Favorite Parade

There are so many different Parades to choose from throughout Disney World.  Today we are going to share George's favorite - SpectroMagic....yeah, I know, it's no longer here in Florida - it is, shall we say, under maintenance while we have the Main Street Electrical Parade to enjoy instead.  Now, I do love the Main Street Electrical Parade as much as most people, but the simple purity and beauty of SpectroMagic is hard to surpass.  The colors are brilliant and fun, but my heart is captured by the white lights and the majesty of it all.  The music is wonderfully composed and makes you feel like you could be at a Royal Ball dancing in formal attire at times while mixing in plenty of our favorite tunes as a part of the melody.  If you have never seen it, be patient - it will be back, in the interim, enjoy some of the quick looks below...

Wilderness Walking

One of our favorite things to do at Disney is walk (thank goodness, cause walking makes up a good percentage of your time) - especially in the resort portions or the World.  A great place to spend a quite hour walking is a little trail from Wilderness Lodge over to the Fort Wilderness Campgrounds.  You cross over a road and are within a stones throw of a service road, but it is unusually remote feeling, with nothing but trees and overgrown greens along the trail.  The path offers a couple of small detours off to the side back into the foliage, but we tend to stick to the main pathway. Don't be surprised at all when you come across deer crossing the path or simply sitting on the side, snacking on some good Disney greens.  Some bikes use the path, but you will enjoy the peaceful environment if you need a get away.  Of course, at the end of the trail is the stable area of Fort Wilderness, so you can stop and say hi to all the giant horses that are stabled at the Campgrounds.  Walk back through the main area and you will find yourself at the dock where you can grab a boat right back to the Wilderness Lodge where you started.

Check out this little video of a friend we met on the trail...

Tom Sawyer's Island

Tom Sawyer's Island opens at 10am on most days - if you've never been, it's a great place to explore or take a leisurely stroll without the crowds.  Tom's Island offers mills to enter, caves to explore, forts and even a barrel bridge to navigate.  While providing lots of adventure, the island can also provide something unexpected - FAST PASSES - that's right, if you are among the first to make your way over to the island you might find one of the handful of paintbrushes hidden throughout the landscape.  Find one and bring it to the cast member at the boats and they will give you a free family fast pass for a ride (usually it is a choice of Splash or Thunder).

Now, when you are searching for these brushes, there are some simple rules you can count on - the brushes are always somewhere "on the path", meaning you will not need to go crawling though the undergrowth or stepping outside the boundaries to find them. They are not often hidden in plain site, but they could be - look in buckets and behind trash cans.  They are usually gone pretty quick - I'd say almost always by 11:00 or so at the latest.  Look everywhere - they have been known to hide in all areas of the island - from the Fort to the caves and even in the waiting area for the boat home.

Happy hunting - makes a great family competition..

G&J

Kodak Experience

Dear Reader,

Have you ever really wanted to feel special?  Maybe just get treated a little better than you expected?  Well as you probably know, Disney is all about making the Magic real - there are so many ways for you and your family to experience the Magic - I want to share a very simple yet memorable experience we had at the Magic Kingdom.

We had been at Epcot all day long and were riding one of our favorite rides (Journey to Imagination with Figment).  After the ride, they used to have the Kodak Exhibit and there was always a very friendly and outgoing cast member running the show.  We met one young lady, Ms. Heather, she was very interactive and funny as can be - we got along quite well with her and told her a little about our family - visiting from Kansas on vacation.  Now the time of year was October, and we had decided to hand out Halloween gift bags to the cast members who made us smile.  Ms. Heather got one for sure.  The baggie had a lollipop, a little oriental fan and a spider ring in it - she was as excited as can be (after declining the gift three times, she was obligated to accept it) and simply loved the spider - or so she said.  We were happy to have made her smile and thought that would be the end of our story.

Fast forward 1 year - we had decided that Kansas was just too far from Disney World, so we had packed up the clan and moved - now we had season passes and were visiting all of the time - Epcot is a common destination and Figment is still a favorite.  So one one of our trips, we saw our old friend - Ms. Heather.  Now as you can imagine, there had been quite a few people through since we had last spoken with Ms. Heather - but she remembered us right away - not only that - but she still had the fan and spider ring IN HER POCKET - she said she was always talking about that large family from Kansas who brought magic to her day.  I can't tell you how magical it feels to interact with the cast members - you'd be surprised how few people actually take the time to thank them and make sure they know they are appreciated - so few in fact, that they share stories of the guests who do and remember them for years to come.  So if you want a little bit of extra magic - try what our family has always done at Disney - take time out to visit with the cast members who work so hard to make the magic happen - as is usually the case, when you focus on being a blessing to others, you will find the true blessings are yours.

Sadly, the Kodak Experience is long gone - but we still get to see Ms. Heather - she's in Italy now - dancing up a storm and being as fun and friendly as ever - Thanks for the Magic, Ms. Heather!

The Kansas Crew....

Magic Mickey & Army Scramble

Ok, so we took a little break, but we are back - so see if you can figure out where these two items are - they are NOT in the same place...

Picture # 1 is......

And now for picture # 2

That one's not too hard.... Good luck one and all!!!

George and Jenny