We Went to Disney World, and Didn't Spend a Fortune on Food

I was a little nervous about how much money we would need for food on our trip. We packed snacks, I pored over menus of the various restaurants throughout Disney World. I even bought a restaurant.com* gift certificate for Garden Grove, a restaurant at one of the hotels (but not where we were staying).

I'm happy to say that we found the food to be fairly reasonable! Yes, we could have easily spent a LOT more. But we didn't have to. Here's what we did:
Brought granola bars, fruit snacks and jerky from home. This was our snack foundation. Oh yeah, and vodka.  Brian walked to a grocery store from Downtown Disney (about a mile walk) to buy orange juice, bananas, cheese sticks and our very important cocktail fixings. The taxi back to our resort was $20, which we figured was totally worth it.

Most mornings, we started the day with our snacks, plus coffee in our refillable mugs at the resort food court. The refillable mugs were great. They cost about $15 after tax, and saved us a ton over the week. One note about cleaning plastic mugs: if you have a lingering odor from a previous beverage~even after washing~simply fill it up with hot water, let it set for a couple minutes, then dump it and fill it with ice water for a few minutes. Dump, and you're ready to go. It works every time. I shared this tip at the beverage station almost every day. I felt like making signs to post to save everyone the eww factor of drinking lemonade that tastes like coffee.

There were a few days that we ate breakfast at the food-court/quick service restaurant at whichever resort we were staying. Check out this breakfast I got at All Star Movies, for only $9:

Eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, biscuit AND a Mickey waffle.

Most days, we found we were too busy to want to sit down for lunch, so we often ate the snacks out of the backpack as we went about our day, then ate a real dinner.

The kids meals ~ breakfast, lunch and dinner ~ were all only $4.99 each and offered two sides plus a beverage. This seemed consistent at parks and resorts, and the sides were awesome. Grapes, carrots, apple sauce... it was nice to have healthy options. Since we have two kids, we usually chose four different sides and split them all between the two kids. 

We had heard about the T-Rex restaurant in Downtown Disney, and wanted to check it out because the kids are soooo in to dinosaurs. Arriving at 7ish, we found a 45-minute wait. But look! Just to the left was a new little place that sounded right up our alley. Pollo Campero offered a family dinner of citrus grilled chicken, rice & black beans, tortillas, and chips & salsa – all for only $19.99. Plus they had free wi-fi which is rather hard to come by at Disney World. We did make it back to T-Rex another day. We realized we hadn't spent any money ALL DAY. Not a cent. So we splurged on a big dinner. We got there at 5ish, and walked right in – no waiting. Kids were thrilled:

I've got to say that the biggest dining surprise and delight came from Gasparilla's at the Grand Floridian. We ate so well there! I've been craving this ever since I had it:

Grown up Mac & Cheese with LOBSTER. Yes, LOBSTER, and a lot of it! $9.99 at Gasparilla's

I almost couldn't eat it all it was so much, but I somehow managed. Delicious.
Since The Grand Floridian is so accessible from Magic Kingdom, I've recommended to several people heading to Magic Kingdom that they take the boat or monorail over to the GF and have a nice dinner before heading back to Magic Kingdom for the evening.

It's good that we were so prepared with snacks, but we almost had too much. Now that we know we can get reasonable meals, we won't pack nearly as much next time.


*I declined to buy a $25 gift certificate for $10, but then saw a special on MouseSavers to buy the same $25 certificate for only $2! How could I pass that up? We didn't even end up using it, but I'm not too worried about giving up $2.

Renew Our Vows?

Brian and I were married in July of 2001 and had our own version of a fairy tale wedding. Really, it was wonderful and I feel no need to recreate it or redo anything about it.

I've kind of poo-poohed people renewing their vows, because to us, the vows we took are forever. No need to renew. The idea of renewing implies that they're stale or old.

However...
While I was a the Disney Social Media Moms celebration, I learned about a new special promotion that Disney Fairy Tale Weddings has rolled out for their 20th anniversary. All this year, they're offering a special vow-renewal package for $1,991 ~ in honor of the year they started in 1991.
         "In honor of the platinum year, Disney has also created a specially priced wedding package perfect for vow renewals: the Memories Collection. Throughout the 20-month celebration, couples are invited to create new memories through intimate ceremonies at Walt Disney World Resort. The Memories Collection includes up to six guests, including the couple, a floral bouquet for the bride, solo violinist, transportation (three-hour limousine charter) and a professional photographer for one hour.

Ceremony locations include: Conch Key Marina at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Narcoossee’s Landing at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, and Luau Beach at Disney’s Polynesian Resort."

Who wouldn't want a ride in Cinderella's carriage? ©Disney

Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings Pavilion adjacent to the Grand Floridian resort on the Seven Seas Lagoon. ©Disney

I wonder if I could talk Brian into a return trip?

I attended the 2011 Disney Social Media Moms Celebration at Walt Disney World. Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World, the conference fee included 3 nights at the Grand Floridian, the conference and meals for me, several amazing meals for our entire family, park hopper passes for each of us, and some pretty incredible swag items to take home. Disney did not ask me to write about this event, and all opinions are my own.

Princess Wedding Dresses, a la Disney

Last week, I was treated to a Disney Fairy Tale Weddings Platinum Soirée at Walt Disney World which TOTALLY made me want to renew my wedding vows there. The Fairy Tale Weddings Pavilion at the Grand Floridian is so beautiful and magical, and Disney's attention to detail and guest experience management have made me a believer.

Disney and Alfred Angelo unveiled a series of seven Princess-inspired wedding gowns last fall, and they were available in stores in February of 2011. They're really beautiful, and I love that they each tell a little story about the personality or style of the muse princess. My favorite is Snow White... probably because of the nature motifs!

Here's the original Cinderella dress, which I think is just dreamy. Why can't wearing wedding dresses be an accepted practice for old married ladies like me?

One of the treats of the event was getting to see an exclusive preview of the "Cinderella Platinum Anniversary Gown" created by Alfred Angelo in honor of the 20th Anniversary of Disney Weddings.

You know what is totally silly and embarrassing? When the model walked down the aisle wearing this dress, I actually got all misty-eyed. Seriously. It's not even a real wedding, and I've never met this person. I can't help it, I'm a sap.
I don't have a good picture of the dress in person (probably because I was all silly sappy), but Disney Go To Girl has a great one on her site here. 

I attended the 2011 Disney Social Media Moms Celebration at Walt Disney World. Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World, the conference fee included 3 nights at the Grand Floridian, the conference and meals for me, several amazing meals for our entire family, park hopper passes for each of us, and some pretty incredible swag items to take home. Disney did not ask me to write about this event, and all opinions are my own.

It was random

Who got in to Disney Social Media Moms? I think it was random. I keep feeling like I need to justify my presence in the lucky few who got in. That's me, projecting. I've got to get over it.
Disney is putting on this event for "Social Media Moms." No definition of what that means. It doesn't mean you have to make money or get free stuff from your blog. It doesn't mean you need 10,000 followers.
This event is clearly not for A-list bloggers, it's just for "social media moms." I'm active on Facebook and Twitter (or as my boss says, "Tweeter"). I've recently started this blog. I tweet for my employer, and started the zoo in both before they even thought it was important. Also, guess what? I'm a mom. So there. I'm a social media mom.
I don't need anyone else to tell me that I don't have the klout score of so-and-so. Or the rankings or stats of anyone else. I know. I'm ok with that. We all have different goals and we all have to start somewhere.
As for who got in and who didn't?
I think it was random.
My registration confirmation email is time-stamped 11:10 a.m. PST. I'm sure I was one of the very first to get registered. But I've read the posts of many others who had the same or very close time stamp who did not get in, and many with much later time stamps who did. So I think Disney must have had a system failure, accepted too many registrations, somehow couldn't discern who's was submitted when, and were faced with what to do about it. I think they must have randomly chosen from those who had been allowed to submit a registration.
I wish they would issue some sort of statement so those of us who got in could stop feeling defensive about it and those of us who didn't get in could move on, content that it wasn't personal. Not that it would make things right — this was clearly a fail on several levels. But it would at least stop the speculation.
I'm a little bummed that my excitement is tempered by this pall hanging over the process. Not too bummed, mind you, I'm SO THRILLED to get this opportunity. I've been scouting around the blog conferences for about a year, trying to decide if it was worth the investment of time and money at this point. This conference is a perfect marriage of learning, networking, and family time. And an amazing price. So yeah, I'm glad I got in.
I just wish it had gone down a little differently.
Cheers and pixie dust.... • ·*°`º*· • . • ·*°`º*· • ·*°`º*· Swank

Disney Social Media Moms: still waiting...

The Orange Circle of Frustration is haunting me.
While I didn't have any trouble registering (I was in and out by 11:12 my time), the orange circle spinning while the page was loading was still nerve-racking.
For many, the orange circle syndrome lasted for more than an hour!

Well, even though I registered right away, I'm still waiting.... and waiting... for the confirmation.
Which I'm calling a validation/verification because I really have no idea how the decisions are made about who gets to attend.

I'm seeing a lot of tweets and posts of people getting denied access, but I still haven't gotten the follow up email from WDW.
So the orange circle is haunting me....

I was just at a playdate, and they had stickers on their wall that used to be a sun, but is now this:

I think the other mama thought I was pretty strange when I asked to take a picture of her Orange Circle of Frustration. Although I think she'll see it in a new light when she's sitting by her son's bed, waiting and waiting for him to go to sleep!

Disney Social Media Moms

Well, I just registered for the Disney Social Media Moms conference.
I've been wanting to attend a social media/blog conference for about a year, but since I'm not in to monetizing my blog, it's never seemed like the right investment (of money and time away from the family).
But this conference presents a unique opportunity. Not only is it fabulously priced, it welcomes the family!
So... I can learn more about social media (about which I am passionate and nerdy) AND have some fun with the family?
Count me in!

I hope I get to go, but there are a lot — and I mean A LOT — of people who want to go, and space is very limited. I go back and forth on wondering who should really be attending this conference. Sometimes I think it's me, sometimes I don't feel like I'm quite the target demographic yet. I don't have 10,000 followers on twitter or 5,000 Facebook friends... but really, do I want them? I have great relationships and I value them. So is more really better? Nah. Anyway, I'm grateful that I got my registration submitted.
If I get in, AWESOME. If not, it wasn't meant to be, and we'll go to Mexico instead... :)