Just for Fun

All posts in the Just for Fun category

Cinderella’s Makeover

Published October 25, 2012 by Disneyways.com

Cindy has a new hairstyle AND a new dress! Check out the photos and the slideshow below! Are you a fan of her new look?

Join us over at our Princess fan page on facebook by clicking here.

(I do not claim ownership to these photos…)

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10 Disney Villains You Can See at WDW

Published October 24, 2012 by Disneyways.com

David Letterman isn’t the only one with top 10 lists.  Here’s where you can get your villain fix!

1. Maleficent  from “Sleeping Beauty.”– Catch her in Fantasmic! over at Hollywood Studios. When she transforms herself into a dragon and sets the river on fire, it’s one of the most awesome moments in the entire nighttime spectacular. You can also see her in the Dream Along with Mickey show at Magic Kingdom.

2. Captain Hook – The Dream-Along with Mickey show at Magic Kingdom Park, as he and Mr. Smee face off against their old nemesis.

3. Ursula – Before New Fantasyland, we’ve been able to go “Under the Sea” with Voyage of the Little Mermaidat Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

4. Jafar – From “Aladdin” during the Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade at Magic Kingdom Park

5. The Queen from Snow White– Catch her in Fantasmic!

6. Governor Ratcliffe – He’s in Fantasmic! too. If you remember, he  is the self-serving villain from “Pocahontas,” who is greedy and wants gold!

7. Lady Tremaine – Cinderella’s stepmother and her two awkward daughters, Anastasia and Drizella. They do character meet and greets in the Magic Kingdom. You can also find them during character dining times over at 1900 Park Fare Restaurant in the Grand Floridian.

8. Gaston –  Gaston takes part in Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and beginning this fall, you’ll actually have a chance to meet him when he begins making regular appearances outside Gaston’s Tavern in New Fantasyland.

9. Evil Emperor Zurg – look for him at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (attraction) in Magic Kingdom!

10. Headless Horseman – Nothing says Halloween quite like “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and no villain is more ominous than the Headless Horseman, who makes special appearances ONLY during Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom Park.

Disney Parks Blog has great photos of them all! (Insert evil laugh here.)

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Do you work for Disney? No, but I used to.

Published September 12, 2012 by Disneyways.com

My Disney Story

I grew up and have never lived any where but in Orlando. Walt Disney World has literally been a part of my life for as far back as I can remember. My parents would take me there as a small child, and I would cry every time we left because I just didn’t know how soon I would be allowed to go back. The parents of my childhood best friend both worked at Disney World, so I can remember going to the cast member parties at a pretty young age. Back in 1993 Disney used to have Grad Nite and I remember that magical evening at the Parks as being one of the highlights of my senior year in high school.

I think it was 2007 when I spent 3 months or so actually working at Disney. I don’t know what came over me. My siblings all worked there when they were young, but I was a very busy adult with a husband and 2 children by this time. Even though I was gainfully employed as a dental assistant in Winter Park Florida 4-5 days a week, apparently I wasn’t busy enough. So, I threw in buying a house for good measure, you know, since we had nothing else to do.

Even though I had 13 years of customer service experience, (5 years of  that customer service experience with a little company called AT&T) and absolutely no food service experience…at all…ever…the Disney casting center thought I’d be a good fit as a hostess at the Garden Grill over in Epcot. I really didn’t understand it – but I didn’t care! I just put on my little farmer’s outfit,  my Disney required non-skid shoes, and my tiny little fake diamond stud earrings. Then I made my long journey to work at the happiest place on earth. It was a long way from sucking spit at the dental office all week, and I loved it.

Little did I know that just a few short years later I would own my own company – and begin taking calls for Disney dining from home!

“Thank you for calling Disney dining, my name is Krista. How can I help you celebrate today?”

It was something I am pretty sure I said in my sleep. The calls were constant and there was no time to breathe in between. It was all the fun of working with Disney and it’s guests on a global scale – without ever leaving my little home office. Many times I was still wearing my PJ’s! I just did it, and I loved every minute.

In fact, Disney dining was a big part of my life for 3 years, so that little stint at the Garden Grill gave me some invaluable inside knowledge about how Disney dining works. I took a month long class about booking resort stays too. In spite of never working as a travel agent, I am a graduate of the Disney College of Knowledge. These are just some of the skills and experiences that I get to draw from as I spend time with my Disney friends all over the world via social media and my online radio shows. I am on an awesome journey – building a financially sound company and career out my love of the Disney Parks. I feel so very privileged and blessed to be able to share my lifetime of living near the Disney magic with you.

Thanks for reading my blog, facebook posts, and tweets! I hope you have a magical day – and I’ll see YOU in the Parks!

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Sometimes it’s so good to be bad…

Published September 6, 2012 by Disneyways.com

Two of my favorite things in life are Disney characters and makeup. (What……..is that so wrong?)

Anyway, that’s why I got so excited about this and had to share it with you today!

From InStyle Magazine: “Disney gets the makeup treatment by e.l.f. cosmetics, with three Disney villain palettes featuring the Evil Queen, Cruella DeVil, and Maleficent rolling out at Walgreens stores for $10 each starting September 15th. (The collection also includes eye shadows, false lashes, a magic mirror, and more!)“

Maleficent is my favorite Disney villain of all time.  Do I want to take makeup tips from her? Probably not. Will I be checking every Walgreens in town to see if they have these? Definitely.  Some times it feels so good to be bad…and what girl doesn’t need a magic mirror? Are you kidding me???

I believe that the palettes are only going to be released to a limited number of Walgreens, (5,000 stores) so it may take some effort to track them down.  You can be sure that if I do see them, I’ll buy them to review here on the blog.

I don’t know if the line will feature any of my favorite plus-sized villains – but I sure hope so.

I thought these “skinny”  versions from this summer were RIDICULOUS!  (Click here to read more on those.)

There is just something so wrong about these…

So what do you think?
Are you as excited as I am to see how E.L.F. portrays our favorite Disney villains – in makeup?
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Magical YouTube Playlist from Disneyways

Published August 6, 2012 by Disneyways.com

Are you ready to be whisked away to Disney for about two hours – at least in your imagination? Today I want to share with my YouTube playlist of some of my all time favorite Disney songs and videos. You can play the list any time you need a Disney “fix” to hold you over between visits to the happiest place on earth!

I am so thankful for the people who filmed these videos and posted them to YouTube! I do not own – or have rights to any of these videos, but I enjoy watching and listening to them – and I hope you do too!

Once you click the link, put your headphones on or turn up your speakers. From there you can just sit back, relax, and enjoy as each video automatically follows the next.

I hope for you is that this can be a magical distraction from the every days of real life – just like it is for me – at least for a little while.

What songs would you add to the list?

World Secrets: Video! Walt Disney and the 1960 Olympics

Published July 28, 2012 by Disneyways.com

Opening ceremonies for the 2012 Olympic Games was on TV  – and with it – lots of talk about the Olympic Games of the past. In 1960 the organizers of the Olympics asked Walt Disney to provide the entertainment for the event. Walt brought in big named entertainment, fashion shows, and even snow sculptures to the Winter Olympics. He also had Art Linkletter plan logistics for performers to provide nightly entertainment for the athletes and officials. You will hear Art Linkletter tell you in this video that the stars and performers came out to be a part of this at no charge. Not only that – but Art got to be a guest in Walt’s home while all this work was taking place.

Walt wasn’t just responsible for glamour and glitz – they even asked him to provide help with tickets, parking, and security. Walt was such a pioneering business man, was there anything he couldn’t do?

The 1960 Olympics were where many “firsts” took place – thanks to Walt. For instance, this Winter Olympics introduced Disney artist John Hench’s Olympic Torch design, which all further torches have been based on. Then came the idea of having the first ever Olympic sponsors. Walt Disney decided on the concept of thirty steel poles for the flags of all nations participating in the games. They each cost $500-$600 (big money back then!) so every flagpole came with a plaque from Walt thanking the Olympic sponsors for their contributions. What a way to get your company some exposure!  After the Games were over, each company received the flagpole their finances had helped place. Things I wold imagine you don’t read on a thank you note every day…my paraphrased version: “Yay you got to be one of the first Olympic sponsors in history! Thanks so much, and here’s your flagpole back now.” Actually, I’m sure Walt Disney would have written a thank you note with much more class…if he actually wrote thank you notes that is.

Olympic officials complained about the costs for some of Walt’s elaborate plans but he quickly responded, “Either we’re going to do it the right way or Disney will pull out.” (You tell ’em Walt!) The Opening and Closing Ceremonies involved 5,000 participants, 1,285 instruments and 2,645 voices from 52 California and Nevada high school bands. This and so much more meant Disney set new pageantry standards for future Olympic games. In the Los Angeles Times, reporter Braven Dyer wrote, “The opening ceremony was the most remarkable thing I ever saw. No matter how much credit you give Walt Disney and his organization, it isn’t nearly enough.”

Disney Podcasts!

Published July 23, 2012 by Disneyways.com


I recently started doing a mile a day on a treadmill in my living room. I guess I am still in the honeymoon stage because I look forward to my evening “walk” and have not missed a day since my friend Amy gave me the thing, and my son put it together for me.  Something I did not count on is how much fun I have had actually taking time to listen to some of my old favorite songs, almost completely without distraction. It is amazing how easily you can forget about the little things in life  when you are busy – even the little things that you really used to enjoy!  In case you were wondering, yes I still remember all the words to every Olivia Newton John song in history. I do have some Justin Timberlake and Usher thrown in as well, just so I can tell myself I am still young and cool.

Even when my teenage sons have friends over – I am not ashamed to belt out the songs (from Olivia or any other artist) as I walk. It is now just a price you pay for being a guest in my home. I figure since I  make them dinner, and I give them fair warning, they will just deal with it. So far – it’s worked out for us…my children haven’t lost any of their good friends…and I haven’t heard a whole lot of complaining.

Much to my delight – today I found a link on the internet to a whole bunch of Disney podcasts! These podcasts are usually hosted by Disney rats like myself and the content includes everything from the sounds of the parks, audio from the rides, Disney food reviews, Disney wedding tips,  and even Disney celebrity interviews. Today I listened to about an hour of the guy who does the voice in the Tower of Terror, just talking about some of the other cool Disney voice-over gigs he has had, and how he got started in the business. Quite possibly the most boring thing ever to some people, but fascinating to me. I just wanted to share the link with you today, in case you need a Disney distraction from work, while sitting in traffic, or- if like me – you are just doing housework and would rather be at Disney World! I am a new listener to the podcast scene so if you have any shows you particularly enjoy – please let me know what they are. I think the podcasts are fun and I can’t wait to listen to more. I hope you feel the same – and have a magical day!!

CLICK HERE FOR THE LIST OF DISNEY PODCASTS!

Here is a super cool write up on the new podcast app!

Talking Turkey at Disney with Andrew Zimmern

Published July 9, 2012 by Disneyways.com

What’s with the ubiquitous Disney snack – the turkey leg?

They are a really big deal! Just like a rock band – they even have T-Shirts! You can find the shirts right in the shops of  Main Street at Disney World.

It’s one thing that probably won’t be in my wordrobe any time soon. I enjoyed this article in the Orlando Sentinel. It goes a little deeper into why a turkey appendage could possibly be a big deal at Disney, and what Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods thinks about it all. It looks like the author and I share a lot of similar feelings on the matter.

Here’s a link if you want to read more.

“New car smell?” That is so 8 minutes ago…

Published July 9, 2012 by Disneyways.com

Do not adjust your computer – these are real pictures – and yes – that is a turkey leg scented air-freshener. What do turkey legs have to do with Disney?

Click here to read more on the subject.

Forget that new car smell! If you are a fan of not only the sights but the SMELLS of Disney this is for you!! Disney has released these air fresheners to be purchased in Disney World and Disneyland. They have worked on them for a whole year and the last time I checked, they were still available for purchase in the parks. I’m not so sure the turkey leg smell is my thing. I imagine the dogs in the neighborhood might all want to break into my car. It’s OK though – there are other options. The ice cream freshener is scented to smell like (what else?) a Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bar. These are candy apple and mickey waffle scented – respectively. My experience with these kinds of fresheners is that the scent is really strong for the first day or so and then the rest of the month…it just makes for a cool decoration to hang from my rear-view mirror. Could the Disney magic and pixie dust on these particular air fresheners prove me wrong this time? Perhaps I will buy a collection of them and at the end of the year when the smells are gone– there will be enough to decorate my Christmas tree! I bet my husband would love that – NOT. Just kidding, but you have to admit this is yet another creative idea from Disney and they ARE kinda cute!

So what do you think?

Send Friends and Family Your Own Crush Creation!

Published June 3, 2012 by Disneyways.com

Who doesn’t love Crush from the Finding Nemo movie? I came across this today and I’ve had a ball sending it to my friends and family. I thought I’d share it with my Disneyways readers so you can create your own personalized video message from Crush too!

Click this link to go to the page where you can create your message. You don’t have to be on (or logged in to) facebook for this to work. About mid-page you’ll see an envelope with a circle around it. Click on that. Fill in all the fields (except the optional nickname since that doesn’t seem to do anything or matter).

Then hit the bubble at the bottom that says “make”…

From here you can have your choice of ways to share. I like email (the bubble furthest to the right) because I prefer not to give too much access to my connections on facebook or twitter…and that’s what this app will want you to do. It will probably also force you to log in to your facebook or twitter account to continue – and I really didn’t have time for that.

The next option is “Whom would you like to send this eCard to?” You can type in your card recipiant’s name again. Next is where I changed things up a bit. In the “Friends Email” option I put MY OWN email address.  I created about 5 cards for 5 different recipients and sent them all to my personal email address. Crush didn’t seem to mind a bit – so I don’t think there is a limit of times you can do this.

 Then when you login to your email account – the card is there in your inbox.   It is beautiful and full of graphics. Keep in mind you still need to send a copy to your chosen card recipient and you may want to listen to make sure Crush says their name and location correctly before forwarding. My personal choice was to take the link off of the bottom of the card, paste it into another email and send only THAT to my friends and family, with a personal note from myself attached. This avoids any issues of them having trouble seeing it in all of it’s beautiful computer graphic glory when they view the card. 

Crush was not able to say my cousin’s name (Brianne) so I had to choose for him to say Breana. Then when I sent her the note I told her that Crush’s Australian accent made his Brianne sound like Breana. I thought she’d get a kick out of that…and that was an added perk of sending it to myself first. I was able to customize it even further for her with a note from me. You can use this secret too if your card recipients have names Crush can’t pronounce.

Disney gets the benefit of advertising links on the bottom of this card being sent to your friends and family. I figure it’s a small price to pay for the fact that they created  such an adorable  personalized card AND  made it free for us to use as many times as we’d like. I hope you have as much fun with this as I did! If you give it a try will you please write and let me know how it worked for you? Party on Dudes! Crush and I hope you have a totally awesome day!