Sunday Afternoon at the Magic Kingdom and the 3 o'clock parade!!

We decided to spend Sunday afternoon at the Magic Kingdom a few weekends ago. Living so close by affords us this opportunity and where else would two Disney fanatics go on a Sunday afternoon? Let's put those annual pass magic bands to use!!! So here are a few images of our way in and enjoying one of the most colorful and interactive parades ever!!!

The Fall decorations are in place!

Steve always wanted to become an honorary Main Street Firefighter!

How many times have you really taken a look at the Swiss Family Robinson tree house? It's quite spectacular!

The parade! Beauty & the Beast!

Prince Charming and Cinderella!

Little Mermaid!

Tinkerbell!

Alice!

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2014 Food & Wine Festival - EPCOT's Best!

We attended the opening weekend of the 2014 Food & Wine Festival at EPCOT. Believe it or not we have been attending since the very first year which happened to be during our honeymoon 19 years ago. Our favorite time of year and our favorite Disney event.  So let's take a look at what's happening this year!

A colorful greeting!

Who knew Mickey loved salad?

One of the T-Shirt designs for 2014.

Another T-Shirt design for 2014.

Official banner logo.

The newest pavilion, Puerto Rico. It was exciting with live music. Lots of dancing in this one!

Steve's favorite food pavilion. We always get the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup!

The Cheddar soup resting in this newfangled item available. It's a tray to carry your delicious food samples on while walking around eating. You can rest your soup or wine in the handy dandy cut out in the corner. Sells for $5.95. So cool!

Oh Canada!!!

This was hands down the best food item we've tried so far. It's at the France pavilion and it's Boeuf Bourguignon. It completely melts in your mouth. A delightful piece of beef over mashed potatoes in a wine sauce. It's a must!

One of the last performances of the Drum & Fife at the American Pavilion.

Viva Italia!

From Poland, Kielbasa and Pierogis! Yum!

Norway!

Another fave the Pork Sliders at the Hawaiian Pavilion.

The ravioli at the Italy Pavilion. Make sure you get a piece of bread to soak up the sauce!

Kidani Village - The other part of the Animal Kingdom Lodge

What started out to be a frustrating stay for the opening weekend of the Food & Wine Festival turned out to be a vacation destination that we look forward to booking in the months to come. 

We had booked the Jambo House for the opening weekend of the 2014 Food & Wine Festival. But somehow we were actually booked in Kidani Village at the back of the property. Not what we were expecting and there was nothing we could do to get moved up front to the Jambo House. So we hunkered down, it was raining and we were frustrated. We decided to make the best of it. It had nothing to do with the hotel but rather the parking etc. 

Anyway, here is some of the ambiance of Kidani Village. We grew to love it and look forward to our next visit!

The nice comfortable bed. For some reason we always take a picture of the bed when we first get in the room. Perhaps for the towel art? HA!

The view from our room looking down upon the entrance to Kidani.

Sit down and enjoy the view.

 

The Savannah in our section of the hotel.

More Savannah.

Back portion of the lobby.

The lobby.

The lamps outside of the entrance at night.

The lobby at night.

More lighting at night.

Do You Wanna Build a Snowman? The First Frozen Parade at Disney's Hollywood Studios

We spent the 4th of July weekend at the Beach Club. On Saturday morning we took a boat over to see the new Frozen parade at Disney's Hollywood Studios. We'll be going back for the other festivities which include a Sing-a-long, and ice skating rink and Frozen fireworks. 

Olaf cutouts are handed out all over the park and you are encouraged to take pictures with Olaf throughout the park and tweet them to #olafsummervacation. The pictures are displayed on a big screen at the end of Main Street all day long!