A note from Krista: I want to introduce you to Rachel, my fantastic new Disney friend. Between having a precious son to care for…training…AND her Disney marathons, I can’t even imagine the miles Rachel has covered! I am super excited that she took time to share this wonderful post with you and I – via Disneyways today. Make sure you read it to the very end, and if you have a tender heart like I do, you may want to get the tissues ready. This is the stuff that bittersweet Disney tears are made of.
Thank you so much Rachel for your wonderful contribution!!
Running, for me, can be a very emotional thing. I am not sure why. Maybe it is
because I love it so much. Your average PT run or run around the neighborhood,
maybe not. But racing…I love racing. And I get emotional when I race. And I get
VERY emotional when I race at Disney. There is something about how emotionally
charged and amped up the entire race process is…from the family reunion area
and the anticipation of hearing them call your corral, to the walk through the back
lot of Epcot to the start, to the fireworks that kick off the race and passing under
that banner that says START with Mickey and Minnie, or more recently the Fairy
Godmother, waving as you pass. It can all be very overwhelming. I am used to that.
I am used to crying like a baby when they play the pre-race montage, this year’s
used the song Go The Distance from Hercules—very fitting. And I am used to crying
at the finish line. Coming around that last corner out of Epcot and seeing the FINISH
about 100 meters away… it hits you that you really have just run over 26 miles, and
you are about to cross that finish line. I think the most stoic of people would get a
little choked up.
This year at the marathon, however, something was a little different. This year,
everywhere I looked, it seemed like I was getting choked up. Some background is
required: The week before I went down to WDW for the race, my boss had asked
me a question that I couldn’t really answer. He asked me why I do this. Why I put
my body, one already wracked with pretty bad degenerative arthritis, through such
torture. I told him that I really didn’t know why…I just loved it. And I didn’t know
why I loved it, I just did.
His question stuck with me though, and as the miles started to pass I slowly started
to realize that we all had a reason to run. The back of one Team in Training jersey
told me that she was running in memory of her father. The back of another told me
that he was running in honor of his daughter, who was fighting breast cancer. More
shirts showed pictures of my fallen comrades – one even a Soldier I served with
at Fort Leavenworth. His sister was running the WDW Marathon in his memory.
Several shirts said “26 miles for 26 beautiful lives lost”. They were running for
children and teachers from Newtown, CT. It was about 30 minutes after the sun
came up and I had tears streaming down my face from reading all of these reasons
that everyone was running. I turned to Jim and said, “This. This is why I run.
Because we ALL have a reason. We may not even know what it is, but we all have a
reason.”
In September, I have decided to join the many who have a reason way beyond
themselves and a shiny medal to run. In September, I will run for every child who
has ever been diagnosed with cancer. In September, I will run for every family that
has had to hear those words, knowing what it could mean for their precious child.
In September, I will run for hope, for faith, for a cure, and for St. Jude’s. And I will
keep running for a reason for as long as I possibly can – no matter what the reason.
Because there will come a day that I can no longer do this. But that day is not today.
One of the most welcome signs of spring is Epcot’s annual International Flower & Garden Festival. While the grounds at Epcot are always beautiful, the Flower and Garden Festival takes them to the next level. If you’ve never been to the festival – here is more about what we can expect. Below are are some Disneyways photos from last year.
Throughout Epcot over 100 topiaries will be on display. The Flower Power Concert Series will return as well as special kids’ activities and gardening workshops. An exciting addition to this year’s Festival is several presentations by HGTV stars at the Designers Stage.
Perennial Flower and Garden favorites such as the Flower Power Concert series, the English Tea Garden, and Ask An Expert will be returning. For the kids, there’s Bambi’s Butterfly House, GoGo on the Go Challenge, the Pixie Hollow Fairy Garden, and the Bee Scavenger Hunt.
Over at the France Pavilion, there will again be a “lift and sniff” Fragrance Garden focusing on some of the flowers used in making the Guerlain line of perfumes.
Throughout the event, Disney horticulturists and garden experts will conduct seminars, sharing tips and secrets for you to try at home.
Discover dazzling gardens, high-energy entertainment, family fun and more at this spectacular springtime event. The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival presented by HGTV is brimming with special experiences for every age and interest.
Festival highlights include:
With so much to see and do, you can return to the festival again and again… and discover something new each time!
Musical entertainment pairs perfectly with brilliant botanicals during the nightly Flower Power Concert Series. Enjoy a diverse lineup of performers — popular musicians of the 1960s and 1970s — throughout the festival.
Fascinating designer presentations offer helpful information that you can use in your home or garden. Whether you wish to learn new gardening techniques or simply see a favorite television personality, you can look forward to an array of engaging seminars and demonstrations.
Special displays — like blossoming gardens and vibrant topiaries — add to the beauty of Epcot.
Epcot theme park admission is required. Most Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival events are included with admission to Epcot theme park. Availability is limited for some events. Events may be rescheduled or cancelled at any time.
March 6 – May 19, 2013 is the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival where you can celebrate the great outdoors!
Every weekend during this special time you can catch a Festival tradition, the Flower Power Concert Series. Head over to the Festival Center, where you can experience a demonstration led by HGTV personalities or get tips from Epcot gardening experts. Be sure to visit Festival Center located in Innoventions East for all the details!
Don’t want to look at a map? Let someone else be your guide!
The Gardens of the World Tour is only offered on select days during Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival
Everywhere you look at the Walt Disney World Resort, the trees, shrubs and flowers play a vital role in setting the stage for recreation, entertainment and beauty. Disney landscaping has become a recognized show in itself, providing color and enjoyment throughout the year. Did you know that only during the Flower and Garden Festival – you can book a tour of all this beauty?
The Gardens of the World Tour gives participants the chance to study the various gardens of Epcot with one of the experts responsible for helping maintaining it all.
Your “horticultural instructor” will turn Epcot into a living classroom. Discover how seeds are planted and design ideas take root to produce extraordinary botanical backdrops, imaginative themed areas and topiaries of some of your favorite Disney characters. Your guide will describe the basic process of plant design and how it is incorporated in the landscape for the World Showcase pavilions. Find will even find out how you can design and theme your own home gardens.
Here’s more about what will happen on the tour.
You will:
The beauty of each country’s traditional landscaping makes this tour an extraordinary introduction to the World Showcase nations!
Prices are subject to change, but this year you can take the tour for $63.90 including tax. That price also includes a pin and a poster for you to take home.
Book online or call (407) WDW-TOUR or (407) 939-8687 for exact schedule.
Please let us know if you will be taking this very special tour!
Yes, you read that right. Taking a hint from the huge success of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, food kiosks will be added in the World Showcase in 2013 during Epcot Flower and Garden Festival. What does this mean? Well, we will get to try some delicious new foods and beverages as we stroll around to see Disney characters in topiary, and rock out to the Flower Power Concert series (among other things!).
I can’t even tell you how excited I am about this – but if a picture speaks a thousand words…
This is how I feel.
Don’t worry – there are no squirrels on the menu.
Instead, Epcot chefs have some other things in mind.
Some highlights will include:
Menu items will include:
Specialty drinks will include:
Tip: Need a map so you can plan your snack attack? Click here for a link to all of them from WDWInfo.com
What are your thoughts on these menu items?
The Epcot Flower and Garden Festival 2013 will feature some new topiary displays and bring back some old favorites!
Topiaries at the front entrance will welcome us to Epcot in a very special way. This fantastic first topiary “scene” will feature the Fab Five, plus one! A 14-foot-tall topiary Goofy will “goof-up” an anniversary cake while Donald and Daisy play badminton. Mickey will fire up the grill, Pluto will swipe a link of hot dogs and Minnie will chill out on a colorful blanket of blossoms. Sounds like one of my family cook outs.
You will also want to look for Fawn’s Butterfly House. Eight fanciful fairy topiaries of Pixie Hollow, including Tinker Bell, Fawn, Vidia and Terrence will be located in the Butterfly House this year, and of course you’ll see real butterflies there too! I was lucky enough to get a picture of this guy last year – just as he was saying his first hello to the world.
An interactive play area on the Test Track walkway will be based on Radiator Springs. It will feature Lightning McQueen and Mater topiaries.
Here’s the photo of Lightning that I took last year.
A second interactive play area based on the new movie “OZ: The Great and Powerful. There will also be a “Oz Movie Garden” full of unusual plants inspired by the Land of Oz.
Note: Don’t worry if you aren’t familiar with some of these locations. Epcot will have beautiful (free!) maps available at the very front of the park and in various places throughout.
While some of you up north are still fighting snow and freezing weather, here in Orlando the temperature is already starting to go back up, and with it – the flowers are starting to bloom. Warmer temperatures around here are a good reminder that the it’s almost time for the 20th Annual Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival.
The festival runs from March 6th until May 19th this year and offers a wide range of special activities. For the last few years the Flower and Garden Festival has partnered with HGTV to bring in some of their top talent for special appearances at the festival. This year’s line-up is better than ever with a full calendar of home and garden experts.
Guests of the Festival can see their favorite HGTV and DIY stars on “The Designers’ Stage Presented by HGTV” at the Festival Center. In case this is your first visit – The Festival Center is located between Mission Space and Ellen’s Energy Adventure in Future World. Click here to see a map of the exact location. Here is a photo so you’ll know what to look for:
2013 HGTV Stars present at Festival Center
Are you like me – and perhaps a bit better at remembering faces than remembering names? I have to admit, when I saw the lists of designers all over the internet – it really didn’t mean much to me. In an effort to make this list a little different, I have hyper-linked each name. Click on the name and you will be taken to a site with the designer’s picture. That way, even if you are just a casual watcher of the HGTV and DIY channels, or maybe not much for TV at all – you will still know a bit about each designer. As a bonus – if you run into one of them shopping for souvenirs in Mouse Gear – you will know to take pictures – and you can brag to your friends later.
Presentations will take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the Festival at noon and 3 p.m. and no reservation is required. Keep in mind Disney reserves the right to change the schedule and the line-up at any time. You can always check Disneyworld.com for the latest information.
Here is the schedule made public as it stands today:
March 8-10: Chris Lambton, (Going Yard)
March 15-17: Chris Grundy, (DIY Network’s Cool Tools)
Marach 22-24: Egypt Sherrod, (Property Virgins)
March 29-31: Brandon Johnson, (My Yard Goes Disney)
Apri 5-7: Meg Caswell, (Meg’s Great Rooms)
April 12-14: Jason Cameron, (DIY Network’s Desperate Landscapes and Man Caves)
April 19-21: Sara Peterson, (Editor-in-Chief, HGTV Magazine)
April 26-28: Carter Oosterhouse, (Million Dollar Rooms)
May 3-5: Casey Noble, (Design on a Dime)
May 10-12: Dan Faires, (HGTV.com’s DanMade)
May 17-19: David Bromstad, (HGTV Design Star, ColorSplash, Design Star All-Stars)
TIP: Sometimes each designer has cards available with their photo on it to ready to sign and give out on they day of their presentation – and even extra time designated to do so. When you are in the pavilion, you can ask a cast member about this, and they will usually have the day’s information for you.
Do you have a favorite celebrity listed here or are you glad we posted pictures?
Featuring music from the 60’s and 70’s (America Gardens Theatre):
Show times 5:15 pm, 6:30 pm & 7:45 pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Schedule of Performers:
March 8-10: Micky Dolenz, formerly of The Monkees (I’m a Believer)
March 15-17: Chubby Checker and The Wildcats (The Twist)
March 22-24: The Guess Who (American Woman)
March 29-31: Nelson (Can’t Live Without Your Love and Affection)
April 5-7: The Turtles feat. Flo and Eddie (Happy Together)
April 12-14: Paul Revere and The Raiders (Good Thing)
April 19-21: The Village People (YMCA)
April 26-28: The Orchestra, Featuring Former Members of ELO and ELO II
May 3-5: Tommy Roe (Dizzy)
May 10-12: Herman’s Hermits Starring Peter Noone (I’m Henry VIII, I Am)
May 17-19: Starship Starring Mickey Thomas (We Built This City)
Epcot admission is required. Disney always reserves the right to change the schedule without notice – so feel free to check with me for the latest info!
Here’s some footage of Micky Dolenz performing last year.
Thanks to Shelley of Disneymanners.com for taking the footage!
Near the area of Future World Epcot, where one can now find Test Track, there was once a pavilion that included the World of Motion presented by General Motors. World of Motion opened in October 1982 with the rest of EPCOT Center. Enjoying this attraction meant taking a road trip through the evolution of transportation. Almost everyone has some interest in transportation. Whether it’s cars, trains, airplanes, buses, boats or just by simply walking, everyone has used some form of it. We have always relied on our ability to travel, and we have always searched for ways to improve that ability. This was the basis and idea behind World of Motion, to entertain and educate us about how it’s “fun to be free.” Click here for a photo tour. Check out this “totally tubular” 18 minute video to be transported back to 1982 and it what it must have been like to enjoy The World of Motion.
World of Motion closed in January 1996 to make way for Test Track. This change broke the heart of hundreds of thousands of nostalgic World of Motion enthusiasts, many of whom still believe the attraction was one of Epcot’s greatest achievements.
Test Track presented by General Motors (GM) represented the cutting edge of Walt Disney Imagineering created ride-systems. As Epcot’s first thrill ride, it took guests through a series of vehicle tests and outside onto a 50 degree banked track at highway speeds. Even though it seems strange for a car company to advertise by emphasizing car crashes – the message here was that GM designs cars for safety and performance – and puts them through rigorous tests. A high-speed performance run on a proving ground track was thrown in, to the delight of thrill seekers from all over the world. The complexity of the ride system took years to perfect, but to many, it was worth we wait. Officially opening in March 1999, Test Track became a firm favorite and must do for hundreds of thousands of Walt Disney World visitors. This 24 minute video takes you for a closer look at the original Test Track.
Just over 10 years later, General Motors began looking to make more use of one of its most visited marketing locations. Plans began to come about for a complete Test Track makeover. After a collaborative design effort between GM and Walt Disney Imagineering, the original Test Track closed on April 16th 2012 to begin the transformation. Just like it’s predecessor World of Motion, once again, many are feeling nostalgic for what’s now affectionately known as Test Track 1.0
Despite having only 8 months to complete the refurbishment, the new Test Track is definitely much different in some ways. Nearly every set piece has been removed from the original attraction. The new Test Track takes a step towards the more traditional Epcot Center pavilion approach, with the idea that there is now more to the pavilion than just the ride. Having enjoyed the new Test Track 2.0 attraction 10 or more times now, I can tell you first-hand that the actual ride track – is the same – despite rumors that it is different. This video from AttractionsMagazine.com gives even further proof in a really cool way. Take at look at this 4 minute, amazing, side-by-side comparison.
World of Motion (1982-1996), presented by General Motors, was a road trip through the evolution of transportation. It opened in October 1982 with the rest of EPCOT Center and closed in January 1996 to make way for Test Track. All photo credits belong to LostEpcot.com
Transcenter was the post ride area with many exhibits. It was Located on the lower level of the pavilion – the second hemisphere. Photos from LostEpcot.com
Disneyways 