Category Archives: Just for Fun

Disney Vacation Mental Preparation

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RM-WDW-EntranceThere’s a lot of discussion on Disney blogs and websites about ideal Disney vacation packing lists.  Packing for the average family can present quite a challenge!  Most of the packing lists I’ve seen are somewhat incomplete though.  There are a few items you must not leave at home if you want your vacation to be as fun, as happy, and as successful as it can possibly be.  We all want our Disney vacations to create lifelong memories, right?  Let’s make sure they’re happy ones, shall we?

Today’s Friday Five:  Five critical packing items for optimum Disney Vacation Mental Preparation.…

1. Patience – I cannot stress how important this is!  I don’t know about your kids, but mine march to the beat of a different drum…with a much slower cadence than the one I follow.  In other words, I could easily become frustrated each and every morning of vacation just trying to get out of our resort!  Then there’s the standby lines, the RM-Walkers-Walt-Disney-Worldcounter service restaurant lines, the waiting for a show to start, the waiting for a rain shower to pass, the time between FastPasses – I could go on and on.  Pack extra patience!  You will probably use every bit you have.  Seriously, knowing before you ever leave home that there will most likely be many things on a Disney (or any) vacation that may try your patience and preparing for that eventuality in advance will help you be so much happier!

2. Rose Colored Glasses:  If you pack these, you’ll have a better vacation.  Here’s the deal – negativity is popular.  Whining, complaining, grousing, general discontent – it’s all in vogue!  This is the stuff rotten vacations are made of.  Put on your positive attitude, look for positives and do NOT focus on negatives.  I’m not delusional.  I know that things break, people are rude, beds are uncomfortable, and accidents happen.  It’s how we choose to deal with life’s obstacles that makes the difference, I believe, in being happy or unhappy – in general and on vacation.  Stop and put on those rose DSCN2961colored glasses!  I hear they come in contact lenses now too.

3. Flexibility:  There’s that oft quoted saying – “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry”.  Yeah, it’s popular for a reason.  So’s Murphy’s Law.  I’m a huge advocate of planning!  I love to plan vacations almost as much as I like to take them – the key to really great planning though, is to allow for changes to the plans.  If you have to get your heart set on anything – try to set it on creating a successful and fun overall experience.  Make those ADRs (Advance Dining Reservations) and FastPass+ Having fun at Old Key Westselections, but be prepared to change course when and if the need arises.  Sometimes blisters, exhaustion, sweating, a stomach ache, a meltdown, a thunderstorm…well, one or all of those can strike at any time!  Great things are out there to be seen and experienced on a Disney vacation.  Some are in unexpected places – be flexible enough to make new discoveries when the chance arises.  Also, know when to call it a day.

4. Sense of Humor:  You can either let a good soaking on Kali River Rapids ruin your day or you PeopleMovercan find humor in the situation.  It’s easy to become cranky, grumpy, grouchy – whatever you favor – when things aren’t the way we want them to be.  If there’s ever a time to look for the silver lining or make lemonade (insert favorite metaphor here) it’s when our children are watching (no matter how old they are) – when our demonstration of how to deal with life’s curve balls shows others how it should be done – with grace and kindness, with as happy a face as we are able to muster.

On our last Disney vacation, Raymond and I caught a bus from Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the late morning and happened to sit near a beautiful family.  The mother, father, and all four young daughters were just an incredibly good-looking bunch.  No one was happy – there was no excited chatter, no smiling, no conversation at all.  As the bus traveled along towards our stop at the Magic Kingdom, the dad said, “First one who catches mom smiling gets a dollar” – I could tell he was just trying to lighten the mood.  The mom spun in her seat and loudly whispered (you know how that sounds), “StopWalt Disney World Summer Crowd IT!” then proceeded in a lower tone to chew him out.  When she was finished, she turned back around (with a lot of drama) and proceeded to cry for the entire rest of the trip.  I would never presume to guess what might have been wrong, but I did think about what kind of example was being set for those four beautiful girls.  Please, if you’re a parent – remember to be the grown-up.

5. A little love for your fellow humans:  People visit Disney parks from all over the world and all fifty of the United States.  There are rude people and sweaty ones, people with frowns, people who cry on busses, people who stop Kali River Rapids / Disney's Animal Kingdomin the middle of the sidewalk, people who ram into you with strollers, ones who film Wishes with an iPad over their heads, Cubs fans, wearers of very large beards, all kinds of people!  People who are completely different from us.  I choose to try to be friendly and embrace the variety of Disney vacationers – I’ve made more friends this way and preserved my sanity at the same time.  Of course, there must be a certain level of safety and mindfulness of “stranger danger”, but looking for the goodness and referring to numbers 1 and 4 on this list helps a lot.  Oh, and some folks?  You just need to move away from.

What about you?  What do you pack to help you mentally prepare for your Disney vacation?

7 Styles of Disney Park Walking

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RM-Main-Street-USA-Magic-KingdomEveryone has a style.  I’d be willing to be that in this particular category of Walt Disney World guest, you have a style from which you rarely deviate!  I’m talking movement – how you travel within a Disney park on foot.  I’ve had the opportunity to observe Disney park visitors over the past couple of dozen years and I’ve identified what I like to refer to as….

The 7 Styles of Disney Park Walking

1. Walk OR Talk – If this is you, a multi-tasker you are not.  This type of traveler cannot walk and talk (or eat) and must stop and start repeatedly.  Walk….stop and turn to a particular traveling companion, speak…..resume walking.  No brake lights makes this type of fellow park guest RM-Fantasyland-Crowdone we shouldn’t follow too closely or a collision will most definitely occur!

2. Diagonal Walker – At first these cross-movement specialists seem as if they might be trying to traverse the crowd to reach a specific destination, but no…the diagonal path leads to the very edge of the walkway and then, like a pinball, this vacationer bounces back into the crowd in a new direction back across the path of every other visitor.  This is one of Disney vacationing’s greatest mysteries to me – If you’re a diagonal traveler, please enlighten me – Why must you walk that way?

3. Weavers – These fans of the random zig-zag seem virtually incapable of walking in a straight line from points A to B.  Not to be confused with the Diagonal Walkers, the zig-zag pattern is very narrow and repeats often – most commonly in the RM-Epcot-France-Pavilionvery center of paths and sidewalks.  It seems to me that Weavers are more likely to be pushing a stroller which makes me wonder if a faulty stroller wheel may contribute to this phenomenon.

4. Red Rovers – Remember the semi-violent playground game “Red Rover”?  The premise was to physically band together in an impenetrable straight line – the goal being to remain attached firmly enough to repel attempts by opposing team members to break the line.  The Red Rover style of park crossing involves the same principle:  Walk side by side with friends or family across as much of the walkway as possible, allowing no one to pass between you from either direction.  Oncoming or overtaking foot traffic must not be allowed to pass!  Personally, I find this to be the #1 most annoying type of group walking behavior in Disney parks.  Please don’t tell me if you are a member of this category.RM-Walkers-Walt-Disney-World

5. The Classic Mosey-ers – I admire them as much as I dislike this type of Disney guest.  They care not one whit about getting anywhere in a hurry.  The masters of the mosey walk in a straight line while their heads slowly swivel from side to side, soaking up the atmosphere, taking in all the sights and sounds, living the dream, baby!  My problem is that I always seem to be stuck behind them with a FastPass that’s about to expire.

6. Rear Viewers – This style is so difficult to execute successfully, it may be impossible – but that doesn’t keep plenty of brave souls from trying.  This method of reaching a final destination involves walking backwards to converse with other travel party members, check on offspring, or gesture in the direction from which they are moving away.  Rear viewers have absolutely no idea what they may be walking into!  Probably the most entertaining walkers to watch, these Disney tourists are missing some pretty awesome stuff in front of them – mainly the comical flight of the folks they’re about to run down!

RM-Adventureland-Magic-Kingdom7. Roundabouts (a.k.a. Dodgers or Gappers) – This is the category I call home!  We are the fast paced travelers who swiftly negotiate the other 6 types of walkers by taking advantage of gaps and openings wherever we find them.  Our ninja-like stealth allows us to flow through all the other park guests unnoticed with barely a ripple.  We are always moving forward briskly and with purpose.  Oh, okay, I’ll admit it – I just want all the non-like-minded people to get out of the way so I can be in front!  Since that rarely happens, I’ve developed what I like to believe are some well-honed skills that make me and my family members amazing crowd negotiators.

Yes, I really want to know!  Which type of Disney park walker are YOU?

 

 

Which Disney Characters Are We?

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THE Disney EarHat for ME!I started thinking (don’t say it!) about what Disney characters I like the most…and the least.  This lead me to wonder why I like them or don’t and what characteristics they possess that I do or do not identify with.  I’m sure I’m the only person in the world who thinks about weird stuff like this…but I do and so I’m sharing these random, wandering thoughts with you now.

Long meandering thought process all neatly wrapped up and tied with a bow:  Which Disney characters make up my personality?  Think about yourself – who do YOU identify with the most?  I bet you also find it’s not limited to just one character.  Thus the ponderings of today’s post…

Which Disney Characters Are We?

I am…

Belle.  Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney animated film.  I identify with Belle’s go-with-Belle and Gastonthe-flow attitude and her pragmatic approach to life – sometimes you have to do things that are unpleasant, deal with it.  I’m with Belle in that we’re not going to let anyone push us around.  I also love books.  I’m an avid reader and, like Belle, I’m interested in the escape books offer; the opportunity to travel to far off places and have an adventure!

Peter Pan.  On the outside, the mileage shows, but on the inside…I’m actually 10.  I love the wonder of everyday life and will stop to look at an interesting spider, try something new, discover why and how things work the way they do.  I’m serious and mature (mostly) when I have to be, but I still wonder what I’m going to be when I grow up.  I also like animals including snakes and lizards and am completely unfazed by them.  I love nothing better than to travel and explore.

PigletPiglet.  Inside lurks a loyal, but anxious friend.  As much as I can tackle change and roll with most things life dishes out, I am often a world class worrier when it comes to people I love.  Before I had children, I used to read any and everything Stephen King could dish out.  Then it was like getting married and starting a family turned up the volume on my imagination.  I could suddenly, easily picture horrific outcomes to the most mundane situations in vivid, graphic detail.  Probably my children are scarred for life by the fact that they weren’t allowed to have a trampoline, scooter, skateboard, go-cart, and so on.  I’m sure they’ll let their kids have that stuff because they were denied those things and then my grandchildren will….woops!  There I go again.

The Evil Queen.  Hey, I have flaws just like everyone else and I can admit it.  Two of the worst are my competitive streak (a mile wide) and perhaps being overly concerned at times (okay a LOT of the time) about my appearance.  I like clothes.  I like shoes.  I want to look nice.  I can totally sympathize with the queen from Snow White – it’s tough getting old!  When you feel great on the inside, you’d like the mirror to lie to you from time to time!  I’m not in line for fillers, Botox or to have “a little work done” – I wouldn’t mind a bit if gravity would leave me alone for the next little while though.

Ariel-EarhatAriel.  Sure, I like to swim, am kind of a hoarder, and may have disobeyed a parent once or twice growing up, but that’s not what I find most in common with the Little Mermaid.  It’s leaving your family and your home behind forever for true love.  And that’s all I need to say about that.

What about you?  Haven’t you ever watched a Disney animated film and thought – Hey!  That character reminds me of ME!??  Which Disney character(s) are you?

DIY Disney Halloween Wreath

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Mickey Ornament for Halloween WreathI haven’t done a Disney DIY project since last Christmas and even though I find myself busier this fall than I ever thought possible (where’s the free time my empty-nest status is supposed to afford?), I had an idea.  I love Halloween!  I like to dress up and I love cute and creepy decorations.  So, I mad a new wreath over the weekend.

Maybe I should have called this post, “DIY Disney Halloween Wreath for the Lazy” or “Disney-inspired Halloween Door Décor for the Non-crafter” – basically, I made this wreath out of some things I had on hand and a couple of items I picked up at the local craft store (on sale, 40% off).  If you like it and want to reproduce it, Halloween Wreath Original Formhere’s what you’ll need:

  • Pre-made Halloween wreath from the discount store of your choice OR a plain orange, black, white, or purple wreath and 3-4 coordinating wide ribbons in a variety of prints/fabrics.  My wreath came with sparkly candy corn, white ribbon with black polka dots, some orange and black plaid burlap-ish ribbon, and some sprays in orange, black, and white.  It also had these very cool giant pipe-cleaners sticking out here and there in metallic Halloween colors.
  • Halloween/seasonal sprays of your choice if your wreath is plain
  • Christmas ornaments in two different, complimentary colors (to go with your wreath).
  • Any banner or accessory you’d like to add – I added the orange, sparkly “Halloween” because it was also 40% off and ended up being about $3.
  • Hot glue gun & glue

Halloween Ribbon Ready to UseI wanted to add purple to my wreath so I bought some wire-edged ribbon in black with orange and purple spots.  Instead of bows, I just made some simple loops and wired the ribbon onto the wreath in a few random places.  I made Mickey ornaments out of purple and black Christmas ornaments in two different sizes – just like I do for Christmas (see that project here) EXCEPT – I made sure the hanger was in the back so I could wire them onto the wreath and the hangers wouldn’t show.

I’m not overly thrilled with the purple Mickeys because the ornament sizes weren’t as suitable as the black ones were (the head is too small or the ears are too big – however you look at it), but overall, for slapping together a few inexpensive items, I’m pretty happy with my new Halloween-themed front door decoration.Halloween Wreath on the Door