Mondays with The Mouse: Etsy Disney

I'm re-starting my Mondays with the Mouse Series...you see, I think about Disney about 75% of the time. My kids love all things pixie dusted, I love the movies, the shows, the parks...it's actually a sickness. ;)

For as long as I see fit, I'll be sharing some of my favorite Disney tips, tricks, crafts, finds, etc right here on the old blog! And please, if you are planning a Disney trip and want any advice or help, ask!! I love love love helping people plan their trips and would be more than happy to offer my experience and opinions for good. (Can I make a living planning people's Disney trips? I'd so do that...)

Today, I'm going to share with you some of my favorite Disney finds, via Etsy. I'll link all the shops so you can check things out for yourself!

These ADORABLE matching Mickey and Minnie Hoodies come from IbraMark. I could never get Dae to wear these with me...but I can force R and T to wear them :)

This print, featuring one of my most favorite quotes from my favorite  ride, (The Carousel of Progress), comes from Designs by Nicolina. I wouldn't be made to get this for my birthday next month...

How cool is this?! It comes from the Totally Disney shop. We definitely need one for our house...and I think a Studio K one would be so cool for the studio!

I'm really into these cute light up blocks lately. I love the way they look on a mantle or bay window. The glow is nice on a quiet night. I think this would look fantastic on our tv stand...hint hint hint DAVE! :) It comes from the super cute shop, ShopMissEloise.

I MEAN! How cute is this dress?! It'd be perfect for school or regular wear, and extra great for a Disney trip. Rory will definitely be getting this little lovely for our trip in June! It comes from a great Disney themed shop, LittleDebsDresses.

Disney World Recap 2: EPCOT

Disney World Recap Part 2: EPCOT

 

This trip was a combined present for my birthday, Dave's birthday, Valentine's Day and our Anniversary. Jan 5, Jan 26, Feb 14 and March 24 are all so close together it's difficult to keep coming up with presents...especially right after Christmas. So each year, we usually do a weekend away somewhere. Last year, we had plans to do a bigger trip for our 5 yr anniversary but ended up doing a week at Disney for dance.

 

This time around, last October actually, we started throwing out ideas for where to go...and both of us (yes even DAVE!) wanted a few days to ourselves at our favorite place on Earth: Disney World.

 

That all  being said! We spent a lot of time doing "new together" things at DHS, EPCOT and MK. Today I want to talk about EPCOT...

 

 

We went to EPCOT twice. One night late at night and one day afternoon to evening.

 

 

We ate at Le Chefs de France. It was delightful! The food was delicious, the service very attentive and we had a table right by the window. If I was thinking, I would have stretched our meal out and kept that table for Illuminations...

 

 

which, by the way, I have yet to see.

 

 

I'm pledging to see it on our dance trip next June!

 

 

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Dave getting sung to in French!

 

 

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With his birthday dessert :)

 

 

We also did a little bit of drinking around the world...our favorite!

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Dancing in Morocco!

 

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Dave...posing in Morocco. He's an embarrassment. ;)

 

 

We spent a good bit of time wandering around World Showcase. We love it in WC. There's always something new to discover, a food or drink to try, entertainment to watch...it's delightful.

 

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Dave and his favorite princess...although he will tell  you this specific Belle is not the Belle he prefers...

 

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Jasmine and Aladdin

 

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Mulan! I've never seen her out and about.

 

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Inside the Mexico Pyramid...near La Cava del Tequilla!

 

 

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EPCOT at night

 

I'm missing a whole bunch of pictures that got lost when our computer crashed in February...somewhere I had tons of pictures of the inside of Mexico, China, Japan, France and England areas...sad.

 

Guess I'll just have to retake them...June 2014!

 

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NEW TEST TRACK!!

 

New Test Track was awesome. The interactive stuff in the queue was really interesting. Dave, being a fan of cars, especially loved all the new stuff to look at.

 

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Being cute. :)

 

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Dave's Car

 

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My car...which BEAT DAVES!!! Thankyouverymuch

 

 

Summary: We love EPCOT. When it's just the two of us, we gravitate towards World Showcase, after Fast Passing Soarin' of course. We also really enjoyed the improvements to Test Track. Much more interactive and neat now. We had lunch at Sunshine Seasons and were pleasantly surprised at portion size, value and taste. The much fabled Strawberry Shortcake delivered. yummmm!

 

Next up...DHS and the Boardwalk.



Disney World Recap 1: Animal Kingdom Lodge

Am I seriously that bad of a blogger that I haven't recapped mine and Dave's solo trip to Disney World...in January?

Yes. Yes I am.

Forgive me, friends. I'm stuck in dance jail until the recital is over on May 20. I love my job and my students, but this time of year is totally dance jail. I'm working 14-15 hour days, painting, typing, choreographing, cutting music, schmoozing advertisers, ordering shirts, sewing costumes, making headpieces...I do have a lot of help this year though which makes things SO MUCH EASIER! :)

So let's see...

Dave and I went to Disney World just the two of us for 5 days in January. We stayed in a Savannah View Room in Kidani Village at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

It was heaven.

We booked through StayAtWDW.com It was so easy! Kidani Village is a DVC Villa area. By booking through SAWDW, we paid the same for the room as we would have for a moderate resort. The guys at SAWDW were super accommodating, easy to work with and didn't even think I was cray when I was struggling to get our contract to email back to them. They have rooms available at all DVC resorts, Disneyland and Disney Destinations. When we booked, this option wasn't available but it is now...tickets and dining packages can be added! I highly recommend StayAtWDW.com :)

Kidani Village was gorgeous. Dave said we are spoiled now and will have a hard time going back to moderate...I agree. It was stunning. So quiet, peaceful and homey. KV is the quieter side of the resort, Jambo House is the main area and much bigger. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

Animals on the Savannah, from the outlook near the KV lobby:

 

Jambo House:

Bus Area

Lobby

Artwork in the lobby...I mean wow.

Looking towards the Savannah, through iron work in the lobby.

Steps down to BOMA!

Gift Shop Area

Water Features near the pool and the Food Court.

Let's talk about the Food Court for a second...we LOVED it. We only ate there once because it was at Jambo and we were staying in KV. (We also were in the parks most of the day each day) The food was super unique and delicious. They did have standard kids' fare, which I was curious about. If I stayed there with R and T, would they have to eat African inspired foods? They'd try it but not eat it for a whole meal...and of course not! PB&J, Chicken Nuggets, Pizza, etc were all available for kids options (or adults too! :)) I wish I had taken pictures of our food...I had some sort of spicy pork sandwich with coleslaw on it and it was AWESOME. Dave had a flat bread pizza with African spices and cheeses...we were both delighted. We ate out by the pool, under a beautiful awning and it was heavenly. 

Do I prefer Port Orleans Riverside food court? Yes, I do for family trips. Bigger, more variety, more familiar foods. For when the kids are older and more adventurous? We'll be in the AK food court a lot, I'm sure!

The pool was GORGEOUS. It was warm but not warm enough for us to swim...there was also a really cool kids play area that I know my kids would have loved.

Back to Kidani Village:

Un-zoomed in (that's a technical term) view from our balcony!!

Zebras out the window

I won't bore you with the (literally) 150 pictures of the animals I took...I will tell you every time I stepped out on our balcony I saw different combos of giraffes, zebras, different types of African deer, Emus, smaller birds, oreks, gazelles, African longhorn cattle...it was AWESOME. The kids would have loved it!

Cons to Animal Kingdom Lodge? Well the busing is weird and messed up. I much preferred Port Orleans way of busing...at AKL it seemed like buses were much more spread out in arriving, never in the same pattern and totally unpredictable. Sometimes they would go to Jambo first and show up to us completely full and vice vera. My suggestion? Leave at least an extra 45 minutes for travel. We waited an HOUR one morning for a Magic Kingdom bus...in January. I can't even imagine the waits in June or July...In our opinion, it's better to kill time at a resort than sitting impatiently at a bus stop :)

Would we stay here again? ABSOLUTELY. It's top of our list right now of places to stay with the kids. 

Place Dave and I want to try on our own next? Grand Flo...we're already saving. Wilderness Lodge, Polynesian...we'll be working our way very slowly through all the Deluxe Resorts!