Tony's Town Square is Perfect for Lady & The Tramp Lovers

Since this was Jim's first Disney trip, I wanted to fit in some extra special things.  He and I love Lady and the Tramp and watched the movie again before our trip.  We planned a dinner at Tony's Town Square at Magic Kingdom for our third night in Disney.

I'd never been there before, and I didn't quite know where it was!  Turns out I'd never even noticed it on all my trips to the Magic Kingdom!  It's right next to the bake shop (I probably never noticed because I'd always rushed there!), before all the little shops on Main Street, to the right as you enter.  (To the left of that building where you can meet Tinkerbell & Mickey.)  

The theme was absolutely everywhere.  Their reservation desk was adorable:

Their menus had Tony on them:

Even the bathrooms were adorable…

And we sat right next to the fountain!

The food was fantastic!!  I had the shrimp scampi (one of my favorite dishes anywhere we go) and Jim had the seasonal ravioli (this season was chicken marsala).  I also had Ariel's Punch (pink lemonade with Sprite, I think) which came in a cute plastic, lidded cup with a green, glowing Ariel clipped to the straw!  I kept it, obviously, and use it now as a flashlight for the interior of my purse :)

They brought us delicious focaccia bread and olive oil.  When our food arrived, all we did was shake our heads and smile after our first forkfuls.  It was beyond words.  

The only thing that made this not a perfect experience was the "celebration" aspect.  I had called over a month prior to our visit to add an anniversary celebration to our dinner.  I asked if they did anything special, and the woman on the phone said yes but she wasn't sure exactly what.  When we sat down, there was a ticket at our table that had "CELEBRATION" in all caps printed on the bottom.  I hadn't told Jim about my plans, and when our check arrived without any special recognition, I was sorely disappointed.  When Jim excused himself to use the men's room, I flagged down our waiter and asked him about it, saying it was supposed to be a surprise, and he said "We don't really do anything special for anniversaries.  A birthday, yes, we would sing and bring you ice cream.  I wished you a happy anniversary when I seated you.  But other than that…  You have to let them know beforehand."  I told him that I did let them know beforehand, and he said, "You need to remind them when you check in.  Maybe next year we can set the table for you with a tablecloth and wine."

Yeah.  Maybe next year.

So I guess if you are planning a celebration, let them know when you arrive.

Other than that, it is a great place to stop in for a delicious meal and great theming!  We didn't get any dessert (we were saving room for a Dole Whip anyway), but I did take a picture of this adorable plate one of the desserts came on (they were on display at the entrance--I wasn't hovering over someone else's table!):

And before we left, we made sure to look for Lady and the Tramp on a date in the back of the restaurant:

More Disney Nails

I love doing my nails.  I've never had them done at a nail salon, mostly because I have too much fun trying out new styles and techniques and am often indecisive.  If I don't like what I've done, I can just take it off without feeling guilty about spending too much!  Anyway, in anticipation for this past Disney trip, I did my nails in quite a few Disney themes.  This first one was inspired by Aladdin on Broadway, which Jim took me to as a Christmas present (we saw it this past March).  They are Princess Jasmine-inspired (with my little Vinylmation Abu keychain)!

I tried some Up nails!  I'd seen this idea on many instragram accounts and finally attempted it myself, although I was out of white nail polish so I had to use White-Out, which didn't come out that well!  I've seen these done more recently with tons of balloons all over the top 4 nails, and the house a lot more detailed with pastels, but I didn't have any tools at the time besides dotters!  (Now I have a detail brush but I haven't quite figured out the best way to use it yet!)

I'm not a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland but I do love the art!  I have a lot of pinks so I decided to make Cheshire Cat nails.  This was my first time using gold striping tape (it is difficult to work with!!) and I had a thin brush for the painted stripes.  It reminds me of the Pop Vinyl collectibles, since I gave the cat 2 small round eyes!

When we'd officially booked our trip, I celebrated by giving myself the Minnie Manicure they seem to offer at the Saratoga Springs spa.  I thought Disney would offer crazy-awesome themed manicures, but this was the only one I could find!  I used french manicure nail strips which I still need practice with!  I'm holding my Minnie Mouse phone handset here :)

My friend Katherine and I love Winnie the Pooh so I made a classic Pooh on my thumb holding onto that big red balloon!  I used nail beads for the bees that surround him.  I was very happy with this!  My summer campers were thoroughly impressed!  (The beads fell off overnight because I was reluctant to use a topcoat.  Whenever I use a topcoat it makes my nail art smudge in the direction of the brush.  Any tips?)

My piece de resistance, Lady and the Tramp nails!  I am most proud of these!!  I think they are the best nails I've done yet!  Jim & I love this movie, and I challenged myself by attempting an homage.  Lady is wearing a yellow rhinestone as her ID tag (which also fell off by morning haha!  But I had a gold paint dot underneath anyway).  

The "cement" on my thumbnail was really fun (in the movie they add their paw prints to an already-drawn heart in the cement)!  I coated it thickly with gray (essie's "chinchilly"), then drew on it with a dotting tool.  You could see the blue underneath so when it dried a little, I blotted on more gray.  It came out better than I had hoped!  Here's a little step-by-step I put on my instagram (you can follow me at @elysebuckley):

And finally I bought a set of mini nail polishes at Sir Mickey's in Fantasyland while we were at Magic Kingdom.  They are villain-themed (aaah!!) but I bought them anyway!  I painted these last night (large circles are really hard to do!!  I used the brush from the bottle, but there has to be a better way.  Anyone have ideas?  I wonder if there is a tiny sponge they make for that..).  The gold is nice and opaque, and the silver pops on dark colors.  I had to use about 4 coats of the blue to make it this dark--it's not as clean as the other colors.  I didn't try the purple yet, and the black was my own.

Do you love Disney nail art?  Send me a link to your blog or instagram account in the message area below!

Short Tips For Your Upcoming Disney Visit!! (with plenty more posts to come)

It's been forever since my last real Disney World post, and that's because I hadn't been there since 2012 (as a kid I was used to going with my family every 4 years, so it shouldn't feel like it was too long ago, but it does) and it's hard to post about Disney without visiting!

First, I have to say how wonderful it was to have Memory Maker.  We purchased it before our trip so that knocked $50 off the usual price.  It costs $14.95 to download ONE PHOTO if you don't have Memory Maker.  At $149.99 (if you purchase it during your visit it's the full price at $199.99) you can download all of the pictures you take with PhotoPass photographers throughout the parks (there are even photographers at the water parks), and photos from rides that take your picture are automatically linked to your account!  We took over 140 picture so it was definitely a bargain!

If you are DisneyBounding (dressed up as a character from Disney) and happen to meet that character, they give you LOTS of attention (at least that was my experience with Sulley, and I've seen other pictures posted from other DisneyBounding fans).  Cast Members may also recognize your outfit!

FastPasses (or FastPass +'s) are a must for the big-ticket rides!  The one we wanted the most, Toy Story Midway Mania in Hollywood Studios, had an 80-minute stand-by wait, and we cruised right through with our FastPasses.  If you want a guaranteed FastPass, make sure you have a MagicBand.  That way you can reserve your FastPass+ selections months before your trip!  I tried to reserve another FP+ for Toy Story Midway Mania two days prior to our next Hollywood visit and it was completely booked.  We ended up waiting 65 minutes stand-by (yes, the ride is that good).

If you are celebrating something (anniversary, birthday, first visit, whatever), definitely tell the people checking you in at your hotel.  You get a huge pin that you wear around the parks and everyone working there wishes you a happy celebration!    

If you are making dining reservations, be sure to "add a celebration" too.  Not all restaurants will acknowledge it, but if you have it added to all your reservations, you may get a little something (our Character Breakfast at the Crystal Palace had Mickey confetti on our table as we arrived and gave us a cupcake with a lit candle for us to make a wish and blow out together.  And it was delicious)!

Some shops will hold purchases you'd like to make but don't want to carry around the park!  You don't pay for them but they put them aside.  If you return before the store closes, you can buy them whenever you're ready to leave.  We tried this with a shop in Epcot France (wine glasses, a bottle of wine, and a heavy box of chocolates), but didn't have the time or energy to walk halfway across the "world" to retrieve them.  Good thing they don't charge you first!  You may also have them delivered to your room, but they warned me that there is an extra charge (I didn't find out how much it was).  We did end up buying those souvenirs when we returned a couple days later!

Drink a lot of water and, if possible, take the bus back to your hotel in the middle of the day.  If you don't have Park Hopper (we did not), you can return to the park you were visiting that same day.  If you don't have time to go back to your hotel, find an indoor or cool, shady spot to sit down and have a meal so you can recharge and rehydrate!  Your feet will be aching, and if you don't eat, your spirits may be low!  It's very easy to not relax because there's so much to see.  Sometimes you just have to push yourself out of the park, knowing you will still have time when you return!