Tag: Disney with kids

26
Mar
2014

The Magical Reasons Our Family Loves Bay Lake Tower

categories: Walt Disney World Travel Tips

“Our Building”

Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort is my family’s favorite resort at Walt Disney World. We stay there so often that my six year old son, Gavin, refers to Bay Lake Tower as “Our Building”. From the monorail, to Chef Mickeys, to the background sounds of a steam train’s whistle blowing nearby, to the side walk leading to the Magic Kingdom’s gates, to the beaconing boat dock by Bay Lake, every corner of the Tower leads to adventure. For my family, it’s the tower of our own Disney castle nestled nicely next to Cindy’s!

Today I’ll share with you the many magical reasons that my family choses to stay at Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. You’ll read about the convenience. You’ll read about the fun. You’ll read about the potential money savings. And of course, you’ll read about the Magic!

Convenience

My husband and I have two small children, 6 years old and 2 years old. The Magic Kingdom is our most frequented park during each vacation. Our mornings are as close to stress free as could be possible. There is no rushing to the bus stop in hopes that we don’t miss the next bus to the Magic Kingdom. We simply take the elevator downstairs, walk out our door and stroll along our side walk which leads us straight to the Magic Kingdom . Then, as the evening comes to a close and our feet are tired of walking, we hop on a monorail and get off at the first stop, The Contemporary Resort. BLT (Bay Lake Tower) is connected to the Contemporary by a walkway located on the Concourse Level of the main Contemporary building. The Concourse level is where you’ll catch the monorail and it’s also home to the famous Chef Mickey’s Restaurant and Contempo Café, a quick service dining option. So to get to our room all we have to do is roll our stroller off the monorail, walk across the walkway, hit the elevator button for our floor and we’re home.

Chef Mickey’s is the 2nd most popular character dining experience at Walt Disney World. Each year we kick off our first full day of our Disney vacation by having breakfast with the characters at Chef Mickey’s. We leave our room fifteen minutes before our reservation time and moments later we’re at the check-in desk of the restaurant. If you are not staying at a Magic Kingdom Resort, getting to the early morning breakfast reservations for Chef Mickey’s can sometimes be challenging, especially if you do not have a vehicle. There are no direct buses to the Contemporary from other Disney Resorts. With small children, mornings are stressful enough without adding the pressure of lengthy transportation ordeal to get to the Contemporary. For example, if you’re staying at the Coronado Springs Resort you would take a bus to Downtown Disney then transfer to a bus to the Contemporary, or take a bus to the Magic Kingdom and walk over to the Resort.

Another convenience of BLT is that Epcot is an easy and fun ride to the Transportation and Ticket Center and then a skip over to the Epcot Monorail. Traveling by monorail is massively convenient if you have an infant or a young child. Little ones love riding the monorail. It’s not out of the norm to hear that the monorail is a little Mouseketeer’s “favorite ride at Disney”! Also, strollers do not have to be collapsed for you to ride this mode of transportation. This is especially convenient if your child is taking his or her nap at the time.

Most importantly, Bay Lake Tower is a Disney Vacation Club Resort. Since it is part of the DVC family of resorts, all rooms have extra amenities, such as a kitchenette in the studio rooms and a full size kitchen in the one, two and three bedroom grand villas. Although this is a DVC Resort, you do not have to be a Disney Vacation Club member to stay at Bay Lake Tower.

Bay Lake Tower offers a variety of fun adventures. In this photo my husband and our son wait on the boat dock for a boat to take them to Fort Wilderness Campground where we’ll check out the playground and animals.

Fun Adventures

An entire post could be dedicated to fun adventures to be had while staying on property at any of Disney’s resorts. However, today I’ll share the fun adventures that my family enjoys while staying at BLT.

After checking into our resort, the first thing we do is drop off our carry-on luggage in our room, check out our view of the castle and monorail, and then head to the monorail platform for a ride. Due to travel, our first day at WDW is often a half day, so we try to do some fun things that don’t require using a full day’s park ticket. Although the monorail is used to get to two of Disney’s four main theme parks, it also stops at three resorts, Disney’s Polynesian Resort, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and Disney’s Contemporary Resort. We enjoy stopping at each Resort to explore their gift shops, restaurants and entertainment.

Another fun exploration that’s a must do for my family is riding a boat from our boat launch over to the Fort Wilderness Campground where we let loose and explore. Our son loves to play at the beach, then move to the playground, followed by checking out the animals and he’s even frequented their arcade. The Fort seems to move at a much slower pace. They have less crowds in the middle of the afternoon, so it makes for a great place to go for a brief escape from the over stimulating environment that children are in while at the parks.

Once we return back to “Our Building” we stop in at Community Hall to check out the week’s special events and projects. The Community Hall is usually very quiet when we stop in during the day, so our son has the place to himself, pick out coloring pages, check out their movies and games. One great activity that is preschooler friendly and that they seem to do often, is make your own pillowcase or pirate treasure bag. We also note the movies that will be playing that week at our resort.

Having a young children that have an early bed time, we haven’t yet taken advantage of the following fun adventure, but I thought I would mention it, in case you have an older child that could enjoy the event. During the evenings, outside of Bay Lake Tower and the Contemporary, located in a nice open area, between the two buildings and close to the boat launch area, a Disney movie is shown on a huge screen for families to watch. I look forward to the future when I can take our children to one of those showings. I’m certain they will think it’s pretty cool.

And we can’t forget the awesome slide at the pool! Not pictured in this photo is a wonderful splash area separate from the pool, perfect for toddlers and preschool age children.

In the above photo Gavin intently watches the monorail while finishing up breakfast in our 2 bedroom villa at BLT.

Money Saving Potential

Since Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort is a Disney Vacation Club Resort, many of the conveniences of home can be found at the Resort and some even in your room. The resort has four types of rooms, Deluxe Studios, One Bedrooms, Two Bedroom, and Three Bedroom Grand Villas. The Deluxe Studio is the type of accommodation that we have recently chosen, since our family consists of four. In previous years, we have stayed in the Two Bedroom when we stayed with additional members of our extended family. Both types of accommodations at Bay Lake Tower were fantastic. In regards to saving money, the Deluxe Studio and the Two Bedroom saved us a lot of money when it came to purchasing food in the parks.

The Deluxe Studio at Bay Lake Tower has a kitchenette, which we used everyday. It includes a small refrigerator, a kitchen sink, microwave, coffee pot, toaster and a pull out pantry. The kitchenette area is stocked with plastic utensils and paper products, including paper plates and bowls. Other than the morning that we eat at Chef Mickey’s, we eat our breakfast in our room before leaving for the parks. It’s so nice to sit on the balcony and watch the park come to life in the morning. You can see the Monorails start zipping on their rail, hear the whistle of the steam engine warming up for its day, and watch as the astro-orbiter prepares for approaching passengers, all as you munch on a bagel and sip your tea. With the close proximity to the Magic Kingdom, we would eat one other meal at our resort each day. The short walk or monorail ride back to the resort allowed us to do this without missing too much of our day. On occasion, we would sneak in a quick nap for everyone.

The One, Two and Three Bedroom Villas all have full size fully equip kitchens with a small dining area and a spacious living room. It’s wonderful to have that extra space if you have a large family or are traveling in a group.

In addition, they have a washer and dryer within the one, two and three bedroom villas. The Deluxe Studios do not have the washer and dryer but there is a laundry facility at Bay Lake Tower and it is free for guests to use. I find that this has saved our family money. We usually travel by plane, so when we do we have to watch how much stuff we pack. Checking luggage can really add up to a large expense with multiple people in your family needing to check bags. We make sure that we take only enough clothing to cover three or four days, then we do laundry on our day off, usually the middle of our week.

As I mentioned many times earlier, Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort is a Disney Vacation Club Resort. Our family members are DVC members. We use our membership to the fullest and know that it has saved us a lot of money. Honestly,we would not be able to afford to stay at this magnificent resort without our ownership. If you are a Disney Fan and love to travel to Walt Disney World and stay on Disney property, take the time to look into the membership. The DVC tours, that are done on Walt Disney World property, are stress free and fun. It could save you thousands too.

Magic

The one word to sum up staying at Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort is magical. Each night the resort is in the middle to two special evening events, Wishes and The Electrical Water Pageant. Since there are several types of views at Bay Lake Tower, each room experiences a different view of the events.

The resort rooms are booked under the following “views”, Theme Park View, Standard View, and Bay Lake View. I’ve come to find out that there is another view labeled “obstructed” but this is not an option to book. The resort rooms are broken down into the following percentages, 25% of the rooms are considered Theme Park View, 25% are Standard View, and 50% of the rooms are Bay Lake View. On one occasion, we booked a Bay Lake View and were given an Obstructed View. This view was fantastic for us. We had a view of the Magic Kingdom but also some of Bay Lake.

The theme park view in a Studio Villa during the day.

Most of our stays have been in a Studio with a Theme Park View. We enjoy staying in our room and using the balcony to view Wishes. The kids’ favorite part is seeing Tinkerbell fly! After my children and husband are fast asleep, I enjoy a silent moment, soaking in the sight of Cinderella’s beautiful castle lit up for the evening. It’s simply breath taking and a site that I wish I could capture with a camera.

One or two evenings during our stay, my husband or I take the kids with us as we walk over the Skyway Bridge to The Contemporary Resort. Gavin’s tall enough that he can see over the railing of the bridge to view the Electrical Water Pageant. Of all the parades he has seen, this is favorite. The only down side is that the pageant stops at the resort a bit late for little ones, so he doesn’t get to see it every night.

For those Disney Vacation Club Members not staying in a Theme Park View but wanting to see Wishes at the resort, they are in for an extra magical treat. At the Top of the World Lounge located at the rooftop deck of Bay Lake Tower, DVC members staying at the resort are able to take in the sights of Wishes while listing to the music of Wishes in sync with Magic Kingdom firework display. The view is amazing and one of the most magical on property.

From rooftop to balcony, no matter what room we may stay in at Bay Lake Tower, my family believes “Our Building” is the most magical in the “World”. We hope you enjoy your next vacation to Walt Disney World and hope you get the opportunity to discover for yourself the magic at Bay Lake Tower.

If you have any questions regarding Bay Lake Tower, I’d love to answer them! You can leave them in the comments section, or email me at info@mouseearsmom.com .

I hope you have a Magical Day!

17
Oct
2013

A Mom’s Review of Disney’s MagicBands

categories: Reviews, Walt Disney World Travel Tips

On September 13, 2013 my family was invited to test Walt Disney World’s magical tool called MyMagic+.

Before I start my review, I want you to remind you that I am in no way affiliated with The Walt Disney Company and all opinions in this post are just that, my opinions. In this review I will tell you about my family’s experience being part of Disney’s “test”. Now on with the review!

We received our first invitation to test MyMagic+ in an email and then another email. Soon to follow was an overnighted invitation by way of FedEx and then another overnighted invitation. Needless to say, we were invited. Talk about feeling needed! Why, you might ask, did we receive so many invites? The answer is my family vacations at Walt Disney World by using our Disney Vacation Club membership. I don’t want to dive deep into a review of Disney Vacation Club, but I do want you to know that while using my membership I had four different reservations during our one week vacation. Three of the reservations were for the same resort, same room and for consecutive days. The reason that I received two different emails and two different letters (each with different codes) was because we were invited to test MyMagic+ for two out of four of our reservations. We curiously accepted our two invitations.

As instructed, I began our experience by going on-line to mydisneyexperience.com and attempted to complete the steps on the email I received. The first step was to sign on or register on mydisneyexperience.com. From there I was told I could request Magic Bands and select FastPass+ times. For each reservation I had no problem requesting and personalizing the bands. Since we had two different invites, I accepted both and ordered two sets of MagicBands. Having the two different sets, I was concerned that we would confuse the bands, so I chose different colors for each reservation. I later found out after receiving them that we only needed one band per person and it would work for all linked reservations.

Selecting FastPass+ times was a little more complicated. I learned from this experience and I’ll pass the knowledge I gained on to you! First, you must have tickets linked to your reservations. We have annual passes, so we had to link the passes to our reservations before we were allowed to select our FastPass+ times. Second, you are only allowed to select FastPass+ times for those members in your resort reservation party. At this time (September 28th through October 5th) not all resorts were participating in this test. Since I had already registered my family on mydisneyexperience.com before the test invitation, I had included all 13 people in my family, including family staying at a different resort. For this test, I could only select FastPass+ times for our family of four. I’ll elaborate more on our FastPass+ experience later in this post.

After completing the steps on my invitations my family received two special packages!

I can not express in words how excited my children were upon opening these boxes. Victoria, our two-year old wanted to wear her band instantly. All of the MagicBands in the box are the same size. To reduce the size of the band to fit a toddler or small child, you peel the outside grey lining off of the solid color band.

Once the grey part of the band was removed, the MagicBand fit our toddler perfectly.

Now that we had our MagicBands we were ready to go! or at least pack to go to Disney. Here’s some additional information that I learned through this process that I’d like to pass along with you. Yes, the initial thought that ran through my mind upon getting this shiny Incredible box was “Wow, this is cool.” However, taking that box on vacation with you takes up precious packing space. You don’t have to take the box with you. I packed them in a quartz size Ziploc bag and put them in my purse. When we arrived in the airport, we put them on. Do not pack them in your check in bag. You’ll need them for your Magical Express Bus ride to your resort.

Magical Express was our first experience in how COOL MagicBands really are. As I mentioned earlier, our “test” was only for 2 out of 4 reservations. I did not expect our bands to work until our “test” reservation dates, which were in the middle of our seven-day trip, not the first day, but we tried them anyways. To my surprise, we approached our first MagicBand Mickey spot and lined up our band’s Mickey icon to the icon at the Magical Express location and my family was greeted and told where to wait for our bus.

After checking into the resort, the kids and my husband headed over to the Magic Kingdom Park. Since we had linked our annual passes to the bands, they were allowed access into the park without any problems. Since our “test” had not started yet, so their paper passes were still needed at the FastPass distribution areas.

A few days into our vacation our participation in Disney’s test began. In the lobby, I checked back in and this time they linked my credit card with the band and I was told to enter a pin into their system. We were then allowed to use the band for purchases, FastPass+ times and could also gain access into our room without using our plastic room keys. Our keyless entry did not work, but I never made Disney aware of this issue. The kids liked playing with the cards to get into the room anyways. I used the Disney Visa Reward points for most of our purchases during the test time period, so we didn’t use the band for purchases either. We did use the FastPass+ feature.

FastPass+ is great for those families that are very good at keeping a schedule. We struggled a tiny bit with using FastPass+. However, when it’s fully operational to all Disney resort guests, we will most likely love it. Here’s why I feel this way. In regards to keeping a schedule: if you’re a parent you already know this, it’s not easy to keep a schedule with young children at Disney. Between potty breaks, diaper changes, feeding times, and nap times sometimes making it to a dining reservation on time is hard. When I selected my FastPass+ times on-line before arriving at Walt Disney World, I was offered three different time frames to schedule each park’s three FastPass+ experiences. The times were lumped together. For example, the first FastPass would begin at 9:30 and the third would be done by 1pm. The second and third options would usually be lumped together in the afternoon or evening time frames. Often only the morning times would work for us, due to what we thought would be our daughter’s nap schedule. Once we were on vacation, the My Disney Experience App was wonderful in helping us with FastPass+. I would recommend using it if you can find the time to adjust your plans while your taking care of the kids. I found out quickly while on vacation that if you’re not going to make your time frame you can go into the My Disney Experience App on your Iphone and change those times. For example we got out of Chef Mickey’s late the day we had scheduled to be at Epcot. We would have missed our Soarin’ Over California ride time if I kept our original time. I was able to reschedule just this FastPass+ experience time easily using the App. As long as your phone is working well, it’s great! There was one time when I couldn’t get the App to load my dining reservation times and I began to panic. Make sure you have a hard copy of your reservation number with you. I also recommend asking the front desk for a print out of your FastPass+ times, just in case there is a problem with your phone. I used my copy a bunch of times. There’s already enough potential for stress on vacation. This is one that you can avoid by having a hard copy with you. Also, as I mentioned earlier, we vacationed with a total of 13 family members. This is common with our family. We do our best on vacation to spend as much time as possible with all 13 people, especially when it comes to riding our favorite rides. My son announced that his favorite part about this years vacation was “spending time with Billy”, his cousin. During the days that we chose to participate in the test Billy and Gavin were unable to ride their favorite rides together, because our FastPass times did not match. Gavin was using his band and Billy did not have a band because he stayed in a different Disney Resort. Now, I’m not complaining. It was AWESOME to have a reservation time in the morning for us to bypass the standby line and walk on Toy Story Mania in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

In addition, MagicBands can be used to collect all of your PhotoPass photos too. It’s really nice to watch your little pirate get his picture taken with Jake and not have to find your plastic PhotoPass card. We took advantage of this and it was a nice bonus to having the bands.

You might be wondering about the physical aspects of the MagicBands. They were very comfortable, regardless of the 90+ degree weather. Not one of us complained at any time that they were bothering us. They’re waterproof, so no need to worry about the kids getting them wet in Dumbo’s Splash “N” Soak area or in the pools. And if you have little Mousketeers that want to have the same band color, no problem. The back side of the band has the owner’s first name on it. My family loved the bands. Our six-year old suited up each morning as if it was part of a Super Hero costume. Victoria, our toddler, always made sure everyone had them on before we left the resort each morning. The only negative side about wearing the bands was that any toddler like mine, can take the band off with ease. Usually within the first half of our day my husband or I would take the band away from her because she was playing with it and we didn’t want her to lose it. She didn’t really need one anyways, so this didn’t cause any issues.

When we returned home at the end of our week, Gavin’s MagicBands were tucked away in his pirate treasure box. Along with those shiny white boxes, I have my husband and my MagicBands packed away for safe keeping. But Victoria, she saw the photos in this post, yelled “Disney” and wants to wear her MagicBand again!

Are you planning a trip to The Walt Disney World Resort soon? Do you plan on using Disney’s MagicBands? I hope my review has helped answer some of your questions. Feel free to ask me any other questions you may have. I’ll do my best to answer your questions or if I don’t know the answer, I’ll point you in the correct direction to receive your answer.

09
Oct
2013

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Review

categories: Reviews, Walt Disney World Travel Tips

A Mom’s Review of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party

Let me begin by telling you that I’m a mom to two wonderful children, ages 2 years old and 6 years old. My review is based on my experience attending the party last week with them and my husband. I’m not affiliated with The Walt Disney Company. Ok, now on with the review!

Before the birth of our son, my husband and I loved visiting The Walt Disney World Resort during the fall. Between the Magic Kingdom’s Halloween party and Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival, Walt Disney World is busting with fun things to do. As young adults in our twenties, we worked for Disney and frequently spent time touring Epcot’s Lands during the month of October. Also, during that time I had paid to go to this Not-So-Scary event with friends and I really enjoyed it. That’s right, even as “cast member” you need to PAY to go to this event.

Now that our oldest child is six, we thought it would be a perfect time for him to experience Disney in the fall. Six years old is a perfect age for kids to participate in the fun to be had during Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. But what about taking a toddler to the event? A baby sitter wasn’t an option for us and besides, we didn’t want her to miss out on potential fun. To be completely honest, I was concerned about bringing our little adventurer with us.

Below I’ve broken down the event into six categories to discuss: Ticket Costs, Event Time, Event Décor, Trick-or-Treating, Attractions, Parade & Fireworks.

Ticket Costs

Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is a “hard ticket” event located at the Magic Kingdom Park within Walt Disney World. This means that you must buy a special Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party ticket to attend the event and that no other type of pass will allow you entry into the Magic Kingdom during the event. If you and your family would like to purchase a ticket to this event, I would suggest that you purchase the tickets before you leave home. The party has been known to sell out on some evenings, especially the dates that are close to Halloween. This year, an adult (10 +) ticket price is $62 and a child (3-9) ticket price $57. These prices are for dates Sunday through Thursday. Friday night’s prices are a few dollars more per ticket.

Pro: The cost of the Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party ticket is less than the cost of a one day ticket to the park. If you only have one day to spend at Disney, it’s perfect.

Con: Let’s be honest here, Ouch! Most families are already spending over a $1000 for a family of four to get into the Disney parks for a week. Another $200+ hurts to think about spending on just one evening.

Event Time

Pro: The event is loosely scheduled to begin after the park’s closing at 7pm and continues until midnight. However, they allow MNSSHP guests to enter the park as early as 4pm. That’s 8 hours of fun! Take note that since park guests that are not attending the party will still be in the park until 7pm, the scheduled events, such as trick-or-treat locations, do not begin until roughly 7pm.

The day of our party we stayed out of the parks and relaxed at the pool during the morning and early afternoon. Then the entire family napped until it was time to go to the party. Without that nap I doubt we would have had such a wonderful experience. During the school year, both of my children start their bed time routine at 7pm. The time of this event obviously concerned me. I’m happy to say that we arrived at the park at about 5pm and stayed until 11:30pm! Yes, my two-year-old daughter fell asleep on the walk back to our resort but what party animals my kids are! There was so much activity going around them, that both kids didn’t give in to sleep until Mom and Dad were ready to leave.

Con: Since other guests are within the park from 4pm-7pm, Main Street USA does not “transform” for the event until 7pm. I felt that entering the park early diminished a touch of that magical experience you get when entering the park after it’s spooky transformation . Also, the guest traffic between 4pm – 7pm is obviously higher. In addition, as I mentioned before, with small children that have early bed times it may be hard to stay for the entire event. NAP is all I can say.

Event Décor

Pro: If you have small children, love Disney or both, the park’s Halloween décor will not disappoint. There is no blood or gore to be found at this park! The scariest sight for a little one to see would be the Headless Horseman riding down Mainstreet USA. And I must say, that’s cool! Magic Kingdom is already decked out for the fall, but once the sun goes down, guests find all sorts of creepy images lurking upon the buildings and spooky villain music fills the air. The mood is somehow spooky and magical, only Disney can do that!

Con: None that I can think of!

Trick-Or-Treat Locations

Pro: There are eleven different “Trick-or-Treat” locations throughout the park. In addition, there are two “Trick-or-Treat Trails”. Within these two trails there are multiple spots for little spooks to fill their bags. Locations are marked with huge pumpkin lanterns, pictured above, so my goblins found them very easily. Our toddler, whom I worried would tucker out by 9pm, was running to fill her bag at the final surprise spot we found while exiting the park at 11:30pm! We collected enough candy that we had to give most of it away to friends and family. This experience went above my expectations!

Con: About 40% of the candy that the kids received was not suitable for small children. There was a lot of hard candy that they could possibly choke on if they tried to eat it.

On a side note, Disney provides all guests with small treat bags to use at the “Trick-or-Treat” locations. They’re really small. It was a perfect size for our two-year old to use, but she filled rather quickly. We decided to purchase Disney’s reusable shopping bags and emptied her bag into it after a stop or two. Our son used the shopping bag all night.

Attractions

Pro: Almost every attraction is open during the event! And since this is a special ticket event, the lines are just about non-existent. For a parent with small children, this alone equates in value to the ticket cost! When a ride ends and your child tells you she wants to ride the same ride again and you simply walk off the ride and get back on, with no wait, that’s awesome! For example, to ride on the new Little Mermaid ride, we had to walk into the attraction and sit down in a clam shell. There wasn’t even a line that had formed! The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh attraction- no wait. It was fantastic!

Con: You could find yourself missing out on some of the entertainment because you’re having too much fun riding the rides!

Mickey’s “Boo-to-You” Halloween Parade and “Happy HalloWishes” Fireworks

Pro: The Mickey’s “Boo-to-You” Halloween Parade is outstanding. From Mickey and Friends, to Disney Villains, to Pirates, to attraction favorite, Hitchhiking Ghosts, you’re sure to run into your favorite Disney character. This is definitely a must see when you’re at the party. There are two showings, 8:15pm and 10:30pm. If you can make it to the second showing, there is a smaller crowd.

Con: The parade is so popular that if you want to be up front, you’re going to have to reserve your spot and simply wait until it starts. My family was too busy having fun to do this, so we stood on the bridge in front of Splash Mountain and saw everything beautifully, but not in the front row. Our toddler rode on daddy’s shoulders for a perfect view and she was happy.

Pro: Happy HalloWishes is the name of the Halloween fireworks show. It’s shown once during the evening and falls nicely between both parades. This is a MUST SEE! Yet again, my family was having a blast on the rides and forgot to go to the front of the castle to see this fireworks spectacular. We happened to be BEHIND the castle by the Winnie the Pooh attraction when the show started. I think we may have been in one of the best spots to see the show! The fireworks were in front of us, behind us and all around us. I’ve never seen a better show.

Con: I kind of felt guilty watching them, because they had to of cost a fortune! By the end of the show, I was convinced the ticket price was worth every penny.

I also have to mention that there are tons of character meet and greets including character dance parties! In Tomorrowland, our Monster friends were having a “Monstrous Scream-O-Ween Ball”. We walked by the dance party where young kids were having fun dancing with Mike and Sulley. We even danced our way onto Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. But as you might have guessed, we chose rides over the dance party.

If your kids like to collect autographs, they’ll be busy that evening. For example, while the firework show was going on, the two female mice from Cinderella were next to us meeting with guests. Just a few short steps away from them were the Seven Dwarfs. Jake and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas were at the front of the park. Their meet and greet location was the only spot in the park that you could find a line.

What a fantastic adventure we had that special evening! The memories that my family made together I will treasure for a lifetime.

If you have any questions about our experience at the party, please feel free to ask!

23
Sep
2013

A Magic Kingdom Party

categories: Disney-Inspired Party Planning

Celebrating the Happiest Place on Earth with Happiest Party on the Block

This week on the blog I will be featuring extremely creative and magical party ideas to help you and your family throw the perfect Pre-Vacation Walt Disney World Party. Today I’m delighted to share with you A Magic Kingdom Party created by Erin of Landsdown Life. Erin designed this party for her three-year old daughter’s birthday and what a pixie dusted perfect day her little Mouseketeer was given!

The attention to detail found at this party was outstanding. Erin took the time to custom design and create the party invitations, décor, food, party hats and favor bags (featured below). Since her daughter’s two favorite rides are It’s a Small World and The Enchanted Tiki Room, she included both into the party’s design.

On her blog you’ll find not only decoration details, but also four other posts regarding the Magic Kingdom Party details.

You’ll find a wonderful tutorial on how to make Magic Kingdom Party invitations.
An Activities post to tell you all about the fun Disney themed activities that little ones played while at her party.
A Favors Part 1 post, where you’ll find the details on the adorable favor bags and treats. This post includes a free favor bag template.
A Favors Part 2 post, where you’ll learn how to make a special Mickey treat. This post includes a free printable Mickey Inspired favor tag.

You’re going to love her party! Below is the link to take you to her Party Decoration Details first:

http://www.lansdownelife.com/2012/05/disney-world-magic-kingdom-birthday.html

Enjoy! And have a Magical Monday!

20
Sep
2013

Five Ways To Prepare Your Child For His First Plane Flight

categories: Walt Disney World Travel Tips

The first time you take your child on a plane is a big event.

Planning a trip to The Walt Disney World Resort with a small child is so much fun. You anticipate the look on your child’s face when he sees Mickey for the first time. You tear up at the thought of riding the Tea Cups with him. Most likely, you’re more excited about your trip than he is! Then you start to think about the plane ride. For most children, this is the time when a little Mouseketeer will take his first trip on an airplane. You may be a bit worried about his reaction to riding on this huge machine. Today, I’d like to give you five recommendations that will help you prepare your child for his first plane ride.

Play with Toys: We all know kids love toys. Find an airplane suitable to your child’s age. From Lego Brand planes for older children to Little People planes for little ones, interacting with an airplane toy that has moveable parts will get your child thinking about the layout of a plane. For example they’ll learn about the location of the cockpit, engines, and seats within the plane. The photo above is of a plane that we purchased for our son before his first plane ride when he was a toddler. It’s made by Fisher-Price and a similar plane is still available for purchase today. The Little People Disney Princesses are a new line from Fisher-Price.
Give Her Luggage: Purchase a carry on luggage piece for your child. Have your little princess fill her carry on with her favorite PJs, plush animal, coloring book and bedtime storybook. Do this about a week before your trip and have her practice rolling it round the house. It may drive you a bit crazy after a while, but she’ll love it and she’ll be much more at ease doing it the day of your trip if she’s practiced.
Read Books About Planes: There are so many fantastic books about planes. Purchase a few or borrow them from the library for a few weeks before your trip. These are a few of our favorite plane books. Look and Say Vacation by Usborne Books is a board book that’s great for toddlers. This book teaches children about several types of vacations. Kevin Takes a Trip by Kane/Miller is great for toddler to preschool ages. Usborne Flip Flap Airport by Rob Lloyd Jones is perfect for Preschool age through 3rd grade. It’s a 13 page heavy-duty board book including over 60 flaps teaching children about the behind the scenes action in an airport. Planes by Fiona Patchett is a title for ages 5 – 8 years of age. The book is packed with answers to questions you would have never thought of asking! I learned a few things from reading this book!
Purchase Treats: Explain to your child that he gets to pick out his FAVORITE treats for his special plane ride. Make this trip to the grocery store extra special by giving him his own shopping bag. His treats are the only thing you’re shopping for this trip. Make sure he has plenty to eat during take off so he can clear his ears. It makes the potential “scary” time a bit easier to get through when he’s chomping on some jelly beans.
Show Videos: Spend some time showing your child some really cool YouTube videos on commercial airlines taking off or rent a children’s movie made especially for teaching children about airline travel, such as All about Airplanes with Backpack Jack.

Over the last two weeks I have shared with you simple ways to help you plan for your Walt Disney World vacation. If you’re currently not planning a trip, I hope you remembered to pin some of your favorite pointers for future trips. If not, you can click on the Travel Tips category found to the right of the page and that will give you all of my Travel Tip Posts.

Next week we move on to the really fun part~ the Pre-Vacation Parties! I can’t wait to share some very creative and fun ways to celebrate your upcoming Walt Disney World vacation.

Tag: Disney with kids

“Our Building”

Today I’ll share with you the many magical reasons that my family choses to stay at Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. You’ll read about the convenience. You’ll read about the fun. You’ll read about the potential money savings. And of course, you’ll read about the Magic!

Convenience

Bay Lake Tower offers a variety of fun adventures. In this photo my husband and our son wait on the boat dock for a boat to take them to Fort Wilderness Campground where we’ll check out the playground and animals.

Fun Adventures

And we can’t forget the awesome slide at the pool! Not pictured in this photo is a wonderful splash area separate from the pool, perfect for toddlers and preschool age children.

In the above photo Gavin intently watches the monorail while finishing up breakfast in our 2 bedroom villa at BLT.

Money Saving Potential

Magic

The theme park view in a Studio Villa during the day.

I hope you have a Magical Day!

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On September 13, 2013 my family was invited to test Walt Disney World’s magical tool called MyMagic+.

After completing the steps on my invitations my family received two special packages!

Once the grey part of the band was removed, the MagicBand fit our toddler perfectly.

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A Mom’s Review of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party

Ticket Costs

Event Time

Event Décor

Trick-Or-Treat Locations

Attractions

Mickey’s “Boo-to-You” Halloween Parade and “Happy HalloWishes” Fireworks

What a fantastic adventure we had that special evening! The memories that my family made together I will treasure for a lifetime.

If you have any questions about our experience at the party, please feel free to ask!

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Celebrating the Happiest Place on Earth with Happiest Party on the Block

On her blog you’ll find not only decoration details, but also four other posts regarding the Magic Kingdom Party details.

Enjoy! And have a Magical Monday!

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The first time you take your child on a plane is a big event.

Next week we move on to the really fun part~ the Pre-Vacation Parties! I can’t wait to share some very creative and fun ways to celebrate your upcoming Walt Disney World vacation.

Share this: