Annie Jestus

Hey friends! I’m Annie, and I just finished my sophomore year at Furman. I’m from Cookeville, TN, but my family also lives part-time in Chattanooga, TN. When I got to Furman I thought I was going to be a math and Spanish double major, but I chickened out and am now majoring in business and Spanish, so I’m super excited to be doing something math-related for the time being (math has always been my favorite thing to study). Also, I love Disney World and everything about it. I don’t know how many times I’ve been, but I do know it’s quite a few. Ever since I was little, though, I’ve been fascinated by what the average Disney-goer doesn’t know and wanted/tried to learn as much about it as possible. This trip, I hope, will open my eyes to things that little elementary-school Annie couldn’t even dream were possible to discover.

Food

Regarding eating in Disney, walking around the countries in the world showcase in Epcot before arbitrarily ending up at one country’s restaurant is so fun to me because I love all the different people and atmospheres. With that said, when it comes to meals, I’m kind of boring and like to stick with a few basics (and not venture out of my comfort zone). However, I love snacks. And desserts.

For that reason, one place I would want to try is L’Artisan des Glaces in the France section of the world showcase (it’s fairly new). I’ve only walked through it, but I’ve heard nothing but great things about their ice cream and their ice cream sandwiches; they use macarons as the base of the sandwich. YUM. One of my all-time favorite desserts is baklava, so I can’t go wrong at the Tangierine Café in Morocco of the showcase. Finally, moving out of Epcot (but staying on the dessert train) I love the ice cream cookie sandwiches at the Main Street Bakery in Magic Kingdom. Really I just love all-things dessert.

Attractions
As a young child, Small World was always my go-to ride at Disney. The love I have for it was (is) so extensive that I would (and sometimes still do) have dreams about the ride while at home. At the end of the ride in the last room, there’s an arc that you ride under to get back in the main entrance; it used to be painted as a rainbow. When they revamped the ride several years ago, though, they took away the rainbow so now it’s just a grey arc. It made me super sad, but it’s still one of my top two Disney Rides.

My other favorite is, of course, the Tower of Terror. I absolutely love the sensation of free fall (Splash Mountain!), and the atmosphere of Tower of Terror is second to none. It always amazes me how the bellhops stay in character no matter what (my cousin likes to spend every moment he can trying to get them to break character, but it’s impossible!), and how the falls on the ride are always different. It’s just perfect. I could honestly ride it all day and never get bored of it.

Last time I was in Disney we spent a lot of time at Animal Kingdom walking around to look at all the animals, which I had never done before. I’m such an animal lover, so I’m really interested in spending some time there again. They have a really neat gorilla exhibit, and I also enjoyed the “Jungle Trek” and, of course, the petting zoo!