John's Birthday "Blues"

Some of you *may* have noticed it was John's birthday yesterday. We spent the later part of the day at Magic Kingdom, mostly so we could see the new fireworks show, Happily Ever After. Anyway, John tells me if I'm going to spend so much time on my Instagram Stories then I should at least put them somewhere more people will see them, SO... prepare for photos, videos, and disjointed Disney rambles. :D

John in his birthday suit outfit. Look how blue he is! 

And here's the kind of cutting-edge commentary you get in my Stories:

Yep, two days after Halloween Disney had already switched to full Christmas mode - though the castle lights and the big tree aren't up yet at Magic Kingdom.

Not that I'm complaining about Christmas decorations, of course. :D Plus I love the Dapper Dans. If it ever comes up in conversation you WILL hear about the Disneyland Dans and how they rode their bicycle-built-for-4 just for me that one time, because it. was. AWESOME.

Oh hey, here's some stuff I haven't posted yet: cool new phone cases!

 The Madame Leota one has a 3D sculpt of her face on the back, just like the tombstone. Love it. The Figment one is the wrong phone size for John, but then he tells me he'd rather have the perfect Hufflepuff case instead? So hey, if you have any recommendations...

And this one has fun little sparkles in it:

SPARKLES. (Anyone else mildly obsessed with resin shakers lately? I follow a couple of people who make them on Instagram. I like the ones with liquid in them best.)

Here's a spooky easter egg - how many of you knew the mirror in Memento Mori (the Haunted Mansion gift shop) did this?

It's hard to film this without getting a bunch of random tourists in the reflection, ha. But hey, John says hi at the end!

And now, COUNTRY BEAR JAMBOREE:

Maybe it's because this show is one of the few things at MK my agoraphobia has no problem with, maybe it's the decidedly dated (and potentially offensive?) song lyrics. Whatever it is, Country Bears cracks me up and my love for it is TRUE.

My two favorites are "Mama, Don't Whoop Lil' Buford" and, of course:

(Crap quality, but you really just need the sound on. :D)

John and I like to sing this to each other during tender moments.
You're welcome for that imagery.

My favorite Angry Bird outside PhilharMagic:

That's another great show, btw, even if the "apple pie" smells nothing like apple pie. C'mon, Disney, get it together.

More merch:

Now I want to see one for the Citrus Swirl! And while they're at it, I'd like the Orange Bird Funko Pops to come back, please. (We missed that one, but my friend Steph snagged us a Figment Pop on release day, so yay for crazy friends willing to drive 2 hours and stand in line all morning for Disney merch!

Here's the Figgy Pop next to John's Dreamfinder shrine in my office:

First Pop I'm actually tempted to leave in the box! Though I still want to paint his eyes yellow.

One of my friends immediately called me on this next vid and my subtle Stranger Things shout-out:

Apparently no one actually says "totally tubular." ;)

There are two night shows at Magic Kingdom; the castle projection show, and then the fireworks almost immediately after. What's interesting about the new fireworks is they use SO much castle projection that it's hard to tell the two apart. Especially considering the projection show uses fireworks! Ha!

Anyway, here's a pretty castle shot:

And a few shots from the projection show:

The Frozen section of the projection show:

Again, this isn't the actual fireworks yet, but you can see why people get confused.

I didn't film any of Happily Ever After because I wanted to just watch it the first time. Overall it's a good show, but I wasn't quite as blown away as the hype led me to believe. It's just very BUSY, with so many different characters and lasers and fireworks and mini-movies all playing at once, to the point that it's hard to catch everything. I told John afterward I almost didn't even notice the fireworks, because with so much happening on the castle I kept missing what was happening in the sky. So it definitely feels like more of a projection show now than a fireworks show - much more so than Wishes.

That said, the simpler scenes that concentrate on just one movie at a time - like the Tangled lanterns and the Pirates fire fight - are downright breath-taking. Plus any time the projection mapping actually uses the castle shape - as opposed to only playing a movie on it like a screen - are beyond stunning. The Genie section with the whole castle decked out in neon lights is particularly awesome. So definitely see it, if you can.

Hope you guys liked my Disney randomness! And happy birthday again to the best hubby a geek gal could ask for.