Miri's Blog: When You Wish Upon A Star....

My Christmas gift from Jarrett came early this year in the form of a trip to Disney World!! Disney is one of our favorite places on Earth and after our honeymoon visit we couldn’t wait to return. I was so surprised to find out that our next trip would be so soon and delighted when the weekend finally arrived.

We stayed in the beautiful Wilderness Lodge which reminded me so much of the Animal Kingdom Lodge where we stayed last year. The resort had a mountain like feel, and I almost felt as if I should have packed my skis! Although with temps in the 60-70s, there would have been no use for winter gear.

We spent our first day in the Magic Kingdom, the heart of Disney itself. The feeling that comes from seeing Cinderella’s Castle is universal, captivating individuals from across the world and provoking their imagination. After watching the Main Street Electrical Parade in 2010, we couldn’t wait for an encore. Watching the characters dance through the streets brought smiles and laughter to a captivating audience. The grand finale was the evening firework display over the castle, which beamed in its own right with bright pinks fading into blues and greens. A spectacular show indeed.

We spent the second day in Hollywood Studios, one of my absolute favorite parks. There were so many rides and shows I couldn’t wait to do again, and we managed to pack in a solid day of fun. We didn’t make it to the American Idol experience last year, so this was top on our list. The auditioning process was exhilarating, with Jarrett as my audience and a serious lady in a business suit listening very astutely. I didn’t realize that it was a real audition and was purely doing it as a joke, but ended up getting some great feedback and nice compliments. Alas, I didn’t make it to Hollywood (ha!), but I did get to experience the rush of nerves that each contestant faces. Shifting gears to other artistic expressions, we headed across the park to the Animation Studios where we participated in a drawing class with a professional animator. As we watched the artist and mimicked her simple shapes, “Grumpy” slowly emerged on own sheet of paper. The collective talent and imagination that goes into the Disney enterprise is impressive and inspiring beyond words.

No trip to Hollywood Studios would be complete without seeing the Indiana Jones show, Jarrett’s childhood hero. The performance offers a behind the scenes look at the breakdown of fight scenes, stunts, and special effects. After catching a few rides and roller coasters, we took our seats for “Fantasmic,” the most impressive theme park performance I have ever seen. It’s so hard to describe what it is about this show that is so spectacular, but I can promise that it’s so engaging that you don’t even want to blink. The day at Hollywood ended on a faux-NYC street, lit up from head to toe in Christmas lights all dancing to our favorite Christmas songs. In some sort of weird Disney way, you actually begin to believe that you are in the center of Time Square celebrating Christmas amongst a crowd of festive families. Tis the season!! After the park closed, we enjoyed a bit of night life on the Boardwalk before resting up for our final day of adventure.

As tradition would hold, we saved the best for last. The Animal Kingdom is more or less a perfect combination of a theme park and a full out zoo. Without even looking at a map, we knew exactly what we wanted to see and do on our last day at Disney. We started with the African jungle safari, getting up close views of giraffes, hippos, elephants, kudus, and more. After the safari, we spent some time walking through trails exploring the animals on our own. I could stare at animals all day long, watching them interact with each other and just simply exist in their “natural” environment. Among my favorites are the tiger for its beauty, the monkeys for their playfulness, and the mircats for their silliness. After getting our wildlife fix, we watched the “Finding Nemo” musical and found some adventure of our own on the coasters and rides. We ended our trip with a bang, with new memories made and stories to remember.