WDW Moms Panel

Meet Your Walt Disney World Moms Panel – Doug Ingersoll

28 April 2010 by Suzannah Otis 1 Comment

Two months into the Meet Your Moms Panel series and we are finally hearing from a Dad! Doug Ingersoll has the distinct honor of being the second ever dad on the panel; making his debut in 2009. Now of course, Doug is joined by six dads this year in addition to the original dad from 2008, Bret C.

These informal interviews are meant to be a jumping off point from the bios that appear on the DisneyWorldMoms.com site where you can learn about every panelist’s background and experience with Walt Disney World, and see their personal videos as well. Once you check them out there, you can get to know the panelists a little better here!

Meet Your Walt Disney World Moms Panel – Andi S

21 April 2010 by Suzannah Otis 8 Comments

We are now at week 7 of the Meet Your Moms Panel series and we are ready to get to know Andi S. These informal interviews are meant to be a jumping off point from the bios that appear on the DisneyWorldMoms.com site where you can learn about every panelist’s background and experience with Walt Disney World, and see their personal videos as well. Once you check them out there, you can get to know the panelists a little better here!

When the calls had been made last November and the 2010 Walt Disney World Moms Panelists had been named, we began to find each other on facebook and message boards. When I first read Andi’s info, that she was a ballet teacher in Alabama and saw her beautiful photo on her facebook page, I will admit, I was a bit intimidated. She just seemed like the perfect Southern Belle and I worried that my galumphing self would be of zero interest to this pageant beauty. When we finally met in December at Moms Panel training, she lived up to all my expectations of her charming, gracious persona. What I did not expect was the hysterical sense of humor, wit and even a bit of self-deprecation thrown in for good measure. In short, she was a real person, one I could, in fact, identify with and feel at ease talking, laughing and sharing memories with. The Southern Belle is very much there too, which makes me want to be a better, kinder, gentler person. I consider myself truly blessed to know Andi and was so happy our families got to meet, even briefly, last month. I look forward to the next time we can all get together and am so grateful and honored to call her friend. Please meet my friend, Andi —

Meet Your Walt Disney World Moms Panel – Anna S

14 April 2010 by Suzannah Otis 4 Comments

This is now the 6th week of the Meet Your Moms Panel series and we are ready to get to know Anna S. These informal interviews are meant to be a jumping off point from the bios that appear on the DisneyWorldMoms.com site where you can learn about every panelist’s background and experience with Walt Disney World, and see their personal videos as well. Once you check them out there, you can get to know the panelists a little better here!

If you have not had the pleasure of meeting Anna, you may not realize it, but your life is not complete. Prior to meeting her at the December Moms Panel training trip, I had started to follow her on twitter and facebook and got to know a bit of her incredible sense of humor. In person (like me) she is actually very soft-spoken and quiet, so I also instantly felt connected with her since most of the other moms expected me to live up to my twitter persona of being a crazy person. 😉 What you might not realize is that behind Anna’s hysterical stories and way with words, is that she has a heart bigger than all 42 acres of the Walt Disney World Resort. She is one of the most caring, compassionate and giving people I have ever had the pleasure and honor of meeting. I know you’ll love her just as much as I do:

Meet Your Walt Disney World Moms Panel – Dannée N

7 April 2010 by Suzannah Otis 2 Comments

In this 5th week of the Meet Your Moms Panel series, we meet Dannée N. These informal interviews are meant to be a jumping off point from the bios that appear on the DisneyWorldMoms.com site where you can learn about every panelist’s background and experience with Walt Disney World, and see their personal videos as well. Once you check them out there, you can get to know the panelists a little better here!

I have a special place in my heart for Dannée, because she was one of the first two moms I met during our December Moms Panel training trip and boy did she make me feel welcome and at ease. She just oozes fun, personality and humor. I also had the pleasure of getting together twice recently when her family was visiting Walt Disney World and then Tampa. Our families were able to meet and interact and just have a general great time. {Who doesn’t bond over cheesecake?!} I consider myself so lucky to know Dannée – and now you will be too:

To Quote Rafiki – It is Time!

1 April 2010 by Suzannah Otis Leave a Comment

Just adding a quick update that I am now LIVE at DisneyWorldMoms.com along with my other 2nd quarter friends, Amanda W. and Joel K. If you click on our bios you can ask us questions directly! I started answering questions today and let me tell you, it is so much fun. As much as I love helping a random person out here and there on twitter, it’s great not to be limited by 140 characters. 😉 The Disney site lies somewhere between twitter constraints and being able to go on and on here, so it’s a nice, happy medium. Of course I am seeing and answering questions there from all over, from people with every possible situation looking to get help with their Disney vacation. As a former travel agent, I always loved that part, when I just got to talk to people about what they could do. It really is so exciting and I thank Disney once again for giving me this amazing opportunity.

Because of my new position taking effect now, my time is a bit limited but I’ll still be here posting as much and as often as I can. The book giveaway I mentioned on twitter will be a bit delayed, but I’ve got some other things coming up you won’t want to miss. As for the Vinylmation giveaway, I’ll be using random.org to pick the winners tonight and announce them as an edit to the original entry – so stay tuned! Thank you so much for participating and for reading ZannaLand. This certainly is one heck of a ride! Glad to have you along with me. 🙂

Meet Your Walt Disney World Moms Panel – Diane L

31 March 2010 by Suzannah Otis 5 Comments

We are now at our fourth week of the Meet Your Walt Disney World Moms Panel series on ZannaLand. These informal interviews are meant to be a jumping off point from the bios that appear on the DisneyWorldMoms.com site where you can learn about every panelist’s background and experience with Walt Disney World, and see their personal videos as well. Once you check them out there, you can get to know the panelists a little better here!

Today we meet a mom who started on the panel in 2009, Diane L. I remember Diane being another one of the first moms I found on twitter and I was lucky enough to spend some time with her during the 2010 panel’s training since she was one of the 2009 moms there to help us out. She, along with Kay and Karen, made us all feel so welcome during that training session and they all had some great stories to share.

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Meet Your Walt Disney World Moms Panel – Kaylene J

24 March 2010 by Suzannah Otis 5 Comments

Week 3 of our Meet Your Walt Disney World Moms Panel series brings us to another 2010 panelist – Kaylene J. I first “met” Kaylene as we all were awaiting news on the DIS Boards about who moved on to round 2 during the application process. I instantly felt a connection with her because she was from Massachusetts, where I’d grown up and considered “home” (outside of Disney of course!). I was following her story closely because I knew she’d made it to the final round the year before but not made the panel, so we all thought she was a shoe-in for this year. Thankfully, we were all right! 😉 Please enjoy getting to know Kaylene in her own words below.

Next week I’ll start mixing it up and featuring panelists from the 2009 and 2008 panel as well as the 2010 panelists, so stay tuned!

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Meet Your Walt Disney World Moms Panel – Maribel Z

17 March 2010 by Suzannah Otis Leave a Comment

We are now at week two of the Meet Your Moms Panelist series. Last week we got to know Walt Disney World Moms Panelist Kathie Flood and now we continue with another 2010 panelist. We’ll be meeting a new 2010, 2009, or 2008 panelist each week, so be sure to comment and say hello!

Meet Your Walt Disney World Moms Panel – Kathie Flood

10 March 2010 by Suzannah Otis 3 Comments

I am so excited to be starting this series on ZannaLand. I know last year at this time, I was just starting to find some of the 2008 and 2009 Walt Disney World Moms Panelists on twitter, and was checking out their bios on DisneyWorldMoms.com. Now that I’m actually on the panel and was able to meet almost all of these wonderful people during my Moms Panel training in December, I was left with the overwhelming desire to share just how amazing they all are with you. I’m hoping that the questions they answer here (they are used to answering questions after all!) will give you a little more insight into the people behind the panel and just why Disney saw something special in them.

I’ll be mixing in 2010, 2009 and 2008 panelists. Feel free to comment and say hello!

Top 10 Tuesday: Ten Things I’m Looking Forward to at the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration!

9 February 2010 by Suzannah Otis 10 Comments

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.

laurajoannetiana — 2 of our fearless Moms Panel leaders: Laura Spencer & Jo Anne Wallace, who make everything more fun! (Oh, and those royal-looking people would be the gorgeous Princess Tiana and the debonair Prince Naveen!)

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!