Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Don't forget to pack these items before leaving to Disney

     Before our WDW vacay, I try to make a list of everything I need to pack weeks in advance.  We all know to pack our clothes, shoes and beauty products but some items you may not even think of taking.  Here is a list.

1) Power strip-You know how the resort rooms have a limited number of plug ins.  If you are like me, you take a lot of items that need to be charged.  I always take my cell phone and my husband's, digital camera, video camera and lap top.  If you count that is 5 items.  It is hard to find 5 accessable plug ins in the rooms.  Just plug in your power strip and all electronics are being charged in one area.
2) A bright colored cloth or hankerchef for the stroller.  As you know there are hundreds of strollers being used at Disney.  When you get on a ride you park your stroller in the designated area but when you come off the ride, your stroller may be moved.  The Cast Members are always re arrangeing the strollers to maximize the space.  If you but a brightly colored cloth tied to the handle, your stroller will be recognizable more quickly, especially if you rent a stroller from Disney. 
3) Decoration for your resort room window.  Especially if you stay in a value resort, there will be a lot of rooms that you will pass before you get to your room.  To make it much easier to find your room, decorate your window.  The kids will love it.  You can find clings for windows or you just make your own decorations by cutting out your favorite character or if you are at the parks during a holiday, use holiday decorations.  Don't forget the tape.  You can also get the mini lights that are found during Christmas to outline the window.  You can find many things to decorate with at your local dollar store.  The kids will love helping to decorate and will have fun to help locate their room on their way back from the parks.

     What items are on your packing list other than the usual?

Friday, August 26, 2011

A WDW Wedding

Recently someone asked me about writing an article on getting married at WDW.  I thought about it, so why not.  As you may know my husband and I were married at WDW's Wedding Pavilion on August 15, 2007.  I had always dreamed of a Disney wedding ever since I was a child.  I remember rideing the monorail past the WP (Wedding Pavilion) and seeing other weddings taking place.  On December 23, 2006 my then fiance asked me to marry him.  At first I never thought of a WDW wedding.  I always thought it would be too expensive.  When my parents mentioned WDW I started looking into it and asked my fiance about it.  I wasn't sure if he would even agree since he had never been to WDW and it would cost our families some money to go from NC to FL.  I started researching online and showed him and to my happy surprise he said ok.  I knew I couldn't afford the big grand wedding but instead we did the small wedding which is if you have 10 people or less, and that includes the bride and groom(We had a total of 10 family members including ourselves).  The cost was about $4000.  And it was so worth it.  We also stayed at WDW for a week and the whole price ended up being arount $7000, which included our stay at POFQ for me, my husband and my 7 yo son. 
     The whole process of booking the wedding was so easy.  I made a phone call in January 2007 to Disney's wedding department.  They sent me lots of info.  The first thing was to decide when and where we would have our wedding.  We originally wanted to get married at SunSet Point at the Poly  outside on the sand but in August, the temps are just too high to be all dressed up in a dress and tux so we decided on the WP.  Even though the WP cost $1000 more it was well worth it.  We set the time for 10am. that way we would have all day to enjoy the resort, park or what ever we wanted to do.  

   Here is a list of all things included in our wedding package:
1-Wedding Pavilion location
2-A total of 4 hour limo service for transportation to and from the WP
3-Music for the wedding ceremony and small reception
4-Bouquet and boutineer
5-Cake with Mickey and Minnie topper
6-Bottle of Champaign
7-Photography for the ceremony and reception
8-Cake and Champaign reception at the Grand Floridian balcony
9-A surprise gift, his and hers matching Mickey watches in a storybook box and the time was set and  stopped on the minute we were officially married.

     The minister is not included but they do have a list of ministers who they recommend.  We had Rev. Jack Day.  He was such a nice man.  We got to basically write our own vows.  He had several vows for examples and we chose different lines from several of them to make our own.  They also had a list of people to do hair and make-up.  The woman I choose was great.  She came to my resort room and done my hair and make-up.  Both the minister and hair dresser cost extra.  I paid them seperately. 
     You can also have so much more to your wedding and reception.  We just did the basic package because we were on a budget.  You can have characters, Cinderella's coach pulled by horses, a horse drawn buggy, a classic car, fireworks, a personalized wedding cake, decoration added to the wedding(I made my own unity candle) and many many more.  You can basically do what ever you want with what your budget is. 
     Our wedding at WDW is an experience of a lifetime.  Everyone who I meet are just amazed that our wedding was at WDW and believe we paid a fortune for it but we didn't.  If you are a huge Disney fan and are planning a wedding, I highly suggest at wedding at WDW. 
                 www.disneyweddings.com        or call        321-939-4610















Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Abbreviations for Walt Disney World

     First, I want to appologize for not blogging.  I have been very busy lately between doctor appointments for my kids, getting school supplies and preparing for a long weekend vaca to the beach this weekend.  Now on to the good stuff.

     For those of you who are new to Disney, you will see or hear Disney fanatics say abbreviations for things related to Disney.  Here are some of the places you may see or hear.

Walt Disney World - WDW
Disneyland - DL
Magic Kingdom - MK
Hollywood Studios - HS
Animal Kingdom - AK
Typhoon Lagoon - TL
Blizzard Beach - BB
Down Town Disney - DTD
Transportation & Ticket Center - TTC

Grand Floridian - GF
Polynesian Resort - Poly
Contemporary Resort - CR
Animal Kingdom Lodge - AKL
Wilderness Lodge - WL
Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground - FW
Saratoga Springs - SS
Yatch Club - YC
Beach Club - BC
Boardwalk Resort - BW
Carribean Beach Resort - CB
Coronado Springs Resort - CSR
Port Orleans Riverside - POR
Port Orleans French Quarter - POFQ
Pop Century Resort - POP
All Star Music - ASMu
All Star Movies - ASMo
All Star Sports - ASS

I believe I got all the places at WDW.  LOL.  There are also plenty of abbreviations for Disney rides also but that will be a later blog.

Monday, August 1, 2011

We are going to Disney World!!!

First I would like to say that I have been busy the past few days so I haven't been too active on the blog or on FB.

     Now own with the good news for me and my family.  You may not know this but our next trip to WDW is in Sept.  Me and my 3 kids were gonna go to WDW along with my parents.  I was so happy to be going but was sad to know that my husband could not go with us and especially sad that our youngest son, who is 1, will be going on his 1st trip to WDW without his daddy to see his first WDW vaca and see him getting his first haircut at MK barbershop.  Over the weekend,  we got GREAT news that my husband will now be going with us.  YAY!!  So I added him to our package Saturday.  We were all gonna stay at POP, my oldest son loves POP.  Well today we upgraded our room to the Caribbean Beach resort and staying the the Pirate rooms.  I am so excited.  It has been a while since we stayed at CB and this will be my husband's first time staying there.  Our past few trips we stayed at POFQ which is my fav moderate resort.  This time we decided to stay somewhere different.  This trip is a suprise trip for my kids and I know my kids will be so excited to see the Pirate room, especially my 11 yr old son who LOVES pirates (I am also excited too LOL).  It has been so hard trying to keep all the planning a secret.  There has been a lot of whispering in mine and my parent's house.  We are also eating a some restaurants that none of us has eaten at like Sanaa at the AKL.  I am so excited about that.  We now have 39 days left before we will be at WDW. 
     If any of you have ever stayed at the CB in the Pirate rooms, I would love to hear about your experience there.  And also if you have eaten at Sanaa I would love your opinion.
     Thanks for letting me get my excitement out.   YAY!!!!