Missing Disney – Showing My #Disneyside

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To be perfectly honest I don’t really know what #Disneyside means. I think it means, no never mind I have no idea, maybe a little. ??

I’m just going to go with what I think it is…So to me, showing my DisneySide means donning my sequined Minnie Mouse ears and talking about what a craptastic trip we had to Disney last year. Which is also not entirely true. Some of it was awesome. Some not so much I have talked at length about how we need a redo. But for now I just kind of wish we were going again this year. Sad face.

Here are all my Disney posts in one place

Enjoy the ears…

Day 6 – Magic Kingdom Redux

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The FIRST thing we did when we got to The Magic Kingdom on our last day was get to the Town Square Theater to meet The Boss. We hadn’t done that yet because Nate wasn’t with us for the beginning of our first day at MK.

Thankfully it was a pretty short wait and it was so worth NOT going without the big boy a previous day. He gave him such a big hug.

Just when you think your kids are growing up they remind you that they are in fact still kids, and aren’t too big to hug the stuffing out of Mickey Mouse.

Then we stood in line to meet the princesses (Pro Tip – you can get fastpasses for Character meet and greets at the Theater. I recommend this!)

And then some Fairies in Adventureland.

I was a bit frantic in the morning trying to figure out what we needed to do because it was our last day. So after all the meet and greets and after a couple of hours Theo fell asleep (again) and the other two were getting slower and slower.

Today was supposed to be our rest at the pool day remember? I figured they would they would have been pooped by now, but they were extra pooped because of all the sickness. So I put it in a slow gear and we just wandered around the Magic Kingdom. We decided as we went what we would do.

It was actually quite a nice way to end our crazy week. They choose their favorite ride Buzz Lightyear and called it a day. Back to the hotel for some swimming and ice cream, and packing :-(

And some much needed sleep.

Art of Animation Cars Suite Video Tour

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When we were at Walt Disney World we stayed at the brand new Art of Animation Resort.

As soon as I saw pictures of the Cars Suite I KNEW that’s where I wanted to stay. My 2 yo has seen the movies at least 100 times. They all love it. I investigated a lot of other options and kept coming back to the Cozy Cone ;-)

Besides the Magic of Disney and the wonderfulness of Nana, the other factor in our trip not becoming a gigantic disaster was our room. Our glorious Cars Suite.

Here’s a tour…

There is supposed to be a video here. If there isn’t please refresh – it’s like magic :-)
 

Full review of the Art of Animation Resort soon!

Day 5 – WDW. Hollywood Studios – Wordless Wednesday

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Resting up in the Cars Suite before we go to Hollywood Studios.

One of my favorite pics of the trip. N ready to go!

There’s my happy boy.

Honey I Shrunk the Kids – and you too ;-)

All the kids love Phineas and Ferb!

Painted cuties.

Don’t tug on Superman’s Cape.

Mr. Incredible.

The famous water tower.

Pixie Perfect bag for Disney.

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I talk about Savers a lot on Twitter, I am not ashamed of my love for it. In fact I’m going tomorrow and I’ll take some pics and write a post. Promise.

I was there recently looking for some stuff specifically for our trip to Disney and came across this little lovely. It’s a little bit bigger than an iPad. Which is what lived in it during travel days.

On park days it was just the perfect size for our DIY Autograph Books, park maps, and touring plans.

Pixie Perfect.

A 1st Visit filled with Disney Magic

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We had some ups and downs on our first trip to Walt Disney World tis true. One constant, besides the gloriousness that is NANA, was this notion of Disney Magic.

Before we left I had been talking to someone at Disney about our resort or dining or something almost daily. They were always SO helpful. They were so nice and accommodating  They always ended our conversation with “Have a Magical Day”.  Seriously? Seriously.

Now I’m a pretty cynical person and I thought these people were nuts. There’s no way they could all be this helpful and happy ALL.THE. TIME.

Here are some bits of Disney Magic that helped me along the way and made our (could have completely miserable) vacation into one that was brimming with Magic.

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What can I get you?

We needed more coffee, it was a long night filled with sick kids. ONE minute later there is a knock on my door and a man holding a baggie full of coffee pods.

Late one night we needed more pillows for the sickies. We already have like 2 for each of us, they must know this. They clean the “room full of pillows” they KNOW. Yet we ask for more and they ask how many. POOF!

MORE PILLOWS.

The day that Nate woke up with a fever yet again and couldn’t make it to the Magic Kingdom with us. My husband called down to reception to ask if they had an extra stroller. He just wanted to be able to take him to the arcade or the pool if he was feeling better but didn’t want to have him expend too much energy. They didn’t have any, but could bring up a wheelchair. Um yeah, you guessed it about 2 minutes later a knock at the door.

Every single cast member, save for one who simply handed me a map when I asked where I could find espresso, was just so, well, magical. That was her offense – helping me ;-)

In this particular cast member’s defense I think I had interrupted a very flirty conversation she was having with a cute boy cast member.  He turned his attention to me and she was miffed, but only momentarily. I mean she did help me. She just didn’t jump up and down while she did it. She was regular about it. ;-)

Her love interest was tracking down the information for me by asking at least 4 other cast members. He saw a damsel in distress and was going to help! She was duly impressed by his diligence and it made her dig him even more. As I started to walk away saying “Um yeah I have a map, but it doesn’t say where to get espresso. Thanks.” She said “Wait look my handsome lover has magically found the information for you! Isn’t he just charming?” Okay she didn’t say that. But you get it, these people are fantastico.

And then there was the custodian I ran across rushing back to the hotel one day with medicine for one of the boys. He had a mop, outside, on the pavement. I stopped because, as a mop afficionado, I thought it odd. Then I saw what he was doing. Magical :-)

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The Art of the Line Dance

I’ve shown you this already and given it almost a whole post about it’s awesomeness. I give you an encore performance of the Cast Members of the Art of Animation front desk. Magic Makers every one of them!

There is supposed to be a video here. If there isn’t please refresh – it’s like magic :-)

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Lost & Found?

We had finally decided on a hats for the kids at the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday night. Let me just tell you this was a process. Anyone that has young kids knows that going into any store, never mind a store filled with Disney stuff for them, can be a trying experience. So the hats were finally chosen.

The next day everyone was excited to wear their spiffy new lids to Hollywood Studios. We were not there 10 minutes when I ask baby girl where her hat is. She shrugs, sees my face that is NOT hiding my sheer annoyance at this and starts to cry.

I will go on record and say I did not handle this with much grace. I take a deep breath and say to myself more than her “Don’t worry baby it’s just a hat.” We wander around for a few more hours, having a great day, and I still can’t shake the lost hat. What is wrong with me? My husband suggests we try lost and found. I think it’s a long shot, but we go. As a family rule we always turn things in to lost and found, because it’s just the right thing to do to return things that aren’t yours. Amirite?

We wait for a minute at lost and found and I prep the girl that they probably don’t have it. A very cheery cast member asks what we need. “It’s a sparkly purple Mickey hat! ” Sienna shouts. I describe the hat in a bit more detail. She sort of screws up her face and say “Huh, I don’t know that hat. Hmmmmm. Oh wait I know the kind of hat you’re talking about. Let me go back and see if we have it back there somewhere.” I tell Sienna it’s ok if they don’t have it we’ll get her a new one.

The bubbly blonde cast member, amazingly, comes back with baby girl’s hat (but you saw that coming didn’t you?). She holds it out and says “Is this it?” Sienna squeals and I say ‘Huh.” I mean “Yay!” We thank her and leave. We tell the boys we found it and off we go.

A few minutes later I stop the carriage short and look at my husband.

“They didn’t find that hat! They have a whole bunch of hats “back there” just to keep the kids happy.”

He looks at me like I’m crazy. The hat was perfectly new and only then did I realize it had never been adjusted. I had to adjust it for her.

“Well maybe you took some other kid’s hat then?”

No I don’t think so. Why is the lost and found “in the back”? Why isn’t it out where people can identify their own lost things? There is just another “store” back there so no kid goes home crying about the thing they lost. I just know it!

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The boss.
We didn’t go to see Mickey Mouse on the first day at the Magic Kingdom because Nate wasn’t with us initially. When we went again on Friday it was the first thing we did. Theo, my BIGGEST Mickey fan, was so nervous. He stood back from him, jumped up in my arms and snuggled in. A wave of familiar sadness that my baby was going to miss something came over me. Oh no.

The other two went right over to him. Hugs. Smiles. Pics. Theo snuggled in harder. I went over to give Mickey a hug to try to ease him in. To my surprise ‘the boss’ was the one to draw him out. He still wouldn’t get off my hip, but this happened…

Disney Magic. It’s real.