New Celebration Buttons at Disneyland and Walt Disney World

Guests travelling to Disney within the next few days to weeks will see newly designed celebration buttons being rolled out at both WDW and Disneyland.

Happy Birthday, I'm Celebrating, 1st Visit, and Happily Ever After will get updates. Just Married and Happy Anniversary are being discontinued and rolled into the Happily Ever After button.

The Just Engaged button had been rumored discontinued for a while now but word is they were going to hand them out until they were gone. I'm also guessing that the Family Reunion is slated for being discontinued too.

How do you feel about these changes?  Let me know in the comments below

It's Not All About Disney

When we first looked at taking a trip down to Florida and visiting Disney, we didn't even think of not taking in Universal or Cape Kennedy/NASA.   However, it soon became very clear that after spending any time on some of the planning travel forums, there were two distinct types of people who travel to Orlando.

... those that are all about Disney

... those that are more open-minded and enjoy both Disney and Universal (and other options in the Orlando area)

But wait ... there are other things to do in Orlando besides Disney?  No, there can't be!!

I blame Disney - they have perfected a very good mechanism for keeping you on their property and thus you not needing to venture away from the "Disney bubble".  They provide a handy transportation service (Magical Express) that picks you and your luggage up from the airport and takes you directly to your Disney hotel on Disney property and delivers your bags right to your room.

Did I mention that this service is complimentary??

When you check into your Disney resort, you receive your "key to the world" - or now what they have replaced with the "MagicBand" - an all-in-one device that you can use to enter Disney theme parks, unlock your Disney Resort hotel room, use the FastPass+ entrance for attractions and entertainment experiences you selected, charge purchases (and dining in the parks) to your room, and link Disney PhotoPass photos to your Disney account. These cool and colorful wristbands can even be personalized for every member of your family — and you can even select your favorite color. You never have to take a wallet with cash or cards anywhere with you on property if you don't want to.

And it gets better.  If you've ever stayed at a Disney resort, you know each and every resort has either a food court or sit down restaurant (or both), a shop where you can pick up things you've forgotten at home (like those bandaids, tylenol, etc) and at least one pool for swimming.  Disney also offers free onsite transportation to the parks, Downtown Disney and the 2 water parks right from your resort, plus they've recently introduced free wi-fi at all their resorts.  So there's no need to rent a car - ever - if you are staying on Disney property.

Now, a lot of people will say "what's wrong with that?" ... I say absolutely nothing, however, what I've learned is a lot of those people who choose to do this are the same people who feel that Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure is the red headed step child of Orlando.  They would never think of even venturing a few miles down I-4 to Universal to see what they offered.  It's simply not an option.

These are the same people put down the cast members at Universal not knowing that there are probably 50%, if not more, that work for both Disney and Universal, and put down the type of people who go to Universal like they are inferior than those who are staying at Disney.  It literally blows my mind how they think.

These are the same people who say a one day ticket to Universal is way too overpriced (1 day, 1 park is $96, 1 day 2 park is $136) - but yet would pay $350 for a base 5 day ticket to Disney - more if you add on park hopping and water park options plus the Disney Dining Plan. Incidentally a one day adult ticket to Magic Kingdom is $99 and a one day adult ticket to the other parks is $94.

However, now that the Harry Potter area at Universal is growing, along with new additions like Despicable Me, Transformers and now the new value resort at Universal - Cabana Bay opening up, I think a lot of the diehard Disney people are now taking notice of the red headed step child and may be rethinking their sole allegiance to Disney.  

I'll step off my soapbox now and leave you with the second part of the Universal Orlando walkthrough of Islands of Adventure ... enjoy! (if you missed the first part you can view it here)

... oh, and if you would like more information on a Universal or Disney vacation, just give me a shout as I am the Canadian Agent for Candy Cain Travel and would be happy to help you plan a most awesome vacation for you and your family!

Life Sometimes Gets in the Way

Normally at this time of year, we are a few weeks away from our annual May pilgrimage to Orlando, FL and we are excitedly looking forward to spending some quality time with our "dysfunctional Florida family"

... unfortunately this year, we won't be taking that trip because, sometimes, life just gets in the way.

... so today I decided to go through some of my old pictures/videos from our previous trips and came across this little gem ... A walk through of Universal Studios Orlando from 2011 - this was before the new Despicable Me, Transformers and Springfield additions - and bonus, it still has the old Amity area/Jaws ride as well ... enjoy!

We're Going to Jamaica!

Thanks to my wonderful friend, who I love dearly - Candy Cain (yes that is her real name) who owns Candy Cain Travel - my hubby and I will be taking our first ever vacation to Jamaica next month.  Not only will we be going to Jamaica, but we are lucky enough to be staying at the all inclusive Sandals Whitehouse resort. 

Sandals Whitehouse is the only resort in Jamaica that is an all-beachfront tropical resort situated within a 500-acre nature preserve. There are three distinctive European Villages - French, Italian and Dutch - which are set along a two-mile stretch of beach where you can watch both the sunrise and sunset each day.   That sounds just heavenly doesn't it? *sigh*

Neither of us has been to a Sandals resort before (or Jamaica) so we are both extremely excited for our upcoming trip ... Hubby is especially excited about the Scuba Diving he'll be able to do. I'm especially excited to be able to walk in the gorgeous crystal blue water and try out the unlimited land and water sports along with unlimited dining at the 7 different restaurants (yes I know my diet will be out the door for the time we are gone but it's worth it!)  And who knows, maybe I'll even splurge and give myself a spa treatment too while we are there.

The resort apparently has 3 different pools and 4 hot tubs (not that you'd need them with the beach being right there), plus 2 swim up pool bars, and, did I, mention unlimited alcoholic drinks =)  (there are apparently 6 different bars too)

My next task is to find a bathing suit ... scary stuff as I haven't had to buy a bathing suit for probably over 10 years ... eeeek O.o

Thank you once again Candice, from the bottom of our hearts, for giving us this opportunity.  I truly do love you and am grateful to call you a friend!

Jamaica here we come!!!

And if you'd love to learn more about the Sandals resorts, just give me a shout as I am the Canadian Agent for Candy Cain Travel 

Let's Do This!

I admit, over the past couple of years I've been in an on again, off again relationship with losing weight. Unfortunately I've found that as I have been getting older, I am truly having a much tougher time losing weight.

This is probably a good time to mention that I'm 5'3" and when I decided that I would seriously try to lose some weight, I weighed 155 lbs - not really a big deal but I knew I needed to lose a few pounds.

Anyone who knows me, knows I love my Coke/Pepsi and it wasn't uncommon for me to drink 3-4 cans of pop/soda day if not more. So, a year or so ago, the first thing I did was cut out any pop/soda from my diet, and I admit, this first step was hard ... very hard.  However, I was determined and as I struggled I replaced my daily Coke habit with green tea.

My beloved Keurig!

Thankfully my hubby bought me a Keurig coffee maker ... which is funny because I don't drink coffee. But one good thing about the Keurig is you can buy a reusable filter basket that allows you to make your own K-cups with whatever you want. Since the Keurig is so fast at brewing, I can have my green tea (either warm or iced) in less than 1 minute. Awesome!!! That's one thing I always hated about having to use a kettle for tea - took too darn long to boil the water. The Keurig was a perfect solution!!

About a month or so after cutting out Coke and replacing it with green tea, I decided to weigh myself ... and to my surprise I had lost 15 pounds ... Wow!! Now I really didn't think I looked much different, but in mid-May we headed down to Orlando for our annual
May getaway and friends that had just seen us in October asked
if I had lost weight. Awesome!!!!

Heading home from our vacation, I wasn't sure what to expect when I stepped on the scale. We do like to eat well and tend to enjoy a few adult beverages when we are on vacation, and this trip was no exception, however, one thing I did not do was drink any pop/soda whatsoever during our trip (that was truly a test of my willpower by the way). Once again I was surprised ... I had not gained any weight at all ... now, I didn't lose any weight either, but I didn't gain any so it was totally a win in my books!!

Awesome Infuser

Since that time, I have been actively trying to lose the last 15 lbs by exercising more regularly (usually walking a couple times of week) and continued with my green tea.  Most recently I purchased a $10 fruit infuser pitcher at Wal-Mart and have been enjoying some nice cold flavored water throughout the day.  This is huge for me as I haven't been known to drink a lot of water during the day.

Unfortunately I'm finding that I still seem to be craving junk food later in the evening - which is really something I need to curb. It's definitely not helping my weight loss.

Now that Spring has arrived, I know getting out for our daily walks will help.  I also ordered the 21 Day Fix plan from Beachbody.  I had heard so many good things about this plan. Basically here's no counting, no guessing, and no wondering. Just easy-to-follow portion control and one 30-minute workout per day. That's all. You commit to it, and you can lose up to 15 pounds in just 21 days.

There are seven color-coded containers and a Shakeology shaker with a meal plan that you follow - so you never eat too much or too little. Fill them up with as much food as you want—if it fits, you can eat it! Plus I can continue to use my Shakeology on this plan which is something that I don't want to give up (I've been using the vegan Tropical Strawberry Shakeology for over 2 years now).

21 Day Fix kit

OK, seems simple enough, so why am I hesitant to get started on it???  Basically I like food ... I like food A LOT =)

I should also mention that we are taking a trip to Jamaica at the end of next month, and I want NEED to lose those last 15-20 lbs.  I went bathing suit shopping the other day and it was not a pleasant experience to say the least - so let's say that was the motivation I needed.

So ... Let's do this!!!  Wish me luck!!  I'll keep you posted :)