My apologies to all the lovely ladies with whom I hung out last weekend, I forgot to write a post introducing all of you! Maria Bailey, who organized the event, and is the CEO of Blue Suit Mom and BSM Media, brought together some of the most interesting, creative, talented, friendly, and fun Mom Bloggers for the Disney Mom Blogger Mixer, and I am beyond honored to have been included in this amazing group!

Meet the ladies:

Marybeth, Cheaper by the Half Dozen
Amy P., Long Island Parent Source
Tracey, Suburban Diva
Cooper, Been There
Stephanie, Adventures In Babywearing
Jo-Lynne, Musings Of A Housewife
Amy M., Ladybug and Blogging Mama
Jennifer, Snapshot
Lori, Just Pure Lovely
Kris, Clever Parents
Jennifer J., Mommy Too
Gabrielle, Design Mom
Mia, Main Street Moms
Kim, Stop A Moment
Darcie, Such The Spot
Erin, Manic Mommies
Christine, Boston Mamas
and ME!

And these are just a FEW of the many, many blogs and websites I could list for these prolific bloggers!
I’m still in the process of uploading my photos to Flickr, but you can see the Group photos by going to http://www.flickr.com/groups/wdwmombloggermixer/. Here’s a group photo we took outside of our hotel on Sunday morning. Big thanks to Cooper, who hand wrote all of those signs with the names of all the Disney cast members that helped make our weekend memorable and magical! Oh, and I just now noticed that the bush behind us is in the shape of a butterfly

Left to Right:
standing-Cooper, Jennifer J., Mia, Steph, Marybeth, Christine
Middle row, kneeling and sitting-Kim, Darcie, Kris with Charles, Jo-Lynne, Lori, Jennifer, Erin, Gabrielle
Kneeling in front-Tracey, Me, Amy P. (missing, Amy M.)

Check out all the photos on my Flickr page and in the group pool for even more from the weekend!

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When I left off, we had just seen the still-under-construction Toy Story Mania attraction, and after that, we split up to walk around Hollywood Studios for a while. Cooper and I left the line at Pirates of the Caribbean (I rode it in California) to go shopping for souvenirs, which we found in the Pirates gift shop. From there we walked back to the beginning of Main Street to meet up with our group and go back to the hotel. We had just over an hour to freshen up and change our clothes for the next phase of our adventure.

We met in the lobby and walked outside to find that instead of our motorcoach bus, there were LIMOUSINES waiting for us, and the drivers were standing there holding bottles of champagne! We all squealed like high school girls, and I said it felt like we were going to the prom! I hadn’t rode in a limo since I went to my WEDDING. I climbed in with Tracey, Jo-Lynn, Stephanie, Lori, Mia, and Maria, and we drank a toast to Disney and to Maria, our wonderful host! The limo took us to the Contemporary Hotel, which was the first hotel built on the property, and now is the site of the amazing California Grill.

We walked into our private dining room to find an open bar (yay, Cosmos!), a waiter passing trays of deliciously fresh sushi rolls (ever had shrimp tempura sushi? delicious!), and we met Karen Hanes, head of Food and Beverage Marketing for the parks. Also dining with us were Christine Weissman, the first female Executive Chef who works at Epcot, and Joel Schaeffer, Master Chef and head of Special Diets and Childrens’ Dining. I heard there was another Disney person there, Julianne, but I didn’t meet her.

Our menu was chosen for us by Michelle and Leanne (the Disney P.R. ladies who hung out with us and got us where we needed to be all weekend and who are also beautiful and fun and should totally be bloggers if they had time for it). We started with goat cheese ravioli in broth with shitake mushrooms and sundried tomatoes, then a salad made from shredded hearts of palm, avocado, and oven-cured tomatoes. After a small, palate-cleansing scoop of Mango Passionfruit sorbet, we were served the main courses, which were delicious Snapper with julienne vegetables on beds of jasmine rice cake, slices of beef tenderloin with roasted potatoes, onions, and asparagus, and pork loin over cheesy polenta. All three were absolutely divine!

We were then served coffee and dessert, which was molten lava cakes with raspberry puree and blood orange sorbet, but we had to hurry up to get to our next destination, so there wasn’t much time for dessert. There were groans all around as we had to leave that beautiful chocolate cake! BUT, we got back in our limos, and were driven to Downtown Disney, to go to…

CIRQUE DE SOLEIL! I could not believe it! I have ALWAYS wanted to see a Cirque de Soleil show, and I was beyond excited about it. The show we saw is called “La Nouba” which means “the party”, and it was a dazzling spectacle of funny clowns, performers on tightropes, swinging from trapeze bars, men running on giant wheels and doing amazing stunts on bikes, and trampoline tricks that had us all gasping. Everyone’s favorite part of the show were these four tiny girls who were holding what looked like jump ropes, with big wooden spools in the middle, and they were tossing the spools back and forth and in the air, doing flips and somersaults and catching the spools, they got a huge ovation at the end.

When the show was over, we were treated to something very special-two of the performers came out and sat on the stage and talked to us about how they balance being Moms with working in the show! If you’ve seen “La Nouba”, the performers we met are Sassandra who is the Singer, and Natalya who is the Ballerina. They were both so sweet and friendly, and we had lots of questions about how they manage their jobs and their families. It was very kind of them to take the time to talk to us.

After that, we rode the limos back to the hotel, finishing up the champagne on the way. I know I went straight to bed when I got back, I assume everyone else did, too. I could hardly believe everything I had done in just one day! It was sad that it had to end, too. Every single person I met or encountered at Disney gave off this vibe of positive energy that left me feeling happier just for being in their presence. Disney truly does want every guest to have a “Magical” experience, and I know I certainly did!

Coming up next-Sunday’s character breakfast, hanging out at the hotel, heading for the airport, and the beginning of my “airport adventure”. Thanks for reading!

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Day Two at Disney started bright and early with a continental breakfast at Ariel’s in the hotel. While we sipped coffee and orange juice (tastes so much better in Florida!) and munched on bagels, fruit, and the delicious pastries that the Disney chefs make, we had a guest speaker, a Mom from the Disney World Moms Panel. She answered our questions about bringing families to the parks. We also had two other Moms from the panel in our group, Darcie and Kim. They were like walking maps everywhere we went, they knew every park and all the best places to go!

After breakfast, it was time to board our motorcoach bus and head to the Magic Kingdom! It was a beautiful warm day with a bright blue sky as you can see from the photo in my previous post. When we arrived we were taken through a cast-member entrance and then walked down Main Street to a grassy area near Cinderella’s Castle for a group photo. We had our own photographer take a big group shots and then smaller groups, I posed with my fellow Precious Moms bloggers Marybeth and Lori, but I haven’t seen the photo on Flickr yet.

We then had time to explore the park, and best of all, we got MEDIA FastPasses, which meant that instead of putting in the FastPass and then having to come back at a reserved time, we went RIGHT ON the rides! I still can’t believe it myself, but I actually rode Space Mountain, which scared the CRAP out of me! I screamed and screamed the whole ride! And my husband was bummed out because he’s been trying to get me to ride one with him for twenty years

I was a little shook up by Space Mountain, so I passed on Haunted Mansion, but after that we rode It’s A Small World, which I LOVE. After that it was time to start walking back, I ducked into a few gift shops to look for souvenirs for the kids, picking up some toy Flintlock pistols from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride for the boys, a Pirate Princess Minnie Mouse doll for Kaitlyn, plus I bought Kaitlyn a crown with jewels and a veil, which I loved, but she refuses to wear. Oh well!

From there, we took our motorcoach over to Hollywood Studios (which used to be called MGM Studios) and ate lunch at the Brown Derby restaurant! The Brown Derby in Hollywood, CA is where the famous Cobb salad was invented, so of course I had one, as did several others, and we all agreed it was fantastic! We also had bites of two appetizers-crusted shrimp in a lime ginger sauce and braised beef short ribs on celery root puree-both were divine. It was wonderful to be able to order food like that without worrying about the bill!! We were joined at lunch by Estafania from Disney Imagineering, and when I saw the badge she was wearing around her neck, I figured out our next surprise!

We were told to bring closed-toe shoes and long pants to wear on Saturday, and we couldn’t figure out why. It was because we were taken behind the Chinese Theater to a construction site, and we got an exclusive, as in, no one else who works anywhere at Disney besides the construction team has seen itsneak peek at the newest, most exciting Disney attraction coming soon…

TOY STORY MANIA!!!

Toy Story Mania is a 3D, interactive ride that simulates playing games at a carnival. The storyline is that Andy and his family have left the house, and the toys have pulled an old carnival game out from under the bed. The toys have each taken up a position on the game board and are encouraging you to play their carnival game. The dimensions of the attraction are such that you will feel like you are the size of one of the Army Men! The carnival Barker is a huge Mr. Potato Head!

You’ll walk under a sign that reads “Pixar” and into a building to stand in the queue. The queue area is decorated with familiar games-the ceiling has a Chutes and Ladders board, the booth that gives out the 3D glasses looks like a Lincoln Logs cabin. I really liked what Rex (yes really, just like the Toy Story dinosaur!) said, which was that they can’t eliminate lines, so they want to bring part of the ride out to the people waiting in line. Very cool! Once you come through the line and into the area where you get into the ride car, you’ll see a huge Tinker Toy sculpture on the ceiling, and the walls are painted with book spines and the edges of board games, Andy’s bed, just like you were on the floor of his room.

Each car has two people sitting side by side with two more people behind them, facing away. The lap bar in front of you has a controller shaped like a cannon, with a pull string. You use that to play each game. Your car stops in front of each carnival booth, characters pop up, tell you about the game, then you play. At the end, your car stops in front of a huge screen, all the characters come out, you see your score, then you get a virtual stuffed animal for a prize! It’s going to be HUGE when it’s ready.

I’ll end here, because there are still two more COMPLETELY AWESOME things to tell you about that happened on Saturday. So please stay tuned!

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My trip to the Disney Mom Blogger Mixer was so jam-packed full of activity, I’m going to break it down over a few posts. The organizer of our trip was Maria Bailey from Blue Suit Mom, BSM Media, and NewBaby.com. Our trip was arranged by Joyce Hogan, Event Manager, Disney Destinations Marketing. While we were there, Michelle and Leeanne from Disney P.R. took excellent care of us and made sure we got everywhere we needed to go. It was truly a weekend of “Disney Magic”!

My trip started with a quick flight from Lansing to Chicago, and then a longer flight from Chicago to Orlando. I flew on United Airlines, which now calls some of its flights “Ted”. Seriously. I was laughing about it with the woman sitting across the aisle from me, and we started talking about how many kids we had and why we were going to Orlando, and when she said she was going to an “event” at Disney, I said “you aren’t by any chance a blogger, are you?” It was Stephanie from Adventures in Babywearing! That definitely helped pass the time, having her to chat with on the flight.

We got off the plane and came down the escalator to see a man holding a card with our names on it, he was Sean from Disney VIP Services, and he drove us in a Cadillac to our hotel, the Beach Club Resort. We each checked into our own room, which was HUGE, and then met in the lobby. I probably should have just shook hands with each blogger I met, but I hugged them all instead because I was so happy to be meeting them! I’m adding a sidebar blogroll for the Disney group so that you can get to know the incredible ladies I spent the weekend with-video bloggers, podcasters, website writers, online magazine writers, an amazingly diverse and talented group.

We walked behind the hotel to Stormalong Bay, which is a huge bunch of pools with a big water slide. There’s a covered pavilion up a stairway overlooking everything, and there we had sangria, water, soda, and appetizers. We also had a photographer taking our photos, which should be up on Flickr soon. My photos start here in my photostream. From there, we walked into Epcot and to the “Italy” section for dinner.

Our dinner was unbelievable. You can see the photos on my Flickr page, start here and you can move forward through the photostream. I had a real Caesar salad, Bucatini Gratinata, plus Pinot Grigio because Marybeth MADE me drink some (ha! kidding, Marybeth!) Then the pastry chef INSISTED we have dessert, which was incredibly delicious.

From there, two Disney “cast members” walked us back through Epcot, holding what looked like red and blue light sabers up in the air so we could follow them (seriously!) to a section just off the main bridge, there’s a place near the water that was reserved just for us, and a station set up with coffee and MORE DESSERTS. The most delicious little eclairs, pieces of fudge brownie, fruit tarts, and even rock candy stir sticks for the coffee. Decadent! Then we watched Illuminations, which is a choreographed laser/lights/music show on the water, it is breathtaking. Those photos start here on my photostream.

After that, it was “Extra Magic Hours” at Epcot, which means the rides are available to people staying in the Resorts that are next to Epcot, from 9 to Midnight (they give you a wristband). I walked with Darcie and Kim from the DisneyWorld Moms panel, plus Amy from LI Parent Source and Amy from Mum’s the Wurd, and we went on Spaceship Earth which is that huge golf ball looking thing in Epcot. It was so cool! I took a ton of photos on Spaceship Earth.

After THAT, we walked back to the hotel and each went to our rooms to collapse! I was thirsty, and the Resort Marketplace (combo gift shop and little restaurant) was closed, so I walked down to the vending machines and paid FIVE DOLLARS for a bottle of water and a bottle of Diet Coke. Ouch! My room had a mini fridge so I could at least save the rest for another time. I drank a little of each, washed up, set the alarm, and fell sound asleep in the soft, comfortable bed with the smooshy pillows! And that was Friday! Stay tuned for the next post, Disney Day Two, the one with the HUGE surprises!

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