Tag: VickieTravelz

Epcot – Test Track

It has been a long time since I rode Test Track because we are line snobs and refuse to wait more than 30 minutes in a line but this visit we were able to get Fast Passes !!

Once again, in true Disney fashion, the wait is fun!  You get to create your own car for the test.  We started off creating a beautiful car and then we noticed that it had ratings on the top so we began paying attention to the ratings.  Then we noticed the countdown and had to hurry to complete the car.  Your magic band remembers your car.

While you are on the ride, signs show the car rankings.  Ours didn’t show because I didn’t press my magic band to the scanner at the correct time, instead I was moving out of the way so a man could take a picture of his wife on the ride.

Here is a ‘hidden’ gem.  Don’t just leave after the ride, more fun stuff awaits!

After you get off the ride, you have the opportunity to create a commercial using your car and it is emailed to you.  Here is the link to our commercial – warning, the car is not beautiful!  http://parklink.disney.go.com/media/ap/parklink/cards/testtrackvideo/video.html#testtrackvideo/2017-01-23/1f7522986a198095

After you leave that area, you can take pictures on cars and virtual cars – once again having them emailed to you.  Taking a picture with a virtual car is not easy.  Taking a picture with a real car is so much easier but still not easy!

Disney’s new Epcot Festival of the Arts — The Workshops & Seminars

This new festival celebrates the Arts and has both paid and complementary workshops.  I attended two complementary workshops – one on Henna and one on Photography.

Although the workshops are complementary, there are a limited number of tickets.  We arrived about 45 minutes early to get our tickets and had no problems getting a ticket but it was a Monday and they had waiting areas for tickets setup so it could have been more crowded over the weekend.

Both workshops were run by Disney employees who had worked with Disney for quite awhile and were very knowledgeable about their areas.  Both workshops were informative and entertaining and worth the time to attend.

Check out the remaining workshops for this festival here: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/epcot/epcot-international-festival-of-the-arts-seminars-workshops/

Disney’s new Epcot Festival of the Arts — The Food

Disney has a new Festival — Festival of the Arts.  It seems like they are always trying something new to get us to spend our day (and money) at Epcot!  This festival takes place Friday-Monday until February 20th.

This festival isn’t quite as large as the Food and Wine Festival but it is still fun.

Neopolitan — Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry — Beer that is.  Cost $9.  Just had to give this one a try.

The strawberry was very sweet and the chocolate had a hint of chocolate flavor.  My daughter thought it tasted like coffee but I did not.  Neither of us cared much for the vanilla.

We then walked around the World Showcase to see what the festival was all about.  There are pavilions set up all around featuring different artists and foods.  The art was varied and included the original piece and some less expensive prints.  It was quite windy so none of the artists were able to demonstrate their work but they were all out talking to the people.

The food, of course, was good.  We had some Mexican food with sangria.

The food was excellent (under $20 for both items ) but the sangria was very sweet. It took us so long to drink the sangria that we didn’t purchase any other food or drink until we had completed our walk of the entire showcase.

After a breezy walk where we teased each other about being from Florida and freezing in 45 degree weather, we found a coffee I could not pass without trying.  Although the coffee was good ($10), it was small and not mixed well.

The food is delightful to the eye and I wish we could have sampled more.  I will be going back and I will be trying some of their beautiful food.

Here is a link to look at the food options during the festival: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/epcot/epcot-international-festival-of-the-arts-culinary/

Packing for Portugal & Spain

I spent quite a bit of time researching and trying to figure out what to pack for our trip. We traveled in late April / early May 2016.  Hope this helps you pack for your trip!

Here is a list of what I packed:

  1. Black pants (they are yoga pants but they aren’t tight on my legs and they pass for dress pants – daughter approved)
  2. Gray pants (similar to the black pants)
  3. White pants
  4. Jeans
  5. 3 pairs of shorts in the same shade as each pair of pants (black, white, jeans) — I only wore 1 pair of shorts but several people in our group wore them more often.
  6. A dress shirt that matched both the black pants and the white pants — wore this to our farewell dinner.
  7. Enough Shirts to wear each one twice
  8. 3 scarves to wear with my plain t-shirts (mix-n-match)
  9. Cardigan for the plane and evenings – brought the one that doesn’t wrinkle easily and is easily stuffed into my bag.
  10. Black warmer jacket
  11. Rain Poncho. This is also easily stuffed into my bag when not in use.
  12. Walking shoes – my research said that women in Europe do not wear tennis shoes — our guide agreed but I saw many tennis type shoes for sale in the shops and I saw many people wearing them.
  13. Chargers and Two converters — good thing because 1 broke!
  14. Sinus medication — packed extra and I am so glad — it was a late spring and my sinuses were very active.
  15. Lotion — I come from a humid climate and it was very dry there — so glad I had some good quality lotion because the lotion provided in the hotels is ok but not great.
  16. Snacks
  17. 31 Vary You bag that turns into a backpack.  I don’t like the backpack very much but I do like the extra zippered pouch that pick-pockets cannot get into.  The inside compartment is large enough for my cardigan and rain jacket and tissues and hand sanitizer and more.
  18. ATM card — super easy to use and get money.  Credit Card in case I had problems with the ATM card.  Read my blog post on this subject.
  19. Travel steamer — what a great idea — it doesn’t really wash out stains but it kills all the germs in the clothes so when I wanted to wear something a second time, I steamed it and told Mom that I was “doing my laundry”.
  20. Bus Bag / Plane bag — this was a easily folded-up bag that I used to carry the airplane pillow, blanket, books etc on the airplane.  While touring I used it for anything I wanted to have with me but not carry around, like the rain poncho or walking shoes and anything I bought.  I bought it on clearance from Travel Smith but I liked the lightweight bag my mom had better — it just crumpled up and fit into her purse or suitcase.
  21. Sunscreen — needed it almost every day
  22. My Kindle e-reader and some paperback books with short stories.  (My kindle does not have the ‘special offers’ and I love that).  The paperbacks took lots of space so I left them behind when I was finished reading – I only brought them in case I couldn’t read the kindle on the plane during takeoff and landing.  The Kindle e-reader is awesome, it is lightweight, mine has a back-light and keeps the charge for a long time.  I pre-loaded lots of books to read and never ran out.

Here is a list of what I wish I had packed:

  1.  An umbrella to go with my poncho.  Sometimes it just sprinkled a little bit and a small umbrella would have been nice instead of having to get in and out of the poncho.
  2. Puffs-plus.  I had sinus problems and remembered to bring the medication but had a difficult time finding soft tissue.
  3. Charmin Toilet Paper – not going to discuss this but I think you understand
  4. Wash Cloth
  5. Second pair of walking shoes — just one pair was not enough.

Things I didn’t need:

  1.  Shampoo, conditioner, soap — provided by every hotel.  I would only pack a single sample of each in case of an emergency.

Good Ideas / Bad Ideas:

  1. I was concerned that eating lunch at 2pm and dinner at 8pm would cause me problems but after the first week I didn’t need any additional snacks.  I would still take snacks but not quite so many — plenty of stores around if I needed to restock.
  2. I wore flip-flops on the plane — that was also a great idea!
  3. Pack your toothbrush & toothpaste in your carry-on.   After the over-night flight you will be happy you did!
  4. Leave room in your suitcase for purchases or bring stuff you will use or leave behind (like paperback books), leaving extra room in your suitcase.

 

#VickieTravelz

My mother and I are taking a trip called the Back Roads of Iberia: Spanish Paradores & Portuguese Pousadas.  These are our daily adventures – written for our family while we were traveling – April / May 2016.