We’re Going to WDW – 10 Things I’m Looking Forward To!

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As mentioned before, I’m crazy excited to introduce our granddaughter to the joys of a Disney vacation. I can’t wait to see her reaction to characters, rides and all the sights, sounds, and flavors we can find for her to enjoy.

Personally, I am looking forward to quite a few things by myself. When I focus on staying “in the moment” while I’m at WDW, it’s amazing what random experiences stick in my mind as being particularly wonderful. I know what I’m most looking forward to changes for every visit, but this time the top ten are….

Drumroll, Please

10. The Electrical Water Pageant. Sure, there’s no afternoon parade in Magic Kingdom and no nighttime fireworks in the parks right now, but I’m kind of okay about it because I can still enjoy the most cheerfully ridiculous spectacle on the Seven Seas Lagoon!

9. Florida dawns and sunsets. I suppose we have some pretty amazing sunrises and sunsets in Louisiana, but I’m typically too busy to notice. Seems like when I’m at Walt Disney World I get to start and end the day with gorgeous skies and have time to soak up every moment.

8. The Ghost Host will lower my safety bar. And then I’ll get to see and hear all the things I adore in the Haunted Mansion! Madam Leota, Constance-in-the-attic, all of it! Maybe Little Leota at the exit might be my favorite. Hard to say because I love it all.

Haunted Mansion's Madame Leota

7. The smell of the lobby in Bay Lake Tower. Sure, it’s lovely when they say, “Welcome Home!”, but nothing is more welcoming to me than that special scent. It’s like a warm hug that washes away all my worries. I could be weird, but there it is.

6. Earning the lowest score on Toy Story Midway Mania. I don’t do it on purpose, but there’s a reason I have never participated in any sports requiring eye-hand coordination. Nonetheless, I love this ride! Breaking those plates is inexplicably gratifying.

5. PeopleMover. If you don’t love it, stay off of it and let the rest of us have it to ourselves. There’s not a single second of resting on that lovely blue upholstery as I cruise around Tomorrowland that I don’t love. Mr. Morrow, I can’t wait to be there!

4. Sipping and Snacking my way around World Showcase. This is the ultimate Epcot experience for me. I can shop, stroll, or sit and relax while sampling exotic fare and sipping an adult beverage. Doesn’t matter if we start in Mexico or Canada, I’m going to enjoy the trip around the World!

Italy Pavilion / Epcot's World Showcase

3. Taking a million pictures on Kilimanjaro Safaris. I’ve stopped trying to NOT do this. I can ride the Safaris five times on a single vacation and I will snap pics like I’ve never been there before. I’m convinced my family appreciates this phenomenon as just another of my many adorable quirks. And if they don’t, I don’t care. Look! An Okapi!

2. People watching from the Dawa Bar. Give me an Old Elephant Foot IPA and a place to stand. This is a great spot for soaking up the atmosphere in Africa. I don’t have very many must-do’s on every trip, but this is absolutely one of them.

And Number One…

Walking down Main Street USA. I can’t be alone here. This is probably something the majority of people love to do on a Disney vacation. It’s the ultimate I-am-back feeling. Familiar sights, sounds, and smells. The lovely air of nostalgia. There’s Cinderella Castle in all her glory…a familiar and beloved sight that will be especially welcome to these weary eyes…they’ll probably start leaking.

View of Cinderella Castle from Main Street U.S.A.

What will you be looking forward to the most on your next visit?

Walt Disney World 2021 – A Completely Different Plan

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It’s been a rough 16 months since our last visit to Walt Disney World for the 2020 Dopey Challenge. It’s time for a much needed vacation. While the main components of our upcoming getaway are familiar, there are quite a few factors that have made planning this trip vastly different from our usual modus operandi.

Balloon Vendor on Main Street U.S.A.

First and most importantly, we are taking our granddaughter, Violet, for her first visit! She may only be two, but she already loves Disney. She’s a big fan of princesses in general and Buzz Lightyear in particular. I know I’m partial, but Violet happens to have an exceptionally sunny disposition which makes her an absolute joy to be around. I cannot wait to see her reaction to all the magic she’s about to experience.

Planning Differently

The combination of COVID measures and travelling with a toddler has given us an opportunity to plan more creatively. We’ll also be spending differently while we’re at Walt Disney World. Having done quite a bit of research, we know the parks, resorts, and restaurants on this trip will be very different than in the past. While COVID restrictions are starting to be reduced, those still in place will have an effect on our overall experience. We are committed to being as positive as possible and determined to have a great vacation. We are incredibly grateful to not have to wear masks outdoors!

Dining

In the past, we have faithfully made our dining reservations at the 180-day mark. Usually securing our priority restaurants for dinner first, then tend to go back and add a few lunches and breakfasts to round out our plans. Now we have a couple of things to work around: no Tables in Wonderland card and Violet’s naptime.

Right now many (or most) of our favorite restaurants have limited menus. Not a problem! I booked only three dinners (out of 7 nights): The Wave on arrival day, Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ during our one and only planned visit to Disney Springs, and California Grill for Raymond’s birthday celebration. The rest of the time Violet can nap as long as she likes and we can figure out what we want to eat more-or-less on the spur of the moment. Several table service places are offering carry out right now and we think it might be fun to take advantage of that. We can always eat quick service at our resort or hit the Flower and Garden booths at Epcot for dinner.

The Hollywood Brown Derby / Disney's Hollywood Studios

I might be flexibly planning meals, but I’m still me – a borderline obsessive vacation planner. I’ve scored a lunch reservation in each park I think we’ll enjoy: Skipper Canteen, Biergarten, Yak & Yeti, and Hollywood Brown Derby. We won’t be getting that Tables in Wonderland discount, but I’m doing my best to keep the food budget the same. Normally, we may eat 10-15 table service meals in a week. It’s a miracle I’m not hyperventilating over having only 7.

Transportation

We haven’t rented a car on a Disney vacation since sometime around 2004. We usually take advantage of Magical Express or we hire a car to get us to our resort from the airport and back. I started thinking about the effect of COVID measures on Disney Transportation and how that might slow things down. For sure, Violet needs to experience the Skyliner and Monorail, but we’d like the option to get to and from the parks without waiting for busses. We’ll likely be spending a good bit more time at our resort than we ordinarily do with naptime and early-ish park closings, so having our own ride for grocery shopping and food pick-up would be extra convenient.

Renting a large SUV & car seat is taking a big chunk of our vacation budget. By not eating out for every meal and stocking our own supply of snacks and adult beverages in our resort, I’m hoping to offset some of the costs of car rental. Yes, that means Disney is getting a good bit less of our money than usual. It’ll be good practice for when Magical Express is gone for good in 2022.

Grandparenting

The last time we visited Walt Disney World with a toddler was in 1996. Yeesh, I feel absolutely ancient. A good cure for that feeling is spending time with Violet! Some of our friends are surprised we think two is the perfect age for a first trip to WDW because Violet likely won’t remember a bit of it. But we will. We’re healthy, fully vaccinated and enjoy all the rides and experiences Disney has to offer. What better time to share our favorite vacation spot with the next generation? Violet will get this one trip on her own before she becomes a big sister in a few months and we are all about it!

If you want to follow along with our adventures, we’ll be sharing tips, reviews, and our general excitement over on Facebook and Twitter. Hope to see you there!

Dopey Challenge 2020 Recap (Part One)

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We registered, we trained, we ran and…just like that it was over. Was it everything we’d hoped for? It was all that and more. For those of you who’ve completed a Dopey Challenge, hopefully these posts will bring back happy memories. For those of you with Dopey hopes for the future…here’s how it went for us.

Dopey Challenge 2020 Recap (Part One) – a.k.a. The Easy Part

Let’s talk about the expo and I’ll get to the actual running in Part Two.

The runDisney race expo was the first thing on our arrival day agenda. We got there by around 10:00 am on Wednesday morning. If you want to really fit in with the other participants at the expo, you need to wear a shirt from a previous runDisney event. You’ll see hundreds of them. We don’t generally care much about fitting in so we chose comfy civilian attire.

The expo atmosphere is full of both pre-race excitement and somewhat frantic expectation. The latter belonging those on the hunt for the extremely popular race merchandise. More on that in a second.

After having a few runDisney events under our belts, we’ve developed somewhat of an expo tradition. As with many of our traditions, this one involves beer. We pick up our bibs and shirts first then celebrate that accomplishment with beer while we look around the vendor booths at the expo.

We usually don’t buy much, but the vendor booths are fun and sometimes we find something too good to pass up. If you need any last minute gear, there’s usually a great selection of socks, arm bands, fuel belts, shirts, sunglasses, earbuds and the like.

Fun fact: If you’re doing a multi-race challenge, your picture will be taken when you pick up your race bib(s). This helps the runDisney folks make sure you get the correct medals. They snap your photo as you hold your race bib in front of your chest. I always feel like I’m having a prison mug shot taken and I really expect hear the photographer say, “turn to your left”. But they never do.

After we satisfied our thirsts and expo shopping urges, we headed for the building that houses the runDisney merchandise. This is the stuff people go nuts for. They wait in super (not exaggerating here) long, crowded lines just to get into the part of the building where the merchandise is sold. Then it’s a free-for-all while folks seem to be grabbing up armfuls of stuff. I wanted to get swept up in the moment! I did! But found I wasn’t a fan of the shirt designs or colors. I did find a car magnet and a couple of pins I thought would be nice to have, but then I saw the check-out lines and realized I didn’t want that stuff bad enough.

We may have left empty handed, but our curiosity was completely satisfied. And we had built up a terrible thirst. So we grabbed more beer and sat on a bench in the sunlight taking it all in. As our cups emptied, we realized we were completely starving, so we headed for the buses, returned to Bay Lake Tower, dropped off our bags and hopped on the monorail to Epcot in search of lunch.

In Part Two I’ll be covering the first three Dopey Challenge events. Please check back soon!

Book Review: The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Random House Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger

I was thrilled when I received an email from a Random House representative asking if I’d like to receive a complementary copy of Bob Iger’s memoir, The Ride of a Lifetime. It arrived not long before our recent trip to Walt Disney World for the Dopey Challenge. Thinking it would be a great book to enjoy while waiting in the airport and on the plane, I saved it to enjoy on vacation.

From the emotional prologue (I ugly cried) to the “Lessons to Lead By”, The Ride of a Lifetime provides interesting details about things I already knew quite a bit about and, most surprisingly, things I’d never heard before. I especially appreciated the book’s backdrop of the many cultural changes that have taken place in corporate America over the past several decades. I’ve experienced many of these myself (thank goodness!). I’ve often wondered what Bob Iger was thinking and feeling during some of Disney’s biggest struggles and successes…now I know. He seems surprisingly self-aware and doesn’t shy away from discussing some of the more uncomfortable decisions he’s had to make.

Learning to Lead

The leadership lessons Bob Iger has accumulated through the years are passed along in the book through storytelling. Readers are given an understanding about how the various lessons were learned: through good decision making, mistakes in judgement, or pure luck. The stories are interesting and, more importantly, allow Bob Iger to share his leadership principles with the reader in a way that doesn’t come across as preachy or condescending.

The Ride of a Lifetime is a satisfying read whether you’re interested in learning management skills from a corporate giant or you’re simply a Disney fan…or, like me, a bit of both. Regardless of your opinion of the job Bob Iger’s done at the Disney helm for the past 15 years, this memoir offers a big serving of insight. Readers are given an explanation of how various elements shaped many of the Disney Company’s changes we’ve seen and we’re offered a glimpse of what the future may hold.

The Ride of a Lifetime is available here.