Food Blog Forum at Disney's Grand Floridian, Orlando... LOVED IT!

I'm here at Disney's Grand Floridian for Food Blog Forum 2013!

We've been to the Hotel del Coronado in

San Diego, which inspired this masterpiece by Disney!

Not a bad place to spend a weekend, at all!

I love the view!

Army dad and I spent the morning at the Magic Kingdom before his flight

home so I had to make a mad dash into my room to freshen up before...

The FBF cocktail reception!

The food was incredible!

After the cocktail reception and on my way to the monorail station, I

bumped into the Basin White store on the second floor of the hotel!

Of course I had to stop...

Wash my hands, sample some scrubs and of course, sniff!

I couldn't believe how much less expensive the bath bombs I love so

much are here versus what I pay for them at the Lush store at home!

So I grabbed SpaBoy and we tore it up! The best part of stocking up on

the best bath bombs and scrubs I've ever smelled was the free shipping

and no sales tax because our purchases were shipped outside of Florida!

I may have went a little crazy!

After Basin White, we headed back over to

the Magic Kingdom for a little night-time fun!

Still loving Cinderella's Castle!

This morning after breakfast it was time for a full day of FBF! I met so

many bloggers that were new to me and also got to meet up with some of

the bloggers I met last year at Mixed! The information presented and shared

was incredible. Better than that, Jaden's two beautiful sons participated too!

Lunch was an event all unto itself!

We got to paint our own Nemo's!

And then eat it!

No one does dessert like Disney!

Now, please excuse me while I return to the conference, learn more and then end

the evening with a Fantasmic! Dessert reception at Disney's Hollywood Studios!

Walt Disney World and Universal Studios... A full day of fun!

Greetings from Orlando!

While it was terribly difficult to leave my dear brother in Cape Coral,

there is a Food Blog Forum waiting for me in Orlando this weekend!

So we said our see-ya-laters and we headed

back to Orlando where our first stop was...

The magic kingdom!

While my heart will always and forever belong to Disneyland...

I do admit Cinderella's Castle at Walt Disney World is pretty magical!

After a brief stay at the kingdom...

We headed over to Epcot to check out

the Flower Show sponsored by HGTV!

It was splendid!

Of course, my gardener was quick to point out that...

Given more money, he could do the same for me!

I told him he's doing just fine!

We worked up quite an appetite park-hopping so we went to dinner in Germany!

After Epcot we headed over to Universal...

Because although I can't tell you much about Harry Potter...

I can tell you I've wanted to check out his
castle since I saw the first commercial for it!

The village did not disappoint!

I loved the scenery!

The charming village with its crooked little houses...

Reminded me so much of old-world Europe!

Which I do believe is the point!

Oh, there it is!

I was so excited to get there...

Only to learn that if you thought you were going to actually walk through the

doors of the castle, you're highly mistaken! Turns out, Harry's castle is one of

those magical things you only see. Sure, there is a ride but it's in a regular old

building underneath. Huge let down, it was. But hey there were other things...

Such as students with their singing frogs!

And, shops... This one, filled with candy!

Pretty candy...

All sorts of candy!

Including chocolate frogs!

There was also a smiling wizard who didn't mind American Express!

What more could one ask for?

Except to tour the castle and experience it up close...

Still, the surrounding landscape is beautiful...

And, worth seeing!

On our way around the castle scene, we ran into this family of ducks!

They were very busy with the popcorn from a nearby vendor...

After all that popcorn it was time for a drink!

So cute!

After all the popcorn droppings outside was claimed...

It was time to retrieve more from the source!

Even mom got in on the fresh supply!

Aside from missing my brother and wish my

parents were with us, today was a pretty decent day!