Disney Blog Hop: Why I LOVE Disney

Hi and welcome! Today is another edition of the Disney Blog Hop hosted by Babes in Disneyland. I always have a great time reading everyone's posts on the topic each week. A big thanks to Lisa for hosting and coming up with these fabulous topics!

This week's topic is in honor of the D23 Expo - Why I love Disney. Now, this shouldn't be a hard post to write - after all I think all of us love Disney so much. Why else would we have Disney blogs? But it actually took me a little while to figure out exactly how I wanted this post to go. What did I want to write about? About a month ago I did a Top Ten Tuesday post on the reasons that I LOVE Disney - you can check it out here. Of that list, I wanted to talk about one thing in particular: Being able to forget about day to day stresses and responsibilities and just having fun!

I think this is something that everyone who really lets go in Disney World is able to experience. Instead of having to get up early every morning to get ready for work, going in Nicholas' room 2 or 3 times to get him out of bed and ready for school - we both eagerly get up when we are at Disney so we can get to an early ADR! Instead of having to worry about traffic to and from work, we can hop on a bus, or just drive and park close to the park and have a great time! Instead of having to be at work for 9 hours a day and missing out on that special time with Nicholas, my husband and I get to spend 24/7 with him on our vacation! We really enjoy that special bonding time and we always come back from Disney a stronger family :)

When we are in Disney, we don't have to worry about the mundane things of our daily lives. We get to eat cupcakes for breakfast, or skip down Main Street holding hands - and no one thinks anything of us. I can tear up while watching Nicholas get excited and talk to his favorite characters, or have my breath taken away while watching Wishes. All of these reasons, and many many more are why I LOVE Disney so much!

Cupcake for Breakfast - only at Disney :)

Why do you love Disney? What special things make you enjoy your vacation?

Amanda

Disney Blog Hop: Shining a Spotlight

Welcome and thank you for joining me from the Disney Blog Hop hosted by Babes in Disneyland! I really enjoy linking up and reading all the other wonderful posts by some great bloggers! Don't forget to click back and check them all out!

This weeks theme is Shining a Spotlight! I think this is a wonderful theme and am so excited to be a part of it. When I first read the theme for this week and started thinking, I knew I wanted to do something special. I wanted to let the bloggers that have motivated me, helped me, and supported me know how wonderful they really are. Without the support of other bloggers, I am not sure I would have made it past my first month blogging.

There are two blogs who I have followed for a while and who have been a part of my process in blogging. I would like to shine a spotlight on them in my post this week and show them how thankful I am for their support!

A Disney Mom's Thoughts
Beth from A Disney Mom's Thoughts was one of the first Disney blogs that I started following and reading. She has such great ideas and tips. I just knew from her writing that she was an amazing person! Then, I found out she is from Alabama as well and that is even better - even if she is an Auburn fan :) I have learned so much from Beth from her comments and reading her posts. Another thing that I love about Beth is her obvious passion for God and the youth at her church. Her love and passion truly shine when she writes about them in her posts! Thank you Beth!

DisneyBird
The first time I read DisneyBird's blog I instantly felt like I was reading words of a friend. I can tell that we have a lot in common and like a lot of the same things. Since Bird is a newcomer to the blog world, as I am, I felt drawn to her blog knowing she knew how I felt. I can always count on a comment from Bird and that makes me feel good to know that someone is always out there - reading what I write. I truly enjoy reading Bird's blog - she has such fantastic ideas and knows just how to word everything. Her blog has grown so much in the few months that I have been reading and it's wonderful to see! Thank you Bird!

I want to thank not only these two wonderful bloggers, but everyone in the Disney blogging community for your support! I am truly honored and glad to be a part of a group that is so wonderful, supportive and creative! Thank you all!!

Amanda

Disney Blog Hop: Integrity

Welcome and thank you for hopping over from the Disney Blog Hop hosted by Babes in Disneyland!

This week's topic is Integrity. I think this is so important to discuss and talk about and am excited to join in on the discussion this week! Integrity is something that everyone should have and always be thinking about when you are writing for your blog or other blogs.

When I am think about the word "integrity" a few things come to mind: honest, truthful, correct. I believe that all these things together make up integrity, plus other things as well.

Earlier in the week, Lisa from Babes in Disneyland posted about The Three Disneyland Moms' Pledge. This is basically a pledge that any Disney blogger can be a part of that says you will use integrity and honesty in your Disney blog. I am proud to be a Disney blogger and was excited to take the pledge.

Since I am very new, not only to blogging, but to all things Disney, I take this pledge very seriously. One of the first things I thought about when I decided to start my Disney blog was making sure that I stay true to me. I don't know everything about everything at Disney - I am still learning. But that is part of why I wanted to write this blog - so that I can learn and share that with all of you! I am not here to blog about rumors, possibilities or even news. I am here to show you my journey with Disney and my experiences. I know that the integrity of my blog is important to me because it shows all of you what I am all about. I want to make sure everything I write about here is honest and truthful because that is how I am!

Be a friend to other Disney bloggers and fans, for we are part of a community, not a competition.


This is my favorite part of the pledge! I think this is so important because we should all be there to support and encourage each other. We all share a common interest: our love for Disney! I truly see all of you as friends and not competition. I think each of us has something different to bring to the table and not everybody is exactly alike. Without several of you always posting a comment or writing an encouraging word, I might not have continued on my blogging journey! I try to do the same and comment/encourage as much as I can on each of your blogs as well. As the saying goes: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

If you would like to take The Three Disneyland Moms' Pledge, just go here and check it out! I think it's so wonderful and I am so proud to be a part of it!! Thank you to Lisa, Marcy and Suz for putting this together for all of us!

Amanda

Disney Blog Hop: Winnie the Pooh!

Welcome and thank you for joining me for this week's Disney Blog Hop hosted by Babes in Disneyland! If you are new to my blog - welcome and I hope you enjoy it! If you are a returning reader - thank you so much for coming back!

This week's topic is Winnie the Pooh! With the new movie coming out tomorrow, I am getting really excited about it! I grew up loving Winnie the Pooh and passed that love in to my child. Even though it's not one of his favorites anymore, he still enjoys it and is looking forward to the new movie.

As soon as I saw the topic I knew exactly what I was going to talk about! For my son's 2nd birthday, we did a Winnie the Pooh theme and it turned out great!! We had so much fun and Nicholas just loved it. The cake came from Publix and they have the best cake around! So delicious. I also found this fantastic lady who made custom balloons, so she was able to take pictures of Nicholas and put them on the balloons with pictures that went along with the Winnie the Pooh theme - they turned out fantastic!! I hope you enjoy my pictures :)

Amanda

Disney Blog Hop: Joy!

Welcome and thank you for joining me for this week's Disney Blog Hop post hosted by Babes in Disneyland! If you are new here, thank you for joining me! If you are returning - I appreciate it!!

This week's topic for the Disney Blog Hop is Joy! I was so excited when I saw the topic. When I think of Disney, I automatically think of joy - everything about our trips are joyful and fun. All the time that we get to spend together as a family doing fun things without any of the every day stress and worry is so wonderful. I thought it would be neat to do something a little different this week and just post some pictures of us that show all the Joy we have in Disney! I hope you enjoy!

On our first Disney trip in 2010!

Daddy and Nicholas :)

Cousins :)

Being silly with Pawpaw on his birthday at Chef Mickey's!

Ice cream brings me a lot of joy!

Love him :)

Having fun playing the drums!

My family :)

Happy Birthday Nicholas!

His smile says it all :)

Don't forget to hop on over to Babes in Disneyland to check out the other Joy in Disney posts!

Amanda

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

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

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

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

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

Disney Blog Hop: Star Wars/Star Tours

Welcome to this week's edition of the Disney Blog Hop hosted by Babes in Disneyland! This week the co-host of the blog hop is Days in the Park. I am really enjoying being a part of this hop and want to thank everyone for checking out my blog!

This week's theme is Star Wars/Star Tours. As I did last week I had a really hard time with this week's topic. I am not a big Star Wars fan. I watched the first 3 movies in high school as part of my English class. This is the only time I've ever watched anything Star Wars. It's not that I think it's too "geeky" or "nerdy", actually I remember liking the movies when we watched them in class. I just never watched them again, although I'm certain if I did now I would enjoy it.

I have also have never been on the Star Tours ride in Disney World. The first trip we took, the lines were so long so we didn't go on it and on our last trip, it was closed for refurb so we didn't have a chance. I am definitely looking forward to trying out the new ride on our next trip though!

One thing I think is neat and didn't realize is the Jedi Training that you can sign your kids up for. On our first trip to Disney, my nephew was 5 at the time and loved Star Wars! I wish I would have known about this so we could let him do it - he would have had a blast with it! Actually, for his birthday that year (just 2 months before we went to Disney) he had a Star Wars birthday party. A man at my FIL's job dresses as a Stormtroopers for parties and such, so he came as a surprise to my nephew at his birthday. It was great and he did a wonderful job! My nephew was so excited that a real Stormtroopers had come to his birthday party!

Amanda