Disney in Style

When anticipating this post, I imagined reviewing the summer fashions worn in the Sunshine State of Florida, and practical yet stylish ideas for spending the day at the Disney attractions.  Well, the most rainfall in the Orlando area in 80 years changed my plans.  The most sought after item of clothing being the Disney poncho!  Here, worn by yours truly over an H & M sun dress.

However, the unexpected weather conditions did not dampen the spirits of my boys, hubby, parents and I, as we experienced an Orlando-area vacation for the first time.

Our Disney adventure began at Epcot – the park themed around science, technology and world culture, all topped off with a sprinkling of Disney imagination.  There are two main areas – one has the rides and activities, the other features replicas of many countries, built around a central lake.

The boys loved learning about our family’s garbage production, creating their own virtual images and participating in a game show. The highlight?  The Mission To Mars ride which replicates the launch of a rocket to a landing site on Mars.  A word to the wise – Disney has two levels of intensity for this attraction – not surprisingly, the boys and hubby wanted to do the most intense option ,and not wanting to appear whimpy, I went along for the ride!! Well, the pre-ride notices are not kidding – Mission to Mars is intense.  It took me about 20 minutes to stand upright afterwards,  Should have taken the gentler, but still incredibly realistic option with my mommy and daddy.

The remainder of our Epcot day was spent in a more relaxing fashion with lunch at Parisian restaurant (above) in the French zone (hey, this is the Style File after all – we just had to go Paris!)  Then we toured the other countires of the world made all the more interesting for the boys, who by ths time were Special Agents along with Kim Possible, and assigned mobile units that beeped clues at them to find secret messages.  A high tech scavenger hunt that gave us parents and grandparents the opportunity to visit all the sites, and take a rest stop or two, at the bars and cafes along the way. here are the boys and I with Donald Duck in the Mexican quarter. I am wearing a favourite stretch cami and cargos from Smart Set (all from last year.) 

Our next Disney destination and possibly our family favourite, was Hollywood Studios. Here all three generations of us enjoyed many activities together, including an Indiana Jones adventure, a 3D Muppet Show and, the ultimate for my two Jedi warriors, a Star Wars ride and chance to battle Darth Vader himself at a Jedi school.

There are two Disney waterparks Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach.  Being Canadians, we decided it would be fun to visit the latter, which looks for all the world, like a ski resort.  It was cool to descend the slopes on water toboggans and sleighs.  My Mom enjoyed the lazy river, while my Dad set up camp on the sandy beach.  My best style advice for waterpark swimwear – get a one piece!  Those fast slides can relocate the two parts of a bikini quite easily, changing family fun into an x rated activity. Here I am with my eldest and a recently acquired Gap swimsuit.

Our final Disney day was my birthday.  Disney offers everyone a free park admission on their birthday.  You simply register online and print out a birthday pass, take it to the entrance along with proof of your birth date and voila – you have a free ticket (approx $75 US in value.) As we had already purchased tickets, I thought I would only receive the required “It’s my birthday” button, and was pleasantly surprised to be given a gift card for $75 US to spend in any of the on-site stores. In addition to treating the boys to some Star Wars toys, I picked up this cute Mickey and Minnie T for me.

What a stylish momento of a truly magical, multi-generational family vacation!