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.
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!
Get all the most frequently asked questions about the New Fantasyland Expansion happening at Walt Disney World answered in about 2 minutes with this video posted by the Orlando Sentinel. Let’s hear it for short and sweet! YAY!
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.
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.
My husband is a big Starbucks fan – so I’m hoping this great news might get my Decaf Dude to come to the parks with me more often! The one and only Starbucks announced today that they will soon have a presence at all the Disney theme parks.
You’ve got to be a California girl (or boy) to be the first to see it. Starbucks says they will open the first of six Starbucks locations in June at Disney California Adventure and then Disneyland Park. Disneyland guests can enjoy their “ pick me up” at the brand new Fiddler, Fifer and Practical Café. The Fiddler location will be themed to the 1920’s vision of Buena Vista Street. Sounds pretty cool to me!
Not long after – Florida will be “perked-up” Seattle style in the Walt Disney World resort! More specifically, we will enjoy Starbucks in Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, AND Animal Kingdom. The new locations will serve coffee, espresso, frappuccino, signature Starbucks sandwiches, pastries, and desserts.
Please note the Swan and Dolphin Resorts on Walt Disney World property have served Starbucks for quite a while. These resorts aren’t Disney owned. Now we can make magical memories right inside the parks without sacrificing our morning cup of joe from Starbucks!
I am so excited about Disney’s Art of Animation Resort at Walt Disney World that is opening soon. This will be a much needed addition to the line of “value resorts” which are often quite full due to the fact that we don’t all want to mortgage our house just to stay on Disney property! Yesterday I heard that the Art of Animation Resort will have the biggest pool on all of Walt Disney World, except for the water parks. It will be called the Big Blue – a nod to the Fining Nemo movie. I have seen some Walt Disney World resort pools, and let me tell you, none of them are what I consider small. I have a feeling the Big Blue is going to live up to it’s name. There’s another thing…we will be able to hear music when we are under water in the Big Blue. How cool is THAT?
The Finiding Nemo themed family suites will be opening first on May 31, 2012, followed by the Cars family suites on June 18, 2012, and the Lion King suites on August 10th. If you have a smaller party and don’t need all the space a suite provides, you will want to wait for the Little Mermaid standard rooms opening September 15th. It is still sweaty, sticky hot in Florida in September so make sure you leave some time in your schedule to enjoy the Big Blue. You can book your stay right now! I checked yesterday and amazingly – they are showing availability for certain dates.
Remember those old soap commercials that asked, “Aren’t you glad you used Dial? Don’t you wish everybody did?” See the commercial here.
If you have ever been on a Disney bus packed like a sardine can full of tourists – then you will appreciate this. Disney is testing articulated 112 person capacity busses for resort guest transportation*. I think that means if you were on Disney property today, you might just be able to see and ride on one, The bad news is, they tested something similar back in the early ‘90’s and it apparently didn’t work out. So, I’m crossing my fingers things will go better this time. In the meantime, I am stockpiling my Dial soap for the hot summer season.
Looking for a something different and fun to look forward to?
How about making a dining reservation now for either The Whispering Canyon Cafe or Artist Point over at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge?
You do not have to have park tickets or be a guest at any Disney resort if you want to get your Disney fix. Make a reservation for Whispering Canyon Cafe or Artist Point by calling 407-WDW-Dine.. When you arrive at the resort, you can park for free. Just let the guard know you have a dining reservation and he will wave you through. Before or after your delicious meal – you can pick up a park map at the front desk, enjoy the Lodge’s version of “Old Faithful”, gaze at the sparkling pool, sit on a comfy couch in the lobby – even catch some classic Disney cartoons playing on the hidden TV in the lobby. If you are like my sisters…you will want to take a nice walk after your meal. Here’s a fun activity for your walk…you can look for some of these OFFICIAL Hidden Mickeys! This is EXTRA fun if you have kids in tow. Tip: Print this and take your list along!
There are 14 individual hidden Mikeys located in the common areas alone, including one in a fireplace screen:
Artist Point, right-hand mural—coloration of lower right-hand tree varies creating shape
Artist Point—cloud in the distance of the left-hand mural
Lobby—in a key on display between the front desk and Mercantile merchandise shop
Lobby—right-hand side of fireplace just below the red rocks
Mercantile—outside, the bus driver on the sign showing the resort transportation location
Outside entrance—right, inside support post below iron band at top
Outside entrance—right, outside support post below iron band at top
Territory Lounge—colored area on rear end of a pony in mural on ceiling
Territory Lounge—map at the entrance, one of the pots about two feet from the bottom
Whispering Canyon Cafe—in bottom ironwork of fireplace in back room
Disneyways 