Disney Blog Hop: Under the Sea

Thank you for joining me from the Disney Blog Hop hosted by Babes in Disneyland! If you are new here, welcome and I hope you enjoy it. If you are returning - thanks for continuing to support me!

This week the topic for the Disney Blog Hop is "Under the Sea". The first thing that came to my mind was, of course, The Little Mermaid. Growing up, my sisters and I loved watching this movie. My middle sister especially did as she loved to sing, just like Ariel! Although we have seen the Little Mermaid attraction at Hollywood Studios, that is not what I am going to write about today.

My son loves Finding Nemo. This was actually the very first movie he would sit down and watch it it's entirety. He watched it so much (multiple times in a day sometimes!) that the DVD is now worn out! He absolutely was entranced by it and this was the first movie that made him laugh out loud at something.

When I was planning our first trip to Disney for 2010, I knew that one ride we could not miss was the Seas with Nemo and Friends and Turtle Talk with Crush. With Nicholas being such a big fan of the movie, I knew he would love these attractions and I was right! He really enjoyed the clam ride to find Nemo, although I was a little disappointed in it myself. I just thought they could have made it a little longer, or done a little something more with it. He thoroughly enjoyed looking for Nemo!

Photo courtesy of www.disneyworld.disney.go.com

Our first trip where we did Turtle Talk with Crush, he had just turned 2. He wasn't exactly sure about it and didn't really know what to think, although he seemed to enjoy it. On our past trip, when he turned 3, it was a totally different story. He absolutely loved it! He sat in the front with all the other kids and really enjoyed Crush being so close and able to talk to them! He laughed when the whale squished Dory!

We also really enjoyed walking around inside the pavilion and looking at all the under water animals. We were able to catch the dolphin show on our last trip and it was so neat to see what all tricks they could do! I think that we will continue to enjoy all these attractions at Epcot for several more years!

Photo courtesy of www.disneyworld.disney.go.com

What is your favorite part of The Seas with Nemo and Friends Pavilion?

Amanda

Wordless Wednesday

My favorite store in Downtown Disney!

Check out the other great Wordless Wednesday posts at The InfoMouse and Focused on the Magic!

Amanda

Travel Plan Tuesday

Last week I talked about ways to save money on souvenirs at Disney World. If you missed out on the post, you can catch up here.

This week I wanted to talk about fun things that you can do in Disney World without going into the parks that are free! If you are like us, we like to schedule at least one day of "free time" at Disney, where we sleep in and just relax and do whatever we want!

On these free days, I love to go to Downtown Disney and do some shopping. Of course, we are always on the look out to do things that don't cost money on those days as well. Here is a list of just a few things that you can do in Disney outside the parks that cost nothing:

*Resort-hop - this is a great way to check out other resorts to see which one you may want to stay at on your next trip! There are so many neat things about each resort and several of them have extra activities that you can participate in. This is especially fun at Christmas time when you can check out all the beautiful decorations! Keep in mind that you are unable to go from one resort to another with the Disney buses - you must go to a park and then catch a bus to the resort you want to check out!

*Try some chocolate - this is probably my favorite free thing to do in Disney. At the Ghirardelli store in Downtown Disney you can sample some chocolate for free - who doesn't like free chocolate?

*Play with Lego's - also at Downtown Disney, the Lego store has Lego's available for you to play with and make your own creations! This would be a fun way for the little ones to keep busy, while mom is out shopping!

*Get wet and cool off - There are several different water pads throughout Disney that are perfect for little ones to run through and get wet. On our last trip, our son played in the one at Downtown Disney for over an hour and had a blast! Just remember to bring a change of clothes and a baggie to put the wet ones in!

*Check out the Entertainment - on the Boardwalk area, there are different entertainers, like jugglers, out that you can really enjoy. Just stop and have fun with them!

These are just a few things that you are able to do at Disney, without having to go into a park, all for free! I hope you will be able to take advantage of some of these on your next trip and have a fun and relaxing time!

Amanda

Something About Me Saturday Blog Hop

***I totally spaced and didn't have time to post this on Saturday, so I am hopping on board now!***

I am so excited to be joining in on the Something About Me Saturday Blog Hop for the first time! I had intended on joining in for the first one last Saturday, but I had something come up and was away from the computer all weekend. I want to give a big thanks to Disney Bird for hosting this blog hop. It's such a great idea for us to all get to know each other even better!

I actually wrote this post early because I am out of town right now! My husband and I, along with his parents, 2 of their friends, his brother and his wife, are enjoying ourselves in Tunica, MS for the weekend. Since we are here, I figured I would share with you my enjoyment of casinos!

Way back, like 5 or 6 years ago, my husbands parents asked us if we wanted to join them in going to Tunica to the casino. Neither one of us had gone to any casino before and his parents had only been to Philadelphia and Biloxi. I was excited to try out something new and fun! We went and stayed at Sam's Town Hotel and Casino and we had a blast! Any time we go, we only stay for a weekend, no longer than 4 days but it's always so much fun.

Since that first time we have been probably close to 10 times, staying at several of the resorts available up there. When we go, we normally only stay at the casinos at night time. During the day, we like to visit the neighboring towns and do some shopping or sightseeing! On our first trip, we went into Memphis and went to Graceland for the first time. It was a fun experience and something everybody should do at least once, I think.

There is a fantastic outlet mall that is close and we love getting great deals. For several years, we would visit Tunica over the Thanksgiving holiday and would rack up on great Christmas presents for everybody on our list at great prices!

One of my favorite memories being there is one year when they did a special for Paula Deen's buffet at Harrah's. They had where you could buy one wristband and eat breakfast, lunch and dinner for one price. It was a fantastic deal and we ate so good that trip! It was all so yummy. We do have one tradition that continues each year - we always go to the Waffle House for a late night treat - coffee and pie!

I will have to say, when we go to the casino we aren't the kind of people who take lots of money and gambles it away. We each take a small amount and play on it all weekend. Once that money is gone, we are done for the trip :) Luckily, we are both fairly good/lucky (depending on how you look at it!) so we have never had any problems with running out of money. Although we have yet to hit it big!

Mostly, we just like to have a good time. It's nice for us to get away and spend some time with my husband's family and have adult time while my son gets to spend special time with my mom.

Thank you for joining me from Disney Bird's Something About Me Saturday Blog Hop!

Amanda

{Destination Disney} Ways to Save for Disney Trips

Thank you for joining me for this week's Destination Disney! Welcome back everyone and a big thank you for those that are new to my blog! Thanks to Heidi from Reviews and Reflections for hosting it!

This week's topic for Destination Disney is Ways to Save for Disney Trips. This is a great topic and I can't wait to hear everybody's creative ways the save! There are actually a few things we do to save for our Disney trips, we've done it for both of our trips and it's worked out great!

*Save our loose change. We have an old, empty baby wipe box that is on my husband's dresser. Every time we have extra change, we add it in the box and when it gets full, we roll it and put it away until our trip. This past year, we ended up with well over $100 in change and that was just from a few months worth! My husband is way better at saving than I am, as I use some change at the vending machine at work. I have cut back on that lately though, so our savings is growing even better now!

* Round up when you balance your checkbook. This has really helped us out as well! You don't realize how much a few cents can add up when you use your debit card/checks several times a day or week. Whenever I add something into my check register, I always debit the next dollar amount up. So if I spent $3.75 on something at the store, then I debit $4.00 even and I just saved .25 cents! I do this with everything that comes out of our accounts - bills, groceries, anything. Sometimes you can even make sure you save some money - now instead of trying to make the gas pump stop at $65 even - I try to stop it at $65.01 so I can save almost a dollar!

* Over budget your bills. This is similar to rounding up when balancing your checkbook, but a little different and can save you even more money! When I am doing my budget and checkbook for the month, I over estimate my bills. Like if my Dish Network bill is going to be $75.83, I budget $80.00 for it, so I have saved almost $5 there! I don't do it with all of my bills, but I do with most of them and it can really help to add up your savings quickly!

* Put any extra money away. If we get birthday/Christmas money or just happen to get extra money for something we weren't expecting we take it and put it up in a hidden spot at our house. I am terrible about spending money if I can get to it easily, so this helps me to not think about it. Since it's hidden, then I don't think about having that money until we need it!

What are some ways that you save for your Disney trips?

Amanda



Five on Friday

In the last part of the series I talked about the top Five things that I want to do, but haven't done yet at Hollywood Studios. If you missed out, you can catch up here.

This week I am moving on to Epcot. I love Epcot, but there are several things I haven't had a chance to do yet, that I am looking forward to! It always seems everybody wants to rush through thinking there isn't much to Epcot and it's boring - but to me it's so much fun! There is more to do in a day, if you really go through and take your time.

5. Test Track - I know most people would think we are crazy for never doing this, but we haven't! This would actually be something that my husband and son (when he is tall enough) will enjoy doing!

4. Reflections of China - I think this would be really neat to see. I enjoy learning about different cultures and their history so this would be right up my alley!

Photo courtesy of www.disneyworld.disney.go.com

3. The American Adventure - I have heard a lot of good things about this! On our last trip we were going to go, but got distracted by something else instead. I think this would be enjoyable for our family.

2. Gran Fiesta Tour starring the Three Caballeros - we love Donald Duck and think he is hilarious in our family. I think we would enjoy this boat ride, as we like It's a Small World.

Photo courtesy of www.disneyworld.disney.go.com

1. National Treasures - I didn't even realize this was here until I began reading more about Epcot. I would love to see this exhibit as I love any type of artifacts involving history.

What are your favorite things to see/do at Epcot?

Amanda

Disney Blog Hop: Magic Moments

Welcome to those coming from the Disney Blog Hop! A big thanks to Babes in Disneyland for hosting and Manda's Disney Blog for co-hosting this week! If you haven't yet, go check out both of those blogs - they are fabulous!

This week's Disney Blog Hop theme is Magic Moments. There are 2 specific moments that come to mind when I heard this topic and they both happened on our trip this past March!

The first one was when we went to the ESPN Wide World of Sports for a Braves game. We are Braves fans anyways and love going to their games, so it was such a pleasure to see them in Disney! About half way through the game there was a foul ball hit in our direction. It actually went into the press box above us and since they aren't allowed to keep the balls, they asked if there was a kid around. My husband happened to be standing up holding our son at the time and he got the ball!! Then another inning later we realized that Bobby Cox was sitting in the top row of our section! The man sitting in front of us asked if we wanted our ball signed and we said yes, so he took it up there and got it signed by Bobby Cox! It was such an awesome experience!

Picture courtesy of www.disneyworld.disney.go.com

The second magical moment happened at The Festival of the Lion King show. We ended up sitting in the third row in the benches on the floor in the warthog seats. Nicholas was mesmerized the whole time by the show and loved it, just clapping along and smiling the whole time! At the end of the show, they come around and pick out a few kids to come up and be in the parade. Nicholas was chosen! The lady that was in our section took him by the hand and gave him his instrument and held his hand the whole time around the parade! He loved it. He shook his instrument and just smiled the entire time. He just had a blast and it was wonderful for me to see his excitement! I think this moment is what truly started his obsession with the Lion King! He actually ended up getting a Simba stuffed animal for one of his souvenirs!

Each of our Disney trips have been filled with wonderful magical moments - that is what keeps us coming back each year! I can't wait to see what other Magic Moments we have in the future!

Amanda

Wordless Wednesday

Nicholas and Handy Manny!

Amanda

Travel Plan Tuesday

Last week I discussed ways to save money on food while you are at Disney if you are not using the Disney Dining Plan. If you missed it, you can catch up here.

This week I wanted to talk about souvenirs and a few ways that you can save some money and not have to buy everything that your children see! And believe me, there is a lot they are going to want!

When at Disney, it can be really overwhelming all of the toys and merchandise that is available everywhere you turn! Most rides and attractions dump you into a gift shop, enticing your children to want even more. But there are easy ways to help you out and keep your children from asking to get every toy they see.

My first tip is to look at your local dollar store for Disney items. I know at ours, they sell a ton of different small Disney toys that I stock up on throughout the year. You can also keep an eye out for sales or clearance items at your local Disney store or online.

My second tip is to start shopping early and buy a few things here and there throughout the year. This way you can really have a stockpile by the time your trip rolls around!

Now, once you have this great little stockpile you can create "Mickey" or "Tinkerbelle" or "insert your child's favorite character" gifts for each day you will be on vacation. You can put 1 or 2 of the small toys in a bag and set it out either in the mornings before your children wake up so it looks like they visited through the night and left them a gift. An alternative to that would be to have someone run up to the room a little ahead of your group and set it out so it looks like the character visited while you were out playing. This is great because your children will be getting fun gifts, especially from their favorite character and you aren't having to spend a fortune on knick-knacks at the parks.

Small gift bags for toys.

If you give your children the gifts in the morning, then they can bring them and play with them throughout their day. If they start asking to buy other toys, you can just remind them that "Mickey" brought them a special gift that morning already.

Another idea, which is especially good for older children, is to give them an allowance to use for their souvenirs. You can purchase Disney gift cards before your trip, personalized for each child in their favorite character and put a certain amount on them. That way, they are in charge of what and when they buy their souvenirs and if they spend it all on one thing the first day, they aren't able to get anything else. This would be great for teaching children the value of a dollar and helping them to budget accordingly.

Although I have given you several tips on how to save money on souvenirs I do have to add that we always get our son 1 or 2 special gifts each trip - he always gets a t-shirt and one other toy that he really likes. It's important for us to save money, but also have wonderful memories and those things last for a while after we get home from our trip!

What ways do you save on souvenirs at Disney?

Amanda

Disney Blog Hop: Family

It's time for another edition of the Disney Blog Hop hosted by Babes in Disneyland! If you are new here, welcome and I hope you enjoy what you read! If you are coming back - thanks for continuing to read!!

If you want to see more posts from the hop, head over to Babes in Disneyland for a lot more fun!

Today's topic is family. This is something that is so important to me! My family are the people that I can count on for anything, any time. We always have a great time, no matter what we are doing! I have had the pleasure of taking a trip to Disney (for almost everybodys first time!) with my husband and his family. There were 9 of us total of that trip: my husband, myself, our son, BIL, SIL, nephew, niece, MIL, and FIL. My in-laws wanted to treat everyone to this trip, so they picked up the tab for the condo (we stayed off site), tickets and most of our meals! We had such a good time and I am so glad that I have these memories with them. I loved seeing my son spend time at the Happiest Place on Earth with his grandparents - such a special time!

Here are a few pictures from that trip!

My BIL, niece, SIL, and nephew



Nicholas and his Pawpaw




 



Pawpaw, Nicholas and Nick



Cousins :)



Nicholas and his Mimi!





Goofy brothers!







Father and sons!



We are hoping to be able to plan a family trip with my side of the family too! There would be a total of 10 of us if we are able to get it all together! I know we would have a lot of great memories, like these.

Have you ever gone to Disney with your family?

Amanda

Wordless Wednesday

Not just an ordinary trash can . . . it's Push!

Amanda

Five on Friday

Last week I started a new series of the Top 5 rides/attractions that I want to do at each park, but haven't done yet. I started out at Animal Kingdom, since it's one of our top parks! If you missed out, you can catch up here.

This week we are going to move onto Hollywood Studios. This is probably one of our least favorite parks in general, although there is a lot of rides/attractions that we really enjoy here.

5. Muppet*Vision 3-D - I grew up watching the Muppets and loved them. Unfortunately, my son doesn't have a clue as to who they are! I would love to take him to this and show him what they are all about and I think he would really enjoy it!

Photo courtesy of http://www.disneyworld.disney.go.com/

4. Studio Backlot Tour - I think this would be so neat to see. I really enjoy looking behind the scenes to see how things work and are done so I would really enjoy this. I've heard this isn't a spectacular ride, but I think it's something that should be done at least once.

3. The American Idol Experience - We are American Idol fans. My husband and I have watched most of the seasons, although there were several in there that didn't catch our attention. We are from the same state/area as several of the contestants (Ruben Studdard, Taylor Hicks, Bo Bice) and it's always neat to see if anyone else from Alabama will make it! I think this would be a neat experience for our family.

2. The American Film Institute Showcase - I LOVE looking at props and costumes from movies and this is perfect for me. I think it's so neat to see the costumes that were in movies up close and personal to see all the touches on them! Plus, my son is currently obsessed with Villains/Bad guys so he would like that too!

1. Star Tours - with the reopening of Star Tours not too long ago, I have heard many a great things about this ride. I have never really gotten into Star Wars that much, nor seen the newest movies, but did enjoy the first ones as a teen. I think this would be a neat ride and can't wait to check it out!

Photo courtesy of http://www.disneyworld.disney.go.com/

What rides/attractions are you looking forward to trying out for the first time at Hollywood Studios?

Disney Blog Hop: Disney Summer

Thank you for joining me for this week's Disney Blog Hop! Also a big thank you to Babes in Disneyland and Disney on Wheels for hosting!! Make sure you check out all the other fabulous posts from this weeks hop here!

This week's topic is Disney Summer and since I have never been to Disney in the summer I thought I would talk a little about the water parks. We have never been to either Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon because we have always gone in March, and while the weather was very good, it was never a priority to make it to the water parks. I am not a huge fan of water parks in general. I enjoy going down the lazy river and lounging by the pool with a good book, but I am not really into the slides and other fun activities. However, my husband is a huge fan of water parks and our son seems to be following in his footsteps.

Our next trip to Disney is planned for September 2012 and since it should still be very warm, I have decided to add on the WaterParks and More option to our tickets. We plan on going to each of the water parks once and possibly a second time. I know my husband and son will really enjoy their time there and if I get tired of it, I can just hop on a bus and head to Downtown Disney to shop while they play!

There are two different water parks at Disney: Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. Since we have never been to either, I have been doing some research about which one would best suit our family. Here are a few things I read about that I thought our family would like about each one:

Blizzard Beach
* Cross Country Creek - this is basically a big lazy river. Like I mentioned before our family loves to hang out in lazy rivers, so this is a definite for us!
* Melt-Away Bay - but only for the beach area! I'm not sure our son or myself could handle the waves in this area, so we would just enjoy a beach chair and playing in the sand!
* Tike's Peak - this will be a lot of fun for our son. He loves to play in the water and this is the perfect spot for him!
* Runoff Rapids - this would be for my husband. I think he would really enjoy doing these slides!

Photo courtesy of www.disneyworld.disney.go.com

Typhoon Lagoon
* Castaway Creek - again, we love lazy rivers!
* Keelhaul Falls - my husband would enjoy this one for sure!
* Ketchakiddee Creek - my son would love this area. I really like that they have a separate area for the smaller kids to play in!
* Sandy White Beach - this is definitely an area for me. I can just imagine it now . . .sitting on a lounge chair, reading a great book, just relaxing!

Photo courtesy of www.disneyworld.disney.go.com

There really is something for everyone at each of the water parks. If you are more adventurous and like fast, fun water slides, there are a few to choose from at each park. Our family is more laid back and not really into those, but there is still plenty for us to do as well!

I think adding the WaterParks and More option on to your ticket during the hot summer months at Disney is a great way to keep cool and have fun while doing it! I can't wait until our next trip so we can try all these fun things out!

Have you ever been to Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon? If so, what was your favorite part?

Amanda

**Almost** Wordless Wednesday

Last week my sister, her husband and my nephew came home to visit. They live in NC, which is where they are stationed since my BIL is in the Marines. My nephew's birthday was on May 7th and he turned one, but they were not able to come home then because my BIL was deployed at the time. Since they were home now, they had a family birthday for him to celebrate. We had such a great time! I love spending time with my family and we are super close. It's so hard to say goodbye when they have to leave, but I know we will see them again soon!

Enjoy a few pics of my nephew at his First Birthday party!

Ready for his smash cake!

He loved it :)



Nicholas stealing some icing!



Cousins and Friends :)

Amanda

Travel Plan Tuesday

Last week I went into a little more detail about the Dining plans that are available and how to choose which one is right for you! If you missed out, you can catch up here. Now, many people use the dining plan for different reasons. If you do - that is great! But there are lots of people who are unable to use the diningn plan (if you are staying off-site) or just choose not to. Today I am going to talk about ways to save money on food if you are not using the dining plan!

Bring breakfast items to eat in your room - This one can save you a ton of money and get you into the parks much faster and earlier. We have stayed off-site the past two visits and have used this every morning (with the exception of one when we splurged and did breakfast at Chef Mickey's!). We like to bring pop-tarts, granola bars, muffins, doughnuts and even cereal (make sure you get a mini-fridge for the milk!) and enjoy a nice, quick breakfast before heading out to enjoy our day!

Bring snacks with you into the parks - You can really save a lot of money by doing this! Disney allows you to bring a cooler in, therefore you can bring in snacks instead of paying $4 for a bag of chips every time you want something to munch on! We like to bring grapes, apple slices, cheese sticks, cracker packs, gummies, and goldfish with us for my son to snack on (ok, I like those things too!).

                    **If you bring a cooler in, you must obide by WDW guidelines**

Suitcases, coolers or backpacks with or without wheels larger than 24" (61 cm) long x 15" (38 cm) wide x 18" (46 cm) high are not permitted in the parks. (Coolers required for medication may be stored in a locker or at Guest Relations.) In the contents of your cooler do not bring: Glass containers (excluding baby food jars and perfume bottles) or alcohol.

Bring in your own water/water bottles - Since you are allowed to bring in a cooler, it is perfect for you to bring in frozen bottles of water that will keep your food cool and then melt throughout the day, allowing you to have a refreshing drink of cold water when you need it most! We normally bring 2 bottles of water per person, plus an aluminum bottle full of juice for our son (our juice boxes would be perfect too). *TIP - any counter service restaurant with give you ice water for free - just ask!*

Pack your own lunch - This can really be a money saver! We have done this before and it's very easy to do. You can pack in your cooler sandwiches (PB&J, turkey, ham) and bring chips along. Then you can stop whenever you get hungry at an open table, bench, spot on the ground and have a wonderful lunch together without having to wait in line to get food and pay a fortune! *TIP - we pack Pringles for our chips as they come in the cannisters and therefore the chips don't get crushed in our backpack!*

Share meals or order kids meals - If you decide you don't want to deal with the hassle of dragging around a cooler (we have a stroller, so it's stored at the bottom all day), then this is a great way to save money on food. Most of the meals at Disney are very large in proportions. You can easily share meals between people or get the cheaper kids meals and be just as full! On our last trip, most of the time I shared a meal with my son and we were all full at every meal!

Eat a table service meal at lunch instead of dinner - If you would like to splurge and eat one or a few meals at a table service, then this is a great way to save. Many of the meals are the same from lunch to dinner (check the menus - some are different) but the prices are higher for dinner service. Eating out at lunch will save you money, but also give you that relaxed feeling of eating a nice meal!

What are some ways you save money on food at WDW?

Amanda

The Hall of Presidents - not just for taking a nap!

Photo courtesy of www.disneyworld.disney.go.com

On our last trip to Disney World it was getting really warm and we needed a place to sit, relax and cool off. We were hoping that the kids would take a nap too if they were sitting in a dark room. Our friends suggested we go to The Hall of Presidents. We went into the lobby and it was wonderfully cold in there. We waited just a few minutes before being let in the auditorium. There were so many cool things that I didn't get to check out in the lobby area. Next time we go we will get there early and spend more time checking it all out!

Once in, we found some nice seats towards the back. I wasn't sure what to expect from this show. I was pleasantly surprised though! At first, they play a movie that tells the story of our country, the foundation, the formation of the Constitution and even the Civil War. The Gettysburg address is recited and I always get chills listening to it! After that the curtains are raised and you are looking at all 43 presidents. It really is an amazing sight!

Each former President is introduced, including the current one, Barack Obama. George Washington and President Obama both give wonderful speeches that left me a little teary eyed (although that isn't hard to do!). I think it's amazing that they have all of our presidents in one place - it's really a neat thing to see.

I know a lot of people use this to take a nap, and it's a great place to relax and cool off. But don't write it off as a boring attraction. It's really full of wonderful and amazing history for our country. I think this is definitely a must-do attraction for those with school-aged children to learn more about our Constitution and our country's beginnings and struggles. Neither myself nor my husband are big history buffs, but we both enjoyed this and plan on seeing it again on our next trip!

I highly recommend you seeing this attraction at least once and make sure you come at a time where you can really pay attention and appreciate everything that we are able to enjoy living in this country - including being able to vacation at Disney World!

Have you visited this attraction yet? What did you think about it?

Amanda

{Destination Disney} Kids' Favorite Memories

Last week the topic for Destination Disney over at Reviews and Reflections was your kids' favorite memories of Disney. I had planned on speaking with my son last weekend to find out what his was and write a post on it this week. I did speak with him, but have not had time to write the post. That is why I was so happy to read about Heidi's topic this week: Kids' Favorite Memories at Disney! She was out last week in Disney and a convention so she decided to re-post the topic and I am so happy she did! Now I get to share my little one's favorite memories of Disney :)

My son has been to Disney World twice. The first time was in 2010 for his 2nd birthday and the second time was just this past March for his 3rd birthday. I am not sure he remembers much from his first trip as he slept a lot! But I do know that he remembers some things from our most recent trip. I asked him what his favorite things were at Disney and this is what he told me:

Photo courtesy of http://www.disneyworld.disney.go.com/

"Dancing in the Lion King show" - this was one of the highlights for our entire family this past trip! We were on the floor for the show and had such a great time. It's one of our favorite things to do in Disney. On our first trip he slept through the whole show, so this was a new experience for him. He loved everything about it and had a great time. At the end of the show, the performers come up and get a few kids from each section, let them have a musical instrument and go around in a parade. He was chosen to do this and held the ladies hand the entire time while shaking his instrument! I only wish I had a camera that didn't have a flash so I could have gotten pictures!!

I know this is from the parade, but I was not able to take pics in the FOTLK show!

This was really the only thing he said was his favorite. I know he remembers some other things because he will talk about them when the Disney commercials come on or when we see a video on YouTube. He stopped playing the other night and turned and told us he wanted to go see Nemo at Disney World again. We have gone to see the Nemo show both years, but never knew he liked them that much. Although we always play a game to see who can find Nemo first at the beginning when he is swimming around in the bubbles on the side of the stage!

I hope we are able to continue to go to Disney each year and I know his favorites will grow and change as he does. I can't wait to see what his answers are after our next trip - when I know he will be older and able to remember more things!

Amanda

Five on Friday

Last week I finished all of the parks and my top five ride/attractions at each park, ending with Magic Kingdom. If you missed the post you can catch up here.

This week I am going to start a new series of posts. I am going to do the top five rides/attractions that I want to do at each park that I haven't done before. Each of these rides/attractions will be something I haven't done before, but really want to! I think we are going to start back at the beginning with Animal Kingdom!

Photo courtesy of http://www.disneyworld.disney.go.com/

5. Cretaceous Trails - I think this would be interesting for our son to see. He likes dinosaurs (although not obsessed with them) so he would probably enjoy this. I am always up for learning new things and think this would be enjoyable for our family.

4. Discovery Island Trails - I'm not really sure where this is located in the park, but I know that we would enjoy this. The one thing I really like about AK is that you can just relax and walk around leisurely and enjoy all kinds of things! This would be one of the things we would enjoy doing.

Photo courtesy of http://www.disneyworld.disney.go.com/

3. Flights of Wonder - I am sure that we will enjoy this show. Last year we watched a small show in Rafiki's Planet Watch and we all really liked it. I don't think we ever made it to Asia in AK, so that is why we have never seen this show.

2. Camp Minnie-Mickey Greeting Trails - I know, I know - how in the world have we not done this? I'm not really sure! We have seen FOTLK on both of our trips, so I know we were right by there! After the show on our first trip it was pouring down rain, so we ended up leaving the park right after. Our second trip we ended up heading out right where we came in, so we missed it. I definitely want to catch it on our next trip though and see all of them in their Safari gear!

1. Maharajah Jungle Trek - This one is definitely going to be on our top list of things to do next trip. My son LOVES Tigers and other animals, so I know he will really enjoy this. As with the Flights of Wonder show, we have never made it into Asia, so we have missed out on all those attractions.

Photo courtesy of http://www.disneyworld.disney.go.com/

Have you done of any these rides/attractions? If so, what did you think about them? What rides/attractions are on your to-do list for Animal Kingdom?

Amanda

Disney Blog Hop: Disney Firsts

Thank you for joining me for this weeks Disney Blog Hop hosted by Babes in Disneyland! I am so excited about this weeks topic: Disney Firsts!! As many of you already know, it is very easy to take a trip to Disney year after year and always have a first of something. Since I am still a Disney newbie and have only taken 2 trips, there will continue to be a lot of firsts for myself and my family.

Since our next trip isn't until Fall of 2012 (unless I can convince my hubby that I'm not crazy and we need a short trip in January/February), and I know it's going to be filled with a lot of Disney firsts, I thought I would make a list of things I plan on doing that will be our first time!

* Go to Disney World with just our family - This one may seem odd to some of you, but we have never gone on a vacation (with the exception of one night last summer to Atlanta) with just me, my hubby and our son. Our first Disney vacation was with my husband's entire family (9 of us!) and this past March we went with our good friends and their daughter. I am very excited that Disney will be our first trip alone :)

* Stay at a Disney World resort - I am so excited about this one! Our past two vacations we have stayed off site. The first being about 20 minutes away from Disney, but this year we stayed at Bonnet Creek, which is very close so it was a little better. I cannot wait to experience being immersed in Disney 24/7 and I know we are going to love it!!

* Dining Plan - since we will be staying on property for the first time, we are going to take advantage of the dining plan. My husband is actually excited about this one so we know our meals are paid for in advance and don't have to watch what we eat (which we have in the past). We plan on getting the basic dining plan so we can have at least 1 table service meal a day!

* Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party - We have always started lining up for the parade and Wishes almost 2 hours ahead of time to get a good seat, which we always had. However, I know we are missing out on a lot of valuable time to do other things in the park. This time I thought it would be fun to do the dessert party so we have a perfect view of Tinkerbell and Wishes, with the extra bonus of all those yummy desserts!

* Supercalifragilistic Breakfast @ 1900 Park Fare - Mary Poppins is one of my favorite characters, so in order to make sure we see her, we are having breakfast here. I am really excited about this one, not only for Mary, but because I like Alice in Wonderland too and I know the Mad Hatter is going to be fun!

* Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party - We are hoping to go during September next fall and if we do, we will definitely be going to this party! We have friends that have been and said they had a blast. I know my son would love to dress up and go around meeting all the characters. I would LOVE to get a picture of us with the Seven Dwarfs too!

* Characters in Flight - I have been wanting to do this since the first time I saw it at DTD. Unfortunately, my hubby is not too keen on heights, so he will not be riding with me. Our son saw it on the computer (we like looking at different Disney things on YouTube) and said he wanted to do it, so I may have a partner after all :)

* Donald's Safari Breakfast @ Tusker House - I am super excited about this one! I have heard nothing but good things about this breakfast and thanks to Delightfully Disney, I now have a plan in mind to eat an early breakfast here and head straight to Kilimanjaro Safaris for one of the firsts rides of the day!

I am sure there will be many more firsts for us on this trip as it will be different from other trips we've taken to Disney. Most of the restaurants we eat at will be new for us and I am so excited to try them all out!

What are some Disney Firsts you are looking forward to?

Amanda

Wordless Wednesday

My son is obsessed with the Lion King!

Amanda