One of the reasons so many love staying at the Walt Disney World Resorts is the attention to detail. Certainly we love the theming, the environment, and the dedicated Cast Members, but it's also the special little touches that are uniquely Disney. I try to bring little subtle touches of Disney into my home and there are none better than those right from your Walt Disney World Resort stay. Everyone thinks to take the little soaps and shampoos and lotions from your resort room, but on my last stay, I grabbed two of the thin paper coasters under the drinking glasses on top of the refrigerator near the ice bucket I looked up on Pinterest a number of techniques to DIY coasters (using photos, for example). Well, with the cost of supplies and effort involved, I could have just purchased a set of Disney World coasters! Also, I love the idea of using an item at home that you can only get visiting WDW. So all I did was take the two coasters to be laminated. I went to Staples but you can go to any store with laminating services. I asked for the thickest laminating they had available, 7mm or 10mm. The cost is by sheet (the two easily fit on one sheet). I cut them out myself at home with just a regular scissor, being careful to leave at least an 1/8 inch boarder. My total cost was around $3.00. If you have your own laminating machine, you could do it at home; however, mine only takes flimsy laminating sheets and I wanted something much thicker, almost rigid, that I knew would hold up and last. I keep them on my nightstand and they add just a little magic to my bedtime routine. What other free/cheap and creative souvenirs have you taken home and used from Disney World?
I, too, I have Googled those exact words. In the ongoing effort to make my home more magical with little accents that remind me of Walt Disney World, I'd been looking for a candle that reminds me of any of the unique scents of the Disney parks. I was very surprised that no Disney branded or partnered line exists! Seriously, Disney Parks people, get on this! Then I found Strawberry Buttercream by Yankee Candle. This is the closest you can get to inhaling the divine aroma of Main Street USA at home. The Strawberry Buttercream candle definitely evokes the Main Street Confectionery Smellitizers...aka heaven. The candle has a sweet light scent without being cloying. It has a medium throw... Not in-your-face like its being pumped into your living room, but you get whiffs every now and then of powdered sugar, berries, cookies, vanilla, and cotton candy all at once.
Now I cannot take credit for this find. This candle I.D. was made over at Sparkly Ever After, one of the best Disney and lifestyle blogs around. Check out that original post here: http://sparklyeverafter.com/at-home-disney-favorites/
Have you found any other candle scents that remind you of Disney? Comment below!
A couple of months ago, I stumbled on to a blogger known at the time as OrganizedJen. Jennifer Ross, queen of all things organizational, maintains a regularity updated lifestyle blog and a YouTube channel with over 120,000 subscribers. (Which is crazy to me since I get excited when my blog view count for the day skyrockets to 8.) Just click on one of her videos and you can see why she's so addicting to watch. As if I didn't love her content enough (she's inspired me to do a home purge and upped my cosmetics game by about a thousand), she's also an avid Disney fan. She and her husband are regular vacationers at Walt Disney World and she has quite a number of Disney-related vlogs - everything from booking a Disney trip to what she packs for visiting WDW. They are definitely worth a watch. Here are some of my favorites:
She just relaunched her brand as Pretty Neat Living which represents well the content she's been putting out there for five years now. Far more than just organizing, Jen invites you into her delightful little slice of the world in which suitcases are always big enough and no task is insurmountable with help from The Container Store. Go check out Pretty Neat Living!
Today I want to share my review of Garden Grocer, an online grocery delivery service based out of Orlando that specializes in deliveries to the Walt Disney World Resorts. Before our second trip to Disney World last summer, I’d done a lot more research on sites like MouseSavers and DISboards than our first go around…Disney is really just one of those things you need to experience to understand how it all works. Don’t get me wrong, first-timers will have an incredible trip without reading all the guidebooks, but for subsequent trips, you definitely know what you need to prepare, pack, not pack, and plan ahead. For my family, one of those things was strategizing a way to cut down breakfast time to be able to get in a little more sleep and a little more magic. Additionally, we found that, for us, that the meals at WDW are so filling, it’s unnecessary to have a full breakfast every day. Now, while I’m not usually looking for more than a big mug of coffee and a piece of toast, my husband is a “breakfast person;” but even he insisted that a bowl of cereal and piece of fruit was more than sufficient, especially considering all the fabulous Advanced Dining Reservations at Signature restaurants we had planned for dinner throughout our stay. My research led me to the wonders of shipping items to your resort to arrive ahead of your stay. Enter Garden Grocer.
Every aspect of ordering from Garden Grocer was perfect start to finish. The website is easy to navigate and the prices are reasonable (an absolute bargain compared to New York City prices, and certainly WDW food costs). Before even signing up for an account, you can browse the online shelves a bit to get an idea of what they have (answer: everything). When you create an account, you can even favorite items so that you can mull over your list before putting them in your shopping cart. What really sold me on this particular service was the communication. The follow-up phone call order confirmation gave me confidence in dealing with this company for the first time and the text message I received letting me know my groceries were waiting for me at the Wilderness Lodge while I was en route on Disney’s Magical Express from MCO gave me great peace of mind. Furthermore, the accuracy of my order and the freshness of the products I received were of the best quality (– fresh fruit salad and milk were part of my order). The products I ordered were there as promised. I simply mentioned it at the check in desk and I was sent just a few feet away to the bell hop counter. Less than 10 minutes after I got to my room, the bellhop was there with our groceries! And as promised, all of the refrigerables (not a word but I’m making it a word!) were kept cold by my resort until I was ready for them. One of the features of having placed an order (and therefore having an online account) with Garden Grocer, is that you can view past orders to remember what you purchased last time. Based on 4 adults for a 6 day stay, I ordered: 1 package of bakery fresh blueberry muffins 12 cereal single cups, assorted cereals 2 packages of Nutri-Grain Cereal Bars 1 box of Quaker Instant Oatmeal Variety Pack 1 half-gallon of milk 6 pack of yogurt, assorted flavors 1 container Tropicana orange juice 1 bowl of fresh mixed fruit 2 cases of bottled water, 32 count each Including the $14.00 delivery fee, sales tax and gratuity, the bill came to $100 on the nose. This was more than enough food for all of us for breakfast (I wanted to have a variety for my husband and brothers-in-law to choose from) and came out to $5 per person, per day, including ALL of the bottled water we used on the trip! (At $2.50 a bottle in the parks, we paid $.25 a bottle using Garden Grocer.) Everything fit well in our little refrigerators, split between our two rooms and we restocked the water in the fridge nightly. For just one of the mornings we made an ADR for Kona Cafe which was a great experience and a nice break from the small and quick in-room breakfast. Needless to say, lunch was skipped that morning! (Tonga Toast = HEAVEN) The only thing I would add for next time is either purchasing some disposable bowls, plates, and cutlery or bringing some light plastic reusable ones from home. We ended up having to take what we needed every morning from the quick service cafeteria when we went to go fill our Resort Mugs with coffee. It was a real luxury to eat breakfast in our rooms and to not have to pay extra or use a Quick Service credit on such a small meal. I highly recommend using Garden Grocer for anyone staying at a Walt Disney World resort. I won't hesitate to use them on all of my next stays at WDW! This post is neither endorsed nor sponsored by Garden Grocer or gardengrocer.com. My opinions are based on my own research and experience. I did not receive any compensation, discount, or incentive for using this service.
Hello all! Long time, no post! Sorry about that...I work at a university and April and May are months we tell ourselves to "just keep swimming!" My husband and I already did a bit of traveling this year, so there will be no summer trip to Disney World for us, as we've done for the past two Augusts. My next Disney goal is to visit WDW during the various holidays that Disney does up so famously. So I am shooting for a trip this December for the Christmas season. In order to do that, I've got to start saving up. I've received a bit of cash as gifts over the last few months which I'd stuck in an envelope, considering it as the start of a savings plan for this trip. Since I'm a big visual learner, I wanted to have a special piggy bank I could display to encourage me to save. I first checked Etsy and found some adorable options for less than $10... which are completely worth it if you're not a crafty person...but I was discouraged by the idea of spending money in the effort to save up money, so I decided to try my hand at making something with [mostly] stuff I had around the house. I started with an empty plastic jar (this one had jelly beans in it). I chose this particular one because it's plastic, it has a flat side (for ease of writing on it), and it has a black cap which I thought went with the color scheme. I used this great trick for stenciling on a jar. Type out on the computer (in Word or similar) whatever you want to write on the jar and/or any images you want to use. I used the Disney font "Waltograph" (here for free at dafont.com) and some Mickey heads (found here on family.disney.com). I found all sorts of cute ideas for wording on Pinterest: "Mickey Money," "Disney Stache" (adding a little mustache to a Mickey silhouette!), or simply "Our Disney Trip," but I went with "Disney Dollars." Play around with the font size and print. Then, cut out your design and tape it steady on the inside of the jar, facing out. Now all you have to do is trace! I used a plain old black fine-point Sharpee marker that I had, but a paint pen would have worked very well, too. (Actually, if you're using a glass jar, you'll want to go with the paint pen. You could use a paint brush but I found a pen to be much easier to control.)
I was very happy with the finished product and it would have been cute as-is but I wanted to add a little color. The cap of my jar was a 1/2" thick, so I used a combo of 3/8" ribbon (red) and 1/8" ribbon (yellow) to glue around the cap using tacky glue. Now I didn't have the size ribbon in the colors I wanted around the house, so I went to my local craft store and bought just a yard of each for under $1 total. I measured how much I would need to wrap the cap, I lined the cap with tacky glue and affixed the red ribbon, and then beaded a bit of glue over the red to attach the yellow. Voila! You can search around Pinterest for some magical additions... gluing a tiny Mickey figurine on the top of the lid, tying a red polka-dot bow around the neck of the jar, or using vinyl lettering instead of a marker...but for me, these would have cost extra money, and personally, I'd rather throw it in the jar than use it to decorate the jar. (The $100 dollar bills, by the way, were gifts I received for various occasions....I found that if I received a gift in twenties, I'd spend it immediately but the three $100 bills stuck around on my desk waiting for deposit for a while.... so I think when I save up another hundred dollars, I'll go to the bank and ask for a single bill so I won't waste it on Starbucks!) Whatever you come up with and whatever trick you use, it's a fun way to stash away some Disney cash for you and your family. I know there are lots of great sites out there with advice, like mousesavers.com... What are some of your ways to save for Disney?
Since I'm still inflicted with Cinderella fever, I wanted to share this vlog from one of my favorites: Fr. Robert Barron comments on the Christian symbolism he finds in the movie. Naturally, I loved it because finding a way to combine my love of Disney with my love of my Catholic faith pretty much makes my head explode with joy. So if you're interested, check out the 8 minute video below. Enjoy! And happy Holy Week!
I just saw Cinderella in the theater this weekend and I loved it! Afterwards, my husband remarked about me to my brothers-in-law (who were invited along) "Look how happy this little girl is!" - and it's true. I was beaming. All I needed was a tiara and some glitter and I would have been in heaven!
Since the 1950 Cinderella is my favorite Disney movie, I was thrilled with the direction this 2015 version took. I saw it as more of an embellishment than a whole new story, meaning today's version fleshes out some of the plots and backstories of the original. I adored the results! So here is my list of 10 new things we learn about the original from the new film: Warning: The following contains spoilers! 10. Parental back story: the original animated feature starts with the narration: Once upon a time in a faraway land, there was a tiny kingdom; peaceful, prosperous, and rich in romance and tradition. Here in a stately chateau, there lived a widowed gentleman, and his little daughter, Cinderella. Although he was a kind and devoted father, and gave his beloved child every luxury and comfort, still he felt she needed a mother's care. And so he married again, choosing for his second wife, a woman of good family, with two daughters just Cinderella's age, by name, Anastasia and Drizella. It was upon the untimely death of this good man, however, that the stepmother's true nature was revealed: cold, cruel, and bitterly jealous of Cinderella's charm and beauty, she was grimly determined to forward the interests of her own two awkward daughters. Thus, as time went by, the chateau fell into disrepair, for the family fortunes were squandered upon the vain and selfish stepsisters while Cinderella was abused, humiliated, and finally forced to become a servant in her own house. And yet, through it all, Cinderella remained ever gentle and kind, for with each dawn she found new hope that someday her dreams of happiness would come true.
The live action film shows us firsthand her two loving parents and the life she lived before her stepfamily moved in. Now we know where Cinderelly gets her good nature and kindness from. 9. Why she stayed as long as she did: Meeting her parents also explains why she stayed at the chateau for so many years: keeping it and staying there was how she kept her parents with her since it was special to the three of them and where all of Cinderella's happy memories took place. Everything she loved most in the world was gone, except for the home that reminded her so much of her parents. (Other than the fact that centuries ago, a girl couldn't exactly just move out and get an apartment in the city.) 8. Her name: though the introduction of the animated movie identifies her as Cinderella, it would make sense that this is not her birth name. Ella, as she is introduced in the 2015 version, is not nobility by birth but a princess in the eyes of her parents. 7. Timing of events: everything seems to happen in the same day in the 1950 classic but the live action film makes it clear that months pass in between the events. (For example, the search for the owner of the glass slipper doesn't happen until after a mourning period takes place following the death of the King.) 6. The King's illness: though His majesty lives to see the wedding between Cindy and P.C. in the animated version (recall the scene at the very end when our girl once again loses her shoe, and the blissfully bashful monarch places it back on her foot before the married couple boards the carriage), he passes away in the new film. This helps us understand why he was so pushy about his son getting married... It was as much about securing their kingdom's future as much as it was about wanting to see him settled down and happy. 5. How long the night of the ball lasted: We know the whole stroke of midnight thing, obviously, but how long did that fateful dance last? Well, we know that Ella leaves for the ball after her stepmother and stepsisters (cue Fairy Godmother to work her magic). I estimate that Ella had a good hour alone with Charming. Although the animated film makes it seem like all they had was one lousy dance before falling in love - in actuality, in think their singing of "So This is Love" to one another in the animated version was representative of a conversation that took place between 11pm and midnight in which they got to know each other... And I guess that when you know, you know. How did I arrive at this timeline? Simple - it took a while for Lady Tremaine and Anastasia and Drizella to be introduced at court and we know they arrive at the castle at 10pm, since in the live action film, Wishes is just starting as they pull up. While this is happening, Ella is back at the chateau getting a makeover. Accounting for travel and traffic, this would put her at the castle around 11 o'clock. 4. The Prince and Cinderella met before the night of the ball: Though not shown in the animated classic, the two meet before the famous waltz takes place. This is what prompts the invitation for the ball to go out to "every eligible maiden" at the prince's insisting. Otherwise, why wouldn't the King just have arranged a marriage? It makes more sense that all of this backstory happened - which could have easily been the case in the 1950 version because all we are told is that the invitation goes out "by royal command." 3. The Prince is actually present when the whole glass slipper moment goes down: all we see in the animated movie is the Grand Duke slipping the shoe on her foot and then wedding bells are ringing. I like to believe that "Kit" was waiting outside on his horse for her, and Cindy got her moment to walk out with her beloved hand-in-hand, leaving the cruel Tremaines all alone. 2. Lady Tremaine has her own complex story: I'd like to believe that she was once a happy person who (maybe not as much as Ella's family) was content in life. She's made the way she is after Lord Tremaine's death. We get a glimpse of this in today's version. 1. Cinderella freed herself: Since Cinderella is my favorite Disney movie, I always hate to hear so much hullabaloo over her being a bad role model because she teaches girls that you need to marry someone you just met to be happy. This isn't the message we get from Cinderella, and the Lily James version makes that so much clearer. Cinderella, in either movie, is strong and courageous and kind. It wasn't her unmarried status that was holding her back. No, by agreeing to marry Prince Charming, Cinderella was making her own decision - a choice for love and someone who cared for her tremendously - who, by the way, falls for her not for her beauty but for her kindness and courage and unique view on life. (And once again, the time period should be explained to children... It's not like Cindy could have enrolled at the local community college...) As Cinderella is walking out the door of her parents' chateau, she knows that her final act of courage toward her wicked stepmother is more for her own benefit than for Tremaine's. In the end, Ella isn't made free by Kit's proposal, she's set free by speaking three simple words to Lady Tremaine: "I forgive you." Ella knows that there are prisons far worse than a dusty attic. There's the prisons we put ourselves in, made of thick bars of greed, jealousy, meanness, and cruelty. Cinderella remained at the chateau for as long as she did because she knew that as long as she had courage and treated others with kindness, she had a freedom that money couldn't buy - freedom that people like Tremaine will never know because her's is a prison of the heart. Cinderella's act of forgiveness set her own heart free from anger and resentment. And that's the message that both Cinderellas leave us with: "a great secret that will see you through all the trials life has to offer: have courage and be kind." This is what makes Cinderella a princess worthy of the title - a princess all little girls can be proud to emulate.
So all I did was take the two coasters to be laminated. I went to Staples but you can go to any store with laminating services. I asked for the thickest laminating they had available, 7mm or 10mm. The cost is by sheet (the two easily fit on one sheet). I cut them out myself at home with just a regular scissor, being careful to leave at least an 1/8 inch boarder. My total cost was around $3.00. If you have your own laminating machine, you could do it at home; however, mine only takes flimsy laminating sheets and I wanted something much thicker, almost rigid, that I knew would hold up and last.
