Once Upon an Adventure

 Happy Summer!     Finally. That was a long and brutal winter. We like going to Walt Disney World midwinter to take a break from the cold and snow, but this year even with going to WDW winter continued for months after we got back! This trip while we were at Animal Kingdom (an all day park, in my opinion), I finally got to try a place that I've had on my list for years-Nomad Lounge.      Nomad Lounge can be a little tricky to get into. They don't take reservations. They're not on the dining plan. It's first-come-first-serve and then you get put on a waiting list. The thing is, the waiting list also has a limit. During our last trip in 2019 we tried to get on the waiting list around 12:30pm. I had tried using MyDisney App, but it said there was no waitlist available. I decided to try going to the host stand, but they told us the waiting list was at capacity and we'd have to try again later. We ended up doing other things in the park and didn't end up ci...

I hope you're all staying warm!       I'm sure you're wondering why I'm posting about Halloweekends in MARCH. Because it's always Halloween in my soul. 👿 To be honest, I've been dragging my feet since October. Let me get on my soapbox for a minute. I am not happy with many of the park decisions made since the merger. Those decisions were glaringly obvious in the 2025 season. In vain, I had hoped that Halloweekends would be left alone, but I was highly disappointed. For me, 2024's Halloweekend was an 8 or a 9 out of 10. Since getting Mr. Midnight as an icon, I felt we were moving in the direction of more popular theme parks. I would put 2025 at a 5 out of 10. It felt like we took a huge step backward. Do the houses need updated? Desperately. They also removed the main stage, making us lose some great shows throughout the night, and increasing the wait time for others. The Opening Scareymonies was terrible. It was held at the train station in the back of the ...

 Welcome to the Year of the Snake!      The last Asian Lantern post we did was in a peak COVID year, and I felt it deserved an updated experience.This is my year for the festival as I was born in a Chinese Snake Year, so it's the best year to go back! You can visit the event page for pricing and dates (this year's is over, but you can always plan for next year!) as this is a separately ticketed event that isn't included with general zoo admission. The event offers walking nights and drive-thru nights, and this year they offered a Wild Ride night where guests could ride their bike through the event. They also have some Asian-style food and drinks available in the picnic area during the event, as well as a live acrobatic show. This festival has a reputation for the displays getting bigger and better every year, and I would have to agree. I am a fan of any type of nighttime event, and it's a great opportunity to see the nocturnal animals and beautiful lights whil...

 Happy Opening Week!     This post is far later than I wanted it to be. I did NOT anticipate posting Winter Chill Out a couple of days before opening day, but here we are 😬. I was sick for a couple of weeks after Winter Chill Out, then I've been in the process of interviewing for a new job for  the last 6 weeks (I got it though!). It's been a whirlwind of a month and a half, but full of new beginnings! I know the announcements in this post the public is now privy to, but I hope you stick around to read about our whole experience with this year's tour.      Tickets were changed from a lottery to first-come-first-serve this year. It started at 10am, and I got 3 error messages trying to enter the queue before getting into the virtual line. It took me about 30 minutes to get into the ticket window, which wasn't too bad. One of the first things I noticed was ticket prices increased from $75 last year to $100 this year. (All the money from this event g...