Work, Play and Chardonnay

My love of the Mouse House began as a child but became the “real deal” in 1986 when my family went to Walt Disney World for the first time. I wish I could say that I remember every element of that experience, but my most vibrant memory is of the visor featuring a stuffed Mickey Mouse head that I wore for an hour and then lost at Pecos Bill’s. I shed a few tears but magically a Disney employee – or my parents – gave me a replacement visor.

By the way…I no longer have that visor.

Disney Ticket — I used this ticket in my previous post, but it’s too good not to add back to this Disney-related one.

Walt Disney World has been a part of my life for a very long time and will always have a special place in my heart. The home I purchased just over a year ago is three miles down the road from the Magic Kingdom. The proximity to Disney provides a lot of opportunities for me to explore in and around the parks. Today I’m going to focus on some of my favorite things (I just sang that to y’all) in Disney Springs.

Disney Springs, in my somewhat Disney-biased opinion, is an entertainment mecca of restaurants, shops, and experiences for Disney fans of all ages. It’s a place that I go to on my own, on dates with Jared and out with friends. I would call myself the “Mayor of Disney Springs,” but that would make me sound like Scrooge McDuck or his egotistical equivalent.

Without further ado…here we go…

Drinks and Dining

The Boathouse

I like to march my (not so) little Disney-loving behind out to the bar located on the back dock of the restaurant. It’s a picturesque place to sip on the libation of your choice, eat some seafood and watch the amphicars and other boats drift by,

Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’

The live edge of the bar. The fried chicken and biscuit sliders. The decor. All of these elements make the faux Southern girl in me swoon (I have the chicken “vapors”). Bonus item – when I tweeted Chef Art Smith about a photo in the restaurant indicating a “job at the Colonel,” he confirmed that he worked for KFC in his early years.

Chicken, biscuits and mashed potatoes sprinkled with chives. Welcome to my face!

The Edison

Jared and I recently ventured into The Edison. It’s “steampunky” with a side of Disneyfied “speakeasy” (everyone’s invited…with a reservation). The cocktails are stellar, and the appetizer menu game is strong. Like most venues at Disney Springs, it is pricey, but the food, service, and decor are worth the extra pennies….or dollars.

I’ve been waiting to use my “BAE-con” line. I legit despise the term “bae”, but it’s too good not to use here. #SorryNotSorry

The Ganachery

The Ganachery is a cozy chocolate shop that usually has quite the line (maybe it should have a Fast Pass system?) The chocolates are worth the wait, but if the s’mores are available, please get one. You get to watch the process of your s’more being made (they use a blowtorch!) They are a delectable layered dessert made of handmade graham crackers, melty chocolate, golden-toasted marshmallow and finished with a confectioner’s sugar Mickey. Want. One. Now.

Oh Mickey S’more, you’re so fine. You’re so fine, you blow my diet.

Sprinkles

A cupcake shop with an ATM. An ATM that takes your money and gives you…cupcakes! Although the cupcakes aren’t the best I’ve ever had, the experience of the ATM is pinkalicious fun and oh so tasty. I’d do it again (and I have!)

Entertainment

AMC Disney Springs 24

I’ve been going to this movie theater for over twenty years! It has evolved over time to include dine-in service in select theaters and a couple MacGuffins Bars. Recently they added a Dolby Cinema theater complete with reclined seating. You feel all of the action during the movie within and around your seat. It was the BEST venue to see Titanic twenty years later. “I’ll never let you go, Jack…”

Total bonus…a ticket purchased before noon is just under $6!

Aerophile Balloon Flight

The Aerophile has been around for close to a decade and I still haven’t been up in it to check out the view of Disney Springs from the air. The experience is typically available on Groupon so you can check it out at a discounted price. The attraction will shut down due to weather (safety first, people!) I am hoping to exchange my Groupon in soon to see the area with the eyes of a bird.

Grounded — I got grounded by the weather. At least it didn’t take my phone away.

Shopping

Anthropologie

I’m an Anthro-girl through and through. The Anthropologie shop at Disney Springs is a two-level beauty. It’s a “must stop” for me to find home decor odds and ends. And it even has a “sale” section (how many sale sections have YOU seen at Disney?)

Jared is a trooper. The store no longer has a “Husband Chair” for him to sit and wait for me as I ogle Capri Blue candles, monogrammed mugs, and gold-toned office supplies.

Disney-Themed Shops

There are so many shops in the Downtown Disney area devoted to the Mouse and all of his friends. The options are nearly limitless – from clothing to jewelry to accessories and home goods. It’s a Mouse House lover’s paradise. Disney Style just opened its doors in May of 2018. I’ve literally only window shopped it. My wallet asked me to wait until next month to check it out. I try to abide the “Wallet Dude.”

I think this was a vignette set-up in a store called “D-Style”. I don’t believe this shop is at Disney Springs anymore, but you can see the level of detail and care in their “Beauty and the Beast”-inspired display.

My Disney Springs Future

Cake Decorating at Amorette’s Patisserie

Like Alice going down an internet rabbit hole, I stumbled upon a super cool activity available at Amorette’s Patisserie – a cake decorating demonstration. The shop makes stunning Disney cakes and offers a class five days a week for guests to learn tips and tools of the trade while getting hands-on experience decorating their own Mickey Mouse cake.

The class size is incredibly small, so getting a reservation requires a bit of tenacity and legalized Disney stalking. The price is also a bit high at $149 plus tax for two people. My reservation has been made for November (the first available date I could get!) I will be sharing my experience with all of you months and months and months…and months from now.

Do you guys love Disney as much as I do? What are your favorite Disney experiences? I’m always on the lookout for new ones.

Do you ever wonder why Mickey has three fingers and a thumb? Let me know in the comments.

Work Hard. Play Hard. Drink Chard.

Laurie

P.S. See you real soon…with another blog post!

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In a previous blog post, I said I was dating myself. In this post, I genuinely am…by revealing my age <insert shocked face emoji with fine lines here>. Here are snippets about my life across four decades and change.

As a Valentine’s Day baby, I ruined the holiday for my mother (I learned this at 41).

Baby Laurie stole Valentine’s Day and presents. Such a scamp.
If I tweeze my eyebrows, I sneeze minimally four times in a row.
I have a baby tooth that never fell out, so the Tooth Fairy owes me a dollar plus inflation.
I don’t have a college degree, but I’m three degrees separated from Kevin Bacon.
I didn’t show up to my college classes, but I left a 30-minute message on a guy’s answering machine detailing sensitive male body parts. #HigherLearning
I accidentally stole a magazine from the college bookstore.
Instead of coming clean, I put the money for the magazine in a random place upon my next visit.
I know this was for naught, but that is how I dealt with the situation…25 years ago.
I once worked security at a NASCAR event at the age of 16.
I didn’t allow a top TV announcer into our Media Center, and he moved me out of the way to get inside to interview Dale Earnhardt.
The guy was doing his job, and I was doing mine.

Although the TV announcer wasn’t a fan of mine, this race publication writer was (even if he misspelled my name.)
Throughout my childhood, my mom not only gave up Valentine’s Day but let me have cheesecake for my birthday.
I rarely eat cheesecake as an adult.
I loved and ate Fettucine Alfredo often as a child, but got scared straight when it was labeled “heart attack on a plate.”
At 40, I learned that my sister was paid $100 to take me to my first New Kids on the Block concert.
My sister informed me that she would charge well over a $1000 to go to a New Kids on the Block concert with me now.
I found this gem in my childhood bedroom a few years ago. My love for Joey McIntyre was REAL at the age of thirteen.
At the age of five, I kicked my adult neighbor in the shin when she told me I looked cute in my bikini.
I Silly String’d my childhood dog and had to cut all of the evidence out of his fur when it dried.

Scruffer de Duffer, you didn’t deserve the “Silly String Incident of 1984.” I love and miss you. Is it just me or did Scruffy and I have the same hair/fur color?
I was an a$$hole as a child.
Growing up, whenever we played “Goonies” with friends, I was “Sloth.”
At 15, I was afraid of getting contacts because I thought I would poke my eyeballs out.
I have contacts now, but never let my fingernails grow too long because I still don’t want to poke my eyes out.
I bit my nails until the age of 25 but quit as soon as I got my first professional job.
Before my professional job, I was a clown, a dancing theme park character, and a waitress.
As a waitress, I hated it when• guests would leave dirty diapers behind on the table.
Seriously…who does that?
To this day, due to my past as a server, I still tip 20% even when service isn’t sniffing at lackluster.
I don’t consider Disney lackluster as I have been so many times that I’ve lost count.

Check out this relic!
I was denied a kiss during a “Kiss Cam” moment at an NBA game.
I was married to the guy at the time.
We are super duper divorced.
My father was a Burger King Franchisee.
I joke that instead of a silver spoon I was born with a Whopper in my mouth.
I just told my fiancé the name of this blog post.
He responded, “You’re 43, so that makes me 44?”
When I responded in the affirmative, he kicked his leg in the air and said, “YEAH…I thought I was 45!”
I do what I can to keep the man happy.

I once picked up Jared from the airport wearing a chauffeur hat. Amazon is a treasure trove of stuff that you wear once or twice just for fun.
I slept with covers over my head until the age of 11 due to my fear of the Boogeyman.
I used to “Polar Bear” at my parent’s camp in Maine as a teenager.
I now live in Florida, so when I visit Maine during cold weather (60º), I look like the younger brother all dressed up in winter clothing from A Christmas Story.
My favorite shops are Amazon, Etsy, Anthropologie and local home goods shops.
The # of Amazon orders I make each year grows between 10% to 25%.
I’m pretty sure the UPS guy thinks I never leave the house.
If you are still reading this, you are loyal and I think I love you.

Does this remind you a bit of the “25 Things You Don’t Know About Me” that US Magazine publishes? Yeah…me, too…

I would love to learn more about all of you! If you would kindly leave a couple of sentences (or as many as you would like to share) in the comments that would be oh so rad.