Let's Get Dapper!

I'm on vacation! I'm currently enjoying an eleven day break from making magic in an effort to enjoy the magic! Booking time off here isn't all that hard. All you have to do is put a request in on the company intranet known as the hub. As long as there's no one else with the same requested days, you can put your request in and have it approved instantly! If someone else has it booked you have to join a waitlist and then if the scheduler sees it's possible when creating the schedule, you get it off! I guess it depends on how busy they expect the park to be and staffing abilities. 

The first day of my vacation was Friday. Illona (she arrived in the most recent arrival group) also had the day off. Neither of us had really been to Animal Kingdom so we decided to spend the afternoon there. 

Since my first visit to Animal Kingdom this program and the Nomad Lounge, I've been dying to go back. We chose to take a lounge area outside and soak up the atmosphere. The experience was very Sex and the City 2 in Abu Dabi. I felt like calling for "Abdul... like Paula!" Very relaxing!

The food we had was delicious! It's not table service exactly, more like appetisers you can get to accompany your drinks. I had the Leaping Lizard cocktail (again), we spilt the bread service and I had beef sliders whilst Illona went for Muscles and a watermelon based cocktail. The bread service for me was probably most significant since it had salted popadoms in it! I come from a family that would happily have a curry take away every week. Even something as simple as a popadom was enough to make me very Very happy! 

Saturday was DAPPER DAY! For those of you unfamiliar with Dapper Days in the Disney Parks... they're a fan arranged event in which guests dress up in dapper wear. Some people give subtle nods to Disney characters in their outfits whilst some dress to the likes of the 1920's. 

I was planning to be creative with my outfit but I really didn't have the time or money to go all out! Instead I opted for the outfit to the right along with linen shorts and my fancy tan Hacket shoes that I showed you in my packing video. All-in-all I was very pleased with my outfit choice since it was 34c! I could see beads of sweat literally pouring off of people who had been a little less considerate to the cruel mistress that is the Florida heat. 

Dapper Day was honestly one of the best days of my life! It was such a wonderful atmosphere in a place where I already hold so many memories. I did vlog the day so you can look forward to that appearing on my main channel in the not too distant future. 

I spent the day with my friends Ella and Hope. We're all Disney keenos so when we were watching Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire, we were all dancing and singing along. In fact, Hope and Ella played a big part in my enjoyment of the day. We'd all freak out over the most amazing outfits people were wearing and get oh so excited when we figured out someone was Disney bounding as a lesser known Disney character. 

Above you can see one of the amazing photo opportunities Disney put on for the special day. I found it so interesting that this fan created event has been adopted so well by the parks management. I'm finding it difficult to really describe the atmosphere of the day. It was like going to the parks but everyone in the park is a friend of yours or someone you could be friends with. Everyone was in such high spirits despite the heat and cast members were even perkier than usual. I will certainly be returning for Dapper Day in Autumn. 

Ella, Hope and I topped off our Dapper Day with dinner at the Skipper Canteen. A personal favourite of mine since my trip in June 2016 with my friend Gary, it was a great restaurant to summarise our day in the park. I had the "Taste's like chicken... because it it" which is what Gary had when we visited. I remembered the plate envy I had but was torn between what I had last time which was the mac & cheese-esque beef dish. In the end I had to tell the server to choose for me and surprise me. The chicken dish reigned supreme and by-golly was it delicious! Also, can we take a moment to appreciate how incredible the sink in the restrooms is! 

Later in the evening, I had a pretty special moment. Whilst walking across the bridge from Liberty Square to the hub, I heard "Adam!" from behind me. Tina and her husband Dale watched my vlogs and were so surprised to see me walking around in the flesh! Tina shared her story with me and how much she appreciated my friend Gary and I's videos from June 2016. Seeing the emotion in Tina was so unbelievably flattering and made me really appreciate that it's real people not numbers watching my videos. Tina, if you're reading this, it was a true pleasure to meet you and Dale. Thank you for making my evening and for stopping me to say hi. 

Sunday was to be Dapper Day at Epcot and whilst I was tempted, after having such a magical day on Saturday and being a little exhausted from it all, I thought it best to not taint the weekend. I didn't want to get all dressed up, be there for all of three hours and wish I'd just left it with my Magic Kingdom Dapper Day experience. 

So instead I met my friend Josh in Disney Springs for lunch at Blaze pizza. Everyone's been going on about it since I arrived so thought I'd better give it a go. I was not disappointed! For $9.65 I got to customise my own pizza and it was pretty amazing! I'd compare the standard to Pizza Express. Especially as the second I walked in, that's all I could smell. Additionally they served a range of lemonades including Blood Orange Lemonade, a rarity (with enough sugar in it to kill a Rhino) but a true delight to have!

After our fill, we Ubered over to Universal Studios for the afternoon. I'm a real roller coaster junkie and really fancied a ride on the Incredible Hulk coaster! Josh shares my roller coaster enthusiasm. However, outside of the roller coasters, my experience at Universal Studios was somewhat flat. I think the initial "oh my gosh! I'm in Universal Studios" nostalgia has warn off and I'm starting to notice the things that really separate Disney and Universal. I did vlog the day but I'm unsure as to whether I'll be posting it. 

One of my biggest gripes about Universal is the sometimes unnecessary need to put your bags in a locker before every ride. Not only that, you can't film on any attraction bar Cat in the Hat and E.T. (big whoop right?). So I got a little frustrated that my Universal vlog ended up being "ok we're going on this now, but can't film it so see you after." "well that was fun!" One thing that really wound me up, was that when we waited 5-10 minutes at a quick service drinks location and asked for a cup of water, they gave us the smallest little cup filled to the brim with ice. I said "sorry can I get a larger cup please" she looked at me as if I was mad and said "these are the only ones we have." This is whilst I'm staring at the pint cups behind her. 

At Disney, they'll happily give you a full sized cup of water no different from a paid soda size. In fact, during dapper day, I went into the Pecos Bill and asked for three cups of water for Ella, Hope and I... We were given bottled water for free as a little magic moment! Universal are obviously doing their best to encourage you to pay for a $4.00+ bottle of water. NOT TODAY SATAN! I'm not sure why that little experience made me so very angry. Then we get onto the screens... It's no secret that people are getting a little fed up with the ratio of attractions Universal has that are screen attractions. When I say screen attraction, I mean a ride that relies on the use of screens to make the attraction enjoyable. 

I personally hate 3D. When it first came out, I was it's biggest fan. Now I think it's been run into the ground and I would much rather watch a film in 2D over 3D. Now imagine having to put 3D glasses on for a number of attractions in a day (Escape from Gringotts, Transformers and Kong to name a few). I got so frustrated that I had to just ride them without glasses in an effort to save my head. I actually enjoyed the rides more when I wasn't wearing the glasses although it made me see just how much these attractions rely on screens. 

It's much cheaper to build 10 screen setups than it is to build a full fledged set with animatronics similar to that of Pirates of the Caribbean for example. In my own opinion, I think the use of screens in attractions too often is a cop out. I can go watch a 3D film anywhere. When I come to a theme park and more importantly pay more for the experience, I want to be immersed in real world experiences more than virtual ones. Of course Disney has screen based attractions but they're the minority not the majority. 

I enjoy Universal Studios but yesterday I saw just how big the gap between them and Disney is. They were closing the gap with the Wizarding World but when they're investing money in screen attractions like Jimmy Fallon... I just see the gap widening when Disney's planning Toy Story Land, Star Wars Land and the soon to be opening Pandora: World of Avatar. 

However, I did stop into the Toothsome chocolate emporium for a milkshake and by God was it the best milkshake I've ever had! ​I don't dislike Universal but I wish they'd try harder to compete with Disney. Competition means better attractions for us the fans. If Disney doesn't have competition, I don't think they'd have as much need to deliver new attractions!

In other news, today begins my staycation! My friends from the UK are here for a few days so I've escaped my housing bed for a few nights and I'll be meeting up with my friend Pete later this week for Playlist Live! Playlist Live is a YouTube convention held in Orlando each spring. I went a couple years ago and I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like this year. 

Until next time... Have a magical day!
​Adam