Part 2 : Going Down Memory Lane!

     For Part 1!! Once we got back from North Carolina. We made sure to do some shopping while in Florida! Kalani had taken us to a shop at The Avenues Mall. Hi So I believe was the name. A lot of cute anime and cute everything in the shop. Just look at this kitty plush with a costume on. I was so very tempted!! Haha!

Sweet dragon kitty.

Adorable bunny kitty.

I wanted this Annabelle coin bank.

    There were our usual fave shops, like Hot Topic or Spencers that we had to check out. It was fun but oh my gosh, the mall was super crowded for a Sunday!! I don't recall my anxieties getting so bad. But it was pretty bad. Darn. So we left and made sure to stop by Five Guys burger joint for dinner! I got the little cheese burger and fries combo. They make their burgers so well. I even tried out the cajun fries! YUM!

Five Guys Burgers.

    Afterwards, we went to Bruster's Real Ice Cream! It was an outdoor location and I tried the Ube you see on the top left. We were definitely full afterwards and ended the night with relaxing. The next day, Kalani took us to the antique shops in her area! We made sure to get lunch first, so we ate at the Salsas Mexican Restaurant. I ordered myself a chicken burrito! We even tried their "Horchata" drink, it was so yummy. Its a drink made with rice, milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Kalani recommended it. The first Antique shop we went too was a bit overpriced on some items. But I saw a lot of great vintage items too! We ended up staying there a good hour at least! I did get the vintage rattle toy still in package there!

Salsas Mexican Restaurant.

    

    Some pics below of the first antique shop we went too! My full TikTok video below. It was fun and we each found something we recalled from our childhood. Along with some more modern handmade items as well and the ladies there were very friendly. Lots of vintage records, Pyrex, Corningware, a few dolls and toys. Mostly from Disney of course! It was really a treat for sure!

 

Not vintage but still adorable. Tempting to get for sure!

Barbie and other handmade items.

Unique mod clock.

Liked the look of this ceramic lady.

Look at these little metal painted chairs!

@ggsdolls_vtg Thrifting fun… #thrifting #vacation #vintage #antiquingadventures ♬ Cute - Audiolist Productions

    Afterwards we made our way to a larger antique mall. We found parking right in the front of the main entrance and we headed inside. I was amazed by how large it was. It was a whole complex with at least 3 or 4 isles of vintage!!! OH MY GAWD!! Boy was I in for a treat! Thank you Kalani!! This was the best one, I had seen in all of my antique adventures! Four isles! Sara and I started down the first isle...

@ggsdolls_vtg More thrifting fun… #antiquing #thrifting #fun ♬ original sound - sanrio

    The video above showed one of the first plushies I found. A bit overpriced so I decided not to get it. Because the resell value may not give me much of any profit. Oh well. Still lovely though. I spotted some great ceramics and Fire King bowls. Even a Knickerbocker Bear Chime toy. I was about to get it, but decided not too in the end. It saw it had some issues on the body.

    There was a vintage toy stall in the middle third isle that I had found!! If you look at the video below, that's how I found it. I was walking towards the 2nd to the last stall in that isle, and saw from the top, peaking out a lot of plushies and I was like oh my goodness is that toys?! Finally! Haha! I immediately, turned the corner and it was Toy Heaven for sure!!

Knickerbocker chime toy bear.

 

 

I spy a Rushton Mouse!

 

 

 

 

@ggsdolls_vtg Part 2 : my toy adventures… #antiquing #part2ggsdolls #finds #fun #shopping #vintage ♬ Sweet Strawberry (Live) - eas Ratta

    Yes, I spotted a Rushton! It was just a mouse but still it was nice to see. He was huge and the price was very reasonable, but resell may not be good. Because most collectors prefer the rubber face Rushtons and not so much this type of plush. So there he stayed. I did spy a Pouty brown bear, but sadly, he was high up on the shelf and I didn't even bother. I looked at that stall for at least a good 45 minutes. Sara was like are we done yet?! Haha! So much vintage goodness there too! Talk about a honey hole!

    I did find a lovely blue and pink toy rattle with Bambi from Disney on it. I made sure I took a photo of it and the number of the stall to ask for someone to get it. Because it was inside a glass secured case. We left the area to continue on our way down the third isle and go towards the center or front isle. Sara found a guitar section and a record stall. But of course lots of the vintage vinyls were expensive. It was fun to check it out though!

    There was a shop that had a large tiger plush on the shelf and I remembered there was a movie I had watched prior to our trip where the lead actress had a large plush tiger just like this one on her bed! When I looked at the other items inside the shelf, there I found a Alan Jay squeak girl and there behind a white owl figurine was a Knickerbocker Bunny plush!! A bit overpriced though. I still took some photos of her. She was adorable for sure! I was very tempted!

    In the end, of that adventure. We headed to a Goodwill just in case! It was fun and Sam found a luggage for us to pack the things we bought. He thought perhaps a box and this luggage we could easily check them in and not have to worry about carryons. By the end of the day we were all exhausted and had done at least four thousand or more steps that day! Whoo, my feet were on fire! It was an awesome time with Kalani and Max. Thank you guys so much for having us! It was time for us to head to our next destination... Next post soon! Part 3

Thank you for looking! ~ ggsdolls 

Disney World Here We Come!! Part II

 Part I of our journey to Disney World Orlando. The next day of our mini family vacay, we decided to enjoy Disney Hollywood Studios Park. Why? Because of Star Wars of course!! Sam, myself and the kids have always loved Star Wars and with Sara growing up, we enjoyed it even more so. So we began our day early, and ate breakfast at the hotel and made our way to the Gondolas that were just a short distance from our hotel. 

 On the Gondola, we headed to Disney Hollywood Studios. It was an awesome ride and we made it to the park without any issues. I was also able to take the wheelchair we got from Magic Kingdom with us on the gondola. But, once in the park we had reserved a motorized wheelchair for me to use. We began our journey into the park...

The entrance into the park, we saw Big Hero 6 Baymax in balloon form, as you enter. I reminded myself to take a photo of him when we left the park.  We also took photos in front of the droid statues, BB8 and R2D2. It was cool to see them! I had to take a photo of my little Cheesy too! It was definitely getting hot that morning, even though it was only 10am!!

 We headed straight to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge first! Once there, we saw lines for one of the rides we wanted so we had to plan our way to make sure we got into certain rides with an early pass. So first, we went to ride the Millennium Falcon. Kalani and Max rode with another group and Sam, myself, Sara, Taby and Brenavin were in one flight, Sam and I were the pilots, Taby, Brenavin and Sara were the gunners. The whole ride and simulation was the best experience ever!! We had a blast and as a family too!

 

 

We also rode Star Tours, it was pretty cool as well and this one, we all sat on a row with about 30 other people. So it was fun! Then, we went to the Toy Story park side and rode on the Toy Story Mania ride and it was so cool, as we walked through to enter the ride itself, it was like we were toys and in Andy's room. The door was huge, and you could see the window high above, as we walk through the twists and turns to get to the actual ride itself. I enjoyed that one too! Unfortunately, the Slinky Dog Dash was crowded and about an 80 minute wait to ride. So we decided to go back to Star Wars Galaxy Edge.

We walked through and took in the scenery and shops. The making of a light saber and droids, was on our list, but it was a long wait. Sadly, we found out later that you had to make reservations to make a droid. Ugh. It was booked and so that idea was not in the cards. We decided to eat at Docking Bay 7 for lunch and it was good. Lots of kid friendly food items. So we just relaxed inside and avoided the hot sun.

When we got outside, we made our way through to some shops. Then even noticed Chewy walking around, so if you look closely, Sam is right behind Chewy as the crowds started to huddle around him. It was neat to see. There was even some Storm troopers not too long after seeing Chewy. We also saw Darth Vader's ship. We made sure to stop by the Milk Stand and got both "Blue" and "Green" milk. It was yummy and definitely better than the one we tried on Guam. In fact, the green one I liked best! It had bits of crushed ice, so it kept us cool from the Florida heat!

 

 It was definitely hot outside and we needed to head indoors. Sam, Kalani, Max and I went to Indiana Jone's Show and Taby, Brenavin and Sara decided to do a bit more shopping in Star Wars Galaxy Edge. It was a long wait in line for the Indiana Jones show. But, we took our time as they shuffled us in. But, even while sitting and waiting for the show to begin. It was a long wait, I would say about 35mins. when it finally began. But worth the wait, because it was really neat to see the whole production and meet the team that did them! Lots of action, with fire, guns, and bombs too!

 

Most of the rides had long lines and we were tired by then. So by about 6pm we decided we'd head back to our hotel and go eat at a restaurant. We took the Gondola back to the hotel and decided to meet at 8pm for dinner. I made sure to take a photo of Baymax. Sam and Brenavin both got Light Sabers before we left. On the way back to our rooms, we walked through and took photos of the cool large sized three wheeler bike, Foosball game board, and Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head toys. We rested and cooled down before taking a bus to the nearest Disney Mall for dinner.

We made it to this outdoor mall Disney Springs close to our hotel on a bus and found this restaurant called, "Paradiso 37" for dinner. Sadly, I didn't take photos of our meal, but it was delicious. I loved their unsweetened ice tea, it was yummy! Great food and service as well. We sat by a window over looking the bay. There were some fireworks and lots of people around. We even took a leisurely stroll through the mall. But, it was time to head back to our hotel for the night. It was definitely a memorable experience and something our children will remember for Summer 2022!

The next day, we made our way back to Jacksonville. Believe it or not, it started to rain as we got closer to Kalani's apartment. The weather channel did say there was going to be thunderstorms and rain for the next few days. So we were very lucky to have the sunny days that we had while in Orlando.

Thank you for reading! ~ ggsdolls