Showing posts with label Theme Parks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Theme Parks. Show all posts

Disney World: Singing at Hollywood Studios

Continuing on to my Disney World Adventure, is my experience at
Disney's Hollywood Studios. 

On our second day, my mom and I woke up very early and headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios. We swiftly ate breakfast and arrived just before the park opened.When we arrived, the streets were practically empty. It was a perfect opportunity to take as much photos as we possibly could before it got too crowded. 

Morning mirror shot with mom photobombing in the background!






While we were walking to check out some rides, an announcement came over the P.A. and said that Disney was holding an audition for their American Idol Experience. It's a show that is exactly like the real American Idol. They hold auditions and choose 15 guests to sing at one of the showtimes, and the audience gets to vote who they will put through to the "finale."

As soon as my mom heard the announcement, she dragged me over to the Audition Center and convinced me to try out. At first, I was a little hesitant because I was very unprepared. In the end, my mom was able to persuade me to audition. 


I did not want any photos.

The process was long. I had to audition twice before I got to perform. On my first audition, I got to choose my song and I had to sing it acapella. I didn't have a lot of time to choose it, because as soon as we entered the building, we were led to a room with the casting director. I chose to sing "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys, since it was always a crowd-pleaser. 

The Casting Director, Mark, kept writing and nodding as I sang. After singing a verse and the chorus, he told me that I made it to the next round.



They led us to this small hallway and handed me a list of songs to choose from. I had to pick two songs to sing to the producers. They also handed us an iPod to practice my songs with the backing tracks. I ended up singing Miley Cyrus's "The Climb" and "This is Me" by Demi Lovato. 

After a short practice with the songs, it was finally my turn to audition for the producers. They were extremely nice; they cracked jokes, and asked questions to help me feel at ease. They handed me the microphone, and played the song. As soon as I heard the melody, I felt more confident and got into it.

After singing, they told me that I was going to perform at their 1: 15 show. We were supposed to come back at around 11:45 for hair, make-up and vocal coaching. My mom absolutely freaked out and got all excited, even though this wasn't the real American Idol. 



We had a lot of time to kill before coming back so we went on rides. My favorite was Aerosmith's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. It starts off with Steven Tyler doing his well-known Rock and Roll scream, and then it shoots you at 60 mph. It was the BEST. RIDE. EVER. 






After doing our rounds of rides, we had to go back to the studio to prepare for the show. I was the first performer so I had to go do voice coaching first. The voice coach taught me my blockings on stage, and polished my song.

After voice coaching, I  did hair and makeup. The lady wanted my overall look to feel natural, and insisted that I leave my hair down. After a quick touch-up, I was ready to go. 

 We did a short sound-check on stage, and then it was showtime. The host came out and talked to us backstage, while the audience was being seated. As soon as the lights turned down, she went out on stage and introduced me. I walked on stage and saw a full house. It was honestly a nerve-wrecking experience. 





But after a while, I felt less nervous. It felt empowering to be performing on stage.The crowd was cheering and clapping. It was so surreal and I felt happy.





In the end, I got 2nd place overall. This was the best experience ever. I was able to get through it with confidence. I also made friends with my competitors. Truly, this was one of my proudest moments. 



Stick around. There's more adventures coming up.


Live the adventure,




Disney World: Animal Kingdom and EPCOT

After our amazing time aboard the Disney Cruise, our party hopped on a shuttle to Disney World Resort. It has been my dream to visit Disney World for as long as I could remember. So when my mom booked the trip and told me we were going to visit Disney World, I just screamed at the top of my lungs.  I was super stoked to go, and visit the Happiest Place on Earth.

We only had 3 days to visit all four parks, and on our first day, we arrived at our resort at 11 AM. We were really short on time. In order to visit and experience all the theme parks, we decided to visit 2-3 of them per day. Our day would start at 6 AM, and end at midnight. It was really exhausting going to different parks, and catching the buses to get there, but it was worth it.

Team Disney!
I love how everything has to be Mickey Mouse


On our first day, we went to Animal Kingdom. It was a little rainy and cold so there weren't as much people there. It was also off-season for Disney World, so wait times were 5-15 minutes long. I never
stood in line for more than 10 minutes! We went on a really good day.




It was lunch time when we came in, so my mom decided to have lunch while I checked out some rides around Dinoland USA. I rode this ride called Dinosaur, which runs on something similar to Indiana Jones at Disneyland. The only difference is that the central theme was escaping the meteor shower that hit the dinosaurs in the end of the cretaceous period. The ride was cool, and the special effects were mind-blowing. My mom rode it with me for the second time, and she absolutely LOVED it.





After Dinoland, the older kids and I went on Expedition Everest. Knowing Disney, most of its rides are "Disney-fied," and are geared towards families and kids. I was expecting a little roller coaster similar to California Screamin' or Space Mountain. I never expected Expedition Everest to be super thrilling. It was my favorite ride in Animal Kingdom and I just had to ride it three times.


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Before we headed off to EPCOT, we rode the Kilimanjaro Safaris. It is like going to the zoo, and taking a tram tour around Animal Kingdom's private safari. There were a lot of animals to be seen walking around. There was even a giraffe that walked to our tram. It was cool.



The real Lacoste. hahahaha!


It's Nala!



At about 5 PM, half of our group went home while 8 of us went to EPCOT Center for some more night time fun. EPCOT was my favorite park at Disney World. The technology behind the rides was just mind-blowing. It was like walking into the future. My favorite among them would have to be Test Track. Guests would be able to make their own cars, and then compete against other riders to see which car is the most efficient. Our car got last place, simply because we just made it pink. It was so much fun.





One of my other favorite rides was the Nemo ride. It was really interactive compared to the one we have at Disneyland. The vehicle was similar to the Doom Buggy on the Haunted Mansion Ride, and it featured many robotic fish that was very life-like.  It was so colorful and happy. It's great for kids, teens and adults. 








To cap off the day, we watched "IllumiNations: Reflections of the Earth" at the EPCOT lake. It was this fireworks display that mainly talked about the Earth. The pyrotechnics were breath-taking. In the end, this gigantic globe came up and shot up fireworks all around the lake. It was marvelous.


Stick around. There's more adventure coming.


Live the adventure,


Disney Cruise: Filipino Food, Mickeys, and AquaDunks

In a continuation to the last blog post, I'm here to talk about my Florida trip. 
We took a Disney cruise from Orlando, FL to the Bahamas, and it was by-far the BEST trip I have ever experienced. I immensely enjoyed it; the unlimited food, the ice cream service, the entertainment, EVERYTHING. 

Not surprising to most, I took loads of pictures. The cruise was filled with little details here and there, and it was amazing to see.

My mom ran and left me behind to fall in line to sign up for some activities.


Our group shot with Mickey!

Disney has done an amazing job at creating a happy, magical atmosphere; from the entrance of the port, to the state rooms, it was absolutely breathtaking. It brought back memories from my early childhood. It was magical.

The outside of the Cruise Ship!



 The stateroom we stayed in was a tad-bit small to fit our huge luggage, but it was really cool. I loved how they would put chocolates on the pillows at night and make the towels into an animal.



On the afternoon we embarked, the ship threw a huge party on the upper deck to celebrate our "Disney Adventure." There was music, dancing and some of the characters even came out. Let's just say the adults got really happy and enjoyed that way more than the kids did. 


Only good photo; There were waaaay to much people blocking the view. ahaha!

Disney Cruise has a rotational dining system so that guests could experience all three sit-down restaurants during the cruise. Our first night was at Lumiere's. It was a French restaurant based on the movie, Beauty and the Beast. I was absolutely thrilled upon entering the place. Belle was one of my favorite princesses, and seeing the dining room made my internal princess go crazy. 


They had rose chandeliers!
We were a little late for dinner, but luckily our servers (bless them) were very accommodating and began serving our party with ALL the dishes on the menu. Miss Emily, who was a fellow Filipino, even invited the head chef out to come and meet us. They offered to cook us Sinigang on the next night, and even TapSiLog on Sunday morning. (For those of you who don't know what Sinigang is it's a viand with sour soup, vegetables, and meat) 

Their Escargot was super delicious because it was smothered in some buttery concoction.

Feta-cheese ravioli. It was aaamaaaziiiing.
Chef Edgar!
We also celebrated Brighton's (my mom's friend's son) 5th birthday! They gave us all cake and sang to us!

After dinner, I decided to go around the cruise ship while the others prepared to go watch a musical show. I walked around, and saw Minnie Mouse! Of course being the kid that I am, I run over to her and get a picture.
That same night, we saw Twice Charmed at the Walt Disney Theatre. It was a classic spin on Cinderella's story with the evil queen preventing Cinderella from marrying Prince Charming. The lights and sound were amazing!



Breakfast at Disney is truly exquisite. They have a vast array of breakfast food; whether you opt for the healthy choice, or the not-so-healthy choice, there's a TON of food. As usual, I went for my classic English muffin with cream cheese, eggs and bacon. I also got some of their ever-famous Mickey Waffles, which are to-die for. If I could eat anything for a lifetime, it would be those waffles. It was just a regular waffle, but there's something that makes a Mickey Waffle taste so good.

Yes, my plate wasn't full of food. I was scared I'd come out 300 pounds heavier if I ate too much!

The Mickey Waffle, before I devoured it.

After touring our first port of call at Nassau, the kids and I decided to go try out their water play area. The sun was warm. It was a sunny afternoon and it was good time to go try their water slides. They have a roller coaster type slide called the AquaDunk. You literally step in a tube, and they press a button to drop you 80 ft. down. It was the best thing ever.


The AquaDunk: BEST. SLIDE. EVER.

 Our second night, dinner was at Animator's Palate. This was probably my favorite restaurant that we ate at. The design was gorgeous. It was like walking in an animation studio. The details were really precise. The dining room starts off as a black and white sketch of cartoon characters. Halfway through dinner, there was a show where they colored all the drawings and showed clips of their best animated movies. In the end, Sorcerer Mickey came out along with our servers. It was like magic before my eyes.

Can we just take a moment to admire Eugene Fitzgerald?!
Even their butter knife is paintbrush-themed!


 As promised, Miss Emily brought us our much-awaited Sinigang na Sugpo at Salmon with Kanin. (Sour soup with shrimp and salmon, and rice on the side) She also gave us three of everything on the menu including dessert! After dinner, Chef Edgar, the head chef, came out again to meet us. He cooked all our delicious food. Him and his team are just amazing.

Sinigang na Sugpo at Salmon! The food was PERFECT!
Kanin (rice), a Filipino staple


Group shot with Chef Edgar, Miss Emily, and Louis.

 There's more to come on this adventure. Stick around!


      Live the adventure,








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