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!

Big Thunder Mountain opened for testing yesterday!

Published May 27, 2012 by Disneyways.com

Twitter was buzzing yesterday with announcements that Big Thunder was testing! It seems like we’ve been waiting for construction to finish forever but testing means we are so close to the grand re-opening! Monday is the official first day we can take the wildest ride in the wilderness – and I for one – am so excited I can hardly stand it. Check out these amazing pictures and posts from bloggers who were actually there!

John Frost, one of my blogging heroes, actually got to RIDE Big Thunder yesterday! Check out his write –up if you are interested in his honest review! There’s going to be a wider queue with added show scenes AND….wait for it….air conditioning!!! Yippee!!

Check out John’s post here

I think this photo is really neat. Who are these strange, white, faceless Disney fans?

Click here to see some more really clear, beautiful pictures from Big Thunder testing yesterday from DaMouse.com

This might be my favorite picture of all. Thanks lady construction worker!

Photo credit: DaMouse.com

What do you think? Are you going to head out for the big day tomorrow? Please send me your pictures and stories from the big day! My email address is disneyways@gmail.com.

Food and Wine Booking Dates Announced!

Published May 23, 2012 by Disneyways.com

Disney has just released booking dates for the 2012 EPCOT International Food & Wine Events. Food and Wine will take place September 28, 2012–November 11, 2012. The date to call and book your events is August 10th at 7:00AM (eastern) for Annual and Seasonal Pass Holders, DVC Members, Tables in Wonderland Members and Golden Oak Residents. On August 14th at 7:00AM (eastern) all festival programming will open for booking for everyone. We will get additional information on all of the event celebrity guests and cooking demonstrations in the near future! You may want to subscribe to Disneyways by typing in your email address on the right hand side of this page – so you can be one of the first to know!

Here’s a video so we can reminisce about last year’s event!

World Secrets – Mother’s Day Flower Power

Published May 12, 2012 by Disneyways.com

UPDATE May 2014: Saratoga Springs is no longer offering this program.

This is my Mom. Isn’t she a cutie?

My Mom loves flowers. She has a green thumb that I did NOT inherit! I needed a great and original idea for my Mom this year – and I think I found just the right thing. Today I thought I’d share with you what I found out about the Floral Experience at Community Hall in Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and spa.

This is so cool!

The floral experience helps us learn how to take ordinary fresh flowers and design a Disney-themed keepsake arrangement to take home. Disney says that in the process Mom will impress family and friends by “learning magical design tricks of the trade” and have the “experience of a lifetime” becoming a Walt Disney World florist for a day! So not only will we be giving her a gift of flowers, we will also be able to share that time and experience together at Disney…no park admission required! By the way, you don’t have to have a Mom or be a Mom to enjoy this experience. It’s all year round and really for anyone who enjoys this sort of thing.

(Hint!) There is no age limit on this class and almost anyone can learn how to design a Disney-themed floral keepsake…so if Dad isn’t into arranging flowers … this might be the perfect thing for a wife and daughter to enjoy together as a Mother’s Day gift. The class is one hour in duration and held every Wednesday from 2:30-3:30PM and costs $50 a person. You can book this up to 180 days in advance and in fact, reservations are required for this activity. Disney needs the advanced notice to determine supplies, therefore walk-ups are not accepted. Activity, take-home arrangement and items used to create it are subject to change without notice. There is a 2 Day cancellation policy so be sure and review that with the booking agent. The number to call and register is 407-WDW-PLAY.

My plan is to book the experience (if she can get a day off work!) and present my Mom with a card on Mother’s Day with all the details included. This way so she will know s what to expect and when. The bonus is she will have a beautiful arrangement when all the flowers from Mother’s Day are long gone. We all want to be the favorite kid so maybe this will get me some brownie points!

Please let me know if you decide to do the floral experience (or if you’ve already done it) and maybe we can post our experiences on Disneyways in the future!

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Photo and Video Tour: Put on your coconut bra and grass skirt! It’s time for the Luau!

Published May 4, 2012 by Disneyways.com

I have wanted to go to Hawaii for pretty much as long as I can remember. I’m a BIG Elvis fan and the movie Blue Hawaii probably influenced this in some way. A tan, handsome, young Elvis gyrating among the beautiful scenery of a Polynesian background? What’s not to like?! I guess since I love the thought of Hawaii, I love the thought of a luau, even if it’s just right here in my home town of Orlando Florida.

Luau 2

My mother first came up with the idea a few months before. She wanted to get the family all together for something really special and fun. I promise I did not suggest or influence her in any way to pick the Disney luau, she came up with it all on her own. It took about a month to get our entire group to agree on a date but it finally happened. We picked Friday April 27, 2012. This also happened to be my cousin’s birthday. Matt is a quiet guy who doesn’t like a lot of hoopla or attention on his birthday but he agreed this might be ok as long as we didn’t buy gifts or go to crazy.

I sent out the first email and everyone seemed excited about the big day! I made a list of all the names and counted it 4 times. Could we really be a group of 16??? Yes we could – and in fact — we ended up adding one more a couple weeks later for a grand total of 17. Wow! We lost my Dad about a year ago and I just couldn’t stop thinking about how much he would have loved this. I missed him through the whole process (and again on the big night) but I feel like he was watching the whole time. I think he would’ve loved to make it a party of 18.

My Mom decided on category 2 seating. When I called to make the reservation – all that was left was category 1. There was no changing the date now — so we went with it. I read and researched all I could about the luau just so I could make sure it was something everyone would like AND to try and help things to go as smoothly as I possibly could. The main thing that bugged me was why we had to be there an hour early. Disney policy states this for the luau and they even read you that policy again when you book the reservation. There was very little I could find on the internet about why this policy was in place.

My Mom and I headed to the Polynesian a couple of days early to pick up what I thought were going to be “tickets” to the luau, which are normally at the concierge desk. It was that magic time of around 7:30pm however. I knew there would be cast members at the luau podium this time of night so we made a beeline for the podium first with my list of questions in hand.

Sure enough, the crowds were filing in for the 8pm show and there were cast members waiting to greet us. I told them we were early for the Friday night show (this was Wednesday) and I had some questions. They were happy to assist. My first question was about parking. When my Mom and I pulled up that night we got one of the last spaces available. I was fearful with our big group that there might not be enough spaces for all of us! The cast member didn’t really know what to say. Just then I really lucked out and a manager approached us! The cast member repeated the question for him and just like that – that manager was MINE. The poor guy had no idea what he was getting in to. He politely calmed my fears by stating that parking has never been a problem for luau guests– and we could always pay to valet if we really needed to. He was surprised to hear the lot was so full on this particular evening. OK, so I was satisfied with that answer. I smiled sweetly and asked, “Do you have a few more minutes to answer my other questions?”

“Sure!” he replied in all his typical Disney helpfulness. So off we went…

“We have a group of 17. Do we really need to be here an hour early?” His response: “There is no reason for you to get here that early IF you have already picked up your ticket.”

“Ticket?” I asked, “I thought there would be 17 tickets.”

“Nope,” he replied, “ What you actually get is a slip of paper that has your confirmation number on it and says party of 17. That acts as your admission to the luau.”

WOW! One little slip?

I was shocked. This was a wonderful thing because I had no idea how I would see everyone beforehand to give them a ticket and what if they lost it? It’s just one little slip so I didn’t have to give anyone anything. Awesome.

Next I asked him about being tardy. My nephew Jason would be working that night and not able to get to the luau until probably 9pm or later. The manager said that wasn’t a problem and if my nephew was REALLY late we could ask for a refund on his ticket.

Finally, I asked him about seating. All he could promise me was that we’d be in Category 1 because that’s what was paid for. Oh well, I tried.

Friday night finally came and we all met at my Mom’s to carpool.

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We got through all the gates and parking without incident. Everyone was in a great mood when we arrived. I was SO glad I had talked to the manager because even though we weren’t super early, we still ended up standing around outside with no where to sit for 20 minutes or so, even after the formal pictures were taken.

When we finally got in however, things went great. The food was fantastic, the show and costumes were awesome. I couldn’t help but bob my head and wiggle a little in my chair to that music. It was a wonderful night. One of the highlights of the night was that they just happened to pick my nephew, pull him up on stage, and have his shake his booty like a rock-star. He was a great sport!

Here’s a few photos from our big night.

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This is not video that I took but it’s a great 4 minute clip of what the show is like.
All in all, we had a blast. Go see this thing if you get a chance! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Simba’s pride…

Published April 18, 2012 by Disneyways.com

Monday I was at Diseny’s Animal Kingdom and we stopped in to catch the Lion King show. I’ve probably seen it a hundred times. It never fails however…the lights dim, the music starts…and I’m covered in goose bumps. My eyes well up with tears and the next thing I know I’m looking around, embarrassed, and casually trying to wipe my tears away hoping that nobody sees me.

I think there are two reasons for my visceral reaction to this show. The music touches my soul, AND the movie came out right about the same time I had my first child in July of 1994. My baby was a surprise – but he was also the most beautiful and wonderful thing that ever happened to me. I think when I hear the music and see images of the Lion King it just brings all those feelings back.

Tonight, thanks to my family, I get to go see the Lion King Broadway version at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center. I doubt they even know how much it means to me. I will bring my tissues and practice wiping my tears inconspicuously…LOL

Here’s a link to some cool video of the show.