Snap, Share & Win! Rayovac Summer Photo Contest:

The Snap, Share & Win! Rayovac Summer Photo Contest will begin August 2, 2010 and will conclude on August 29, 2010.  Each week will feature a different photo theme.  Eligible contestants will be able to complete the entry form on Rayovac’s facebook page, upload a photo and specify the theme.  Contestants may upload 1 photo each week for a maximum of 3 photos.  Once photos are posted, viewers can vote for 1 photo a day and add an unlimited number of comments.  Contestants and viewers can share the contest with their friends (eighteen years old or older) utilizing the “Invite Friends” button or by sending an email.  The photos receiving the most votes for each theme will win prizes.  Rayovac Powers Fun, have fun and be creative with your photo entries! All levels of photography welcome!

PRIZES
For each of the three themes there will be:
Grand Prize - a Digital Camera Package, complete with a Photo Printer and Rayovac Rechargeables and a Digital Photo Frame for three of the Grand Prize Winner’s friends.
Second Place Prize - Photo Printer
Runner Up Prize - Digital Photo Frame Keychain.

Phase One: Submit photo entry August 2, 2010- August 22, 2010.
(Week 1: Fun with Water Photo. Week 2: Fun Pet Photo. Week 3: Summer Fun Photo)
Phase Two: Public Vote August 2, 2010- August 29, 2010.
Phase Three: Winners Announced September 8, 2010.

Be sure to check out and “like” Rayovac on Facebook too! http://www.facebook.com/Rayovac

Good luck!

Complete Guide to Disney iPhone/iPod Touch app: #45,  Rikki Niblett

Complete Guide to Disney iPhone/iPod Touch app: #21, Miss M

Set of 3 Audio Guides from Lou Mongello: #9, Lynne from Texas

Celebration magazines: #25,  Brian Hubbard

Walt Disney World Trivia Guide: #2, DVC Mom

Please contact me at zanna@zannaland.com with your mailing information! (For those that won the apps, I only need your email address.) Thanks so much to everyone that participated – I promise it isn’t the last giveaway. Thank you for reading!

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Oh, and speaking of reading, I wanted to share a site I found recently, thanks to the fabulous DisMarks. You are checking out DisMarks, right?? If not, you should, it has some of the best Disney articles all in one spot. Anyway, I saw an entry from http://www.parkeology.com and clicked over to read it. I laughed, I cried, and I didn’t even have to kiss 3 bucks goodbye (someone tell me they remember that tag line?).

Parkeology has been around since December of last year but they are not short on great topics, even better pictures and videos, and a hilarious commentary on some really unique aspects of Disney Parks. Shane and TeevTee have some amazing facts and history to share. Seriously, I almost didn’t want to tell anyone about it because I wanted to keep their awesomeness to myself, but that would’ve been very evil of me. So please check them out and be sure to comment and let them know how you like their stuff. It’s my mission to go back and read all the blogs I missed from them and I can’t wait.

Have I mentioned I love celebrations? I really do. It’s part of why I love December so much, it has my birthday AND Christmas 2 weeks after that. I’d celebrate something every day if it meant balloons and decorations and lots of pixie dust too of course. (I did briefly consider becoming a wedding planner just for the joy excitement of planning amazing parties…then I watched Bridezillas. )

Anyway, my friend and fellow Walt Disney World Moms Panelist Doug Ingersoll has been generous enough to donate not one but TWO codes to download his all new Walt Disney World Complete Travel Guide app for the iPhone or iPod Touch!

But wait, there’s more! (Sorry, no steak knives) The incomparable Lou Mongello of WDW Radio and Celebrations magazine fame (as if he needs an introduction?) has graciously given me a prize pack featuring some of his amazing theme park Audio Guides, issues of Celebrations Magazine AND his Walt Disney World Trivia Book. How cool is THAT??

How do you get a chance to win these fabulous prizes you ask?

Quite simply, just comment below and you’re entered to win!

Additional entries may be earned by:

• RT’ing about the contest on twitter (be sure to use @zannaland in your tweet so I can see it)
  
• Sharing on facebook or anywhere else – message boards, email groups, the possibilities are endless! Just link me to it here
  
• “Liking” the  ZannaLand facebook group
  
• Joining Networked Blogs on facebook
  
• Joining Google Friend Connect (join in the box to the bottom right of the main site)
  
• Subscribing to our RSS feed or via email (box on the right of the main site)
  

If you’re already a member or subscriber, just let me know in a comment and I’ll count that too.

I only ask that you leave a separate comment for each entry, because that’s really the only way I can track entries and give you credit for each item. I apologize to my Canadian and International readers but this giveaway is only open to US mailing addresses.

I will be giving away 2 codes for the Walt Disney World Complete Travel Guide app, 1 set of all 3 Lou Mongello Audio Guides, 1 set of two Celebrations magazines, and 1 Walt Disney World Trivia Guide, for a total of FIVE prizes to win.

Giveaway ends July 9, 2010 at 11:59pm.

Thank you again for all your support and readership this past year, and special thanks to Doug and Lou for providing the prizes you are hoping to win!

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Some other news – I am now an official contributing author at TampaBay.com’s Whoa, Momma! blog. I know I mentioned I was writing articles for them before, but now I’m all permanent-like and my name’s on the header and my author bio’s on the side. Yee haw! Pretty darn cool and I am extremely grateful and honored that the fine ladies over at Whoa, Momma! for taking a chance on me. You can read my latest post on Activities Off the Beaten Path at Disney there now, with more to come in the coming weeks. Some pieces may even be picked up by the St. Petersburg Times and in turn their news wire and show up in your local paper.

I’ve mentioned on twitter but I know not everyone is there – I have also written a couple of guest posts for Mr. Hidden Mickey Guy himself, Steven Barrett. Again, the honor was mine and if you told me a year ago I’d be doing either of these things, I’d have laughed and said “yeah, right!” I’m so very grateful. You can read my post on Disney After Dark and Staying Cool in the Summer at Disney over on his site.

And of course, you can find me over at DisneyWorldMoms.com where I’ll be answering questions for a few more weeks. I’d love to get a question from a reader to answer on the panel! Just click on the “ask Suzannah a question” link on my WDW Moms Panel bio page.

If you are looking for other ways to stay connected, you can find me on twitter @zannaland, or the facebook page for the site: facebook.com/zannaland (close to 500 members now!) over there you can post comments or questions on the wall, interact with other Disney fans, add pictures to the group photo album and keep up with all the blog entries as well. I’d love to see more of you!

Thank you so much for reading!

If you’ve met me in real life, you also know that shy and socially awkward are probably the first two impressions that come to mind. There’s a reason I write! However, after several meetings or perhaps an adult beverage, I do mellow out and relax. That said, hanging around my fellow bloggers and media mavens, I finally get that concept of:  “What’s the worse they can say? No? Then you move on!“

So it was channeling one of those very bloggers that gave me the confidence to approach Chef Dundon after meeting him at the Raglan Road Signature Dinner and ask for an interview. As soon as I had the thought, the confidence was there and I knew I could do it. Even if he blew me off and said he was too busy, or was polite and said yes but later blew me off, I was going to DO it. So I did. And guess what? (not hard to guess reading the title of this post!) He said “That would be wonderful!” I spent the rest of the night on cloud 9, if for no other reason than I had made that next step in my new life as a purveyor of fine social media. (Like that title? I just made it up.)

Anyway, now you know the story behind the story and it is with great pleasure and honor that I present the following interview to you, my readers, and hope you enjoy it. Here’s a little more about Kevin Dundon’s background:

Kevin Dundon is the Chef/Proprietor of Dunbrody Country House Hotel & Restaurant, located in Ireland’s sunny South East. Dunbrody was established in 1997 by Kevin and his wife Catherine and has very quickly become a must-see for all foodies. It is now considered to be one of Ireland’s Premier Hotels & Restaurant. Kevin’s runs a cookery school at the hotel as well which already recognised as one of the most respected in the country. (source: KevinDundon.com)

In addition Kevin is the Chef/Patron of Raglan Road which has two locations, Downtown Disney in Orlando and Kansas City, MO. Given that Chef Dundon has cooked for none other than Her Majesty, The Queen and Bono, I think it goes without saying that Raglan Road will not disappoint. He is also author of two cookbooks: Full on Irish: Creative Contemporary Cooking and Great Family Food. Is there another in the works? Read on…

ZannaLand first brought you a sneak peak at this Disney Rayovac commercial back in December but now this same commercial can help you win a sweepstakes!

Unlock your imagination and celebrate the chance to win a celebration vacation for four to Disney World® or Disneyland® by entering the Magic Wand Sweepstakes.  In addition to the Grand Prize, there’s also the chance to win a lifetime supply of Rayovac batteries or a Disney Gift Card from Rayovac.  Enter the sweepstakes from now until 11:59 p.m. (CT) on July 31, 2010 at www.rayovac.com/disneyvacation (eligibility to enter the sweepstakes subject to the official rules found on the website).

Also, be sure to take part in the #Rayovac Powers Your Vacation Twitter Event

Join Rayovac and MomSelect for a Twitter Event to support the exciting Rayovac Powers Your Vacation-Magic Wand Sweepstakes.  The evening will feature more than 20 fun giveaways from Rayovac ranging from a summer supply of Rayovac Batteries to Disney Gift Cards.

Rayovac Powers Your Vacation Sweepstakes
Date:         Wednesday, May 19th 
Time:        7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. CST
Location: #rayovac (follow that hashtag on twitter)
Follow:     @Rayovac_Battery, @MomTalkRadio, @CirclePRMary

See you there – and hopefully in the parks too!

Project Future is one of several code names for the Florida project which Walt Disney began work on as early as 1959, just 4 short years after the opening of his first theme park, Disneyland. We all know the stories of why Walt wanted to secure so much land in Florida to ensure as much aesthetic control as possible over his new endeavor and prevent the Anaheim situation of surrounding businesses growing up around the Disneyland property. However, what we may not know is exactly how much thought, planning, and research and CIA-like covert operations went into the final choices that let Project Future take place. Mr. Emerson shares all of that with us.

I found the book a delight to read. Even though I knew the eventual outcome, I found myself eager to turn the page and see what the next step would be – the next hurdle that Disney would overcome, and the ingenious ways he and his team accomplished their goals. One could easily think that meetings, legislative actions and land acquisition might get overwhelming after a time. This is not the case at all. Mr. Emerson tells the story in such a way that it is clear, concise and easy to keep track of.

The story truly is the blueprint for the Walt Disney Company – always thinking beyond the present into the future, anticipating new technology, new ways of thinking and new ways to implement those ideas. In addition, Walt Disney World cemented the Disney tradition of impeccable control over all of its enterprises. If Disney wanted to ensure he secured a 42 acre plot of land that would utilize the latest and greatest building techniques, utilities and site development, he needed to be in control of all aspects of the undertaking. In Project Future, we see just how Disney ensured that he was.

A major piece of the puzzle Disney and his team members utilized was the creation of the Reedy Creek Improvement District. As Lee Cockerell records in his foreward in Project Future:

The Reedy Creek Improvement District has played an important role in the success of the Walt Disney World Resort. That much is very clear to everyone at Walt Disney World.

It is simply fascinating the see the new paths that were forged in an effort not only to ensure control of the project, but to ensure the best for all that would benefit from it.

Of particular interest to me personally was the initial plans for Disney’s Project Future that were so exciting to see in print, even knowing that they were never fully realized. I loved learning about the other possible sites that were considered before choosing the parcels of land that would merge together to form the familiar map we explore with every visit to Walt Disney World.

My favorite passage is as follows:

Another factor in the issue of control was that Walt reached his creative and most influential apex at the same time disorder was disrupting American cities.  The 1960s were a time of urban upheaval and distress, with riots and crime disrupting the nation.  Walt seemed intent on countering these problems.  Rather than seeking to impose order on existing institutions, he sought to create new institutions to further his goal.  In doing so, he implicitly recognized the national flux of the 1960s was not something he had to destroy. He did not seem intent to force his ideals on the public as a whole.  Rather, he sought increased control over a project that would never have existed but for his investment in the effort. The result was the multibillion-dollar Project Future for which Disney ultimately sought very little public funding.

–Project Future

An inspiring reflection on the visionary man we all revere to this day. I would recommend this book to any fan looking to increase their knowledge of just exactly how it was “all started by a mouse”. It is a quick read and as I mentioned above, not overwhelmed by facts and figures. Though based in facts and company and state records, it is no less entertaining and intriguing. Mr. Emerson treats the material with reverence, but adheres to the facts and has clearly done his research. I hope this is the first of many more books from him in this subject matter.

From the Project Future press release:

Emerson, a tenured member of the faculty at Faulkner University’s Jones School of Law and highly-respected theme park and attractions industry expert, also puts readers in Conference Room 2E at the company’s Burbank headquarters as the most senior Disney officials sort through the optimal parcels of land to place the “real working city” and planned entertainment development.

Emerson spent more than two years researching the history of Walt Disney’s Florida project while interviewing a variety of key players such as Harrison “Buzz” Price, Robert Price Foster, Gov. Claude Kirk, and Tom DeWolf.  The result is a book that serves up intriguing glimpses of historic detail interspersed with fascinating strategies and spy-like maneuvers the Walt Disney Company deployed to fashion more than 27,000 acres of Florida marsh, swamp and farmland into the world’s most successful destination.

Project Future (ISBN 78-0-615-34777-6) is published by Ayefour Publishing at a list price of $14.95.  More information can be found at www.projectfuturebook.com.

Disclosure and contest: Mr. Emerson has been been kind enough to not only provide me with a book for this review, but he has a copy for one lucky reader as well. Leave a comment here between now and midnight PST on April 15, 2010 and you will be entered in the drawing to take place using random.org for a copy of Project Future. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

If you do not win, you can purchase the book at the link above or buy Project Future on amazon. {affiliate link}

There are 2 days left in March, including today – ZannaLand.com is really really close to getting 10,000 page views for the month of March. I’m so amazed by this – I remember when I started I was excited that the site had 10 views a day. Certainly a LOT has happened both on the site and in my life since that time, and I am so grateful for the exciting changes that have taken place.

These are just some of the Vinylmation figures out there - you could win a brand new one!

I would not be here without the wonderful community of readers about which I’m always raving, and although I may not have the budget of Disney, what I’d do in real life is take you out for a coffee and thank you. Since for most readers, I can’t do that without involving airlines and lots of miles, I thought I’d give away 3 gift cards {of various mystery amounts}  for a coffee on me {or tea or whatever else you might like to drink at Starbucks}.

In addition, I’m giving  away a couple of fun surprises – 2 unopened Vinylmation figures! So that’s 5 separate chances to win.  However,  we have to reach that goal first – which means I need your help getting the word out about this giveaway!

To enter the giveaway:

• Comment on this entry.

If you want some extra entries you can also:

• Tweet about this giveaway and comment here with the url of that tweet.
• Post on facebook or anywhere else you’d like to spread the word and let me know here!

I will then add all the entries into random.org and pick the winners there. I can’t wait to see who wins!

Disclosure: I am providing these prizes out-of-pocket and am not being sponsored by Starbucks, Walt Disney World or anyone else for this giveaway. Each comment meeting the above guidelines will be entered to win one of five prizes. Contest ends at midnight PST on March 31st and winners will be announced on April 1st. Good luck!

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UPDATE: If you did not read on twitter, we surpassed 10,000 views after midnight on March 30th, so we definitely hit our goal and then some by the 31st! Thanks so much!! The winners have been picked at random.org:

$5 Starbucks gift card goes to – Jacqueline Hudson!

$10 Starbucks gift card goes to - icitea!

$15 Starbucks gift card goes to - Stephanie (VertigoDawn)!

1st Vinylmation goes to -Vader’s Mom!!

2nd Vinylmation goes to - Jon (disneylovndad)!!

Congratulations! I will get your prizes mailed out as soon as possible!

Thank you ALL for the amazing participation, for reading, and for spreading the word about ZannaLand. I promise this will not be the last fun giveaway!!

The Rainbow Brite Adventure Pack CD includes:

• Rainbow Brite animated short
• Games and Puzzles
• Rainbow Brite theme song
• Meet Rainbow Brite and Friends
• Coloring pages, printables and more!

To enter the giveaway {mandatory}-

Comment here and tell me what other toys from the 80′s you wish would come back again!

Additional entries {optional}-

• Subscribe to ZannaLand’s feed
• Add ZannaLand to your Google Friend Connect (scroll down to bottom right and click “Join This Site” on Google Friend Connect)
• Follow ZannaLand on Facebook or Networked Blogs
• Follow ZannaLand on twitter

Please comment separately with each additional entry so I can properly pick a winner through random.org. Giveaway ends on March 20th 21st, winner will be announced March 21st 22nd. Thanks and good luck!

Our first wine tasting, in The Wave lounge

Our table in The Wave's private dining room

As promised, I entered all the comments for the Stonyfield Farms YoBaby 3-in-1 Meals giveaway into random.org. The winning comment was #10 – Lorna Marion. Congratulations! I’ll be contacting you for your info to receive your prize pack!

#10 was chosen!