Wordless Wednesday ~ July 4, 2010

Good times...great friends...great race thru Magic Kingdom ;)

Wordless Wednesday - Project Whisper

A perfect post for Wordless Wednesday!

Thank you to my many friends ~ :)





And a special thank you to the other half of the dynamic duo for my late night encouragement ;)

All the Way to 10k Party..the Twitter Version

I think it was March, 2009.  I signed up for a twitter account.  I had NO idea why, either.  I think my first tweet was something along the line of..

I signed up for twitter today because I thought the little blue bird was cool.

Yeah. Seriously.  I had NO clue what I was doing.  I had signed up for twitter to serve as an easy access to updating my facebook page.  I had a stupid phone at the time, so simple text messaging was all I could do.  It seemed to serve a purpose.  And then, as my good friend would say, I had my "a-ha" moment.

In September '09, I had applied to the WDW Mom's Panel & tweeted about it.   A few of my friends had responded to my tweet, but then I started getting new followers...and Erin Foster (@MomsPanelErin) started following me & wished me luck.

And I haven't shut up since.

Twitter had been crazy lately & accurate tweet counts had disappeared.  I was so excited when they came back Saturday morning...just a little over 200 before I hit my 10,000th tweet.  Thats a lot of communicating!  Later Saturday night, I decided to go for it..I would hit 10k Saturday night.  I sent this out to my "tweeps" :

And the party started!  Amanda(Disney Every Day)  suggested we sing a song (Ice Ice Baby). Charles tried to sing Kumbayah.  We talked upcoming Disney trips, Star Wars Weekends & Conventions.  We talked about vacations, kids.  We even joked about making t-shirts to commemorate the "event".  But, 90 minutes & 110 tweets later..

Promise me you'll always remember...you are braver than you believe and stronger than you seem & smarter than you think. ~Christopher Robin to Pooh

All in all, 10k tweets is an accomplishment, but its just a number.  Its more about the relationships & the people that have touched my life in so many ways.  The friendships that have been started.  The lessons that have been learned.  The community that has been so gracious to accept me...my random babbling, my proud mommy moments, my super awesome Disney missions, various pictures & links to various cheesy 80's You Tube songs.  The community that has accepted my super-DIS-functional (get it? DIS for Disney? lol..ok I *thought* it was funny) family..The Boy, Mini-Me, Future Headache & Princess Peanut..and has really taken the time to get to know them!  I so appreciate when y'all remember the things that we share that are going on in our lives!  It means a lot!

Every one of you has helped me reach the 10k mark...and I thank you!!  For those that were there that night to help keep me "tweeting" away, a super special thank you!!  Check these people out if you get a chance..and if you are not following them or tweeting with them, you should be!

And these are in NO particular order ;)

Nicole - @njoysiscaretti - Talk to this gorgeous chick abt scrapbooking, make up & dance

Briana -@BufferflyBrie - Get to know this aspiring new actress before she hits the big time!

Mark - @MHWeaver913 - Fun loving Disney Dad

Charles - @charlesaguillon - Great Dad, Hubby & Friend! Lives too far away from the Mouse..needs to move closer :)

Vanessa - @nessaaguillon - Charles's beautiful wife! You seriously could not meet a nicer couple than these 2!

Jim - @JimGarth - ok so he's a self-proclaimed #moron..but we love him anyways!!

Jared - @Jaredsward - Just a super great guy! Total fun!!

Scott - @bigdsp - another super fabulous Disney fan!

Shaene - @shaene_o_mite - great Disney lovin', adventure traveling, Village People look-alike friend

Amanda - @amandatinney - If you only follow one Disney gal, this is the one! She really is Disney Every Day!

Jillian - @JL_Davis - This girl loves her Disney Cruises, scrapbooking & NASA!  She went to a NASA tweet up, too!

Elisabeth - @itsmydinner - another great Disney fan ;) Not afraid to speak her mind & call out my fave 80's songs as cheesy ;)

Kathy - @Katly123 - This girl was brave enough to go thru high school with me & still talk to me on Twitter!! Loves NASA & her pets!

Brent - @the4orce22 - Resident Star Wars Expert, Disney Fan & great dad ;) Not afraid to "get his geek on" :)

Angela - @stitchlvr - The girl loves Stitch..what more can I say?

Traci - @TraciLeigh - This girl is my long lost soul sister! Ghost Hunting, Fondue eating, Sex & the City watching, Disney fan ;)

Jackie - @jjzmgailey - This gal is my soon to be a whole lot closer Toy Story Midway Mania riding buddy! Scrapbooking & Disney are her thing!

Paul - @PaulChadkin - One of my super great Disney friends! A great friend to watch Fantasmic with!

Tracy - @tiggerlover75 - Fabulous stay at home Disney Momma :)

Puddintain  - @disneymom1218 - great Disney mom :) Always takes the time to check on ya & see how things are!

My 10k tweet is a quote from the original Winnie the Pooh stories.  I felt it was perfect. "Promise me you'll always remember...you are braver than you believe and stronger than you seem & smarter than you think."   Someone somewhere thinks the world of you.  You are brave & strong & smart.  Use these to do good in the twitterverse.  Make someone smile.  Its contagious & will help make the world a better place.  Promise me.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me!! Love you all!!  Looking forward to the next 10k tweets!

The Tower Suite

If you missed the beginning of this story, check it out here

Okay, so its not the Boardwalk or the Luxor, but this is West 192.  And any kind of upgrade, especially the FREE kind, is so exciting!  Especially when it is called the "Tower Suites"...  and its after 4am....  and someone had waay too much caffeine while driving.

The front lobby at 4am

On our way to our room



We found our room on the 5th floor..and I have to say, it was a nice room.



Lots of floor space, a huge closet...and a large window with a fabulous view (which we really appreciated at 7am!)



The arrows are pointing to hot air balloons.  What a beautiful sight to wake up to crystal clear skies & hot air balloons just floating past my window!  It definitely helped make a stay in Kissimmee a great one!

Living with a Neurotic Disney 2 year old

No one said life with a 2 year old would be easy to understand.  But, when you can understand your 2 year old, there most certainly are times that you wish you & everyone around you couldn't!  Hello, my name is Maria, and I have a Neurotic Disney Kid .  As you can see from the above picture, Princess Peanut can navigate her way around a Disney park at the tender age of 2 (yes, i am proud!).  She can also speak her feelings & retell the events of the day.

Last weekend, while at Hollywood Studios with Princess Peanut, I met up with a group of friends.


@RoraBorieAlice, @JL_Davis, @shaene_o_mite, Shaene's wife & @disneyworlds

Meet my friends Aurora, Jillian, Shaene, Shaene's wife & John.  Princess Peanut met them.  And this is what she had to say...

"Rora" - I like Rora. I go see Rora. I pack my suitcase.

"Jooeyan" - Jooeyan gave me a leaf. A BIG leaf.  We like the ducks.  I go see Rora.


"Sheen" - (pinched her nose at Shaene MOST of the day) I gave him some chickies.  Sheen smell.

"John" - John gave me choco chip cookie. Yup, gave me a cookie.  And my tummy doesn't hurt.  Pack bathing suit. I go see Rora.

Now, if it isn't already obvious, Princess Peanut is IN LOVE with her Rora.  Just loves her to death.  And while only spending a portion of the day with Jillian, Jillian really made quite an impact by finding her the BIG leaf.  Princess Peanut has a thing for leaves right now.  She carefully held onto that leaf until we got to Epcot later in the day.  She was sad that Jillian was not with us, but left the leaf at Epcot so it could stay "with its friends."  John has spent the day before with us, so he is no stranger to Peanut.  She likes him because she can "scare" him.  And then she laughs uncontrollably!  And then there is poor Shaene.

I really have NO idea (I promise!) why Princess Peanut decided at lunch time to pinch her nose when Shaene walked by & said hi to her.  Most of the time when he looked at her, she did the same thing.   All I know is, by the time Illuminations was ready to start, she had looked past her earlier feelings & shared her baby chickie crackers with him.  Any sharing of food is a sign of acceptance from the 'Nut.

I am really impressed with how much a 2 yo can retell.  Especially days after the fact.  While packing her snacks in the diaper bag for tomorrow's trip to the World, she told me she wants to see Jooeyan & John again.  She has her "plink" bag of toys packed to go see Rora.  And she wants to see "Sheen" too.  She has fishie crackers this time.

Too much caffeine at 5am makes you wake up at 7am & blog about the night before

What a long night!

We had everything packed & ready to go by 11:30 last night.  We were ready to head out to Orlando for the weekend..all we needed was for Future Headache to come back from Busch Gardens Grad Night.  The busses were to roll in between 12:30-12:45 am.  Since being instructed NOT to be late picking her up, we left at midnight & parked & waited.

And waited. (1am)

And waited (1:30am).



Slightly before 2am, I had corralled my very awake & super hyper middle-schooler-for-6-more-weeks.  She informed us of all the night's events which made driving so late at night easy for me ;)  Finally, pulling into our hotel just before 4am, we were checked in, parked, car unpacked and headed to our room.  We were excited, as the hotel has a mini-golf course thru the courtyard, basketball hoops, and our room was facing the pool...the kids were excited.  All we needed now was to get some sleep.

Well, at least I thought we were.

When we tried to unlock the door to our room, the key worked, but the inside latch was locked.  Was someone in that room?  Scared that someone might freak out on us, we pulled the door shut & ran back over by the stairs.  I called the front desk & they asked me to come back to the lobby. Ugh.  If this was a premonition on what the weekend was going to be like, I was not going to be happy.

I drive up there(and yes, left everyone else sitting on the sidewalk with ALL of our stuff) and put on my "Hey, I realize its 4am & I have been in a car since MIDNIGHT, but everyone makes mistakes" smile.  Holy cow did it work.

I asked the man if there was anyway to put me in a room in the same building since we had already unloaded & he looks at me like I am insane.  He then says....

"Ma'am, I have already made you new keys.  We upgraded you to the Tower Suites."

Ummm....ok ;)

Can you say "Be still my heart???"  An upgrade?  A free upgrade??

Needless to say, everyone repacked the car & we set off to find a new parking spot & check out our new room.  Maybe I will get to touch Davy Jones after all this weekend!

Wordless Wednesday - Reflections of a Castle

Spring Break 2010

I recently visited the Magic Kingdom in a truly Neurotic Disney Person (NDP)fashion. I was venturing out to get pictures of Princess Peanut & the BFFs with Mr & Mrs Easter Bunny (read here & here). Since we were at the park, I figured, might as well ride a ride or 2..right?

Wrong!!

Should have known from the line at the toll booth it would be a packed day!

 in case you didn't see it earlier!


We did manage to see "Dream Along with Mickey". The Castle area was packed!
 
More Castle Hub crowds


After the false hope of the park not being that crowded because Main Street was not very busy, we tried to ride an easy, no line ride..the TTA (or PeopleMover for us old school folk). A walk towards Tomorrowland proved otherwise.

The land entrance was *SO* packed, we took our 3 strollers & returned to Main Street to watch the "Celebrate a Dream Come True" parade.

Even after the parade, the crowds showed no signs of thinning, so we decided to end our adventure.  As you can see from the picture below, this was the crowd coming into the Magic Kingdom after the parade.

 

Fortunately for us, there was NO line for the monorail this time ;)

Going to see the Easter Bunny - The NDM version Part 2

Meeting Mr & Mrs Easter Bunny

Very excitedly, we walked quickly towards City Hall to see what the line was for the Bunnies. Imagine the shock (& joy) when I saw there were only about 4 people in line in front of us! I was certain that the line was closed off. A Cast Member quickly assured me the line was not closed. We quickly parked strollers & straightened out dresses & hair!!

Only Disney would take the Easter Bunnies & make it this adorable!

Once in line, the decor that lined the area was so cute & festive! Very Spring-y! There were colored Easter Eggs hanging from the tree that only a few short months ago held Christmas decor when Santa was here.

Colorful birdhouses lined the courtyard.

And where toy soldiers stood, beautiful, colorful flower arrangements stood. This definitely confirmed that Spring was here.

Finally, the moment we were waiting for ...pictures with Mr & Mrs Bunny!

It was a great experience, and one I would brave the crowds again for! And of course, Disney has every last little detail covered..right down to the exit sign...

We had a great time visiting Mr & Mrs Easter Bunny. A way better experience than going to the mall!

Did you miss part 1? Read it here

Going to see the Easter Bunny - The NDM version Part 1

The Easter Bunny is coming to town!

Well, of course he is. Spring has sprung & Easter is right around the corner. That can only mean one thing...break out those pretty Spring dresses & head to the mall for pictures with the Easter Bunny. (ok, keep in mind, I have a 2 year old).

But not this year. We would not continue our time honored tradition this year. We would alter this tradition & possibly start a new one.

The Easter Bunny (and Mrs. Easter Bunny, too) proudly reside on Main Street right next to City Hall! Thats right. My Easter Bunny pictures can now be done with Disney flair. *JOY*

As soon as I found out, I planned an impromptu trip to Magic Kingdom for the sole purpose of Easter Bunny pictures. Since I am getting ready to order the DisneyPhotoPass CD, it was perfect timing. I also decided since it was Spring Break (think, older kids home, too) I would bring Princess Peanut's 2 BFFs along for the photo opp. So, early Tuesday(well, early for us), we set out...3 toddlers, 3 strollers, 2 teenagers & me...for the Magic Kingdom for a few hours of fun.

As I was pulling into the resort, I noticed the Magic Kingdom directional sign had a "FULL" sign instead of the arrow. Panic did not set in, as I was sure they had not reached a level 4(closed to everyone). Not being able to be on Twitter for the past hour or so, I was unsure of what the status was. I decided to continue on. Then I noticed the large light up sign in the median that read "Magic Kingdom closed. Turn right to Epcot" with 3 cast members waving at us. Hmm..panic may have started to creep in at this point. Determined, I drove on. Finally, all cars were stopped & I realized why. It was the line for the toll booth.

I think I spent 30 minutes in this line. I used this time wisely to get on Twitter. Closed at a level 3(certain guests only), that didn't include me! I was going to get in. As I finally got to the toll booth, the man told me to hurry up & get inside..they would probably go to a level 4. Yikes!! Cast members were all over the parking lot counting as cars pulled in. I had to park in Sneezy 94. Basically, I was about 5 rows from the Petty Raceway. It was a long walk to the TTC!

Once we got to the monorail, the crowds were not bad at all. We got right on the monorail with no wait time at all. Getting into the park was not an issue either, as there were virtually no major lines to get in.

Not too bad for a level 3...

or was it??

TwitterTwip Weekend Recap - 3/28/10

Sunday Morning

Trying to get motivated to head to Disney for the day. Overheard a conversation at breakfast that inspired this tweet :

Good lord. Listening to @DavidOlmsted & @TeamSkellington talk abt us needing a Zombie Emergency Kit. They found a website.

Yup, they were for real, too. The things I put up with. Luckily, they did not pass the website on, so I unfortunately cannot pass the knowledge on to you. Just leave a comment if you really have a burning desire to know more & I'll get that link for you.

Ok..so on the road....decided I would try 4 square on my phone while at the parks. Tried a "test" check-in at this location :

Getting cough meds for the princess (@ Target)

Epic fail.....4 square is not (<-- blog link) for "not-so-smart" phones . But, look at what I did find ;)

Look what i just got for 6 bucks :)

Apparently, all Targets around us are "under construction" to add the grocery section. So, a LOT of merchandise is on clearance. *sweet* Funny thing, I saw this at my local Target for $24.99 today. LOL Happiness is a great clearance find!

Finally, we arrived at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Mission #1 was underway.

The #Flatties are out looking for adventures!

Within 40 minutes, we were done with the day's mission....Pictures with the characters from Up ;)

Off to get lunch..

lots of lightening around here :) not as much rain as last week. going to Ikea for lunch and some dry time :)

The view from I.4. Glad i'm in my car. Just pray it stops by 7ish!

rain rain go away!

Finally, we were able to venture back out & accomplish the second half of our mission --> Starship featuring Mickey Thomas at Epcot!!

It really is clearing up. So ready to rock ;)

Tonight's concert snack courtesy of norway :)

I found a review of the Schoolbread from Norway (<--read it!)on the Disney Driven Life (<--be counted) . I knew I needed to try it. And, oh my...it was good!!

#Flatties in italy. :)

Concert time!!

Holy cow! Starship is AWESOME! I'm cryin! :) lol

- Of course @davidolmsted

taking way better pics! Totally rockin the world toNite

And for those of you that did not make it out to see Starship, they announced that they will be back in October for Food & Wine Festival! They are playing Halloween weekend. Guess I know where I will be on Halloween!!

Met back up with the girls in our traditional spot for fireworks.

Illuminations with my girls :) such a great way to start my week!

And there you have it..all my Sunday park tweets & pictures..all combined into one nifty neat blog post ;)

leave me some love, please ;)

til next time ~

make it magical :)

My Top 10 Favorite Magic Kingdom Songs

For Top Ten Tuesday, since this is my Disney Blog, I decided to feature 10 of my favorite Disney songs. But, rest assured, while that may seem an easy task, it really isn't. My OCD has caused me to list my Top 10 Favorite Magic Kingdom Songs...because you just can't lump all the movies, parks, parades, events & tributes together & come up with 10 that easily.

So, here goes...

My All-Time Top 10 Favorite Disney Songs...from the Magic Kingdom

10. If You Had Wings - now, I know what you are thinking. If You Had Wings was an extremely dated 1970's ride. As much as it drove me batty as a child, every time I hear it now generates a floodgate of memories. Simpler times, memories of it being my grandmother's favorite ride, a very vintage Tomorrowland, and some very blue buggies! I think the cliff diver was the scene I remember the most.

9. SpectroMagic - This is great parade music. It is also the only night parade my children know. While it is gone for the summer this year, I will be sad.

8. Everybody's Got A Laughing Place - This song makes me smile. It is a great reminder that no matter what, something makes you happy inside...and everyone has their own happy place..you just have to find it! (Betcha can't guess where my happy place is..lol)

7. Wishes - Wishes is the best collaboration of Disney's all time favorite cry-along songs. Seriously. It makes my heart smile every time we watch Wishes. The kids sing along & each has their own favorite parts. It is one of our very special Magic Kingdom moments.

6. Mickey Mouse Club Theme Song - ok, so this song can't be heard in any particular spot in the Magic Kingdom, but it most certainly SHOULD be! I remember watching the Mickey Mouse Club when it would come on. The Mouseketeers would sing the song under the Castle...I do think of that song every time we walk underneath the Castle.

5. Its A Small World After All - who doesn't like this song? Its A Small World is very special because it is one of the only rides that is really not *branded* with anything Disney. Another reason why I am glad we have the original version & not the new Disneyland character version.

4. Pirates of the Caribbean - This has become a family tradition. We skip all the way thru the ride que singing "yo ho yo ho, a pirates life for me".

3. Grim Grinning Ghosts - Happy ghosts are a good thing.

2. There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow - Nostalgic & definitely a catchy tune, its more than that. It's inspiring. No matter how bad your day was, there's a great big beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of every day. And tomorrow is just a dream away.

1. Main Street Electrical Parade (aka Baroque Hoedown)- Did you know that the theme music for this parade has an actual title? This is my ALL-TIME MOST FAVORITE. I grew up with this parade. I cried when it left. I cried when it returned. And, when the announcement was made that it was returning, I cried again! I am so excited for my children to see the parade so they can visualize it for themselves. The music has been burned into their minds thruout the years. I love this song so much that I even used it in one of my cheerleading routines (they won the state championship that year as well!)

Do you have favorite Magic Kingdom songs as well?

Will you be crying on Main Street with me this summer when Main Street Electrical Parade returns home?

Do you think I am just crazy??

Feel free to leave me some love below ;)

Well, that is my top ten this week. Please go back to OhAmanda & check out other Top Ten Greats on this Tuesday!!

til next time ~

make it magical :)

Making New Friends is Fun!

@al3xg, @Disneybigsis, @heavensent30 & @winterbabe98

February should officially be "Meet your Twitter Friends Month". I have been so lucky to meet so many people this past month!

I was very lucky to meet Lea (@MagicalMousecap) as she SOLO toured the World! What a fabulous person she is!! We met the weekend of the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, so we had plenty to chat about! Have you seen her Twitter background? I love it ;)

Recently, I was able to spend an afternoon at the Magic Kingdom with some fabulous friends. This time, I met up with Alex (@al3xg), Heather(@Disneybigsis)& her hubby, James (@Disneyfotoblog) & his family, Barb (@winterbabe98) & her family & Garry(@garry83). Can you say excitement? And what a large group it was. Look for yourself!

photo courtesy of Alex (@al3xg)

Meeting over Dole Whips was fun! We just all kicked back & chatted for a while ;)

Our group ;)

I love meeting new people...especially the people I chat with daily on Twitter! Looking forward to meeting many more friends, especially with our David Cassidy Tweet Up coming up this next weekend (March 20th). If you are ever in the parks, be sure to let me know!

til next time ~

make it magical :)