DISNEY VACATION: MAGIC KINGDOM

I am finally sharing with you my last Disney vacation post, which features Magic Kingdom. Our vacation feels like it was forever ago. I miss Disney World everyday, especially this time of year. I recommend going to Disney in December. I love the Christmas decorations and overall vibe. Plus, it's not 100 degrees outside. As you can see we went when they had the parks decked out in Halloween stuff. It was fun, just not my favorite. It's also very hard to get good photos at the Park because it's always a sea of people. Also the sun is always making you squint.


Magic Kingdom is hands down my favorite park to visit. Even though we spend lots of time at Hollywood Studios, when you are at Magic Kingdom you really do feel the magic that is Disney. You feel like a kid in a candy store. It's pure happiness and all the rides and attractions are classic. If you go in the morning there are always Disney character's ready to have their picture taken with you.


Daisy is one of my favorite characters and I have yet to have my photo taken with her. This vacation we didn't get many photos taken with characters. Something Disney offers is a Photo Pass. There are Disney photographers through out the park who will snap photos of you with the characters or with landmarks of Disney in the background. It's a bit pricey to order the photos after your trip has ended, so we oped out to do it this vacation. They will however also snap of few photos of you with your own camera if you ask. That of course is how we ended up with a few photos of us together. You need proof that we actually DID go together. :)


When you do go to Magic Kingdom make sure you have a plan ahead of time. The park is huge and there is so much to do. Map out everything you want to do before heading to the park. We always seem to start on the left side of the park, in Adventure Land. We usually ride Pirates of The Caribbean first. One of the funniest things that happened while we were on this trip was a little girl who was getting ready to ride it got really scared. Her and her parents were walking ahead of us in the line and when it got really dark in the waiting area she yelled, "Whoa! Let's get out of here!" It always amazes me how many parents make their kids ride all the dark rides. Yes, they are not scary to us, but to a 4 year old it is. I felt bad for her and yes she did still ride it. Luckily for us she rode (screamed) on a different boat.


I wish I had more photos to share with you but the rides are dark and the park was so packed. We didn't spend as much time as I would of liked to at Magic Kingdom because of the crowds. It's just such a popular place and it seemed everyone else wanted to be there when we did. We still made the best of it and just picked things based on the wait time. Plus, this vacation our main focus was trading Vinylmations anyways.


I have to admit that I'm kinda obsessed with It's A Small World After All. It's one of the only rides I actually have memories of from my childhood vacation with my parents. Once the song is in your head it's GAME OVER. It will stay there for about a week. That is why I made this video for you! (Your welcome!)


I love this picture I got of the clock opening!

Here are a few Instagram photos I took at Magic Kingdom...

If you really want a awesome souvenir, you can purchase this castle covered in crystals
and I'm assuming diamonds considering it's $37,500.00 price tag!!
I'm sure none of your friends would have one like it! HA!


I love being at Magic Kingdom at night. The castle is lite up with lights and the color changes every few minutes. You can get some great photos of the castle on some of the bridges in the park. The reflection of the castle on the water is gorgeous...



This concludes all my Disney Vacation posts.
I hope that you enjoyed taking a peek into our vacation photos.
You can view all my posts from our vacation by clicking HERE.
I enjoyed sharing them with you and can't wait to go back in a few years!

Collecting Disney Vinylmations

I wanted to devote an entire blog post to collecting Vinylmations. I have used information from Wikipedia to first explain what Vinylmations are and other basic information about collecting them. I tried to type it out myself, but I was rambling way too much. I figured it was best to use their information for this post. So lets start with the basic facts first.


Vinylmation is a brand of 1.5", 3", and 9" vinyl collectibles sold at Disney theme parks, select Disney Stores, and the online Disney Store. The name Vinylmation is a combination of the word Animation and Vinyl. The figures are all shaped like Mickey Mouse but have different themed markings, colors and patterns. Vinylmation was first introduced in July 2008, and the first figures were introduced in November 2008.



Trading of figures is officially encouraged and practiced at Disney locations in a fashion similar to Disney pin trading. There are designated places where guests may trade figures with cast members. Trading now takes place at select Disney Stores as well. Disney Parks allow people to trade in their Vinylmations for either one out of a mystery box numbered one through 24, or for one in a small clear case. If you do not like the Vinylmation from the mystery box then you may trade with one of three in a clear case that you can see which ones there are. You can trade them in at most stores throughout Walt Disney World, the Disneyland Resort, and in several Disney stores.



Vinylmation figures are sold in sealed packaging. The purchaser does not know which figure they are buying until they have opened it. Each figure belongs to a series and all of the figures in a series are printed on the packaging for that series and the series comes in a large box. Each series has one unknown figure, termed the chaser. Some come with cards, stickers or another figure to make a set. In addition to being a mystery figure the chaser is also the rarest figure in each series. Limited edition nine-inch figures are also sold and these are visible without opening the packaging. 3" figures can be purchased by the case. Each case comes with 24 vinyls: 2 of each known design, and 1 mystery chaser. To accommodate the chaser, one of the 11 known designs appears 3 times in each case.


Above you can see Cody standing in the store called D-Street located at Downtown Disney. This is the best store to go to for purchasing Vinylmations. They have the largest selection. The store is basically all Vinylmations and is known for good trading. We went to D-Street many times in hope of finding some good Vinyl trades! D-Street also has a great selection of urban art and collectables...


As you can see above, there is also a great selection of open box Vinylmations to collect. Not all of them are mystery boxes. This is great for those who don't want to end up with a bunch of duplicates. We went on our Disney vacation we had 27 trades (duplicates). It was so exciting trading our entire vacation. Our duplicates were all paid for already so we ended up trading them all to get "new" ones to add to our collection! I actually ended up completing a series/set also! I was super excited about that! One of the best things about going to D-Street is all the Vinylmation eyecandy...


They have an entire table and display of Vinylmations. If you are really into collecting it almost is torture because all the "harder" to get Vinyl's are in that table behind a thin piece of glass. You honestly just want to take a hammer to it and grab them! HA! You see many Vinylmations behind that glass that are worth 1000's of dollars! Yes, I know, CRAZY!


So what Vinyl's did we end up with while trading on our vacation?
Here is Cody with our very first trade!

We were very excited to end up with this lime green guy. He is an older Vinylmation that retailed at $15 originally and is a few years old. I always wanted him! It was a good way to kick off our trading. We also traded for him at our Disney resort. That's another perk of trading. All the resorts have Vinyl trading. It makes it easy to trade every morning before heading to the parks! Now I am going to flood you with more photos! Below is everything we came home with. (Some were purchased)


Aren't the above guys awesome? They are 9" Vinyl's that were purchased at the Orlando Disney Outlet store. They all retailed at $45 each originally and we paid less then $15 each for them. We don't have many of the 9" Vinyl's because they are so expensive. Some are even priced at $74! I think that's insane, so we only purchase sale ones.

Now for all the little guys...
Cody added a few more Star Wars figurines to his collection...
I purchased the entire set below for $20 at the outlet.
They are all so fun to look at. I really look forward to displaying them in our new house. A great way to learn more about Vinylmations is by visiting the Disney Vinlymation blog HERE. It keeps you updated on new Vinyl's that are coming out. The Disney online store runs some good sales occasionally on Vinylmations. You can also view the Vinylmation vault HERE to see all the series! Collecting Vinylmations becomes addicting. My collecting has slowed down because I feel like I have a lot. I don't even know how many I have, but I will tally them all up once I start decorating with them. :)

If you want to view all my posts about Vinylmations click HERE.
To view all my posts from my Disney Vacation click HERE.

DISNEY VACATION: ANIMAL KINGDOM

Here is yet another Disney vacation post. Today I will be sharing with you photos of Animal Kingdom. If you enjoy wildlife and trips to the zoo you would enjoy this park. When you first walk into the park you go through a tropical setting where there are beautiful parrots and even a waterfall. I love photographing parrots. They always look so pretty and colorful...


Once you get a little further in you will see the Tree of Life. It's really neat and I feel any picture I have ever taken of it is never good enough! It's just something you have to see for yourself. Every type of animal you can imagine is carved into the tree. I love it so much. You can even get really close to it, which we actually forgot to do this vacation. Oops! That's what the hot temperatures do to your brain sometimes.

Here is a photo of us with the tree in the background.

One of our favorite rides at the park is the Kilimanjaro Safari. You ride in a safari truck and your driver acts as a guide the entire time. Educating you about the animals along the way. I love being close to the animals. You never know what you are going to see and there are always great photo opportunities!



This is one of those times I am glad my camera has a good zoom!!!!


I also love that they talk about saving the environment and the importance of saving the animals that are endangered.
Here I am with one of the cutest palm trees EVER...


One of my favorite things we did was watched the Flights of Wonder bird show. I highly recommend it. It's a 30 minute show which is funny, education and fascinating. I loved seeing the trainer on stage with the animals. It was amazing the things that the birds were trained to do. Here is a video I shot of the show, very cute...


Here are a few of my favorite photos I snapped....


Isn't the owl beautiful? She looks like a stuffed animal!!

Another cool ride at Animal Kingdom is a roller coaster called Expedition Everest. Make sure you ride it!
This is a photo of it from far away...


More animals throughout the park...


My photos this vacation were mainly centered around the animals. Even though this park is kinda like a zoo, there are still many rides and attractions I didn't photograph. I highly recommend the live shows, Finding Nemo & The Lion King. Both worth seeing for sure! There is also a whole dinosaur themed area geared towards kids. The stores are fun also because you find animal themed stuff you can't get at any of the other parks or stores. I love going to the zoo, so going to Animal Kingdom is a nice break from long lines and rides.

If you'd like to see my other Disney Vacation posts, here are the links:

Hollywood Studios
Epcot
Meeting Alice
Downtown Disney
View All Posts at once HERE

Want to learn more about Animal Kingdom? Visit the website HERE.

DISNEY VACATION: EPCOT

This Disney vacation post will feature EPCOT. A lot of people LOVE Epcot. For me, it's my least favorite park. Sorry to those who love it. I don't have as many photos for this blog post. We only went to Epcot once. In my opinion Epcot is great the first time you go and it's great for people who want to eat some neat food while you are at Disney. The World Showcase at Disney offers all kinds of food from different countries. I am going to feature the things that I enjoy about Epcot in this post.


When you first walk into the park it is neat to snap some photos of the big Epcot ball. The correct name is Spaceship Earth. It is an actual ride, so yes you can go inside the big round thing. I have actually never done it. The first time we went to Disney we flew and on the plane I could see the Epcot ball below on the ground. That was pretty exciting! I also love seeing the Trams run through the park...


I'm always photographing wildlife!
I do enjoy the scenery at Epcot. It's wonderful to photograph. They have a flower show in the springtime. I haven't been yet, but think that's the time of year I will plan my next Disney vacation for. I couldn't imagine all the beautiful flowers I could take photos of! I'd probably explode actually.


Epcot is a good place to go when you kinda want to relax and get away from the crowds. One draw back for us though is when you enter the back of the park where the world showcase area is, lots of people are pretty drunk. You can almost instantly tell a difference in the way people are acting, walking and talking. If you like to drink it probably wouldn't both you. ;) I am sorry I don't have any photos of the world showcase to share. We walked through very quickly hoping to find soy latte's, no luck. I recommend going early in the morning before everyone starts drinking.


There are many beautiful fountains at the park, making it a rather peaceful. They have The Land Pavilion which is a nice area geared towards saving the environment. One of my favorite things was the film Circle of Life. I highly recommend it. Then we did the Living with the Land ride, pictured below...


You ride on a boat and it takes you through the Disney greenhouse area. Showing you how they are growing produce for some of their restaurants at the park. They are trying to spread awareness about better ways to farm that are healthy and better for our planet. It was really neat. Another thing I like about Epcot is the aquarium area that they have. It's actually a Finding Nemo ride that you get on and then after the ride ends you walk around and look at fish.


They do have a few Dolphins there, which breaks my heart. I hate seeing them in captivity. I actually was so upset that I had to walk away. It's amazing how an animal can touch my heart so much. On a happier note, I really enjoyed seeing this many clown fish together in one place...

Of course you should always try on silly hats while on vacation at Disney...
Another highlight for me at Epcot was getting my picture taken with Alice! If you missed that post, you can see it HERE. So if you want your photo taken with her, she's at Epcot in the Great Britain area. There is also a building that has lots of character greetings. Great place to get your photo taken with Mickey and Minnie! The ride Soarin' is supposed to be really good. I haven't done it yet because the line is always really long, so get a Fastpass for that!! I like that we haven't done everything yet. Gives us stuff to look forward to next time. :)

If you'd like to see the other Disney Vacation Posts, here are the links:
Hollywood Studios
Downtown Disney
What I Wore {Meeting Alice}

I still have to post about Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and Collecting Vinylmations!