kungaloosh!

Living near Disney, there are lots of opportunities to attend dress-up events that take place each year - Dapper Day, Magical Tiki Meetup, the Not So Scary Halloween Party. Each event has clothing suggestions, either a costume or vintage or just variations on a theme. 

Adventureland Day is one of those events. It's an unofficial event that asks people to dress as explorers from the early 20th century so that they can go on rides together, take group photos and participate in a scavenger hunt.

Mr. T and I wanted to participate in Adventureland Day last year (he had a ton of explorer, Indiana Jones type clothes) but something prevented us, I probably had to be down with my mother or something.

So this year, when the announcement came out, I knew I really wanted to attend but I didn't want to go by myself, I just wasn't ready for that. I put out a request on Facebook asking if anybody wanted to go with me...and was willing to dress up. Right away I had a friend that was thrilled to go. She is part of a group I call my ohana which is Hawaiian for family. It's 2 friends, their husbands and 4 kids. They love to dress up too and were excited about the challenge of putting together explorer outfits.

I put together an outfit centered around a photographer's vest that belonged to Mr. T. And I was thrilled to wear a hat that we had purchased in Carmel on our vacation there last September. I wasn't going to get it, didn't want to spend the money but Mr. T insisted because he knew I really did love it. I knew it was the perfect hat for the explorer look that I love and I had planned on wearing it when we went to Animal Kingdom for my birthday in November but that never happened so it made me happy to wear it now. Between the hat and the vest I felt like a little bit of Mr. T was there with me.

My ohana stepped up and came up with great outfits. We were all quite stylish. You may be wondering where Taz's vest is - it had become too hot for it by the time we took the group picture. Florida is HOT y'all.

We all rode Jungle Cruise together which is a river ride with fake animals and silly jokes. I love it.

The whole ride is themed around a fictional travel exploration company from the 1920s and I just love the atmosphere of the waiting area. So many photo opportunities.

After the ride we participated in the scavenger hunt which sent us all over Adventureland looking for clues to find a missing idol. I wish I had pictures of that part but we were too busy hunting for clues. The kids loved that part of the day, some of the adults not so much. It was a typically hot day in Florida and all that walking in the sun made things a little sweaty.

It was a special day. I really appreciated my ohana being there for me. We had a lot of fun, lots of laughs and made some special memories. It was nice to be doing something purely fun and for a little while I didn't feel so all alone. I hope we can all do it again next year!