Crashing the Disney SM Moms Celebration

Lets just start this off with "I *so* should have been there".

Disney hosted a first ever Social Media Moms Celebration (SMMC). And for reasons that make me the mommy that I am, I did not sign up to go. With that being said, I watched the Twitter-verse in envy the weeks & days leading up to the conference. A lot of mommy-bloggers that I have grown fond of...yes, shameless shout outs will be posted at the end ;)...Jen, Debbie, Lynne, Jackie, JL, Traci, Amanda..all were going to be there. How could I *not* have signed up to go & meet these fabulous people??

*cue "light bulb going on" type music*

I have an annual pass. These mommas were going to be in the parks enjoying some down time. I can go to the parks whenever I want....so, maybe, just maybe, I'll go on one of the days they are there..SCORE!!

*Ok, so it didn't take rocket science to figure that deduction out. Maybe a little of it (ok, maybe most of it) was slightly embellished for the purpose of interesting reading..but you get my point ;)*

In a completely unrelated coincidence, another Twitter friend of mine, Ali, was having a “tweet-up” Thursday night at the Polynesian. The SMMC itinerary had listed most of Thursday afternoon free. Perfection-Thursday it was! As the day grew closer, I realized just how important Thursday was. Disney was gearing up for a major press event for this conference & Thursday was the main event day. Yay me!

Just a few days before, I found out that another Twitter/blogger friend, Aurora, was also going to "crash the party". How exciting!! Now, I wasn't the *only* one to not be attending the conference!! I was so excited, but nervous too. I mean, online everyone got along fabulously, but what if we didn't "click". What if they had all bonded so much over the course of the first day of the conference, I was just an outsider? What if they thought I was an over-zealous nut just showing up & crashing the party? Oh, the things I put myself thru!! Still, it felt good to know that I wasn't the only one just "showing up".

We set out Thursday morning. I followed the Press Releases (ßDisney Blog Posts) all the way up. Things like

• 600,000 people already signed up/volunteered hours thru Hands On Network
• Ty Pennington was there
• He said "Move those balloons"
• The picture of the largest can sculpture does not nearly look as majestic on your cell phone as it does here
• Demi Lovato & Joe Jonas were at the park
• Did I mention Ty Pennington was there?

I think I am still floored that 600,000 people have volunteered already..and the program had only been in effect for 6 weeks. That is an incredible amount of man-power & community fellowship. But, we'll save that for another blog post.

My Give A Day, Get A Disney Day Adventure

In 2010, Disney will celebrate the efforts of 1 million people by giving away a 1 day park ticket in exchange for a day of volunteer service. Kicking this event off on January 1st, the site was *flooded* by people all looking for volunteer events they could sign up for. I will admit that I was one of those..desperate to find something that my entire family could participate in. Needless to say, I was very disappointed the first few days, not being able to find anything local. Even more disappointing was notes I was reading from others on Twitter, expressing the same frustrations. :( So close to giving up, I decided to wait a week.

Going back to the site a week later, I did some "in-depth" searching & stumbled upon the Gus A Stavros Institute Finance Park & Enterprise Village events. (Enterprise Village is a real-life, job & financial learning experience for 5th graders & Finance Park is geared for 8th graders) Well, just so happens that I have an 8th grader & that I was already signed up to volunteer for this event. Talk about luck!! Granted, this didn't accommodate my whole family, but I was excited to get in!! I called a friend of mine who also wanted to do a volunteer event & we were signed up together.

Having all the kids that I do, I have been to these field trips many times. I was given a group of students and was there to help them budget their finances & buy a house & car and try to experience some of the monthly financial budgeting we have to do as adults. I was lucky enough that Future Headache allowed me to eat lunch with her & even let me get my picture with her! What a lucky mom I am...lol.

There were a few other volunteers there as well, volunteering for Disney tickets :) These people were excited, planning on using their tickets for the Flower & Garden Festival, Star Wars Weekends & just regular visits.

After this, I decided I needed to find a volunteer event for the rest of the family. The Boy was lucky enough that his play group, Actors Reaching Out, signed up to act out The Little Mermaid for an after school care program. The rest of the family is signed up to help clean up after a ADA fundraising race. Of course, I will be participating again, but thats ok. We are just happy to be a part of this experience!

If you have not yet signed up for something, I encourage you to keep looking! It really is a rewarding experience..especially when you can do it together as a family!