Festival of the Arts!!

Figment design-front of Epcot

If you are a Disney fan you will know that throughout the year Epcot has different festivals. There is Food and Wine, which is probably the most popular, Festival of the Arts, and Flower and Garden.

The Festival of the Arts is the first one of the year, this year it is from January 18 through February 25! So you still have time to go! If you are a pass holder, it is worth trying out all of the festivals at Disney's Epcot, they are an experience and they change up the park for it as well! Especially the Flower and Garden Festival. If you are not a pass holder than you will benefit from this post because you are going to learn about the pros and cons of the Festival of the Arts! :)

Festival of the Arts is surrounded by not only the arts of painting, drawings, and prints but also animation and movies and singing. If you are a real art buff and also a fan of Disney you can find some really amazing and beautiful pieces of art for your home. They have artists throughout all of the world showcase selling their originals. They even have the artists there painting right in front of you and will sign anything that you buy from their tent. They have small prints ranging from $20 all the way to large paints and prints that will cost upwards of $50,000. Aside from those types of art options, they also have sidewalk chalk art which is amazing and also a wall mural that you can help paint! My fiancee is a big fan of art and loved to see all the paintings and drawings and was intrigued by the artists making their art right in front of you! Most of the art is Disney themed, however, there was some that was not. The art is definitely expensive and some of it seems outrageous but it is beautiful and if you have the money then I would say it is a good souvenir.

Another part of the festival are the performances on the stage near the front of the park before you
enter the world showcase. There are living statues, artists painting on stage, dance performances, acrobatics, and some other shows. My mom, Fiancee and I managed to catch the living statues and an artist who painted a large stitch painting while dancing to upbeat music. The living statues are always fun and you can just walk up and take pictures, the lines do not get very long and it is fun to see the moving and the kids reactions. The artist put on a good show, painted a whole picture in a different unique way and then of course sold that same painting that you just watched be painted. I was happy that we caught this because it was fun to see! They have a concert series in the park during this time, where performers from past Disney Broadway shows sing songs and put on a show. They have different performers each weekend, so you won't always be able to see.. say the Beauty and the Beast Belle, maybe instead you will catch Ariel from the little mermaid. These are actual Broadway stars, not actors hired by Disney. They sing the songs and it is enjoyable if you like Disney music! There were also a lot of different paintings set up around the park that were cut outs for people to pose in! Those are always fun! If you are a pass holder, they often have photographers there that will take it professionally and you get those for free with your pass on your Disney app. If you are not a pass holder, they will take it and give you the card to buy them! Or you can snap a picture on your phone!




When most go to Epcot they expect to eat and DRINK. The Food and Wine Festival is a great option for this, but what I have come to learn is that they have amazing food and drink options during the Festival of the Arts and it is cheaper than during the Food and Wine. Most of their food is specific to the country they are in, for example they have a bread bowl with brie in it and it is stamped with a France stamp. It's pretty cool! There are also amazing desserts that resemble the "arts" part of the festival. One of the hits for the kids throughout the park was the giant cookie that was shaped like an artists palette. It had different colored icing in circles, like paint, and they got a paintbrush with it that they could paint. To be quite honest, it is not just for the kids, I would have loved it! There were beautifully painted cakes and some of the food was just plain good. I had beef brisket french fries from Canada, they were amazing! My mom got crab topped chips from there as well. It would take forever to explain all of the foods and drinks they offer, it is definitely something that you need to experience yourself.

 With everything going on during the festivals at
Epcot, there are still so many things happening that are everyday Epcot experiences that some people at the park do not even realize. Therefore, if you are a frequenter of Disney, you may be able to do things you don't normally have the chance to do! For example, we were able to catch a lot of the characters for pictures. They came out in a group and just set up in a corner, this happens sometimes, and when everyone else is so focused on the events, you may just get a chance to get pictures without lines! like we did! Keep an eye out in the places where there are large gates that workers come in out and of and little walkways off to the side that lead to nowhere, that is where these kinds of random photo ops will normally take place! There were 6 characters in total in the one little area!

I hope that you enjoyed the post!

EARS!!!

Pink Sequenced Disney Ears 

As an avid Disney goer and someone who tends to want everything new and shiny, I love being able to see all the new mickey ears/hat options that they offer. And as any good company would do, they give a lot of options and they have A LOT of new options. I go to the parks at least once a month and there are new options almost every time I go. 

The very first time I went to Disney as a pass holder, I was with two friends from college and we decided to get matching Mickey ears. This was in 2012, which was now 7 years ago (this fact hurts me as that was when I graduated high school and means I am quickly getting old). I have not bought another pair of ears from Disney world since. Those same ears are still for sale in the parks and nobody knows that they are old. The ears range from $20 to $35. They have children size and adult size. With a pass you can receive 20% off and that helps a bit! 

With all of that being said, is it worth it? Good question! I would say that this all depends on your situation.  

Pass holders: If you are a pass holder or going to become a pass holder then I would say that you have a lot of options for ears and that you do not NEED to buy all of them from the actual park. My overall advice would be that you should take some time to decide on whichever ears/hat you like the best and buy those and continue to wear them when you visit the parks. As I mentioned before, they never go out of style and to be honest, if they did stop selling them them you would probably start having people ask you where you got them and then you would be special! It is a win-win. An exception to this would be special events, obviously. They have some really cute ears for graduates and also for brides and grooms! I hope that I can get my Fiancee to wear those after we get married! 

Non Pass holders: I do not want to get too much into what to buy and what not to buy because that is a whole other post that I will do later. However, focusing on the ears and hats specifically, it is an iconic thing to have ears when you go to the parks. If you are on a trip that you have been saving for I can assume that some of you may have planned out which accessory you want to buy and take with you as a souvenir, which I think is a great option. However, if you did not originally plan to buy the ears and they are not something you are really interested in, do not feel obligated to buy them, as you wont be able to wear them outside of Disney World or Disney Land, like you could with a shirt or jacket. My Fiancee wanted to co-write this blog to give his opinion  and he would say that because of this very fact that you cannot wear it outside of the parks, it is unnecessary. I understand what he is saying. 

 Other options: 

Something that some of you may do would be go to Walmart or another souvenir shop and buy a ears there, because although they may not be authentic they are still ears and most people would not notice anyway. I got a pair of cat ears from Forever 21 and bend them to be round and I was able to pass them as cute decorative ears that were actually much more comfortable than the ones you can buy at Disney. Etsy also is a good option for some ears that are out of the box and fun, but their prices are not necessarily better than Disney, but they have different options for sure! There are millions of options outside of the parks, but I understand the want for the real ones from the park as well, trust me! 

The last option would be DIY, if you are crafty like my mom and I then this would be a great option and not even a hassle because you love crafts. If you do not like crafts, the ears still were not difficult to make.




What you need:
a headband - something comfortable that is also a bit wider on the top.
Craft wire- I used 14 Gauge because I wanted it to be thick but not too hard to bend.
Fake flowers- use these to decorate, we were able to get the on sale and it wasn't too expensive.
lights- optional
ribbon- to cover the headband if necessary. Thin for covering headband and thick for a bow.

How to: 
1. plug in your hot glue gun and set out all your materials. Having to get up to grab things makes everything more difficult.
2. Measure how big you want your ears to be and cut your wire to the size, with about one inch on either end left for attaching it to the headband.
3. with your headband laying flat on the table/work surface, lay out your wire ears to make sure they are even and placed evenly.
4. glue each end of the ears to the headband. Cover the wire with glue (it will be covered) to secure it to the headband.
5. wrap the headband with the ribbon. glue one end to the end of the headband, wrap tightly, continue wrapping. Glue halfway through and again at the other end. This will cover the wire and make the headband look more sleek.
6. Now you decorate. there is not specific way to organize your flowers. I first attached my bow, using hot glue i attached the middle knot the headband and part of the bow to the wire. I just made sure to use different colors and not lump any one color together in one section. I wanted the flowers to look crowded. Using the hot glue I glued them to the headband first and then I started gluing them to each other to overlap.
7. (optional) using the lights, wrap them around the wired ears, make sure to measure out how much you will need to cover both ears to evenly distribute. Wrap tightly. Attach the battery box with wire to both wire ears to make secure. Batteries are heavy-make sure you can take them out when not wanting the ears lit up.

All in all, I love all my ears. The ones I bought from Disney I still wear and love them. I am considering buying the new purple ones, because they are in my favorite color and are only out for a limited time. My Forever 21 ears are light weight and super comfortable but do not give off the huge WOW factor that the bigger ears do. My DIY ears are a bit heavy but i am obsessed with how they look and get a lot of compliments!

I hope that you all enjoyed this blog and it was helpful to some!

Have a Magical Day

What is this about?

Hello all and welcome!

My name is Kayla. I have wanted to start a blog for some time now and my friend gave me the idea of making it about Disney, considering I am a Disney fanatic.  I have a love for writing and expressing myself through words, so I figured that blogging would be a good way to do that. 

This blog will be primarily about Disney. Anything from Walt Disney world to Disney movies. My opinions, my advice, my adventures, etc. I will be blogging all about it. I am a annual pass holder at Walt Disney World and I am there pretty frequently. I will be helping with the best time to go to Disney, the must-do's, the overrated, the most expensive, and so on. I am also excited to review the movies and talk about interesting connections and theories about them. As much as I love Disney I also love movies. 

Aside from Disney related information, I will also blog about other things in life (I.e "Beyond"). I am a 25 year old teacher and I am trying to figure things out. I always thought I knew exactly what I wanted in life and I think it is interesting that life had a different plan for me. I will be blogging about my life, adventures, and struggles as well. Hopefully that means that there will be something for everyone on my blog. 

I am not a fan of being vulnerable but having a blog means I will have people's opinions and comments thrown my way and although I know I can handle all that, be nice on here. Please feel free to leave comments, I would love to read them. I am going to try to upload Monday, Wednesday, and Friday every week. We will see how that goes! 

Enjoy!