Anyone want to trade ?

We love pin trading in our house. My daughter really really gets into it and has a blast doing it. For anyone who may not know what pin trading is, every cast member has a collection of pins that they wear that they will trade with anyone who asks. In any given day, you will see hundreds of guests (of all ages) walking up to cast members and asking to see their pins. It is a great past time and provides a fun and memorable souvenir from every trip.

There are a few rules to pin trading. First of all, you must have a genuine Disney pin to trade. These usually have a rubber mickey mouse shaped head for a back and say pin trading on the back of the pin. Second of all, if a cast member has a green colored lanyard (this is the necklace or square piece that the pins are attached to) then only kids can trade with that particular cast member. As far as I know, these are the main "rules" that apply to pin trading.

Pin trading has saved our sanity many times while standing in long lines. Just when my daughter starts to get antsy and start asking how much longer we have to wait, we often reach a cast member who has pins. My daughter passes the time by looking at their pins and making the hard decision of whether or not to trade. It's actually often pretty easy for her. She usually knows exactly what she wants....first choice is Ariel, second choice is most any Princess. If there are not any of these available, she often moves on. Every once in a while she sees a fun one that is not a Princess, but that is a not the norm :) She also enjoys looking at pins that the other guests have. Although you can most certainly trade with other guests, my daughter doesn't like to do this. I guess it is more fun for her to stick to the cast members.

So where do you get these pins? You can buy them at Disney for a price of anywhere from $5.95 upwards to $15.95. They sell pins individually, or in "starter sets" that include four pins and a lanyard to put them on for around $24.95. These are great options for people who don't know about this past time before the trip and get pulled into the fun while there. We however take a different route. We buy our pins in bulk before our trip and trade them while we are there. We go to EBAY several months before our trip and look for sellers who allow you to pick your "lot" size and get pins for around $1.00 a pin. This summer we bought a few for $1.15 each and chose 20 of them. A few weeks later we won an auction that allowed us to get 100 for around $65 shipping and all. When you combine the amount we paid and the number of pins we received in both shipments, it averaged to $.80 a pin. That is a WHOLE lot better than the average price we would have paid at Disney. The great thing about ordering them the way we do is that we get a huge bunch of pins that my daughter doesn't like. This makes it super easy for her to trade these "ugly" ones for the beautiful Princess pins that she so covets during our trips.

This year, since we have so many pins, we are allowing our daughter to pull a pin from the "Mickey bag" each week leading up to our trip. It gives her something to look forward to each week, and is helping the time to pass a little quicker leading up to October. We have her lanyard bought (for $1.00 at Party City) and are getting ready for another fun round of pin trading. It is always so much fun to return from a trip and see all of the pins she comes home with. We often remember how and where she acquired each pin and it brings back fun memories of our amazing trips. I can't wait to see what pins, and memories, we bring home this year!

Why Disney World ?

I have so many people ask me about my obsession with Disney World. Most people just don't understand how I can go every year and not get tired of the place. When I tell people I am excitedly planning a trip to the World, many look at me and say, "but didn't you just go? How can you be so excited about going again? Aren't you tired of it"? To those people I just laugh and say "No way"! Every year is a brand new trip and we experience things in whole new ways, or find new things that we have never done in trips past. I have a dear friend who tells me over again that she doesn't get it. She does not enjoy Disney (gasp) and only goes for her kids. She would rather go to the beach and relax for vacation. As a matter of fact she usually goes to the beach for a week, then will squeeze Disney into one day during her trip. I have challenged her to give it one more try, but next time to go in the offseason (or at least not during Spring Break week) and to go for several days so that she can tour at a more leisurely pace. I am not giving up on her and hope to convert her yet. I just don't get how anyone can not enjoy Disney. I don't know exactly when my obsession grew so deep, but I think it mostly started on our honeymoon in 1998. That was such a fun and magical trip and as soon as we got home I was ready to go again. Our next trip was in 2000, then we didn't go again until 2005 (my first trip with my daughter who was almost two at the time). That was when I fell head over heals in love with Disney World. Seeing the magic of Disney through the eyes of a child is amazing and our trips ever since have been so wonderful. We have been blessed to return every year since she turned three and I hope that the tradition continues. Disney World is the one place that our family can go together and have the time of our lives. We can literally forget about everything else and immerse ourselves in the magic.

The excitement I get calling Walt Disney World every year to book the trip never grows old. This is probably the only place I call that I look forward to being put on hold. Something about hearing that ding ding ding that I think is supposed to represent fairy dust and then listening to official Disney World music while I wait for a cast member to help me is just amazing. I still get chills calling them every year. Sometimes I look for excuses just to call them so that I can experience being put on hold (yes I know I need help).

Once I book my trip, I start a countdown calendar for my fridge. It has the total days and weeks until the trip that I get to cross off every day and watch my trip grow closer and closer. Once we hit the 100 day mark, my daughter and I make a chain link countdown that she uses to visually track the days until our trip. She loves to get up every morning and pull a link off. This helps her so much being almost seven years old. She can see each day how many days we have left and her excitement grows as the chain shrinks. It is fun for all!

I then spend my days visiting my favorite websites (see links to the right of this page) and get a little dose of Disney news each day, or look at menus, hotels, deals, etc. It is a nice break and it helps me with my planning. By the time my trip comes, I have planned my days in the parks, made my dining reservations, and have my daily itineraries. I sometimes drive my husband crazy with all the info, but for the most part he also really enjoys the daily Disney discussions that we have. My daughter is turning into quite the planner herself, and could probably help most adults plan their trips. She makes Mommy proud :)

Favorite Quick Service Restaurants

Today I look at my favorite quick service restaurants in each park. For those of you may not be familiar with the term quick service, it is a walk up restaurant where you order fast food type food and seat yourself. If you happen to get one of the Disney dining plans, chances are very good that you will be spending a lot of time in this type of restaurant. For the most part, the food is pretty good, but there are certain foods (i.e. hamburgers and wraps) that seem to be on most of the menus throughout the World. We sometimes have to look a little harder towards the end of our trips to find something different. Luckily, these types of foods to exist, you just have to look for them. It is a little harder to find things other than pizza and chicken nuggets however for the little ones. Luckily for us, our child can live off of this for 10 days straight and not complain (too much anyway). So let's get to the list.

Epcot
Hands down my favorite place to eat here is in the Sunshine Seasons food court in the Land pavilion. Not only is there so much variety here, it is probably the best bang for your buck. Although we are usually on the dining plan, we still try to find places where we can really get a lot of food for our credits. This place definitely fits the bill. You can choose from a whole rotisserie chicken at one window, Chinese meals with more food than I could possibly eat, or huge sandwiches that even those of us with huge mouths have a hard time biting into. After I literally fill my tray with enough food for the whole family (while only using one entitlement on the dining plan) I head to the dessert bar. The dining plan allows each person to get one entree, one drink, and one dessert per meal. The desserts at this place are freshly baked, enormous, and the options are plentiful. You can choose butterfinger cake, strawberry shortcake, cookies, or mickey rice krispy treats to only name a few. One more plus for this restaurant is that they let you refill your drinks. This is a very nice plus on a really hot day. This is a must do for the entire family. We all get what we want and walk away stuffed every time.

Hollywood Studios
We love going to Toy Story Pizza Planet here. This is a fun place to eat, and the pizza is pretty good. The individual pizzas are pretty big here and also pretty tasty for being theme park fare. If you are on the dining plan, you get to choose either a salad or chips to go with your pizza as well. Once you choose your food you carry it into the arcade and choose a table among the noise. My daughter loves it since it has several arcade games to play and it is decorated like the pizza planet in the movie. It is a nice cool break from our fast and furious park touring and it allows my little girl a chance to play and let off some steam.
Animal Kingdom
This was a hard choice for me. Not because I love so many of the options here, but because nothing really stands out to me. We have eaten at Pizzafari several times and it isn't horrible. The pizzas are decent and one time I had a meatball sub that was pretty good, but I definitely would be ok if I went my whole trip without eating here. Last year we really wanted to try the new picnic in the park option. It is a pretty neat concept and supposedly the food is really good and plentiful. I have heard several people say that food for two could easily feed at least three so it sounds like a good option. Upon hearing this I immediately wanted to try it. So, upon arrival to the park, we headed over to the booth where you order your meal for a particular time later in the day. My husband and I looked at the menu and found a sandwich that looked pretty good to both of us (everyone in the group had to order the same thing). When we tried to place the order, we found out that you can't special order the sandwich. My husband and daughter are both pretty picky and just don't like mayonnaise based sauces and tomatoes. Most things can be picked off, but not sauces. So, since a rotisserie chicken didn't sound good to me that day, we passed. I am crossing my fingers that they have made some changes to your options this year and that we can give this a try this year. Until then, I guess we will stick with Pizzafari.

Magic Kingdom
I am having a really hard time picking my favorite here as well, but for totally different reasons than the ones I gave for Animal Kingdom. A few years ago I would have said Cosmic Rays in Tomorrowland is the best place to eat. They have three different windows to choose from that have foods such as wraps, burgers, sandwiches, and ribs. My husband loves to get the chicken and ribs combo here, and always feels like he got a great value for the dining plan entitlement. Once you order your food, you can go to the toppings bar and smother your plate with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, etc. You could almost make a mini salad if you wanted to. It is yummy and our whole family can easily fill ourselves up. Last year, we found Pecos Bills. I had heard about it for several years, but in the back of my mind I thought there was no way it could match Cosmic Rays. I admit that I was wrong. It is just as good, and maybe a little bit better. Here you can order burgers, wraps, or taco salads. It too has a big fixings bar, but this one may be a little better. I loved the sauteed mushrooms and cheese sauce for my french fries, along with all the lettuce, tomatoes, etc. The only downside of this restaurant is that although it has a lot of seating, it is easy to get turned around and separated due to all of the rooms. Also, the bar gets very congested during heavy times. I still think it is worth it though, and will probably be a must do for future trips.

Honorable Mention
I also love the food court at Pop Century resort. There are so many options here I couldn't even begin to list them all. I truly believe that even the pickiest eater could find something here at least once. A bonus here is that they have a tie dyed cheesecake that is super yummy as a dessert option, or you can get something from the ice cream bar. Just tell the cashier that you want a milkshake or sundae for your dessert and they will stamp your receipt so that you can redeem it when you finish your meal. We are usually in the parks from the time they open until closing so we don't always get a chance to eat here, but when we do I really really enjoy it.

Free Maps

Did you know that you can order free customizable maps for your trip to Disney World? These are so much fun to do and my daughter and I have a lot of fun doing this each year. Every summer we pick a day and log in to My Disney Vacation on the Disneyworld.com website. Once you create an account and log in, there is a tab where you can choose to customize your park maps. We go to each park and I ask my daughter to choose her favorite rides, shows and restaurants in each park. It is a lot of fun to go down the list and talk about each attraction with her, and hear why she either likes or dislikes each one. The list has changed just a little bit each year and some of the things that she used to love are sadly no longer on the list for one reason or another. Some things she has outgrown, like Playhouse Disney at Hollywood Studios. Other things that she used to love, like Pooh's playground or Ariel's grotto are no longer there due to the ever changing and expanding World. In case you don't know, Magic Kingdom is in the middle of a very big expansion project right now to make room for a bigger and better Fantasyland. This will be awesome when this is complete, but sadly we are saying goodbye to some of our family's favorite attractions. This is another reason why we like to order the maps every year. It is fun to see how things have changed since our baby's first trip in 2005. I highly recommend ordering these maps before you go. It gives you something to do before the trip and allows little ones to see what they have to look forward to. Plus, when you get them in the mail they are so much fun to open. They arrive in true Disney style with super cute packaging and are so much fun to look at and open. You can't help but get excited about the upcoming trip when they arrive.