Whew. August was a crazy month. Now that Hurricane Dorian has finally passed, I thought now would be a good time to sit down and record my thoughts and update you guys on life lately.
You ever get that feeling that you’re on the verge of something new? Like, the way it feels at the beginning of a new season – first whisper of crisp fall air or the first few blooms you spot at the beginning of spring? That’s how the beginning of August felt for me, although it wasn’t a tangible sign…just a gut feeling. Something felt different. I had that feeling in the pit of my stomach that something was about to change…not in a bad way, just different.
If you watch my videos on YouTube, you may have heard me mention that Matt and I started uploading videos to our Sullivlogs channel again at the end of July. It’s our old vlog channel that we began back in 2012 to document our first Disney cruise together. Then, it turned into the channel where shared all of our Disney vacations before moving to Orlando, with a few years of Vlogmas in between. {PS – if you don’t know what Vlogmas is, it’s where you vlog every day in December until Christmas.} Back in the old YouTube days, most people had two YouTube channels – one main channel and a separate vlog channel with less “produced” videos.
Anyway, all of that to say that it’s been so much fun sharing on Sullivlogs again. We moved to Orlando to both work and play at Disney World and being able to share our lives here and the joy it brings us is very special. So, if you’ve taken the time to watch our videos over on that channel and support us, thank you. We’re excited to continue sharing our magical adventures here at the Disney theme parks and wherever else life takes us!
One of the many perks of living where many people vacation is spending time with our families when they visit Orlando. At the beginning of August, my cousin’s family visited WDW to celebrate their daughter, Rory’s 5th birthday! From dinner with the Disney princesses to joining the Dark Side with Kylo Ren {you’ve got to watch Rory’s interaction with him here, it will make your day!!}, we had such a great week!
Because Matt is a Cast Member at Disney, we were able to attend a preview of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios before it opened to the public at the end of August {you can watch the vlog from our day here}. In all honesty, this was probably one of the top five days of my life. I don’t talk about my obsession with Star Wars often enough but I.love.it. So much so that I mayyy have had the largest collection of Star Wars Episode I Pepsi cans and Taco Bell toys in my middle school class. 😉
We also went to one of the first nights of the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom. While it felt super early to dress up for Halloween, it was such a fun time! We ate lots of candy, watched the new fireworks show, and dressed up as Lewis and Wilbur from Meet the Robinsons, one of my all-time favorite Disney movies.
Around the middle of the month, my family experienced a big scare when we found out that my grandmother, who’s 89, had to be taken to the emergency room from a fall. Thankfully, she’s in recovery at a rehab center, but it was a whirlwind of tests and more tests to discover that all is well.
The last week in August was probably our busiest. Matt’s cousin and her family were here vacationing at Disney World from Long Island so we had a lovely time visiting with them. We also celebrated my friend Brittney’s birthday by going to the Spirit of Aloha dinner party at the Polynesian Resort. It was my first time going and such a blast!!
However, this was also around the time we started hearing news of Hurricane Dorian forming in the Atlantic. Moving from Charleston, SC to Florida wasn’t a big difference in terms of weather, and that includes the threat of hurricanes. So, while it is a bit nerve-racking not knowing exactly where the storm will hit at first, we’ve got a pretty good plan in place if/when it happens. We started making preparations and stocking up on essentials such as water and lots of snacks.
On the 29th, we woke up in the early hours of the morning to experience the grand opening of Galaxy’s Edge. We’ve been living in Orlando for three big openings at the Disney parks – the opening of Pandora at Animal Kingdom, Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios, and now Galaxy’s Edge. This was our first time attending the park on opening day and wow – it was an experience!! People started arriving and lining up to get inside the park as early as 4am. We didn’t get there until a little after 6am but it was so cool to experience part of Disney parks history. Since we’d already attended both the Cast Member preview and the Annual Pass preview earlier in the month, we didn’t stay too long {it was soooo hot that day}. However, we were able to snag an opening day t-shirt and it was the perfect opportunity to wear this new Darth Vader dress from Her Universe! {The dress is sold out online but you can still find it in stores on Disney property.}
We decided last minute to ride out the hurricane at a Disney resort hotel just in case we lost power at home {plus, we’d already eaten through much of our hurricane snacks since it moved a lot slower than they anticipated}. We checked in at the French Quarter and spent a few days checking out this year’s International Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. It was a welcome distraction from the hurricane. Even though we’ve been through several over the years, I still get a bit anxious as it moves closer and closer. Seeing the devastation it caused in the Bahamas was utterly heartbreaking. {If you can help, please consider donating. Here’s a great place to start.}
Disney allowed pets during the hurricane so Mickey got to join us!
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Hurricane Dorian preps at Epcot -
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You never see the parks this empty!
Fortunately, Hurricane Dorian didn’t cause any major issues for us. We had some mild wind but nothing compared to what we’ve seen here before. Matt’s family lives in Charleston, SC so we’re still staying updated on its course.
September is already shaping up to be another full month, however, I’m craving a bit of down time. I have a few projects around the house I keep putting off that I’d like to get done and Matt and I celebrate our wedding anniversary in just a couple of weeks!
Hope you all have a wonderful September and thanks for reading! xx
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