Disney parks

The Magic, The Memories and…US!

20 January 2011 by Suzannah Otis 8 Comments

I was recently invited to attend the media preview for the Magic Kingdom’s much anticipated “Castle projection show”. The show was announced some months back along with the 2011 campaign – “Let the Memories Begin“. The show and campaign itself received much criticism from cynics, assuming Disney was just using other people’s photos and videos so they didn’t have to come up with something on their own. Many objections to “YouTube videos on the castle” were heard over the interwebs.

Ever the Disney-supporter, I posted on twitter and facebook about how I supported this campaign. Really, I’m the kind of Disney fan that doesn’t think we are “owed” anything, yet many critics compare each year’s promotion to the Year of a Million Dreams or the What Will You Celebrate? campaigns, which were overflowing with extras, freebies and one-of-a-kind experiences. Last year, you still got a free ticket – if you volunteered for it. This year, however, the focus is on families – no matter what that consists of, and the memories created at Disney Parks throughout the world. After all, aren’t the best “extras” the intangibles that you hold in your heart and mind for years to come?

Despite my understanding and excitement about Let the Memories Begin, I still wasn’t sure how the Castle would fit in to this equation. After all, people don’t typically like when Cinderella Castle is messed with. (I happen to be one of the few people in the universe that thought it was cute – but totally understand those that were upset at its appearance for their visits; a year is a long time for bright pink.) Would this be something that most guests couldn’t relate to if their pictures weren’t selected? Would it disrupt the magic of the kingdom? Well, all my fears were assuaged Tuesday night when I experienced “The Magic, The Memories and You” first-hand.

First we were treated to a press conference with Park executives Al Weiss, and Meg Crofton. We were told about the upcoming news at the Parks (Wild Africa Trek, La Hacienda, Via Napoli, Star Tours 2). Alan Bruun, Associate Creative Director Walt Disney World Entertainment then gave us a behind-the-scenes glimpse at how the new castle show was created. The castle was actually graphed with a grid for the 3-D photo imaging required to ensure seamless projections and special effects. We were shown the locations for the 16 projectors used in the show. In addition to videos pulled from the Let The Memories Begin site where guests can submit their family videos, 500 photos taken in-park that day will be hand-picked to appear in the sometimes twice nightly show on the castle. As Bruun was quoted that night, “it’s a heck of a lot more than a slide-show on the castle”. Since seeing is believing, we all headed over to Cinderella Castle to experience the show for ourselves.

Disney Dooney and Bourke Cindy Sketch Design in NEW Colors and Styles!

12 July 2010 by Suzannah Otis 24 Comments

Apparently I had missed this bit of news, but was quite excited to see these new designs thanks to my good friend Charles (who was nice enough to buy one for his lovely wife’s birthday!) You read the title right, the original “Cindy Sketch” print (without Minnie Mouse from the second edition of the print) is now out in new COLORS! The print is actually slightly re-worked, with the first edition Disney World/Disneyland banner, the Dooney & Bourke leather tag, less balloons, and no Minnie. Available in a letter carrier style and the wristlet – the designs come in hot pink, bright purple, sky blue, sun yellow, and grass green – the perfect accessory for summer!

Let’s just get right to the pictures, shall we? Don’t forget you can click to enlarge.

Disney Dooney and Bourke Sketch Color Letter Carrier — Tren-D's display of colored Sketch Letter Carriers - the strap is just snapped in there for display.

Dooney & Bourke Exclusive Disneyland 55th Anniversary Collection

11 July 2010 by Suzannah Otis 12 Comments

Following in the vein of Disney Cruise Line exclusive Dooney & Bourke bags, Disneyland park now gets its own special collection of these wildly popular handbags. Once again featuring Dooney & Bourke designer Ian Ray, Disneyland fans are sure to enjoy this newest offering from perhaps the most popular marriage of fashion and fun.

The bags showcase so many iconic images from the different silhouettes of Mickey through the years, to Mickey Mouse Club I.D. cards as well ticket media and famous phrases associated with ‘The Happiest Place on Earth.’

Disney Vault 28 will be the first to offer these Disneyland® Resort Dooney & Bourke co-branded bags. This fashionable collection highlights the essence of Disney with color, art and a nostalgic touch.

Click each picture below to head to the DisneyStore.com and purchase these bags!

Bags and prices are as follows:

Medium Tote – $270.00

Small Messenger – $ 255.00

Letter Carrier – $155.00

Large Wristlet – $70.00

Checkbook Wallet – $175.00 (not pictured)

Dooney & Bourke Disneyland designs — Disneyland 55th Anniversary collection featuring Dooney & Bourke's Ian Ray - photo ©Disney

Don’t forget to check DisneyStore.com for sales of select current released Disney Dooney & Bourke purses and Zannaland’s Disney Dooney & Bourke page with ALL handbag photos and info.

*DisneyStore.com links are affiliate links, which means it costs you nothing extra to click or buy, but if you do, I get a small commission. Thanks for reading!

Rayovac Powers Your Vacation-Magic Wand Sweepstakes!

13 May 2010 by Suzannah Otis 1 Comment

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!

Disney Parks Discovery Series – Disneyland Paris Review from Erin Foster

8 April 2010 by Suzannah Otis 6 Comments

Readers will have of course noticed that my primary focus here at ZannaLand is the Walt Disney World Resort. It is where I have enjoyed countless memories from childhood through present times. As much as I love everything about it, I also write about it because I have not had the good fortune to experience any of the other parks and resorts Disney has to offer. I hope to remedy this sad state of affairs as soon as I can but until that time, I figured I should not in turn, deprive you of the wonderful experiences out there. That’s where my friends come in.

I asked for some help in bringing an overview of the non-Disney World parks to my readers and first up is the lovely and intelligent Erin Foster, from the Walt Disney World Moms Panel, a self-admitted Disney Geek and in my opinion, a veritable font of Disney knowledge. Erin recently returned from her family’s first trip to the Disneyland Resort Paris. Once I got over wishing I could somehow stow away in their luggage, I asked her to share her experiences here with us. Je vous présente avec plaisir, Madame Foster!

The Magic Of Disneyland and Walt Disney World by Valerie Childs 1979

11 March 2010 by Suzannah Otis 13 Comments

I can’t remember when I was given The Magic of Disneyland and Walt Disney World by Valerie Childs, but it must’ve been a year or so after it was published in 1979. I know we’d already taken our trip to Walt Disney World when I was around 6, but it was before we’d stayed at the Lake Buena Vista Vacation Villas. A friend of the family gave me this book, and it was pretty much my bible for the next few years. {I’d later graduate to reading the Birnbaum guides and my WDW Pictorial Souvenir books which I’d get every trip – I’ll scan some of those in soon.}

When I held the book in my hands, my first thought was how lucky Valerie Childs must be, and how much I wanted to be her when I grew up. This hardcover book was over-sized like a coffee table book and the full-color pictures were just beautiful. Our friend had also somehow gotten a few Mickey Mouse balloons {not inflated} and stuck them in the middle of the book, where there was a double-paged picture of the very same balloons. It was like a magical surprise every time I turned to that page.

The Magic of Disneland and Walt Disney World cover — I would stare at this cover wanting to BE that lady.

The Magic of Disneyland and Walt Disney World back cover — And I would stare at this back cover for ages looking at all the individual people.

I loved this book because it focused on Disneyland as well as Walt Disney World. I would take note of the differences between the two places; from the font of Land vs. World {not that I knew what a font was back then} to the rides locations of the rides. I’d never been to Disneyland {still haven’t, must remedy this!} so seeing pictures of the pirate ship or Storybook Land or the Matterhorn were like seeing snapshots of a foreign country I wanted to explore. Seeing the attractions and places I’d been to in Walt Disney World was like seeing pictures of “home”.

Now, looking at the book for the first time in quite a while and 31 years after it was published, it’s like a magical time capsule full of history. I would love to get all of the pages scanned in, but I’d have to find some industrial sized-scanner to get them all in. In the meantime, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite pages with you and we could stroll down memory lane together. For those that did not visit the parks during this time, it’ll be fun to see how things started out.

The Magic of Disneyland and Walt Disney World — The original Main Street Electrical Parade

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. I looked for the book online and it does appear to be on ebay. It really is one of my treasured collectibles both for the pictures it contains and the memories it brought me as a child. Do you have a favorite book in your Disney collection?

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!

Disney Dooney & Bourke Black Wonder Multicolored Mickey Bags

22 December 2009 by Suzannah Otis 8 Comments

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 multicolored Mickey Mouse silhouettes and black leather straps.

Take a look at the new designs –

What I’m Looking Forward to at Disney Moms Panel Training!

3 December 2009 by Suzannah Otis 13 Comments

a pic I took for my friend Amanda Tinney's blog seemed to fit today's post! Click the pic to see her cool project!! — a pic I took for my friend Amanda Tinney's blog (DisneyEveryDay.com) and it seemed to fit today's post! Click to see her cool project!!

You may have noticed I have not been blogging much lately. Part of it is because I’ve just been in this sort of limbo of anxious anticipation which is causing me to have nothing to say! I know, shocking – enjoy it while you can! 😉 I’ve almost felt guilty about my leaving on Friday to attend what I imagine might rank up there with marriage and childbirth as far as life-changing memories go – Disney Moms Panel Training. Then today, less than 24 hours away from when I’ll arrive, he received a call this morning that he has a job once again! Thank you ALL for your support and prayers during this difficult last month. The guilt is now transforming to excitement again and I thought I’d write a little list of what I’m anticipating the most during the next 5 days.

Of course, this is all just speculation about ‘hoped for’ activities – we will not get our itinerary until we check in tomorrow. There are trip reports and blog entries accounting for past year’s training events, but I have successfully avoided reading any of them – on purpose. I didn’t want to have any expectations going in and risk disappointment by thinking ‘hey, they did that last year!’. That is not to say I’m expecting to be disappointed – of course not! Anyway, I just thought I’d note a few things I’m hoping we get to experience.

Riding Expedition Everest – even thought we live an hour away and have annual passes, I still have not gone on this ride! I’m not a roller coaster enthusiast, but I’ve done all the other coasters at Disney, so I’m sure I can handle this one, and it looks so scenic and exciting too!

Seeing inside the new Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. I’ve seen tons of pictures of this newest DVC offering, but it’s one of the few resorts I have not been able to tour yet. I’d love to see it in person!

Heading back into the Tunnel (ok, the Utilidor) under the Magic Kingdom. I have no clue if there would ever be a need for the Disney Moms Panel to tour the Utilidor, but I have to admit, I kind of miss it and would love to see my old stomping grounds again.

Checking out Pirates League or Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. Ok, so this is probably a long-shot because I doubt they are going to take the time to make-over all of us as pirates or princesses, but I think it would be SO cool to do!! I’ll probably do this with my daughter when we make it back for our girl’s day out trip at some point soon.

Touring the Cinderella Suite in the Castle. Again, longshot maybe because this suite and staying in it are no longer part of the current Disney World promotion to visit the parks…and there are way too many of us to stay overnight IN the suite, so I’m not even asking for that, but just to be able to walk inside – see the twinkling lights in the ceiling over the bathtub…sigh…every princess’ dream!

No matter what we see or do (or eat) I have no doubt it will be an amazing trip of a lifetime. I have not been without family on a trip since my junior year trip to Europe in high school – and even then, I had my best friend with me – this time it’s ALL new people! Luckily I feel like I know many of them already and I know we’ll be into trouble in no time. 😉 I have never been away from my kids – they’ve had sleepovers but that’s it, and the baby, well…I really hope he remembers who I am when I return!! I will miss my husband and kids so much but I know they are wishing me well and so excited for this new adventure. I can’t wait to tell you all about it when I get back!