Magic Kingdom Tips

We went to the Magic Kingdom Sunday for my birthday. Disney is a great place to spend your birthday. The resort gave me a big button pin that said Happy Birthday. All day cast members wished me a Happy birthday. That was neat. When we got back from the parks I had a happy birthday balloon and an autographed picture of Minnie Mouse waiting for me. My kids really got a kick out of that.

Since we have spent so much time in the parks I've learned a few tips to make the trip more pleasant.

Magic Kingdom Tips
- If you have small kids hike straight to Fantasy Land. That's where you will find Small World, Peter Pan, Snow White, Pooh, etc. On busy days the stand by wait for these rides will be over an hour by the afternoon. They do have fastpass lines that you can take advantage of but if you go straight there in the morning you will be able to move around the area fairly fast. Little kids can ride everything in Fantasy Land too so it's nice to do all those rides while they are rested and happy.
-Now that I've said all that let me also suggest that if you are staying in a resort and the Magic Kingdom is having "magic hours" (late hours for resort guest only) save Fantasy Land for the magic hours. Everything in Fantasy Land will be open during magic hours but only select rides in the other areas will be open. Tomorrow Land also has a lot of rides open during magic hours.
-If you need a cheap snack for the family, buy a package of Mickey Mouse suckers. You can buy them in almost all the shops. They come in packages of 5 for around $4. We buy a pack every trip and they keep our kids happy during long lines and while we are waiting for Daddy to get off rides.
- There are several places throughout the Kingdom that serves hand dipped ice cream. They all are delicious but it's much cheaper to buy ice cream from the street stands. The kids hand dipped cone at the ice cream palor on Main Street cost around $4. A mickey mouse shaped ice cream sandwhich or ice cream bar is $2.50 at the street stands. My kids prefer to have a Mickey Mouse shaped ice cream over a hand dipped cone any day.
-Caseys Corner on Main Street is a great place for kids to eat. They have hot dogs and mini corn dogs with fries. There is limited inside seating but it's great place to eat. The inside seating is on bleachers with old Disney cartoons playing on a big screen. My kids love it! We take our time and they have a break from all the excitement but are still entertained. The bleachers are rather small though. I suggest having one adult go stand in line for the food while another waits for a spot. It's worth it!
-You can brown bag it at Disney World. They don't let you bring coolers in but you can bring food and drinks through the gates. We often pack peanut butter crackers for our kids if we are planning to eat Mexican food while there. If you are brown baggin' and are looking for a place to sit and eat, the Noodle Station in Tomorrow Land is a great spot. It's only open for dinner and even then it's not full. It's a great spot for a picnic or just a break.
-The Laugh Factory has open recently. It's a great show with audience interaction. They pick on both adults and children. Both of my kids have been picked to play along. We've figured out a secret! They like to start the last act of the show by telling a joke about a human kid with 4 ears. If your kids have Mickey or Minnie ears make sure they wear them throughout the show. It will increase their chances to be picked.
-A lot of people know that the Toontown fair is great place to see characters. It really is! A little secret though is behind the tents is a little area that has character meeting most of the day. If you walk to the train station in Toontown and then look up towards the tents you'll see the little area where they stand. It's a great place to see less common characters like King Louie, Cinderella's Mice, Max, etc.

I have a bunch more but I'm tired of typing. I'll have to do a Magic Kingdom tip part two another day.

Check out my other blog- Mickey's Diary- for more tips and pictures of Disney.

More Disney Tips!!!

This is why you should always ask to sit behind the driver on the Kilmanjoro (I have no idea how to spell that and I'm to lazy to look) Safari at Animal Kingdom. As a scrapper it's the best way to get pictures of your family on the jeep and it's the best place for pictures.

***ATTENTION!!! I have great news!!! Animal Kingdom finally has straws. They are paper straws that I'm sure are animal friendly. I'm so glad Mickey listen to all the mothers of small children.***

We went spent 3 days and 2 nights at Disney World this past weekend. I love Disney! I really really do. We stayed at the All Star Music Resort this time. It's nice but the movies is still my favorite. I love the building size movie characters. The music resort had a Broadway area which was neat but it's just not the same.

Some resort tips-
- buy the resort cup. It cost around $12 but it is unlimited refills! If you have some friends who bought resort cups in the past, ask to borrow them. We have had our two cups for years now and we take them every visit. I know that's not exactly what Disney had in mind but it works. The only down fall is that the cups only hold 12 oz. I wish they held a little more but they are nice to have. We throw them in the stroller and we stop and fill 'em up each time we walk by.
-The All Star resorts offer pizza by the slice or by the pie in their food court. I'm not sure if the upper level resorts have pizza places. The All Star will even delivery it to your room but DO NOT DO IT!!! They will add a $1 delivery charge and 18% gratuity just to walk across the resort. It's not worth it! A large pizza is less than $17 including tax. It's the cheapest way to feed a family. If we order seperate meals from the food court or a quick service place we are lucky to pay less than $30. So a quick walk to the food court for our family of four to share a large pizza for $17 and free drinks with our cups is a great deal.
-If you plan on swimming while at the resort (heated and open year around)call housekeeping as soon as you get there and ask for more towels. They will rush them to you and then you have them ready when the swim time comes. There are no towels at the pool. You have to bring them from your room.
-Don't worry about floaties and life jackets. The resorts have great little yellow life vest at the pool. They come in 2 different sizes so even the bigger kids can be safe at the pool.
-Pop century resort has it's own bus. The other value resorts (all star movies, all star music, and all star sports) share a bus. That means that sometimes you may have to stand. It takes about 15 minutes to get from the All Star resorts to the Magic Kingdom and about 8 minutes to get to Animal Kingdom. I don't know about Epcot and Hollywood.
-If you close a park, don't rush to the bus stop. If you are the first one to the bus stop all that means is that you are going to be packed into the bus. Take your time! Take some extra pictures as you're leaving of the buildings and flowers. Go to the bathroom. Take your Time!!! You can rush to the line and wait or you can let everyone else rush and you can enjoy a few more minutes in the kingdom!

Disney TIPS!!!

Above is just a few new pages for our ever growing Disney album. I was the end of a scraplift chain at Memory Book Inspirations ( link over there ---->) The top layout is with pics of Donald's Nephews at All Star Sports Resort. The bottom layout is pictures from Minnie's cottage at Magic Kingdom.

We are getting ready for another weekend at Disney World. I'm excited we are going to stay at a Disney resort and that just makes it so much better! We've really got Disney down since we have spent around 36 days in the parks. I thought I'd share a few of tips and tricks I've learned along the way.

Check out the Mickey's Diary blog for more detailed tips and discriptions of Disney attractions. The link is over there --->

Tips for Animal Kingdom
--There are no straws in Animal Kingdom for the safety of the animals. It's a big pain for families with small children. Make sure you bring a special cup for the little ones or (as I do) drop a few extra straws into your bag before you go.
--The Rain Forest Cafe can be visited from inside or outside of the park. It's a great place to visit even on days that you are not going inside the park.
--Outside the Cafe, through the gift shop, there is a great place to take some photos. They have a courtyard that has giant mushrooms and little ponds to pose by.
--If you ride Kilamanjro Safari (which you will want to!) tell the cast member that you want to sit behind the driver. It can be hard to understand what the driver is saying when in the back rows. If you are a scrapper like me, you will be able to get a great picture of your families reflections in the trucks mirrors!
--Camp Mickey is the place to go for characters. Mickey, Minnie, donald, and Goofy make appearance there throughout the day. When the shows (Lion kIng, Pocohontas,and Nemo) are showing it's a great place to catch characters without lines. My son had an opportunity to share a dance with Minnie one day!
--Just outside the enterance of Camp Mickey there is a trail that leads down to Pooh and Friends. It's easy to overlook and the line has always been really short.It's also great because you stand in one line and get to see 4 characters!!! Great time saver.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head for Animal Kingdom. I'm sure I'll spend the rest of the night remembering more.


Check out my other blog-Mickey's Diary- for more tips and photos of Disney.

Valentine Madness!

Happy be-lated Valentines Day!!! Valentines Day just isn't the same when it falls on a weekday. Mike and I went to a movie but we were so rushed to get there and get back that it wasn't even that enjoyable. We went and saw "Jumper". It was pretty good. It wasn't the most romantic movie to go see but we're parents so really why try! LOL!!! I actually picked that movie because it started early and that was a big requirement. We had to get there and get home so the kids could get to bed.

Braden enjoyed his first school Valentines day party but that's not really a big surprise. He loves holidays. He loves to celebrate. He may be the most festive child on this Earth. I'm glad he is that way though. It makes holidays and birthdays so much more fun.

The layout above was for a color switch challenge at Memory Book Inspirations. (Link over there--->) The challenge was to make a pink Boys layout or a blue girls layout. The pink boys seemed to fit with the holiday.

Disney FUN FUN FUN!!!!!

We just had a fantastic weekend at Disney. We haven't been since September so we were very excited to go. We went to the newly named Hollywood Studios (formerly known as MGM)and the Magic Kingdom. We did just about everything we wanted to do. We went to the Sci Fi Drive In at Hollywood. It was a really neat place. Each table was incased in a car shell. Most of them are made so that you sit 2 people per seat with 6 fitting into one car. We however had a regular table inside the car shell. I thought it was going be a bumper but it was a major plus. My kids are still small enough to need some help and supervision while eating. Can you imagine the mess a 3 year old could make with a lidless milkshake or ice cream sundae? Braden thought it was "awesome" because they played old movies on the movie screen. It was a fun new place to visit.

Zoo Trip.

We went to the zoo Thursday with Braden's school. It was his first field trip and I forgot my camera. (GASP) I know I know! I couldn't believe that I forgot my camera. I realize that day that Braden is quite a leader. He wanted to be in the front of the group the whole time. When it was time to move on to the next exhibit he would yell "OK EVERYONE! IT'S TIME TO GO!" I'm proud of him though. He's not at all afraid to take charge. He does that at home with his sister but all big brothers boss their sisters. This was the first time I saw him take charge of a group of his friends (and their parents, LOL!)

I'm actually 0 for 2 on the picture taking this week. Braden actually broke his first board at Tae Kwon Do. It took him a few tries because he is so timid and he kicks and strikes so soft but he did it. It was a great moment and I didn't have my camera. So, I'm going to make a resolution for the Chinese New Year to carry my camera in my purse. I will not be without my camera again.

Soooooooooo Tired!

We stayed up so late last night watching the primary results. I'm dragging today. I've watched every debate (for both parties)and hours and hours of MSNBC trying to decide who I believe in. It's hard to for me to say it being a registered Republican from rurual Arkansas but I think I'm going to vote for Obama if he makes it to the general election.

He still has a battlefield to make it through. It's not easy going against the old donkeys at the top. Oh and Super Delegates? What the........... Repubicans don't have super delegates and there is a good reason why. It is a stupid idea. Supers don't have to vote for those they represent. They can vote for the job that was promised them. I think that is just silly. I want my representatives to vote for me not according to their own personal feelings.

So much for that soap box (like anyone really cares). All you scrapbookers make sure you check out MBI (the links over there ------->). There is a clearance sale going on in the store and lots of challenges and contest.

NEWS NEWS NEWS

I have so much news. I've been out of touch for a little while. Our horrible computer finally died for good. We now have a bright yellow Dell lap top. Yes it's yellow. It's very very very yellow. It's ugly yellow. I personally wanted pink but I couldn't get my hubby to go for that. So he picked his favorite color---- yellow. At least I now have a working computer to work on. And the yellow is starting to grow on me to be honest.

I'm very very excited to be apart of the inspiration team at Memory Book Inspirations.(the link is over there ----->. check it out) I'm the new mod for the Baby Book Forum. You know how sometimes you just feel like your apart of something that is going to be big. That's kind-of how I feel. The site is relatively small but I think the ideas that are coming to reality are going to make the site something special. So make sure you go check it out. Seriously the link is right there ---->