>This is my family…It’s little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good. *

>

Happy Mothers’ Day to all the Mothers out there, especially to my mother and my wife. I originally wrote this article last Father’s Day, because of a tweet made by Garth Vaughan. His tweet was called, “Disney Time is Family Time” It came from the Disney Parks Blog and showed a great picture of two kids with their dad at Disney World. I enjoyed writing this article after seeing Garth’s post, because I still believe that this is one of the Biggest Unknown Magics of a Disney World Vacation, Family Time. The chance to spend

time with your family, maybe to reconnect with those pre-teen and teens or to give a little extra attention to a little one that needs it, because you’ve been working so much, or just to hang out as a family, without running to this practice or that game, is a Magical Experience in itself. But to do it in Walt Disney World is even more special.
Everything in Disney is aimed at Family Fun, Family entertainment, Family togetherness. This is one of the reasons why Disney offers so many perks to stay on site. Everything from the Magical Express from the airport, to the on-site transportation, and the Disney Dining Plan are aimed at making the vacation of your dreams easier on you, so that you don’t have to worry or stress over the little things and you can spend more time with your Family.

Take the Disney Dining Plan for example, everyone in the traveling party must have the Dining Plan if you purchase it. Some people don’t like this, but I see it as a way to make sure we eat as a family, which I personally think is a great thing (many families don’t get a chance to do this anymore). Disney Restaurants are also all child friendly and not only that, but the cast members that work in them know how to talk to kids and relate to them very well. A family meal in Disney World can become a Magical Experience at any moment, sometimes because of your family, sometimes because of a Disney cast member. When I was a teenager, I slept in one morning on a trip to Disney World with my family. When they got back, I was told all about my Dad wrestling around on the floor at the restaurant in the Contemporary Resort with Goofy, because my dad happened to be wearing socks with Goofy on them. I still remember my disappointment in missing what was a Magical Experience on my family’s trip.

Another thing that Disney does to promote Family Fun is make it so most of the attractions can be ridden by everyone. There are very few height requirement rides in Walt Disney World. The Thrill rides Rock-n-Roller Coaster, Space Mountain and Mission Space come to mind, but you may be able to ride with the children. Check with the Cast member at the queue for the ride. Even the attractions that seem to be more for the children have ride vehicles that will fit a grown adult. This makes it easy for you and the youngest members of your family to enjoy time together also. This makes every attraction a possible Magical Experience.

If you look back over the posts I’ve written over the last six months, you’ll see maybe one or two that are aimed at adult entertainment, or satisfying one certain member of the Family (a teenager for instance). That is because everything in Disney is for everyone in the family. I have a friend that begrudgingly went to Disney a few years back. He is a workaholic to the Nth degree, but his wife and daughters wanted to go. He figured he’d play some golf, send them to the parks, and they’d have dinner together every night. Well, the first day, he played his round of golf, met up with the family for lunch and was expecting a nap and to sit by the pool and do some work for the afternoon. Well, his youngest asked him to go on Tower of Terror with her, she was afraid, and he said yes. He didn’t make another tee time the rest of the trip, because he had so much fun with them that afternoon that he didn’t want to miss anything else that week, because of the Unknown Magic; Disney time is Family time.

As Disney Vacation Members, we get to vacation in Disney often. A few years back, we skipped our yearly trip and waited until the following year. On that trip, my son, wife, and I took my parents and my sister and her family. There were a total of nine of us. My sister is a Disney Commando, which is against my beliefs, so we did our own thing most of the time, and went to the parks together maybe twice, but ate many meals and hung by the pools together often. Throughout the trip my son who is an only child, kept saying “it’s great to have Family”. He was having Magical Experience after Magical Experience with his cousins and family.

One night we went to Chef Mickey for dinner. We met my sister’s family there, so there were five of us traveling from the Beach Club Resort to the Contemporary Resort. I hadn’t thought about the travel time, so instead of trying to coordinate buses and all that, we drove over. The only problem was that I had rented a convertible that sat four comfortably. My Mom who at that time was just over 60 years old, ended up sitting in between the two back seats and we laughed all the way home that evening, after laughing all through dinner that evening. A Magical Experience that I will never forget.
So, now that you know, even if you can’t afford to go to the parks every day, or you can only go to Disney World for five days instead of seven, it doesn’t really matter. As long as you are in Disney, you will have Magical Experiences because of the Unknown Magic; Disney Time is Family Time.

*Post title comes from this quote from Lilo and Stitch: “This is my family. I found it, all on my own. It’s little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good.”

>Let The Celebration Begin…

>

Sunday is the 1 year anniversary of the Unknown Magic Within Walt Disney World. I was told that a year is a long time for a blog to be up and running, especially one that is written every day. To celebrate this weekend, there will be a special article on Sunday and Tomorrow’s Saturday Matinee will feature a Special video. I figured I’d start the Weekend off with a group of Pictures that are some of my favorite pictures of my family, whom I love and thank very much for helping in this endeavor (of course they are from Walt Disney World). I hope you like them too.



Me and my wonderful Wife.




This is my all time favorite picture of Heather.




What a Goofy Kid!



AHHHHH…..

How about that Smile?

Oh, how they grow.

Good Meal, Good Times!

Relaxing in Wilderness Lodge

>This is my family…It’s little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good. *

>

What a Fantastic Thanksgiving weekend. I hope you had a wonderful Holiday with Family and Friends. As I sat down to write, of course I was thinking about family. I wrote about Family and Disney World back on Father’s Day, because of a tweet made by Garth Vaughan. His tweet was called, “Disney Time is Family Time” It comes from the Disney Parks Blog. I enjoyed writing my article after seeing Garth’s post, and with the Thanksgiving weekend coming to a close, I hope you will indulge me by letting me repeat it, because I still believe that this is one of the Biggest Unknown Magics of a Disney World Vacation, Family Time. The chance to spend time with your family, maybe to reconnect with those pre-teen and teens or to give a little extra attention to a little one that needs it, because you’ve been working so much, or just to hang out as a family, without running to this practice or that game, is a Magical Experience in itself. But to do it in Walt Disney World is even more special. Everything in Disney is aimed at Family Fun, Family entertainment, Family togetherness. This is one of the reasons why Disney offers so many perks to stay on site. Everything from the Magical Express from the airport, to the on-site transportation, and the Disney Dining Plan are aimed at making the vacation of your dreams easier on you, so that you don’t have to worry or stress over the little things and you can spend more time with your Family.

Take the Disney Dining Plan for example, everyone in the traveling party must have the Dining Plan if you purchase it. Some people don’t like this, but I see it as a way to make sure we eat as a family (which many families don’t get a chance to do anymore) which I personally think is a great thing. Disney Restaurants are also all child friendly and not only that, but the cast members that work in them know how to talk to kids and relate to them very well. A family meal in Disney World can become a Magical Experience at any moment, sometimes because of your family, sometimes because of a Disney cast member. When I was a teenager, I slept in one morning on a trip to Disney World with my family. When they got back, I was told all about my Dad wrestling around on the floor at the restaurant in the Contemporary resort with Goofy, because my dad happened to be wearing socks with Goofy on them. I still remember my disappointment in missing what was a Magical Experience on my family’s trip.

Another thing that Disney does to promote Family Fun is make it so most of the attractions can be ridden by everyone. There are very few height requirement rides in Walt Disney World. The Thrill rides Rock-n-Roller Coaster, Space Mountain and Mission Space come to mind, but you may be able to ride with the children. Check with the Cast member at the queue for the ride. Even the attractions that seem to be more for the children have ride vehicles that will fit a grown adult. This makes it easy for you and the youngest members of your family to enjoy time together also. This makes every attraction a possible Magical Experience.

If you look back over the posts I’ve written over the last six months, you’ll see maybe one or two that are aimed at adult entertainment, or satisfying one certain member of the Family (a teenager for instance). That is because everything in Disney is for everyone in the family. I have a friend that begrudgingly went to Disney a few years back. He is a workaholic to the Nth degree, but his wife and daughters wanted to go. He figured he’d play some golf, send them to the parks, and they’d have dinner

together at night every night. Well, the first day, he played his round of golf, met up with the family for lunch and was expecting a nap and to sit by the pool and do some
 work for the afternoon. Well, his youngest asked him to go on Tower of Terror with her, she was afraid, and he said yes. He didn’t make another tee time the rest of the trip, because he had so much fun with them that afternoon that he didn’t want to miss anything else that week, because of the Unknown Magic; Disney time is Family time.

As Disney Vacation Members, we get to vacation in Disney often. A few years back, we skipped our yearly trip and waited until the following year. On that trip, my son, wife, and I took my parents and my sister and her family. There were a total of nine of us. My sister is a commando, when she goes to Disney, which is against my beliefs, so we did our own thing most of the time, and went to the parks together maybe twice, but ate many meals and hung by the pools together often. Throughout the trip my son who is an only child, kept saying “it’s great to have Family”. He was having Magical Experience after Magical Experience with his cousins and family. One night we went to Chef Mickey for dinner. We met my sister’s family there, so there were five of us traveling from the Beach Club Resort to the Contemporary Resort. I hadn’t thought about the travel time, so instead of trying to coordinate buses and all that, we drove over. The only problem was that I had rented a convertible that sat four comfortably.

 My Mom who at that time was just over 60 years old, ended up sitting in between the two back seats and we laughed all the way home that evening, after laughing all through dinner that evening. A Magical Experience that I will never forget.

So, now that you know, even if you can’t afford to go to the parks every day, or you can only go to Disney World for five days instead of seven, it doesn’t really matter. As long as you are in Disney, you will have Magical Experiences because of the Unknown Magic; Disney Time is Family Time.

*Post title comes from this quote from Lilo and Stitch: This is my family. I found it, all on my own. It’s little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good.

>The Final Countdown

>

So, we leave in less than two days for Walt Disney World. It has been a trying week. We’re traveling with friends to the Happiest Place on Earth, but we weren’t sure it was going to happen. But with Faith and Trust and Pixie Dust, everything came together**. Now we are inside the time period of counting down by hours, and we need to get ready to go, so what will we do first? I’ll tell you one thing we won’t do is become hysterical, because as Buzz light year says, when asked if they should be hysterical, “Maybe, but not right now!” Crunch time before your trip is actually an Unknown Magic in itself, so let’s explore that today; The Unknown Magic of the Final Countdown.

First of all, like our vacations in Disney, our preparations are pretty laid back also. Yes, we start the countdown the day we book; and Yes, the excitement builds for us until we are listening to Disney Music through Dinner; and Yes, our dog knows that something is going on and starts to feed off our excitement, but that doesn’t mean we are Disney Commandos when we start to pack and get ready. I know everyone is different and some of you thrive on the high you get from the tenseness before a trip. I personally get a headache from drama and tenseness, so we ease our way into our packing, the same way we ease our way into the vacation itself.

For example we are down to within 48 hours of leaving and we are just starting to pack. This is driving my mother-in-law (who isn’t even coming with us) insane. She has been asking me for two weeks if we’ve been packing. I don’t own enough clothes to put a week’s worth of stuff into a suitcase two weeks before my trip. We have a system, to our packing. It’s not the system of my wife packing and me watching TV, although I know people that use that system and it works fine for them. No, our system is the list system. We have three lists sitting on the table right now.

List A- What we need to get done before leaving.

List B- What we need to go out and get.

List C- What we need to pack.

We made these lists over a cup of morning coffee yesterday morning and last night ¾ of the need to get done is done, ½ of what need to get, is done and maybe 3/100 of the pack list is done. But that’s ok, it’ll get done, it has to or else we can’t leave.

So, I know some of you are sitting there thinking, “This would stress me out, where is the Magic coming in?” This part is the Magic. Sitting down with the family (yes, everyone here pitches in to decide what we need to get and what we need to pack) and working together to make sure you get everything done, is a Magical Experience. First of all for the kids it gives them ownership of your Vacation; it also burns off their pent-up excitement in a good way without annoying you as you’re trying to get ready. Another thing this does is gives everyone a chance to talk about what they may want to do when you get there. For Example, I mentioned over our list making, that I need to see the Main Street Electrical Parade this year, which is back in the Magic Kingdom, on a limited basis, this summer. We have also discussed that we would like to make it to the Boardwalk, to sit and have a pastry from the Bakery and enjoy the view. These are the things we know we like to do, because we have been to Walt Disney World Before.

For you first timers, you may also want to make some other lists while planning.

A list of things:

You Need to do,

Things you Want to do

Things you’d be okay if you did.

For example on the list of things you may Need to do, you may have go to Toy Story Mania (which by the way is one of the best attractions in Disney World).

For things you want to do, you might have want to go to the water park, If you don’t make it, for one reason or another, don’t fret, the pools in Disney World are awesome, so you can still swim and be refreshed.

For something you’d be okay if you did, might be going spending half a day at Downtown Disney, which is a great thing to do, but if you don’t have the time, you stop there as you are leaving and do some quick shopping.

Now think about doing this as you are getting ready to go to Disney World. Doesn’t this add an extra dimension to your packing? Isn’t it a little more fun and less of a chore? You know what Mary says, “A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down.” And now as you are getting ready, the excitement is growing even more. The kids will remember this as part of your trip for a while too and if you remember it, maybe you’ll see it as a Magical Experience.

So, now you know, the Unknown Magic of packing and getting ready for your trip can be a Magical Experience. You just have to remember to not be a commando, stay calm and have the whole family pitch in. This will make it easier on you and more enjoyable for everyone.

**Let me take a moment here for a tip on travel insurance. Disney offers it, I personally have never used it, but that is because we are Vacation club Members. With the Vacation Club, we can cancel our trip up to one day before and have our points put into holding, then we have to use them before the end of our use year, which is February; which means that if we needed to cancel up until a day before, we could as long as we reschedule for any time before February (basically Vacation Insurance). For those of you that don’t belong to the Disney Vacation Club, this past week convinced me that it’s definitely worth looking into travel insurance. With our week this week, we thought we might have to cancel twice for two different reasons. We didn’t luckily, but I would hate to see you have to cancel, or have a hurricane disrupt your plans. With travel insurance, you may be able to recoup some of your costs if this happens.