It's All About Me!

Well, at least on this day it was because it was my birthday!  Yep, 39 again!!  J  The day started with a surprise phone call from a friend of ours who was in London on business, and he called just to wish me a happy birthday!  And of course my sister called with her very special birthday song (she makes up a new one every year).

 

We waited a little bit before heading across the street to Denny’s Restaurant for my free Grand Slam breakfast figuring the rush would be over, but we were wrong.  The place was packed, but we found a couple of seats at the counter.  All the servers were obviously stressed, and things were slipping through the cracks. 

Bottom line, Russ ended up getting his meal free, too!

 

Now it was time to head over to Hollywood Studios.  We had reserved a FastPass for Toy Story Mania, and even though Russ said maybe he’d let me win on my birthday, he definitely did not, beating me by 6,500 points.  Not

to worry, I’m sure my day will come!  While we were waiting for our FastPass reserved time, we caught a performance of Beauty & the Beast, one of my favorites.  These mini-productions are so well done and really capture the entire story of the full length musical.

       The park was extremely crowded, but it was a beautiful day and we were in no hurry so simply wandered around stopping for a bit to watch that magical street performer, Jack Diamond, do some of his incredible card tricks and

    spotted a street performer we had not seen before…Daisy Day with her “Hollywood or Bust” suitcase.  It was hard to miss her since she was seated on a blanket right in the middle of the street!

 

   We also stopped to watch some of the young kids who had signed up for the Jedi Training Academy where they learned to use the Force to “battle” Darth Vader, and
      near the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular were some props where I let Russ get in a picture, too!  J

 

As we continued our stroll towards the Streets of America, we could
   hear the sounds of rock music in the air, and sure enough we found one of our favorite Disney groups Mulch, Sweat n’ Shears!  Led by “Morris Mulch” this high energy group specializes in classic rock or as they like to say “rake and roll!”  They drive up in an innocent
   looking landscaper’s pickup truck that quickly turn it into a fully functioning stage with the sound system under the hood run by “cousin Sparky”.  Their 30 minute sets are filled with fun and incredible musicianship, and they
     routinely involve the audience whether it’s having you sing along or bringing someone up to play air guitar with the band.  We had arrived in time to only see the last couple of minutes, but they would return for another set in half an hour and so did we!

All in all it was a great day though nothing really spectacular happened.  Just spent the day enjoying beautiful weather and fun with my guy in the magic of Hollywood!

 

"Piggylicious"

Playing at the festival this weekend for the first time was Gary Lewis & the Playboys (This Diamond Ring, Just My Style, Count Me In).  Quite a different feel than The Guess Who…they didn’t really rock the house but were still good and fun.  For those who may not know, Gary is the son of comedian Jerry Lewis but got his start without relying on
his dad’s name. In fact, his first gig was at Disneyland where he was billed simply as Gary & the Playboys.  However, his dad was helpful in getting the group’s first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, but their continued success was all on their on merits and talent.  Gary comes across as a really nice guy, and we caught the 2nd and 3rd shows (which as it
turns out were exactly the same except for one cover song done by the band...a different one each show).  And at the end of each show as Gary was leaving the stage, his keyboardist said, “Let’s hear it for Gary Lewis, the man who made his father famous!”  Of course, that got quite a few laughs!

 

Joe and Nancy joined us for the last show, and after it was over and before we found our spot to watch Illuminations, we all decided to try one of this year’s new delicacies at the American pavilion called the “Piggylicious” Bacon Cupcake.  We had heard they were delicious and some even said “to die for!”  This white cupcake was studded with applewood smoked bacon topped with maple frosting and a few mini-pretzel pieces, and quite frankly none of us were very impressed.  We shared two, and though the maple frosting was delicious, not one of us would claim that this cupcake was anywhere near “to die for”, but we can at least say we tried it.

 

Earlier in the day as we made our way over to the concert, I was able to snap more photos of the incredible topiaries on display so am posting more here for you to enjoy.  I also captured Woody from Toy Story after the last show near where we got the cupcake.

 

Spring Has Sprung!

It’s March and that means the start of Epcot’s International Flower & Garden Festival!  75 days of beautiful flowers, plants, topiaries, special guest artists and gardeners giving demonstrations and tips, special events for the kids, vendor booths, and of course the Flower Power Concert Series featuring performers and music from the 60s
& 70s!  Every weekend they perform three 35 min. “mini-concerts” each night at the American Gardens Theater, and our neighbors, Joe and Nancy, joined us for the first weekend’s shows.  One of our favorites was playing…The Guess Who (American Woman, These Eyes, No Time).  These guys are master musicians and seem to
have a blast not only playing for their listeners but playing off each other.  They include the audience whether it’s the keyboardist leading everyone in Clap For The Wolfman, the lead singer coming out into the crowd, or encouraging everyone to stand up and dance.  Their shows are definitely a rockin’ good time!  We arrived for the
second show, stayed for the next, and then caught the Illuminations fireworks before heading home.  On our way out the front entry, we got to enjoy the topiary now beautifully illuminated with multi-colored lights.

We didn’t see all of the topiaries on this first weekend, but there will be time to catch the rest during the coming weeks. With over 100 of them, it could be tiring to try to see them all in one day!  We won’t get to see all of the concerts since we’ll be leaving the area before the Festival is over, but the ones we see are always fun!  So stay tuned for more pics of beauty and song because spring has definitely sprung at Epcot!