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.

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??

Wordless Wednesday - The Disney SM Moms Version

Yes, I crashed the party.

Yes, I lived to tell about it.

And now, my first ever Wordless Wednesday post is dedicated to...

**The Disney Social Media Moms Celebration**

Do captions count in Wordless Wednesday? Cuz I don't think I can go "totally" wordless.

A most beautiful day.. & view!

Carter Oosterhouse & others. My 1st celeb spotting of the day!

I *wish* I knew what to say!

So in love with the water! A fabulous Disney PhotoPass Photog, Lisa, gave her a nickle to throw into the fountain! Made her day!!

Great parade! Who doesn't love Sweetums, Kermit & Miss Piggy!

The crowds & trucks of food.

A close up of the above picture shows Amanda Tinney, Lou Mongello & JL Knopp (NDM #1) before we met. We were standing that close! :)

Leave some love ;)

til next time ~

make it magical :)

The "Meet" - pt 2 of Crashing the Disney SM Moms Celebration

Where were we..Ty Pennington?? lol

I met up with Aurora first. She & Amanda were having fun with the volunteer event & chasing after Joe Jonas. I went off with Princess Peanut & gang while the rest were involved with conference events. At 2:40ish, I got the text from Aurora : "Get back to the volunteer area NOW".

Running thru the countries, we finally made it back to the Volunteer Area (Millennium Village) just in time. The Volunteer Parade with Kermit, Miss Piggy & Sweetums from the Magic Kingdom had just started. This was so amazing for a few reasons :

1. Epcot does not generally have "parades"

2. I never seem to be over at the Magic Kingdom at the right time to see this parade

3. It was the Muppets!

This parade was just a short little pre-parade, but it was cute. The costumes were colorful & music catchy. But the most amazing thing was the 10 big box trucks that followed Miss Piggy & Kermit. These box trucks were full of the canned goods that were used to create the structure built earlier. All the food was donated to local food banks in the central Florida area.

After the parade, I finally met up with everyone! It was a big hug fest ;) It was so exciting! And, to make it even better, Lou Mongello was with them! We decided to find a quiet spot & do a podcast(ßlisten) with Lou. What better of a place than a quiet cafe table in France?

We rode Test Track together & it felt like I had been with them from the start. They were that wonderful. Soon, it came for us to part ways..they had a dinner cooked by Chef Robert Irvine & concert with Demi Lovato & Joe Jonas & we had a tweet-up at the Polynesian Tambu Lounge & Wishes from the beach.

You know, I could write a blog about each of these ladies (& Lou, too!). They are the sweetest people you will ever meet. I do suggest you follow them on Twitter & read their blogs, too.

I was part of Lou's Harem for the day ;)

Lynne, Aurora, Amanda, Jen, Traci, Lou, Jackie, JL, Debbie, Me & Debbie's DS

Check these fabulous people out!

Follow Jen - @Dizneydreamer on Twitter. Read her blog Always Running Behind

Follow Lynne - @Lynne_from_texa on Twitter. Read her blog Wondering What’s Next

Follow Aurora - @RoraBorieAlice on Twitter. Read her blog Tales of a Frumpy Mocha Princess

Follow Amanda - @amandatinney on Twitter. Check out her website Disney Every Day with Amanda Tinney

Follow Traci - @TraciLeigh on Twitter. Read her blog The View From My Fishbowl

Follow Lou - @loumongello on Twitter. Check out his website WDW Radio

Follow Jackie - @jjzmgailey on Twitter. Read her blog Mickey’s Magical Trip Tips

Follow JL - @NDM_1 on Twitter. Check out her website The Disney Driven Life

Follow Debbie - @dcanoli on Twitter. Check out her blog Debbie’s A Day Late & A Dollar Short

**Read Pt 1 of this story here**

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.

Super Family Fun Weekend 2010 pt 3

Princess Peanut playing "drums" at EPCOT. In front of Innovations

Talk about a whirlwind weekend....

Part 3 of our adventure found us at Epcot...and what a beautiful day it was. Not too hot, not too cold...not too windy. Just plain beautiful ;)  Mini-Me went off to take pictures...The Boy & Future Headache  went off to do Sum Of All Thrills & Princess Peanut & I went off to the Character Spot.

This was our first time in the Character Spot. The wait was not bad..maybe 20 minutes. And she was all excited about seeing her favorite Disney characters...Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto & Goofy! Thank goodness for Photopass...or so I thought....

Mickey's picture was great, but in moving to Pluto, the photographer had to do something with the scanner (sorry for lack of proper terms). So we were pushed thru & I had to take a picture with my video camera..*not* the best quality :( Can you say disappointed?? Moving on to the next character.Minnie..her favorite, and guess what?? It happened again!! This time I was not a happy camper about it. I told the CM I was very disappointed & this was the 2nd time this had happened. She let Princess Peanut finish her visit & pulled me to the side. She apologized & told me that I could wait to the side. As soon as the photographer was done, they would put us in front of the line. Sweet :) I was now a happy camper! Only waited about 5 minutes.

The photographers must be on the same sort of a schedule, because it was a chain reaction. As I approached each Photopass person, they had to do whatever it was they had to do with their scanners. *UGH* Um, hellllooooo...I have a 2 yo here, people!!

Luckily, I was allowed to wait for each to finish, but only because I asked. I feel bad for others this has happened to that didn't ask & possibly missed out. I woudl think that if the photographers had to stop to do whatever it is they had to do, shouldn't there be a back-up photographer? This is not the first time this has happened to us. We have missed several character shots because the Photopass CM had to do something with the scanner, one actually had his batteries DIE (they don't carry spares?) & another had to "take a break". Yikes!!

Bottom line, I got my pictures...and I am still buying the Photopass CD. Still happy (for the most part) with Photopass. I just don't understand how this kind of issue hasn't been corrected.

We finished up with pictures & waited in front of Innoventions for everyone to finish whatever they did. We all met up & were serenaded by Princess Peanut's Drum Solo (see picture above). Group picture & to the car for Superbowl!!

The weekend was great! It was a very busy 48 hours, but they were exciting!!! Can't wait til next year!!

Birthdays last for a weekend, right? Part 1

Yay..me :)

Since it was my birthday, and we were lucky enough to have a bye-week that weekend, that could only mean one thing.....Disney for the weekend!!

Just so you know, I am a slight bit OCD. My house must be clean before we leave & all laundry must be done. So, with that being said & after being at Disney on Thursday, there was a lot of work to do on Friday before we left! Needless to say, left later than I thought but oh well. We'll still be able to get an early start on Saturday!

The major excitement of Saturday was the fact that Magic Kingdom was open til 1am! This meant that after 10 pm, most of the lines die down. No Florida sun & heat to beat down on you. 

Since we are true theme park people, we also have Universal Passes as well. We decided to get up early & hit Rip Ride Rocket. What an incredible ride. I personally did not ride that, but the 3 older kiddos did. Basically, they waited 70 minutes (which was a short wait according to many people I spoke with) which gave me plenty of time to take Princess Peanut on some rides for her. Highlight of the day..pictures with Shrek & Donkey & riding ET for the first time! She is getting so big. *sigh*  Got some great pictures of the kids on R3. They basically gave it 2 thumbs-up & 1 "it was okay". They liked picking the music track for the ride, but said it was hard to hear.

The afternoon adventure was great, although it was about 100 degrees..no joke. Time for some pool-time back at the hotel :)