Disney Fun From Around the World: Week of March 7, 2011

Nancy Disney Fun From Around the "World" , , , , , , 0 Comment

Greetings Disney friends. I hope this week finds all of you safe and well! We all have the people of Japan in our hearts and prayers this week, as we watch the result of the devastating earthquake and tsunami. Many have wondered about Tokyo Disneyland, so I am starting this week’s blog round-up with a report from The Disney Blog: Japan Earthquake strands tourists at Tokyo Disneyland, damage reports coming in. I continue to be amazed by the dedication of Disney castmembers everywhere, as we see those wonderful folks at Tokyo Disneyland working so hard to take care of their guests…even as they undoubtedly worry about their own family and friends. Please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers in the coming weeks.

While it seems trivial in comparison, there are some wonderful posts from Disney blogs this week, and I do hope you will enjoy them and find them helpful, interesting, and inspiring:

Chip and Co. provided a couple of articles that anyone planning a Disney vacation right now will want to read:To Stay On or Off Property – That is the Question and Character Meals: A Disney Do or Don’t?

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Disney’s All Star Sports: Hang Ten Disney Dudes!

Debbie Affordable Disney Vacations, Disney Vacation Planning, Saving Money at Disney World, Saving Money on Accommodations , , , , , , 0 Comment
Disney ResortsPhoto via: http://www.flickr.com/photos/frikitiki/2852686004/

Before I get stated, I would like to apologize to those who love All-Star Sports.  Don’t get me wrong: I like many parts of this resort but while I do enjoy sports, this resort just isn’t my favorite among all the choices available.  As the name implies, this resort is themed with the sport enthusiast and athlete in mind. There are open areas for practicing routines and really getting into a sports-mindset!  In fact I remember one morning starting quite early with cheerleaders practicing outside our door.  This resort attracts many sport groups from around the country such as cheerleaders, dance teams, soccer and baseball players, etc.

Several years back (ok a lot of years – she’s 31 this year), we took our 18 year old daughter and a girlfriend of hers for their first adult trip.  We booked an All-Star Sports room for them while we stayed in the French Quarter.  They were on their own so they had to get themselves up the morning, figure out food for the day (we supplied $20 each every day for them to eat on), keep up with their room keys and park passes.  I had purposely booked Sports thinking the girls would enjoy being around people closer to their age. But it turns out that neither of the girls were sport enthusiasts and there were more families with a little younger age group.  In looking back I can see the reason why, with the football field, the more open areas bright colors, the younger generations really enjoy it!

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Thrifty Thursday: Creating a Disney Trip Cheater Book

Brenda Affordable Disney Vacations, Disney Vacation Planning, Saving Money at Disney World, Thrifty Thursday , , , 16 Comments

I have not yet decided whether I am extremely organized or just uncertain of my ability to remember things but, either way, I compensate by always being prepared. I like to be able to put my hands on whatever I need whenever I need it.

Several years ago, when we first started visiting Walt Disney World, there was so much information about so many different things that I wanted to have a method of keeping track of things specific to our trip at any given time. I decided to create a Disney Trip Cheater book by using a set of colored 3X5 index cards, hole-punched and held together with a loose-leaf clip, like this.

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Wordless Wednesday: The Tree of Life

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Pretty much everyone who comes to visit Disney’s Animal Kingdom stops, at some point, for a picture in front of the Tree of Life. This Disney icon, representing what Animal Kingdom is all about, is pretty hard to miss. But how many people stop at some point during their trip to actually walk around and LOOK at all the intricate carvings? The artwork on this Tree is amazing….and while I think that the attention to detail is clearly something that Disney excels at…..I do think that with these carvings, the Imagineers take “detail” to a whole new level.

Adrift With Disney: Disney Cruise or Disney World?

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Editor’s Note: Welcome to a new series about planning an affordable Disney Cruise: “Adrift With Disney”, courtesy of our friend Brenda. 🙂 Brenda is starting to plan a Disney Dream Cruise because….well….I’ll let her tell you!

photo via http://www.flickr.com/photos/sierraandi/5425751383/in/photostream/

Disney Cruise or Disney World?

That is the question…my answer? How about a little of both?

As my life continues its metamorphosis, so do the plans for our annual Disney family vacation. As you may have read in my previous post, our annual Thanksgiving trip has changed to December this year as my youngest will be graduating from high school and so we will be planning around a college vacation schedule. The latest development in my family is that my oldest son will be marrying his sweetheart this year and, since they will use their vacation days for a honeymoon, they will not be joining us this December.

So, the question is what to do this year. We had planned on a family of 6 at Walt Disney World for 10 days/9 nights and now there will be only 4 of us. Is this an opportunity to try something new? Well, yes it is…and what is newer and grander to try than the brand new Disney Dream? My family has never been on a Disney cruise, so we were excited by the prospect. But, to give up our fun time in the parks was holding us back.

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