A Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Trip!

Yesterday morning we packed up early, had breakfast and lots of coffee at the resort restaurant. The food we got was not very tasty and it was pretty cold, so we really just picked at it and settled in for more coffee. We had a lunch reservation back at The Magic Kingdom at Tony's Town Square restaurant so we boarded the monorail to get there in time for that. We got to do a few more things we hadn't done a few days before when we went. We rode the train, watched a couple of Main Street shows/parades and we met Mickey! He even gave me a kiss on my cheek to say congratulations on our anniversary! Here are a few picture from our "last hooray".

Here we are at Tony's at the Magic Kingdom! It was themed to Lady and the Tramp. Perfectly wonderful! I had meatball sliders and Chris had an arugula pizza. I wasn't crazy about mine, but then I've never been crazy about meatballs...why then did I order meatball sliders? You're guess is as good as mine!

This dish I really loved! Pumpkin Cheesecake! With a portrait of Lady and the Tramp dusted in Cocoa! YUMMY and completely whimsical!

 

Chris got the Spumoni and said it was tasty! But that cherry sugar art got stuck in our teeth! :-/

 

Here we are with Mickey! The only Character picture we got!

 

Disney in our rear view window :(

So that's it. We are safe and sound back at home in Katy, Texas. We are completely exhausted. We had originally planned on stopping to rest over night somewhere between here and there, but we decided to push through to get home early. The trip home has really zapped our energy. We rested a little while when we arrived at the house before heading back out to get Toby from Waggin' Tails Ranch. He has been out cold ever since we got home! I hope that means he had a great time just like us!

I asked Chris what his favorite part about the whole trip was and he couldn't think of just one part. He said that The Magic Kingdom probably had the most fun things to do, but he really liked being able to try all the different restaurants. I think my favorite part was also the Magic Kingdom for all the whimsy and fairytale environment. But a close second was Epcot! I loved the Food and Wine Festival and all the things we got to try from different countries.

I have really enjoyed keeping this blog and I hope you have loved reading along with our adventure. We are so thankful we had this opportunity. If you ever decide to go, give me a call or drop me a note! We can now officially give you the in's and out's of Walt Disney World! TwoMadigans, OUT!

Shopped til we Dropped!

Today was another day for rest! Well...restful shopping that is. :) We slept in to a wonderful 10:45am immediately headed for the coffee and then to Downtown Disney! That place might as well be another theme park! There was so much to see and do, (and buy!). The first stop we made was for brunch at a Wolfgang Puck restaurant. It was delicious and in a great place to people watch! You know, I think I've seen more kids walking around this place trying to read maps than parents!

After brunch, we decided to hit all the shops we could find! We did a little Christmas shopping...so y'all should just be prepared to receive something from Disney World! We want to spread the HAPPINESS! That's also why there are no pictures of this part...I don't want to give anything away yet!

Chris also bought me an anniversary present! This ring is such a precious gift for me! We got to choose the oyster that the pearl came out of and also the setting in which it sits. Isn't it beautiful?! On either side of the pearl are plumeria flowers. The five petals on plumeria represent sincerity, faith, devotion, aspiration and surrender. Chris was so sweet to give me this ring to remember our 5th anniversary. I love him sooooo much! A few cigars and a round of golf don't even hold a candle to this gift!

After shopping, we came back to the resort to drop our packages and head back out. We stopped by the front desk to refill our coffee mugs and then aimed our car for the other mini golf place. This one was themed to Christmas in July. We played 36 holes and had a great time! I liked this one waaaayyy better than the one we went to earlier this week. I even came in under par for each set of 18 that we played!

After putt putt, we headed back to Epcot for our dinner reservation. Did you know that the letters in EPCOT stand for Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow? It was Walt Disney's foundational idea for the new project of Disney World when it started. Such a cool place. Our dinner reservation was for Teppan Edo in Epcot's Japan. It was a hibachi style restaurant where we once again racked up a huge bill that we didn't have to fork over a cent for at the time of the meal. Just to be clear, I am well aware that we paid for these meals when we booked the trip, but I'm not convinced that we aren't getting the better end of the fiscal deal. :)

This was our chef! We had steak and chicken and it was mouthwatering. We finished it off with delicious swirl ice cream. Before we left the park for the resort, we stopped by the gift shop after the Turtle Talk with Crush attraction to pick up a coffee mug I'd seen there earlier this week. It's covered in the seagulls from Finding Nemo and says "Mine, Mine, Mine" all over it. :) exactly how I feel about my coffee. :)

Today was very special for us because it is our actual anniversary. Today exactly 5 years ago, I promised my best friend that I would love him forever. So far so good, and it's not even hard. I'm so thankful for a man like him. I hope all girls get to have a husband like mine. He helps me believe so strongly that marriage can be amazing and such a treasure. I hope we get to celebrate many more years together. Maybe someday we will have a family and be able to show them how a man should love a woman and how a woman should love a man. More importantly, how a man and a woman should lean into God and all He has for marriage.

We check out tomorrow and start the long drive home after one more visit to The Magic Kingdom. Prayers for safe travelling are greatly appreciated! It has been an unforgettable vacation for us and we are so thankful you decided to read along. I may do one more blog post when we get home, but we'll have to wait and see. Two Madigans, OUT!

The Magic Kingdom!

Yes, people! Today was the day we finally made it to Disney's Magic Kingdom! It was definitely a MAGICAL day!! Because we are staying in one of the WDW Resorts, we had the opportunity to get into the park an hour early today! It was awesome to get in there before the masses and see where everything was and jump in line early. We headed straight for Adventureland! The first thing we did was get a fastpass for the Jungle Cruise so that we could go on the Pirates of the Caribbean! While we were getting the passes, a cast member named Jeff came up to us and told us happy anniversary. He asked us how many years and after some light conversation, he ended up giving us 6 fast passes that we could use at any time for any ride all day long! It was so awesome! With the help of those fast passes, we didn't spend more than 20 minutes in ANY line that we stood in today!

Here we are in front of Cinderella Castle!

 

Here I am with a Dole Whip Float in one hand and my coffee in the other! Both necessary to complete the day!

 

The Parks are beautiful with all the Christmas decorations up!!!

 

Here's another look at Cinderella Castle. Did you know that it's only about 4 stories tall? The builders scaled down each piece the further up it was to make it look farther away than it actually is! So cool!

Today, we also got to check out the new Fantasyland! It's amazing! There are new attractions and classic characters! We rode the new Littel Mermaid ride and filmed the whole thing for my BFF, Christina! The two new castles are Prince Eric's from The Little Mermaid and the Beauty and the Beast Castle! And, oh YES. We got to eat inside the Beauty and the Beast Castle!!! That may have been my favorite part of the whole day! It was completely enchanting. We walked in through a hall lined with suits of armor to a host who greeted us with a cheerful "Bonjour, and Happy Anniversary!". He then gave us an enchanted rose and another host took us to a touch screen for us to place our order for lunch. We waved our enchanted rose in front of a sensor at the screen and chose our meals. (We both had scrumptious steak sandwiches and gourmet cupcakes!) After placing our order, we were led into the ballroom of the castle to choose a table to sit at! To help you picture what we were seeing, just think about the movie. Imagine the walls, the chandeliers, the ceilings, the art...it was JUST like that! I felt completely transported to the Beauty and the Beast movie! The other options for dining, were the West Wing and another ballroom! I'm telling you, just like the movie! I sat in awe the whole time. Once we chose a table to sit at, we set our enchanted rose on the table and that charming piece wirelessly guided our waiter to our table with our order! I hope I get to tell people about this experience in person...

Here's the stunning ballroom that we ate lunch in today!

 



Look! Here we are! It looked like it was snowing just past those windows and there was Beauty and the Beast music being played just loud enough to be perfect. :)

 

(PS: I tried to upload a few more pictures, but for some reason it isn't working. :-/ )



After lunch, we rode a few more rides and had a lot of fun! We rode everything we wanted to and even saw a parade that came down Main Street! Before we left, we rode Space Mountain again for good measure and then headed for the car. Tomorrow is shopping day at Downtown Disney and maybe another round of mini golf at a different course. We are also looking for a fun restaurant to try out tomorrow. Tomorrow is a big day for us - officially 5 years of wonderful marriage and partnership with my best friend. Definitely looking forward to sleeping in a little and giving our feet a break from the abuse we've given them the last few days for the sake of happiness. :)  Thanks for reading along with us! TwoMadigans, OUT!

A wimp and a brave, brave soul

 

Yay for today! Today we went back to Disney's Hollywood Studios (DHS). You may remember that the very first day we arrived, we came to DHS for our dinner reservation at the Prime time Cafe. This time we came in full day light. We set the alarm for 9am and finally dragged ourselves out of bed at 10:45. :) We made it to the park at about 12:00. I know it was wishful thinking, but I was hoping, "hey! It's a Wednesday! The park won't be that busy!" WRONG. It was packed and swarming with people, big and small. Side note: did you know that there are a BUNCH of wheelchairs rolling around all these parks?! I mean it seems like 1 out of every 10 people have a wheelchair! And I'm not gonna lie...Chris and I have contemplated renting one and switching off who rides and who pushes...

This is one of the first things we chose to do today. At DHS, they have their own American Idol set up! They let guests from the park audition and sing in front of an audience. It was really neat. We went to one of the preliminary auditions and got to vote on who would go to the finale which would be held this evening at 7:30. I chose the first girl who sang and Chris chose the last guy. It ended up that the last guy won and went to the finale. Since we felt somewhat invested (albeit just a tiny bit), we went back to see how Chris' vote fared in the Finale. As it turns out, he impressed a lot of people and won the whole thing! The grand prize was that he gets to jump to the front of the line for any of the real American Idol auditions in any city! So if you watch that show this year, look for Ernie Lijoi! We helped DISCOVER him! :)

I encouraged Chris to try out because he has a really beautiful voice for singing. We missed the auditions for today, but he's thinking about going back on Friday if we have time. I KNOW he could win the whole thing! Do y'all have any suggestions for what song he should try out with??? Go Chris!

 

After the American Idol show, we went to look at "the back lot". We snapped a pic of a wall that looks like it's actually leading down a street in SanFran. There were a few rides we wanted to do, but the lines were out of control! 90 minutes for the Little Mermaid ride! So many people that wanted to do that ride that the fastpass option was sold out by noon! We never had a chance! But that's ok. We found another ride worth waiting for....MUAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!

 

 

DUH! The Tower of Terror Ride! This is a pic of us waiting in the 45 minute line to get the crap scared out of us! I am such a wimp when it comes to rides like this, (hence the blog title!) but Chris really wanted to do it and I wanted to do it with him. It's been a week of trying new things and trying all over again to impress my husband! However, I was not so impressive once I got on the ride. I was terrified, (way to go, Disney. Nice name for your little ride!). I screamed like I have never screamed before and had a white knuckled grip on the bar in front of me. Before they boarded us on the "elevator" I was so nervous and I kept telling Chris that I hoped they wouldn't put us in the front row. And of course that's exactly where they put us....then once I sat down, I realized something awful - the only thing holding you in that dinky little seat is a belt!!!!!!!!! Nothing over your shoulders...no bars across your lap...just a seat belt! As soon as we got off that thing, I couldn't even talk to Chris because my nerves were shot. I teared up and everything! I could have given into hysterics, but bravely refrained.

 

 

This is me after the ride. Can you see the tears in my eyes?!

 

 

After that horrifying experience, we went to DHS' Fantasmic show! It is a pretty big deal around that place and they recommend that you show up at least an hour early. Being over achievers (us and 500 others), we were there an hour and a half early. We sat down and waited and waited and waited. eventually the kid sitting next to me got friendly and let me share his new bubble gun. He was pretty hyper and I think his parents were just glad that I wasn't creepy-looking and that their slightly annoying child had someone else to distract.

 

Eventually the show started and it was beautiful! Here's a video I tried to get of part of the show!

 

Now the day is winding down and we are catching an episode of Duck Dynasty as we relax before bed. :) All in all, a really great day. Tomorrow is the day we finally go to the Magic Kingdom! I'm so excited! I'm going to put my feet up in preparation of the many miles I'm sure we will get to walk tomorrow. Thanks for reading along with us! TwoMadigans, OUT!

There is a time for golf, and a time for putt putt...

Hi everyone! Well, we had a VERY important day today for two reasons! The first and most important reason was that our nephew, Julian Troy came safely into the world today at 7:49am! He was a healthy 7.5 lbs and 19.5 inches! He's so cute! See??!!

We are so excited! We are still praying for Erin (Chris' sister) as she recovers and cares for this new little addition to the family! We love y'all!!! XOXOXOXOXOXO

The second reason that today was important was because it was a day that Chris and I chose to rest. We didn't spend a day at any of the theme parks today because we were specifically seeking out a restful day. So instead, I tested my skills at driving a golf cart while Chris impressed me with his golf swing. We chose the course at random and later found out that it is one of Disney's most unforgiving courses! I think Chris did a smashing job and I really enjoyed driving the golf cart. Chris played with a couple from Boston, Mass. Their names are Bob and Terry. They were a very nice couple and Chris was very comfortable playing with them.

 

 

 

 

After the big golf game, we came back to our resort to rest a while and have some lunch. We ate at the resort restaurant. It was tasty, but didn't compare to the other delectable feasts we've shared in the last few days. Earlier this week, we spotted a couple of really neat putt putt golf courses and today we tried one of them out! It was a lot of fun...Chris got 6 under par and I got 3 over par. :) It was a busy day at the putt putt place and we saw many peculiar characters...and I don't mean the kind in a costume. This lady that we saw has got to be the number one Disney fan! She has all sorts of tattoos representing Disney characters. I boldly snapped a picture for you:

 

 

Do you see them all??? on her back, arms and legs??!!! OUCH!

 

Here's a couple photos of us trying the course out!

 

 

 

After putt putt, we again came back to the resort to spend some time resting. We relaxed for a couple of hours before getting ready for dinner and a date night! We zipped around the corner to the Disney Boardwalk, (they have EVERYTHING here!!!). We ate mediocre steaks at the Big River Grille and Brewery. After we finished there, we walked around holding hands and watching parents wrangle their children. Obviously, we also privately discussed how we would do it differently. :) Shortly after this fun, we headed to a place called JellyRolls. It is a dueling piano bar that does only requests all night long! That place is the very reason I'm getting the blog out so late today! It was a blast! GREAT music and comedy. The place was hopping even when we left a few songs after a Bohemian Rhapsody sing-a-long.

 

 

Tomorrow promises to be another lovely day. We are headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios for the day! I am headed to bed today with a happy and rested heart. :) I love my man and we are having such a great time together. I've heard from so many of you saying that you are thinking of and praying for us. I love you for that. Thanks for reading along with us! TwoMadigans, OUT!



 

 

Rawr! Disney's Animal Kingdom

Okie Dokie! So today we went to the Animal Kingdom here at Disney World. We slept in a little today and so we didn't arrive at the park until about 10am. The park was nice and there was a lot to do, but Chris and I almost felt bored. Having lived in San Diego where there is an AMAZING zoo that we have both visited several times, we found that the Animal Kingdom didn't quite measure up. I definitely don't mean that as a complaint! We still had a great time, but we also didn't feel bad about leaving at about 2:30. While we were there, we ate some delicious Asian food and saw some really cool animals. Check out some of our pictures from today! After the pictures, I'll recap the rest of the day. Also, Chris has a little something to add, so STAY TUNED!

 This was a REALLY neat African drum group. They were so full of energy and really got the crowd going! They pulled all the kids up front to learn how to do some traditional African moves and that was hilarious to watch!

We took a short train ride to see the behind-the-scenes of the Animal Kingdom. (By the way, I'm putting forth a valiant effort every time I don't call it the 'Wild' Animal Park which is also in San Diego!) This short trip showed us the back buildings where they take care of all the animals after the park closes. The park closes every day around 5 or 6 because it takes the cast members 3-4 hours just to round up the animals and care for them before the next day.

Here we are at The Tree of Life. It is an ENORMOUS tree that has hundreds of animals carved into the trunk of it! It is really stunning! And inside of the Tree of Life, is a theater in which there is a 4D show called "It's tough being a bug!" This was arguably the best show we saw today. :) A close second was the bird show, (I can't remember the name of it...)

Here we are on the park's Safari ride! I don't know why, but in my mind I had this attraction built up to be more Safari-esque. This was more of a ride through some different exhibits. The only free roaming animals were the giraffes and other non-aggressive animals. (Where's the fun in that?? :) )We were able to snap some neat pictures and a video of the elephants taking a dip!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we left the Animal Kingdom, we went back to our Little Mermaid room at the resort and unashamedly took a NAP! Go ahead and judge us if you want to about napping while at Walt Disney World, but after 2 days of lots and LOTS of walking, we were tired!

 

After the very refreshing time of rest, it was time for dinner! We made the reservation to eat at Disney's Wilderness Lodge several months ago. I'm going to add a few pictures and then Chris is going to tell you about it!

 

 

 



Well, I told christen that I was going to HIGH JACK the blog at some point this week and for some reason that scared her a little! (those that know me know that I tend to forget when to filter certain things, LOL)! I will stick to the script and tell you a little about dinner. Our reservation was at the Wilderness Lodge "Artists Point" Restaurant. This was exciting for me but Christen came into the date with some hesitation, as she tends to be a picky eater. We sat down at a table for two that was facing a beautiful waterfall outside. Our waiter was a very "SWEET" man named Izzi from Long Island, NY....(Like how i filtered my thoughts there)? Anyway, the picture above is our sparkling wine that was 'On the Mouse' for our anniversary.... he is sooo thoughtful!

 

The menu had so many delicious choices like Roasted Duck, Grilled Chicken, Cedar Plank Salmon, and Fillet Mignon. However, Christen and I went with two different choices. Let me just pause for a moment and say how extremely proud I am of my Picky Eater. The reason being that she ordered the 'Slow Roasted 64*C Bison Strip Steak!!!" This dish also came with mashed potatoes and a sweet corn and Bison sausage hash! Christen will eat a good steak, hamburger, etc..... but she is a WELL DONE kinda girl. This steak was medium (at best) and she ate ever bit of it. Once the steak had disappeared she stated that she would order the same dish again. BREAKTHROUGH!

 

I had a delicious Grilled Pacific Halibut that was cooked to perfection and most scrumptious. The choices for desserts were few but we chose the two winners on the menu. Christen had a sweet treat that included both white and milk chocolate, sponge cake, a raspberry wine reduction with to different cherries. One cherry was soaked in Bourbon for over a month, and the other was soaked in amaretto! I chose a blueberry cobbler with blueberries baked into the batter, topped with fresh raspberries, blackberries, and a homemade raspberry ice cream. Everything was perfect to say the least. The meal would have been $112 without our dining plan that we already purchased. We continue to be amazed by what a great deal we got with the package. Now that I have written a dissertation on our dinner I will pass the laptop back to Christen.....who is a much better writer than me. Thanks for following as we ramble on and on. 

 

OK! I'm (Christen) back. I'm going to sign off here for today. Tomorrow will be bitter-sweet for us. While we will be having a lovely day here in Florida, all the way across the country in San Diego, our sister, Erin and her husband Mario will be having their second son! We will be thinking of them and praying for them and new baby Julian Troy all day! Hopefully we will get some pictures to share with you tomorrow! Thanks for reading along! TwoMadigans, OUT!

 

 

 

Epcot Day!

About 30 minutes after the gates opened and a LOOOOONNNNNGGGGG walk in from the parking lot, we made it to Epcot! Did you know that there is a ride inside of that big golf ball looking thing?! It was awesome! Everyone I talked to told us to make sure to do Epcot first. They said that if we waited and did it after any other park, it would be a let down. Well, after taking the advice Chris and I decided that Epcot would be worth going to any time! Of course, I say that not having been to the other parks yet... :) Epcot was also enhanced while we were here with their annual Food & Wine Festival. It was amazing! Through out the day Chris and I got to sample food from Poland, Germany, France, South Africa, Japan, Belgium and most deliciously: Italy!

This is the restaurant where we had our main meal. We racked up and $85 meal and didn't have to fork over a cent thanks to our dining package that came with our trip. It was AMAZING! All the waiters and hosts were from Italy. We asked our waiter how he came to work for Disney and he said that he along with many of his fellow waitstaff are all on a 1 year work visa in the US. They go to school and work for Disney. They all stay in big dormitories with other guys and gals from all the other "countries" at Epcot. Every new country had staff members from that particular place. It made everything so real!

 

Chris had the Cannoli for dessert today...

 

I had a delectable piece of Mocha Tiramasu! You now have permission to drool, because these were both totally drool-worthy! YUM! Oh! What did we have for the main meal? I had the lasagna (Divine!) and Chris had the Seafood Risotto and said it was excellent!

 

 

We walked and walked and walked and walked....we were exhausted so we headed to the Food and Wine Festival pavilion to see what we could see. We ended up attending two really cool demonstrations. The first was a culinary demonstration with Master Chef Ed Leonard. We watched him prepare leg of lamb, with a Caesar salad and home made dressing! We got to sample everything he made and it was....well, adventurous for me, (to say the least) and delicious for Chris! I thought that the lamb tasted like smelly feet, but Chris disagreed. :)

 

 

 

They told us in the demo that just one bottle of this wine cost $123! It didn't taste that expensive, but we enjoyed it knowing that we would probably never EVER drink from a bottle that expensive again. It really did taste good with the lamb. I think Chris liked it more than I did, which is odd because usually I'm the one into the red wine!

 

This is the food we got to try. The Chef talked all about how this should be a "regular" portion and all I could think about was, this guy ain't from the South! So in order on the plate was a pita chip, shredded lettuce, olives, tomatoes, feta cheese, a piece of lamb, a Parmesan "cookie" and all of it garnished with an anchovy. I ate everything on the plate (EXCEPT the anchovy...DUH!) which was the equivalent of Neil Armstrong stepping foot on the moon for the first time. I'm not very adventurous when it comes to food. Chris is much more inclined to try new things. He always says that he will try anything at least once. It made me happy that he was proud of me for giving it a shot!

 

From the culinary demo, we went next door to a mixology class! We learned how to make delicious mixed drinks with Red Stag bourbon. One of the teachers is the author of the all the "101 (drinks)" books. All the drinks were kind of sour, so we weren't really blown away by anything we tried. By the way, I feel a need to clarify...Everything we ate/drank were SAMPLE SIZE. Please don't think that we ran around Epcot today like gluttonous drunks! I promise we didn't! In fact, I'm thinking of pulling out our bag of chex mix to snack on because I feel like we only got one full meal today! (despite what that crazy Master Chef says....)

 

Eventually, the end of the day came. We found ourselves a great spot to watch the closing show: "Illuminations: Reflections of Earth". It was beautiful! The fireworks and light show lit up the entire park. The center of the show was in the middle of a lagoon on which all the "countries" were set. Each building in all the different countries had lights on them and played a special part in the show. It was a fantastic ending to a really awesome day. :)

 

After the show, we all pointed ourselves in the direction of the exit gate and moved together like cattle. Being in crowds like this can definitely try your patience. Indeed, it gives you many, MANY opportunities to show grace. We are exhausted and we saw another little person that must have been tired too....

I know this is a dark picture, but can you see the kid thrown over his dad's shoulder? :) that's exactly how we feel! We considered asking other patrons if they would carry us out like that, but our better judgement prevailed.

 

Tomorrow is the Wild Animal Kingdom all day and a dinner reservation at the Wilderness Lodge in the evening. We are still excited and so thankful that God blessed us with this opportunity to be together. Thanks for reading along with us! TwoMadigans, OUT!