The Weekly Write-Up #44

Best Disney World Park and More!

Sep 10, 2023

A book that changes how I think about grace in my life!
A great YouTube channel about travel as well as foster care!
Is owning an Apple TV worth it?
Which park at Disney World is the best?

Literary Picks

Habits of Grace

For an online Bible class I'm taking through Cedarville University, I was assigned to read Habits of Grace by David Mathis. It turns out that I really enjoyed this book, and it changed how I think about grace, as well as some of the habits that I practice in my daily life.

Habits of Grace is about how God’s grace is very present in our lives. Mathis claims that while we can’t do anything to receive God’s grace, there are practices that put us in the path of God’s grace (so to speak). He claims the three main ways that we do this is through reading His Word, praying, and spending time in fellowship with other believers. These three practices make up the three parts of the book, but throughout the book he goes deeper into these by exploring topics like studying scripture, scripture memorization, meditation, prayer, fasting, journaling, fellowship, corporate worship, preaching, and so much more! He talks about how all of these practices are gifts from God and great ways to receive His grace.

This book was an eye-opener to some of the ways that we can receive God's grace in our daily lives. The first thing I liked about this book is the general structure of each chapter. At the beginning of each chapter, he would explain what the "Habit of Grace" was before moving into why it is important. He usually ended the chapter with some practical ways to implement the "Habit of Grace" into your daily life. I found this general structure to be super helpful and straightforward. Another aspect I really liked about this book was how to-the-point David Mathis was. Oftentimes, non-fiction theology books like these spend too much time on each point, but I think Mathis spent the perfect amount of time on each topic. Each chapter was just a few pages long, which was the perfect amount of time to understand what he was saying without it feeling like Mathis was beating a dead horse. Finally, this book was both convicting and encouraging! Let's just say, I learned a lot in this book that I want to implement more into my spiritual life (such as meditation, journaling, and scripture memorization)!

I highly recommend reading this book! I really enjoyed reading it, and it really taught me a lot about God's grace, and gave me "Habits of Grace" that I want to implement into my daily life. I definitely think you should read this book if you haven't already! You can buy it on Amazon.

Watchlist Wonders

Happy Hoppe

Today I’m talking about a YouTube channel that is different from many I have talked about before. Happy Hoppe is a YouTube channel with over 16k subscribers that has videos on travel as well as foster care. My family is actually friends with Peter and Lisa Hoppe (and they are subscribed to The Weekly Write-Up). Their channel is pretty awesome, and I would definitely recommend subscribing. They talk about two main topics on this YouTube channel...

The first topic is travel, which is what the Happy Hoppe channel started as. From 2017-2018, the Hoppes decided to travel the world for one year. They visited over 60 countries and recorded all their travels in multiple different videos. If you are a fan of travel videos, I would certainly recommend checking out some of their travel videos. Even though they don't travel as frequently now, they still document their current travels (such as a cruise they went on recently). Their travel videos are well done, and one of the coolest parts of their videos is how budget-friendly their traveling is. When they traveled for a year, they had a spending limit of $50 per day, which seems super low, but they managed to do it! Overall, their travel content is awesome and definitely makes me want to visit all of the places they have!

More recently, the Hoppes have talked about foster care on their channel. The Hoppes are Christian foster parents, who are frequently caring for different children of all ages. On their YouTube channel, they share many of the tips they have learned as foster parents. They also share good times they have had, as well as struggles. The cool part is how honest the Hoppes are. They are not only willing to share what they do right, but also when they make mistakes. Foster parents will absolutely want to check out their content, and I think really any parent will find their content helpful and interesting!

I hope you can see by now that the Happy Hoppe channel is worth checking out (and I'm not just saying that because I know them)! They have lots of great content and come out with new videos every Saturday! You can check out the channel here.

Tech Thoughts

Apple TV

In the first few weeks of starting this newsletter (almost a full year ago), I talked about all the Apple products that I used daily, but I completely forgot about one…until now. My family has an Apple TV (it is an “older” one that Apple doesn't sell anymore) that we use with our TV in our living room. We have had it for about 3 years now, and we really like this device. What is an Apple TV, and would I recommend buying one? An Apple TV is a small “box” that connects to your TV and lets you connect and share all kinds of content to your TV. You can download apps, use AirPlay, and so much more with an Apple TV. In summary, it isn't an actual TV, but you can think of it as an extension of your TV.

Would I recommend buying one? The quick answer is yes. The Apple TV is an amazing product that definitely enhances my family's TV experience. To be honest, my family pretty much only uses our TV with the Apple TV, besides when we watch a movie on DVD (almost never) or watch something on live TV (which is only Colts games). We are usually using the Apple TV to watch YouTube, stream Disney+, or play music. The Apple TV is great for these things since it is much easier to do these things through the Apple TV than our regular TV (which isn't a smart TV). You can also use the Apple TV to watch other streaming services (Netflix, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+), play games (such as Apple Arcade games), do Fitness+ workouts, and so much more! Another great feature of the Apple TV is AirPlay, which allows you to mirror your device (such as your phone) to your TV. Especially for TVs without Chromecast or something similar, this is super useful (probably more useful than you think). There are tons of uses for an Apple TV and lots of great features, which I can't talk about in this short article!

Overall, the Apple TV is an amazing device! It enhances your TV experience and allows you to do so much more than you could before. Apple currently sells the Apple TV 4K (which we don't have). It isn't much different from the one we have, though it has a better processor, new remote, allows you to watch your content in 4K, and a few other upgrades. It starts at $129, which is pretty worth it! Especially if you are already in the Apple ecosystem, this is a great device to buy! You can learn more or buy an Apple TV on Apple's website.

Wild Card

Best Disney World Park

A common question I find myself asking is which park is the best park at Disney World? Disney World currently has 4 parks:

Magic Kingdom (Opened in October 1971)
EPCOT (Opened in October 1982)
Hollywood Studios (Opened in May 1989 as MGM Studios)
Animal Kingdom (Opened in April 1998)
Which of these is the best though? Of course, the answer to this question is mainly subjective, but there are some things which these parks do better than the others. So, I’m going to break the parks down into 4 categories that I think are the most important: rides, food, entertainment, and environment. For each category, I’m going to talk a bit about which parks do it best before giving each a score (3 points for 1st place, 2 points for 2nd place, etc.). At the end, I will tally up all the parks for their final score.

Rides: The first category is rides, which in my personal opinion is the best part. I talked about my favorite Disney World rides in two previous newsletters. (Click here to read rides 1-5 and here to read about rides 6-10). While Magic Kingdom has the most rides, I think Hollywood Studios has the best rides (even though it doesn't have many). In reality, though, all of the parks have great rides, so this one is pretty close: Magic Kingdom: 3 Points, Hollywood Studios: 2 Points, EPCOT: 1 Point, and Animal Kingdom: 0 Points.

Food: Disney has great food pretty much all around the parks, but I think EPCOT definitely wins for food. They have a huge selection of restaurants from different cultures! Plus, if you go during Food and Wine Festival, the food choices are amazing! Magic Kingdom has the second-best food simply because of the huge selection of restaurants! The final two parks both have great food, but I think Animal Kingdom just edges out Hollywood Studios. EPCOT: 3, Magic Kingdom: 2, Animal Kingdom: 1, Hollywood Studios: 0.

Entertainment: The next category is entertainment. This includes shows, fireworks, parades, and any other form of entertainment that isn't rides or food. I think Magic Kingdom is the clear winner here since it has a fireworks show, two parades, and tons of other shows. Hollywood Studios also has a lot of shows, which gives it second place. As for Animal Kingdom and EPCOT, both have a few shows, but neither has parades. Magic Kingdom: 3, Hollywood Studios: 2, EPCOT: 1, Animal Kingdom: 0.

Environment: Environment means two things: the theming and the average crowds present at the park. Animal Kingdom is an obvious first place here. The theming in Animal Kingdom is amazing, and it is also (for the most part) the least crowded park. Hollywood Studios and EPCOT come next, because of the theming in various areas (Galaxy's Edge and World Showcase, respectively). Magic Kingdom comes in last simply because of the crowds. Magic Kingdom is always the busiest park and can get very crowded at times! Animal Kingdom: 3, Hollywood Studios: 2, EPCOT: 1, Magic Kingdom: 0.

The results varied for each of the categories, and all the parks did well, but what happens when we add everything up? Here are the final scores…

Magic Kingdom (8): Magic Kingdom performed the best here because it is the most versatile park. It has something for everyone! It has great rides, food, entertainment, and a fun environment (though crowded). If you were only going to Disney for one day, I would recommend Magic Kingdom, since it has a bit of everything.
Hollywood Studios (6): Hollywood Studios comes in second since it has great rides, shows, and theming. I often refer to Hollywood Studios as my favorite park, but I honestly don't know what my favorite park is! Hollywood Studios has some of the best rides, though not a huge selection. It also sports great theming and good food, as well as tons of shows! It is a pretty good park all around!
EPCOT (6): EPCOT used to be my least-favorite, but that has changed after my last two visits. EPCOT has gotten a lot of new rides recently, and I have grown to appreciate the food and theming found in World Showcase.
Animal Kingdom (4): Animal Kingdom is a park that I think is very looked-down upon, but it is definitely an amazing park. It easily has the best environment, but also has a few great rides and some good food! I really love Animal Kingdom, and I am sad to see it in last!

I love all of the parks equally, and this ranking was super hard to do (and doesn't necessarily reflect the order of how much I enjoy them)! If at all possible, I absolutely recommend visiting all the parks if you go to Disney World because they are all unique and incredible! Comment below: what is your favorite Disney Park?