In honor of Donald Duck’s 90th birthday yesterday, today’s mani is inspired by his familiar color palette. I used Holo Taco’s “Blue Freezie,” “Lemon Sucker,” and “Red Licorice” to achieve the look.
Mani Monday
Donald Duck
A Very Ducky Birthday Cake
Today is Donald Duck’s 90th birthday! On this date in 1934, he made his debut in The Wise Little Hen. He was only intended to be a minor character…I sure am glad that didn’t last, because he’s one of my favorites!
I tried to come up with a whole themed dinner, but surprisingly, there isn’t a lot out there that screams “Donald Duck” (no, I was not going to make duck on his birthday!). So I settled on making a cake in his honor, inspired by the color palette Disneyland used for their 90th birthday tribute:
I had some fun with the interior of the cake, as well:
I was very happy with how it turned out, even if it didn’t match my original vision for it!
And we also toasted Donald with his favorite drink, strawberry soda:
I’ll leave you with my favorite musing about Donald Duck’s family, which I came up with almost six years ago:
“You know Donald Duck, right?
His mother’s name is Hortense. Maiden name: McDuck.
So…she could have hyphenated her name, and been Hortense McDuck-Duck, and that thought makes me happy.
Also, there is a Goose family in Donald Duck’s universe. Which means there is the possibility of a marriage resulting in an offspring with the last name McDuck-Duck-Goose. And that thought makes me almost delirious.”
Sartorial Saturday–A Subtle Tribute to My Favorite Ducks
Tomorrow is Donald Duck’s 90th birthday, and I have just the dress for it!
This sundress is from Her Universe, and with its tiered skirt it’s lovely and flowy for summer, plus it has the cutest print which features Donald’s sailor hat and Daisy’s bow…I love that it references them in a subtle way!
I chose primarily blue and pink accessories to go with the Donald and Daisy theme, including my stack of Splendette Duchess Bangles and Meteor Jewelry Co. Starlite necklace, but I also borrowed a floral Erstwilder brooch in yellow from my youngest daughter to go with the flowers on the dress:
Speaking of accessories, Baublebar released two special bag charms just in time for Donald’s birthday…one of the birthday boy with a balloon and party hat (which I actually didn’t buy), and one of Daisy, complete with sparkly shoes and a cake she baked just for him!
The ties on the shoulders give it an extra summery feel:
And I love how soft the material of the dress is!
Other than the back of the bodice, which is smocked, the dress is fully lined, so you don’t have to worry about the light color being too sheer:
I don’t have a lot of fashion featuring my favorite Disney ducks, so I’m really excited I was able to add this cute dress to my wardrobe!
Chasing the Characters
If you look closely at the shirt I wore to Disneyland, it says “Chasing the Fun.” Turkey and Bunny said it should have read “Chasing the Characters,” because apparently that’s what I do best when we go to theme parks!
Here’s a round-up of the characters we met or saw up close at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure (plus Goofy’s Kitchen)….my personal highlights were meeting Donald Duck, and also getting to see Goofy in his snazzy green suit! Also, since I was wearing a birthday celebration pin, many of the characters either said “Happy Birthday!” to me (like Lightning McQueen), or pantomimed it in some way (like Minnie Mouse).
Not pictured, but also seen by us include Peter Pan and Wendy, Captain Hook, the other chipmunk, Mirabel, Pinocchio and Geppetto, Sadness and Joy, Snow White, the Evil Queen, Ant-Man, Thor, Merida, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, the Dora Milaje, Mary and Bert, Chewbacca, Rey, Mulan, and Clarabelle Cow. I think that’s pretty impressive for just two days in the parks!
The Happiest Trip on Earth–Day Two
Disney California Adventure–26,156 steps
The real fun began on the second day of our trip, when we walked from our hotel to Disney California Adventure!
We stopped by Radiator Springs first thing, only to find out that our number one ride opens late. We did get to see some characters, though, and Lightning McQueen wished me a happy birthday! (Since we were also celebrating my birthday on the trip, I got one of the park’s “Happy Birthday” buttons…you would not believe how many cast members notice and congratulate you!)
After that, we headed over to Pixar Pier, where we got to ride an eccentric ferris wheel (I think there are only two like it in the country!), a carousel, and a roller coaster (OK, only Turkey went on that). We also met some characters from Up!
After Turkey got off the roller coaster, we headed over to Adorable Snowman Frosted Treats, where we go the “Pixar Parfait.” The combination of soft serve and slushy was surprisingly good!
Then we headed back to Radiator Springs, were we got in line for Radiator Springs Racers, a ride we all wanted to go on. The line was long, but you really felt like you were in the movie, so we didn’t mind, because there was a lot to see (and a lot of back story explained). The ride itself started off very calm and relaxing, just like when Lightning and Sally went for the same drive in Cars, but then it turned into a race (we won!).
We also went on Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters, which was just plain fun!
We stopped by Flo’s to share a traditional diner meal of a burger, fries, and a milkshake:
Then we headed back to Pixar Pier. We went on the Little Mermaid ride (but sadly not Goofy’s Sky School, because it was closed all day), but more importantly, we found someone nice enough to take a great picture of us!
Buena Vista Street is a great place to find characters (sadly for me, no Daisy Duck), and we took full advantage:
We spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do after that. The Monsters, Inc. ride broke down while we were in line. A few of the other rides we were considering going on were closed, too. We did finally make it on Soarin’, which is a fantastic ride, and makes amazing use of scent, and that was a lot of fun. We also visited the Avengers Campus and the Shawarma Palace, and lived out our superhero dreams…we even got to pose as various characters!
By that time, it was starting to get late, so we headed back to Radiator Springs to see the neon and grab a snack at the Cozy Cone Motel, where you can get ice cream cones, chili “cone” queso, frozen cone-coctions, a popcone, and…churros. We picked the churros, partly just because the ridiculousness of trying to make churros fit a cone theme amused us!
And then we went back to the pier for the light show, which was really beautiful…it’s amazing what they can create with light and water!
We stayed pretty much until the park closed. The walk back to the hotel felt much longer than it had in the morning, and we were exhausted, but we still had a full day at Disneyland to look forward to!
Advent 2022–Day Sixteen
Today Bunny laid the foundation for one of the little towers on the Lego Disney Castle:
Most importantly, though…Turkey added the one and only Donald Duck!
Markels Making Magical Memories–Day Eleven
Animal Kingdom; 28,465 steps
Our final day at Disney included visiting all four of the parks, starting with our first trip to Animal Kingdom:
Every Disney park has a central, iconic location…at Animal Kingdom, it’s the Tree of Life:
We headed straight for the Kilimanjaro Safaris upon our arrival.
We got to see a lot of animals in fairly realistic habitats.
After the safari, we walked the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail (and saw an adorable baby gorilla!), and then walked around the park a bit:
We got to listen and talk to a talented musician who played the kora:
There was a cool kite show on the water:
We didn’t forget to take a family photo!
We only went on one other ride (we had talked about the Kali River Rapids, but at that point, I was just over being wet and wearing a plastic poncho, and the Expedition Everest roller coaster, which some of us thought about riding was closed)…the TriceraTop Spin, which I thought was fun.
We only spent a few hours at Animal Kingdom, because we had some other things we wanted to do. We drove over to EPCOT so we could hop on the monorail to visit a few of the resorts that had anniversary pressed pennies we wanted to add to our collection.
One of those resorts was the Contemporary, which is home to a fantastic Mary Blair mural (details to come later).
While we were riding the monorail, we passed by Donald Duck in his 50th anniversary finery:
Once park hopper hours began, we stopped by the Magic Kingdom to collect a few more pressed pennies…and see Eeyore, who waved his ears at me (I was really good at frantically waving at characters by this point!):
We then headed into EPCOT, where we finally found Goofy:
At this point, we split up so we could maximize our penny finding. Bunny and I headed off in one direction, and I’m pretty sure we had the best time, starting with the views on our route:
And then I finally met my favorite Disney character, Daisy Duck!!!
Bunny and I decided we would take the Skyliner to Hollywood Studios while everyone else drove. I feel bad that they missed out, because it was a really fun ride, and we even got to make a transfer at one of the hotels!
At Hollywood Studios, we found Donald and Daisy (again). I told you I had the waving thing figured out, because they definitely noticed me!
Since Bunny and I had a little extra time, we shared yet another Mickey-shaped treat:
And took a look at The Hollywood Tower Hotel. I had no interest in riding The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, but I did want to see it.
Once we regrouped, we got in what I think was our longest line of the trip, to ride Rise of the Resistance, which was really, really cool.
We also rode Star Tours twice, and Darth Vader showed up both times, which was very exciting. A few members of our family actually managed to ride all three Star Wars rides that day, which was quite an accomplishment given their popularity! Plus, those who were interested also managed to squeeze in a ride on the previously-mentioned Tower of Terror, and they had a great time, especially since they got to ride it as the sun was setting!
It was really had to leave, because we knew that even though we still had a few days of vacation left, our time at Disney was over.
Up next: Kennedy Space Center!