Welcome to my refuge :)

Disney has become a daily retreat for me. We may only spend 10 days there a year (more if I'm truly blessed), but I have found that making Mickey a part of my daily life makes me feel much better. So I'm running with it! Luckily I have a patient husband and a laptop computer that allows me to do endless searching and planning. This blog is developing out of that. You are welcome to come along for the ride and offer your advice. I don't claim to be an expert, just a lover of the experience!

Right now whenever a post says "Update" that means it is a 2011 trip update and if you click on the tab with that date on it you can read that update.



Saturday, April 30, 2011

People in Neenah Need More Mickey Stuff

Today as I rummage-saled, I was a true treasure hunter. Searching almost 30 garages Disney was hard to come by unless I wanted baby clothes and I was not that desperate (OK, I looked for a minute!)

Mine is not in this good of condition but they are from 2003.
When I did find something I took it. Rarely did I leave it behind. I found 2 large stuffed Mickeys to add to my growing collection. Jim said one looked like our cat Amante had already slept on it but it will clean up fine. I got a couple of goofy Goofy items (could have gotten more but those were over-priced). Found an old Mickey calculator that still works, an older Mickey bank and 2 girls tops that I can re-purpose.

I think that's it. Bought a lot of other non-Disney stuff but that's not as exciting for this blog.

Monday I will book our last tour. Plus a special surprise I can't mention because Jim reads this. It will kill me to stay quiet until it happens. I stink at surprises. Never pull them of so this will be a first.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

We Have a Plan

It took a few days with Easter weekend in there, but we have finally settled on the best plan for us for our trip and amazingly enough, it's not the cheapest option, at least not right now.
Last week I mentioned we got an e-mail saying our trip had dropped $300. We are staying with that. Doing a Magic Your Way package (where your room and tickets are packaged together) would save us another $222. We aren't doing that because our tickets are Annual Passes. If we use them again in the next 12 months, we save much, much more because we'd already have tickets for the next trip.
We've talked and would like to go in May next year so this works great for us. It would be like getting into Disney for 10 days for free(or at most the extra $111/person which is like free for 10 days)!!!
It feels great to have this worked out.
Now we need the $1063 for the passes. We order them now but then activate them when we get there so you get your full year's worth. We need them active to check into Pop Century and get out room discount. That's why we'll take a trip to Downtown Disney first.
Complicated? Only a little but worth the savings and we're eating Downtown anyway!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Hollywood Studios Called Me!!!

Wednesday I got an email from a woman named Sonia. It said she had called the week before (a week earlier our lovely cable company did this neat trick where they allowed us to make but not receive calls...we didn't know until two days later...grrr...). She needed to change our reservation to Dine with an Imagineer. We had scheduled this for the Fourth of July at The Brown Derby. I had thought it was odd they were offering it on a holiday but signed up since it was available and I knew we would be there. Well, it wasn't suppose to be.

I returned Sonia's call (to Hollywood Studios) and left a message for her to call me. She did and she explained that the date never should have been booked. They were re-booking those of us that had scheduled for the 4th.

The problem for me was this is only offered on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Those were not the most flexible days in my already planned schedule.

I thought quickly, consulting my 11 x 17  full-color draft of our schedule and I told Sonia what we'd take. She assured me if this didn't work I could let her know. She had that Disney Magic "niceness".

Then my real work began. This involved making six changes to our dining plan to accommodate the change to the Dine with the Imagineeer. It was crazy figuring out what changes needed yo be made and my heart stopped for a second each time I cancelled an old reservation. I think it will be worth it. I am getting faster at those ressies.

I still think the phone looks impressive. The readout says "Hollywood Studios". It's for me!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Changes....Leading to $$$

Changes happened today! AP discounts came out and we saved $302 on our trip!!!

Great isn't it?

Maybe.

We may be changing plans in a way that will give us what we've got but in an even CHEAPER way. I'll let you know after I talk to Emily, my travel guru.

I also have to tell you about a great website next time for planning and budgeting.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Disney Every July- Travel Consultant



If you know me at all you know a dream of mine is to become a Disney Travel Consultant at some point.

Well yesterday I got to pretend a bit. My brother and his family are headed to Disney World next week. They don't do things the way I do but probably more normally!!! I have chatted with him briefly a few times about things but yesterday we got together for some birthday celebrations and to make sure Jim and I knew what to do with their 5 pets. (He does our 8 while we're gone as well.) This was big Mickey talk day- at least on my part!

He just got a Motorola Zoom so we used that to go park by park deciding what they would do and what they will skip. Even with 10 people, they aren't ride people. He took notes on what to do first and what to Fastpass. My niece is excited about Kidcot. My nephew thinks he wants to try the shooting rang at Magic Kingdom.

I was able to come up with some restaurant ideas too. It was a good afternoon.

I know as a travel agent you have much more to do but knowing the parks is important. I promise to spend ten days working hard on that very soon!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Three Quarters or Seven Dimes and a Nickel

75 Days. Wow I have a lot to get done! I can hardly list everything that needs to be done in that much time!

This is the fun time though (other than actually being there, of course!) I get to plan the details and share them with you. This is my first time with the website so that's a great deal of fun and labor as well. I have a big favor to ask of you as well. If you enjoy the site at all, share it with your friends and ask them to follow me as well. It's so easy to do now.There is a Follow button if you have a gmail account but if you don't you can follow by e-mail. I'd love to have a ton of followers plus the advertisers like it as well. I started with just my friends so if my friends could help that would be wonderful! Feel free to give this link to anyone you know!

Back to the Mickey!!! I may have mentioned a new tour we may take. It's a walking tour and it's called Walt Disney-Marceline to Magic Kingdom. Because it's new there isn't a lot of information out there . For Jim and I to do it it would be $61.12 tax included unless we get  AP discount. It is offered M,W, F at 8:15 and takes 2 1/2- 3 hours. Ages 12 and older may participate.
Here is what I  found written up in WDW Magic about it:

Explore how events in Walt Disney's life helped shape the Walt Disney World Resort and the attractions within it. As one of Walt’s final visions, the Magic Kingdom Park shares many similarities and likenesses to the storyline of his life. By using the park as a walking timeline, guests will discover how the events in Walt's life helped develop his understanding and view of the world around him, and inspired him to create some of the most wonderful and cherished stories and attractions in our theme parks. During this 2.5 to 3 hour walking tour, guests will also get an insider look into the operation and design of some of the most beloved attractions in the Magic Kingdom Park. 
http://www.wdwmagic.com/Attractions/Walt-Disney-Marceline-to-Magic-Kingdom-Tour/News/31Mar2011-New-Magic-Kingdom-tour-now-being-offered---'Walt-Disney---Marceline-to-Magic-Kingdom'.htm

See you next time. Remember. Share!!! 

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Presto Chango

The schedule is under attack! The schedule is under attack! The schedule is under attack!

By me.... I'm doing some rearranging and who knows...It may not stay this way!

I was getting nervous about Wishes Dessert Party not showing up in July. So I nabbed it for June 30th. I can always book July 3rd like I want and cancel the 30th, but at least this way we don't go without.

Well this led to a domino effect of changes. Plus I added a meal (how can we eat more?). But now I'm concerned about morning transportation to our 2 Boma breakfasts. I don't really want to pay cab fare twice. This too might work out though...

If I give up a Boma, the extra meal I added falls under our plan and we don't pay for it. Also it makes us available to do a great Walt Disney tour at Magic Kingdom that is brand new. ( I decided against the costlier Keys to the Kingdom this time around.)

That's been my morning and it's only 10:00. Five reservation changes and a call to Disney about their new tour. Soon you'll see updates on the pages here. I just need more certainty before I put it on the webpage. It's too much work to change!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Candle on the Water

Pete's Dragon was the 1st Disney Movie I ever saw and this song is so beautiful. (If you don't know it, listen to it below on the Playlist). Jim is my Candle and lately we've talked about things we'd like to shop for at Disney to make our house feel special and safe. We both love Japan and China at Epcot  so much of our focuss there.
It could be interesting how things turn out but we do have similar likes and dislikes for the most parts.
The most interesting challenge will be staying on budged!

Monday, April 4, 2011

A Whole New World

A new fantastic point of view....it's crystal clear...don't you dare close your eyes. That's exactly how I feel right now. After being haunted by some medical issues that made it like swimming through tar to get things done around here and at my house, I am finally making some headway. What a relief.
Of course now I have too many projects but I'll get them done. My latest are a really amazing autograph/ photo book for all  the characters that I'm working on and some new projects for The Mouse for Less including a weekly blog about doing Disney without the kids. I'm so excited about working more with them.
Plus of  course my planning and building here continues. If you don't see work it means I'm working in my physical house which we are remodeling top to bottom.
It really is a whole new world!

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Mickey....

SEND ME A PIN....

BUT KRISTEN I LOVE YOU FOR TRYING SO HARD TO GIVE ME YOURS!!!