Epcot's 30th Birthday!

Walt's vision of a futuristic city opened in 1982 to much fanfare.  EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tommorrow!) Center was amazing in the early days with the CommuniCore hub, World Showcaser and a bunch of amazing pavilions and rides that were educational, as well as amazingly fun.

I read something this morning in last week's issue of the All Ears Net newsletter- my favorite email once a week- about the fountain that sits just beyond Spaceship Earth (the actual name of the giant golf ball thing, in case you didn't know).  

Before the park opened on October 1, 1982, representatives from 23 countries and regions collected water from their lakes, streams, rivers and seas.  These were not just the countries that are represented in the World Showcase!  Each country kept their vessel of water and then during the opening ceremonies, in what was called the "International Ceremony of the Waters", one by one, they poured their water into the fountain to symbolize the international understanding and cooperation for which EPCOT Center stood.

What I've been doing...what's left to do?

Escort cards/favors:  done

Names smeared to protect the innocent!  

Cake topper DIY

Guess what came in the mail yesterday and I hurriedly sketched all over them. Our little wooden peg dolls that are going atop the cake!!!

I had planned to order a set of these little figures, custom painted to look like us-- plus one for each of the munchkins.  I trolled Etsy like mad and favorited my favorite artistes.  Then I realized how much it would cost to buy these, plus shipping and not knowing what they would actually look like when completes.  I decided that I have enough crafting and art mojo to attempt these myself.

So I went to every craft store in my surrounding area and couldn't find the larger sized dolls.  I easily acquired the smaller ones for the kids but I ended up ordering the 3.5" dolls from a cool woodcrafting website. Even with the shipping, I still feel like I got a deal.

If you look really close you can see my sketch.  I'll be painting some day soon!

Wish me luck! 

Tip o' the Hat(s)

There have been a couple incarnations of Disney's bridal mouse ears over the years.  One set features a sparkly sequined headband with attached veil and a top hat with mouse ears and the other has the traditional beanie caps decorated for a wedding with a mini top hat and a tiara/veil combo.



Disney wedding couples seem to not like the newer set very much.  I like the bride one but the groom one is kind of cheesy.  The tiny top hat and the mock tux? Weird.  Either set provides the annoying combination of squished hair and no shade for the eyes. You can still generally find the older style bridal ears around but the top hat is nearly impossible to find, unless you want to spend $100, which is insane.  So I had a new set (that my wonderful sister gave me) and the old bride ears that I got on ebay. Still, we wanted a better option.

When we first started considering a Disney Wedding we became aware of one couple that is sort of the rock star couple of Disney Weddings.  I've mentioned Carrie Hayward before.  She literally wrote the book on Disney Weddings.  She was married in Epcot in February of 2008.  When I was looking at pictures of weddings, hers were among the first I saw and were certainly among the most memorable.  If you're a total Disney nut, like us, you'd love her trip reports on her blog.  Anyways, Carrie's husband, Patrick, got all crafty with his bad self and revamped the standard mouse ears by removing the ears and attaching them to Bride and Groom baseball caps.