NO SHAMPOO CHALLANGE!!!!

Well folks I took the plunge. The No-Poo plunge that is. I was planning on going 30 days without shampoo to see how it either helped or hurt my poor hair. I will start by saying I have straight-ish fine hair that is also very long and dead at the ends from highlighting and not cutting.

My hair is the type that knots easily. Especially at the base of my head top of my neck area and at the ends. So I started this challenge in the hopes of healthier thicker looking hair. The last thing a girl with fine hair needs is shampoo stripping it making it look stringy.

As we all know our scalp produces it's own secretions. After doing some research before I started this challenge I learned that these are very important a fact I already knew but never confirmed. Not only are these oils good for your hair they also keep the bacteria away from your scalp so it's a win win to keep them.

The problem is then you look like you haven't washed your hair in weeks... cause you haven't. So how do we go about not washing our hair and keeping it looking so fresh and clean? The short answer is I have no idea lol.

I do know this I am at about 2.5 weeks of no shampoo. I never wash everyday anyways generally I was once or twice a week. So by the start of week two I was loosing my mind. I tried a tea, honey, and lemon juice mixture that I made at home but it didn't seem to help much. So about four more days went by and at my kids haircut place they gave me a sample of cleansing conditioner. It's kind of like that Wen product you see in the infomercials. I was afraid to try it because I felt like it would kill my 30 day challenge, but I had to do something.

I tell you what, while it feels a little cleaner I can definitely still feel the oils on my scalp and about a 1/4 down my scalp. So I guess it's like not using shampoo.

I will keep you up to date the challenge isn't over but so far my opinion is find an organic or natural cleansing conditioner, don't just go cold turkey it's literally terrible!!!  

AFTERNOON TEA AT GARDEN VIEW TEA ROOM

Nestled in the back corner of the lobby in Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, is a quaint little place where the serve tea. Currently, they are serving two different sittings of tea: The Afternoon Tea and The Princess Breakfast Tea.

This review is for the former, the Afternoon Tea. The price of the Princess Tea is steep. It is also for what I consider to be a younger crowd, while the afternoon tea is generally composed of a more mature crowd. During our sitting there were two children under 5, one of them was mine and turned 5 months the day we went and the other was a little girl dressed in an adorable tea time dress and behaved quite appropriately.  All other attendants (while we were there) ages 11 and up. (The 11 year old was also mine!)

Garden View Tea Menu

The tea starts with of course a waiter and a menu, please excuse the picture quality it may not be the best due to a 5 month old in my lap!

Garden View Tea Menu

Garden View Tea Menu

Garden View Tea Menu

Garden View Tea Menu

The above was the menu as of Feb 26, 2015. They did say that they chance things seasonally.

Here's how it works: You pick a tea, a tea and champagne combination, or a children's tea. With each persons order you receive a full pot of tea. About 4 cups are in each pot. With that tea choice comes a three course tasting meal as I call it. You can check the menu above for the tea options. The children's tea is the only one where the food is a little bit different.

The food begins with course number one:

 This is the finger sandwich with fruit and cheese plate. On this day there was three finger sandwiches a cucumber, a curry, and an egg salad. The filling in these sandwiches is very limited, that is my only complaint. The curry was both mine and my mothers favorite. My 11 year old did not like any of the finger sandwiches.

There was also three kinds of cheese on the plate: a white hard cheese, a green pesto mixed with a medium white cheese, and a goat cheese topped with pickled beets. My favorite was the goat cheese with pickled beats followed by the hard white cheese. My apologies for not knowing the type but it was good. The green one that I expected to love was actually very plain.

There were raspberries, grapes, and blueberries. This is one of those items that I assume they change seasonally. While talking with the waitress I found out that they try to get most of their fruit fresh from local growers. It may not be organic but it's a start!

On the the second course!

 I may have enjoyed the first course but, I loved the second!!! Pictured above is a buttery raisin scone and a strawberry jam tart... both were amazing!! They are also served with three different "sauces" if you will. They were an apricot jam, a heavy cream based concoction, and a key lime frosting type substance. My mother loved the heavy cream and my daughter loved the key lime. I personally liked all three but thought the scone and tart were perfect without any added flavors. This is coming from a girl who loves condiments!

The third and final course was desert. This course there was actually a choice of which desert you wanted. Remember Disney is very good at accommodating allergies and so my lactose intolerant daughter choose a desert that was not on the menu and prepared special for her.

These were our desserts. My daughters was a strawberry platter and mine was the traditional dessert. While my mother liked her dessert my daughter loved hers! I did not care for mine and requested a repeat of the second course instead. Which they brought me and I loved again :-)

In total it took us about two hours to have our tea. Keep in mind we had an allergy so the chef came out to speak with us personally. We are also slow eaters and heavy talkers, so you may be able to get out of there faster than we did.

Overall it was a very relaxing enjoyable experience. I would definitely recommend it especially for those of you that like your down time and for those of you who like tea!

THE LEAKY CAULDRON

The atmosphere was great in an old dingy creepy but yet clean way. Yes I'm talking about The Leaky Cauldron in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter  at Universal Studios Orlando. It was a loud venue and on the cool side. The a/c was welcome since it is Florida we are talking about.

We ate at an off hour around 2ish. The line was medium in length but moved rather smoothly. While waiting in line they hand out menus so that you can choose your food before getting up to the counter. This helps a lot in the smoothness of the line.

You order at the counter and then they seat you. Some of the seating is actual chairs and the rest is long picnic bench type tables made to look like dark wood. These were very uncomfortable! After half a day wandering the parks I would have much preferred to be sitting somewhere with a back to my chair!

They give you a number when they seat you and then bring your food to you. Again, this helps greatly in keeping the line moving where you order by avoiding people standing there waiting for food. Very well designed to move a lot of people quickly.

Now the food!

First up and the second most delicious thing we ordered..... Fish and Chips

Three member of our group had this and all of them enjoyed it. It was lightly breaded and was definitively real fish. I know this due to the scales my daughter found on hers when the breading fell off!! She thought it was gross and didn't want to finish after that so watch out for finiky eaters. The fries were pretty good also. They were thick and kind of like the wedges from KFC but they tasted better and weren't as dense.

Next was the worst choice!!  Cottage Pie

While it looks delicious... it wasn't. Don't get me wrong it wasn't terrible either but it's nothing I would order again. It was mashed potatoes on top beef on the bottom. They tried to make it more complex with layers of flavors but it just didn't work! /it was so bland and very close to tasteless! The salad dressing on the side salad was the best part. And that's all I have to say about cottage pie!


Next is the best choice!

THE FRIARS NOOK IN MAGIC KINGDOM AT THE WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT

Nestled in a little corner of Fantasyland, in between Prince Charming's Carousel and the Winnie the Pooh ride and across from the great new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train entrance lies a small Quick Service eatery that serves only a few choices.

FRIARS NOOK MENU

As you can see from the picture above there is not much to it. The other side of the menu (not pictured) is just drinks! I tried the Pot Roast Mac n Cheese and the Carrot Cake.

Pot Roast Mac n Cheese Friars Nook

It was sooooo good. I honestly didn't know what to expect. I do consider many of the food choices in the Magic Kingdom bland and uninteresting. This was not that! Although my children did not try it, myself and my husband thought it was very good. I had just the right amount of cheesiness. The macaroni was not hard and it also wasn't so soft that it all fell apart. Consistency is very important to me while eating! The pot roast was also seasoned very well. There was not to much salt and it tasted like they applied actual seasonings. I would recommend trying this.

The carrot cake was another story. While I have had good carrot cake at the Walt Disney World Resort, this was not one of those times. It was slightly hard on the edges and covered in frosting. It almost had more frosting than cake. If your a frosting fan go for it. If your a carrot cake fan skip it!

BIG HERO 6

I love Disney movies. They tend to be happy feel good movies with a moral to their stories. While we used to be avid movie goers, now that we are a family of five (and even when we were a family of four) we tend to wait for movies to come to Redbox before we watch them.

Well Big Hero 6 is now available in Redbox and I must say it was GREAT! I didn't know what to expect from the previews but good job Disney. It was a super good super hero movie, with the most unexpected kind of super heros.... nerds!

If you haven't already go see Big Hero 6.

UNIVERSAL AND ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE: THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER

This was my first trip back to Universal and Islands of Adventure in over 10 years!!!

We had a great time. My husband says it's better than Disney but I don't agree! It was a little expensive even with a Florida Resident discount. It came to $136 for a 1-day two park ticket!! But the only way to ride the new Harry Potter Train is to get a two park ticket! So they got me. It was the same amount of money to get a 2-day park to park ticket at Universal/IOA for 4 people as it was to get a 3-day single park entry ticket to Disney World for 6 people!!!! (Florida Resident Discounts on both of course)

Okay rant over on to my review lol. The new Harry Potter sections... AMAZING!! The details were everywhere and nowhere cause if you were looking for Diagon Alley you better just know where it is or you will walk right by the secret passage way that let's you in!!!

Once I was in my first words were wow!!! They did a great job with the details here this is amazing. I can't say enough on how real it all looks and feels. We ate at the Leaky Cauldron on Diagon Alley in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was surprisingly good and very real feeling. I will do a full review on just the restaurant but I will tease you with a picture or two here!

Ok so after we ate we finished exploring Diagon Alley it was really nice and my kids wanted wands so bad but they started at $40! That was for the ones that don't do magic! Granted they were very nice but not nice enough to buy, especially because I know three week after we get home they will be lost!

We went on the one ride in Diagon Alley Escape From Gringotts and it was a very well done moving simulator ride. If that makes sense lol. It was about a half hour wait on a Sunday afternoon during a moderately busy weekend. It was the end of the President's day holiday. The line moved fairly consistently, which, always makes me happy :-)  No details were spared here either.

Next we take the train to Hogsmeade....

WYNDAHM BONNET CREEK RESORT

This is a beautiful place to stay! We stayed as a party of seven with ages ranging from 5 months to 60's and I must say we all enjoyed it here. There are six buildings here to stay in with accommodations ranging from one bedrooms with a full kitchen to deluxe presidential 4 bedroom units!

Kitchen in the 4 bedroom presidential unit

We stayed in building 5 room 794. It was a two bedroom deluxe unit. The master bedroom had a king sized bed and a whirlpool type tub. The second bedroom had two double beds and the living room had a pull out sofa. While we all fit comfortably I think our party size would have been better off with a three bedroom. I was a little cramped in the second bedroom due to having a playpen in there. I also would like to note that both adult males that traveled with us are over 6' and their feet hung off the double and king sized beds.

The pool areas were beautiful. The water was kept at a warm 82 degrees. There are two lazy rivers, I only tested out the one by building 5 but it was cute. Not a water park sized lazy river but still good. They had a pirate themed pool with a slide outside of building 6. The height requirement for the slide was 48" and it was a fully enclosed dark looking slide. My daughter loved it, but my son and I did not even try it lol.

They also have a splash and water play area by building one along with the other lazy river. We did not try it but here's a pic.

Now I would like to share my opinion of our stay followed by some more room pictures.

First of all we really enjoyed it here. The atmosphere was very nice and although there were many people in each building it never really felt crowded. Keep in mind we did not travel during Orlando's "season". There was ample parking including a parking garage, which, is nice in Florida because it means your car is in the shade.

We did not use the bus service so I can not comment on it. One night while we were there, the boys tried the restaurant while the girls were at Epcot. They said the fish tacos were excellent!

We could just barely see the Epcot ball from the upper floors of building 1. Driving to Animal Kingdom was about 8 mins, Hollywood Studios 4 mins, and Magic Kingdom 15 mins. We did not drive to Epcot.

And that's it. Was it nice and spacious? Yes! Did everyone like it? Yes! Was it cheaper than staying on Disney property? Kind of... It was around the price of the Moderate Disney Resorts. If I had booked later it would have been closer to the cheaper Deluxe prices.

All in all it was very nice, however, I love Disney and I personally missed the Disney touch. My husband disagrees and says he is never going back to those little hotel rooms!

Here are some pics of Wyndahm Bonnet Creek Resorts Rooms

1 Bedroom

1 Bedroom

1 Bedroom

1 Bedroom

1 Bedroom

1 Bedroom

    

Now the Two Bedroom

2 Bedroom

2 bedroom

2 Bedroom

2 Bedroom

2 Bedroom

2 Bedroom

2 Bedroom

2 Bedroom

2 Bedroom

2 Bedroom

2 Bedroom

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN WDW

Well while I just rode this ride yesterday you may not be able to if you're traveling to Walt Disney World this summer *2015*  After a failed attempt to do a quick fix if the ride about two years ago, they will be shutting it down for the summer and maybe into fall. While this may be dissapointing to some, it is in need of it and I can't wait to visit after the refurb. Not to worry I will give you my new review of the ride as soon as possible!

BOG LUNCH

BOG lunch fastpass no longer available. ...
BOG lunch ressies totally available as of now! Go get em!

DEFINITELY GOING TO UNIVERSAL ORLADO!!!

We are all very excited around our house. We have officially decided that Universal Studio's and Islands of Adventure will be happening this month!!

We will be getting park to park tickets just not sure if it will be for one day or two yet...

Not to worry a full review is coming with photo's and videos!!

Stay tuned it is sure to be interesting since my family is a little off the wall and they will be the starts of the show lol!

WHAT TO EXPECT

Hi everybody this post is to let you know what's coming!

We are heading to Walt Disney World in about two weeks. Yay so excited. I love to travel especially to places that make me really feel like I'm in another world lol. Disney World is one of those places for our family.

We will be doing a lot of things and I will attempt to review them all and give you insights on all things I encounter.

We will be doing:

PARKS:

Magic Kingdom
Disney's Hollywood Studios
Animal Kingdom

Universal Orlando and/or Islands of Adventure (IOA)

RESORT/HOTEL:

Whyndam Bonnet Creek
Howard Johnson Express Inn

ADR's:

Tusker House Breakfast (prior to park open) at Animal Kingdom
Garden View Tea Room at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa (GF for short)

Entertainment:

Wishes Nighttime Spectacular @ MK
Main Street Electrical Parade (MSEP) @ MK
Festival of The Lion King (FOTLK) @ AK

and others that are to be determined....

RIDES:

AS MANY AS POSSIBLE!!!

Stay tuned for updates and reviews and have a wonderful weekend!!!

VALENTINES DAY IS THE BEST TIME TO TAKE SOMEONE ON A CRUISE!!!

SURPRISE HER!

MAKE HIM HAPPY WITH UNLIMITED FOOD AND DRINKS.

VACATIONS ARE THE BEST WAY TO RECONNECT AND WHAT BETTER TIME THAN THIS VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

CLICK HERE TO FIND GREAT DEALS

WANT A PERFECTLY TAILORED VACATION JUST FOR YOU?

FOLLOW THIS LINK AND LET THEM KNOW WHAT YOUR LOOKING FOR!

MICKEYS SORCERERS HAT IS ALMOST GONE!!!

Mickey's Sorcerer's hat has been the center piece at Disney's Hollywood Studios for over a decade. That reign is about to come to an end. The hat is currently in pieces with only the last bits remaining! The hat should be down by mid-Feb and since it's like almost mid-Feb that should be any day now.

The question still remains..... Will they be putting something in it's place? And if so what? Will it be the Earful Tower or maybe they will do nothing and let people see a clear view of the Great Movie Ride.

I have a feeling they will do something!! I will let you know as things transpire.

CHILLY CHANGES IN FLORIDA

If you happen to be visiting in the next week and expecting a reprieve from the cold places you are coming from..... sorry you picked the wrong week this year!!! Hey it happens though, some years winter in Florida is actually cold this year it has been above average warmth. This makes most travelers very happy. However, this past week and the week to come it has been around the 60's everyday. Cold for us but probably perfect for you all coming from the north!! Tonight it will get down to the 40's!!

Don't get me wrong some winters here are down right cold and 40-60 for weeks at a time but most of the time average winter temps are low 70's and awesome. So, when planning a winter vacation to the Sunshine State remember to pack an array of clothing... JUST IN CASE!!

FLORIDA RESIDENTS SHOULD TOTALLY TAKE ADVANTAGE

See that blue sky... not a cloud in site?  Yeah well this was one of my best and cheapest Disney Vacations EVER!!! The reason? I'm a Florida Resident. We get amazing offers all year round to go to Disney World and Universal but so many ppl just don't take advantage! Why? I'm not really sure especially if you have children or don't for that matter lol.

This time of year not only is the weather great but the prices for Florida Residents are almost unbeatable!! Honestly people why are you not taking more vacations? They are one of the best ways for families to reconnect and for couples to relax together.

Calling all Florida Residents let me plan your next perfect vacation. Weather you want a luxurious experience where your children literally feel like princesses and pirates or your on a budget and still want some magic in your life, I can make it happen.

CONTACT ME TODAY AND LET'S PLAN YOUR NEXT VACAY