Category: Walt Disney World

The Casey-Jose’s take Toy Story Land

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn 2018, Summer at Sonnystone, Walt Disney WorldLeave a comment

We met up with the Jose’ family at Disney’s Old Key West, both arriving 11am.  Our room was ready!! We carried up our luggage, jabbered a little, then set out for Magic Kingdom.  We did Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, then It’s a Small World.  We stopped for some food, then went to the Haunted House, then back to Buzz for another spin.  We were set up to watch the castle wrap and fireworks, when I glanced back and saw dark clouds throwing lightning blowing in.  I made the call–we’re getting outta here.  I have sat in the rain for less, but I have learned.  When a storm hits, the place is crazy, but not only were we just there last March, we will be returning next March, so come on…

Charmed, we were getting on the bus when the storm hit.  The fireworks still went off, don’t get me wrong, and we could see part of them from our balcony, but we were dry, cool, and we got to bed to prepare for an early start in the morning.

Friday morning:  We did it, just as planned!!  The park opened at 7am, but we were walking through the turnstiles at 6:30 and went straight on to the Slinky Dog Ride.

From there we went straight over to the Alien Space Saucers,

then into Toy Story Mania…no lines!

By 9am we were enjoying breakfast at Woody’s Lunchbox!  And the humidity was beginning to seep in…

Melissa, Emma, Casey, and I stood in a long line to ride Aerosmith Rock ‘n Roller Coaster.  I hadn’t ridden that one since the grandkids arrived!  It was just as fun as I remembered, though the G-forces involved with going from 0 to 57mph in 2.8 seconds permanently ruined my hair-do… Someday I may show you the picture…but probably not.

We ended up going on Slinky Dog and Toy Story Mania again, then shopped and headed back to the resort.  We swam until they shut the pool down due to an approaching storm.  Then we hopped a bus for Disney Springs, had some supper, and bought our final souvenirs.

We started home on Saturday at 7am or so.  Birmingham is the new Atlanta–we were delayed 30minutes for some unknown reason.  Olivia was delivered to her parents safe and sound (and a little homesick, if the truth be told) by 10:30, and we were fast asleep by midnight.

Camp Sonnystone starts today!  It’s going to be a blast.

Peace

 

Epcot Flower & Garden photos

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn 2018, Spring at Sonnystone, Walt Disney World4 Comments

I’ve got a few pictures of the Flower and Garden Show at Epcot to share.  You’ve probably seen pictures of their beautiful topiaries…

but the abundance of blooms fills the park…

I am really inspired by this garden in particular…

It sorta bums me that I didn’t stay down south longer, but spring is capricious Everywhere, and besides, I missed my Eville grandies.  We got together on Friday and played Easter Egg hunt in the house, filling our plastic eggs with chocolate kisses.

My ass-pain is back…   Last time, I blamed my hip, remember?  Well, a hip x-ray showed only minimal arthritis.  I had slipped on ice back in 2014, landing on my gluteus maximus, which was actually pretty maxim-ous at the time. A couple of weeks later, I traveled to NYC and was in Severe Pain… Ever since then, the piriformis, a muscle deep under the glutes, has tended to spasm whimsically.  Last November I knew there was some piriformis involvement, but missed that it was the catalyst.  Sunday we were walking in the woods, uphill and down, and it is irritated again.  This time, I’m right on it with ice and NSAID’s, and an appt. with the doctor on Wednesday if things don’t clear up.

With the weather so shitty, I guess it’s as good a time as any to be laying around…

Peace

 

Finis

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn 2018, Travelogue, Trippin' in the Trailer, Walt Disney World1 Comment

The week at Disney World flew by!  We arrived at Fort Wilderness campground on the 17th.  Our site was right on the corner, a little loud, but perfect for people-watching and listening from behind the trees…

We took in a nice sunset from the dock…

The Joses were due to arrive at 9am the next morning, but met up with faulty planes Twice, and didn’t arrive till 4 or so.  They stayed over at Wilderness Lodge, a quick boat trip away from our campground.  We met up with them at Disney Springs and bought our ears!! Then back to our homeplaces to rest…

(We use the Disney Memory Maker Photopass which pays for any pictures taken by the Disney Photographers who are placed all over all the parks, and even on the resorts…   These include the pictures they take from the rides and with many of the characters, and in the most iconic kodak spots.  Because I am an annual passholder, I get to keep all of the pictures forever in my Disney account, but that is a pain when you have to scroll through 400 pictures from our last trip to get to the new ones.  While Disney IT gets those deleted, I have to use the pictures taken from my camera.  Of course, this means you will have to endure the Movie made from the Disney shots later this week…)

On Monday we were in the Magic Kingdom…

Tuesday at Epcot…

Wednesday at Hollywood Studios, or as I like to call it, MGM… (Who knows what they’ll call it next)…

Wednesday evening, back to Disney Springs, where Eliza danced!!!

Thursday was All-Day-Magic over at the Kingdom…breakfast at 8am with the fellas from 100-acre Woods…

We had Terrific spots to watch the castle show and fireworks, but you’ll have to take my word for it, since I didn’t take any pictures this year.

After the fireworks, we braved the cold-ish temps to ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train—this was the only time I could get a fast-pass, but it was a great way to finish off our trip! (pictures later via Disney)

We said our good-byes to the Jose’ kiddos  on Friday…

 

..but we stayed another day, so headed over to Epcot to dig in to the Flower and Garden Festival…  I’ll share those pictures in another post.

We haven’t seen the sun since we left Florida…

Peace

 

 

 

 

Did you Notice?

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn 2017, Autumn at Sonnystone Acres, Disney World 2017, Walt Disney WorldLeave a comment

I haven’t posted much about our recent trip to Disney World—just that movie that I laboured over and Only One Reader actually watched it…  See, I know these things.  I don’t know which of you it was, though, so you can act like it was you if want to please me.

Since 3minutes 30seconds was too much to ask, I’ll make it convenient for you.

I may have mentioned that I picked up a sneezing, snotty, cough-y thing whilst driving through Alabama.  Whatever it was, the coughing and wheezing got rough enough for even Me, who normally spurns the need for doctors, to make a visit.  I got the clear x-ray, the breathing treatment, and meds.  The breathing treatment helped me breathe better, but I was jittery as a june bug, and irritable, too.  I filled the Rx’s and started on Prednisone.  I dreaded it.  That shit is miracle, but man, it’s like speed.

That’s when I tore into the upstairs and began setting up  A Room of My Own, cleaning, purging, organizing…  Making that little movie took forever, as my mind kept jumping.  There was no sleeping, so my mind raced over ground it really should stay away from…  I deactivated my facebook and instagram accounts and started over.  I reorganized the folders in my computer files.  I ran out of thoughts…

And that was just the first 2 days…   By the time I completed the dosage, I was feeling more alien than human, and it was 3 more days before I was back to what I’d call normal.  Of course, I’m still coughing…

More pictures…

While my head was buzzing around, money started falling out of the sky…  Facebook sent me a $30 credit to boost my posts.  It was such a kick!   Watching the stats was addictive, as the number reached climbed into the thousands.  The number of people who actually clicked on the blog site was less impressive, so I was able to quit before they got any of My $.  But that’s not all!

Simultaneously TwinSpires, the online site where I bet The Triple Crown, sent me $10 to bet on the Breeders Cup.  I had to bet the race that was sponsored by TwinSpires, no problem.  I looked up some picks and found one that was on all the lists (I don’t remember the name!), bet the $10 and made $20.  I figured I’d bet the ten again on the Classic, but spread it out on 3 horses to show and they all came in, bringing me another $14.  Pennies from heaven…

More Pictures…

When we leave Disney, I am always beginning to plan my next visit.  For me, the Magic never gets old…the parades, the rides, the characters, the games, food, the music, all of that and a giant Dole Whip…

Peace

Embrace Joy

 

 

Disney ’17 in 3:30

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn 2017, Walt Disney World3 Comments

So, seriously, it has taken me days to get this video edited down to 3min 30sec, and it’s so not perfect, but I had to finally stop and post or I will never move on with my life.

What is perfect, though, is the pure, shining Joy that radiates from our faces.  When folks have questioned why our family returns to Disney World again and again, that’s what I try to describe.

Peace

Whimsical Wednesday

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn 2017, Disney World 2017, Walt Disney World2 Comments

Wow!  This has been the longest spell of not-blogging that I have had in 6 years…  Why? you ask?  4 days of travel, 7 of Disney World, and all of the activity that goes with vacationing, including the work, plus the nasty allergy-type coughing, snottiness that I picked up somewhere in Alabama.

We had a wonderful time at Walt Disney World with the Jr family.  We’ve been busy cleaning up and catching up, so part of the problem is that I’ve not taken the time to download anything from WDW and I’m still extremely challenged with uploading the phone stuff–they are in google pictures and wordpress cannot find them.

I took the Nikon along on the first day when we visited Animal Kingdom, but took only a half-dozen or so shots.  As I’ve mentioned, it is a done-for camera and most of the pics I took were out of focus.  This is what I’ve got to share.

We were the “Family of the Day” at the Satu’li Canteen…(our server took the picture)

 

Rivers of Light and the Tree of Life

I Loved the Rivers of Light Show because it is My Theme, My Mantra, My Faith…

It’s our rite, it’s our call  Every creature great and small

If We stand alone   We stand to lose forever

Raise your hands to the sky  On this journey you and I

We’ll grow stronger than we know if we stand together

Feel the Rain  Face the Wind  Touch the Earth

And take it in…

Touch the Sea  Feel the light  Live the fullness of this life

Sand and stone  Flesh and bone  We are one

We are One, with the Oceans

Free to run, through the sunlight

Everyone, pure as water

Flowing in the wilderness

We are one in elation

Sound the drum, a celebration

            Touch the earth  Feel the sun

     We are One

           Touch the earth        Feel the sun
We are One

And that’s it for now…   I’m all caught up around the house now—laundry, gardening, cleaning up the trailer—and I’ve re-stocked the fridge.  I caught up with the mail and received my Medicare notice, immediately going into a funk of feeling old.  Old, I tell you.

Still, when I look at all the fun we had, even with the weather being ungodly hot and humid down there, I’m pretty satisfied that I can keep up with the youngsters.

This is just a tease.  I’ll be back soon with the Real Pictures and True Stories…

Get out the tissues and listen to the music…

 

Peace…