Disney World 2015

“Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you if you’re young at heart. For it’s hard, you will find to be narrow of mind if you’re young at heart …”

And isn’t that the truth? They say Disney World is the happiest place on earth, and by golly, it sure is! It took me 27 years, but I finally packed my bags and spent 5 days in the hot Florida sun, with Cinderella’s castle as my centrepoint.

disney-magic-kingdon

With a slew of highlights, I wanted to share my most favourite. The fireworks show was stunning – it nearly brought me to tears. That’s how well it’s put together, truly.

magic castle disney fireworks

Meeting Goofy and Pluto – I actually met Goofy twice, but this photo is my favourite of the bunch!

pluto goofy meet and greet pluto goofy meet and greet

I can’t forget Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween party, complete with trick-or-treating, a dance party, and the grand entrance by the headless horseman from Sleep Hollow.

disney-halloween

While I was there, I made it an issue to take photos of some of the smiling faces I met. Here’s just a few.

faces-of-disney-3 faces-of-disney faces-of-disney-4

Downtown Disney was a great place to pick up souvenirs. Also, they have a neat Lego store with AWESOME Lego sculptors, like Toy Story, Sleeping Beauty, and The Hulk.

hulk-lego

And who could forgot Epcot? I did the Viking Challenge at the Norway pavilion, with the Aquavit shot followed by a straight face for 5 seconds after. I was SUCCESSFUL! Easy peasy! Now I am an honorary viking!

viking orlando

Other notable mentions: I met Mickey and Minnie TWICE! I got photos with Aladdin, Jasmine and Buzz Lightyear, too! I visited all four parks and the Boardwalk. I had fantastic service, EVERYWHERE. And if you’re looking for a cool place to eat, try “Be Our Guest” in Magic Kingdom. I felt like I was actually in the mansion from Beauty and the Beast.

Thanks for the hospitality, Disney! You’ve been a slice.

Tobermory Bruce Peninsula

This weekend I went up north to Tobermory Bruce Peninsula. This was my first time in Bruce Peninsula, but I LOVED it! The area is about a three hour drive from Toronto, and luckily, we hit no traffic going up Friday evening.

We spent the evening at Wiarton Willy’s Inn, which is about a 30-minute drive to the water. I am used to staying in some really nice hotels while I travel, but unfortunately there’s no Hiltons (or any franchises, really) in the area. Despite it is being a bit dated in the decor (like the bright red carpet), the room itself was actually very clean for a one-night stay. My advice: book two weeks in advance because everything was sold out when I tried to find something last minute.

Saturday morning we booked a boat tour and drop-off to Flowerpot Island with Blue Heron. For $40 per person, you get a 25-minute tour of the ship wrecks, and a pretty fun ride to the island.

Once you arrive, there’s lots of options: checking out the flowerpot rock formations (which, unfortunately, were painted with tourists, making it hard to get a decent photo), walk the trails, check out the caves, and if you’re up for, you can also camp overnight!

tobermory-7k (Photo above by 7k Photo)

tobermory-web (3 of 6) flowerpot island tobermory harbour flowerpot island By the way, I love sunsets.

tobermory

Toronto, my home

After all my travel posts, I wanted to share something a bit more local! I have had this photo on file for a while now, I actually snapped it on the ferry coming back from the island airport (Porter), after my trip to the east coast.

This is one of my favourite photos of Toronto. The sun is going down, the light is just right, oh look, the CN Tower!

I hope everyone had a great Canada Day, this week, and to all my blogger friends south of the border, Happy Independence Day!

Toronto skyline

Western Canada Trip: Calgary, Alberta (Pt.9)

This is my final post of the Western Canada series, and what better way to end it than with Calgary, Alberta.

The city isn’t as bustling as Toronto, but the energy is still vibrant. Flames signage is everywhere, and even the flight attendants sported the red and black colours. Most of the locals seemed friendly, and I (really) enjoyed the shopping! It was a bit unfortunate, I had a really bad cold near the end of my trip, but I stayed up past 1 a.m. Toronto time (because I never really adjusted throughout the trip),  and I made two trips to the Calgary Tower lookout. The photos from the evening came out the best.

As a final note: I had an amazing time out west. I am so blessed to have gone, with the help of family and friends. I reacquainted with fam, found some necessary “Emily time” and wore out my camera for a good month! Vancouver, Whistler, Bow Valley, Canmore, Banff, Lake Louise to Calgary: what an amazing 15 days.

calgary (1 of 5) calgary (5 of 5) calgary-4-of-5 calgary (3 of 5)

Western Canada Trip: Johnston Canyon, Alberta (Pt.8)

Before heading to Calgary, Alberta (post to come), my last stop was Johnston Canyon. The trail to the waterfalls took me about 30 minutes, but keep in mind, it was still frozen over and the walk was quite icy and slippery.

The conditions didn’t stop tourists, it was pretty busy. Most of the Banff resort-goers head to the waterfalls. According to Banff’s official website, “The trail to the waterfalls of Johnston Canyon has to be the busiest in the Canadian Rockies. Nearly every day throughout the summer, hundreds of hikers follow its canyon-clinging catwalks and cliff-mounting staircases to the gorge’s Lower and Upper Falls.”

It’s advisable to do the hike during the early morning or evening hours to avoid the rush of people.

Johnston Canyon Johnston Canyon (3 of 8) Johnston Canyon (5 of 8) Johnston Canyon (6 of 8) Jonhston Canyon

Did I mention I saw mountain goat while doing the drive to Johnston Canyon. I was SUPER happy about this.

Mountain goat alberta