Living in Grand Forks, North Dakota

The outside of our apartment building

Snow shortly after I arrived

The snow melting a week later and a view of the field across from our apartment

The pretty skies after the sunset

Hey Guys!

Currently I am residing in Grand Forks, North Dakota and I wanted to do a post about living here. I recently moved here in April of 2022 and I will most likely be here until April of 2023. And why Grand Forks, ND you ask? Well my fiancé is stationed here with the Air Force. I probably won't be saying much more than that or be using his name a lot due to the nature of his job and other things but after 3 years of being in the Air Force he was finally able to move off base and after us being in a long distance relationship those entire 3 years we decided that we wanted to be together. To be honest, I really struggled with this a lot! I grew up in a Christian household going to Church every Sunday and living together before marriage was something I never really pictured myself doing. Granted, I pictured myself getting married at 25 and buying a house and having a perfect career, and life just being absolutely magical. I never imagined to fall in love with someone 5 years younger than me, who joined the Air Force and moved away only a year and a half into our relationship. 

I don't really have anything to justify my choice other than it was a choice that I made for myself. Ultimately it came down to I didn't want to be away from my best friend and the love of my life anymore, oh and by the way in case you missed it, we're engaged now (but that will be for another post)! We had been away from each other for 3 years already and even though I thought we were going to get married much sooner into our relationship, you can't make someone get married when they aren't ready. Marriage is kind of big a deal. Both of our parents have been divorced and are on their second marriage. Thankfully these ones have worked out much better for them this time around. We both just want to ensure that this is it and that we want to spend the rest of our lives together which so far the answer is yes we do! 

Anyways, onto my experience of living here so far. I was born and raised in Florida and have lived there my whole life. I had always wanted to move away from Florida because dealing with snowbirds is very tiring! The traffic is just absolutely awful during season and unless you don't really have to leave your house very often it's not fun to deal with. With that being said, I never in a million years would have thought that the place I'd be moving to someday when I pictured myself finally moving somewhere outside of Florida would be North Dakota. I had always planned on it being New York City but if you have read my previous posts then you know I chickened out of moving there after college because I didn't want to move so far away from my family. Well the joke was on me because I moved even farther away from my family, about 2,000 ish miles away from my family. When I was younger I could also picture myself moving to either North Carolina or Tennessee. I absolutely love vacationing in both of those states and I just think that it would be so peaceful to move to one of those states. Also, shortly after my fiancé started dating we talked about moving to Massachusetts because that's where he is originally from. He didn't move to Florida until he was a Sophomore in high school. 

I have been here since about April 9th, 2022 so in total I've been here for a little over a month. I say that because about 2 weeks after getting here I left on a 17 day long roadtrip with my parents who flew up to Minneapolis and we drove around visiting different National Parks for my moms birthday! We also drove back down to Florida to go to Disney for one day, on my moms actual birthday! Yes we are that Disney obsessed! I will do a few posts about that trip as well later on. We visited some very cool places that I will talk about in more detail. Anyways, the only conclusion I have come to is that I'm ready to move back home! My fiancé has a little less than a year left and I am definitely counting down the days. Our #1 goal is to make it back home but we really have no idea where we will end up because it all kind of depends on where my fiancé is able to get a job. The main reason he joined the Air Force was because they pay for all his IT certifications that he needs to get a job once he gets out plus they offer gaining experience as well. 

Thankfully there are IT jobs pretty much everywhere but we also looking at which jobs pay the most and offer the best benefits because we both have this goal of retiring earlier than average person. So we kind of plan on living a somewhat frugal lifestyle to gain a higher savings for retirement. We both want to be able to spend as much time at home with our future children as possible and also be able to travel the world more. Once he gets closer to getting out he will primarily be searching for jobs in the Lee County area and then if nothing is panning out there the goal is to end up somewhere in Florida because at least we would still be in the same state as our families. There are a couple other states that he has been looking at as well but if we end up in one of those states, it will most likely be temporary until he gains enough experience to be able to relocate back to our hometown in Florida. 

As far as where we live, we live in a very nice 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment on the second floor in a very nice area but honestly there is nothing to do here besides drinking and staying indoors. Two things I'm not very good at. Since I don't really have a job, I don't really leave the house much and fiancé leaves the house every day to go to work and on the weekends he struggles with wanting to leave the house. I definitely don't blame him. When I worked full time I loved getting my errands done first thing in the morning only to come back home and spend the rest of the day just relaxing in comfy clothes and watching a movie. We're both very much homebodies but at the same time I grew up in Florida, going or doing something every weekend. I'm not much of beachgoer but the typical Floridian goes to the beach on the weekends. The land here is very flat, I'm pretty sure it's flatter than Florida even and there are barely any trees. It kind of blows my mind and I've been visiting here since 2020. Also the sun does not go down until like 10 pm and it rises at like 5:30 am. It is all very weird and it definitely has been hard to adjust my sleep schedule. I am a morning person but with the sky still very bright I have a hard time getting tired in the evenings and wanting to fall asleep early. 

My fiancé's sister and her boyfriend recently came to stay with us and we had a wonderful time hosting them. Neither of them had ever been to North Dakota so at least they got to cross that off their list. We showed them around town, the base that my fiancé works on, and we went out one night to check out a few of the local bars/breweries. It was a lot of fun and we can't wait to have more visitors. My fiancé's parents are coming in about a week and we are very excited to have them as well. We have a ton of stuff planned to do with them and it should be a lot of fun. One thing for sure is that the trips are never long enough but we definitely enjoy getting to spend any and every second with our loved ones.

I think that pretty much sums up my experience so far but I will definitely keep you guys posted on how things are going! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for stopping by!

XO, Steph

Why I Chose Not to Move to New York City

Hey guys,

So today's post is going to be kind of personal and it took me a long time to actually write this post. One of the reasons I wanted to write it is because it's been almost 2 years since my sister and I thought about moving to New York. Also, since I recently took a trip to New York I thought it would be fun to finally finish writing this post and actually post it! I absolutely love the city of New York! It is one of my favorite places to visit, I never get bored and I just absolutely love the atmosphere! It's so fast paced, high-tech, and people from all over the world live there. It's such a unique experience and if you've never been, it's number one on my places to visit list. This city is amazing and theres a reason it's been featured in so many movies and TV shows! 

Anyways, one of the main reasons I chose not to move there is because it's my favorite place to vacation. If moved there then I would be living there and I would have to pick new favorite place to vacation which probably would have to be Florida since that's where I'm from and all of my family lives here. But honestly, I couldn't pick Florida as a new favorite place to vacation because I don't actually like Florida enough to want to vacation here all of the time. The only reason I would be coming back was for my family and I don't necessarily consider that an actual vacation then. I wouldn't be exploring anywhere new I would probably just be seeing all of my family that lives whenever I came down.

The next reason is because it is just way too expensive to live there. It's also way to expensive to really do anything as well! I've watched a lot of those videos on facebook about people living in their tiny loft apartment in New York and how they barely get by with their rent and the amount of money they make but they still choose to live their because why not? It's an amazing city! But I just don't think I could imagine paying so much money for rent and other expense to live either with 3-4 other roommates with no space or just my sister and I in a studio with no space and with two dogs. Because yes my sister and I have a dog each and we definitely would not leave either of them behind.

Speaking of no space, I just don't think I could handle how tiny and confined everything is there. I've pretty much always lived in a house with a yard except for 1 semester when I lived in a dorm! I've had dogs and other various animals throughout my life too and a backyard for them to play in! I don't think I could handle having to take my dog out for a walk 2-3 times a day and making them stay on a leash every time we went. My dog enjoys being able to run around the backyard sometimes and just sit down in the sun and relax. I've also pretty much always had my own room and when I moved out of my parents house I've always had an extra room that my sister and I typically use as an office! I think if I had moved to NYC that I might have suffered from some sort of depression over this because I kind of am claustrophobic so I think I would have handled it well.

I also did not want to move there because I know for a fact that I would severely miss my family. The one semester that I lived in my dorm, I absolutely hated it so I drove home every single weekend just so I didn't have to be there. Thankfully I went to a school that was only about 2 and a half hours away so the drive was super easy and went by pretty quick! I currently live like 5 minutes from my parent's house and they are constantly coming over here to our house or we are going over to their house. We also pretty much spend every weekend doing something with them unless one of us is out of town. I also go on a lot of vacations with my family so I would miss being able to just take weekend trips to Disney with them. Granted I was planning on moving there with my sister so I think that would have helped a little but I still think I would have been depressed about not being able to go to dinner with my parent's whenever I wanted.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post! For now I think I will stick with just vacationing in NYC! I look forward to that trip pretty much every year now and I hope it's something we're able to keep doing every year!

Keep checking back for more posts even Monday, Wednesday, and Friday! I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Thanks for stopping by!

XO, Steph

Disney's Magic Kingdom Rides Ranked

Hey guys,

So this is the last post for the ranking of the rides at Disney. I saved this one for last because there are sooo many rides/attractions at Magic Kingdom. There are a total of 41 rides located at Magic Kingdom according to the Disney website. However, there are some rides that I don't really count as rides and so I will not be ranking them (I explain below). 

1) Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

This is probably my favorite ride at Magic Kingdom. It's a lot of fun and it's also a pretty long roller coaster. If I remember correctly, I believe it lasts for about 5 minutes or so. It's not the most exciting roller coaster but it is still pretty great! Disney is know for being very kid friendly which is why they don't have that many crazy rides that kids can't ride.

2) Space Mountain

This is my second favorite! It's inside and you can't see like anything at all except for tiny little white lights everywhere which represents stars. Since, it's in the dark, it make it a little more exhilarating because you don't know what's coming next.

P.S. We rode Space Mountain Mission 2 while visiting Disneyland Pairs and it was good except for the fact that the seating was so uncomfortable it made the ride miserable. This version went upside down (which is great) but I wasn't able to focus on that because of how much pain I was in.

3) Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

This one would be my favorite ride however, even though it's been open for more than 2 years, the line is still so incredibly long and once you've ridden it a couple of times, you just don't really see the point in waiting in line. It's a really fun ride to ride but I just don't ever feel like waiting the 75 plus minutes it takes to wait in line.

4) Pirates of the Caribbean

So we pretty much ride this ride at least two times every time we go to Disney. We absolutely love this ride, mostly because of the movies but also because of Johnny Depp. We also, really enjoy riding it because my parents come on this one with us. Neither of my parents ride roller coasters so it's nice to be able to have something to ride with them.

5) Haunted Mansion

This is also another ride that we ride with our parents. It's a lo fun and the ending is probably our favorite part!

6) Under the Sea: Journey of The Little Mermaid

7) Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover

This ride is a lot of fun and a nice ride to hop on whenever you need a break. The wait for this line is very rarely ever long and it's unique because you actually get to ride through other rides while on this ride.

8) Jungle Cruise

So this is a boat ride and you go through the "jungle" and you get to see wild animals (but they aren't actually real haha) and then there is basically a lot of dry humor.

9) Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin

This is a shooting game. It's basically like a real life video game. You have a little gun that shoots out lasers and then you have to try and see how many points you can get by shooting at the targets (and defeating the bad guy, Zurg) and then at the end of the ride it tells you what level you are depending on how many points you earned.

10) Walt Disney's Carrousel of Progress

This ride is neat because you sit down in a mini auditorium and watch the show that plays out before you and then the auditorium rotates around to another stage and time passes while you rotate to show how technology and stuff has improved people's lives. To be honest, it probably needs a revamp but at the same time I don't think they've really made any changes to it since it's opened (other than repairs and cleaning things up a bit) but this is one of Walt's original rides so it would be kind of sad to see it changed or removed.

11) Peter Pan's Flight

This ride is ridiculously popular. I am not entirely sure why but I've only been on it a handful of times. We ride Winnie the Pooh more often than we ride this ride because the line is always like 75 minutes or more. We always try to keep an eye on it to see if it's ever any less than that but it's very rare. Every couple of years we will get a Fastness for it just so we can make sure that we are still riding it so we don't forget what it's like haha.

12) The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

This is a ride for kids of all ages. Like I'm pretty sure you can take your baby on this ride if you really wanted to. It's cute and fun and the line isn't usually very long.

13) Mickey's Philharmagic
14) Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room

This show features birds (they aren't real) that sing to you and perform different numbers for you. It's cute and fun and the songs are very catchy haha.

15) "it's a small world"

We don't ride this ride very often because it can be kind of annoying haha. The song gets stuck in your head but I like to ride it because it takes throughout the world and shows you different cultures.

16) Splash Mountain

So this would normally be at the top of everyone's favorite rides at Disney list but not so much for me. I am terrified of heights and the drop on this ride is pretty high up which normally would be totally fine if I were strapped in. However, if this ride all you get is a really big lap bar that has never come close to touching me at all. I am pretty skinny and even if someone the same size at me sat down next to me the bar still doesn't go down far enough for it to touch me. But I typically always sit with my sister is a little bit bigger than me and then I always will just hold onto her and the squeeze the bar in front of me and then usually I'm good haha. Granted I have never fallen out so you would think that over time my fear would go away but for some odd reason it just got worse as I got older. I still ride this and I definitely recommend that everyone ride it but I am still scared it and there are other rides that I prefer to ride over this one.

17) Country Bear Jamboree

So this ride is actually a show and I totally forgot that it existed up until last year when my sister was like we should go see this because it's been forever and I was like I don't even remember what this is at all except for the fact that bears are in it and they sing. I do recommend seeing this show at least once because it's cute and can be very entertaining for little ones.

18) Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor

So this is another show and it's more entertaining for little kids in my opinion. They tell a lot of cheesey jokes and they try to make you laugh instead of scaring the little kids like in the movie. It's fun if you need to sit for a little bit but waiting in line for it can be kind of annoying haha (but what's new). Also, a helpful tip, if you do plan on riding this, I do have to mention that it isn't open all day. It's only open for a certain amount of hours during the day. So be sure to check the times sheet when you get into the park and make sure to plan accordingly because there have been times when we were going to check it because we had done everything else that we wanted to do and the ride was closed for the day. I don't think it's open first thing in the morning and I think it closes around 6 or 7 in the evening or maybe even earlier.

19) Tom Sawyer Island

So we recently just rediscovered this place. We pretty much just stick to our favorites whenever we come to Magic Kingdom but when we had a our annual passes we decided to try out some new (but technically old) things whenever we would go. I guess we would go on this more when I was younger but then when I started riding the older rides we stopped going but one time when we went last year I was like "So exactly is Tom Sawyer's Island?" and so we decided to take the life raft over to the island and check it out. It's actually pretty cool and there are like different trails you can walk on and explore the way the boys lived on the island. I totally recommend this for families with little kids because there are some neat things for them to do on the island.

20) The Hall of Presidents

So we pretty much only ride this whenever we get a new president so either every 4 or 8 years depending on if someone new is elected or not. So that means it's been over 8 years since I've seen it and I don't really remember what happens other than the fact that every president is in it and they either sing or give some type of speech lol.

 21) Stitch's Great Escape

So this is fun except the seating is horrible! its an over the head restraint that weighs a lot and pushes down on your shoulder occasionally throughout the show.

22) Enchanted Tales with Belle

If you have small children then you totally need to do this because they get to reenact the story of The Beauty and The Beast and they also get to meet Belle and take a picture with her.

23) Liberty Square Riverboat

I rarely will ride this but only because I find it kind of boring. However, my parents ride it all the time. Basically it's a Riverboat that goes up and down a small river and I'm not really sure what else happens but I think it's a good ride to ride if you need to take a break but don't want to just sit down on a bench.

24) Swiss Family Treehouse

This is a pretty interesting attraction. Basically, you climb up a treehouse and you get to see how the Swiss Family Robinson's lived in their treehouse. There are a lot of stairs so if you aren't good at them or don't like to climb then I don't recommend this attraction.

25) Walt Disney World Railroad

So I don't really count this as a ride too much only because it's mainly supposed to be used as a form of transportation. There are three different stations and it can take from the front of the park (Main Street Station) to the either Fantasyland or Frontierland. There are fun things to see along the way which is what makes it an attraction.

So the following are either rides that I have never ridden or rides that I have only been on a couple of times and don't plan on riding them again unless I'm with someone who has never been to Disney before and they want/need to get the full Disney experience!

1) Astro Orbiter

I have never been on this ride and I will never go on this ride. As I've mentioned before, I get motion sickness and this ride would most likely give me motion sickness. I am also totally afraid of heights and in order to get on this ride you have to an elevator up to the second level and then when you're on it, I think the arms stretch out over the side which means you basically are looking down to your death (and yes, I am trying to be really dramatic haha)!

2) The Barnstormer

This ride is technically for little kids but we had never been on it so one day my mom, my sister, and I decided to hop on and see what it was like. And we didn't like it. The seats were extremely uncomfortable and I think even if I had a kid, I still would not ride this ride again. It was boring and I just can't get over how uncomfortable the seats were.

3-4) 

These next 3 rides are basically fancier fair rides. I don't think I've ridden any of them and I probably won't ever ride any of them unless I have children that really want to ride them.

3) Dumbo The Flying Elephant Machine
4) The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
5) Mad Tea Party

6) Prince Charming Regal Carrousel

I love carrousel's however, my sister does not so I haven't been on this in forever. Someday I'll find my prince charming and get to ride Prince Charming's Regal Carrousel! haha

7) Tomorrowland Speedway

This ride is fun if you're like 5 and super gullible and think that you are actually driving a car. However, if you are an adult and riding this then it's extremely boring and makes you want to visit Old Town and ride the real go carts! haha And if you don't know what Old Town, then you can visit this link and learn all about it!

Sorry this one went up a little late. It actually took me quite a while to write this up since there are so many rides at Magic Kingdom that I recommend everyone tries out.

XO, Steph

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Disney's Animal Kingdom Rides Ranked

Hey guys,

1) Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain

So this is pretty much the best ride at Animal Kingdom! My family rarely ever goes to Animal Kingdom and one of the main reason we started going more often was because they put in this ride. Before this ride there were only the rides listed below and then there are a ton of animal attractions. Which don't get me wrong, I absolutely love animals but I'd really rather not pay like $90 to basically go to a fancier zoo and see some animals haha.

But this ride is the best, there is are a couple parts that kind of freak me out but thankfully I'm the type of person that can just close her eyes and not pay attention to whats really going on and enjoy myself. I love riding roller coasters and this is definitely is a great one! It doesn't go upside down (which some people require for it to be a good roller coaster) but there is one part that almost makes you feel like you are going upside down and honestly, this part in the dark so who knows, you might actually be going upside down haha. I also just love the theme of this ride which is why I consider is good one to ride.

2) DINOSAUR

So this is mine and my family's favorite ride to ride (like as a family because my parents don't ride roller coasters). There are a couple scary parts if you have small children (or if you're like me and don't like it when things pop up out of nowhere haha). But other than that, it's a lot of fun and it's kind of educational because you learn the names of some of the dinosaurs (or maybe all of them, I'm really not entirely sure).

3) Kilimanjaro Safaris

My family and I also really love this ride. One time we went on it right after it had just finished raining and it was beautiful. The sun was glistening and it was so memorable because the lions all came out and one was perched right on top of their rocks and looked just like a scene from The Lion King! It was so amazing and this ride is a lot of fun if you enjoy getting to see animals that you don't get to see in life that often such as lions or giraffes!

4) Kali River Rapids

I honestly don't really know much about this ride. I think I have only been on it maybe a handful of times and that's not because I'm scared of water rides. I love water rides, I just hate getting drenched most of the time so technically I love the idea of water rides. If I plan on riding a water ride then I will typically plan my outfit accordingly because I absolutely hate chaffing and it seems like every time I would ride a water ride, I would end up chaffing so my sister and I discovered that if you wear like fabric shorts or scarf shorts as some people call them then they are made out of a thinner material which means that they dry a lot faster than other short's materials.

5) It's Tough to be a Bug

So this is technically a show and not a ride. It's based off of the movie, It's a Bugs Life (which I used to love this movie!). I've seen it probably a handful of times but I don't really remember everything that goes on. According to Disney's website, it's not a 4D show but I thought it was. I thought that they made it feel like bugs were crawling under your seat and I also thought that a stinkbug sprayed you with some smelly scents but I maybe confusing it with a different from a different park haha. However, I definitely recommend seeing this show at least once.

6) Primeval Whirl

So this ride and the next one are basically like nicer versions of fair rides, in my opinion. I haven't been on either of them. They are primarily for little kids and I don't think that they really had them when I was little and then by the time they got them, I was already riding roller coasters and so I wasn't really into riding them, plus it would be very hard to get anyone else in my family to ride them haha.

7) TriceraTop Spin

8) Wildlife Express Train

So if I'm remembering this correctly, this train takes you to like a little island place (but not really). It's more like an area that you can access only through this train. So more like a private area inside the park. It's a pretty cool area that features more animals and I also believe that there is a petting zoo there are well. I love petting zoo's and I will probably always love petting zoo's haha. Like I've said before, I absolutely love animals and getting to pet them just makes everything so much better haha. Basically, it's a fun and educational island and something that I totally recommend doing!

XO, Steph

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Disney's Hollywood Studios Rides Ranked

Hey guys,

So this is my second favorite Disney park and if you go to this link, it says that Hollywood Studios has 13 attractions. I only have 8 listed because I'm pretty much only listing rides or items that I think are extremely fun and something not to miss.

1) The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

So this is my favorite ride of all time (and by that I mean out of every single theme park I have been to this is my favorite ride)! I love this and I try to ride it as many times as I can whenever we go to Hollywood Studios. Most people that I talk to about this ride don't think that it's that great but I love it. So basically with this ride, you are taken down to the "basement" and then you sit down in the service elevator and then it takes you up a couple floors and you watch something, and then it takes you up a couple more floors and then the elevator moves forward into a pitch black are and you don't know whether you are going to go up or drop to your death (haha just kidding, it's really not that scary). It's a lot of fun and very exhilarating! You go up and down a few times and then the elevator moves back to another more lit up area and then you exit the ride.

2) Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith

This is my second favorite but only at this park. It is an indoor roller coaster featuring the band Aerosmith. It's kind of similar to the Hulk where it shoots you off and then you go upside down a couple of times. If you have any cartilage piercings in your ears then I highly recommend taking those out before you get on because it will through your head from side to side and it really hurts if you hit your ear on the side of the over-the-head restraints.

 My sister and I have been on this ride so many times that sometimes if the line is too long then we will just do single rider because sometimes it doesn't take as much time. However, there have been sometimes where we could have sworn that it took us longer to get through single rider than it did for the people in the regular line to get on and they were able to ride together. However, sometimes if the single rider line gets too long then they will just put a few single riders together on the ride at the same time so they can make sure that the line doesn't get to be too long.

3) Toy Story Mania!

This is ride has been at this park for more than 5 years now but it is still such a popular ride. The line for this ride is almost always 75 minutes or more. I would have to say, it's definitely worth the wait if you weren't able to get a FastPass+ but I highly recommend trying to get one. This is a shooting game, however, it's all virtual. You have gun but instead of pulling a trigger, they made it a little more kid friendly (in my opinion) and you pull a string with a ball at the end and that how your ammo comes out. And then your cart takes you through to different screens and each screen is a different shooting game. It's a lot of fun and I always try to beat everyone in my family haha!

4) The Great Movie Ride

This ride is a lot of fun and interactive. There are several parts that you won't expect if you have never ridden it before. Sometimes I forget about them too and it's like a nice surprise again because it makes the ride of fun! The line for this ride is also pretty neat, however, I haven't been through it in a very long time, but you get to see props from actually movies such as the Wizard of Oz and Mary Poppins.

5) Star Tours - The Adventure Continues

So this is another ride that makes my sister and I really sick. It gives us terrible motion sickness. We try to ride it like every couple of years because we like the ride, it just gives us motion sickness unfortunately. However, if you don't get motion sickness then I highly recommend riding this! It is a lot of fun plus it features R2D2!

6) Star Wars Launch Bay

This is something that's fairly new to Hollywood Studios and it's pretty fun and neat to go through. I'm not sure if they are there all of the time but sometimes you can meet characters from Star Wars. My sister met Darth Vader one time and I ran away haha (he really scares me!).

7) Walt Disney: One Man's Dream

This is a fun experience, there's a walk through portion and a sit down video. It's nice to watch because you can learn all about Walt Disney and how he brought everything to life and created the magical world of Disney!

8) Muppet*Vision 3D

It's been a really long time since I've sat down to watch this show and I don't really remember what happens in it. However, I totally recommend watching it. There is always a decent amount of people going in to see it. Plus it's very kid friendly which is something that Hollywood Studios lacks in a little bit compared to the rest of the other parks.

I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! The rest of these posts will be posted on Monday and Tuesday!

XO, Steph

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Disney's Epcot Rides Ranked

Hey guys,

So I organially planning on writing these and posting them in the order of my favorite parks but I realized that there are so many rides at Magic Kingdom that I think that one is going to be posted last because of how much I am go to have to write lol. So I thought I would start with a park that doesn't have too many rides.

So if you follow this link, it says that Epcot has 35 attractions, however most of them are not rides they are activities to do. So I'm not really going to count those items in this list. This list is only going to consist of rides that you can actually ride at the park. 

1) Test Track

So this is the most exhilarating ride at Epcot and it used to be the most popular with the longest wait times but I assuming since Frozen has now opened that Frozen probably has the longest wait times. People may still prefer Test Track but Frozen is still too new and everyone is waiting in line to ride the ride for the first time still. However, this ride is a lot of fun and one that I recommend if you like riding roller coasters. It's not technically a roller coaster but

2) Frozen Ever After

Thankfully we were able to ride this ride the last time that we went to Epcot which was in January. (You can read about that here!) This ride is a lot of fun and to be honest, it's really gorgeous. We were kind of concerned about how it was going to turn out after reading all that they had planned but the characters inside look so life like, it really turned out perfect! The ride felt like it was almost 5 minutes long and by the way it's a water ride but thankfully you don't get wet. You may get a little splashed but it should dry fairly quickly in the Florida heat haha.

3) Living with the Land

This is one of our favorite rides at Epcot. You ride on a boat thing and it tells you all about eco living and recycling and stuff like that. And then it takes you through to a green room and tells you how everything food item made on Disney property is actually grown on Disney property and is actually pretty healthy for you. They also have their own fish that they grow instead of purchasing them from unhealthy fish farms.

4) Spaceship Earth

We ride this ride almost every single time we go. It's actually really interesting and the reason so many people like it is because it actually takes you up inside the giant ball that Epcot is famous for. It talks about how things we made and how we've evolved (and by evolved I don't mean how we went from being monkeys to humans haha) so much over time. It's actually a lot of fun!

5) The Seas with Nemo & Friends

This ride is a lot of fun if you are a fan of finding Nemo! It basically takes under the sea and you get to see Nemo and all of his friends. You ride in a shell and you actually go through the aquarium and get to see real life fish while on the ride. They also play the song from the musical that plays at Animal Kingdom.

6) Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros

This ride is located in the World Showcase which means it's located where all of the countries are located. It's located in Mexico and it also features Donald Duck. It's another ride and it's a pretty fun ride. Most of the rides at Epcot are very kid friendly and this one is actually pretty cool because it's inside the temple in Mexico and everything it so open. Like there's a restaurant inside of the temple too and when you are on the ride you can see the restaurant and people at the restaurant can see the ride as well.

7) Ellen's Energy Adventure

This is the ride that you can ride if you need a break because it's very long! It's like 40 minutes long and it's also basically a history lesson. And by the way, if you haven't caught on yet, Epcot is a very educational park! They like to make sure that when you leave, you have learned something new haha. This ride features Ellen Degeneres and Bill Nye the Science Guy. He educates Ellen on many things because she is playing a game show in the ride and she's not doing so well. She misses quite a few questions and so he has to teach her all about the questions that she's missed.

8) Journey into Imagination with Figment

I honestly don't really have anything to say about this ride because I can't tell you the last time that we went on it. It's actually one of my friends favorite rides haha (although I don't think it really is) but he rides it almost every single time he goes.

9) The Circle of Life

This ride features characters from The Lion King and I don't really remember much about this attraction at all. It technically isn't a ride, it's actually just a 20-minute long fun educational video about conservation and protecting the Earth.

10) The American Adventure

So to be honest, I really don't remember what this is and I possibly may have never ridden it haha. So I don't really have much to say about it and the only reason it's landed above the two rides listed below is because I really don't like the two rides below because they give me motion sickness and almost every single time I ride them I end up getting a really bad headache that won't go away no matter how much Tylenol or Advil I take.

11) Mission: Space

This is really bad for people with motion sickness. Basically you sit/stand in this circle thing and then the walls like close in on you and then I believe you start to spin and you basically play like a video game on your own screen and it's supposed to make you feel like you an astronaut in outer space. My sister and I regret riding this almost every time we ride it but whenever they make changes to rides that we've ridding in the past we like to re-ride them just so we can see what was different. We rode this one, I'd say about 3 or 4 years ago now and after the last time I don't think I will ever go on it again. It made me so nauseous and I had such a bad headache afterwards. I didn't end up feeling better until the next day after I had slept all the pain away haha (not to sound dramatic or anything).

12) Soarin'

My sister and I first rode this in California. I actually don't even think we've ever been on the Florida version because the one in California made us so sick. And I don't really remember it other than that because that was more than 10 years ago now. All I really remember is you sit in a thing that looks like those glider things that you see people in at the beach or flying over a mountain and you stare at a giant screen that has a bunch of different views from all over the place (maybe even all over the world?)

Aside from all of these rides there are plenty of other attractions at Epcot as well. There are also plenty of character meet and greets throughout the park and there is also a Kim Possible adventure that kids can go that will take you throughout different countries in the world showcase and I think throughout the rest of the park as well. There are also plenty of educational areas for kids to learn and play!

Epcot is also famous for all of their restaurants and if you plan on staying the whole day then I highly recommend making reservations for lunch and dinner at two different restaurants. I've eaten at almost all of the restaurants there and some of them even twice. For some of them, depending on the time of year, you might not need a reservation but I still highly recommend getting some just to be on the safe side. 

XO, Steph

Walt Disney World Parks Ranked

Hey guys,

So one of my goals for February is to make sure that I blog at least every week day during the month so there may be a lot of random posts and/or Disney posts. Today's post was going to be a Valentine's day related one but I unfortunately ran out of time. My goal was to write all of this weeks posts on Saturday and Sunday because I had the weekend off but we spent too much time trying to get stuff done around the house.

So if you haven't figured it out, I love Disney! I have been to all four Disney World parks, both parks in Disneyland in California, and both parks in Disneyland in Paris. I unfortunately don't really remember the parks in California other than a couple of the rides. I really want go back because they added a whole cars 

1) Magic Kingdom

So this is by far, my favorite Disney World park. There is so much to do and I absolutely love how it is divided up into cute little lands. There's Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, and Frontierland. I also love how there is basically a ride for everyone. There are also fair like rides which can be nice for those who don't like really intense rides. I have probably been to this park over a hundred times in my life and I have probably been on every single ride in the park. I can typically ride anything, however, there are certain rides that I have been on and know that I don't like so I only ride them once every few years or so or if I've taken some Tylenol and some motion sicknesses meds before riding haha. 

There's isn't really a ride at Magic Kingdom that makes me sick though, and by sick I mean I get a headache from motion sickness. I have never thrown up after any ride in my entire life (knock on wood). The reason I mention that there is pretty much a ride for everyone is because my mom can't ride some of the more crazy rides such as Space Mountain but she can rides other rides like Pirates of Caribbean or Haunted Mansion. 

If I could chose only one park to visit, it would definitely be Magic Kingdom because this is the most popular park. It's also the first park in Florida and it has the castle as well. It's basically the definition of Walt Disney World. There is so much to do and so much to see just at this one park and it is absolutely amazing!

2) Hollywood Studios

This park makes the list at number 2 because it has my favorite Disney ride ever, Tower of Terror. Yeah, I know the name sounds a little daunting but I promise this is seriously the best ride ever! However, most people disagree with my sister and I whenever we say that haha. But I seriously love this ride. I love watching scary movies and so I love how spooky the ride is and I also just love the thrill of going up and down and not knowing when you are going to drop again. But the funny thing is that most fairs have a similar version except you aren't sitting in an elevator and I absolutely hate that ride. I went one time and swore I would never again. It was seriously the most terrifying experience of my entire life! 

3) Epcot

There aren't that many rides at Epcot but it holds a special place in my heart because every year for my mom's birthday we like to go to Epcot to the Flower and Garden Festival. We've been doing this for about 9 years or so. If you have never been to the Flower and Garden Festival or the Food and Wine Festival then I totally recommend them. They are both absolutely so much fun to go to. In my opinion there isn't really that much to do at Epcot so I like to go to this park whenever they are having one their festivals going o n because then you can at least try some new food and maybe some alcoholic (or non-alcoholic) beverages. One year we went and there was this amazing rose iced tea and they have never had it again. So my suggestion is, if you do go to one of the festivals, make sure not to fall in love with anything you eat or drink because you will probably never see it again. They always try to rotate out the food nothing is repeated. 

My favorite ride at Epcot used to be Test Track but now it's obviously the new Frozen ride! How could you not love a Frozen ride!

4) Animal Kingdom

The reason this one makes the bottom is because we rarely ever go to this park. There was one time we had waited like 5 years or so before going back to this park. I'm not really sure why considering how much I love going to the zoo haha but we just rarely will go. However, over the last few years we have been going a lot more lately. My parents like to go there over the other parks sometimes because it tends to be the more calm park but they like all of the nature and getting to see all of the animals.

My favorite ride at Animal Kingdom is probably Expedition Everest! It is so much fun and you go backwards kind of like the Mummy at Universal except a little more intense in my opinion haha.

P.S. I will be doing a review for each park on my favorite rides at each park, so make sure to check back for that.

XO, Steph

St. Augustine Travel Diary

Hey guys,

I didn't take too many pictures this weekend because I wasn't entirely sure what we were going to be doing so I didn't think I would blog about it. However, we ended up trying out some tasty restaurants and we also did a little shopping at some of the boutiques downtown so I figured I might as well write about!

On Friday, my sister and I got into town around 4 something. We spent some time with my sister's friends at their house for a couple of hours until we met the rest of her friends in Downtown St. Augustine for dinner. We ate at an Irish Gastropub called Barley Republic. The food was pretty tasty and the Sangria was really good (It wasn't mine but I tried some!). 

We also went shopping while downtown and a couple stores that I recommend include: Earthbound Trading Company and Red Pineapple Boutique. There was another store that I really recommend but I can't remember the name of it at all. It was really cute; it sold jewelry, unique pieces of art, and different accessories for the house.

On Saturday morning, we headed to the farmers market and walked around a little. They had some unique pieces of art, some new foods to try, and some live music. If you are a fan of farmers markets then I highly recommend stopping by because they open every Saturday morning from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Next, we headed to the beach across the street from the house we were staying at and spent a few house theres enjoying the water and soaking up the sun. Technically, I stayed under the beach tent most of the time because I always burn no matter how much sunscreen I put on and I really did not want to get burnt. After the beach, we headed back to the house and relaxed for a couple of hours before heading to the grocery store to buy dinner. We ended up grilling some steaks and chicken and we ended up buying way too much food for all of us. And for dessert, we ended up having a fire and cooking some s'mores!

Sunday was our last day in town and we got up and tried to find something to do. We checked out Trip Advisor's Top 10 Things To Do in Saint Augustine and we had already done quite a few of them because this wasn't our first time visiting. The second recommended thing to do was the St. Augustine Distillery Company, which is what we settled on. I have never toured a winery or a distillery before but it was something that I had always wanted to. So I am very glad that we were able to do it! The distillery is only a couple of years old and the tours are free to do. So if you are over 21 and like alcohol then I highly recommend the tour (or even if you don't like alcohol, like me, I still recommend doing it!). It is only about 30 minutes long and the longest part is at the end when the tour guide does talk through recipe of two different drink samples for everyone to try. 

As you can see the picture above, we tried two drinks: A Florida Mule (a take on the Moscow Mule) and a New World Gin & Tonic. I liked the Florida Mule but I did not like the second drink at all. It seriously tasted like I was drinking plants. I'm not entirely sure what she put in it besides Gin & Tonic but it was not a drink that I would recommend.

After we finished with the distillery, we went to lunch at another restaurant located downtown called Mojo BBQ. They have several other locations besides the one in St. Augustine so you may have eaten at one before, who knows?

Next, we headed to the outlet mall to do some shopping because one of the girls we were with was pregnant! So we wanted to do some shopping with her and we helped her pick out some maternity clothes and we also shopped a little for the baby. She's having a girl and it was so much fun getting to pick out some clothes for her. I can't wait till she gets here!

Have you guys ever been to St. Augustine or plan on traveling there soon? Let me know if the comments below and I can recommend some other fun things to do as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

Feel feel to leave a comment or share this with your friends!

XO, Steph

Red Floral Print Mini Dress

Dress: Forever21 | Shoes: Jessica Simpson (similar here and here) | Bag: Rebecca Minkoff (old; Style: Mini Quilted Affair) (similar here)

Hey guys,

I wore this dress this past weekend while staying at a friends beach house in St. Augustine, FL. The house was not located directly on the beach but it had an amazing view of the beach, as you can see from some of the photos. The house was so beautiful and I am so grateful they let us come visit them! (The travel diary for the trip will be up tomorrow!)

This dress is basically the exact same dress that I wore in this post except the color and the flowers are different. I love how flowy this dress is and how comfy it is. The fabric is actually pretty soft! I threw on a tank top underneath just to make it a little more casual since I was staying at the beach. I have linked a couple other bell sleeve dresses that I love in the widget down below.

How do you guys feel about bell sleeves?
Sometimes I have a love hate relationship with them! haha

Thanks for stopping by!

Feel free to leave a comment and share this with your friends!

XO, Steph