Tweet Disney Wisdom

Posted on December 15, 2013 by greenlisa9989@yahoo.com

“Do all you can to take in all the subtle details and anticipate unexpected surprises on your Walt Disney World trips.” – Tweeted by Curtis Stone @GeekinOnWDW, 12/11/13

No truer words were ever tweeted! Right after I re-tweeted and favorited Curtis’s sentiment, I thought about the number of times I have been awed, surprised, amazed, astounded (get the idea?) by the very special and sometimes extremely tiny (yet no less amazing) details that one can find literally everywhere at Disney World!

As an illustration, I’ll list just ten incredible Disney details here (in no particular order) – Go to Disney World and find some of your own! – there are thousands of breathtaking, magical pixie-dusted surprises waiting for you.

1. Hidden Mickeys – you’ve heard me mention them before, but you will find them in the most unexpected places – woven into the design in carpets, on bedspreads, in bathrooms – seek and you shall find!

2. Look at the windows on Main Street – look UP! The names etched on those windows are tributes to some of the most amazing and creative people that have ever lived – imagineers responsible for all the amazing details Curtis was tweeting about.

3. If I had a nickel for every special moment we’ve experienced with a Disney character, I could retire early! Not just after waiting in line, either – my story about Donald is one example, but there have been so many times – even during parades when a character singles you out for one special moment of interaction – magical, surprising, SO precious – what Disney is all about!

4. The license plates on the limos in Rock’n’ Roller Coaster – a tiny detail we would never miss if those plates weren’t there, but WOW! Cool, clever, and funny! Check them out when you go.

5. Sound effects! I’ll give one example – the outdoor sounds on the grounds at the Port Orleans Riverside resort. You hear crickets and frogs while you walk among the landscaping between the resort’s buildings – those are sound effects!

6. The smell on Main Street (baking cookies!) and other smells manufactured for your enjoyment – want to know more? Go here.

7. DO~~N’T~~ PULL THE ROPE! Look for it near the Indiana Jones area in Disney’s Hollywood Studios – then PULL THE ROPE! See what happens – fantastic!

8. The Tree of Life in Animal Kingdom. Just LOOK at it. Artificial 145 foot-tall tree – looks amazingly real from a distance – then upon closer inspection, the details of every single artistic image depicted on the tree’s trunk and roots will amaze you. I could look at its 325 carved figures all day. Oh, and Disney’s ability to add magical touches to photographs is a nice bit of magic too.

9. Look Down! Details on the ground are everywhere. One example is the imprints in the cement walkways in the Storybook Circus area of Fantasyland in Magic Kingdom (circus animal footprints and peanut shells) but there are lots of surprises like this all over Disney World – great fun for little ones to find!

10. This one you might not be able to duplicate, but I experienced this bit of Disney magic once upon a time as I entered the queue for the Tower of Terror. The solemn, gray-uniformed bellhop welcoming me, called me “Miss” and as if that wasn’t magical enough, I commented on how nobody had called me “miss” in many a year – he held out his hand to me and, on that oh-so-hot-and-humid summer day in Florida, when I placed my hand in his – his grip was ICE COLD!

What Disney details and surprises make your vacation magical?

Follow Curtis on Twitter: @GeekinOnWDW, follow his blog here.

You can find me on Twitter @life_of_green.

Best Disney Christmas Gift for Little Girls

Posted on December 14, 2013 by greenlisa9989@yahoo.com

My eyes are always scanning for cool Disney items in stores. This year while Christmas shopping I’ve seen quite a few great Disney gift items out there. Today, though, I saw something that stopped me in my tracks!

At our local toy store (major national chain) , Raymond and I were battling the crowds to score the last few items on our list…as we were making our way up and down the aisles, I spotted this little treasure on an end-cap. Disney fans!!! If you have a little girl on your shopping list age 1-and-a-half to 5, you just go out right now and get them this. I’m not in that age category and I came this close to buying it for myself.

Fisher-Price Little People Cinderella’s Winter Carriage. Get this: When the wheels on the carriage turn, it not only makes awesome sound effects – wait for it – Fairy God Mother sings Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo! With the horse and carriage, you get Cinderella and The Prince! C’mon! Who could ask for a better gift than that?

Sorry the photo’s not better – Raymond was literally laughing and dragging me away from the toy display while I took the picture. Happy Shopping!

Loving Disney Pin Trading!

Posted on December 13, 2013 by greenlisa9989@yahoo.com

A page from our pin collection

Oh, Boy, can Disney devise devious ways to separate you from your money! One of their most successful efforts has got to be Disney pin trading. How can you not get swept away? Even if you don’t actively trade them, those pin kiosks are everywhere and the pins make great souvenirs. Princess pins, Disney Pixar character pins, park pins, vinylmation pins, Muppet pins, ear hat pins, pins to commemorate holidays and special occasions, pins for every year, pins for everybody!

We started pin trading when we took Megan and Joe on their second visit to Disney World. We bought lanyards, lanyard “charms”, and starter pin sets. At first it was hard to part with freshly purchased pins, but once we got rolling…we were like sharks in a feeding frenzy. We traded like crazy with Cast Members, bus drivers, other guests – at the parks, on boats, trains and buses, at the hotel front desk, at pin trading events and then we even traded pins on Disney cruise ships. This may be hard to believe, but we are not hard-core collectors who try to find rare or valuable pins or complete sets (with one exception). I think if we took it to that level, it wouldn’t be as much fun for us. We trade for pins we like or that have special meaning to us in particular. On a couple of trips we didn’t do any pin trading at all (but still bought a few to add to our collection). Last year our pin-trading love was rekindled simply by taking along a couple of friends who were just getting their Disney pin collections started.

Meg and Ashli! Lanyards on, Pins ready!

Megan’s friend Ashli and Joseph’s friend Jason were able to join us on our trip to Disney World last May. Ashli was celebrating her recent graduation from nursing school and Joseph and Jason were both celebrating finishing their junior year of high school – excited about becoming seniors in the fall. Ashli and Jason got swept up in pin mania just like we had in the past- starting slow at first and then gaining momentum – finally trading with gusto! Their enthusiasm was contagious! I wanted to collect the Orange Bird pin set and that was my main focus. Jason jumped right on in and started collecting his own Orange Birds – we all worked together to help each other find the pins we wanted. It added another layer of fun to an already great vacation!

Pin collecting and trading is fun! Over the next few weeks I’ll post tips and advice for making the most of this great Disney opportunity to part with your hard-earned money, while having a heck of a good time doing it. If you have any questions or particular aspects of pin trading/collecting you’d like to know more about, please let me know.

Disney World’s Toy Story Midway Mania – Love it but…

Posted on December 12, 2013 by greenlisa9989@yahoo.com

There’s a reason Toy Story Midway Mania (Disney’s Hollywood Studios) is wildly popular. It is (in The Fam’s opinion) one of the most action-packed, fun-filled experiences you can have at Disney World – even for people like me with no eye-hand coordination and poor aim! As the name suggests, this ride simulates carnival midway games. In 3D! And the games include all your favorite Toy Story characters. So what’s the “but…” for in this post’s title? I’ll tell you, but first the good news…

The GOOD News – About the Ride:

Once you make it to the front of the line, you board an adorable little ride vehicle – seats for two on the front and on the back, everyone facing outward. In front of you is a little toy cannon-looking thing with a pull-string on the back. This is your “weapon” – a launcher of virtual items you will “throw” during the various midway games you’ll visit during the ride. 3D glasses on, you’re vehicle spins you into position in front of the first game – you get a little practice first – and then? Game ON! Pull that string on the back of your cannon as fast and as often as you possibly can and hit as many things as you can before time runs out – rack up points as you move from game to game (breaking plates, popping balloons, shooting ducks, etc.). I just laugh hysterically while this is all going on – it’s that much fun! Probably, the laughing hurts my score as much as the poor coordination and aim, but hey – I just love this ride. You may have a seriously sore arm later from pulling the string to fire that cannon a gajillion times.

The BAD News – About the Queue:

The fastpasses for TSMWM go fast – like all gone for the entire day by midmorning! If you don’t get to this ride first thing, you either have to wait in what is usually a very long line (60 minutes or more) or pass altogether. Lets say you choose to wait in the standby line – let the rest of this post serve as a strong warning against doing that! The queue for this ride is almost indescribably horrible. At first you’re like all “wow!” and “cool!” and “this is great!” – but those feelings fade away all too quickly. Here’s the deal – yes, there are giant toys and games and a giant talking Mr. Potato Head – but somehow after just a few moments of nostalgia and feeling toy-sized yourself, it gets annoying – really REALLY annoying. The colors are too bright, Mr. Potato Head won’t be quiet and you are winding back and forth and back and forth for an eternity before you finally get to the 3D glasses. Surely this means you’re almost to the ride boarding area, right? HA! Joke’s on you – still more waiting in line to go! As much as I love the actual ride, I just cannot endure waiting in line for it – seriously, it could be used as a form of torture to extract top-secret information from international spies or something. Please! No more! I’ll tell you anything! Cannot take more giant toys! Make Mr. Potato Head stop talking!