The Wonderful World of Disney (and Universal, Too!)

If we've learned anything since joining the Foreign Service, it's that the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

Case in point:  Our original plan had been to enjoy a nice, relaxing home leave on the West Coast following our two year assignment in Mexico.  We planned it out and it looked like we could spend a month in California, Washington, Vegas, etc. before heading to Virginia for TJ's Arabic training.  The State Department didn't agree, and all of the training came first.  That was fine, no biggie.  The only hiccup was that, were home leave to begin prior to training, we could control where the flight out of Mexico took us (i.e. West Coast), whereas having home leave after training meant we were already situated in Virginia (i.e. East Coast).  We weren't too keen on driving all the way out west, so a new plan was formulated.

...And, there we were.  At last.  A long ten months and eight days after leaving Mexico, we finally arrived in Orlando.  Home.  

What follows is basically an episode of any sitcom that ran during ABC's TGIF Friday night programming following the Disney/ABC merger in the mid-90s.  You know the drill:  The Tanner family (or the Foster-Lambert family, or the Winslow family, etc.) goes to Disney World and spends 22 minutes (plus commercials!) getting themselves stuck in a series of hilarious yet troublesome situations that will be resolved the following week (these were typically two-parters) while they float seamlessly between parks as if they are all the same place.  

This probably won't be as entertaining as all that, but we did float seamlessly between parks for the duration of our nineteen day trip.  

We arrived on August 30th and, after a quick unpack and rest at the hotel, headed to Downtown Disney where we met up with our old roommate Kris.  We walked the full length of this outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment complex during our chat.  We window shopped.  We stopped for a drink.  I took a picture with this awesome Lego Hulk.  It was nice catching up with Kris, but on the whole the experience was a tad depressing.  Pleasure Island, the section of Downtown Disney that had been devoted to nightclubs and booty shaking, had closed on September 27, 2008.  The Virgin Megastore, where TJ and I met for the first time, closed in spring 2009.  The McDonald's where we shared our first meal later that day because-it's-not-a-date-so-why-be-fancy closed on April 30, 2010, shortly after our original departure to join the Foreign Service.  Now, construction barriers are set up all over the complex, paving the way for something called "Disney Springs" that is scheduled to open in 2016.  I'll try to reserve judgement, but right now I'm just bitter that so many of the locations surrounding the beginnings of our relationship have faded away. 

The following day was spent at EPCOT, TJ's favorite of the four theme parks that fall under the Walt Disney World umbrella.  After all but conquering Future World, we set our sites on the World Showcase.  First stop was "Mexico," where we enjoyed Margaritas and nachos, listened to a mariachi band, and replaced Panchito Pistoles and José Carioca as members of The Three Caballeros.  Disney photography policy prevents the taking of pictures with their characters while in the presence of alcohol but make no mistake ladies and gentlemen, those margaritas are sitting just to the side of the far right bottom corner.  We spent the remainder of the day leisurely strolling the World Showcase and sampling foods and beverages as we took in the attractions.    

That was followed by a day at Animal Kingdom, which I have always

suspected of being situated directly above hell, due to its ever-uncomfortable, always higher than average temperatures.  Our friend Tommy joined us for a day spent traveling through time to the day of the Dinosaur, learning that it's Tough to be a Bug, embarking on a East African safari and learning all about the "Bear Necessities."  If you don't get all of those references, it's because either you don't know enough about Disney, or I know too much.  And since this is my blog, we'll throw the blame in your direction.  We would see Tommy one more time during this trip, and that would be following Tuesday evening for night of dancing and PBR at downtown Orlando's hipster club, I-Bar.  The crowds were young when we left Orlando, and even more so now.  We, unfortunateley, had aged another three years.   It took a while to get into the groove, but once we did it was fun.  If nothing else, we ended our evening better off than the guy who was sitting outside in a puddle of his own...something...when we left.  Though, looking back, maybe he did have more fun than us.  

That evening saw us arriving at Disney's HollywoodStudios for a night of turkey legs and scary fireworks (Really, Disney?  What were you thinking with this whole Fantasmic thing?) with my old friend and colleague Shalinn.  TJ was excited to ride the newly renovated Star Wars attraction (Star Tours - The Adventure Continues) for the first time, which I had managed to do during my 2011 trip to San Diego.  We had planned to meet up with Shalinn, a champion eater who manages to stay super skinny just to spite me, for an evening at a local food truck fair later in our trip, but we were sadly rained out.  Next time, pookie!

The next day was spent at my favorite park The Magic Kingdom.  We immediately headed over to The New Fantasyland to explore a park renovation we had been dying to check out for months now.  Among the pleasant new features was Gaston's Tavern, where I was able to partake in something called Lefou's Brew, a frozen apple juice concoction with a hint of marshmallow, topped with a passion fruit-mango foam.  It was delicious.  This was not to be our final day at The Magic Kingdom...nor was it to be our final Lefou's Brew.

My parents drove down from Texas for a brief visit September 3-5.  In what has become something of a tradition since they started visiting us in Orlando all those years ago, we made sure that they got to experience one of the local dinner shows.  This time around it was Disney's Spirit of Aloha at the Polynesian Resort.  The family-style buffet features hula dancing and a fire-knife performance.  On the second night we went to Kobe Japanese Steakhouse for a teppanyaki-style dining experience TJ and I introduced them to on their last visit, and that they seem bent on turning into a second dining tradition.  Sounds good to me!  Not much in the way of activity to report beyond that.  They weren't keen on visiting the parks ("There's more to life than Disney," I believe mom said....I know, right?  She's totally crazy.), so we did the family thing where you sit and talk and reminisce and sometimes go shopping at Target.  Important things to do, as I'm not quite sure if/when we will be returning to the states, other than the end of our tour in Jerusalem. 

While we were at the luau, our car got to hang out with Herbie!

That Saturday I got to meet TJ's sister, brother-in-law, nieces and nephew for the first time.  They had recently moved to Tampa and, thanks to Kris's awesomeness (and employment benefits), we were able to treat them to a day at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.  The kids all had a great time, with TJ's nephew happily proclaiming "This is the best vacation ever!"  Indeed, kid.  Please note in the attached photo, the sleeping baby in the fore with all of the "must-be-this-tall-to-ride" graduates happily queued up and ready to go in the background.  We all had a fun-filled day meeting Spider-Man, exploring Hogwarts and going on an adventure with the Autobots.  It was my first time truly doing the theme park experience with kids in tow, and I must say I enjoyed it.  Hopefully I'll be able to do it with a tot or two of my own one day.  

The rest of the trip was filled with more of the same.  Further exploring the parks on our own and hanging out with friends when we had the chance.

We met up with Nisrine, another old friend and colleague, for a quick chat at a local wine bar.  It was brief, but so good to see her.

We befriended a British tourist named Anwarul and went miniature golfing.  

We spent a day with Chloe.

We spent time away from Disney with Kris and his new boo, John.  Brunches, dinners, Insidious Double Features and martinis, oh my!  Oh, and I did make them return to Universal one more time.  Rain and time hadn't permitted proper exploration of the new Springfield environment.  Mission:  Accomplished.  Little known fact:  This is one of maybe four photos of Kris in existence.  I own all of them.  He's the pouty one on the right that doesn't appear to want to have the camera pointed at him.    

We had appetizers and drinks with our friend Gavin, during which time a frumpy hag of a waitress named Agatha denied me drink service after declaring that I had a mole on my neck in my driver's license photo that was not currently present on my person.  It was one of those miracle moles that you could scratch off with your fingernail, but she was having none of it.  She made me question basically everything about my life.  Diet, exercise, skin care routine.   Even with a "mole," do I look that drastically different than the person in my 2003 driver's license photo?  Who knows. But now that we are settled in and my new place of employment has a gym, I'll be hitting it hard going forward.  So that's turned a negative into a positive.  

We also took some time to visit the gorgeous little craftsman home that we purchased when the Foreign Service was but a future possibility.  The tenants are taking care of the place and have turned it into an adorable little bachelorette pad.  Should we hold on to it, it shall be a wonderful place to retire. 

Amazing that home leave ended just two and a half weeks ago.  It already feels like a lifetime.  And the two and a half weeks of home leave itself?  Felt like a day and a half.  Time flies when you're having fun, and you rarely get to do everything, or see everyone, that you'd like to.     

I don't really know how to wrap this up, because doing so is just further confirmation that our all-too short time at home is already over.  But I know we'll be back someday.  And so...

M-I-C...See ya real soon!

Etc.

I'm A Tourist In My Own City

When the Carnival Miracle docked in Ft. Lauderdale on November 10th, we scurried over to the airport, rented a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and zoomed down the highway for three days of fun and excitement in sunny Orlando, Florida. Or as we like to call it: Home, Sweet Home.

Only it isn't, really. Not anymore.

Instead of heading back to our adorable house near downtown where we could unpack, wash laundry, and relax after eight days of adventure on the open seas, we were heading to a hotel on Disney property. We never even drove by our house.

Instead of spending a lazy Sunday making a Target run or gorging ourselves at Pei Wei with our roommate Kris, we were inviting our friend Kris to join us for a couple of days of fun at Disney and Universal.

Instead of inviting our friends Ryan and Mike to dinner at Disney's Hoop-de-Doo Musical Revue, we....okay, well, we did do that. But the music has changed somewhat. And we have no idea when that happened.

And as for our other friends? The people we spent the last eight or so years getting to know? We didn't see any of them. Some have moved to other cities. A few were on vacations of their own. Others were busy. And some we've just simply lost contact with.

This was TJ's first trip back to Orlando since our whirlwind life in the Foreign Service began in February 2010. But not mine. I had returned once before, in June 2010, to do some work on our house and prepare it for renters. At the time, I blogged about how difficult the transition had been for me, how I was having trouble reconciling our happy life in Orlando with our new life in (at the time) D.C.

And now? I can't imagine life any other way.

Sure, I miss Orlando and the life we built there. We both do. But it was also ridiculously fun to go back and experience all the new things we missed out on while away. I got to watch as TJ enjoyed the new Harry Potter attractions at Universal's Islands of Adventure for the first time (something I got to do on my last visit). We got to experience the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival with renewed fervor after a one year absence (happy to report that the tacos were surprisingly authentic). I got to stay in a Disney hotel (okay, so the Dolphin isn't a Disney hotel, but it's on property, so I say it counts) for the first time ever.

We celebrated our one year anniversary in Mexico on November 8th. We were Florida-bound, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, floating alongside the Dominican Republic, at the time.

As much fun as the vacation was, on that particular day I found myself wishing we could have celebrated the occasion in Puerto Vallarta, or Manzanillo. Somewhere...Mexican. [NOTE: Tomorrow I will be celebrating my one year anniversary of working at the Consulate...at the Consulate. I also wish this could be celebrated in Puerto Vallarta or Manzanillo.]

Because Mexico is Home, Sweet Home now.

Only it isn't, really. Or at least not for long.

The hardest part about this life of ours is that as soon as you get comfortable with your surroundings, it's time to get yourself some new surroundings. Of course, that's also the most exciting part about this life of ours.

We will be receiving our bid list soon. As hard as it is to believe, we have less than a year left in Guadalajara. Where we go after that is anyone's guess.

Who knows? Who cares?

I love life in the Foreign Service. Getting to live in a new countries. Making friends around the world. Learning about new cultures and languages. Trying new foods. Taking day trips to places you never even knew existed.

It's all super exciting.

And once you're able to let go of the old concept of home, the sky's the limit.

Just like old times. Me looking one way,

TJ looking another, and Kris hanging on for dear life.

Disneyland, or "THAT Could Have Been Better"

Before Monday, July 25th, I had never been to Disneyland.

My parents had been, once, many years ago. They had moved to California seeking adventure and a change of pace shortly after my mom graduated high school. It's possible that I could have been born in Cali, if not for MiMi, my maternal grandmother, getting very sick a couple of years before I was born, resulting in my parents making an immediate move back to Texas.

I've talked in the past of my parents' reluctance to travel, so I need not spend time describing my many unsuccessful attempts at getting a trip to Disneyland or Disney World out of them. I eventually moved to Orlando and had countless wonderful adventures at Disney World, yet Disneyland still eluded me.

Shortly after arriving in Mexico, TJ and I decided that we would spend our November 2012 home leave traveling the west coast. These travels would include a stop in Anaheim so that we could experience my first time at Disneyland together. TJ's been before, but we both knew that I was totally going to be in kid-in-a-candyshop mode.

Once my plans for San Diego Comic Con had solidified, I teased the notion of going to Disneyland for a little sneak peak. TJ was at first reluctant, but later came around. Or at least pretended to.

Jarrett, my travel companion, was super excited.

Evan, our gracious host, was up for it, too.

Then I decided I didn't want to go to Disneyland because I'd rather save it for TJ. Plus, I wanted to maximize my time at Comic Con. Jarrett was disappointed, but seemed to understand. Or at least pretended to.

Evan, however, had latched onto the idea. I didn't want to disappoint my host, who was kind enough to let me crash on his couch for an entire week, so it was decided that Jarrett and I would spend our four days at the con as originally planned, and then Evan and I would go to Disney on Monday, the day before my return to Guadalajara.

A friend of Evan's met us at the entrance Monday morning, helped us score some discounted tickets, smuggled six or seven Fast Passes into our pockets, and proceeded to buy us corn dogs and apples using his company discount. Because nothing says "breakfast" like a Main Street corn dog. No, really, It was freakin' awesome.

Evan's friend (who shall remain nameless because I know how pshycho-crazy Disney can be about discounts, fast passes, etc.) hung out with us for several hours throughout the course of the day. He was incredibly friendly and thanks to his help we were able to ride everything that we wanted...except the Matterhorn, which was undergoing maintenance. Boooo!

We had a great time until around 3PM, when Evan's friend had to leave to prepare for his evening shift. At this point, Evan became quiet and less talkative. By 4PM, Evan had told me that he did not feel well, and had asked if he would be a bad friend if he did not drive me to the airport the next day. I suggested that, yes, he would be a bad friend, as I had asked him several times over the course of the week if he could take me, seeing as how it was across the US/Mexico border. Each time, it had been a resounding yes. Feeling that my response to his inquiry hadn't gained much traction, I asked if I needed to call Lisa to come get me in the morning. I was shocked that his response was in the affirmative.

Lisa did not seem very happy to get a call at 4pm asking for a 9:30am pickup on the opposite side of the border, but to her credit she picked me up and dropped me off with a smile on her face that in no way betrayed what had to be the nagging thought that maybe she should kill me and throw me in a ditch somewhere.

Now, to his credit, Evan had been saying that he felt he may be coming down with something for the last several days. Which I took into consideration by telling him that I thought it would behoove us to leave Disney and go home so that he could rest. The tickets were expensive, but I would understand; sick is sick, after all. Apparently, though, Disney is the best medicine...because he ended up wanting to stay at the park for six...more...hours.

Despite the enjoyment I had experienced earlier in the day, I can not possibly tell you how stressful the latter part of that day was...I was so freaked out about making my flight that I couldn't enjoy anything else.

Lisa...Your help was much appreciated, both coming and going! I can never repay your graciousness.

Evan's Friend...Thank you so much for the kindness you showed to a complete stranger. You definitely helped make the parts of the day that were enjoyable even more so than they otherwise could have been.

Jarrett...I am so sorry that you didn't get to go to Disneyland. Certainly if we had skipped the convention one day, we could still have seen most everything that we wanted to and enjoyed a Mickey Mouse day without worrying about travel arrangements back home.

Evan...Thanks for the couch and the trip to the zoo...but I have zero idea what the hell you were thinking at Disneyland.

TJ...Sorry that I just couldn't wait to see Disney with you. I'm gonna do my best to block this out so we can enjoy it together.

As so many prom queens have surly said, maybe it would have been better had I waited.

Blast from the Past

On Friday, April 29th we took in a Spanish-language presentation of Disney's La Bella y La Bestia: El Musical at Teatro Diana. Despite being performed by students at the Guadalajara campus of Tecnologico de Monterrey, the acting and singing were near-Broadway calibre.

It reminded me of November 2002. I had gone to visit my college friend, Lauri, who was in the final months of an internship in Boston. We saw the sights. Went to Cheers. Had a delicious Thanksgiving lunch at the Prudential Center. Walked the Freedom Trail. Then we hoped on a bus to New York City, where we saw Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. Although I didn't know it at the time, this trip was our last hurrah as friends. When she returned to Texas that spring, Lauri had decided not to be friends with me anymore. Was it because of her unrequited crush? Was it because I won the battle of whether we should see Rent or Mamma Mia? I'll never know. She didn't do me the courtesy of providing a reason. I still think about her, sometimes. I hope she's happy and healthy.

On Wednesday, May 3, we headed to Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara to catch Lady Gaga in The Monster Ball at Estadio Tres de Marzo. The show was in English, minus one awkward song performed in Spanish and one even more awkward recitation of a hand-written note about U.S. immigration law. Apparently, GaGa is not a fan...Right before Gaga took the stage, lightning ripped the sky asunder and the heavens let loose a torrential downpour that signaled the early arrival of the rainy season. Gaga told us that she loves us so much, she made it rain. And maybe she did; it hasn't rained since.

This reminded me of the time, which feels so very long ago but was in reality "only" eight months ago, when TJ and I saw this very same production in Washington DC. You might remember it, too. I doubt Gaga remembers it. Poor woman has been spending the money from this tour since it started in November 2009 (it finally ended in Mexico City on Friday evening). Although we flew solo for the DC show, the general admission policy at Autónoma allowed us to join forces with several of our Guadalajaran friends and co-workers who had purchased tickets long before our arrival at post. Perhaps this is symbolic of how constrained we felt in Washington, and how liberated we (generally) feel in Guadalajara?

Somewhere between Belle's curtain call and GaGa's opening act (Semi-Precious Weapons...an acquired taste, to be sure), I went digging through the boxes that never get unpacked, and always multiply. You know the ones. These are the boxes that contain momentos from days gone by: Playbills, postcards that were never mailed, concert tickets, patches that were never sewed to anything, museum guides, coasters from favorite bars, theme park maps, etc, etc.

I had always hoped to create a scrap book and, as is often the case with such things, never did. But I never stopped collecting. Never stopped saving. And never will.

It was in these boxes that I hoped to find ticket stubs from my previous viewings of Beauty and the Beast and The Monster Ball. As of this writing, I have not found them. But I know they are in there...somewhere. Still plenty of crap--I mean, memories...to sort through.

Instead, I have found things far more precious.

• An autographed promotional photo of Parthenon, a contestant from Season 2 of Scy-fy's Who Wants to be a Superhero? In his civilian identity, Parthenon is a good friend of mine back home in Orlando. We were introduced by mutual friends shortly before the show started in the summer of 2007. His name is Dan. He throws killer Halloween parties, makes his own costumes (regular clothes, too), and has 1,000 different creative ideas per day. People have asked me where my blog's logo came from. It was Dan. He loved that I was starting a blog and offered to help spruce it up. He encourages me to write. Maybe one day I will. Well, really write, I mean.

• The flyer and small sample bottle of Jean-Paul Gaultier's Fleur du Male that we picked up during a March 2007 trip to Madrid to visit our friend Bruno. It smelled so flower-y that we dubbed it "Eau du Douche" and subsequently tortured each other with attack-sprays of it for the duration of our trip. I had thought the bottle empty, and yet...yes! Just enough left for one more spray! Happy to confirm that it was still douchey. Having lost all photographical evidence of this trip during a horrific battle with our old iMac just prior to the move to Mexico, finding this memento (along with museum guides and club flyers) was worth more than gold.

• A ticket to the March 23, 2003 production of Cirque du Soleil Presents: Alegria in Houston. This was a birthday gift from my friend, Evan. We are still friends today, though prior to his visit to DC last year, we had not seen each other in seven years. I'll be seeing him again in July when I head to San Diego for Comic Con (what, don't you know by now that I'm a nerd?).

• Letters my previously mentioned then-friend Lauri wrote to me during my study abroad trip to Europe in the summer of 2001. Only two letters reached me during that month-long, five country tour. Both were penned by Lauri and were accompanied by humorous drawings and random European coinage (this was pre-Euro) that didn't exactly belong to the country I was visiting during the letters' time of arrival. She was and oddball, but it suited her.

I don't want to bore you with a full inventory of my excavation. Suffice it to say, I found a box of history. That box contains many memories, several of which had been thought lost.

The reason that I blog is so that I don't forget. The reason that I have held onto these mementos is that I don't want to forget my pre-blogging days. What I've learned is that items stored in boxes do get forgotten if they aren't pulled out and appreciated from time to time.

It's time to finally get that scrapbook going.