For the Disney World recap, I think I’ll do the top 2 best parts of each park, but first I have some bar reviews. I’m quickly becoming a bar whore, specifically for LARA bars. It blows my mind that 3-5 REAL ingredients can create such delicious rectangles of goodness.

PB&J. Be still my heart. It tasted EXACTLY like a PB&J sandwich and was completely heavenly tasting while waiting in line for Mission Space at Epcot. Seriously people, it was so good. This is easily my favorite flavor, so far. My only complaint is that the oils from the peanuts made the bar kind of greasy, but that was a small, SMALL price to pay.

Apple Pie was also delicious, very apple-y. Of course it didn’t taste like apple pie, but for a bar made up of nuts and dried fruit, it was an excellent alternative. I actually think I ate this bar during the wait for Mission Space…it’s all kind of a blur. Haha.

Peanut Butter Cookie. What can I say, it tastes like a peanut butter cookie! It was kind of boring after eating the first two and I’d rather have a real peanut butter cookie with all of its warm, buttery goodness, but still yummy. Even with the peanuts, this bar wasn’t nearly as greasy as the PB&J one…not sure why since there were more peanuts in this bar than the other.

Lastly, Kashi PB bars. Bleh, not my favorite, at all. It was pretty bland and dry. I think I’d like other flavors better – I’m a big fan of other Kashi products, like their Go Lean, H2H, and Cinnamon Harvest cereals and their frozen pizzas are also excellent. Plus they have coupons on all of their cereal boxes, which pretty much guarantees that I’ll keep buying their products.

Okay, so on to the Disney recap! Oh man, I still miss it! I love all of the parks for different reasons – I definitely couldn’t pick a favorite. My least favorite is Animal Kingdom, but I still love it so it’s weird to say that it’s my least favorite.

Anyways, we started off in Epcot. That park is pretty much 2 parks in one – the front is like, future world or something, but in the back are the world showcases, which in my opinion makes Epcot completely awesome. Each world showcase has restaurants and a few shops that really display that country’s culture and traditions. My favorite showcases were Britain (which had a Beatles coverband playing all three days we visited Epcot) and Germany (hellooooo chocolate!). Each showcase also has related Disney merchandise in the stores…France has stuff from the Aristocats and Ratatouille, etc. The rides in Epcot are also pretty cool – one new ride they had was a simulated hang gliding called Soarin’. I like Test Track better, but it was cool to actually SMELL the different landscapes you “flew” over. Plus the guy that does Kronk’s voice in Emperor’s New Groove was the captain dude in the intro video.

These were in France – they’re like the stained glass windows in Beauty and the Beast, which is probably my favorite Disney movie (either that or Aladdin).

The next day we went to Hollywood Studios, formerly known as MGM studios. Aesthetically, this is my favorite park – it’s made to look like Old Hollywood and it easily had the best shops! The Brown Derby was also here, along with the famous Tower of Terror and the Rockin’ Rollercoaster.

We all rode the Tower of Terror during our last trip to Disney World 10 years ago…I was ten, Lara was 7. We were not so keen on the ride – I ended up biting my dad’s arm the whole time to keep from screaming. Actually, I don’t really know why I bit his arm. He was pretty annoyed, needless to say. Here is the ride snapshot, you know, the picture they take during your worst moment during the ride, for your viewing pleasure:

Circa 2000

Present

Notice the amusement my parents derive from our fear and anguish?

The Rockin’ Rollercoaster was also awesome, especially since it was my first time riding it. I’m pretty sure they took this picture right at the beginning where the ride goes from 0 to 60 in *insert time here* seconds…

Next up was Animal Kingdom! A badly needed roller coaster cropped up during the 10 year gap between visits called Expedition Everest. It was okay, nothing too intense. My favorite part of this park was the safari and animal trek. I saw gorillas, tigers, giraffes, hippos, merekats, elephants, lions, fruit bats and WAY more! There’s also the HUGE Tree of Life in the middle of the park filled with gorgeous and detailed animal carvings.

We saved Magic Kingdom for last. This park is a nostaglic’s dream, which means it was AWESOME for Lara and I. Of course we rode Space Mountain, but we also rode the teacups from Alice in Wonderland. Yeah, technically it’s a kiddy ride, but we didn’t ride it last time so we figured we were missing out on an essential Disney experience. Can’t you see the joy in our faces??

My other favorite part? It’s kind of boring, but this statue means so much to me…it encompasses my childhood and an awesome/inspirational message. I’m getting corny over here…

We also visited Downtown Disney, ESPN Wide World of Sports and the Disney boardwalk. ESPN was pretty boring, but Downtown Disney was filled with awesome, unique restaurants and shops. My favorite was the Disney Christmas shop – it encompasses two of my loves: Christmas and Disney! Such a beautiful thing… The boardwalk was small, but extremely picturesque…it was one of those places where you just want to sit outside and read on an outside patio all night.

SO. MUCH. WRITING.