Have fun at a Disney park

Completed: December 3, 2018

After the hockey wishes, the next thing I put on my bucket list was to have fun at Walt Disney World which looking back I really did. I keep thinking about it. I grew up watching Disney movies and the Disney channel, I loved the Toy Story films and when I found out that they were going to have a Toy Story Land I knew I had to go. My cousin Kiersten agreed to go with me and after some planning we had booked our flights in April and the countdown was on.

We went down to Florida for a little over a week (Nov 27-Dec 5), stayed at an off property hotel and spent four days at WDW. We didn't go to a park the day we arrived.

On Wednesday, we visited EPCOT to start the trip. We got the early shuttle from the hotel and joined the line to get in to the park. The next day we checked out Animal Kingdom, we didn't stay all day there because there wasn't as much to do. My highlights during those two days are The Seas with Nemo & Friends, meeting Mickey Mouse, Test Track, our teppanyaki style supper, the Kilimanjaro Safari, seeing Festival of the Lion King and the Epcot fireworks. I got a Mickey shaped ice cream sandwich which was yummy. The guy who served me the ice cream noticed my Halifax Mooseheads t-shirt that I was wearing that day and made a comment about it. Not many people know who they are so I was surprised and he mentioned that he was from Kingston. I said that I'm from Nova Scotia too and I actually have a grandfather that lives around there so that was cool to meet someone who was from home.

Festival of the Lion King

Steak supper at the Japanese pavilion restaurant

After taking a day to see Universal Orlando, we went to Magic Kingdom on Saturday than we visited Hollywood Studios on Monday. Like I said above my favourite movie was Toy Story growing up so I was so excited for Toy Story Land. We went straight to that land when we got to the park and everybody else seemed to have the same idea. The Slinky Dog Dash roller coaster was already at 90 minutes long by 9am so we didn't go on that. We did Toy Story Mania instead and I got to meet Woody, Jessie and Buzz Lightyear. The MK fireworks were amazing, much better than local ones, and I also liked Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Kiersten convinced me to go on Splash Mountain which I liked but was scared on and on the big drop my stomach went in my throat!

Cinderella Castle lit up

Entrance of Toy Story Land

We did a bunch of other rides, saw a few more shows and ate lots of food but I thought I would share my highlights. I did have a lot of fun and the trip was definitely worth the money.

A Different New Year's Day

OMG it was amazing!

For my 23rd birthday, my mom gave me money so I could head to Toronto for a Maple Leafs game that was being played on New Year's Day 2017. Since 2008, the National Hockey League has hosted a Winter Classic outdoor match, normally held at a football or baseball stadium. In 2014 they added other outdoor games.

The Leafs were playing the Detroit Red Wings that day, to celebrate the NHL's 100th anniversary they played in what was dubbed the Centennial Classic. It was very different having to wear all my winter clothes to a hockey game but it was chilly out of course and even with snow pants on over my jeans, my butt was still cold from sitting on metal bleachers for almost 4 hours. Even though it was chilly, it was a nice sunny day and was awesome to walk around Exhibition Place. They had a fan zone set up across the street, which I did not go in to because it was so full, and you could definitely tell who was playing that day with all the logos everywhere. I liked the logos that they had set up on the field to show where the players would be coming out.

Lining up for Oh Canada

The game was awesome to witness. The first period was a little boring with no score and then Detroit got the first goal in the middle period to lead 1-0 after 40 minutes. The crowd really came alive in the final frame after the Maple Leafs scored 4 straight goals. It was so cool seeing the young guys score and make some really nice plays during the game. Even though the Red Wings tied it up with 2 goals in the last two minutes and forced overtime, I was just a tiny bit happy that the game wasn't over quite yet. Then Toronto's 1st overall pick in 2016; Auston Matthews, scored mid way through the extra period to win the game for the home team. When it happened not many people thought the game was over and I was one of them because the puck just squeaked by the visiting goalie, but people knew once the boys started celebrating. I was so ecstatic that Matthews scored and I finally got to see the Leafs win live. During one of the intermissions, the league brought out a bunch of guests as the league announced the NHL's Top 100 players of the last century. That was cool to see as well and I recognized almost every name, many were from the Montreal Canadians, Wings or Leafs and a number of current Chicago Blackhawks.

I'm very glad I have a friend who lives in Toronto so I didn't have to pay for a hotel as well because it was expensive to fly up there and back and the ticket for the game was too but I told my mom that it was worth it big time because I had a great experience.