Traveling the World in 6 Hours…

7 12 2010

If that’s your intention, then there really is only one answer.  EPCOT.

How else can you meet Francoise, the Canadian lumberjack, munch on quiche and french bread in a Parisian Boulangerie, explore the Moroccan marketplace, ride an adventurous Norwegian boat ride, watch a play in an Italian piazza, buy an assortment of japanese treats AND get a video of your future vacation……all in the same day.

Epcot is definitely the Adult Theme park at Disney, which was demonstrated by all of the alcohol stations dotted around the park and the majority of guests wandering around the park with beer mug, wine glass or champagne flute in hand while the kids play at the “KIDCOT” stations.  Of course, there were still various Disney characters available to sign autographs.

Amidst all of these cultural pavilions with souvenirs, educational videos and restaurants/snack carts featuring local foods, it was interesting to see what was featured for each country.  For Canada, the staff were dressed in flannel shirts and the pavilion was dominated with totem poles, maple syrup, Canadian bacon sandwiches, and salmon burgers.  For the American Adventure pavilion, which showcased American tradition and history, staff were dressed in ‘early American’ clothing and the featured culinary delights?  Giant turkey legs, popcorn, hot dogs and funnel cakes.  (I’m going to leave it at that since I know that there are both Canadian & American readers…)

And for those of you, like me, who went to Epcot when they were young and all they could remember was the Norwegian boat ride and the purple dragon named ‘Figment’, there’s actually quite a bit to see and do at the park.  Plus, there are a few new additions – going hand gliding at the Soarin’ attraction or being a crash test dummy at Test Track. The one BIG change was the Epcot Dome.  The “Technology” part of the attraction has been taken out and instead you interact with a touch screen and create your own futuristic video, and after the ride you have the option to email it to yourself.  And voila, a branded digital souvenir.



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Categories : Orlando

Happy (American) Thanksgiving!

27 11 2010

“It’s beginning to [not] feel like Christmas”….

It’s hard to get into the holiday spirit when the weather is 80 degrees/26 degrees in Orlando, FL and you’re lazing around the pool eating ice cream, thinking it just might be time for a cool dip in the saltwater pool.  To be honest, I’ve become kind of a water bug this week – I swam in the deep end (not to be taken lightly), I jumped into the pool (for the first time in my adult life…those childhood memories are a little hazy), and I tried to sink to the bottom of the pool at the deep end, which didn’t quite go according to plan, it appears that I am too buoyant and Nathan had to pull me down the last 3 feet.

Despite the very un-Thanksgiving weather that we’ve been enjoying the past week, we did our very best to celebrate the holiday with a traditional feast.

We indulged in the standard turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and veggies; however, the Hyatt put out a fancier spread than that and we may have gorged ourselves on crab claws (already deshelled), oysters on the half shell, shrimp, and king crab legs.  There’s something so sinful about a platter of big crab claws, on ice, ready for you to pluck off the platter and drop into your mouth.  No fuss, no muss.  Although, I did dig into the hard to reach places for that extra crab meat, out of respect to the crab of course.

Dessert was just as sinful with a selection of chocolate truffles, chocolate fudge cake, key lime pie, pumpkin cheesecake flan, traditional pumpkin pie, tiramisu, etc.  I left my mark….in more ways than one, since I accidentally dropped a whole piece of the fudge cake on the floor in the corner – I’m sure they’ll find it at the end of the night….

As part of the American  traditions we even took part in the “Black Friday” sales; however, we did not join the crowds at the doors at midnight.    For our first attempt at “Black Friday” shopping we didn’t even make it off the exit the traffic was so bad, and for our second attempt we circled the parking lot and seeing the craziness decided that going to see a movie would be a much better idea.

Finally, at 7pm we decided to brave the outlet malls.  They say that playing Christmas music calms the hysteria of mass crowds……but I don’t think it was working.  Even at 8pm, 9pm, 10pm, people were still running around crazy, grabbing clothes, purses, leather anything, off of the racks and lining up at the register.  The people who weren’t running around were sitting at the food court or the common areas looking dazed with all of their shopping bags scattered around them.

We attempted to do another go around at the shopping frenzy today (Saturday) at a different outlet mall and circled the parking lot for half an hour as we just barely missed parking spot after parking spot.  After we finally parked and walked through the stores, I have come to realize that I like my shopping environments to be neat, clean and well-organized – by size and colour!  So, outlet malls on Black Friday, are just not for me.


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Categories : Orlando

The Start of Something New

2 11 2008

I have been absolutely horrible about keeping up to date with this blog, however it is now November and I vow to do better…….really I do.

It’s been about a month since my last entry so here’s what’s been happening since then:

I was in Orlando Florida for a convention.  What convention you ask?  The National Funeral Director’s Association convention.  I know more about the funeral industry then I ever thought I would.  So the convention took up my day times, but I did manage an evening trip to The Magic Kingdom!  I admit, I went there in a bad mood, we aptly parked in the “Grumpy” parking lot, and as soon as I stepped onto the grounds I stepped on a piece of gum.  Picture this little asian jumping around on one foot in a circle yelling “get it off, get it off”.  Not a pretty sight!  I’m pretty sure that parents steered their children away from me.

I have no photos to share because unfortunately when I took my camera out, I somehow locked my memory card and wasn’t able to take any photos of the night.  I know, it sounds like I had a horrible time, but it was a trip back into childhood, I chased after Eeyore and screamed while riding Space Mountain (twice).  Very fun times!  But one thing was different, while riding the “It’s a Small World” ride, I thought to myself, did this ride always have such religous overtones?  “It’s a small world after all”….where we all end up dressed in white in heaven?? What??

I ended up getting called back to Detroit early, but not to worry, I enjoyed a “Staycation” right there in balmy Michigan that weekend in a random Bavarian style village called “Frankenmuth”. Picture cobblestone streets, clog shoes, people dancing the polka, caramel apple cider chai tea, and pumpkin bowling.  We also stumbled upon the largest Christmas store in North America.  Think about every colour of christmas tree, every kind of ornament and a mob of people with the mentality that it is christmas eve and they absolutely need that pink stuffed penguin, that just so happens to be in your hands.  Whoops.  No, actually I found myself quite enamoured with a green cat that looked like a watermelon.

I have been on tour with a pop up store for a clothing brand which shall remain nameless (not to worry, I’ll post a telling photo below).  We just started the tour and man has the schedule been crazy.  In 6 days I was in New Jersey, Philadelphia, Charlottesville VA, Boston, and back to New Jersey.  We followed the concert tour for Jay Z, so it was me and all my homies.  Yup, that’s right, me and the boys. I have been introduced to the world of fist bumps, shoulder checks, the “yo mama’s”, and you know, generally a culture that is a little bit out of my norm.  I know, you just pictured this in your head and giggled to yourself, and now that I’ve called you out on it, it’s turned into a ‘laugh out loud’ laugh.  Thanks for all of your support guys.

No matter, because I just spent the last 2 days in New York City.  I hustled and bustled with the best of them, experienced the craziness of time square, almost got run over by a yellow cab, had a street dog on the run, and ate the tastiest of New York Cheesecakes.   I saw the musical Wicked, which was fantastic, and made it to the Top of the Rock for the sunset.  Now the one not so sparkly moment…….I attempted to go shopping in New York for the ultimate pair of black boots.  Now this seems like every girl’s dream – shopping in New York City, well, if you have ever gone shopping with me….and some of you have done this more than you probably would have liked…..well you know, that this had trouble written all over it.


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Categories : Detroit, New York City, Orlando