It's you! Welcome back to ZannaLand. I hope you subscribed so you don't miss a thing!

My husband showed me this preview when we came back from the Disney Social Media Moms Convention. I was blown away. As a Disney fan, of both the parks and the movies, this is the kind of movie I long for. Behind-the-scenes stories; the stories behind the stories we saw on film. The teamwork and magic that makes Disney the best in its field. I cannot wait to see this in the theatres, I hope you enjoy the trailer – Waking Sleeping Beauty.

{Click to view in full size}

The Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival opens today! It’s one of our family’s favorite events of the year and we usually visit several times throughout the festival. The butterfly enclosure is just one of the many amazing experiences to enjoy.

Last week on ZannaLand, I posted the menu for the Tables in Wonderland Discovery Dinner at The Wave, featuring local Florida farms and ingredients. The dinner was, in a word – exquisite. I am not a wine drinker, but I discovered that good wine, makes all the difference and actually enjoyed all the selections. The food was phenomenal, as was the personalized experience and attention to detail the Tables in Wonderland staff provided. I’m happy to share our evening with you here, in picture form…{as always, click to enlarge the photos}

August Kesseler Sylvaner/Riesling, 2007, Rheingau, Germany {my favorite of the night}

Read the rest of this entry

Ok, so apparently I’ve been living under a rock regarding this movie. {I guess the trailer came out on my birthday and I was a tad busy around that time frame.}

My husband came home from seeing this preview at the movies last night and was sure I’d have seen the trailer already. Nope. Hadn’t even heard they were making a live-action Sorcerer’s Apprentice! I thought maybe there was a chance some other people might’ve been living under the same rock I was, so here’s the absolutely amazing trailer:

I have to say, I was a Nicolas Cage fan back in his Raising Arizona days, but kind of stopped watching the movies he was in because they just weren’t my thing. His character of Balthazar Blake actually made me a fan again {from what I saw in the preview – then again I am a sucker for a guy in a trench coat}. I can’t wait to see this movie now. LOVE the homage to the original with the mop/water scene too {watch for it around the 2:14 mark}. Nice touch – but from Disney, I’d expect no less!

edit: My friend Brad over at StitchKingdom has a whole mess of Sorcerer’s Apprentice posts, info and even pictures from the Sorcerer’s Apprentice filming in NYC. If you are not following StitchKingdom for Disney news, you are missing out. {Which further embarrasses me for not knowing about this movie since I love StitchKingdom!}

Well, we knew this was coming, Disney and designer Ian Ray of Dooney & Bourke have come out with more amazing new Disney Dooney & Bourke designs! According to the official Disney Parks Blog, there will be a Dooney & Bourke special event at Tren-D to welcome the new handbags. If you are in the Downtown Disney area on February 26 from 4:30-6:30, be sure to stop by Tren-D to meet Dooney & Bourke designer Ian Ray and even get a special gift from Mr. Ray with a $150 or more Disney Dooney & Bourke purchase.

Now on to what everyone wants – more pictures! Read the rest of this entry

Chef Robert Irvine pausing for a photo with Disney Moms Panelist Kathie and me in the middle of his Dinner Impossible challenge!

{Not-so-Wordless…} One of the unexpected highlights of the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration was happening upon acclaimed celebrity chef Robert Irvine. We had no idea until that moment that he was there shooting a Dinner Impossible challenge. He was meeting with his team and happened to see Kathie and I walking by with our families. {I think the pink jackets must’ve caught his eye } He waved then walked right over to talk to Gio, who was hanging out in his stroller with his bottle. Kathie asked him if he was cooking us dinner tonight and he said he had no idea, he was just told he needed to cook dinner for 400!

Kathie mentioned she was a vegetarian and was he going to make something for her? He joked that she wasn’t allowed to eat and pretended to walk off, then came back, asked if she ate fish (Nope!) and pretended to storm off again. Then, he came back, asked her name, “Is that with a C or a K?” and wrote it in his little notebook along with the fact that she was a vegetarian. He was getting called away by his team at that point but we managed to snap this picture of us. He was so wonderful to come over and talk with us when he didn’t really have to {and kind of had a LOT to do!}. And Kathie did enjoy the vegetarian lo mein dish served later that night!

I can’t wait to see the airing of this episode of Dinner Impossible, which J. managed to find out should be the 9th show of the new season, airing in June or July. I’m sure I’ll post a reminder for it!

My fabulous blogging friend and fellow Walt Disney World Moms Panelist OhAmanda does Top 10 Tuesday every week and each week I think “I really need to participate in this!” but I always either have a different topic on tap, or can’t think of a list in time. So this week, I’ve finally found a topic to join in with. Below are ten of the many things I am looking forward to tomorrow, when we arrive at Walt Disney World for the first-ever Social Media Moms Celebration. One thing I am NOT looking forward to is the fact that Amanda will not be there. *sobs* However, she just got back from Blissdom and taking part in amazing workshops there AND seeing Harry Connick Jr. so that is slight consolation I guess. Anyway…

10. Being able to be at Walt Disney World both as a blogger and as a Moms Panelist – WITH my family. Moms Panel training was so amazingly fun, and though I wouldn’t change it for the world, the fact that my husband and children will be with me this time around, is a treat. I really love how Disney put together the registration that way, to include families.

9. Celebrating J.’s birthday (the 10th) at Disney. I suppose I could’ve been quiet about this whole thing and let him think I planned a huge celebration at the new ESPN Wide World of Sports just for his birthday, but the hundreds of strangers crashing the party might’ve given it away…I’m confident it’ll still be a special day for him and hope I can force him to wear a Disney Birthday Button!

8. Diving into the world of Social Media/Blogging conventions feet first by attending my first conference at Walt Disney World! I am hoping this is just the first of many. Watching friends and fellow bloggers attend BlogHer 09, Type A Mom 09 and now Blissdom 10 has definitely wet my appetite for blogging conferences I must attend next year. I’m hoping to get to BlogHer ‘10 this year too. Working on sponsors for that now! The fact that it’s my first one and Disney’s first one seems like a perfect fit.

7. Dole Whip! I don’t really need to say more.

6. Getting to hear the speakers Disney has secured for the conference. Guy Kawasaki. Chris Brogan. Maxine Clark. Just to name a few. As a new-ish blogger I’m all ears for any and everything I can learn about the process and how to improve as a writer and communicator. I figure I might as well start off at the top, right?

5. The special events Disney has planned for us. Sooo, I may have mentioned this is DISNEY, yes? And my love for all things Disney? And my recent super fabulous Disney Moms Panel training trip (which I will continue writing about soon, promise!) where I experienced quite a bit of pixie dust? This is DISNEY. Can you imagine the special surprises they have planned for us? There have already been reports leaked about the performers who will be at Thursday night’s Epcot celebration (entertainment subject to change). I can only imagine what else they have in store for us.

4. Meeting new friends from twitter. In the course of expanding my blogging topics and connecting with others who are attending this conference, I’ve made a ton of new friends whom I cannot wait to meet in person at Disney. I feel like I should probably wear my twitter handle on a t-shirt or print out a poster size version of my twitter picture so I can ensure people know who I am because I don’t want to miss anyone!

3. Meeting old friends from twitter. Another benefit to this celebration being held at Walt Disney World is many of my Disney fan friends from twitter were eager to attend as well. Because of that, quite a few of them will be at the conference and I will get to meet them too. People that have been with me from my start on twitter and followed my journey onto the Moms Panel. It will be great to finally put faces to the names, in person.

2. Staying at the Polynesian. I mentioned in my previous post about the Social Media Moms Celebration that the Polynesian was one of the few resorts I had not stayed in. It has always been one of our family’s favorite spots for dining and visiting, so the fact that we will get to sleep there too, experiencing all the resort has to offer guests, is a real treat.

1. Meeting up with my Moms Panel friends/Disney cast members. I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to reconnect with a handful of the wonderful moms I just met during Moms Panel training. I feel like our time together ended too soon and am so excited to be able to hug, laugh and just hang out again. I kinda just want to run around the Polynesian at night in our pj’s and pink jackets like a big slumber party…but I’ll restrain myself. In addition, I’ll be able to see the wonderful cast members that make the Walt Disney World Moms Panel and the Disney Parks social media team so successful. Hopefully I’ll be able to meet up with a very special Canadian cast member and enjoy #7 with her.

In other words - I’M EXCITED!!! If you are attending, what are you most looking forward to? Please, please look for me because I am terrible with associating twitter names with real names and I don’t want to miss anyone. See you tomorrow!

Followers on twitter, facebook, or even readers here of my posts on Solo-parenting tips and First-timer tips have probably heard of the upcoming Social Media Moms Celebration at Walt Disney World. Having dipped its toes into the ocean of social media and mom bloggers for a while now with Magical Mom Blogger trips and cruises, Disney has now decided to venture into the world of social media conferences.

Walt Disney World will play host to over 100 mom (and dad) bloggers on February 10-12, 2010. Lucky attendees will be treated to what Disney does best – celebrate! Even the name reveals it is not just another blogging conference – celebration is right in the title. And as if simply being on Walt Disney World property for the event was not enough, Disney went the step further to host guests at one of its Deluxe properties, the Polynesian Resort, add in amazing social media speakers who are the top in their field, AND allow attendees to bring family members as part of the conference fee. The value for this event is just mind-boggling since staying at the Polynesian for even one night is close to the cost for the entire 3-night event (including up to 3 guests) with park tickets, some meals and who knows what other surprises Disney has in store. When I first saw the event invitation, I knew I would do whatever it took to be able to attend. This is simply a once-in-a-lifetime event (which I hope happens more than once as I’m sure this is only the beginning of Disney’s social media conference hosting!). I’ve come to the astute conclusion that this taking part in once-in-a-lifetime events thing is a good habit to have. That’s a good plan, right?

Click to continue reading Social Media at WDW

Children of the 80’s will no doubt recognize the lyrics to the Muppet Show above. The Muppets are now giving back, along with Disney, with their new promotion for 2010 – Give a Day Get a Disney Day. Now the the new year is here the volunteering has begun! The response to the promotion has been huge, based on the website traffic and buzz on twitter. Just to illustrate: I signed up on January 1st, for an opportunity on the 3rd, and when I checked back for more after I volunteered, there were none available! I’m hoping and assuming that as the days go on, Disney and the HandsOn Network will reveal even more positions, however Disney has said from the start that ticket quantities for this promotion are limited – so don’t delay!

In an effort to get the word out to even more volunteers, the Muppets, mascots of this promotion have put together a very special video for you!

So get out there and volunteer! Personally, I donated blood for my first effort. It was so motivating that I’m going to head back to Florida Blood Services soon and donate platelets which can save 3 lives with one donation. I hope to sign the rest of the family up as well to take advantage of the many kid-friendly volunteer options in my area. If you aren’t seeing anything available in your area or the site is giving you issues, keep checking back!

PART TWO in the Disney Dooney & Bourke Handbag series:

If you have been following the mania that is Disney’s collaboration with Dooney and Bourke with its first foray into Disney park-themed designer handbags, you’ll know by now that there’s a new kid on the block – and his name is Mickey.

Dooney & Bourke has now come out with a new style and color for the winter – PVC-coated black cotton design with bright multi-colored Mickey Mouse silhouettes and black leather straps.

Take a look at the new designs -

continue reading