UPDATE: Disney Trips + Pregnancy Style

Guys! Hi! I've been wanting to write a post for so long now but couldn't really pin down what I wanted to write about, so figured I'd just dump whatever photos or thoughts came to mind here and at least get something out in the blogosphere. Blogging is in a weird place right now, agree? I feel like most content now lives on Instagram, specifically IG Stories (at least that's where I find myself sharing and looking at my favorite bloggers, instead of actually going to blogs anymore.) The times, they are a-changin'.

Let's get started, shall we?

We'll start back in January at Disney's Hollywood Studios where we went to catch the last few days of holiday merriment and sweet treats. This is the chocolate hazelnut cone from Backlot Express and yes it was as delicious as it looks. We also hung with the lovely Christine (@hkitizzle on social media).

On to the Magic Kingdom. You know it's 'Florida cold' when we bust out the North Face fleece and Uggs (college habits die hard, amIrite??). Thomas, Angie and I watched the Christmas parade which runs during the day after all of the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parties have finished for the season (until then, it only runs the nights of the parties). Angie bought this hat first and I copied her because I thought it was going to go the way of the Mickey Pumpkin hat which I had in my hot little hand but didn't buy, and then couldn't find ANYWHERE after! So I had major FOMO and bought the Christmas version, even though there were tons of them on the shelves all the way through the holiday season. Still searching for that Pumpkin hat if anyone comes across one.

Here's Will enjoying a pool day at the Polynesian resort the beginning of January because Florida winters are the best.

BOOM! How about a pregnancy belly shot, and a Spaceship Earth Selfie all in one. Our tees are from TeePublic and designed by my friends Ryan and Josh (@honorary_android and @thesteele, respectively). My jeans are Paige under the belly maternity jeans and honestly, I've worn them almost every day of my pregnancy. No lie, no shame. They're awesome. You're told to buy your pre-pregnancy size, and because they are under the belly and have belt loops, I'm hopeful I'll be able to wear them postpartum, too. Worth every stinking penny. I bought a ton of over the belly Jessica Simpson jeans my first pregnancy and hated them- I was constantly hiking them up. The belt loops on this Paige pair is a game changer- no more droopy crotch jeans! Rejoice!

Perk #2958 to living by WDW- bringing home desserts from the Norway pavilion in Epcot to eat while watching TV at night after putting the kid to bed. This is the viking chocolate mousse cake and the beloved school bread.

My sweetie holding lots of plush sweeties.

Ah! I was so excited to see this! The CM in front of the Haunted Mansion was holding an invisible dog- remember when they used to sell these at a small kiosk outside of the Haunted Mansion?? Talk about a throwback.

Only the best Disney snack (besides the giant pickles). Citrus Swirl will always have my heart, as will this Walt/Train Magic Band that Uncle Thomas and Michael gave to Will but I claimed as my own. Sorry not sorry.

The Liberty Belle riverboat is back up and running. It's always an enjoyable journey around the Rivers of America, and gives some glimpses into parts of the park you can't see unless you take a ride. Will loved climbing the stairs and exploring the boat.

Back at Epcot with more obscure Disney nerd t-shirts. Mine is another @honoraryandroid design (Waynes World/World Showcase mashup which is genius) and Will's in from @retrowdw. He wears his Fozzie hat that his uncles Thomas and Michael gave him about as much as I wear my Paige maternity jeans. This was us checking out the first day of the Festival of the Arts, which is probably my favorite Epcot festival (with Flower and Garden being a very close second); Passholders can get a free Figment magnet at MouseGears until the festival ends on Feb. 25.

DHS randomly popped up an Incredibles celebration back in Pixar Place where the original Toy Story attraction used to be located. The whole thing is kind of slapped together and fairly disjoined if you ask me, but it DID bring us the famed Jack Jack's Num Num Cookie from Disney's California Adventure park, so for that alone I'd say WORTH IT! This puppy is huge- literally the size of Will's face- and dense and served warm. Definitely sharable. In fact I think in the best interest of your health, you should share it. Also shareable but not nearly as good is the Key Lime Pie on a stick, which is sold at the same place as the Num Num cookie. I wanted to like this, I really did, and they key lime pie was ok I guess, but the blue coating was just too much and not necessary. Plus this sucker weighs a ton and is too much for any one person to consume- it's very dense and sweet. Oh yeah and there's little Incredible-themed photo ops set up around the area. (Confession- I still haven't seen any of the Incredibles movies. I really don't see many movies, even Disney ones, so you'd be surprised to know how many I actually haven't watched. The classics, yes, but the newer stuff, not so much.)

Ok quick aside here. This is the kid's meal from Woody's Lunchbox back in Toy Story Land. Half a grilled cheese, and you can choose two sides. We went with the tomato soup dipper and tater tots. It's plenty of food and I could happily make a meal out of it. Many times it advantageous to order the kid's menu items, especially because they come with a drink, which really makes the savings add up.

Overindulging at the Plaza Restaurant for breakfast with a friend. The food is decent but it's the castle views over coffee that make this a nice option for breakfast, especially if you can get a reservation for before park opening and enjoy the relatively quiet atmosphere of Main Street.

The train is parked at Main Street Station during Tron construction and makes for a fun experience to chat with the engineers and learn more about these antique beauties. Even if you don't think you're interested in it, I urge you to check them out. You'll walk away with a greater appreciation of them. You can also read here to learn more. This is my particular favorite, the Roger E. Broggie. If you don't know who he is and want to learn more, there are bios of each person that the four different train engines are named after, down in the train station under the tracks. Check it out!

Random pictures:

Reminder of the best rocking chairs in MK and yes, you can sit up there. It stinks that they'll boot you out during the Muppet's Great Moments in History show every hour or so now, but still a great spot to sit and peoplewatch.

Cute Valentines Day and St. Pat's Day themed Mickey plush.

Cute Will in a Fozzie hat holding a Fozzie Muppet Baby plush.

 If you ever want to break out of the Disney Bubble and see a more authentic side of Orlando, take a drive toward Downtown Orlando. Winter Park, College Park, and this area pictured below, Baldwin Park, are all nice spots to spend a day shopping and having lunch. I get my hair done in Baldwin Park by the amazing @ashleyfehthair, and she's gracious enough to cut Will's hair (and does a super job). Will likes to walk out onto the gazebo on the lake and play with the love locks that are strung up.

Christine again! We went to MK to catch the New England Patriot's Super Bowl victory parade and saw quarterback and GOAT Tom Brady and MVP Julian Edalman, then stayed to watch Festival of Fantasy from our primo spot. We then serendipitously ran into some friends and were fortunate enough to have afternoon snacks and drinks in Club 33. Will doesn't know just how good he has it.

Watching Illuminations. It's being replaced with a new nighttime show in September 2019 and Will hasn't seen it in its entirety before, since it's wayyyy past his bedtime. He liked it, and I love this pic of my mom and son gazing up at the fireworks.

Galentine's Day with my beautiful mommy tribe. So blessed to have these women in my life.

We did a maternity photo shoot with my lovely friend Alexis (@alexismann_ on IG). Check out her page Alexis Mann Photography and get in touch with her if you're ever in the Disney/Orlando area! Can't wait to show more pictures after my baby 'sprinkle' this coming Saturday. She did a phenomenal job.

My loves.

Thanks for reading! 

XO, Ashley 

Dressing for Bloody Mary's at Disney's Animal Kingdom's Dawa Bar

John and I love to spend Sundays at Animal Kingdom with an adult beverage, wandering the tree-lined pathways and observing animals (especially the tigers!). So you can imagine my excitement when Dawa Bar rolled out four new variations of the classic Bloody Mary. 

photo cred: Disney Parks Blog

Now usually, especially on Sundays, we've found that the parks don't start serving alcohol until 11, 11:30, or 12 noon, depending on the bar or lounge. In fact, that seems to be the start time for most places in the World, any day of the week (boy do I sound like a lush!). So we were fully expecting to get there at rope drop, only to be told they weren't serving until later. 

Here's a tip for you-- they WERE in fact serving the Bloodies at 9, when the park opened. They were also pouring other drinks if people ordered them, so if Bloodies aren't your thing, but getting a buzz before noon while on vacation is, then Dawa Bar is your place. 

We entered the park just after 9 and made our way to Dawa Bar to ask Bob from Boston (our go-to bartender who is always there) if they were serving. 

Bob from Boston! And the Bloody Mary menu.

He said yes, we told him we'd be back soon, and went for a spin on Kilamanjaro Safari. Another tip, do this attraction as early in the day as possible-- it's as cool as it's gonna get, and more animals are active, or at least out, than later in the day. 

Photobombing John!

Because my dress matched the zebras. 

After helping Wilson stop poachers in Africa, we went back to Dawa and found seats at the bar. 

I started with the Discovery Island Bloody Mary, while John had the Dawa Bloody Mary because he likes spicy things! All of the Bloody Mary's start with the yummy Loaded Bloody Mary mix and Grey Goose Vodka (ftw!). 

Discovery Island Bloody Mary- lime and olive juice, garnished with parsley and a skewer of mozzarella cheese, basil, cherry tomato and a stuffed olive. 

Dawa Bloody Mary- Worcestershire sauce and horseradish, garnished with basil and a skewer of truffle and blue-cheese stuffed olives and prosciutto 

Mine was delicious- just a classic Bloody with yummy garnishes. John really liked his- I had a sip and it was really good, but very horseradish-y, so consider yourself warned. 

John held our spots at the bar, and I sipped my drink while walking to Pizzafari to get one of the new breakfast offerings. We needed something to soak up the alcohol! 

I returned with the new multi-grain breakfast croissant stuffed with egg whites, fresh spinach, provolone cheese and vegetable chutney, with a side of breakfast potatoes ($7.49). I asked them to wrap it in tinfoil so it would be easier to transport back to the bar. 

Lilly Pulitzer Dress  (scored this bad boy for $100 off during the Lilly Pulitzer After Party Sale// Dooney and Bourke Wristlet 

I know, I know, doesn't look too appetizing, but it was really yummy! And the potatoes- yum! They tasted like Cracker Barrel's hashbrown casserole, if you've had that. Tasty! And not relatively too unhealthy in park food standards. Had to offset the calories we were drinking, ya know. 

Speaking of, back to the Bloodies! We finished our first round and tried the other two. Hey, it's all in the name of research! 

I went with the African Bloody Mary, and John tried the Asian Bloody Mary. Again, both were really good! 

African Bloody Mary- spicy African berbere sauce garnished with a house-made berbere rubbed beef stick , celery and carrot stick, and parsley. 

Asian Bloody Mary- kimchee-sriracha puree, garnished with Asian slaw (cucumber, carrot, and daikon radish) and tandoori shrimp

Versace Sunglasses // Necklace: Old, from a souvenir shop in Tallulah Gorge, GA. I'm glad we have photographic evidence of these, because they now are at the bottom of a lake in Orlando, the victim of a Labor Day party boating-and-tubing fiasco. I don't want to talk about it... 

The African Bloody Mary had a slightly barbecue flavor from the berbere sauce, and even though it was described as spicy, it wasn't bad at all- and I'm not the biggest fan of super spice. And the beef stick (think beef jerky) really is house-made, which I thought was impressive and VERY good. 

John's Asian Bloody was good too, although a tad too spicy for my taste. The slaw on top was REALLY good, and thank goodness we had a fork from breakfast to eat it with. Bob from Boston said they usually serve it with chopsticks, but they were out at the moment. The curry-spiced tandoori shrimp was a nice touch. 

Seriously, with the amount of toppings, these drink almost like a light meal. And really, what's a cocktail if it doesn't have lunch floating on top? All in all, we really liked these and will be back for more.

While sipping our second Bloodies, some of our favorite Disney friends joined us- hi Thomas (@tradzak on Instagram) and Angie (@pangiehubbard on IG) (and Danny, forever not pictured)! 

A warning about the Bloody Mary's though... they may cause public dancing. 

So that happened. 

We ventured out of Africa and headed toward Asia, stopping to get a drink in one of the fun whistle cups! Then we thought it was a good idea to have a mini photo shoot in the little pavilion by Yak and Yeti.

We wandered through the Majahara Jungle Trek and serenaded strangers with our cup music.

I think this guy loved it. 

John and I left to attend said Labor Day party, mentioned above, then met back up with our friends at Epcot later that evening. This time, Luis (@disney_nuts on IG) joined in on the fun. I'll leave you with these pictures of how we closed out the night. Cheers!