March 23rd- Recording Disney Memories

For my daily Disney devotion on March 23rd I took some time to continue working on my trip report.  Its a real work in progress, and I didn't finish the segment, so I never got to post it on the message boards.  I get get a little done, but I better keep working because my next trip will be here before I know it!

March 22nd- TJ Maxx

For my daily Disney devotion on March 22nd, I took a trip to TJ Maxx to look for the Disney Dooney and Bourke purses.  I read on the Dis boards that someone had found one of the Disney Dooney's at a TJ Maxx in Massachusetts, and I figured it wouldn't hurt to take a look at my home store in Alexandria.  I have one Disney Dooney and Bourke purse, and I'm planning on buying a second when I go down to WDW in May.  I would have loved to find another, especially at a large discount, but unfortunately my home store did not have any.  Better luck next time!

March 21st- Pluto saves the day

Everett and Pluto watch the St. Patrick's Day Parade

On March 21st I flew back to Virginia after spending a week at home in Connecticut with my parents.  Navigating an airport can be a difficult task, but add a rambunctious toddler into the mix and it becomes nearly impossible.  Luckily I had Pluto to help me.  Pluto, in this case, is the plush child backpack/leash that I bought for Everett.  I bought the leash for our upcoming Disney trip, but it has really come in handy in many situations even before we left for vacation.  We used Pluto on the day of the Alexandria St. Patrick's day Parade, and also at the Mystic Aquarium.  I know that many people frown on child leashes, but Everett likes having a little room to roam, and I like not having to worry about him bolting off.   For my daily Disney devotion on March 21st- I counted on Pluto's help to get me and Everett through the airport and home to Virgina safe.

March 20th- souvenir flashback

One thing I love about having "grown up Disney" are all the random Disney artifacts that can be found in my parents house.  Park maps from the '80s lingering on bookshelves, Figment beach towels in the linen closet, laminated Disney placements in the cupboard, but my all time favorite crazy Disney souvenir is the Contemporary Resort ash tray that my parent brought back from their honeymoon in 1976.   Neither of my parents have smoked in over two decades, but that ash tray is still hanging around the house.  It really is a unique Disney artifact, and some day it may just make its way into my suitcase and come home with me.  Do you think anyone would notice that it was gone?

March 19th- Entering the 21st Century

On March 19th I went with my brother to the Verizon store to pick out my first smart phone!  We were looking at all of them, and he was talking to me about all the features, but all I wanted to know was would I be able to get the WDW Lines app on my new phone.  Disney really has to be your first priority!   Its supposed to be coming on Monday, so I'm really excited to be able to check the wait time for Space Mountain from my living room in Virginia!

March 18th- Nana!

On March 18th my daily Disney Devotion was a double dose of Peter Pan magic.  To start with Everett and I watched Jake and the Neverland Pirates on Disney Junior.  Well, I should say that I watched it, Everett mostly played with his toys, and really only paid attention when the Pirate band was playing. 

After we finished watched I took Everett out for a walk along a paved walking trail in my parents hometown.  While we were walking we came upon a man walking three dogs.  Everett just loves dogs, and when he saw them he sat right up in his stroller, and started pointing and saying "gog"! The man walking the dog saw Everett's excitement and asked if he wanted to meet the dogs, he told me that he has young kids at home and that the dogs just love children.

I got Everett out of the stroller and he was thrilled petting the "gogs".  I asked the man what breed of dog they were and he told me that they were Newfoundlands, and then asked me if I knew Nana from Peter Pan.  He then told me that Nana in the original Peter Pan books was a black and white Newfoundland, just like the three dogs he was walking.  I thanked the man for letting Everett pet his dogs, and we went on our way, with a little extra Disney magic in our day!

March 17th- Life in the Jungle

March 16th- Hot Dog!

On March 16th, for my daily Disney devotion, I watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with Everett.  We were visiting my parents, and I let Everett watch it as a treat, since we don't usually do TV at home.   I also want to try and expose him to the characters, so he'll have a little familiarity for when we visit WDW in May.  It was a really cute show, but it didn't really hold his interest for too long.  He did like Pluto, and would point to him and say "gog" (dog).  Pluto always was my favorite, so I guess I'm raising Everett right!

March 15th- What's in a name?

For my daily Disney devotion on March 14th I checked out the daily Disney blog from the Orlando Sentinel.  Usually they are reporting yesterday's news, Disney fan sites are so much more reliable for up-to-date WDW info, but today they were blogging about an unusual topic, naming your children after Disney characters. The blog post, which can be read here listed some of the best baby names inspired by Disney characters.  They list some unusual choices such as Eudora (from Princess and the Frog) and Thaddeus (from Wind and the Willows), but there was one glaring omission- Alice.  Personally I love the name Alice, and it was a top contender if Everett was a girl.  I love that it is a traditional name, but not the sort of name you hear everyday.  The only problem that I had with it is that, being a Disney fan, I figured everyone will think I chose it just because of its Disney connotations, and not because I think it is a beautiful, classic choice. 

March 14th- Rainforest Cafe!

March 13th- Seak Peak Under the Sea

For my daily Disney devotion on March 13th I checked out this video on the Disney Parks Blog.  It is all about the new Ursula audio-animatronic that will be making her debut with the Little Mermaid ride that is being built in Fantasyland. I usually don't like to learn too much about new rides before I can see them in person, because I like to be surprised, but this video is pretty spoiler-free.  I am starting to get really excited for 2011!

March 12th- Leavin' on a Jet Plane

My daily Disney devotion on March 12th was a cruel twist of fate.  I was heading home to Connecticut to visit my family, and my flight (which originated in Baltimore) traveled first to Bradley Airport in Hartford, and then continued on to Orlando.  I was really tempted to just stay on, and see if they would notice, and hopefully Everett and I would hitchhike our way to WDW.  It was a cruel twist of fate to be on a plane bound for Orlando, but forced to get off before we got there!

March 11th- Disney Ambient Audio

I have always loved Disney audio.  One of my favorite things to do as a child was pull out my Fisher-price record player and put on my record with the music from the Main Street Electrical Parade.  I was well on the road to Disney geek-dom at a very young age.  My love of Disney audio has not waned over the years, and one of my favorite things to do is listen to the various Disney radio stations on Live 365.  Mouseworld Radio is my favorite, but honorable mention goes to Reedy Creek Radio and Radio Buena Vista.   For my daily Disney devotion on March 11th, I listened to some ambient Disney audio, and dreamed about my upcoming trip.

March 10th- Bath time with Mickey

For my daily Disney devotion on March 10th, I chose Everett's Mickey Mouse hooded towel for his bath.  I received the towel for my baby shower, and ever time I have used it, it has made me smile.  Nothing is sweeter than a fresh, clean, little baby all wrapped up in a towel with ears. I'll skip the picture so he doesn't want to kill me in about 15 years, but trust me when I say that he's pretty darn cute!

March 9th- Trip Report updates!

On March 9th, for my daily Disney devotion, I continued working on my poor neglected trip report, getting out another segment.  I really need to get cracking on finishing, because we're almost ready for a new trip!  If you would like to read my report, you can find it here

March 8th- Branching out

For my daily Disney devotion on March 8th, I decided to branch out and try a new Disney podcast.  Other than Communicore Online   I just listen to WDW today.  I used to be a listener (and sometimes contributer) to All About the Mouse, but since they ended their run I have yet to find a podcast to take their place.

I decided I would try WDW News Today.  I thought, based on the name, that they'd have a roundup of Disney news, which is something I've been out of touch with since moving away from Florida.  As it turns out, they are an all-purpose Disney podcast, with a little news, dining and some other stuff.  The reason I say "some other stuff" is because I haven't truthfully finished listening to the episode yet.  It was something like two hours long, which is too much for this busy Mom.  I've been listening when I can (mostly while feeding Everett lunch), but I've got a ways to go to finish.  

I don't think I'll add it to the rotation, because I don't think I can do it justice.  I find that I have to rewind to remember what they were talking about when I last left off.   It really is too bad, because I'm sure it is great. The parts I've listened to so far about ranking the Disney Resorts 40 biggest moments is very interesting.

I used to love long Disney podcasts before I was a stay at home mom.  I used to work in an archaeology lab, and I would spend my days classifying and cataloging artifacts, and listening to Disney podcasts.  I couldn't get enough back then, and really the longer the better.   I would have listened to an 8 hour podcast and been very happy.   Times have changed and I guess I have to continue my search.  If anyone has any suggestions for a good *short* Disney podcast, I'm all ears.

March 7th- Haunted Mansion updates

photo courtesy of itallstartedwithamouse.tumblr.com

On March 7th I stumbled across some information about the updates to the Haunted Mansion.  I thought that they were just going to work on the queue, and plus it into one of the NexGen projects Disney is working on, but I guess there will be some changes inside as well.  To read the whole article you can go here but it talks about how new projection effects are going to be used in the hitchhiking ghost scene.  Apparently they will be able to "do" more with the guests and handle doombuggy slowdowns better.   I'm pretty attached to the old hitchhiking ghosts, and one of my favorite parts of the ride is guessing which of the three will "follow me home".  So far the imagineers have a pretty good track record with updates to the Mansion, and I really hope this will be a winner as well.  I'd hate to see one of the most iconic scenes of one of the most iconic rides be changed for the worst!

March 6th- Ferdinand

For my daily Disney devotion on March 6th, I reached back into the Disney vault and watched the short,  Ferdinand the Bull.  I had seen it previously on the Disney channel when I was a kid, but it had been probably 20 years since I had seen it last.  Since it was a short, I decided to watch it with my son, Everett, thinking I might have better luck holding his attention with Ferdinand than an entire feature length film.   Well, Everett did watch sporadically,  while simultaneously trying to dismantle my living room, but it was really nice getting the chance to share a Disney classic with him.  I thought it was really cute, but the animation was certainly lacking, not nearly up to the par of some of the other early classics I had watched recently such as Snow White and Pinocchio.   Still we both enjoyed it and it was a lovely way to spend some time on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

March 5th- Parade!

note the Pluto backpack/leash- another Disney detail!

March 5th was the day of the annual St. Patrick's Day parade in Old Town Alexandria.  It is also one of my favorite days of the year.  I love the buzz of excitement around the town on parade day, and I enjoy the car and dog shows that occur before the main event.   It may not be as great as Spectromagic, or even Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It, but it is as close as I'm going to get here in Virginia.  In true Disney fashion we staked out our spots about an hour before parade time, but unlike Disney,we brought folding chairs. 

Everett loved the parade and actually stood still and watched it, which was a first for him.  I really don't think I've seen him stand still since he became mobile.   His favorite parts were the small Shriners cars, and the police motorcycles.  I'm thinking maybe I should take him to Lights, Motor, Action on our next trip.  I was really happy that the parade captured his attention, because I think that it bodes well for our upcoming Disney trip.  On our Oct trip, we couldn't take him into any shows, because he didn't have the attention span, but this time I have high hopes for a melt-down free Voyage of the Little Mermaid.

March 4th- Fastpass Fitness

photo courtesy of faqorlando.com

Every Wednesday and Friday (and some Mondays) I take a stroller fitness class called Stroller Strides.  I have been doing it since Everett was 8 weeks old and it has really helped, not only with shedding the baby weight, but also with making Mom friends.   The classes consist of power walking or jogging segments, broken up by strength training stations.  I have never really been all that into exercise, I never was very athletic,and before I got pregnant, I didn't exercise regularly.  This class has really been a big change for me, and while I still don't love it, I have gotten much more fit.

My favorite part of the class is the power walking segments, because every time I speed walking down the track, I use fastpasses as my inspiration.  I visualize that I am walking as fast as I can to aquire that coveted first fastpass of the day.  Some days I imagine I'm walking toward Toy Story Mania, other days Splash Mountain, and still others Expedition Everest.  On March 4th, I visualized heading toward Soarin' and imagined all the steps I would take from rope drop to the fastpass machine.  I find it really helps me maximize my speed and also gives me a dose of Disney magic first thing in the morning.

March 3rd- Mickey socks

My March 3rd daily Disney devotion is courtesy of Target.  I took Everett to Target to pick up a few items, and I just couldn't pass up browsing the dollar isle.    While there, I spied these socks and just knew I had to take them home.  What Disney fan could pass up Disney socks for only a dollar!  Everett will now have themed socks to wear on our upcoming Disney trip.

March 2nd- Bambi

On March 2nd I was once again listening to NPR (who would have thought that NPR would be such a trove of Disney references!), when Bob Mondello came on with his weekly DVD review.  I mostly don't listen to his reivews, being for movies I'm never going to see or am not interested in, so imagine my surprise when he started reviewing Bambi!  He gave high praise to the movie and to the new blu-ray DVD, and summarized some of the new features and content.  If you would like to hear the review you can click here

March 1st- Disney lies

On March 1st, I happened across a different type of Disney webite- www.disneylies.com  It is a very tounge-in-cheek look at the parks and park history, and as the webstie states it is "your source for lies, distortions, untruths, half truths, urban legends, rumors, and just plain made-up stuff about Walt Disney, Disneyland Resort, and Disney films.  I wasn't sure what to make of this site, until I started clicking around and realizing just how funny it was!  I am a big Disney fan, but I also have a sense of humor, so I really enjoyed the authors take on classic rides such as the Jungle Cruise and the Hall of Presidents.  If you believe all things Disney to be sacrosanct, please don't visit the site.  If you enjoy a good laugh, check it out!

February 28th - Hooray for Hollywood

Photo courtesy of Publicspark.com

My daily Disney devotion for February 28th was an audio memory.  I was once again, listening to NPR, when I caught the strains of "Hooray for Hollywood".  It wasn't in conjunction with a news story (although it was the day after the Oscars), but was just some filler, played while waiting for the new hour's programing to begin.  It was a brief clip, but it was enough to bring back memories of riding The Great Movie Ride, and transport me to Hollywood Studios, if only for a brief moment. 

I can't count how many times I've ridden the Great Movie Ride, but I'll never forget the first time I rode it, which was during soft openings for the new Disney-MGM Studios.  I remember how excited I was to visit the new park for the first time, and how proud I was to be one of the first guests to experience all that it had to offer. The Great Movie Ride will also always be special to me because it was my Grandmothers favorite ride.  Was it because of the trip through movie history, or perhaps for the rest and AC, I'll never know, but I do know that she never passed up a chance to take a trip through the movies.

February 27th- A taste of Frontierland

photo courtesy of themouseforless.com

One of my favorite Disney snacks can be found in Frontierland, the churro.  Alright, so it can be found in many places throughout the Disney parks, but personally I associate churro with Frontierland.  For my daily Disney Devotion on February 27th I got myself a churro at Costco.  It certainly wasn't as good at the Disney churros, but it was a close enough approximation, and it's inferiority apparently didn't dissuade either my husband Mark or Everett from taking (more than) a few bites.   It was enjoyed by all and made me look forward to eating a churro on the "secret" walkway to Splash Mountain, overlooking the mill on Tom Sawyers Island.

February 26th- preping for feature film Friday

I'll admit, I've been slacking a little with feature film Friday.  The real problem is that I don't own many of the really early Disney films, and neither does Netflix.  I've decided that this blog project is the perfect excuse to expand my collection of Disney films (something I've wanted to do for a long time anyway) and for my daily Disney devotion on February 26th I got on amazon.com and ordered a copy of The Reluctant Dragon.  Now hopefully it will just show up in my mailbox before Friday...