Three Caballeros

Well, here we are, 3 days until "The Day". The first thing that came to mind was "Three Caballeros" and now I can't get that out of my mind. What a great little Disney movie from way back in 1944.

Anyway, I've gone way off on a tangent... back to day 3.  We are mostly packed with the exception of the things we can't do without until Friday morning. It's late in the evening, and I should probably be getting some sleep.... but I'm so excited about surprising my daughter, that I just can't wait myself.

So tonight just a short & simple blog about packing. Make sure you pack at the very least 3 days out from your trip. This will save you a lot of headache of looking for things at the last minute. We spent about 2  hours packing clothes tonight... just clothes mainly. I can't believe we spent almost 2 hours on clothes.... but we did. We are going on a 9-day trip, and washing 1 load. So not alot to pack, but trying to find my daughter's shoes, and a missing Mickey Tie Dye cost us some time. So just to reiterate, you don't want to be scrambling on the last evening, start several days out.

Tonight is also a great night to charge up all those cameras. If you are taking any cameras or electronic devices. Get them charged now instead of later. If you charge them overnight, you can slip them into some luggage in the morning, and check them off the list.

So here's my question for anyone reading this. Excluding any clothing, what are the 3 most important things you must pack for your Disney Trip?

A Not So Scary Halloween!!

OH NO!!!

So we are just about ready to head off to the Mouse's house, when I suddenly realized, WE HAVE NO COSTUMES!!!! That's right, I bought Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Tickets, and I forgot about costumes. Now I know many of you are questioning why we would need costumes, but from everything I'm told from those wonderful folks that frequent the place of dreams, if you are without some sort of costume or theme for your group, then you will be in the minority.

Then I got to thinking that costumes are going to be awfully hot for September, and came upon a numbe of people mentioning Disney Halloween Shirts. This sounds like an awesome plan to me. Its just too hot in September in Orlando to be suiting up into a costume.

Diva Deb's Boutique

I found a wonderful Designer on Etsy, Debbie, of Diva Deb's Boutique, who managed to help me out at the last minute. She has a plethora of designs to choose from. I highly recommend her and going this route rather than trying to put up with hot costumes.

For those of you travelling in October, a costume may work well. Just remember, this is Florida we are talking about, and I can tell you I was sweating in November last year while I was fishing in the gulf, just be fore lunch.

It's gonna be a hot one this year. So get some custom Halloween shirts made, and have a cool and safe Not So Scary Halloween

Second Star to the Right, and Straight on till Morning...

Peter Pan

Wow, everything seems to be creeping up on us as our time to head off to Neverland is soon approaching. It's been 10 years since I was last there, but all of the familiar sights, sounds, and smells are coming back to me as the day fast approaches. I don't know who will be more excited on the day we depart for this magical place, the girls, or myself. I've been waiting to take my daughter to DisneyWorld for ages it seems, and soon that will come to a close as well, and hopefully, a little Pixie dust will come our way, and it will a magical trip that she will remember for years to come.

What's a trip to that magical place though without some pre-planned touring. This will be my first time using a Touring Plan, and I am using Tour Guide Mike. I've looked at a number of them available, and this one has become my favorite. Not only does Mike Hewell provide some great sample tours, updated park information, and just all-around great touring advice, but the most important thing I think he brings to the table is the TGM family. The folks I've met on the TGM forums have been an absolute treasure during this entire process. They've provided countless answers to a number of things that I am trying to plan for our trip. I could probably spend a day blogging about their input about touring plans.

Dana's TGM Itinerary & Monica's Cards

One of my new TGM friend, Dana, was nice enough to provide us with a photo of her touring plans that I've posted here in the blog. She managed to get her Monica's cards (we'll get to that in a minute), aTGM  itinerary all printed up and laminated. No need to worry about paperwork getting torn up on the trip with laminated info. This a great trick if you haven't done some formal touring before. I highly recommend it. Dana's done a wonderful job with her paperwork here, and I hope to have mine looking at least half as good as hers before the trip. She also managed to take the cards, and update them with the latest information based on Mike's recommendations.

Tour Guide Mike

One of the things she has in the picture is her Monica's cards on rings. Monica's cards are lists of attractions and rides in the parks, with information about the ride, and when the best time is to actually go to the ride. Again, this is one of the things I like about Tour Guide Mike. He doesn't just believe in sending you on a trek by doing ride A, then B, then C, etc. There are a innumerable ways to tour, and if something comes up when you are touring, its nice to know you have the equipment to make a change in the park quickly. After reading so many of the post on TGM, you should have a good idea of what to do as well. It's just a really great site. I highly recommend you pay out the $18.00 for his touring advice, and most importantly for access to the TGM family.... after all he's providing a money back guarantee, and I am already happy to say that unfortunately, he won't be giving me my money back.

A picture is worth a 1000 Words

Well, its is getting closer to our trip time, and we're working on the finishing touches of things. One of the things we are working on now are our Mickey Tie-Dye shirts. There are tons of discussions out on the internet about making Mickey Tie-Dyes. Typically, they look much like the picture to the right.

We are planning to do some, but I don't think we are going to do them all the traditional way of a centered Mickey head on every shirt. We'll probably do at least one, but I'm hoping to experiment and come up with some variations on the design.

If you would like to see some directions on this, check out the DISBoards. There are always folks over there doing all kinds of DISigns. There are people helping people. Its just a great site for Disney Enthusiasts. Invitations, Iron-on graphics, and a host of other creative designs to add something special to your Disney trip at a cheaper costs. The name fills are my favorites. BreezyBus DISigned this one for me. I'm a 626 - Stitch Fan, and I really like the DISign she made. I've heard some kids even say they'd rather have their tie-dyed shirt  or name fill one than ones purchased at the parks.  Either way check out these folks, do some google searches on the best way to tie-dye, and get yourself outfitted for the parks.

Here's a few tips on Tie-Dying shirts.

• Wash and dry your shirts - Do not use Fabric Softener
• Soak Shirts in Soda Ash for about 30 minutes before you dye them.
• Dye both sids of the shirt
• Put shirts in Ziplocked bags for 24 hours after dying them.
• Rinse in hot water before washing.

I hope you have fun with this activity, and here's to daughter enjoying them.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's off to Trade We Go!

Pin Trading, it has to be one of the fastest growing hobbies to date, and with 10 years under their belt, Disney has managed to build a small fortune off of pin trading. Now I myself began a pin collection many years ago. Come to think of it, mine started at the Mouse's House about 10 years ago. How ironic!

©2010, The Walt Disney Company

So now here we are, at it again, this time, I'm planning for everyone. Disney Pin Trading is one of most interactive and exciting experiences in Walt Disney World. You can purchase pins, pin sets, and lanyards all within the parks or online through the Disney Store. We purchased our lanyards through the Disney Store for the girls, because we were able to get Personalized Princess Lanyards with their names embroidered in them. Now there won't be any question of whose lanyard is whose.

Of course with everything Disney, there is always a cost. Disney Pins can run $7.00 to $20.00 in the parks. Elsewhere on EBay and other hobby sites, pins can run up into the triple digits. The ones we want to concentrate on are the trading pins used in the parks. Children can trade pins with any Disney Cast Member that is participating ( they are typically wearing a pin lanyard ) with a few rules that they must adhere to:

• You can only trade up to 2 pins with any cast member
• You can not trade a pin they already have on their lanyard
• Cast Members are not required to trade Showcase Pins ( Typically specific to the area or ride they are working )
• They only trade Disney Pins.

100 Pins - No Duplicates

Now of course Disney will sell you a starter set of pins with about 5 pins and a lanyard for $25.00, but I found a better way. Purchase the lanyard you want at the park, or go for the personalized option that we did. You can also find some knock-offs on eBay. It's really what you want as far as the lanyard. The big savings come with purchase pins in bulk. You can order a "lot" or "grab bag" of pins from a reputable reseller or e-Bayer. I used lotzapinz on eBay. Great Seller, and the pins look great. I got 100 with no duplicates, and extra Mickey backings for less than $75.00 including shipping. They are legitimate pins, not scrappers or poor copies. All have the Disney trademark stamped on the back. She guarantees that they are tradeable, and a number of folks in various forums have attested to her reputation as well. As of this post, she has 100% Positive Feedback on more than 1400 orders.

So for less than $100.00, I've managed to secure 4 lanyards, and 100 pins for trading. If I were to make this same purchase in the parks, it would run me more than $700.00. Whew, what a cost savings. I'm sure the girls will have as much fun as I have had in the past trading pins with folks.

Don't forget Cast Members aren't the only ones that trade. If you see some other friendly faced pin trading families, why not introduce yourself, and enjoy another pin trading experience with someone. You never know who you'll meet.

Share and Share Alike

Ok, so I remember the last time that we went to Disney, and were taking pictures at every turn. So this time I thought I'd look into this Disney Photopass deal that Disney has now. You can find out more info on it at the Disney Photopass Site.

Your pictures will look nothing like this.

Disney has hired people to take photos of their visitors while they are in the park. My first thought was, "Why in the heck would I want to do this?" In fact, Why would anyone? I can't stand being asked to have my photo taken and then be charged an arm & a leg for the photo at the end. I mean, most of the photographers aren't even quality photographers. Their just like you and me. Hired to do a minimum wage job, and to do the best they can.

So then I got to reading more about this thing. Its a little different than that. No, they are not professional photographers, but if you Pre-Order the Disney Photopass, you can get a CD of all the photos taken by these folks for a mere $99.00. Now it doesn't sound so entirely bad. Is it worth it to not deal with the hassle of a camera. Yeah, maybe so.

So then I happen onto something else in some of the forums at TGM, DISboards, and StitchKingdom. What some folks have come up with is a Photopass Share. Basically its 5 or 6 people going to Disney within a 30 day window that take all of their cards and put them on one photopass. The leader of the share then orders the Photopass CD and gives everyone their pictures. Now it is really sounding reasonable. After the costs of shipping, CDs, etc. You can get out cheap for around $25.00.

Stitch - 626

If you can get into one of these, you are really getting a savings. Here are the main drawbacks:

1. You will probably get everyone's pictures now because they aren't put into the CD in the order your entered them. The pictures are ordered based on date I believe now.
2. You really have to trust the leader of your group.

I'm going to give this a try myself. It seems like it will be a great savings at the Mouse's House. If you want to find more in depth info, check out the Definitive Guide to Disney's Photopass over at Stitch Kingdom.

Buses, Boats, and Monorails

So I've been debating on this for weeks. Should I rent a car while I am in DisneyWorld or should I just use Disney Transportation? It's the age old question as far as transportation at the Mouse's House.

So here are the pros & cons of each:

Disney Resort Travel

Pro

• I don't have to drive anywhere
• Cost=$0
• The kids would love to ride the boat & monorail
• Can be picked up from the airport and returned to the airport
• No hassle with car pickup and drop-off
• Disney will pick-up luggage and delivery to airport

Cons

• Upwards waits of 20 minutes to get to and from a location via bus, or other transporation.
• Monorail is only available for Magic Kingdom, Epcot & a few select resorts
• Boat is only available to and from a few select locations
• Travelling to some locations could result in 2 or more transporation options to get there.
• Can only use the bus to get to and from our resort
• Taking a chance of bus being full and waiting for next available bus
• Luggage may not arrive at resort before we do ( possible 3-5 hour wait )

Rent-a-car
Pros

• Can come and go as we please
• Can stop on the way to resort to pickup water, chips, etc.
• Parking at the resort and parks is free for resort guests
• No wasted time waiting on transportation

Cons

• I'm out almost $200 for 9 days
• To be able to come-and-go as I please I have to drive everywhere
• I have to put gas in the car
• Pick-up & Drop-off

So my decision is - - - Rent-A-Car. Based on my travel itinerary within the park, we will be travelling to-and-from the resort at least twice a day. That would be an upward possibility of around 11 hours of time spent waiting on transportation. That's more than an entire day in a park. It's worth the $200 to come-and-go as we please. To top it off, we can still take a trip on the monorail, and possibly the boat, and it doesn't cost anything extra for either of those.