills the faces of young and old, of moms and dads, and even of grandparents as they experience the delight and joy of getting to hold a delicate butterfly. As I am getting ready to leave, there is a young pre-teen girl sitting so still; she has been there for a while and starting to look disappointed. I ask her if she wanted to hold a butterfly. She said, “Yes,” and sounded a little disappointed. So, I told her that there is a dad in the red shirt, and a dad in the blue checked shirt holding a butterfly. We walk over and her mom is so excited that they will get to hold a butterfly. A dad handed off the butterfly to me, so I turned and helped her get the butterfly on her pointer finger! Her mom’s eyes lit up and she started taking pictures of her.

This was the most rewarding day. I love seeing so many visitors get to hold these precious butterflies. To see the gracious sharing of these little butterflies from one family to the next is so cool. I was so grateful that someone shared a butterfly with me. I wish everyone could experience this amazing adventure.

Well, I need to get something cold to drink, so we go the Fountain View to get some Starbucks coffee and tea. I get an iced tea lemonade on this hot evening. We get our coffees and teas and find a place to sit for a minute to cool down. There is a great spot in the shade where we can watch the fountain water dance to the music.

Soon, we head for the front gates and walk a short distance to our car. It was a fabulous evening with all of the butterflies. Good night, Epcot, we had so much fun today!

Day 205- Hollywood Studios

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Today it is mostly sunny with bellowing clouds rolling in. Some are beginning to look like rain clouds, so we take our rain jackets. It is hot and humid today; it is going to be 90 degrees this afternoon as we head for Hollywood Studios. Even though it is hot, there is a little breeze to help cool off the afternoon, which is nice.

Once we park, we walk to the front gates. We get our bags checked and scan our MagicBands. It is busy as we enter onto Hollywood Boulevard at Hollywood Studios. I love the excitement as people walk into the park and down Hollywood Boulevard. As you look down the street you can see the Chinese Theater, which houses The Great Movie Ride.

There are so many things to do here. If you are coming to Hollywood Studios, be sure to check out all of the different rides and various shows. There is even a Disney Junior show for the little ones!

Our first stop is going to be at the Trolley Car Café, where I order an iced green tea lemonade with peach syrup. We get our Starbucks drinks and find a place to sit while Twinkie’s tea finishes brewing. As I step up to a table, I hear two of the Citizens of Hollywood performing on Sunset Boulevard. There they are! It’s Sonny Burbank and Evie Starlight! They are so fun to watch, so we join the huge group of people watching their performance. There are so many people watching that the circle of people gathering around crosses the entire street. People are still joining over the next few minutes. While Sonny is talking about the extravagant date he plans to take Evie on, Evie comes over trying to find a way to escape, and Twinkie gets a fun picture of her as her Coffee View of the Day. (Twinkie has started documenting her “Coffee View of the Day” on Instagram, you can find more of them here:www.instagram.com/twinkiemiller)

The crowd is laughing and enjoying this amazing show! I see a dad in plaid pants bending over because he is laughing so hard. Others are laughing so hard that they can hardly stand it. It is so funny! This is one of their best shows ever! I wish you could hear this funny list of places, foods, animals, and activities that Sonny has lined up for the date (all of which are audience suggestions!). Sonny is remembering a list of about 20 things and repeating them back to the audience; each person laughs as he calls out their suggestion.

As Evie and Sonny finish their skit, there is a huge round of applause! The crowd is so happy and still chuckling over this funny skit! I love watching the Citizens of Hollywood and seeing how much fun the visitors have watching and participating in the skit.

Wow, I had no idea how hot it is in the sun. I was laughing with the kids when I crossed my arm across the metal decoration on my shirt and it is burning hot! Oh, I think I am going to find some shade and cool back down with my iced tea.

After a short beak, we walk around for a bit, and then head for the front gates. We see plenty of cast members trading pins, so we trade a couple with them. They are so gracious and kind.

There are many groups coming in, and it is busy as we are leaving. I see a couple of the cute cars carrying the Citizens of Hollywood on Hollywood Boulevard. These little trucks and the cars are so cute! There is a cool breeze blowing and the clouds look like there could be rain soon. We get out to our car and it begins to rain right after we exit the parking lot.

It has been a fun day, and it is always fun to see the Citizens of Hollywood. I had a really fun afternoon at Hollywood Studios!

Day 203- Easter Parade at Magic Kingdom

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Happy Sunday Morning! Happy Easter Sunday Morning! It is a beautiful, sunshiny day. They sky is blue and the clouds are plenty. This is going to be a very fun day to get to go to Magic Kingdom. The Citizens of Main Street are dressed in their Easter finery, and there are butterfly ladies and living flowers to meet in the hub.

We arrive at the Magic Kingdom parking lot. It is semi-busy as we park and walk to the Monorail. When the Monorail approaches the Contemporary Resort, I hear a little one gasp as we go right through the Grand Canyon Station, inside of the Contemporary. She is amazed that we can drive through the building, where she can see Chef Mickey’s restaurant. Then, she sees the mosaic tower, and next, the little shops. It is so fun to hear her “ooh” and “ahh” as the Monorail makes its way through the Contemporary and out the other side.

We disembark at Magic Kingdom, where we get our bags checked, and MagicBands scanned. I love hearing the Disney music as we arrive. As we step onto Main Street USA, the buildings look beautiful. They are glistening in the bright sun and contrasted by the darker clouds gathering in the sky.

So many people are dressed in their Easter clothes; they look so pretty and so nice! It is a slower moving afternoon, so we take our time as we walk down Main Street. We stop at the Main Street Bakery for some Starbucks tea and coffee. It is not very busy at the moment, so we don’t have a very long wait. We have our coffees and teas, so we are off to find a place to sit or stand for the Easter Parade taking place before the Festival of Fantasy Parade today.

I love the new hub! It is so open and makes the foot traffic flow so much better. We find a great place to stand and wait, just behind the line of people sitting on the curb. Soon, the family in front of us has hamburgers delivered by the men in their family. It smells so good! The guys head back to the new hub and find a ledge to sit on while they finish their lunch. I love all of the seating that the hub expansion has added.

After about 30 minutes, we hear that there is going to be a high school marching band coming down Main Street before the parade starts. We see them getting close, and they look so cool! All of them have on Mickey ear hats and they are so fun to watch. You can tell which families have kids in the band as they sit on the sidewalks cheering and clapping for their kids! I love it.

After about 15 more minutes the Easter Parade begins. The music is so cheery for this beautiful day! There are the official banner carriers, dressed in their fun Easter clothing, flower ladies, walking butterflies, dancing pink hippos and ostriches, and even flower petals floating in the air!

The Easter Bunnies ride down Main Street in a lovely car!

There are young ladies in a sea of beautiful pastel Easter bonnets and ruffled dresses; they look so lovely with their pastel parasols as they glide down the street gracefully.

Even Thumper, Ms. Bunny, the White Rabbit, and Rabbit appear in a gazebo!

Soon, we see chicken ladies go dancing by in front of the barn of none other than Clara Cluck herself! What a treat!

It was so beautiful and fun getting to see the Easter Parade at Magic Kingdom!

We sit for a minute on the hub and talk about what to do next. I have not seen the Easter Egg Display at the Grand Floridian yet, and it’s the last official day for it to be out. That is a must on my list for this season. So, we decide to head that way.

As we exit to go to the Resort Monorail, there are so many people coming into Magic Kingdom. We walk up to the Monorail, wait a short time for one to arrive, and board. We make a stop at the Contemporary, the Transportation and Ticket Center, the Polynesian, and finally, the Grand Floridian.

We disembark and go through the doors into this most grand hotel. It is so beautiful in its coastal Victorian style. We take the elevator to the ground floor, and as we look out of the elevator, we can see the exquisite backs of some of the Easter eggs being displayed. They are just beautiful. We look at all of the ornately decorated, giant Easter Eggs. We study them and fill out a voting slip. These are amazing. Oh! I do see a couple of ladies I have met in these past few months. I say my hellos and we exchange, “Happy Easter Sunday!” greetings. It is good to see them.

After taking all the time we wanted to see the detail of these beautiful eggs, we are off to the Monorail. As we are leaving the Grand Floridian, I see the sky has filled up with what looks like rain clouds. So far, it isn’t raining. Once we board, we stop at Magic Kingdom, the Contemporary, and our final destination, the Transportation and Ticket Center.

Well, it has been a beautiful day, filled with so many smiles, pretty pastel colors, and lovely Easter eggs. It was a Happy Easter Sunday, indeed!